Adolescent Development Flashcards
(30 cards)
Definition of adolescence
Adolescence begins in biology and ends in culture. Adolescence is a journey from biological adulthood to societal adulthood.
G Stanley Halls model of adolescence
viewed adolescence as a period of inevitable turmoil that takes place during the transition from childhood to adulthood; particularly focused on aggression and crime.
Proposed the STORM AND STRESS MODEL.
This model considers evolutionary, hormonal and environmental factors.
Go from animalistic to civilised.
Dual systems model
Suggests adolescent brain development is stuck between risk taking and decision making at different levels.
This could include self regulation, cognitive control, reward sensitivity etc
maturation imbalance model
suggests there is an imbalance between systems that mature early in development and systems that are later to mature
This imbalance gives rise to adolescent specific behaviours - such as greater propensity to take risks
Early maturation of subcortical regions such as the amygdala and ventral striatum and late maturation of pre frontal cortical regions
Preducts a nonlinear enhancement in affectively driven behaviour during adolescence
what does the limbic system consist of
cingulate gyrus
ventral striatum
hypothalamus
amygdala
hippocampus
what is the ventral striatum responsible for
salience of behaviour and motivation
what is the amygdala responsible for
emotion processing and fear responses
what are the prefrontal cortext and anterior cingulate cortex responsible for
executive function, behavioural control, and decision making
what to adolescents display in response to reward and threat
heightened attention and reactivity
what excacerbates risk taking
peer influence
where do adolescents display greater reliance
limbic emotional regions than on prefrontal control regions
what is the adolescence period at risk to
mental health.
75% of lifetime mental health disorders have their onset before 24 years of age
substance abuse disorders
alchohol and drug use increase with age during adolescence and peaks in early adulthood
what did dick et al find about nature and nurtures influence on alchohol use behaviour
found a changing degree of genetic and environmental influences across adolescence on alcohol use behaviour
steady increase in the influence of genetic factors on alchohol use across adolescence.
corresponding decrease in the influence of common environmental behaviours
risk of substance abuse
increases risk of psychosis
alter brain maturation
what is the trigger for puberty in both boys and girls
production of gonadotrophin releasing hormone from the hypothalamus (GnRH)
what does GnRH stimulate
the pituitary gland which releases a luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone.
biological sequence of puberty
hypothalamus-> hormones -> pituitary -> GH -> adrenal glands/gonads -> increase in may hormones -> growth spurt/ primary sex characteristics/secondary sex characteristics
what is the limbic hypothalamic pathway responsible for
responsible for the immaturity of the reproductive system before puberty
the early childhood brain and environment
brain development is much more vulnerable to environmental influence
influence of early environment on brain development is long lasting
cortex
surface of brain
structures responsible for higher level functions such as decision making
subcortex
inner part of brain
structures responsible for emotion, hormones, memory and other basic functions.
White matter
what are adolescent brains more sensitive to
dopamine and oxytocin
brain changes during adolescence
-on average, gray matter decreases
on average, white matter increases
