Adolescence

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Adolescence

• Psyc311 Developmental
• Dr. Wright

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definition of puberty

• Pubertas Latin word for adult
• Narrow definition The process by which an
  individual becomes capable of reproduction.
• The activation of the HPG/HPA axis
• Broad definition The physical, psychological,
  and cultural changes that occur as the growing
  child transitions into adulthood.

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time periods of adolescent

• Adolescence is a unique developmental period
• it keeps changing!
• Early adolescence 11 to 13 years old
• Continues to be pushed earlier (9-10)
• Middle adolescence 14 to 17 years old
• Late adolescence (early adulthood) 18 to 20
  years old
• Continues to be pushed later (21-24)

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physical changes

• Primary sex characteristics
• The body organs and reproductive structures and
  functions that differ between women and men.
• Gonads (testes and ovaries)
• Secondary sex characteristics
• Characteristics of the body that are caused by
  hormones, develop during puberty, and last
  through adult life.
• Changes in genitals/breasts/voice
• Pubic/body/facial hair

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Tanner Stages
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Tanner Stages
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changes

• Rapid acceleration of physical growth
• Adolescent growth spurt
• 3.5 (girls) to 4.0 (boys) inches/year
• ½ adult weight gained during adolescence
• Changes in body composition
• 31 muscle to body fat ratio for boys
• 54 for girls
• Emergence of sex differences in physical
  performance
• Changes in circulatory and respiratory systems
• Increase in size/capacity of heart and lungs

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two roles of hormones

• Organizational role (life-long)
• Modification of the organism early in life
• primarily influencing its anatomy
• Organization/structure of CNS
• Feminine vs. masculan-ized brain and body
• Activational role (specific to puberty)
• Structural remodeling of brain
• Increase in salience of sexual stimuli, sexual
  motivation
• Development of secondary sex characteristics

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hormone regulatory systems

• Endocrine system
• HPA axis
• Hypothalamus ? Pituitary gland ? Adrenals
• Corticosteroids
• Regulates bodys response to stress
• HPG axis
• Hypothalamus ? Pituitary gland ? Gonads
  (Testes/Ovaries)
• Sex Hormones (Androgens/Estrogens)
• Regulates sexual maturation

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The hormonal changes brought on by puberty can
affect the adolescents behavior in at least
three ways.
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impacts of puberty

• Sleep patterns
• Delayed phase preference
• 9 hours 1 am to 10 am
• Family relations
• Transformation of parent-child bond
• Peer relations
• Transformation of friendships, romantic
  relationships

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impacts of puberty

• Self-esteem
• Changing body image
• Changing sense of self
• Moods
• Increased stress Increased sensitivity
• Fluctuation of moods
• Due to hormones or environment?
• Storm and stress myth or fact?

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moods
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timing - individual factors

• Genetic factors
• Timing and tempo
• Environmental factors
• Nutrition
• Body weight
• Exposure to hormones/chemicals
• Family conflict
• Stepfathers

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timing - group factors

• Comparisons
• Across socioeconomic groups
• Impact of poverty
• Dietary intake, health care, exposure to disease
• Across countries
• Impact of industrialization
• Across time periods
• Secular trend

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early maturation

• Boys
• Early maturation positives
• Popularity, higher self-esteem
• Early maturation negatives
• Deviant, risk behaviors more rigidity later
• Girls
• Early maturation positives
• Popularity (cultural dependence)
• Early maturation negatives
• Lower self-esteem, eating disorders, emotions,
  deviant behaviors

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late maturation

• Boys
• Late maturation positives
• Higher levels of creativity, inventiveness
• Late maturation negatives
• Low self-esteem, low social competence
• Girls
• Late maturation positives
• Thinner build
• Late maturation negatives
• Social withdrawal

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the second wave.

• Longitudinal fMRI studies reveal
• Period of rapid synaptogenesis and pruning
• Increased myelination (back to front)
• Opportunity for massive cognitive growth and
  learning
• Shift into Piagets formal operations

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Among the most important changes to take place in
the adolescence brain are those in the prefrontal
cortex and limbic system.
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(pre) frontal development

• Final development of executive function
• Planning/problem-solving
• Impulse control
• Seat of sober 2nd thought
• Full maturation sometime between adolescence
  and early adulthood
• Coincides with child-onset schizophrenia
• Failure in executive functioning

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heightened arousal

• Increased hormone activity
• estrogen testosterone
• Sexual stimulation
• Social status conflict
• Increased neurotransmitter activity
• heightened emotional sensitivity/reactivity
• Limbic system (norepinephrine)
• increased risk, stimulation-seeking behaviors
• Punishment/reward system (dopamine)
• increased fluctuations in mood
• Serotonin

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timing of brain maturation

• Limbic system matures early in puberty
• Prefrontal cortex matures several years later
• Heightened need for reward/stimulation
• leads to increased risk-taking,
  stimulation-seeking behaviors
• Higher level of emotional volatility
• Underdeveloped sober assessment of risks
• Increased cognitive/social demands
• Creates cognitive overload
• Difficulty with impulse control

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timing of brain maturation

• Time gap may explain why adolescence is a period
  of heightened experimentation with risky
  behaviors.
• Increased risk of
• violence/criminal activity
• kids under 18 account for 25 of violent crime in
  US
• drug alcohol experimentation
• unsafe sexual activities

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conduct problems
Adolescents whose prefrontal cortical development
is less mature than normal are even more likely
to have conduct problems. Populations most at
risk?
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teen pregnancy
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teen pregnancy in US

• 750-850,000 teens between 15-19 years old become
  pregnant every year.
• 2/3rds between 18-19 years old.
• 25,000 under 15 years old.
• African American teens have highest rate
• 134/1,000 vs. 48/1,1000 Caucasian teenagers
• 57 end in birth (11 of all births in US)
• 14 end in miscarriage
• 29 end in abortion
• 82 of those pregnancies were unintended
• 86 of teen mothers remain unmarried
• 35 have a 2nd child within two years

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risk factors

• Physical
• Sexual maturation
• 4-5 years before psychological/emotional
  maturation
• Becoming longer as puberty starts earlier
• Brain development
• Heightened activation of limbic system
• Increased attraction to risky behaviors
• Pre-frontal development incomplete

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Why is teenage pregnancy higher in the US?
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consequences

• SES factors
• 50 of pregnancies occur in most impoverished
  populations
• Less opportunity for education
• Less access to birth control
• Reduced internal locus of control
• Exposure to other risk factors
• drugs, alcohol, abuse, lack of parental
  monitoring
• Desire for family/stability

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consequences

• Should we be concerned about this?
• For teenage parents
• mother in particular
• For baby
• For families
• For community
• Methods of prevention?

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adolescent substance use

• Have tried, by grade 10
• cigarettes 40
• alcohol 63
• illegal drugs 38
• By end of high school
• 17 smoke regularly
• 28 recent heavy drinking
• 40 tried illegal drugs

Figure 11.7
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impact of substance abuse

• Alcohol/drug abuse
• Greater potential impairment in learning
• More widespread brain damage
• Repeated exposure may effect path and quality of
  development
• Due to reduction in plasticity, this damage
  cannot be corrected later!
• So, does this mean all experimentation with
  drugs/alcohol bad?

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adolescent substance abusers

• Compared to experimenters
• more antisocial, impulsive acts
• start earlier
• more likely to be affected by
• genetic and environmental factors
• low SES
• family drug use
• family difficulties
• physical, sexual abuse
• poor school performance

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• Should we be worried about exposure to graphic
  violence through media?
• Why or why not?
• What reasons might we have for thinking
  adolescents are particularly vulnerable to
  aggression/violence?

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social implications

• What should the social attitudes be about
  adolescent exposure to and involvement in
  high-stimulation/high-risk activities?
• Sexual Activity
• Drugs Alcohol
• Violence

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identity development

• Adolescence ? Erickson stage of identity crisis
• Identity
• Sense of individual self
• Selection of commitments, beliefs, values
• Interpersonal process
• Taking their place in the adult community

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cognitive changes

• Importance of conceptual structure of thinking
• Propositional logic thinking constrained by
  logical relations
• Emphasis on rationality and scientific
  methodology
• Importance of conceptual resources employed in
  thinking
• Five process Attention, working memory,
  processing speed, organization, meta-cognition

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cognitive changes

• Piagets Formal Operational Thought
• Logical, abstract thinking
• Thinking about possibilities
• If-then thinking
• Connection between how things are and how they
  might have been or could be.
• Thinking about thinking
• Understanding knowledge (how/when gained)
• Monitoring ones own mental states

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relativism

• Not everything is black and white
• Recognition of importance of perspective
• Death of childish realism/absolutism
• Can result in extreme skepticism
• Rejection of authority
• Rejection of cultural/social norms
• Everything is ok no right/wrong
• Tolerance for different beliefs
• Though less tolerance for actual
  interaction/helping

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adolescent egocentrism

• Increased introspection, self-consciousness,
  rationalization
• Responsible for adolescent version of
  egocentrism.
• Imaginary audience
• Personal fable
• Importance of personal individuality

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• Crisis never begins diffusion
• Crisis begins gt ends with foreclosure
• Crisis begins gt ends with achievement
• Psychosocial moratorium
• Period of exploration
• Importance in contemporary society?

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• What are some of the grounds of identity?
• Gender
• Ethnicity/culture
• Age group
• Vocation
• Political ideology
• Religious/moral values

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• What is gender identity?
• Function of gender roles
• Adolescence adulthood
• Gender intensification
• Social/cultural pressures
• Peer pressures
• Parental pressures
• Biological pressures

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• What is ethnic identity?
• Identification
• Physical/psychological characteristics
• Cultural practices/beliefs
• Racial socialization
• Majority vs. minority status
• Dislocation from native lands
• Cultural heritage
• Positive vs. negative identity
• Assimilation vs. marginality
• Bi-culturalism

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• Vocational identity
• Aspect of identity associated with career.
• Being a lawyer
• Being a janitor
• Religious identity
• Aspect of identity associated with religious
  belief system.
• Being a Christian or Buddhist
• Being an atheist
• Age identity
• Aspects of identity associated with age group.
• Being a teenager
• Being an elderly person

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Identity and stereotypes

• Identities commonly incorporate/activate
  stereotypes
• Common characteristics associated with
• Being female
• Being Native American
• Being a plumber
• Being a liberal
• Some characteristics positive, others negative.
• Stereotype activation makes these characteristics
  salient.
• This can have incredibly powerful effects on
  behavior.

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• Gender and ethnicity stereotypes
• Influence on academic performance
• When gender made salient
• Females under-perform on math exams
• When ethnicity made salient
• Blacks under-perform on academic tests
• Whites over-perform on academic tests
• Can be activated by something as simple as asking
  ethnicity on demographic form!

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• Clash of multiple identities
• Asian females
• Baseline math performance
• When gender made salient, perform less well
• When ethnicity made salient, perform better

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Other effects

• When primed with racial stereotypes people were
  more likely to perceive a power tool as a gun.
• People primed with elderly stereotype will
  perceive hills to be steeper and distances
  longer.
• People primed with stereotype of obesity
  perceived people to be less intelligent, more
  lazy.
• Priming with gender influences perception of
  artistic pieces and writing.
• Priming of identity stereotypes facilitate
  specific interpretations of behavior.

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• Positive identity stereotypes create uplift
• Negative identity stereotypes create threat
• A person can have a mixture of both in their
  identity.
• Subtle and powerful influence of our identity on
  our perception, attitudes, and behaviors.