Adolescene

• Characteristics of Resilient Children

  • Good intellectual functioning
  • Appealing, sociable, easy-going disposition
  • Self-efficacy, self-confidence, high self-esteem
  • Talents
  • Faith
• Family characteristics for resilience

  • Close relationship to caring parent figure
  • Authoritative parenting: warmth, structure, high expectations
  • Socioeconomic advantages
  • Connections to extended supportive family networks
• Extra familial context for resilience

  • Bonds to prosocial adults outside the family
  • Connections to prosocial organizations
  • Attending effective schools
• Adolescence is a developmental transition between childhood and adulthood
• Puberty is the process by which a person attains the ability to reproduce
• How puberty begins

  1. Hormonal changes

  2. Psychosocial changes
• Puberty is not caused by any single factor but rather it is a cascade of hormonal responses
• Puberty process steps

  1. Hypothalamus releases GnRH

  2. Increased GnRH triggers rise in LH & FSH

  3. Hormones exert action differently on boys & girls
• Increased FSH in girls


  Leads to the onset of menstruation
• LH in boys


  Initiates the release of testosterone & androstendione
• Secular trend can be seen only by observing generations
• The trend toward earlier attainment of adult height and sexual maturity began a century ago in some countries
• Early maturation increases the likelihood of accelerated skeletal maturation
• Psychosocial difficulties have been linked to adult health issues such as reproductive tract cancers and type 2 diabetes
• Risks for early maturing girls

  • Increased risk of anxiety & depression
  • Disruptive behavior
  • Eating disorders
  • Early smoking, drinking & substance abuse
  • Antisocial behavior
  • Pre-coital sexual activity
  • Early pregnancy
  • Attempted suicide
• Risks for early maturing boys

  • Significant risk for a wide variety of negative outcomes
  • Substance use
  • Delinquent behavior
• Risks for late maturing boys

  • Feel more inadequate
  • Self-conscious
  • Rejected or dominated
  • More dependent
  • Aggressive
  • Insecure or depressed
  • More conflict with parents
  • More trouble in school
  • Higher risk for aggression problems
• Late maturing girls are generally not at risk for poor psychological outcomes
• Late maturing girls may be more reactive to interpersonal stress
• The adolescent brain shows a steady increase in white matter
• White matter permits faster transmission of information and better communication across hemispheres
• Pruning of unused dendritic connections during childhood results in a reduction in density of gray matter
• Frontal lobe


  Generally associated with problem solving, impulse control, goal setting, planning, and monitoring social behavior
• Underdevelopment of the frontal cortical system can explain why adolescents tend to seek thrills of novelty
• Sleep deprivation can sap motivation and cause irritability
• Nutrition and eating disorders can affect adolescent health
• Body image


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


  Eating disorder characterized by self-starvation
• Bulimia nervosa


  Eating disorder where a person regularly eats huge quantities of food and then purges
• Binge eating disorder


  Person loses control over eating and binges huge quantities of food
• Eating disorder symptoms


  • Using laxatives, enemas, or diuretics inappropriately
  • Going to the bathroom right after meals
  • Exercising compulsively
  • Restricting the amount of food eaten
  • Cutting food into small pieces
  • Dental cavities due to self-induced vomiting
  • Confused or slow thinking
  • Poor memory & judgment
  • Depression
  • Extreme sensitivity to cold
  • Fine hair
  • Low blood pressure
  • No menstruation
  • Significant weight loss & muscle wasting
• Bulimia symptoms


  • Abuse of laxatives, diuretics or enemas
  • Going to the bathroom right after meals
  • Frequent vomiting
  • Preventing weight gain
• Substance abuse is the harmful use of alcohol or other drugs
• Substance dependence is addiction that may be physiological, psychological or both
• Binge drinking

  Consuming 5 or more drinks (for men) or 4 or more drinks (for women) on one occasion
• Depression in young people does not necessarily appear as sadness
• Being female is a risk factor for depression
• Formal operations


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


  Accompanies the stage of formal operations to develop, consider & test hypotheses
• Kohlberg's levels of moral reasoning

  • Level 1: Preconventional morality
  • Level 2: Conventional morality
  • Level 3: Post conventional morality