Adolescence development
EXAM 1 1
HC1 - Introduction 1
HC2 - Self and Identity 3
HC3 - Physical Development 5
HC4 - Part 1: Brain development 10
HC4 - Part 2: Cognitive Development and Risky Decision Making 11
EXAM 2 14
HC5 - Contemporary Perspectives on Moral Development 14
HC6 - Family and Adolescent Autonomy 17
HC7 - Peer Relationships 20
HC8 - Love and Sex 22
EXAM 3 24
HC9 - Alcohol and Delinquency 24
HC10 - Media Use 24
HC11 - School and Achievement 26
HC12 - Depression, Non-suicidal self injury and Suicide 28
HC13 - Wrap up and Transition to Adulthood 31
,EXAM 1
HC1 - Introduction
Adolescence is the period between the onset of sexual maturation and the attainment of
adult roles and responsibilities.
- It is the transition from child, that requires adult monitoring, to adult, where there is
self-responsibility for behavior.
Adolescence is the healthiest and most resilient period of the lifespan due to an increase in
terms of strength, speed, immune function and resistance to cold, injury, hunger etc.
● Yet: the morbidity and rates increase 200-300% from childhood to late adolescence.
○ Primary causes of death/disability are related to problems of control of
behavior and emotion.
■ Risk-taking, sensation seeking and erratic behavior is linked to deaths
because of accidents, suicide, eating disorders, substance use etc.
→ There is a health paradox of adolescence.
Scientists throughout the last centuries are asking questions about the paradox. Does it
have something to do with biology? What are the implications for interventions?
- G. Stanley Hall was the first person to study youth and put out questionnaires. Theories:
● Recapitulation theory: The development of the individual reflected the development
of the species.
○ Infants are like animals and adolescents are like savages and adults are
related to a civilized society.
● Storm and Stress: It is normal for all adolescents to go through a period of storm and
stress because of biology.
○ Arnett reviewed this concept and says that it oversimplifies a complex issue.
Many adolescents navigate this interval with minimal difficulties.
■ But there is evidence for an increased rate in conflicts with parents
(the intensity), mood volatility and risk behavior.
■ He said that it is not a myth, real for many, but not all and not
necessarily related to psychopathology.
Timeline of the conceptualization of adolescence:
● 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.
● 1930-50s Anna Freud: psychoanalytic perspective, storm and stress is normal
● 1960s and 1970s: attempts to understand the problems as due to “raging hormones.
● 1980s Petersen (1988) questioned the idea that all youth experience trouble.
○ Thinking that all adolescents have trouble with health could dismiss serious
problems. Help is needed in some cases, so this was an important paper.
● 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 and context.
● 2000s evolutionary ideas applied to recast concept of risk.
○ A safe environment means that it isn’t bad to delay responsibilities regarding
surviving (having children, work etc).
● 2010s neuroscience models of the adolescent brain in relation to behavior.
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, - To conceptualize adolescent development an interdisciplinary approach is needed. The
interactions between biology, behavior and social context is important.
There are two changes during adolescence according to John P. Hill (1973):
● Primary changes: the developmental changes that make adolescence distinctive.
○ Three 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 (social roles)
● 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).
Steinberg text: Early Adolescence (10-13 years) - Middle adolescence (14-17 years) - Late
Adolescence (18-21) - Young Adulthood (22-30)
Others: Emerging Adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood.
Developmental tasks during adolescence:
1. Accepting one’s physical body and keeping it healthy.
2. Achieving new and more mature relationships with age mates of both sexes.
3. Achieving emotional autonomy from parents and other adults.
4. Achieving a satisfying gender role.
5. Preparing for a job or career.
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.
During the last 150 years children reach (psychical) maturity at a younger age.
- In many cultures adolescence is recognized as an interval between childhood and adult
status, which the end is marked by a ritual (linked to age or puberty).
● Onset of adult status: marriage, work roles, becoming a parent, independence.
● The interval between puberty and marriage can be used as an index of length.
○ In a lot of cultures marriage will occur when boys have a specific level of
achievement. Girls often marry within two years of the onset of puberty.
In western cultures, the average age at menarche is 12 and the average age of the first
marriage for females is 27 (in the US). In 1970 people married at the age of 22.
● In Europe the age is higher: Marriage happens later just like first birth and marriage
isn’t required anymore to have a child.
Not only is the attitude about marriage changing, there are also other adult social roles that
changed: 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 a 6-15
year interval in contemporary societies.
● These changes have advantages (academic, economic) and costs (vulnerabilities).
- There is a mismatch of biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological
transitions (adult roles) → maturity gap:
1. Biologically capable and compelled to be sexual beings but asked to delay most
positive aspects of adult life.
2. Cannot work until 16 and labor is not respected by adults, so they are role-less and
have economic liabilities.
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