PSYCO 223 - Lifespan Developmental Psychology

Chapter 6
Adolescence

Anahita Shokrkon
 Growth During Adolescence: The Rapid Pace of
Physical and Sexual Maturity
•Adolescence
•Growth spurt during adolescence produces dramatic changes in height
–Girls’ growth spurt starts and ends 2 years before boys’
•Puberty
–Pituitary gland signals other glands to begin producing sex hormones
▪Androgens: Male hormones
▪Estrogens: Female hormones
–Leptin appears to play a role in onset of puberty
Puberty begins earlier in girls (11 or 12) than in boys (13 or 14)
How do your hormones work?
https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_bryce_how_do_your_hormones_work?language=en
● Gender differences
- height and weight
differences

● Physical changes
 Puberty in Girls

▪Menarche (onset of menstruation) varies in different

parts of the world
▪More affluent, better nourished, healthier girls start
earlier
–Obesity leads to early maturity
▪Proportion of fat to muscle plays a role in timing
▪Environmental stress can bring on early menarche
–Since nineteenth century, U.S. girls experiencing
menarche earlier
–Earlier start an example of secular trend (statistical
tendency observed over several generations)
Puberty in Boys

–Growth of penis and scrotum occurs around 12 and goes on for 4

years
–Spermarche usually occurs around the age of 13 (first ejaculation)
–Secondary sex characteristics (voice deepens) follows primary
sex characteristic changes
–Hormone fluctuations lead to anger and annoyance
Obesity

•Obesity
–Common concern during adolescence
–1 in 5 adolescents are overweight, and 1 in 20 are obese
–Psychological consequences severe because of body focus
–Potential health consequences are also a concern
–Obese adolescents have an 80 percent chance of being obese in adulthood
–Lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyle, availability of fast food contributes
Anorexia Nervosa

▪Severe eating disorder; individuals refuse

to eat (deny their behavior and appearance)
▪15 to 20 percent starve themselves to
death
▪Primarily affects women between 12 and
40
▪Often intelligent, successful, attractive,
and affluent
▪10 percent of anorexics are male
Bulimia Nervosa
▪Characterized by binges and purges
(vomiting or laxatives)
▪Chemical imbalance occurs with
chronic vomiting and diarrhea
▪Can cause heart failure
▪ The prevalence is 0.3% among
young females and 0.2% among
young males in Canada.
Threats to Adolescents’ Well-Being

•Illegal Drugs
–Adolescents use drugs to seek pleasure, escape pressure, and fit in
–Some use stimulants to improve academic performance
▪Adderall is an amphetamine prescribed for ADHD
▪When used illegally, it is assumed to increase focus and ability to study
–Addictive drugs produce biological and psychological dependence
–Adolescents who use drugs to escape never learn to problem-solve
–Casual users can escalate use to more dangerous drugs
 Alcohol: Use and Abuse
–More than 62 percent of college students have consumed
alcohol in last 30 days
–One-third say they’ve had five or more drinks in past 2 weeks
–More than 60 percent of high school seniors drink alcohol
–42 percent of eighth graders have had alcohol
–Binge drinking (5 or more drinks for men and 4 or more for
women in one sitting)
▪40 percent of males and 35 percent of females report binge drinking in
past 2 weeks
▪Can lead to those drinking harassing others
▪Brain scans show it damages the brain
Tobacco: The Dangers of Smoking
–Significant numbers of adolescents smoke,
but overall numbers are decreasing
▪White children and those of low SES smoke more than African American children
and those of higher SES
–Why do adolescents smoke?
▪Seen as rite of passage
▪Influential models smoke
▪Cigarettes are addictive
–Nicotine produces biological and psychological dependence
Cognitive Development in Adolescence
Brain Development
_ Brain development, particularly prefrontal cortex
- Increase of myelination and synaptic pruning
in the prefrontal cortex
- Increase in the connections between the brain
cells
_Significant improvements happen in adolescents
cognition
Piagetian Approaches to Cognitive Development:
Using Formal Operations

•Using Formal Operations to Solve Problems

–Formal operational stage: When people develop the ability to think abstractly
–Full capabilities of using principles of logic unfold from ages 12 to 15
–Adolescents use propositional thought (using abstract thought in the absence
of concrete examples)
–25 to 60 percent of college students never developed formal operations
–Cultural values also influence achievement of formal operational thought
Piagetian Approaches to Cognitive Development:
Deductive Reasoning
While younger children solve problems through
trial and error, adolescents show the ability of
hypothetical-deductive reasoning, which
is developing hypotheses based on what might
logically happen.
● Major premise: All birds lay eggs.
● Minor premise: Pigeons are birds.
● Conclusion: Pigeons lay eggs.
The Consequences of Adolescents’ Use of Formal Operations

–Ability to think abstractly changes behavior

–Adolescents become more argumentative
–Adolescents become more interesting, but challenging
Metacognition

•Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking

–Metacognition: The knowledge of one’s own thinking
–Adolescents gain the ability to gauge how long they need
to study
They are a better of judge of their own learning
Egocentrism in Thinking: Adolescents’ Self-absorption

–Adolescents focus on themselves (egocentrism)

–They are highly critical of authority figures, avoid
criticism themselves, but find fault in others
–Adolescent egocentrism leads to two distortions:
▪Imaginary audience (focus of everyone’s attention)
▪Personal fables (what happens is unique to them)
 School Performance
• Advances in adolescents cognitive abilities
•Socioeconomic Status and School Performance: Individual Differences in Achievement
–Poorer children have:
▪Fewer resources
▪Lower health
▪More inadequate schools
▪Less-involved parents
•Ethnic and Racial Differences in School Achievement
–Differences occur, but the reason is unclear
▪African American and Hispanic families more likely to live in poverty
▪African American and Hispanic students perform lower than Caucasians do
▪Asians perform the highest
Social and Personality Development in Adolescence
Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

•Self-Concept: What Am I Like?

–Broadens during adolescence to include self-assessment and assessment from others
–View of self becomes more organized and coherent
–Adolescents can look at themselves in terms of traits and can see multiple aspects of
themselves
•Self-Esteem: How Do I Like Myself?
–Measure of how much adolescents like themselves
–May like some aspects and not others
Gender Differences in Self-Esteem

–Girls have lower self-esteem than boys do

–Girls’ self-esteem is complicated by society’s perceptions
–Stereotypes for boys add pressure; they must be tough in
all situations
 Erik Erikson: Resolving the Identity Crisis
–Identity-versus-identity-confusion
▪If they do not find a suitable identity, they tend
to follow a dysfunctional
▪If they find suitable identity, it sets a
foundation for future psychosocial development
–Societal Pressures and Reliance on
Friends and Peers
▪A lot of social pressure to achieve secure
identity
▪Adolescents rely more on peers than on
parents/adults
Marcia’s Approach: Updating Erikson

•Marcia’s Approach: Updating Erikson

–Identity is seen in terms of two characteristics:
▪Crisis (consciously choosing between alternatives)
▪Commitment (psychological investment in a course of action)
–Marcia proposed four categories of identity:
▪Identity achievement
▪Identity foreclosure
▪Moratorium
▪Identity diffusion
Marcia’s Four Categories of Adolescent Development
Relationships With Peers:
The Importance of Belonging

•Social Comparison
–Peer relationships are more critical than at any other time in life
–Peers provide an opportunity for social comparison
•Reference groups
–These groups present set of norms and standards against which
adolescents judge their social success
 Cliques and Crowds: Belonging to a Group
–Increased cognitive sophistication allows
adolescents to group others in more discriminating
ways
–Adolescents usually part of some identifiable group
–Strong expectations for people in a crowd to
behave specific ways
–Membership:
▪Determined by similarity to group
▪Group labels are abstractions; requires teens to make
judgments of people whom they have little interaction with
Conformity: Peer Pressure in Adolescence

–Peer pressure: Influence of one’s peers to conform to their

behaviors and attitudes
▪For other decisions, adolescents turn to experts
▪Susceptibility to peer pressure does not rise in adolescence
▪Conformity decreases as adolescents establish autonomy
Juvenile Delinquency: The Crimes of Adolescence
–Undersocialized delinquents
▪Relatively aggressive early in life
▪Rejected by peers
▪Likely to have ADHD
▪Usually less intelligent than average
▪Unlikely to be rehabilitated
–Socialized delinquents
▪Usually influenced by a group
▪Crime committed in groups
Dating: Close Relationships in the Twenty-First
Century
•The Functions of Dating
–Dating is a way to learn how to establish intimacy,
entertainment, and developing one’s own identity
–Most dating in early adolescence is superficial
–True intimacy more common in late adolescence
–For adolescents who identify as LGBTQ, dating is
challenged by homophobic prejudice and finding
partners willing to openly express their sexual orientation
Sexual Relationships

•Sexual Intercourse
–Ages of first intercourse are declining
▪One in five adolescents have had sex before 15
▪Around three-fourths have had sex before 20
–Many teens are postponing sex
▪Double standard
–Has been supplanted by new norm: “permissiveness with affection”
–Views intercourse permissible for both males and females if occurs as part of long-term,
committed, loving relationship
Sexual Relationships

•Masturbation
–Initiation into sexuality for adolescents
–Widespread, but can still cause feelings of shame
–Today masturbation is seen as normal, healthy, harmless
Adolescents and Sexual Activity

The age at which adolescents have sexual intercourse for the first time is declining, and about three-quarters have had sex before the age of 20. Source: Finer &
Philbin, 2013.