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Lectures 1-5 Adolescent Development
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Lectures 1-5 from the course Adolescent Development for Exam 1
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Lectures Adolescent Development – Exam 1Lecture 1 Introduction
Who they are at the beginning → young kids (10/11/12 years old), some look older than others;
bodies are changing = a signal for you and to the outside world (can result in differential treatment).
Defining adolescence: the period between the onset of sexual maturation and the attainment of adult
roles and responsibilities. The transition from: ‘child’ status (requires adult monitoring) → ‘adult’ status
(self-responsibility for behavior).
A. Conceptualizing Adolescence
The health paradox of adolescence. Adolescence is the healthiest and most resilient period of the
lifespan. From childhood to adolescence, increases in:
- Strength, speed, reaction time, mental reasoning, immune function
- Resistance to cold, heat, hunger, dehydration, and most types of injury
Yet: overall morbidity and rates increase 200-300% from childhood to late adolescence.
Sources of morbidity and mortality in adolescence. Primary causes of death/disability are related to
problems of control of behavior and emotion. Increase in rates of accidents, suicides, homicides,
depression, alcohol & substance use, violence, reckless behaviors, eating disorders, health problems
related to risky sexual behaviors. Increase in risk-taking, sensation-seeking, and erratic (emotionally
influenced) behavior.
These increases are recognized for a long time. “Youth are heated by Nature as drunken men by wine”
(Aristotle). “I would be that there were no age between ten and twenty-three… for there is nothing in
between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting…”(Shakespeare).
Scientific questions (Ronald Dahl) raised by this health paradox:
- What is the empirical evidence that adolescents are ‘heated by nature’?
- Are these changes based in biology?
o In the hormones of puberty?
o In specific brain changes that underpin some behavioral and emotional tendencies & problems
that emerge in adolescence?
- What are the implications for interventions? Should we intervene?
If we don’t intervene… Onset of problems such as nicotine dependence, alcohol and drug use, poor
health habits etc. will show up as mortality in adulthood. Many adult onset problems such as depression
can be traced to early episodes in adolescence. It may be causing more damage to the developing body
than to the body that is formed = reason for changing the age when youth are allowed to drink alcohol.
The earlier the onset, the more damage it causes. Delaying the age to be able to prevent it.
The father of adolescence: G. Stanley Hall (1904), first president of American Psychological
Association. He wrote a book → adolescence: its psychology and its relations to physiology,
anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion and education (2 volumes). Recapitulation theory
(adolescence is a wild time) → Storm and Stress (grew out of the recapitulation theory; adolescence is a
period of radical problems, a lot of stress, this is not good for a person to do. Idea that all adolescents
are risk takers and doing things that are bad for the world).
Arnett (1999) – Review of storm and stress. Storm and stress oversimplifies a complex issue. Many
adolescents navigate this interval with minimal difficulties. However, empirical evidence for: increased
conflicts with parents (intensify during this period); mood volitivity (and negative mood, mood swings
more); increased risk behavior, recklessness and sensation seeking. Arnett came up with a modified view
of storm and stress: it’s not really a myth, it’s real for many, but not all and not necessarily related to
psychopathology.
Conceptualizing (the study of) adolescence across time (the idea of storm and stress):
Aristotle: youth are heated by nature as drunken men by wine.
G.S. Hall (1904): a period of heightened ‘storm and stress’.
1920 Margaret Meade: questioned storm and stress in all cultures.
1930-1950s, psychoanalytic perspective, Anna Freud: storm and stress is normal.
1960s and 1970s: attempts to understand the problems as due to ‘raging hormones’.
Later conceptualizations:
1980s Petersen (1988) questioned the idea that all youth experience trouble (11% has chronic difficulties
during adolescence, 32% intermittent (problems go back and forth), 57% is healthy). ‘Storm and stress’
is not generalizable, we need to think of these individual differences.
1990s Arnett (1999) revised the idea of storm and stress.
1990s-2000s context and time period recognized as important, thus different developmental trajectories
,with consideration of time (now and 100 years ago) and context.
2000s evolutionary ideas applied to recast concept of risk (risk taking isn’t always negative → creativity,
new ways of behavior).
2010s neuroscience models of the adolescent brain in relation to behavior.
How to conceptualize adolescent development from a scientific standpoint? Adolescence: interactions
between biology, behavior and social context. Interdisciplinary approach is needed.
B. Defining adolescence
Complex to define adolescence. The period between the onset of sexual maturation (appears at different
ages for different people = unclear) and the attainment of adult roles and responsibilities. The transition
from: ‘child’ status (requires adult monitoring) → ‘adult’ status (self-responsibility for behavior). The use
of these role definitions makes the boundaries even more unclear, undefined or very depending on the
culture or our definition.
John P. Hill (1973) first president of the Society for Research on Adolescence → framework for the study
of adolescence. 2 kinds of changes that are significant during adolescence:
- Primary changes = the developmental changes that make adolescence distinctive (puberty, changes
in cognitive ability, formal operational thinking etc.);
- Secondary changes = the psychological consequences of the interaction between the primary
changes and the settings; organized into the domains of identity, autonomy, intimacy, sexuality and
achievement.
3 universal primary changes:
1. Biological changes of puberty (& brain)
2. Development of abstract thinking
3. Social redefinition of an individual from a child to an adult (or at the very least a non-child) → a
primary change is the social context; how are we going to define how a person is no longer a child?
What distinguishes an adolescent from a child? Responsibility, physical changes, puberty.
Age boundaries are not consistent across researchers → early-, middle- and late adolescence and young
adulthood <> emerging adulthood then young adulthood. There are a lot of definitions in researches.
Developmental tasks:
1. Accepting one’s physical body and keeping it healthy → dealing with what we ‘got’;
2. Achieving new and more mature relationships with age mates of both sexes;
3. Achieving emotional autonomy from parents and other adults (being able to make own decisions);
4. Achieving a satisfying gender role (what kind of men/woman am I going to be, and decide
afterwards to loosen those kind of restrictions on oneself);
5. Preparing for a job or career (be flexible);
6. Making decisions about marriage and family life;
7. Becoming socially responsible (start to think beyond the boundaries of what is good for just oneself);
8. Developing a workable philosophy, a mature set of values, and worthy ideals.
Adolescence consists of component processes:
- Rapid physical growth
- Sexual maturation
- Secondary sexual characteristics
- Motivational and emotional changes
- Cognitive development
- Maturation of judgement, self-regulation skills
- Brain changes linked to each component
➔ Relative synchrony but not perfect
C. Adolescence in context
Carol M. Worthman: “The past 150 years have witnessed a quiet revolution in human development
that still sweeps across the globe today: children nearly everywhere are growing faster, reaching
reproductive and physical maturity at earlier ages, and achieving larger adult sizes than perhaps ever in
human history.”
Secular trend in age at menarche (1840-1960) → decreased dramatically: 17 to 13 years when first
period, keeps declining; menarche at an earlier age.
Schlegel & Barry (1990) – book: 187 non-industrialized cultures; adolescence recognized as interval
between childhood and adult status; end of childhood marked by a ritual (linked to age or puberty).
Onset of adult status = marriage, work roles, owning property, becoming a parent, independence
(absence of monitoring). Interval between puberty and marriage as index of length (of adolescence).
, Puberty, marriage and adult roles in traditional human societies
Among girls, marriage occurred within two years of the onset of puberty in 63% of the societies → period
of adolescence only 2 years. Among boys the ability to take a wife would require a specific level of
achievement (e.g. making a kill on a hunt). Boys: 64% were married within four years of puberty.
Puberty, marriage and adult roles in contemporary societies
United States: average age at menarche is now age 12. Average age of first marriage for females is 27.
Pattern reflects recent changes: 1970 timing of first marriage in the U.S. (age 21 for women, 23 for
men); 2015 (age 27 for women, B26.3; 29 for men, B:31). B = first birth. Demographic switch: more
people are having baby’s out of wedlock (marriage), has to do with cohabitation (living together).
Contemporary Japan: average age at menarche has decreased four years over the past century → in
1875 menarche at 16.5 years, in 1975 12.2 years. Average age at first marriage in Japan now → 26
years for women (B 30.3), 28.4 for men.
Contemporary Europe. The Netherlands → marriage: 30 years for females (B 29.4), 33.1 for men. Italy
→ 30.6 years for females (B 30.3), 33.7 for men. Denmark → 32.2 years for females (B 28.7), 34.8 for
men. More people from different countries are delaying child birth because of economic crises
(2008/2009). Concern: is adulthood shifting? → puberty is 12, marriage is 30 = 18 years of adolescence;
does that make sense? Still trying to define adulthood, what if you don’t marry?
We have some ideas of when adolescence starts, but when it ends, especially in today’s society, is not
clear; marriage or child birth are possibly no good markers as they were in the past → much more
cohabitating-relationships instead of married. Lots of information: decide how to define the end of
adulthood.
Not simply changing attitudes about marriage. Many other adult social roles → starting careers, owning a
home, choosing to become parents, are now occurring a decade or more after puberty. Adolescence has
expanded from a 2-4 year period in traditional societies to an 6-15 year interval in contemporary
societies. These changes have advantages (academic, economic) and costs (vulnerabilities; delaying
having a baby, decreases the chance of getting pregnant).
➔ Mismatch of biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological transitions (adult roles) =
maturity gap = I want to be an adult but I’m not treated that way so I act a different way.
Maturity gap
1. Biologically capable and complied to be sexual beings but asked to delay most positive aspects of
adult life;
2. Cannot work until 16 and labor not respected by adults → role-less, economic liabilities;
3. Segregated (age-segregated schools) → youth culture, sexual socialization (by social media,
pornography instead of parents/adults).
➔ Illustrates how changes in nutrition has led to an almost world-wide lengthening of the adolescent
period. But other (rapid) contextual changes are also likely to affect adolescents.
Contextual approaches (everything is depending on the society) and social change. Social change:
- In typical characteristics of a society → economic system & social institutions; cultural products
(internet, smart phones); laws, norms and values; symbols.
- In direct social context → friends, peers, family.
- At the national or international level → breakdown of communism; formation of European Union;
globalization.
Importance of studying adolescence. Creates important dev. Challenges for adolescents; cohort-
specific demands explains diversity in results; useful for individual characteristics X context effects;
implications for intervention research (interventions are based on the context); theoretical concepts may
only be limited to particular historical circumstances.
Hall and social change. Affects fit between needs and opportunities. Social change does not affect all
individuals equally: restrict options, ind. Resources, coping (self-efficacy). Adolescents are the most
responsive to change ‘sensitive period’: adolescents and YA more likely to use new substances; new
technologies. Social change is bidirectional: demographic changes (including fertility); globalization
(weakening of community ties); individualization and pluralization of life paths.
Now in a privileged position to better understand adolescence.
Current theories → integrative; complementarity of approaches; cumulative change; contextualism;
life history (evolution); life course theory (historical time and place, timing in lives, linked lives).
Early theories → focus on one main issue; biological; psychoanalytical; sociocultural; cognitive.
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