Adolescent Development
Summary Lectures
Lecture 1 – Introduction
Defining adolescence the period between the onset of sexual maturation and the attainment
of adult roles and responsibilities. Transition from:
Child status (requires adult monitoring), to
Adult status (self-responsibility for behavior)
Health paradox of adolescence It is the healthiest and most resilient period of the lifespan
(more speed, immune, resistance to cold ect). But: morbidity and death rates increase
200-300% from childhood to late adolescence!!
Caused by problems with control of behavior and emotion, leading to risk taking
and sensation seeking behavior.
Aristoteles “Youth are as heated by nature as drunken men are by wine”
What is the empirical evidence that adolescents are ‘heated by Nature’?
Hormones?
Brain changes?
Something different than biology?
And: should we intervene? Probably, because if we don’t and adolescents get addicted to
alcohol and drugs, poor health habits will show up as potentially early mortality in adulthood.
It also impacts the developing body.
Stanley Hall Recapitulation Theory (adolescence is a period of storm and stress).
Arnett Review of storm and stress. Many adolescents navigate this interval with minimal
difficulties. But: there is empirical evidence for increased conflict with parents and
risk behavior.
Modified view of storm and stress: not a myth, real for many, but not for all.
Petersen 57% of adolescents go through this period healthy!
Margaret Mead Storm and stress is in modernized cultures. Man-made.
Conceptualizing adolescent development
How to conceptualize adolescent development from a scientific standpoint?
Adolescence is about interactions between biology, behavior and social context
Interdisciplinary approach needed
John Hill First president of the Society of Research on Adolescence. Two kinds of changes
are significant during adolescence:
Primary changes = the developmental changes that make adolescence distinctive
(biological, cognitive and social).
Secondary changes = the psychological consequences of the interaction between the
primary changes and the settings (domains: identity, autonomy, intimacy,
sexuality, achievement)
Developmental tasks:
, 1. Accepting one’s physical body and keeping it healthy (autonomy?)
2. Achieving new and more mature relationships with age mates of both sexes (intimacy)
3. Achieving emotional autonomy from parents and other adults (autonomy)
4. Achieving a satisfying gender role (identity)
5. Preparing for a job or career (achievement)
6. Making decisions about marriage and family life
7. Becoming socially responsible
8. Developing a workable philosophy, a mature set of values, and worthy ideals
Adolescence consists of different 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
History of adolescence
Over time, average age of menarche (first menstruation) occurs earlier and first marriage
occurs later. Or they don’t even get married: ‘cohabitation’. People are also delaying
childbirth. So: a lot is changing. The question that arises, is: when does puberty end?
Marriage or childbirth is not a good marker anymore.
There are many more adult social roles that mark the end of puberty: starting
careers, owning a home, choosing to become parents
They are now occurring a decade or more after puberty!! Used to be 2-4 years.
Maturity gap = The mismatch of biological (mature reproductive capacity) and
psychological transitions (‘adult roles’). This gap has become a lot bigger over time.
Adolescents are biologically capable and compelled to be sexual beings but
asked to delay most positive aspects of adult life.
They cannot work until 16, not respected by adults (role-less)
They are segregated from older people in their ‘own’ schools. This creates a
youth culture.
, Lecture 2 – Pysical Development
Five areas of changes:
Maturation of reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics
Nervous and endocrine systems
Skeletal growth
Body composition & distribution of fat and muscle (habitus)
Circulatory and respiratory systems
Three important parts of puberty:
Timing Early, on-time, late
Status Stage, where are you along the process
Tempo Rate, how fast do you go through the process
Which comes first, pubic hair
development or breast development?
For females Breast development is
usually the first sign of puberty, but
for others, it can be pubic hair (mostly
for African girls)! These processes are
relatively independent.
Brain development is refining during
adolescent period. In general, is goes
from the back to the front of the brain.
Processes from the prefrontal cortex
(self-regulation) happen relatively
independent of pubertal changes. It
happens through growth and
experience.
To start menstruating, girls need to have a minimal level of body fat. Therefore, many athletes
are very late with their first period.
For girls Peak height velocity is at 12.
For boys Peak height velocity is at 14.
Ways to look at pubertal development
Status
Stressful Change Hypothesis (about status)
All change is stressful. You’re not going to do
well going through changes: more depression,
conflict with parents ect. Out of puberty, you’ll be fine.
Timing
Off-time Hypothesis Early and late maturing boys and girls are at risk. Or:
early girls and late boys are at risk (they are the ‘weird’ ones).
Maturation Disparity Hypothesis / Early Timing Hypothesis
, Hormonal Influence Hypothesis
Tempo
Maturation Compression Hypothesis If you go through puberty at a quick
rate, people start to have unrealistic expectations. This might lead to
psychosocial problems.
Amplification hypothesis
Individual: Accentuation Hypothesis
Contextual Amplification Hypothesis
Lecture 3 – Cognitive Development and Risky Decision Making
Cognition = aspects of mind related to the acquisition, modification and manipulation of
knowledge in particular contexts.
Cognitive development = changes in how individual thinks, solves problems and changes in
memory, attention and information processing.
Two perspectives on cognitive development:
Piagetian Four stages
o Sensorimotor
o Preoperational
o Concrete
o Formal Four overlapping logical abilities:
Inductive reasoning = from specific experiences to general rule
Hypothetical – deductive reasoning = from a general rule to a
specific or new situation
Reflective – recursive thinking = think about own thoughts as if
someone else is thinking about them: meta-cognition.
Inter-propositional logic = a subset of deductive reasoning, ability to
judge the truth of logical relationships among propositions.
Limitations Cultural insensitivity: while formal operations may be a universal
potential, the form it takes in each culture may be different from the tasks devised by
Piaget.
Information Processing
Definition of risk taking:
1. Engaging in behaviors that could potentially lead to negative outcomes (real-world
risk taking)
2. Choosing an option with the higher outcome variability – that is, the wider range of
possible outcomes.
Theories on risk taking
Old: Elkind Imaginary audience & personal fable.
