page 5 : ADOLESCENCE

• Adolescence


  Developmental transition between childhood and adulthood entailing major physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes
• Puberty


  Process by which a person attains sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce
• Hormonal changes in puberty

  1. Adrenarche: the maturing of the adrenal glands

  2. Gonadarche: the maturing of the sex organs
• Physical changes in puberty

  • Primary sex characteristics: organs related to reproduction, which enlarge and mature
  • Secondary sex characteristics: physiological signs of sexual maturation (such as breast development and growth of body hair) that do not involve the sex organs
  • Adolescent growth spurt: sharp increase in height and weight that precedes sexual maturity
  • Sexual maturity: the maturation of the reproductive organs brings the beginning of menstruation in girls and the production of sperm in boys
• Spermarche


  Boy's first ejaculation
• Menarche


  Girl's first menstruation
• Benefits of regular exercise


  • Improved strength and endurance
  • Healthier bones and muscles
  • Weight control
  • Reduced anxiety and stress
  • Increased self-esteem, school grades, and well-being
• Recommended sleep for adolescents

  8 to 10 hours per 24-hour period
• Body image


  Descriptive and evaluative beliefs about one's appearance
• Anorexia nervosa


  Eating disorder characterized by self-starvation
• Bulimia nervosa


  Eating disorder in which a person regularly eats huge quantities of food and then purges the body by laxatives, induced vomiting, fasting, or excessive exercise
• Binge eating disorder


  Eating disorder in which a person loses control over eating and binges huge quantities of food
• Substance abuse


  Repeated, harmful use of a substance, usually alcohol or other drugs
• Substance dependence

  Addiction (physical, psychological, or both) to a harmful substance
• Alcohol


  A potent, mind-altering drug with major effects on physical, emotional, and social well-being
• Binge drinking


  Consuming five or more drinks (for men) or four or more drinks (for women) on one occasion
• Marijuana


  The most widely used illicit drug in the United States
• Tobacco


  The use of cigarettes and other tobacco products is a global health issue
• Across the world, depression is a leading cause of death and disability in teens
• Causes of death in adolescence

  • Vehicle accidents
  • Suicide
  • Homicide
• Factors affecting vehicle accident risk in adolescents

  • More passengers in the vehicle increases risk
  • Higher risk for males and new drivers
• Adolescent girls are more likely to attempt suicide but tend to use less lethal methods, such as suffocation or poisoning, and thus are more likely to survive. Although adolescent boys are less likely to attempt suicide, their greater propensity to use firearms results in a higher chance of a successful attempt
• Homicides are the third-leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States, in part because firearm-related deaths are far more common in the United States than in other industrialized countries
• Formal operations


  Piaget's final stage of cognitive development, characterized by the ability to think abstractly
• Hypothetical-deductive reasoning


  Ability, believed by Piaget, to accompany the stage of formal operations, to develop, consider, and test hypotheses
• Language development in adolescence

  Both oral and written vocabulary knowledge continues to improve and become more adultlike. By ages 16 to 18, the average young person knows approximately 80,000 words
• Prosocial moral reasoning


  Reasoning about moral dilemmas in which one person's needs conflict with those of others in situations in which social rules or norms are unclear or nonexistent
• Educational and vocational issues in adolescence

  • School is a central organizing experience
  • Some adolescents experience school as a hindrance
• Student motivation and self-efficacy

  Intrinsic motivation - the student's desire to learn for the sake of learning - is associated with academic achievement
• Self-efficacy


  Sense of one's capability to master
• Reading tests conducted on 15-year-olds in 72 countries show an advantage for girls. Although gender differences in science are small, boys score slightly higher on math assessments, and girls score slightly higher on science assessment
• Technological Influences - The expansion of technology and the major role it plays in children's lives have affected learning
• Parent and Peer Influence - Family and school experiences are subject to a phenomenon referred to as Spill Over, wherein experiences in different contexts influence each other
• Characteristics of a good middle or high school


  • Orderly and safe environment
  • Adequate material resources
  • Stable teaching staff
  • Positive sense of community
  • Strong emphasis on academics
  • Belief that all students can learn
• race and ethnicity - Children of minority status, while sharing many common developmental influences with their majority status peers, are exposed to additional potentially negative influences such as discrimination and racism