Adolescence

• Adolescence


  A developmental transition between childhood and adulthood entailing major physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes
• Conceptions of Adolescence


  • Adolescence is a social construction with no clear indication physically and biologically
  • A time of risks and opportunities (adolescent brain)
  • Biologically, it is seen as a stage of puberty which leads to the ability to reproduce
  • Evolutionarily, it is seen as a time of transitioning to becoming more civilized
  • In the social perspective, contemporary researches explain that there seems to be an exaggeration in the claim of how turbulent the stage is, and that culture is playing a role in how adolescence is experienced
• Balancing Perspectives


  • Experience of internal stresses and social expectations: Give up childish ways, Develop new interpersonal relationships, Take on greater responsibility
  • Biological, psychological, and social forces influence development
  • Biological changes are universal – all beings and cultures
• Phases of Extended Adolescence

  • Early adolescence (11-14 years): rapid pubertal change
  • Middle adolescence (14-16 years): nearly completed pubertal change
  • Late adolescence (16-18 years old): full adult appearance and anticipation of adult roles
• Puberty


  Physical transition to adulthood
• Puberty


  1. Puberty results from a cascade of hormonal responses

  2. Two broad types of pubertal changes: Overall body growth, Maturation of sexual characteristics

  
• Body Growth


  • Growth spurt: rapid gain in height and weight preceding sexual maturity
  • Girls' growth spurt occurs 2 years earlier than boys
  • Almost complete at 16 for girls and 17 1/2 for boys
  • Reverse cephalocaudal trend: hands, legs and feet accelerate first before the torso
  • Boys' shoulders broaden relative to hips while girls', the opposite
  • Boys have 2 extra preadolescent growth years that make them larger and have longer legs than girls
  • Girls begin to add fat on their arms, legs, and trunk while boys experience decrease of arm and leg fat during adolescence
  • Boys' muscle increase and red blood cell count is greater than girls leading to their superior athletic performance in adolescent years
• Sexual Maturation


  • Primary sex characteristics: enlargement and maturity of organs directly related to reproduction
  • Spermarche: first ejaculation, usually nocturnal emission
  • Menarche: first menstruation, monthly shedding of tissue of the uterus lining
  • Secondary sex characteristics: physiological signs that do not involve the sex organs
• Adolescent Brain


  • Increased neural sensitivity to evening light: secretion of melatonin is later in the night
  • Leads to later sleep time
  • Needs about 8-10 hours of sleep - sleep deprivation
  • Declines because of sleep deprivation
  • Executive function
  • Cognitive and emotional self-regulation
  • Sleep rebound on weekends sustains unhealthy sleep pattern
• Reactions to Pubertal Changes

  • Menarche: can elicit positive and negative reactions – access to information and culture
  • Spermarche: mixed feelings – boys know about it but do not talk to anyone about it beforehand
  • Tribal and village societies celebrate the onset of puberty
  • Initiation ceremony: ritualized announcement to the community marking change in a person's privilege and responsibility
  • Confusion experienced by adolescents may also be due to the absence of a widely accepted marker of physical and social maturity
• Pubertal Change, Emotion, and Social Behavior

  • Factors contributing to adolescent moodiness: Higher pubertal hormones, negative life events and their reaction to them
  • Younger adolescents have less stable moods: cheerful/sad shift
  • Situational changes: high points with peers and self-chosen leisure and low points in adult-structured settings
  • Parent-child relationships: rise in intensity of conflict and fluctuations between positive and negative parent-child interaction until around middle adolescence
  • Parent-daughter conflict tends to be more intense - more restrictions
  • The larger the gap between their perspective about readiness for new responsibilities of the teen, the more they quarrel
  • Most conflicts are mild in late adolescence
  • Throughout adolescence, problem solving greatly exceeded confrontations
• Pubertal Timing


  • Early and late maturing boys and girls are viewed differently that seem to affect their development
  • Factors accounting for the observed trend: Body image vs ideal image, Mass and social media: girlish shape of late maturing girls and the image of early maturing boys are favored
  • Body image is a strong predictor of self-esteem
  • The way they physically fit in with their peers
  • Early maturing adolescents who feel "out of place" may seek older companions that may lead them to activities they are not ready to do yet
  • Context of early maturing teens greatly increases the likelihood of early pubertal timing
• Physical and Mental Health

  • Nutrition and Eating Disorders
  • Drug Use and Abuse
  • Sexuality
  • Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenthood
  • Depression
  • Death in Adolescence
• Nutritional Needs


  • Body growth - increase in nutritional requirement
  • Teens have the poorest diet that it may lead to being overweight/obese
  • Iron deficiency during growth spurt and girls' menstruation
  • A tired, irritable teenager may be experiencing anemia than feeling unhappy
  • Frequency of family meals is strongly associated with healthy food consumption, but adolescents eat fewer meals with the family
• Overweight and Obesity


  • Genetic and environmental factors influence teens to become overweight or obese
  • Poorer in health: sedentary lifestyle, rise in consumption of animal fat and protein, refined grains, and added grains – global trade liberalization, economic growth and urbanization
  • Overweight teens may find attending school, engaging in strenuous activity, and personal care difficult
  • Dieting is counterproductive - weight gain
• Body Image Dissatisfaction


  • Boys tend to be more satisfied with their bodies than girls
  • Average weight boys are more satisfied compared to underweight and overweight boys
  • Girls' expression of body dissatisfaction: Underweight - highest level; Average - some dissatisfaction; Overweight - most dissatisfaction - more weight gain
  • Parents' intervention: Mother-daughter talk - weight management, Father-son talk: physical exercise and healthy eating
  • Other influences: Race, friends, (social) media
• Eating Disorders


  • Treatment: Family therapy, Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for Bulimia, Anorexia nervosa - getting them to eat and gain weight
  • Outcomes: Risk for depression and suicide, Those in family therapy have more lasting gains
• Drug Use and Abuse

  • Drug taking reflects sensation seeking during the teenage years
  • Alcohol, marijuana, cigarette
  • Occasional experimenters are usually psychologically healthy, sociable, curious young people
  • A minority may move from substance use to abuse
  • Programs reducing drug experimentation combine: Promotion of effective parenting, Peer pressure resistance skill teaching, Reduction of drug taking social acceptability by emphasizing health and safety risks
• Sexuality


  • Increase in androgen - increase in sex drive
  • A warm, open, give-and take conversation between parents and child is associated with reduced sexual risk taking, adoption of parents' views, and discussions about sexual health with dating partners - use of contraception
  • Adolescents who engage in early sexual activity have a variety of adverse personal, family, peer, and educational characteristics
  • Sexual orientation: genetic and prenatal, and environmental influences
  • Coming out: feeling different - confusion - self-acceptance
  • Sexually transmitted infections (STIs): most teens are aware of the basic facts on HIV/AIDS, but they tend to underestimate their susceptibility
• Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenthood

  • Low SES - low parental warmth and involvement, exposure and victimization of violence, parental separation
  • Adolescent mothers: may have a second child in two years, are on welfare or work in unsatisfying, low-paid jobs
  • Adolescent fathers: unemployment (unskilled jobs)
  • Many pregnant teenage girls have inadequate diets, use substances, and do not receive prenatal care - complications (LBW)
  • Intergenerational transmission is more likely to be experienced
  • Effective sex education programs: Teach techniques for handling (refusal skills and communication skills -use of contraceptives) sexual situations, Delivery of clear, accurate messages appropriate to teens' culture and sexual experiences, Last long enough to have impact, Provide specific information about contraceptives and access to them
• Depression


  • Risk factors: Gender (female), anxiety, social contact, stressful life events, chronic illnesses, parent-child conflict, abuse or neglect, alcohol and drug use, sexual activity, and having a parent with a history of depression
  • When outpatient treatment do not work, they need to be hospitalized
  • Treatment: psychotherapy (CBT) and medication (SSRIs)
• Death in Adolescence


  • Vehicular accidents and firearms
  • Collisions due to drinking, distracted driving, homicide (US gun control)
  • Suicide
  • Those who attempt likely have a history of emotional illness and school problems, perpetrators or victims of violence, have low self-esteem, poor impulse control, low tolerance for frustration and stress, alienated from their social circles, have a history of suicide, abused substances
• Effective sex education programmes

  • Delivery of clear, accurate messages appropriate to teens' culture and sexual experiences
  • Last long enough to have impact
  • Provide specific information about contraceptives and access to them
• Risk factors for depression

  Gender (female), anxiety, social contact, stressful life events, chronic illnesses, parent-child conflict, abuse or neglect, alcohol and drug use, sexual activity, and having a parent with a history of depression
• Treatment for depression


  1. When outpatient treatment do not work, they need to be hospitalized

  2. Psychotherapy (CBT) and medication (SSRIs)
• Causes of death in adolescence

  • Vehicular accidents
  • Firearms
  • Collisions due to drinking, distracted driving
  • Homicide (US gun control)
  • Suicide
• Characteristics of those who attempt suicide

  • History of emotional illness and school problems, perpetrators or victims of violence, have low self-esteem, poor impulse control, low tolerance for frustration and stress, alienated from their social circles, have a history of suicide, abused substances
• Protective factors against suicide

  • Family and school connectedness, emotional well-being, and academic achievement
• Formal Operational stage


  Fourth stage of Piaget's cognitive development stages, development of the capacity for abstract, systematic, scientific thinking
• Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning


  Piaget's term for the ability to develop, consider, and test hypotheses, scientific approach to problem solving
• Propositional Thought


  Adolescent's ability to evaluate the logic of propositions (verbal statements) without referring to real-world circumstances
• Examples of propositional thought


  • The hidden chip is either green or not green
  • The hidden chip is green and not green
• Improvements in information processing during adolescence

  • Working memory increases
  • Inhibition improves
  • Attention becomes more selective and flexible
  • Planning on complex tasks become more organized and efficient
  • Knowledge increases
  • Metacognition expands leading to effective strategies
  • Strategies on enhancing storage, representation, and retrieval of information become more effective
  • Cognitive-self regulation yield better moment-by-moment monitoring, evaluation, and redirection
• Factors supporting scientific reasoning

  • Working-memory capacity
  • Exposure to increasingly complex problems (education)
  • Metacognitive understanding – evaluating own objectivity
• Immature aspects of adolescent thought

  • Idealism and criticism
  • Decision making
  • Self-consciousness and self-focusing
  • Imaginary audience
  • Personal fable: a belief by adolescents that they are special, their experience is unique, and they are not subject to the rules that govern the rest of the world
• Handling the immature aspects of adolescent thought

  1. Sensitivity to public criticism: Avoid finding fault with the adolescent in front of others. Talk privately

  2. Exaggerated sense of personal uniqueness: Acknowledge their unique characteristics and encourage a more balanced perspective

  3. Idealism and criticism: Respond patiently to their grand expectations and critical remarks, Point out positive features of targets help them see blends of virtues and imperfections of societies and people

  4. Difficulty making everyday decisions: Refrain from deciding for them, model effective decision making (pros and cons)
• Factors affecting academic achievement in secondary school

  • Child-rearing styles: Authoritative parenting, joint parent-adolescent decision making, parent involvement in education – regular attendance in PTA
  • Peer influences: Peer valuing of and support for high achievement
  • School characteristics: Warm, supportive teachers, high-level thinking learning activities, and active student participation in activities and classroom decision making
  • Employment schedule: Job commitment limited to less than 15 hours per week, high-quality vocational education for non-college-bound adolescents
• Consequences of dropping out of secondary school

  • Lower literacy scores, lower employment rate (lack of skills and knowledge)
  • Related factors: persistent pattern of disruptive behavior and poor academic performance
• Preventive strategies for dropping out of secondary school

  1. Supplementary academic instruction and counseling

  2. High-quality vocational education

  3. Efforts to address factors identified

  4. Participation in extra-curricular activities
• Language development in adolescence

  • Reflects cognitive development
  • Vocabulary: reading matter becomes more adult, crucial for reading comprehension
  • Can define and discuss abstractions (love, justice, freedom)
  • Frequent use of conjunctions to express logical relationships
  • More conscious of words with multiple meanings
  • Take pleasure in irony, puns, and metaphors
  • Social perspective-taking: ability to tailor speech in another's POV
  • Specialized vocabulary