Chapter 6 Adolescence

• Adolescence


  Begins with puberty and ends with the transition to adulthood
• Adolescence


  • 10-18 y/o
  • Physical changes triggered by hormones
  • Increase propensity for risky behavior
• Physical Development in Adolescence

  1. Growth in Adolescence

  2. Puberty: A period of rapid growth and sexual maturation

  3. Growth can be observed through distal-proximal development: The growth proceeds from the extremities toward the torso

  4. Weight differences are more noteworthy than height differences
• Sexual Development in Adolescence

  • Primary sexual characteristics: changes in the reproductive organs
  • Secondary sexual characteristics: visible physical changes not directly linked to reproduction but signal sexual maturity
• Primary sexual characteristics in males

  Growth of testes, penis, scrotum, and spermarche: first ejaculation of semen
• Primary sexual characteristics in females

  • Growth of uterus and menarche: first menstrual period
  • Vulva: Female external genitalia
• Stress and higher percentage of body fat

  Can bring menstruation at younger ages
• Secondary sexual characteristics in females


  Breast development occurs around 10 y/o
• Acne


  • Pimples on the skin due to overactive sebaceous glands
  • Boys develop acne more than girls because of greater levels of testosterone in their systems
• Mental health problems


  Are linked to children who begin puberty early
• Mental health problems linked to early puberty in girls

  • Depression
  • Substance use
  • Eating disorders
  • Disruptive behavior disorders
  • Early sexual behavior
• Early puberty in girls


  • Mismatch between the child's appearance and the way she acts and thinks
  • Adults assume the child is more capable than she actually is
• Early puberty in boys

  Rapid pubertal change may be a more important risk factor than the timing of development
• Early puberty


  Increased odds of cigarette, alcohol, or another drug use
• Gender role intensification occurs during adolescence
• Adolescent Brain Development


  1. Myelination and neuronal connection continues > increase in white matter > improvement in thinking and processing skills

  2. Synaptic pruning > gray matter > become thinner but more efficient > greater integration of memory and experiences in decision making
• Myelination


  Greater myelination diminishes plasticity as myelin inhibits the growth of new connections
• Synaptic pruning


  Gray matter becomes thinner but more efficient
• Limbic system


  • Regulates emotion and reward
• Prefrontal cortex


  • Control of impulses, organization, planning, and making good decisions
• Mismatch in timing of maturity between limbic system and prefrontal cortex


  Causes risky behavior, poor decision making, and weak emotional control
• When puberty begins earlier

  This mismatch extends even further
• Sensitivity to dopamine


  Peaks during adolescence, involved in reward circuits > possible rewards outweigh risks > causes to seek excitement
• Oxytocin


  Facilitates bonding and makes social connections more rewarding > causes to seek peers
• Adolescent Sleep


  8 to 10 hours of sleep
• Sleep deprivation in adolescents

  Negatively affects impulsivity and decision-making process, leading to risky sexual behavior
• Eating Disorders in Adolescence

  • Muscle Dysmorphia: Extreme desire to increase one's muscularity
  • Anorexia Nervosa: Restriction of energy intake leading to a significantly low body weight
  • Osteoporosis: reduction in bone density
  • Bulimia Nervosa: Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain
  • Binge-eating Disorder: Binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior
• Anorexia Nervosa


  • Highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder
• Treatment for Eating Disorders

  1. Adequate nutrition

  2. Treatment plans: medical care, nutritional counseling, medications

  3. Stopping inappropriate behaviors

  4. Maudsley Approach: Has parents of adolescents with anorexia nervosa be actively involved in their child's treatment

  5. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Assists sufferers by identifying distorted thinking patterns and changing inaccurate beliefs
• Piaget's Formal Operational Stage

  • Abstract Principles: Have no physical reference
  • Hypothetical-deductive reasoning: Developing hypotheses based on what might logically occur
  • Transitivity: A relationship between two elements is carried over to other elements logically related to the first two
• Egocentrism in adolescence


  • Heightened self-focus
  • Attributing unlimited power to their own thoughts
• Imaginary audience


  Adolescent's belief that those around them are as concerned and focused on their appearance as they themselves are
• Personal Fable


  Belief that one is unique, special, and invulnerable to harm
• Consequences of formal operational thought in adolescence

  • Introspection: Thinking about one's thought and feelings
  • Idealistic: Insisting upon high standards of behavior
  • Becomes critical of others, especially adults
  • Hypocrisy: Pretend to be what they are not
  • Pseudostupidity: When they approach problems at a level that is too complex, and they fail because the tasks are too simple
• Cognitive control in adolescence

  • Executive function is very competent
  • Self-regulation: The ability to control impulses
• High stress


  Makes adolescents more prone to more risky decisions
• Inductive reasoning


  • Specific observations, or specific comments from those in authority, may be used to draw general conclusions
  • Bottom-up processing
  • Emerges in childhood
• Deductive reasoning


  • Starts with some overarching principle and based on this proposes specific conclusions
  • Top-down processing
  • Emerges in adolescence
  • Guarantees a truthful conclusion
• Intuitive thought


  • Automatic, unconscious, and fast
  • More experiential and emotional
  • More commonly used by children and teens than by adults
• Analytic thought


  Deliberate, conscious, and rational