Mgr. Irena Cakirpaloglu

Key words: adolescents, cultural and social changes, physical, cognitive and social development

There have always been cultural differences in human development.

However, during the past 15 years the changes have become quicker and more intensive so previous data do not correspond with the present stage of development anymore. The changes do not only concern the basic body development but it also occurs with cognitive and social skills. The reasons that invoke these differences are changing climate factors, improving nutrition and social and economical life within the countries.

There is a lack of comparative information of these two cultures although they belong to the same group - the Slavonic.

Although both cultures have arisen from the same forefather and share a similar language basics, the differences between them have risen, particularly today. One of the main factors is the geographical location. The Republic of Macedonia is situated on the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula and the climate is mostly sub Mediterranean, while the Czech Republic covers the central part of Europe with its continental climate. The other thing that makes the changes predominant are the current social and political reality. The decade of wars in former Yugoslavia has affected the social and cultural life in Macedonia. On the other hand after the Velvet revolution, the Czech Republic has grown into a beautiful cultural centre so the differences between the both of them became more apparent.

A group of Macedonian and Czech adolescents from age of 11 to 15 were selected to answer the topic question and to find out the key differences of the human development. Adolescents were chosen, because within this group we can see the most markable changes in human development.

Adolescence is a developmental period between childhood and adulthood. It starts with the physical i.e. sexual maturity and ends with the cognitive and social maturity. During this period the reproductive organs develop dramatically. So do the secondary sex characteristics such as enlarged breasts and hips in girls, facial hair and deepened voice in boys, pubic and underarm hair in both sexes.

During this period there are also a rapid changes in the cognitive and moral development. Adolescents become more capable on logical and abstract thinking. They are able to reason hypothetically and deduce consequences: If this, then that. This new reasoning power is obvious in adolescent's debating such abstract topics as human nature, good and evil, truth and justice. Adolescents' developing ability to reason gives them a new level of social awareness and moral judgement. As young teenagers become capable of thinking about their thinking and of thinking about other people's thinking, they begin imagining what other people are thinking about them. As their cognitive abilities mature, many adolescents begin to think about what is ideally possible and criticise their society, their parents and even their shortcomings.

Materials and methods:

The selected part of adolescent's population at the age from 11 to 15 from Macedonia and Czech Republic will be examined within the period March - June 2005. The number of the participants will be around 600 (300 from each country). The research has been divided into two parts. The first part is focused on the physical signs and their anthropometric measuring: height, weight, fat and secondary sex characteristics. The second part will analyse the children’s attitudes, their moral development and judgmental abilities.

Measurements are going to be performed in chosen elementary schools in the both countries. The girls and boys will be examined separately. Finally all of the participants will receive a attitudes and values questionnaire.

The collected data will be statistically proceeded and compared to find out if there are any cultural and gender differences between the adolescents.

The research results should help to improve the knowledge of adolescent's development.

Literature:

Roche AF. Secular Trends in Human Growth, Maturation and Development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 44,no.179.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Myers, D.G. Psychology. 1998, Chicago.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Vol. 102, no. 1, 1997.

Current Anthropology. Vol. 44,no. 4, August – October 2003.