Chapter 2 Notes

 Individuals tend to become less active as they reach and progress through adolescence.
 Through interaction with the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland detects when the optimal level
of hormones has been reached and maintains it with additional gonadotropin secretions.
 Research indicates that early-maturing girls are more likely to smoke, drink, and have an eating
disorder.
 Male pubertal characteristics in order:
o Increased penis and testicle size
o Appearance of straight pubic hair
o Minor voice change
o First ejaculation
o Appearance of kinky pubic hair
o Onset of maximum growth
 DNA is a double-helix shaped molecule that contains genetic information.
 A boy’s first ejaculation of semen is called spermarche.
 The adoption of healthy behavior in adolescence will help to delay or prevent certain diseases,
disabilities, and mortality from certain illnesses in adulthood.
 As individuals, we each carry a specific genetic code we inherit from our parents.
 Puberty is a period of rapid physical maturation that occurs primarily during early adolescence.
 Girls identified the following factors as being the worst things about being female: PMS, periods,
and childbirth.
 The prefrontal cortex (reasoning) matures much later than the amygdala (emotion).
 In males, the pituitary gland’s production of LH stimulates the testes to produce testosterone.
 The leading causes of death in adolescents and emerging adults are accidents, homicide, and
suicide.
 The leading cause of death in adolescence and emerging adulthood is accidents.
 Being victimized by peers predicted less willingness to engage in physical activity in overweight
youth.
 More than half of high school students participate in at least one sport.
 Gonadarche (puberty) involves the appearance of pubic hair, breast development, the
maturation of ovaries and testes.
 The epigenetic view states that development is the result of an ongoing, bidirectional
interchange between heredity and the environment.
 During the adolescent growth spurt, boys will grow 4 inches per year, while girls will grow 3.5.
 Precocious puberty is the term used to describe the very early onset and rapid progression of
puberty.
 Evolutionary psychology emphasizes the importance of adaption, reproduction, and survival of
the fittest in shaping behaviors.
 Behavior geneticists use twins to research the effects of environment and heredity.
 Early experiences that predict earlier pubertal onset include:
 o Adoption
o low socioeconomic status
o father absence
o family conflict
o child maltreatment
 The most important marker for the beginning of adolescence is puberty, which ends long before
adolescence is exited.
 Children and adolescents are likely to engage in physical activity when they feel safe.
 Androgens are the main class of male sex hormones.
 Behavior genetics seeks to discover the influence of environment and heredity on individual
differences in human development.
 In girls, changes in the adrenal glands occur from about 6 to 9 years of age.
 Rising estradiol levels in girls contributes to skeletal changes, breast development, and uterine
development.
 Chromosomes are threadlike structures that come in 23 pairs, with one member of each pair
coming from each parent.
 One form of health-compromising behavior that increases in adolescence is risk-taking.
 In humans, attachment is a form of adaptive behavior, as it ensures an infant’s closeness to the
caregiver for feeding and protection from danger.
 Hormones are carried throughout the body by the bloodstream.
 Today, young people reach puberty at earlier ages than in their grandparents’ generation. This is
known as secular trends.
 A girl’s first menstrual period is known as menarche.
 Levels of sex hormones are regulated by two hormones secreted by the pituitary gland:
o Luteinizing hormone
o Follicle-stimulating hormone
 Sensation seeking increases from 10 to 15 years of age.
 The complete set of developmental instructions for creating proteins that initiate the making of
a human organism is the human genome.
 A girl’s first menstruation occurs late in the pubertal cycle.
 One reason that adolescents engage in risky behavior is that adults decrease their monitoring of
adolescents too early.
 Studies have shown that higher weight is linked to earlier pubertal development.
 Good parental monitoring and communication skills are linked to a lower level of adolescent risk
taking.
 Physical exercise in adolescence may lower depression.
 The major barriers to better health care for adolescents are cost, poor organization and
availability.
 Gene expression may be influenced by stress, temperature, and radiation.
 More than 60 percent of college students are categorized as poor-quality sleepers.
 The hormone, FSH, stimulates follicle development in females and sperm production in males.
 Obesity delays pubertal onset in boys.
 Too often, youth coaches create a performance-oriented motivational climate that is focused on
winning, receiving public recognition, and performing better than other participants.
 Precocious puberty is usually diagnosed when pubertal onset occurs before 8 years of age in
girls and before 9 years of age in boys.
 One reason that adolescents do not get enough sleep is that they experience a delay in the
nightly release of melatonin, which is produced in the brain’s pineal gland.
 Compared with adolescents, emerging adults engage in more health compromising behaviors,
have more chronic health problems, are more likely to be obese, and are more likely to have a
mental health disorder.
 Some scientists have suggested that the onset of menarche is influenced by the percentage of
body fat in relation to total body weight.
 During adolescence, girls have a peak average weight gain of 18 pounds in one year, whereas
boys gain approximately 20 pounds.
 The growth of the human brain and gaining the experiences necessary to master the
complexities of our human society takes place in the extended childhood period of the life span.
 At the beginning of puberty, growth hormone is secreted at night.
 Testosterone, Estrogen, and Cortisol all influence growth during puberty.
 Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is linked to pubertal timing.
 The female athlete triad involves a combination of disordered eating, absence of menstrual
periods, and osteoporosis.
 One study found that just a 30-minute delay in school start time was linked to improvements in
adolescents’ sleep, alertness, mood, and health.
 Frequent family meals in adolescence are linked to the following benefits:
o Better dietary intake
o Better academic success
o Lower substance abuse
 Health services are least likely to meet the needs of low-SES adolescents, ethnic minority teens,
and younger adolescents.
 Cortisol, a hormone that is secreted by the adrenal cortex, influences growth.
 In adolescence, boys’ facial structure becomes more angular.
 Many emerging adults rely on snacks as their main food source during the day.
 A benefit associated with participation in sports is improved ability to work with others.
 Some studies indicate that tattoos and body piercings are markers for risk taking behavior in
adolescence, while other researchers argue they are used for self-expression.