MODULE NO.

9 ADOLESCENCE: PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE and SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This module is intended for the AB PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS OF TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY ONLY to
address THE BLENDED LEARNING SCHEME for A.Y. 2022-2023 as implemented by the Commission
on Higher Education brought by the COVID -19 pandemic. Parts of this module were directly lifted
and adapted from different sources, then were compiled. All credits and rights are reserved to the
authors and/ or owners. No reproduction of any part of this module may be used, sold, or distributed for
commercial purposes or be changed or edited in other business, work, or publication, whether in print or
electronic copies unless prior permission has been granted.

I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

After completing this module, you should be able to

1. Discuss the nature of adolescence.

2. Describe the changes involved in puberty, as well as changes in the brain and sexuality during
adolescence.
3. Explain Cognitive Changes in the Adolescent Brain
4. Summarize some key aspects of how schools influence adolescent development.
5. Discuss self, identity, and religious/spiritual development in adolescence.
6. Describe changes that take place in adolescents’ relationships with their parents
7. Explain how culture influences adolescent development.
8. Identify adolescent problems in socioemotional development and strategies for helping adolescents
with problems.

II. CONTENTS

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

PUBERTY

• Puberty is a brain-neuroendocrine process occurring primarily in early adolescence that provides

stimulation for the rapid physical changes that take place during this period of development
(Berenbaum, Beltz, & Corley, 2015; Shalitin & Kiess, 2017; Susman & Dorn, 2013). Puberty is not a single,
sudden event. We know whether a young boy or girl is going through puberty, but pinpointing puberty’s
beginning and end is difficult. Among the most noticeable changes are signs of sexual maturation and
increases in height and weight. (Santrock, 2019)
• Over the past 100 years or so, girls in the United States and other cultures have been experiencing
puberty at earlier ages. Near the end of the nineteenth century, menstruation began, on average,
around age 14 or 15, compared with today’s 11 or 12. Other indicators of puberty, such as the age at
which adult height and sexual maturity are reached, have also appeared at earlier ages, probably due to
reduced disease and improved nutrition (McDowell, Brody, & Hughes, 2007; Harris, Prior, & Koehoorn,
2008; James et al., 2012).
• The earlier start of puberty is an example of a significant secular trend, a pattern of change occurring
over several generations. Secular trends occur when a physical characteristic changes over the course of

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several generations, such as earlier onset of menstruation or increased height that has occurred as a
result of better nutrition over the centuries. (Feldman, 2018)

SEXUAL MATURATION, HEIGHT, AND WEIGHT

• Development of Pubertal Characteristics in Males

Boys’ sexual maturation follows a somewhat different course. The penis and scrotum begin to grow at an
accelerated rate around the age of 12, and they reach adult size about three or four years later. As boys’
penises enlarge, other primary sex characteristics are developing with enlargement of the prostate gland and
seminal vesicles, which produce semen (the fluid that carries sperm). A boy’s first ejaculation, known as
spermarche, usually occurs around the age of 13, more than a year after the body has begun producing sperm.
At first, the semen contains relatively few sperm, but the amount of sperm increases significantly with age.
Secondary sex characteristics are also developing. Pubic hair begins to grow around the age of 12, followed
by the growth of underarm and facial hair. Finally, boys’ voices deepen as the vocal cords become longer and
the larynx larger.

The surge in production of hormones that triggers the start of adolescence may also lead to rapid swings in
mood. For example, boys may have feelings of anger and annoyance that are associated with higher hormone
levels. In girls, the emotions produced by hormone production are somewhat different: Higher levels of
hormones are associated with anger and depression (Buchanan, Eccles, & Becker, 1992; Fujisawa & Shinohara,
2011). (Feldman, 2018)

Researchers have found that male pubertal characteristics typically develop in this order: increase in penis
and testicle size, appearance of straight pubic hair, minor voice change, first ejaculation (which usually occurs
through masturbation or a wet dream), appearance of kinky pubic hair, onset of maximum growth in height
and weight, growth of hair in armpits, more detectable voice changes, and, finally, growth of facial hair.
(Santrock, 2019)

Development of Pubertal Characteristics in Females

• First, either the breasts enlarge, or pubic hair appears. Later, hair appears in the armpits. As these
changes occur, the female grows in height and her hips become wider than her shoulders. Menarche—a
girl’s first menstruation—comes rather late in the pubertal cycle. (Santrock, 2019)
• Menstruation is just one of several changes in puberty that are related to the development of primary
and secondary sex characteristics. Primary sex characteristics are associated with the development of
the organs and structures of the body that directly relate to reproduction. In contrast, secondary sex
characteristics are the visible signs of sexual maturity that do not involve the sex organs directly.
• In girls, the development of primary sex characteristics involves changes in the vagina and uterus.
Secondary sex characteristics include the development of breasts and pubic hair. Breasts begin to grow
at around the age of 10, and pubic hair begins to appear at about age 11. Underarm hair appears about
two years later. (Feldman, 2018)

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• Initially, her menstrual cycles may be highly irregular. For the first several years, she may not ovulate
every menstrual cycle; some girls do not ovulate at all until a year or two after menstruation begins. No
voice changes comparable to those in pubertal males occur in pubertal females. By the end of puberty,
the female’s breasts have become more fully rounded.
• Marked weight gains coincide with the onset of puberty. During early adolescence, girls tend to
outweigh boys, but by about age 14 boys begin to surpass girls. Similarly, at the beginning of the
adolescent period, girls tend to be as tall as or taller than boys of their age, but by the end of the middle
school years most boys have caught up or, in many cases, surpassed girls in height.

HORMONAL CHANGES

• Behind the first whisker in boys and the widening of hips in girls is a flood of hormones, powerful
chemical substances secreted by the endocrine glands and carried through the body by the
bloodstream.
• The concentrations of certain hormones increase dramatically during adolescence (Berenbaum, Beltz, &
Corley, 2015; Herting & Sowell, 2017; Nguyen, 2018; Piekarski & others, 2017). Testosterone is a
hormone associated in boys with genital development, increased height, and deepening of the voice.
Estradiol is a type of estrogen that in girls is associated with breast, uterine, and skeletal development.
• In one study, testosterone levels increased eighteenfold in boys but only twofold in girls during puberty;
estradiol increased eightfold in girls but only twofold in boys (Nottelmann & others, 1987). Thus, both
testosterone and estradiol are present in the hormonal makeup of both boys and girls, but testosterone
dominates in male pubertal development, estradiol in female pubertal development (Benyi &
Savendahl, 2017). A study of 9- to 17-year-old boys found that testosterone levels peaked at 17 years of
age (Khairullah & others, 2014).

TIMING AND VARIATIONS IN PUBERTY

• The basic genetic program for puberty is wired into the species (Day & others, 2017; Kiess & others,
2016). Weight also is linked to pubertal onset. A cross-cultural study in 29 countries found that
childhood obesity was linked to early puberty in girls (Currie & others, 2012). And a study of Chinese
girls confirmed that childhood obesity contributed to an earlier onset of puberty (Zhai & others, 2015).
• Experiences that are linked to earlier pubertal onset include nutrition, an urban environment, low
socioeconomic status, adoption, father absence, family conflict, maternal harshness, child
maltreatment, and early substance use (Bratke & others, 2017). For example, a recent study found that
child sexual abuse was linked to earlier pubertal onset (Noll & others, 2017). In many cases, puberty
comes months earlier in these situations, and this earlier onset of puberty is likely explained by high
rates of conflict and stress in these social contexts.
• For most boys, the pubertal sequence may begin as early as age 10 or as late as 13½, and it may end as
early as age 13 or as late as 17. Thus, the normal range is wide enough that, given two boys of the same
chronological age, one might complete the pubertal sequence before the other one has begun it.

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• For girls, menarche is considered within the normal range if it appears between the ages of 9 and 15. An
increasing number of U.S. girls are beginning puberty at 8 and 9 years of age, with African American girls
developing earlier than non-Latino White girls (Herman-Giddens, 2007; Selkie, 2018; Sorensen & others,
2012).

BODY IMAGE

• Adolescents are preoccupied with their bodies and develop images of what their bodies are like
(Senin-Calderon & others, 2017; Solomon-Krakus & others, 2017). Preoccupation with body image is
strong throughout adolescence but is especially acute during early adolescence, a time when
adolescents are more dissatisfied with their bodies than in late adolescence.
• The recent dramatic increase in Internet and social media use has raised concerns about their
influence on adolescents’ body images. For example, a recent study of U.S. 12- to 14-yearolds found
that heavier social media use was associated with body dissatisfaction (Burnette, Kwitowski, &
Mazzeo, 2017). Also, in a recent study of U.S. college women, spending more time on Facebook was
related to more frequent body and weight concern comparisons with other women, more attention
to the physical appearance of others, and more negative feelings about their own bodies (Eckler,
Kalyango, & Paasch, 2017).
• Gender differences characterize adolescents’ perceptions of their bodies (Hoffman & Warschburger,
2017; Mitchison & others, 2017). In general, girls are less happy with their bodies and have more
negative body images than boys throughout puberty (Griffiths & others, 2017). In a recent U.S. study
of young adolescents, boys had a more positive body image than girls (Morin & others, 2017).
• Girls’ more negative body images may be due to media portrayals of the attractiveness of being thin
and the increase in body fat in girls during puberty (Benowitz, Fredericks & others, 2012). One study
found that both boys’ and girls’ body images became more positive as they moved from the
beginning to the end of adolescence (Holsen, Carlson Jones, & Skogbrott Birkeland, 2012).

EARLY AND LATE MATURATION

• Adolescents who mature earlier or later than their peers perceive themselves differently (Lee & others,
2017; Wang & others, 2018). In the Berkeley Longitudinal Study some years ago, early maturing boys
perceived themselves more positively and had more successful peer relations than did their late-
maturing counterparts (Jones, 1965). When the late-maturing boys were in their thirties, however, they
had developed a stronger sense of identity than the early-maturing boys had (Peskin, 1967).
• This identity development may have occurred because the late-maturing boys had more time to explore
life’s options, or because the early-maturing boys continued to focus on their advantageous physical
status instead of on career development and achievement. More recent research confirms, though, that
at least during adolescence it is advantageous to be an early-maturing rather than a late-maturing boy
(Graber, Brooks-Gunn, & Warren, 2006).

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• In one study, in the sixth grade, early maturing girls showed greater satisfaction with their figures than
did late-maturing girls, but by the tenth grade late-maturing girls were more satisfied (Simmons & Blyth,
1987) (see Figure 3). A possible reason for this is that in late adolescence early maturing girls are shorter
and stockier, whereas late-maturing girls are taller and thinner.
• Thus, late-maturing girls in late adolescence have bodies that more closely approximate the current
American ideal of feminine beauty—tall and thin. Also, one study found that in the early high school
years, late-maturing boys had a more negative body image than early maturing boys (de Guzman &
Nishina, 2014).
• Early maturing girls are more likely to smoke, drink, be depressed, have an eating disorder, engage in
delinquency, struggle for earlier independence from their parents, and have older friends; and their
bodies are likely to elicit responses from males that lead to earlier dating and earlier sexual experiences
(Ibitoye & others, 2017; Pomerantz & others, 2017; Wang & others, 2018).
• In a recent study, onset of menarche before 11 years of age was linked to a higher incidence of distress
disorders, fear disorders, and externalizing disorders in females (Platt & others, 2017). Another study
found that early maturation predicted a stable higher level of depression for adolescent girls (Rudolph &
others, 2014).
• Further, researchers recently found that early-maturing girls had higher rates of depression and
antisocial behavior as middle-aged adults, mainly because their difficulties began in adolescence and did
not lessen over time (Mendle & others, 2018). Further, early maturing girls tend to have sexual
intercourse earlier and to have more unstable sexual relationships, and they are more at risk for physical
and verbal abuse in dating (Chen, Rothman, & Jaffee, 2017; Moore, Harden, & Mendle, 2014).
• In sum, early maturation often has more favorable outcomes in adolescence for boys, especially in early
adolescence. However, late maturation may be more favorable for boys, especially in terms of identity
and career development.

THE BRAIN

• The development of the brain mainly changes in a bottom-up, top-down sequence with sensory,
appetitive (eating, drinking), sexual, sensation-seeking, and risk-taking brain linkages maturing first and
higher-level brain linkages such as self-control, planning, and reasoning maturing later (Zelazo, 2013).
• The corpus callosum, where fibers connect the brain’s left and right hemispheres, thickens in
adolescence, and this improves adolescents’ ability to process information (Chavarria & others, 2014).
• The prefrontal cortex doesn’t finish maturing until the emerging adult years, approximately 18 to 25
years of age, or later (Cohen & Casey, 2017; Juraska & Willing, 2017; Sousa & others, 2018).
• At a lower, subcortical level, the limbic system, which is the seat of emotions and where rewards are
experienced, matures much earlier than the prefrontal cortex and is almost completely developed in
early adolescence (Mueller & others, 2017). The limbic system structure that is especially involved in
emotion is the amygdala.

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• With the onset of puberty, the levels of neurotransmitters change (Cohen & Casey, 2017). For example,
an increase in the neurotransmitter dopamine occurs in both the prefrontal cortex and the limbic
system during adolescence (Cohen & Casey, 2017). Increases in dopamine have been linked to increased
risk taking and the use of addictive drugs (Webber & others, 2017). Researchers also have found that
dopamine plays an important role in reward seeking during adolescence (Dubol & others, 2018).
• As adolescents develop, they have more connections across brain areas (Lebel & Deoni, 2018; Quinlin &
others, 2017; Sousa & others, 2018; Tashjian, Goldenberg, & Galvan, 2017). The increased
connectedness (referred to as brain networks) is especially prevalent across more distant brain regions.
• Consider leading researcher Charles Nelson’s (2003) view that, although adolescents are capable of very
strong emotions, their prefrontal cortex hasn’t adequately developed to the point at which they can
control these passions. It is as if their brain doesn’t have the brakes to slow down their emotions. Or
consider this interpretation of the development of emotion and cognition in adolescents: “early
activation of strong ‘turbo-charged’ feelings with a relatively unskilled set of ‘driving skills or cognitive
abilities to modulate strong emotions and motivations” (Dahl, 2004, p. 18).

ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY

• Adolescence is a time of sexual exploration and experimentation, of sexual fantasies and realities, of
incorporating sexuality into one’s identity. Adolescents have an almost insatiable curiosity about
sexuality. They are concerned about whether they are sexually attractive, how to do sex, and what
the future holds for their sexual lives. Although most adolescents experience times of vulnerability
and confusion, the majority will eventually develop a mature sexual identity.

Developing a Sexual Identity

• An adolescent’s sexual identity involves activities, interests, styles of behavior, and an indication of
sexual orientation (whether an individual has same-sex or other-sex attractions, or both) (Goldberg
& Halpern, 2017). For example, some adolescents have a high anxiety level about sex, others a low
level. Some adolescents are strongly aroused sexually, others less so. Some adolescents are very
active sexually, others not at all (Hyde & DeLamater, 2017). Some adolescents are sexually inactive
in response to their strong religious upbringing; others go to church regularly and yet their religious
training does not inhibit their sexual activity.
• Many youth have no recollection of early same-sex attractions and experience a more abrupt sense
of their same-sex attraction in late adolescence. The majority of adolescents with same-sex
attractions also experience some degree of other-sex attractions (Carroll, 2018). Even though some
adolescents who are attracted to individuals of their same sex fall in love with these individuals,
others claim that their same-sex attractions are purely physical (Diamond & Alley, 2018; Savin-
Williams, 2017, 2018).

Risk Factors in Adolescent Sexual Behavior

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• Early sexual activity is linked with risky behaviors such as drug use, delinquency, and school-related
problems (Boisvert, Boislard, & Poulin, 2017; Rivera & others, 2018).
• A recent study found that early sexual debut (first sexual intercourse before age 13) was associated
with sexual risk taking, substance use, violent victimization, and suicidal thoughts/attempts in both
sexual minority (in this study, gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents) and heterosexual youth (Lowry,
Robin, & Kann, 2017).
• In addition to having sex in early adolescence, other risk factors for sexual problems in adolescence
include contextual factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) and poverty, immigration/ethnic
minority status, family/parenting and peer factors, and school-related influences (Simons & others,
2016; Warner, 2018).
• A recent study revealed that adolescents who in the eighth grade reported greater parental
knowledge and more family rules about dating were less likely to initiate sex from the eighth to
tenth grade (Ethier & others, 2016). Also, a recent study revealed that of a number of parenting
practices the factor that best predicted a lower level of risky sexual behavior by adolescents was
supportive parenting (Simons & others, 2016).
• Cognitive and personality factors are increasingly implicated in sexual risk taking in adolescence.
Weak self-regulation (difficulty controlling one’s emotions and behavior) and impulsiveness are two
such factors. Another longitudinal study found that weak self-regulation at 8 to 9 years of age an risk
proneness (tendency to seek sensation and make poor decisions) at 12 to 13 years of age set the
stage for sexual risk taking at 16 to 17 years of age (Crockett, Raffaelli, & Shen, 2006).

ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY

• Adolescent pregnancy creates health risks for both the baby and the mother (Leftwich & Alves,
2017). Infants born to adolescent mothers are more likely to have low birth weights—a
prominent factor in infant mortality—as well as neurological problems and childhood illness
(Leftwich & Alves, 2017).
• Adolescent mothers are more likely to be depressed and to drop out of school than their peers
are (Siegel & Brandon, 2014). Although many adolescent mothers resume their education later
in life, they generally never catch up economically with women who postpone childbearing until
their twenties.
• Researchers have found that adolescent mothers interact less effectively with their infants than
do adult mothers (Leftwich & Alves, 2017). One study revealed that adolescent mothers spent
more time negatively interacting and less time in play and positive interactions with their infants
than did adult mothers (Riva Crugnola & others, 2014)

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

ADOLESCENT COGNITION

PIAGET’S THEORY: THE FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE

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• The formal operational stage is the stage at which people develop the ability to think abstractly. Piaget
suggested that people reach this stage at the start of adolescence, around the age of 12.
• By bringing formal principles of logic to bear on problems they encounter, adolescents are able to
consider problems in the abstract rather than only in concrete terms. They are able to test their
understanding by systematically carrying out rudimentary experiments on problems and situations and
observing what their experimental “interventions” bring about. (Feldman, 2018)
• Although Piaget proposed that children enter the formal operational stage at the beginning of
adolescence, you may recall that he also hypothesized that—as with all the stages of cognitive
development—full capabilities do not emerge suddenly, at one stroke. Instead, they gradually unfold
through a combination of physical maturation and environmental experiences. According to Piaget, it is
not until adolescents are around 15 years old that they are fully settled in the formal operational stage.
• One of the reasons adolescents differ in their use of formal operations relates to the culture in which
they were raised. For instance, people who live in isolated, scientifically unsophisticated societies and
who have little formal education are less likely to perform at the formal operational level than formally
educated persons living in more technologically sophisticated societies (Segall et al., 1990; Commons,
Galaz-Fontes, & Morse, 2006; Asadi, Amiri, & Molavi, 2014). (Feldman, 2018)
• Adolescents are no longer limited to actual, concrete experiences as anchors for thought. They can
conjure up make-believe situations, abstract propositions, and events that are purely hypothetical, and
can try to reason logically about them.
• Another indication of the abstract quality of adolescents’ thought is their increased tendency to think
about thought itself. One adolescent commented, “I began thinking about why I was thinking what I
was. Then I began thinking about why I was thinking about what I was thinking about what I was.” If this
sounds abstract, it is, and it characterizes the adolescent’s enhanced focus on thought and its abstract
qualities.
• Accompanying the abstract nature of formal operational thought is thought full of idealism and
possibilities, especially during the beginning of the formal operational stage, when assimilation
dominates. Adolescents engage in extended speculation about ideal characteristics—qualities they
desire in themselves and in others. Such thoughts often lead adolescents to compare themselves with
others in regard to such ideal standards.
• At the same time that adolescents think more abstractly and idealistically, they also think more logically.
Children are likely to solve problems through trial and error; adolescents begin to think more as a
scientist thinks, devising plans to solve problems and systematically testing solutions.
• This type of problem solving requires hypothetical-deductive reasoning, which involves creating a
hypothesis and deducing its implications, steps that provide ways to test the hypothesis. Thus, formal
operational thinkers develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems and then systematically deduce
the best path to follow to solve the problem.

ADOLESCENT EGOCENTRISM

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• Adolescent egocentrism is the heightened self-consciousness of adolescents. David Elkind (1976)

points out that adolescent egocentrism has two key components—the imaginary audience and
personal fable. The imaginary audience is reflected in adolescents’ belief that others are as
interested in them as they themselves are, as well as attention-getting behavior—attempts to be
noticed, visible, and “on stage.”
• According to Elkind, the personal fable is the part of adolescent egocentrism involving a sense of
uniqueness and invincibility (or invulnerability).
• Adolescents’ sense of personal uniqueness makes them believe that no one can understand how
they really feel. As part of their effort to retain a sense of personal uniqueness, adolescents might
craft a story about the self that is filled with fantasy, immersing themselves in a world that is far
removed from reality. Personal fables frequently show up in adolescent diaries.
• Adolescents often have been portrayed as having a sense of invincibility or invulnerability. This
sense of invincibility may lead adolescents to believe that they themselves are invulnerable to
dangers and catastrophes (such as deadly car wrecks) that happen to other people. As a result,
some adolescents engage in risky behaviors such as drag racing, drug use, suicide attempts, and
having sexual intercourse without using contraceptives or barriers against STIs (Alberts, Elkind, &
Ginsberg, 2007).

INFORMATION PROCESSING

• From the perspective of proponents of information processing approaches to cognitive

development, adolescents’ mental abilities grow gradually and continuously. Unlike Piaget’s view
that the increasing cognitive sophistication of the adolescent is a reflection of stage-like spurts, the
information processing perspective sees changes in adolescents’ cognitive abilities as evidence of
gradual transformations in the capacity to take in, use, and store information. A number of
progressive changes occur in the ways people organize their thinking about the world, develop
strategies for dealing with new situations, sort facts, and achieve advances in memory capacity and
perceptual abilities (Pressley & Schneider, 1997; Wyer, 2004).
• The most important cognitive change in adolescence is improvement in executive function—an
umbrella-like concept that consists of a number of higher-level cognitive processes linked to the
development of the prefrontal cortex (Crone, Peters, & Steinbeis, 2018; Gerst & others, 2017).
• Executive function involves managing one’s thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior and to
exercise self-control (Bardikoff & Sabbagh, 2017; Knapp & Morton, 2017; Wiebe & Karbach, 2018).
Our further coverage of executive function in adolescence focuses on cognitive control, decision
making, and critical thinking.

Cognitive Control

• Cognitive control involves effective control in a number of areas, including controlling attention,
reducing interfering thoughts, and being cognitively flexible (Stewart & others, 2017). Cognitive

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control continues to increase in adolescence and emerging adulthood (Chevalier, Dauvier, & Blaye,
2018; Romer, Reyna, & Satterthwaite, 2017; Somerville, 2016). Think about all the times adolescents
need to engage in cognitive control, such as the following situations (Galinsky, 2010):
o making a real effort to stick with a task, avoiding interfering thoughts or environmental
events, and instead doing what is most effective;
o stopping and thinking before acting to avoid blurting out something that a minute or two
later they wished they hadn’t said;
o continuing to work on something that is important but boring when there is something a lot
more fun to do, inhibiting their behavior and doing the boring but important task, saying to
themselves, “I have to show the self-discipline to finish this.”
• Controlling attention is a key aspect of learning and thinking in adolescence and emerging adulthood
(Lau & Waters, 2017; Mueller & others, 2017). Distractions that can interfere with attention in
adolescence and emerging adulthood come from the external environment (other students talking
while the student is trying to listen to a lecture, or the student turning on a laptop or tablet PC
during a lecture and looking at a new friend request on Facebook, for example) or intrusive
distractions from competing thoughts in the individual’s mind.
• Cognitive flexibility involves being aware that options and alternatives are available and adapting to
the situation (Buttelmann & Karbach, 2017; Wang, Ye, & Degol, 2017). Before adolescents and
emerging adults adapt their behavior in a situation, they must be aware that they need to change
their way of thinking and be motivated to do so (Gopnik & others, 2018).

Decision Making

• Older adolescents are described as more competent than younger adolescents, who in turn are
more competent than children (Keating, 1990). Compared with children, young adolescents are
more likely to generate different options, examine a situation from a variety of perspectives,
anticipate the consequences of decisions, and consider the credibility of sources.
• Most people make better decisions when they are calm than when they are emotionally aroused.
That may especially be true for adolescents, who have a tendency to be emotionally intense (Cohen
& Casey, 2017). The same adolescent who makes a wise decision when calm may make an unwise
decision when emotionally aroused. In the heat of the moment, emotions may overwhelm decision-
making ability (Goddings & Mills, 2017).
• The social context plays a key role in adolescent decision making (Breiner & others, 2018; Sherman,
Steinberg, & Chein, 2018; Silva & others, 2017). For example, adolescents’ willingness to make risky
decisions is more likely to occur in contexts where substances and other temptations are readily
available (Helm & Reyna, 2018; Meschkow & others, 2018; Reyna, 2018; Reyna & Rivers, 2008).
• To better understand adolescent decision making, Valerie Reyna and her colleagues (Helm & Reyna,
2018; Meschkow & othes, 2018; Reyna, 2018; Reyna & Farley, 2006; Reyna & others, 2011, 2015,
2017; Romer, Reyna, & Satterthwaite, 2017) have proposed the fuzzy-trace theory dual-process

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model, which states that decision making is influenced by two cognitive systems—“verbatim”
analytical (literal and precise) and gist-based intuitional (simple bottomline meaning)—which
operate in parallel. Basing judgments and decisions on simple gist is viewed as more beneficial than
analytical thinking to adolescents’ decision making.

Critical Thinking

• Cognitive changes that allow improved critical thinking in adolescence include the following:
o increased speed, automaticity, and capacity of information processing, which free
cognitive resources for other purposes;
o more breadth of content knowledge in a variety of domains;
o increased ability to construct new combinations of knowledge; and
o a greater range and more spontaneous use of strategies or procedures for applying or
obtaining knowledge, such as planning, considering alternatives, and cognitive
monitoring.

THE TRANSITION TO MIDDLE OR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

• The transition to middle or junior high school takes place at a time when many changes—in the
individual, in the family, and in school—are occurring simultaneously (Wigfield & others, 2015;
Wigfield, Rosenzweig, & Eccles, 2017; Wigfield, Tonks, & Klauda, 2016).
• Moreover, when students make the transition to middle or junior high school, they experience
the top-dog phenomenon, moving from being the oldest, biggest, and most powerful students
in the elementary school to being the youngest, smallest, and least powerful students in the
middle or junior high school.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
• Researchers have found that participation in extracurricular activities is linked to higher grades,
greater school engagement, less likelihood of dropping out of school, improved probability of
going to college, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression, delinquency, and substance
abuse (Denault & Guay, 2017; Simpkins, Fredricks, & Eccles, 2015; Wigfield & others, 2015).
• Adolescents gain more benefit from a breadth of extracurricular activities than from focusing on
a single extracurricular activity
• High-quality extracurricular activities that are likely to promote positive adolescent
development provide competent, supportive adult mentors; opportunities for increasing school
connectedness; challenging and meaningful activities; and opportunities for improving skills.

SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ADOLESCENTS

THE SELF, IDENTITY, AND RELIGIOUS/ SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

SELF-ESTEEM

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• Recall that self-esteem is the overall way we evaluate ourselves. Controversy characterizes the extent to
which self-esteem changes during adolescence and whether there are gender differences in
adolescents’ self-esteem (Harter, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016). In one study, both boys and girls had
particularly high self-esteem in childhood, but their self-esteem dropped considerably during
adolescence (Robins & others, 2002). In this study, the self-esteem of girls declined more than the self-
esteem of boys during adolescence.
• Some critics argue that developmental changes and gender differences in self-esteem during
adolescence have been exaggerated (Harter, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2016). Despite the differing results and
interpretations, the self-esteem of girls is likely to decline at least somewhat during early adolescence
• Why would the self-esteem of girls decline during early adolescence? One explanation points to girls’
negative body images during pubertal change. Another explanation involves the greater interest young
adolescent girls take in social relationships and society’s failure to reward that interest (Impett & others,
2008).
• Self-esteem reflects perceptions that do not always match reality (Jordan & Zeigler-Hill, 2013). An
adolescent’s self-esteem might indicate a perception about whether he or she is intelligent and
attractive, for example, but that perception may not be accurate. Thus, high selfesteem may refer to
accurate, justified perceptions of one’s worth as a person and one’s successes and accomplishments,
but it can also indicate an arrogant, grandiose, unwarranted sense of superiority over others.
• Narcissism refers to a self-centered and self-concerned approach toward others. Typically, narcissists
are unaware of their actual self and how others perceive them (Miller & others, 2017; Thomaes &
Brummelman, 2016). This lack of awareness contributes to their adjustment problems. Narcissists are
excessively self-centered and self-congratulatory, viewing their own needs and desires as paramount
(Kealy & others, 2017).
• Research by Jean Twenge and her colleagues (2008a, b) indicated that compared with Baby Boomers
who were surveyed in 1975, twelfth-graders surveyed in 2006 were more self-satisfied overall and far
more confident that they would be very good employees, mates, and parents. However, other large-
scale analyses have revealed no increase in high school and college students’ narcissism from the 1980s
through the first decade of the twenty-first century (Roberts, Edmonds, & Grijalva, 2010; Trzesniewski &
Donnellan, 2010; Trzesniewski, Donnellan, & Robins, 2008a, b, 2013).

IDENTITY

What Is Identity? When identity has been conceptualized and researched, it typically is explored in a broad
sense. However, identity is a self-portrait that is composed of many pieces and domains:

• The career and work path the person wants to follow (vocational/career identity)
• Whether the person is conservative, liberal, or middle-of-the-road (political identity)
• The person’s spiritual beliefs (religious identity)
• Whether the person is single, married, divorced, and so on (relationship identity)

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• The extent to which the person is motivated to achieve and is intellectually oriented
(achievement, intellectual identity)
• Whether the person is heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered (sexual
identity)
• Which part of the world or country a person is from and how intensely the person identifies
with his or her cultural heritage (cultural/ethnic identity)
• The kinds of things a person likes to do, which can include sports, music, hobbies, and so on
(interests)
• The individual’s personality characteristics, such as being introverted or extroverted,
anxious or calm, friendly or hostile, and so on (personality)
• The individual’s body image (physical identity)

ERIKSON’S VIEW
• It was Erik Erikson (1950, 1968) who first understood how central questions about identity
are to understanding adolescent development. Recall that Erikson’s fifth developmental
stage, which individuals experience during adolescence, is identity versus identity confusion.
During this time, said Erikson, adolescents are faced with deciding who they are, what they
are all about, and where they are going in life.
• Erikson’s term for the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy. During this
period, society leaves adolescents relatively free of responsibilities and able to try out
different identities. Adolescents experiment with different roles and personalities. They may
want to pursue one career one month (lawyer, for example) and another career the next
month (doctor, actor, teacher, social worker, or astronaut, for example). They may dress
neatly one day, sloppily the next. This experimentation is a deliberate effort on the part of
adolescents to find out where they fit in the world. Most adolescents eventually discard
undesirable roles.

DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES

How do individual adolescents go about the process of forming an identity? Eriksonian

researcher James Marcia (1980, 1994) reasons that Erikson’s theory of identity development
contains four statuses:

• Identity diffusion is the status of individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis or
made any commitments. Not only are they undecided about occupational and
ideological choices, they are also likely to show little interest in such matters.
• Identity foreclosure is the status of individuals who have made a commitment but not
experienced a crisis. This occurs most often when parents hand down commitments to
their adolescents, usually in an authoritarian way, before adolescents have had a chance
to explore different approaches, ideologies, and vocations on their own.

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• Identity moratorium is the status of individuals who are in the midst of a crisis but
whose commitments are either absent or are only vaguely defined.
• Identity achievement is the status of individuals who have undergone a crisis and made
a commitment.

Crisis is defined as a period of identity development during which the individual is exploring
alternatives. Most researchers use the term exploration rather than crisis. Commitment is
personal investment in identity.

Resolution of the identity issue during adolescence and emerging adulthood does not mean that
identity will be stable throughout the remainder of life (Demilray & others, 2018). Many
individuals who develop positive identities follow what are called “MAMA” cycles; that is, their
identity status changes from moratorium to achievement to moratorium to achievement
(Marcia, 1994).

CULTURAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY

• Identity developments is influenced by culture and ethnicity (Kiang & Witkow, 2018; McLean &
others, 2018; Umana-Taylor & others, 2018; Yoon & others, 2017). Most research on identity
development has historically been based on data obtained from adolescents and emerging adults in
the United States and Canada, especially those who are non-Latino Whites (Schwartz & others,
2012, 2015a, b). Many of these individuals have grown up in cultural contexts that value individual
autonomy.
• However, in many countries around the world, adolescents and emerging adults have grown up
influenced by a collectivist emphasis on fitting in with the group and connecting with others
(Schwartz & others, 2015a, b). The collectivist emphasis is especially prevalent in East Asian
countries such as China. Researchers have found that selforiented identity exploration may not be
the main process through which identity achievement is attained in East Asian countries (Schwartz &
others, 2015a, b). Rather, East Asian adolescents and emerging adults may develop their identity
through identification with and imitation of others in their cultural group (Bosma & Kunnen, 2001).
• Ethnic identity is an enduring aspect of the self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic
group, along with the attitudes and feelings related to that membership (Douglass & Umana-Taylor,
2017; Meeus, 2017; Umana-Taylor & Douglass, 2017; Umana-Taylor & others, 2018; White & others,
2018; Yoon & others, 2017). Most adolescents from ethnic minority groups develop a bicultural

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identity. That is, they identify in some ways with their ethnic group and in other ways with the
majority culture (Cooper, Gonzales, & Wilson, 2015).

RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

Religion and Identity Development

• Identity development becomes a central focus during adolescence and emerging adulthood (Kroger,
2015). As part of their search for identity, adolescents and emerging adults begin to grapple in more
sophisticated, logical ways with such questions as “Why am I on this planet?” “Is there really a God or
higher spiritual being, or have I just been believing what my parents and the church imprinted in my
mind?” “What really are my religious views?”

Cognitive Development and Religion in Adolescence

• Adolescents’ increased idealistic thinking provides a foundation for thinking about whether religion
provides the best route to a better world. And adolescents’ increased logical reasoning gives them the
ability to develop hypotheses and systematically sort through different answers to spiritual questions
(Good & Willoughby, 2008).

The Positive Role of Religion in Adolescents’ Lives

• A research meta-analysis found that spirituality/religiosity was positively related to well-being, self-
esteem, and three of the Big Five factors of personality (conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness)
(Yonker, Schnabelrauch, & DeHaan, 2012). In this meta-analysis, lower levels of spirituality/ religion
were associated with higher levels of risk-taking and depression. Further, a recent study revealed that
high school students who reported turning to spiritual beliefs when they were experiencing problems
were less likely to engage in substance use (Debnam & others, 2018). And across three countries
(England, Scotland, and Canada), adolescents who reported having a higher level of spirituality were
more likely to have positive health outcomes (Brooks & others, 2018).
• Many religious adolescents also adopt their religion’s message about caring and concern for people
(Lerner & others, 2015). For example, in one survey religious youth were almost three times as likely to
engage in community service as nonreligious youth (Youniss, McLellan, & Yates, 1999).

PARENTAL MONITORING AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

• A key aspect of the managerial role of parenting is effective monitoring, which is especially important as
children move into the adolescent years (Bendezu & others, 2018; Cope & others, 2017; Kelly, Becker, &
Spirito, 2017; Lindsay & others, 2018; Low & Shortt, 2017; Rusby & others, 2018).
• Monitoring includes supervising adolescents’ choice of social settings, activities, and friends, as well as
their academic efforts. In a recent study of fifth- to eighth-graders, a higher level of parental monitoring
was associated with students having higher grades (Top, Liew, & Luo, 2017).

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• A recent metaanalysis also found that higher levels of parental monitoring and rule enforcement were
linked to later initiation of sexual intercourse and increased use of condoms by adolescents (Dittus &
others, 2015). Another study revealed that adolescents with high levels of depressed mood.
• A current interest involving parental monitoring focuses on adolescents’ management of their parents’
access to information, especially strategies used in disclosing or concealing information about their
activities (Rote & Smetana, 2016; Smetana, Robinson, & Rote, 2015). When parents engage in positive
parenting practices, adolescents are more likely to disclose information.

AUTONOMY AND ATTACHMENT

AUTONOMY
• The typical adolescent’s push for autonomy and responsibility puzzles and angers many parents. Most
parents anticipate that their teenager will have some difficulty adjusting to the changes that
adolescence brings, but few parents imagine and predict just how strong an adolescent’s desires will be
to spend time with peers or how intensely adolescents will want to show that it is they—not their
parents—who are responsible for their successes and failures.
• At the onset of adolescence, the average individual does not have the knowledge to make appropriate
or mature decisions in all areas of life. As the adolescent pushes for autonomy, the wise adult
relinquishes control in those areas where the adolescent can make reasonable decisions but continues
to guide the adolescent to make reasonable decisions in areas where the adolescent’s knowledge is
more limited. Gradually, adolescents acquire the ability to make mature decisions on their own.
• Gender differences characterize autonomy-granting in adolescence. Boys are given more independence
than girls.

THE ROLE OF ATTACHMENT

• Researchers have found that insecurely attached adolescents are more likely than securely attached
adolescents to have emotional difficulties and to engage in problem behaviors such as juvenile
delinquency and drug abuse (Hoeve & others, 2012). A recent study involving adolescents and emerging
adults from 15 to 20 years of age found that insecure attachment to mothers was linked to becoming
depressed and remaining depressed (Agerup & others, 2015).
• A study of Chinese adolescents revealed that authoritative parenting positively predicted parent-
adolescent attachment, which in turn was associated with a higher level of adolescent self-esteem and
positive attachment to peers (Cai & others, 2013). And a longitudinal study revealed that secure
attachment in adolescence and emerging adulthood was predicted by observations of maternal
sensitivity across childhood and adolescence (Waters, Ruiz, & Roisman, 2017).

PARENT-ADOLESCENT CONFLICT
• Conflict with parents often escalates during early adolescence and then lessens as the adolescent
reaches 17 to 20 years of age. In a recent study of Chinese American families, parent-adolescent conflict

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increased in early adolescence, peaked at about 16 years of age, and then decreased through late
adolescence and emerging adulthood (Juang & others, 2018). Parent-adolescent relationships become
more positive if adolescents go away to college than if they attend college while living at home (Sullivan
& Sullivan, 1980).
• The everyday conflicts that characterize parent-adolescent relationships may actually serve a positive
developmental function. These minor disputes and negotiations facilitate the adolescent’s transition
from being dependent on parents to becoming an autonomous individual. Recognizing that conflict and
negotiation can serve a positive developmental function can tone down parental hostility.
o Old Model Autonomy
▪ detachment from parents;
▪ parent and peer worlds are isolated Intense, stressful conflict throughout adolescence;
▪ parent-adolescent relationships are filled with storm and stress on virtually a daily basis
o New Model Attachment and autonomy
▪ parents are important support systems and attachment figures;
▪ adolescent-parent and adolescent- peer worlds have some important connections
▪ Moderate parent-adolescent conflict is common and can serve a positive developmental
function; conflict greater in early adolescence
• Prolonged, intense conflict is associated with various adolescent problems: movement out of the home,
juvenile delinquency, depression, school dropout, pregnancy and early marriage, membership in
religious cults, and drug abuse (Brook & others, 1990; Delgado & others, 2018; Juang & others, 2018).

FRIENDSHIPS

• Harry Stack Sullivan (1953) was the most influential theorist to discuss the importance of adolescent
friendships. During adolescence, said Sullivan, friends become increasingly important in meeting social
needs. In particular, Sullivan argued, the need for intimacy intensifies during early adolescence,
motivating teenagers to seek out close friends. If adolescents fail to develop such close friendships, they
experience loneliness and a reduced sense of self-worth.
• Adolescents also say they depend more on friends than on parents to satisfy their needs for
companionship, reassurance of worth, and intimacy. The ups and downs of experiences with friends
shape adolescents’ well-being (Bagwell & Bukowski, 2018; Laursen, 2018; Nesi & others, 2017; Prinstein
& Giletta, 2016). Adolescent girls are more likely to disclose information about problems to a friend than
are adolescent boys (Rose & Smith, 2018; Rose & others, 2012).
• Developmental advantages occur when adolescents have friends who are socially skilled, supportive,
and oriented toward academic achievement (Choukas-Bradley & Prinstein, 2016; Ryan & Shin, 2018;
Witkow, Rickert, & Cullen, 2017). Positive friendship relationships in adolescence are associated with a
host of positive outcomes, including lower rates of delinquency, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior,
and bullying victimization, and higher levels of academic achievement (Kindermann & Gest, 2018;
Laursen, 2018; Laursen & Adams, 2018; Mason & others, 2017).

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PEER GROUPS

• Researchers have found that the standards of peer groups and the influence of crowds and cliques
become increasingly important during adolescence.
• Mitchell Prinstein and his colleagues (Prinstein, 2007; Prinstein & Dodge, 2008; Prinstein & Giletta, 2016)
have conducted research that found adolescents who feel uncertain about their social identity, which
may be evident in low self-esteem and high social anxiety, are most likely to conform to peers.
• This uncertainty often increases during times of transition, such as changing circumstances in school and
family life. Also, adolescents are more likely to conform to peers whom they perceive to have higher
status than they do.
• Cliques can form because adolescents engage in similar activities, such as belonging to a club or playing
on a sports team. Some cliques also form because of friendship. Several adolescents may form a clique
because they have spent time with each other, share mutual interests, and enjoy each other’s company.
• Crowds are larger than cliques and less personal. Adolescents are usually members of a crowd based on
reputation, and they may or may not spend much time together. Many crowds are defined by the
activities adolescents engage in (such as “jocks” who are good at sports or “druggies” who take drugs)
(Brown, 2011).

DATING AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Developmental Changes in Dating and Romantic Relationships Three stages characterize the development of
romantic relationships in adolescence (Connolly & McIsaac, 2009):

1. Entry into romantic attractions and affiliations at about 11 to 13 years of age. This initial stage is
triggered by puberty. From 11 to 13, adolescents become intensely interested in romance and it
dominates many conversations with same-sex friends. Developing a crush on someone is
common and the crush often is shared with a same-sex friend. Young adolescents may or may
not interact with the individual who is the object of their infatuation. When dating occurs, it
usually occurs in a group setting
2. Exploring romantic relationships at approximately 14 to 16 years of age. At this point in
adolescence, two types of romantic involvement occur: (a) Casual dating emerges between
individuals who are mutually attracted. These dating experiences are often short-lived, lasting a
few months at best, and usually endure for only a few weeks. (b) Dating in groups is common
and reflects embeddedness in the peer context. Friends often act as third-party facilitators of a
potential dating relationship by communicating their friend’s romantic interest and determining
whether this attraction is reciprocated.
3. Consolidating dyadic romantic bonds at about 17 to 19 years of age. At the end of the high
school years, more serious romantic relationships develop. This is characterized by strong
emotional bonds more closely resembling those in adult romantic relationships. These bonds
often are more stable and enduring than earlier bonds, typically lasting one year or more.

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• Early bloomers include 15 to 20 percent of 11- to 13-year-olds who say that they currently are in a
romantic relationship and 35 percent who indicate that they have had some prior experience in
romantic relationships. One study found that early bloomers externalized problem behaviors through
adolescence more than their on-time and later-bloomer counterparts (Connolly & others, 2013)
• Late bloomers comprise approximately 10 percent of 17- to 19-year-olds who say that they have had no
experience with romantic relationships and another 15 percent who report that they have not engaged
in any romantic relationships that lasted more than four months.
• Most gay and lesbian youth have had some same-sex sexual experience, often with peers who are
“experimenting.” Some gay and lesbian youth continue to have a same-sex orientation while others
have a primarily heterosexual orientation (Savin-Williams, 2017, 2018).

CULTURE AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

• Around the world, the experiences of male and female adolescents continue to be quite different
(Brown & Larson, 2002; Peitzmeier & others, 2016). Except in a few regions, such as Japan, the
Philippines, and Western countries, males have far greater access to educational opportunities than
females do (UNICEF, 2018).
• In some countries, adolescents grow up in closely knit families with extensive kin networks that retain a
traditional way of life. For example, in Arab countries “adolescents are taught strict codes of conduct
and loyalty” (Brown & Larson, 2002, p. 6).
• However, in Western countries such as the United States, parenting is less authoritarian than in the
past, and much larger numbers of adolescents are growing up in divorced families and stepfamilies.
• In most Western nations, peers figure prominently in adolescents’ lives, in some cases taking on roles
that in other cultures are assumed by parents. Among street youth in South America, the peer network
serves as a surrogate family that supports survival in dangerous and stressful settings. In other regions
of the world, such as in Arab countries, peer relations are restricted, especially for girls (Booth, 2002).
• According to Larson (2001), U.S. adolescents may have too much unstructured time because when they
are given a choice they typically engage in unchallenging activities such as hanging out and watching TV.
Although relaxation and social interaction are important aspects of adolescence, it seems unlikely that
spending large numbers of hours per week in unchallenging activities would foster development.
• Structured voluntary activities may provide more promise for adolescent development than
unstructured time, especially if adults give responsibility to adolescents, challenge them, and provide
competent guidance in these activities (Larson & Dawes, 2015; Larson, Orson, & Bowers, 2017; Larson,
Walker, & McGovern, 2018).

RITES OF PASSAGE

• A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual that marks an individual’s transition from one status to another.
Most rites of passage focus on the transition to adult status. In some traditional cultures, rites of

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passage are the avenue through which adolescents gain access to sacred adult practices, to knowledge,
and to sexuality.
• These rites often involve dramatic practices intended to facilitate the adolescent’s separation from the
immediate family, especially the mother. The transformation is usually characterized by some form of
ritual death and rebirth, or by means of contact with the spiritual world.
• Bonds are forged between the adolescent and the adult instructors through shared rituals, hazards, and
secrets to allow the adolescent to enter the adult world. This kind of ritual provides a forceful and
discontinuous entry into the adult world at a time when the adolescent is perceived to be ready for the
change.

MEDIA USE AND SCREEN TIME

• Television continues to have a strong influence on children’s and adolescents’ development, but
children’s use of other media and information/communication devices has led to the use of the term
screen time, which includes how much time individuals spend watching television or DVDs, playing video
games, and using computers or mobile media such as iPhones (Yan, 2018).
• A recent study found that nighttime mobile phone use and poor sleep behavior increased from 13 to 16
years of age (Vernon, Modecki, & Barber, 2018). In this study, increased nighttime mobile phone use
was linked to increased externalizing problems, as well as decreased self-esteem and coping.
• A major trend in the use of technology is the dramatic increase in media multitasking (Edwards & Shin,
2017; Steinborn & Huestegge, 2017). In the 2009 survey, when the amount of time spent multitasking
was included in computing media use, 11- to 14-year-olds spent nearly 12 hours a day (compared with
almost 9 hours a day when multitasking was not included) exposed to media (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts,
2010)!
• In some cases, media multitasking—such as text messaging, listening to an iPod, and updating a
YouTube site—is engaged in while doing homework. It is hard to imagine that this allows a student to do
homework efficiently, although there is little research on media multitasking.
• A recent research review concluded that at a general level, digital technologies (surfing the Internet,
texting someone) while engaging in a learning task (reading, listening to a lecture) distract learners and
result in impaired performance on many tasks (Courage & others, 2015).
• The same research review also concluded that when driving subtasks such as various perceptual-motor
activities (steering control, changing lanes, maneuvering through traffic, braking, and acceleration) and
ongoing cognitive tasks (planning, decision making, or maintaining a conversation with a passenger) are
combined with interactive in-vehicle devices (phones, navigation aids, portable music devices), the task
of driving becomes more complex and the potential for distraction increases.
• Also, in a recent study, heavy multimedia multitaskers were less likely than light media multitaskers to
delay gratification and more likely to endorse intuitive, but wrong, answers on a cognitive reflection task
(Schutten, Stokes, & Arnell, 2017).

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• A recent study found that less screen time was linked to adolescents’ better health-related quality of life
(Wong & others, 2018). Another recent study indicated that a higher level of social media use was
associated with a higher level of heavy drinking by adolescents (Brunborg, Andreas, & Kvaavik, 2017).
• Text messaging has become the main way that adolescents connect with their friends, surpassing face-
to-face contact, e-mail, instant messaging, and voice calling (Lenhart, 2015; Lenhart & others, 2015).
However, voice mail was the primary way that most adolescents preferred to connect with parents.

ADOLESCENT PROBLEMS

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

• The label juvenile delinquent is applied to an adolescent who breaks the law or engages in behavior that
is considered illegal. Like other categories of disorders, juvenile delinquency is a broad concept,
encompassing legal infractions that range from littering to murder.
• A recent study of more than 10,000 children and adolescents found that family environments
characterized by poverty and child maltreatment were linked to entering the juvenile justice system in
adolescence (Vidal & others, 2017). The norms of many lower-SES peer groups and gangs are antisocial,
or counterproductive to the goals and norms of society at large. Getting into and staying out of trouble
are prominent features of life for some adolescents in low-income neighborhoods. Being “tough” and
“masculine” are high-status traits for lower-SES boys, and these traits are often measured by the
adolescent’s success in performing and getting away with delinquent acts.
• Parental monitoring of adolescents is especially important in determining whether an adolescent
becomes a delinquent (Bendezu & others, 2018; Dishion & Patterson, 2016). Family discord and
inconsistent and inappropriate discipline are also associated with delinquency (Bor, McGee, & Fagan,
2004). And one study found that low rates of delinquency from 14 to 23 years of age were associated
with an authoritative parenting style (Murphy & others, 2012). Recent research indicates that family
therapy is often effective in reducing delinquency (Darnell & Schuler, 2015; Leve, Chamberlain, & Kim,
2015).
• An increasing number of studies have found that siblings can have a strong influence on delinquency
(Laursen & others, 2017; Wallace, 2017). Peer relations also can influence delinquency (Prinstein &
others, 2018). Adolescents who begin to hang out with delinquent peers are more likely to become
delinquent themselves (Dong & Krohn, 2016).
• Lack of academic success is associated with delinquency (Mercer & others, 2016). And a number of
cognitive factors such as low self-control, low intelligence, and lack of sustained attention are linked to
delinquency (Fine & others, 2016).

DEPRESSION

• How widespread is depression in adolescence? Rates of ever experiencing major depressive disorder
range from 15 to 20 percent for adolescents (Graber & Sontag, 2009). Adolescents who are experiencing
a high level of stress and/or a loss of some type are at increased risk for developing depression (Cohen &

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others, 2018; Luyten & Fonagy, 2018). Also, a recent study found that adolescents who became
depressed were characterized by a sense of hopelessness (Weersing & others, 2016).
• Adolescent females are far more likely to develop depression than are their male counterparts. Among
the reasons for this gender difference are that females tend to ruminate in their depressed mood and
amplify it; females’ self-images, especially their body images, are more negative than males’; females
face more discrimination than males do; and puberty occurs earlier for girls than for boys (Bunge &
others, 2017).
• Common causes of depression:
o having a depressed parent, emotionally unavailable parents, parents who have high marital
conflict, and parents with financial problems.
o mother-daughter co-rumination (extensively discussing, rehashing, and speculating about
problems) was linked to an increase in anxiety and depression in adolescent girls (Waller & Rose,
2010).
o adolescents who were isolated from their peers and whose caregivers emotionally neglected
them were at significant risk for developing depression (Christ, Kwak, & Lu, 2017).
o Not having a close relationship with a best friend, having less contact with friends, and being
rejected by peers increase depressive tendencies in adolescents (Platt, Kadosh, & Lau, 2013).

SUICIDE

• Suicide behavior is rare in childhood but escalates in adolescence and then increases further in
emerging adulthood (Park & others, 2006).
• Females are more likely to attempt suicide than males, but males are more likely to succeed in
committing suicide (Ivey-Stephenson & others, 2017).
• Males use more lethal means, such as guns, in their suicide attempts, whereas adolescent females
are more likely to cut their wrists or take an overdose of sleeping pills—methods less likely to result
in death
• Both earlier and later experiences are linked to suicide attempts, and these can involve family
relationships (Bjorkenstam, Kosidou, & Bjorkenstam, 2017; King & others, 2018). The adolescent
may have a long-standing history of family instability and unhappiness (Wan & Leung, 2010). Just as
a lack of affection and emotional support, high control, and parental pressure for achievement
during childhood are related to adolescent depression, such combinations of family experiences also
are likely to show up as distal factors in adolescents’ suicide attempts.
• Just as genetic factors are associated with depression, they also are associated with suicide (De la
Cruz-Cano, 2017; Rao & others, 2017). The closer a person’s genetic relationship to someone who
has committed suicide, the more likely that person is to also commit suicide.
• Suicidal adolescents often have depressive symptoms (du Roscoät & others, 2016; Thompson &
Swartout, 2018). Although not all depressed adolescents are suicidal, depression is the most
frequently cited factor associated with adolescent suicide (Thapar & others, 2012). In a recent study,

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MODULE NO. 9 ADOLESCENCE: PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE and SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

depressed adolescent suicide attempters had greater anhedonia severity (Auerbach & others, 2015).
A sense of hopelessness, low self-esteem, and high self-blame also are associated with adolescent
suicide (Asarnow & others, 2015; Chang, 2017).

THE INTERRELATION OF PROBLEMS AND SUCCESSFUL PREVENTION/INTERVENTION PROGRAMS

A review of the programs that have been successful in preventing or reducing adolescent problems found these
common components (Dryfoos, 1990; Dryfoos & Barkin, 2006):

1. Intensive individualized attention. In successful programs, high-risk adolescents are attached to a

responsible adult who gives the adolescent attention and deals with the adolescent’s specific needs
(Plourde & others, 2017).
2. Community-wide multiagency collaborative approaches. The basic philosophy of community-wide
programs is that a number of different programs and services have to be in place (Trude & others,
2018).
3. Early identification and intervention. Reaching younger children and their families before children
develop problems or at the onset of their problems is a successful strategy (Almy & Cicchetti, 2018).

III. REFERENCES

Berk, L. E. (2018). Development Through the LIfe Span (7th ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Boyd, D., & Bee, H. (2015). Lifespan Development (7th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited.

Feldman, R. S. (2018). Development Across the Life Span (8th ed.). England: Pearson.

Santrock, J. W. (2017). Life Span DEvelopment (17th ed.). New York, New York, USA: McGrawhill Education.

23 | Module 9 Adolescence: Physical, Cognitive and Socioemotional Development gachasegawa