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Early Adolescents struggle with their sense of identity and hence become quite moody. Though their abilities to use speech to express themselves increase considerably, they are still more likely to express their feelings by action than by words. They try to move away from parents and suddenly, close friends become more important than parents. They can be occasionally rude to parents too and may realize and verbalize that their parents are not perfect and what is wrong with them and try to find faults with them. They have a desperate need to belong and love people other than parents and may still turn childish sometimes. They may indulge in excessive activity and their peer group often influences their clothing styles and interests.
The new teens are still thinking about their present and near future and attain greater ability to work. Girls are ahead of boys when it comes to being aware of their sexuality and the teens still like to be friends with same sex and share group activities with them. They may turn shy or modest, blush easily or try to show themselves off. Privacy becomes very important to them and they start wondering whether they are just like other guys or gals or not or whether they are normal. Some teenagers may also try to experiment with their bodies and indulge in masturbation, smoke cigarettes and try to experiment with alcohol or drugs secretly. They can test the limits of rules imposed by parents and see up to where they can stretch them conveniently. They gain the capacity for abstract thinking.