Development in Adolescence and Adulthood

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• Chapter 11
• Development in Adolescence and Adulthood

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The Transition of Adolescence

• Physical changes.
• Pubescence - the two-year span preceding puberty
  during which the changes leading to physical and
  sexual maturity take place.
• Secondary sex characteristics physical
  features that distinguish one gender from
  another, but that are not essential to
  reproduction - develop first (see Figure 11.1).

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• Figure 11.1. Physical development during
  pubescence and puberty. During pubescence, the
  two years prior to puberty, a growth spurt occurs
  and secondary sex characteristics develop. During
  puberty, the primary sex characteristics mature.
  These various physical changes are caused by
  hormonal secretions.

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The Transition of Adolescence, continued

• Physical Changes, continued
• Primary sex characteristics the structures
  necessary for reproduction develop next, during
  puberty the stage that marks the beginning of
  adolescence and during which sexual functions
  reach maturity.
• Puberty is marked by menarche or the first
  occurrence of menstruation in females and by
  spermarche - the first ejaculation in males.

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The Transition of Adolescence, continued

• Physical Changes, continued
• The timing of puberty is very important.
• Late maturing boys feel anxious and
  self-conscious.
• Early maturing girls have more academic problems,
  lower self-confidence and earlier experiences
  with alcohol and sex.

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The Transition of Adolescence, continued

• Personality Changes, continued
• Is adolescence truly a time of turmoil?
• There is evidence that parent-adolescent
  conflicts increase during early adolescence.
• Adolescents also do experience more volatile
  emotions, more extreme moods and an increase in
  risk-taking behaviors.
• However, the degree of distress varies widely
  from person to person.

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The Transition of Adolescence, continued

• Adolescent suicide.
• Despite an increase in adolescent suicides in
  recent decades, only a small minority of
  adolescents actually commit suicide.
• Adolescents suicide attempts are often a cry
  for help and are more common in gay and lesbian
  youth than heterosexual teens.
• In addition, females are more likely to attempt
  suicide, but males are more likely to complete
  suicides.

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The Expanse of Adulthood, continued

• Early Adulthood (about age 20 to 40), continued
• Adjusting to the world of work is another key
  issue for young adults who must
• Complete schooling and secure first job while
  developing a work ethic.
• Continue to explore career options.
• Live independently from parents.
• Adjusting to marriage and family life.
• Most become involved in a committed relationship
  and may have children, which often brings a a
  shift toward more traditional gender roles.
• Both are major transitions that affect adjustment
  and marital satisfaction.

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The Expanse of Adulthood, continued

• Middle Adulthood, continued
• Confronting the aging process.
• Middle-aged adults are forced to face their own
  mortality as they witness the loss of parents,
  spouses and friends.
• Interestingly, the gap between actual age and
  subjective age, or how old we view ourselves,
  widens with time, especially among women.

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The Expanse of Adulthood, continued

• Middle Adulthood, continued
• Transitions in the parenting role.
• Parents consistently rate adolescence as the most
  difficult stage of child-rearing.
• Contrary to popular opinion, the empty nest is
  actually associated with improved mood and
  well-being for most women.
• The postparental period provides couples time
  with each other and is associated with increases
  in marital satisfaction.

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The Expanse of Adulthood, continued

• Middle Adulthood, continued
• Transitions in the work role.
• At mid-life, workers adhere to one of two
  patterns
• The stable career pattern, which brings more
  responsibility, money and influence, or
• The changing careers pattern, in which people
  embark on new careers, or in which women with
  grown children re-enter the workforce.

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The Expanse of Adulthood, continued

• Middle Adulthood, continued
• Is there a midlife crisis?
• Whether or not there is a midlife crisis a
  turbulent period of doubts and reappraisal of
  ones life is heavily debated.
• Early research suggested it exists and is a
  normal part of human development.
• However, subsequent studies cast doubt on this
  assertion, finding signs of a midlife crisis in
  only a tiny minority (2 - 5) of study
  participants.

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The Expanse of Adulthood, continued

• Late Adulthood, continued
• Retirement.
• Today, it is a more gradual process.
• For most, it has no adverse effect on health or
  life satisfaction.
• In short, adjustment is best when
• There is adequate income.
• Health is good.
• One has an extended social network.

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The Expanse of Adulthood, continued

• Late Adulthood, continued
• Changes in support networks.
• Relationship satisfaction tends to increase late
  in life and remains high until a spouse or
  partner dies.
• While older adults maintain ties with children,
  siblings and friends become more important.
• Men rely more on their wives for emotional
  support, however, leaving them vulnerable should
  they outlive their wife.

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Aging A Gradual Process

• Physical changes.
• Changes in appearance
• Weight increases until about 50 years, then
  decreases due to loss of muscle.
• Skin sags and wrinkles.
• The nose and ears become longer and wider.
• Hair becomes gray.

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Aging A Gradual Process, continued

• Physical Changes, continued
• Sensory changes
• From age 30 to 50, adults become more farsighted
  then become increasingly nearsighted.
• Depth perception, ability to adjust to darkness,
  recovery from glare and peripheral vision also
  decline.
• Hearing loss also begins in the 50s.
• Both vision and hearing losses are more prominent
  among men.

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Aging A Gradual Process, continued

• Physical Changes, continued
• Hormonal changes.
• Women experience the most drastic shift in
  hormones when estrogen levels abruptly fall
  during menopause, the time when menstruation
  ceases.
• Reactions vary greatly, depending on
  expectations.
• Some regard it positively, feeling liberated.
• Men also experience decreases in testosterone,
  but these changes are more gradual than those
  experienced by women at menopause with no usual
  physical or psychological distress.

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Aging A Gradual Process, continued

• Physical Changes, continued
• Changes in health status.
• Vulnerability to certain diseases increases with
  age.
• The most common health problems over age 65 are
  hypertension, arthritis, heart disease, cancer
  and diabetes (see Figure 11.9).
• However, those who exercise and remain active
  tend to enjoy better health than those who do not.

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• Figure 11.9 Chronic health problems in those
  over age 65. Although most people over age 65 are
  in good health, they suffer from a number of
  chronic health problems. The data shown here
  refer only to noninstitutionalized individuals.
  (Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related
  Statistics, 2004)

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Aging A Gradual Process, continued

• Cognitive changes.
• Intelligence.
• Declines, if they do occur, begin after age 60
  and vary from individual to individual.
• However, most adults do not experience declines
  in their overall intelligence.
• Adults with good health and intellectual
  stimulation also tend to experience fewer
  declines.

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Aging A Gradual Process, continued

• Cognitive Changes, continued
• Information processing and problem solving
• More significant declines are seen in this area.
• Older adults have more difficulty focusing
  attention, handling multiple cognitive tasks,
  solving problems and retrieving memories.
• In addition, information processing speed tends
  to slow.

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Aging A Gradual Process, continued

• Cognitive Changes, continued
• Memory.
• Capacity for short-term, or working, memory does
  decline with age.
• However, memory losses are moderate and are not
  universal.
• Adults who use strategies (such as taking more
  time) to compensate for memory declines retain
  better function.

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Death and Dying

• Attitudes about death.
• In Western society, the most common strategy of
  coping with death is avoidance.
• A death system is the collection of rituals and
  procedures used by a culture to handle death.
• In Western society, the death system encourages
  negative attitudes about death and death anxiety
  fear and apprehension about ones own death.

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Death and Dying, continued

• Attitudes About Death, continued
• Adults who are more certain about their religious
  beliefs (e.g., both devout Christians and devout
  atheists) have lower death anxiety than those who
  are ambivalent.
• Death anxiety is also less prevalent among those
  who feel they have accomplished more in life and
  have greater life satisfaction.
• Death anxiety also tends to decrease with age.

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Death and Dying, continued

• The process of dying.
• Kubler-Ross five stages of death are
• Denial.
• Anger.
• Bargaining.
• Depression.
• Acceptance.
• However, recent research suggests that not
  everyone progresses through these stages the same
  way.

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Death and Dying, continued

• Bereavement and grieving.
• Bereavement is the painful loss of a loved one
  through death.
• Mourning refers to the formal practices of an
  individual and a community in response to a
  death.
• In America and Western Europe, the bereaved break
  emotional ties with the deceased more quickly
  than do Asian, Hispanic and African cultures.

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Death and Dying, continued

• Bereavement and Grieving, continued
• Coping with different types of loss.
• Mothers who lose their children have the highest
  rates of depression.
• Women who lose their husbands are more depressed
  than women who lose a parent.
• Children and teens who lose a parent are
  especially vulnerable.
• Bereavement overload occurs when individuals
  experience multiple losses in close succession.

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Becoming an Effective Parent, continued

• Dimensions of child rearing.
• Two dimensions underlie child-rearing styles
• Parental acceptance (children whose parents who
  hold them in high regard develop high self-esteem
  and self-control).
• Parental control (moderate control is associated
  with maturity and responsibility).

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Becoming an Effective Parent, continued

• Correlates of parenting styles.
• Baumrind (1967, 1971, 1978) identified four
  parenting styles, based on these two dimensions.
• The authoritative style is associated with the
  most positive outcomes (see Figure 11.13).
• Children reared with this style are the most
  self-reliant, friendly and cooperative and
  perform best in school.

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• Figure 11.13 Baumrinds findings on parenting
  styles and childrens traits. Diana Baumrind
  (1978) has studied three styles of parenting and
  their relations to childrens social and
  intellectual competence. As you can see,
  authoritative parenting is associated with the
  most desirable outcomes.

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Becoming an Effective Parent, continued

• Correlates of parenting style, continued
• Children of permissive parents tend to be
  undisciplined, impulsive and easily frustrated.
• Children of authoritarian parents tend to have
  difficulty in school, have lower self-esteem and
  poorer social skills.
• Baumrind did not report on the neglectful style,
  but others have found it to be most maladaptive.

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Becoming an Effective Parent, continued

• Rearing adolescents.
• Adolescents increasing cognitive abilities
  enable them to question parental values.
• This is necessary for identity formation, but
  calls for a more equal parent-child
  relationships, and can create parent-teen
  conflicts.
• Authoritatively reared adolescents have parents
  who listen to their input while setting limits,
  and are the best adjusted.

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Becoming an Effective Parent, continued

• Toward effective parenting - five basic rules
• Set high, but reasonable standards.
• Stay alert for good behavior and reward it.
• Explain your reasons when you ask a child to do
  something.
• Encourage children to take the perspective of
  others.
• Enforce rules consistently.

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Becoming an Effective Parent, continued

• Using Punishment Effectively five tips
• Punishment should not damage the childs
  self-esteem.
• Punishment should always be swift.
• Punishment should be consistent.
• Punishment should be explained.
• Point out the alternative, positive ways for your
  child to behave and reinforce these actions.