The Developing Person: Through the Lifespan

1. The Developing Person: Through the Lifespan Unit V: Adolescence

2. Adolescence • A transitional period in the human lifespan, linking childhood and adulthood • Understanding is important because adolescents are the future of any society (Santrock, 2005)

3. Puberty • Begins between 8 and 14 years of age • 1-2 years earlier for girls than boys • Growth spurt • Sex characteristics • Primary (reproductive) • Secondary (non-reproductive)

4. Puberty Hypothalamus Pituitary gland Adrenal Glands Gonads

5. Hormones • Estrogen and Testosterone during puberty • Females 8xs previous estrogen production • Males 18xs previous testosterone production

6. Puberty for Girls • Weight spurt by 11.5 • Height spurt within 6 months • Menarche by 12.5 • End of puberty by 16 • Heart, lungs,and muscles are stronger by 13.5 • Hips widen • Breasts form

7. Puberty for boys • Weight spurt by 13 • Height spurt by 14 • Spermarche by 13 • Heart and lungs increase in size at 14.5 • Muscles grow • Shoulders widen • End of puberty by 18

8. Timing is Everything? • Risks/advantages of later puberty? • For boys • For girls • Risks/advantages of early puberty? • For boys • For girls

9. Timing is not Everything • Early maturation for girls • Impact depends on • Parental support • Ability to talk with peers • Timing of other girls in peer group

10. Timing is not Everything • Late maturation for boys • Family & peer support • Developing skills and a sense of competence protect

11. Timing • Influences on onset • Gender • Stress: both directions • BMI • Generational trends

12. Generational Shift • Genes • Climate • Media • Improved nutrition • Less physical labor

13. Generational Shift • Weight hypothesis • Heavier girls begin earlier than slender girls • On average, girls begin at 100-104 lbs. • Hypothalamus monitors body fat & triggers puberty when maintenance of pregnancy possible

14. Generational Shift • Age of marriage • Reversed trend from menarche • 1850s: mid-teens • Today: 24 years

15. Brain Development

16. Brain Development • 43% deaths from 15-25 are from accidents (in U.S.) • Highest rate of injury and violent death • Body changes • Brain changes: overrate joys, discount risks • Social context: some at greater risk

17. Hormones and Emotions • Conflict, moodiness, & sexual urges all increase in adolescence (Arnett, 1999) • Psychosocial context influences impact of hormones

18. Hormones and Emotions Direct effects of hormones • Testosterone precedes rapid arousal of emotions, esp. anger • Changing hormones correlate with quick shifts in emotional extremes • For many boys, hormones lead to thoughts about sex and masturbation • For many girls, happiness increases in the middle of the menstrual cycle and sadness and anger increase toward end

19. Hormones and Emotions • Trends are true for adults too, but: • During puberty shifts are more erratic and powerful • During puberty, the feelings are less familiar and less controllable • Brain maturity has an influence • Hormones pulsate on and off - they are not steady or gradual

20. Hormones and Emotions • Experimental evidence (Schwab et al., 2001) • 24 months treatment • 3 with hormones (low, medium, high) • 3 months placebo • Only difference was aggression • Effect was not linear and direct

21. You Just Don’t Understand • How does teen’s difficulty in reading adults’ facial expressions contribute to both parties feeling misunderstood or disrespected?

22. Sleep • Shift in melatonin release • Pre-puberty: 9pm, need 10 hours sleep • Puberty: 10:30pm, need 10 hours sleep

23. From ZZZ’s to A’s • Learning is consolidated and improved upon during sleep as information is transferred from the _________ to the __________.

24. Sleep • Arguments for earlier start times: • Arguments against earlier start times:

25. Adolescence • G. Stanley Hall (1904): Storm & Stress • Adolescence is a turbulent time • Margaret Mead (1928): Sociocultural view based on Samoan adolescents • Inventionist view: adolescence is a sociohistorical creation

26. Adolescence • A positive view (Offer, 1988) • 73% of adolescents have positive self image • Optimistic about future • Happy most of the time • Enjoy life • Confidence in sexuality • Positive feelings toward family • Capacity to cope

27. Are There Lessons for Parents? • How do you think this information can help parents relate and adapt to their teens? • How do you think this information can help teens interpret their own and their parents’ behavior?

28. Pregnancy Pregnancy within a year of menarche increases risk of all birth complications U.S. has highest rate of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing

29. Drug Use • More likely to precede problems than be a result (Chassin et al., 2004) • Most use alcohol and tobacco before 18 • Half use tobacco before 18 • Use is down since 1975, but variety has increased • 1 in 25 have tried methamphetamines

30. Drug Use • Reasons • Peer acceptance • Drive for intense sensations

31. Drug Use • Drug abuse: impairs biological or psychological well-being • Drug addiction: a person craves more of a drug to feel physically or psychologically at ease • Younger at first try, more likely to develop addiction

32. Nutritional Deficiencies • Calcium • Osteoporosis - leading cause of disability, injury and death among older adults • Milk consumption drops each year of adolescence • 10 years ago = 32 oz./day • 13% now drink 24 oz./day

33. Nutritional Deficiencies • Iron • Fewer than half get 15 mg. • Anemia more common among girls, but problematic for boys as well

34. Obesity • Body image: a person’s idea of how his or her body looks • Problems common in adolescence • Some become overwhelmed and give up • Not a result of overeating, but of eating the wrong foods and under exercising

35. Obesity • 12% of US teenagers are overweight • TV & other media • 3 TVs per household • 15 electronic devices • In-room radio & CD player • 64% bedroom TV • 41% video game console

36. Cognitive Development • Egocentrism • Invincibility • Imaginary Audience • Formal Operational Thought • Hypothetical-Deductive Thought • Abstract Thinking • Dual Processing

37. Adolescent Egocentrism • Leads young people to focus on themselves to the exclusion of others • i.e., believing that his or her own thoughts, feelings, and experiences are more unique, wonderful, or awful than anyone else’s • They are aware that others have thoughts, they just tend to distort them • Leads to lapses in new logical abilities • Termed by Elkind, 1979

38. Invincibility Fable • Conviction that he or she cannot be conquered or harmed by anything that might vanquish a normal mortal • Unprotected sex • Drug abuse • High speed driving • Feelings of specialness and pride rather than luck and gratitude

39. Personal Fable • Belief that he or she is destined to have a unique, heroic or even legendary life • Foundling fantasy: a belief one is not biologically related to their family because they perceive other members are so inferior to themselves

40. Imaginary Audience • Belief that other people are watching and taking note of one’s appearance, ideas, and behavior • “It’s all about me” • Contributes to self-consciousness • Fantasize about how others might react to their appearance and behavior

41. Thinking Processes • Formal operational thought (Piaget): • Thinking is not limited to one’s own personal experience • Reasoning power advances • Improved memory and strategy • Not reliant on trial and error

42. Thinking Processes • Hypothetical-deductive thought: includes propositions and possibilities that may not reflect reality • Sometimes too many ideas are considered and adolescents becomes side-tracked • Can imagine all the possibilities and hypothesize a perfect reality

43. Thinking Processes • Adolescents become capable of deductive reasoning • Begins with idea or premise, then uses logic to draw conclusions

44. Thinking Processes • Intuitive thought: arises from an emotion or hunch • Precursors: experience, cultural assumptions, sudden impulse • Heuristic or experiential thought • Quick, but not as accurate • Analytic thought: results from analysis • E.g., weighing pros and cons • Depends on logic and rationality

45. Identity • A consistent definition of one’s self as a unique individual, in terms of roles, attitudes, beliefs, and aspirations • Identity versus diffusion: Erikson’s terms for the fifth stage of development where person tries to figure out “Who am I?” but is confused as to which of many possible roles to adopt

46. Identity achievement: Erikson’s term for attainment of identity, or the point at which a person understands who he or she is as a unique individual

47. Identity diffusion: the opposite of identity achievement • Adolescent does not seem to know or care what his or her identity is • Lack of values, traits, or commitments OR apathy about roles

48. Foreclosure: premature identity formation • Occurs when an adolescent adopts parents’ or society’s roles and values without questioning

49. Moratorium: a way for adolescents to postpone making identity achievement choices by finding an accepted way to avoid identity achievement • “time out” • i.e., going to college • Making efforts, but not but choose temporary roles

50. Religious identity • Few teenagers achieve • Most religions expect young people to struggle with theological questions • Gender identity • Sex/sexual refers to biological male/female characteristics • Gender refers to person’s self-definition • Usually leads to gender role and sexual identification