Chapter 11

Physical and
Cognitive
Development
in Adolescence
Chapter 11
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Chapter Outline
• The nature of adolescence
• Physical changes
• Issues in adolescent health
• Adolescent cognition
• Schools
11 - 2
The Nature of Adolescence
• Adolescents face
– Biological changes
– New experiences
– New developmental tasks
• Influences on the adolescent
– Ethnic
– Cultural
11 - 3
The Nature of Adolescence
– Gender
– Socioeconomic
– Age
– Lifestyle differences
• Youth benefit when they have caring adults in
their lives in addition to parents or guardians
11 - 4
Physical Changes
• Puberty: Period of rapid physical maturation,
occurring primarily in early adolescence, that
involves hormonal and bodily changes
– Sexual maturation, height, and weight
• Marked weight and height gains
• Facial and chest hair growth in males
• Pubic hair growth
• Breast growth in females
• Menarche: Girl’s first menstruation
11 - 5
Figure 11.1 - Pubertal Growth Spurt
11 - 6
Physical Changes
• Puberty
– Hormonal changes
• Hormones: Chemicals secreted by the endocrine glands
and carried throughout the body by the bloodstream
• Increases in testosterone and estradiol
11 - 7
Physical Changes
• Puberty
– Timing and variations in puberty
• Average age of menarche has declined significantly
since mid-19th century
• Improved nutrition and health
• Pubertal sequence begins:
– Boys - 10-13 1/2 years
– Girls - Between ages of 9 and 15 years
11 - 8
Figure 11.2 - Age at Menarche in Northern European
Countries and the United States in the Nineteenth and
Twentieth Centuries
11 - 9
Physical Changes
• Puberty
– Body image
• Preoccupation with body image is strong throughout
adolescence
• Girls are less happy with their bodies and have more
negative body images
• Puberty
– Early and late maturation
11 - 10
Physical Changes
• Boys
– Early-maturing boys view themselves more positively and
have more successful peer relations
– Late maturing boys report a stronger sense of identity in their
30s
• Girls
– Early-maturing girls show greater satisfaction early but less
satisfaction later
» More likely to smoke, drink, be depressed
» Have an eating disorder
» Struggle for earlier independence
» Have older friends
11 - 11
Figure 11.3 - Early-and Late-Maturing Adolescent Girls’
Perceptions of Body Image in Early and Late Adolescence
11 - 12
Figure 11.4 - Changes in the
Adolescent Brain
11 - 13
Changes in the Brain
• Corpus callosum: The location where fibers
connect the brain’s left and right hemispheres
• Amygdala: The region of the brain that is the
seat of emotions
• Prefrontal cortex
– The highest level of the frontal lobes involved in
reasoning, decision making, and self-control
11 - 14
Physical Changes
• Adolescent sexuality
– Developing a sexual identity
• Learning to manage sexual feelings
• Developing new forms of intimacy
• Learning skills to regulate sexual behavior
– Sexual identity includes:
• Activities
11 - 15
Physical Changes
• Interests
• Styles of behavior
• Indication of sexual orientation
– Gay males and lesbians struggle with same-sex
attractions
– Risk factors in adolescent sexual behavior
• Drug use, delinquency, and school-related problems
11 - 16
Figure 11.5 - Timing of First Sexual
Intercourse in U.S. Adolescents
11 - 17
Physical Changes
• Socioeconomic status
• Family/parenting
• Peers
– Reproductive health outcomes
• Family connectedness
• Parent-adolescent communication about sexuality
• Parental monitoring
• Partner connectedness
11 - 18
Physical Changes
– Contraceptive use
• Adolescents are increasing their use of contraceptives
• Younger adolescents are less likely to take
contraceptive precautions
– Sexually transmitted infections (STIs): Contracted
primarily through sexual contact
• Including oral-genital and anal-genital contact
11 - 19
Physical Changes
– Adolescent pregnancy
• U.S. has 1 of the highest rates in the world
• Creates health risks for baby and mother
• Low birth weight, neurological problems, childhood
illness
• Mothers drop out of school and never catch up
economically
11 - 20
Figure 11.6 - Cross-Cultural Comparisons
of Adolescent Pregnancy Rates
11 - 21
Issues in Adolescent Health
• Adolescent health
– Poor health habits and early death in adulthood
begin during adolescence
– Nutrition and exercise
• 17% of 12–19-year-olds are overweight
• Decreased intake of fruits and vegetables and less
exercise
– Sleep patterns
• Only 31% of U.S. adolescents sleep 8 or more hours a
night
11 - 22
• Adolescent health
– Leading causes of death in adolescence
• Unintentional injuries
• Homicide
• Suicide
11 - 23
• Substance use and abuse
– United States has one of the highest rates of
adolescent drug use of any industrialized nation
– Adolescent alcohol and cigarette consumption has
declined in recent years
– The roles of development, parents, peers and
education
11 - 24
• Eating disorders
– Anorexia nervosa: Relentless pursuit of thinness
through starvation
• Main characteristics
– Weight less than 85% of what is considered normal for a
person’s age and height
– An intense fear of gaining weight that does not decrease with
weight loss
– Having a distorted image of their body shape
– Amenorrhea
• 10 times more likely to occur in females than males
11 - 25
• Eating disorders
– Bulimia nervosa: Individual consistently follows a
binge-and-purge pattern
• Most bulimics
– Are preoccupied with food
– Have an intense fear of becoming overweight
– Are depressed or anxious
– Have a distorted body image
• Typically fall within a normal weight range
11 - 26
Adolescent Cognition
• Piaget’s theory
– Formal operational stage
• More abstract than concrete operational thought
• Increased verbal problem-solving ability
• Increased tendency to think about thought itself
• Thoughts of idealism and possibilities
• More logical thought
– Hypothetical-deductive reasoning: Creating a hypothesis and
deducing its implications
– Evaluating Piaget’s theory
11 - 27
• Adolescent egocentrism: Heightened self-
consciousness of adolescents
• Imaginary audience: adolescents’ belief that others are
as interested in them as they themselves are
– Attention-getting behavior
• Personal fable: Involves a sense of uniqueness and
invincibility
11 - 28
• Information processing
– Cognitive control
• Control attention and reduce interfering thoughts
• Be cognitively flexible
– Decision making
• Dual-process model: View of thinking in which decision
making is influenced by two systems
– Critical thinking
11 - 29
Schools
• The transition to middle or junior high school
– Drop in school satisfaction
– Less stressful when students have positive
relationships
• Top-dog phenomenon: Move from the top
position in elementary school to:
– The lowest position in middle or junior high
school
11 - 30
Schools
• Effective schools for young adolescents
– Develop smaller communities that lessen
impersonality of middle schools
– Lower student-counselor ratios to 10-to-1
– Involve parents and community leaders
– Integrate several disciplines in a flexible
curriculum
– Boost students’ health and fitness with more
programs
– Provide public health care 11 - 31
Schools
• High school
– Graduate with inadequate reading, writing, and
mathematical skills
– High schools should discourage dropping out
11 - 32
Figure 11.13 - School Dropout Rates of U.S. 16-to
24-Year-Olds by Gender and Ethnicity
11 - 33
Schools
• Extracurricular activities
– Sports, academic clubs, band, drama, and math
clubs
– High-quality extracurricular activities provide:
• Competent, supportive adult mentors
• Opportunities for increasing school connectedness
• Challenging and meaningful activities
• Opportunities for improving skills
11 - 34
Schools
• Service learning: Form of education that
promotes social responsibility and service to
the community
11 - 35

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