DEVPSY_Adolescence

• Puberty


  A period of rapid growth and sexual maturation that begins sometime between eight and fourteen years of age
• Puberty in girls


  • Begins around ten years of age
• Puberty in boys


  • Begins approximately two years later than girls
• Pubertal changes


  • Take around three to four years to complete
• Adolescent physical growth spurt

  • Results in 10-11 inches of added height and 50 to 75 pounds of increased weight
• Distal-proximal development


  Growth proceeds from the extremities toward the torso
• Head growth


  • Begins after the feet have gone through their period of growth, preceded by growth of the ears, nose, and lips
• Internal organ growth


  • The heart and lungs experience dramatic growth during adolescence
• Primary sexual characteristics


  Changes in the reproductive organs
• Primary sexual characteristics in males

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

  • Growth of the uterus and first menstrual period (menarche)
• Female gametes


  • Present at birth but immature, with only 500 out of 400,000 becoming mature eggs
• Menstruation


  • Begins at puberty, with one ovum ripening and being released about every 28 days
• Secondary sexual characteristics in males


  • Broader shoulders, lower voice, coarser and darker hair growth
• Secondary sexual characteristics in females

  • Breast development, broadening of hips, development of pubic and underarm hair
• Adolescent brain development


  Brain matures by becoming more interconnected and specialized, with increased myelination and synaptic pruning
• Brain areas myelinated at different times

  • Language areas myelinated during the first 13 years, making it more difficult to learn a second language
• Synaptic pruning


  • Causes the gray matter of the brain to become thinner but more efficient
• Corpus callosum


  • Continues to thicken, allowing for stronger connections between brain areas
• Hippocampus


  • Becomes more strongly connected to the frontal lobes, allowing for greater integration of memory and experiences into decision making
• Limbic system


  • Regulates emotion and reward, linked to hormonal changes at puberty and related to novelty seeking and peer interaction
• Prefrontal cortex


  • Involved in impulse control, organization, planning, and decision making, does not fully develop until the mid-20s
• Mismatch in timing between limbic system and prefrontal cortex development


  Can result in risky behavior, poor decision making, and weak emotional control for the adolescent
• Adolescent brain sensitivity to dopamine

  • Peaks, making rewards outweigh risks and leading to more risk-taking behavior
• Adolescent brain affected by oxytocin


  • Facilitates bonding and makes social connections more rewarding
• Adolescent sleep needs


  8 to 10 hours per night
• Lack of adequate sleep in adolescents can lead to negative consequences like feeling tired, being cranky, falling asleep in school, having a depressed mood, and substance abuse
• Insufficient sleep in adolescents

  Is a predictor of risky sexual behaviors
• Factors affecting adolescent sleep

  • Environmental and social factors like work, homework, media, technology, and socializing, as well as biological changes in circadian rhythms
• Formal operational stage


  Piaget's stage of cognitive development in adolescence, characterized by the ability to understand abstract principles, engage in hypothetical-deductive reasoning, and understand transitivity
• Adolescent egocentrism


  A heightened self-focus and belief in one's own uniqueness and invulnerability, leading to an imaginary audience and personal fable
• Characteristics of formal operational thought

  • Introspection, idealism, hypocrisy, and pseudostupidity
• Cognitive control in adolescence


  • Executive functions like attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility are competent, but self-regulation may still fail under stress or high mental demand
• Inductive reasoning


  Emerges in childhood and involves drawing general conclusions from specific observations
• Deductive reasoning


  Involves using general principles to draw specific conclusions
• Pseudostupidity


  When they approach problems at a level that is too complex, and they fail because the tasks are too simple
• Pseudostupidity


  • Their new ability to consider alternatives is not completely under control and they appear "stupid" when they are in fact bright, just not experienced
• Information Processing Cognitive Control

  Executive functions, such as attention, increases in working memory, and cognitive flexibility are very competent in adolescence
• Self-regulation


  The ability to control impulses, may still fail, especially under high stress or high demand on mental functions
• Neurological changes in the adolescent brain

  May make teens particularly prone to more risky decision making under these conditions