ICL 2.2: Adolescent Development Flashcards
what are the major differences between 17 year olds and adults?
- prone toward activities/things with short-term payoffs
- downplay long-term consequences of what they do
- prone to fail to consider alternative courses of action
- impulsive
- aggressive
- emotionally volatile
- likely to take risks
- reactive to stress
- vulnerable to peer pressure
when does adolescence begin and end?
- early adolescence starts with puberty
8-13 years for girls
10-14 years for boys
- middle adolescence = 15-17 years old
- late adolescence = 18-20+ years old!!
what is puberty?
development of secondary sex characteristics and increase in body size
most observable changes occur over an average time span of 4 years
puberty begins and ends approximately 12 to 18 months earlier for girls than for boys
what is precocious puberty?
a condition that occurs when sexual maturity begins earlier than normal so before age 8 for girls and before age 9 for boys = early puberty!
experts are really worried about this…for girls it looks like it’s a particularly negative experience
what trend is happening with the start of puberty in women?
it has been beginning earlier since last century, for example menarch is starting almost 3-4 months earlier each decade!!
we think it’s because of nutrition, health, obesity, etc.
in fact, by age 8, 48% of African-American girls show clear signs of puberty, while only 15% of white girls do; we don’t know why this is happening!
what are the effects of advancing puberty in boys vs. girls?
boys have improved moods
decreased feelings of attractiveness for girls
what are the effects of early puberty on boys vs. girls?
boys have improved academic and social functioning like being more popular, relaxed and poised
girls have poor body image, increased risk for eating disorders, and behavioral problems like substance use, truancy (especially if they identify with an older peer group)
what is adolescent turmoil?
reflects adolescent’s attempt to separate psychologically from parents and identify self as an individual and this is important!!
this is basically identity vs. role confusion so it’s important that a teen develop their own identity which is really important and necessary
they will sometimes go to extremes like drugs, hair music, etc. to do so
what happens during adolescent turmoil?
- identity exploration in social, psychological, biological, and sexual changes happen and the teenage needs to find out what’s important to them
most people have “identity confusion” – perhaps not a “crisis” per se
- most young people attain identity achievement in college/early adulthood, earlier than Erikson thought
- typically, family and social functioning technically unimpaired (functional impairment = can/do not carry out certain key functions in their daily lives)
- small % of youth who suffer from more serious or preexisting psychiatric disturbances or who experience extraordinary stressors around this period
- prevalence/incidence of some disorders (e.g., depression at adolescence, schizophrenia) is higher
overall rate of MI increases 2% from childhood to adolescence/early adulthood then remains steady
what is self-concept?
“how do i describe myself? who am i?”
there’s increasing multidimensionality – judging adequacy in multiple domains
adolescence begin to define themselves in increasingly abstract terms like honest and compassionate vs. good at math and tall like they would as kids
what are the positive changes seen by the end of adolescence?
- more realistically consider future educational and vocation/career goals
- give more consideration to the thoughts and feelings of others
- spend time with fewer close friends (less so with large peer group)
- have less of a sense of invulnerability
- have a more stabilized identity/self-concept
what % of teens are sexual active?
46% of 15-19 year olds have had sex
average age of sexual behavior is 16 years old
sexually active teens who do not use contraceptives have 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year
what are the issues seen with teen pregnancy?
- teen pregnancy is a public health problem in the US
- teen mothers are more likely to drop out of highschool
- children of teen mothers have lower school achievement, higher rates of school drop out, more health problems.
- they are more likely than other children to be incarcerated during adolescence, give birth as a teen, and be unemployed as a young adult*
the rate of teen pregnancy in the US is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations*
the birth rate and abortion rate in US teenagers have been declining. Thought to be due to both more abstinence and higher use of contraceptives*
what factors predispose teen girls to pregnancy?
- depression
- poor school achievement
- parental divorce
what is empathy?
responsiveness to the emotional experiences of another
it develops significantly during adolescence!! this is what helps adolescence develop and maintain important quality relationships
at what age is the brain fully developed?
20s!!
by the end of the 20s, the # of cell-to-cell connections reaches a plateau that persists until old age
that means adolescence is a time of profound brain growth and change and the connections between and among neurons increases
what NT increases during adolescence in the brain?
dopamine
dopamine inputs in prefrontal cortex grow markedly during adolescence
this leads to improvements in planning, decision-making, judgment and impulse control
what is the function of the socioemotional network in the brain of an adolescence?
the socioemotional network is in the limbic and paralympic areas of the brain
it’s highly sensitive to social and emotional stimuli and important for reward processing
it develops/changes in early adolescence due to hormonal changes during puberty
what is the function of the cognitive-control network in the brain of an adolescence?
primarily located in the prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex
it exercised regulatory control over impulsive and risky behavior
do young adolescents have difficulty inhibiting inappropriate impulses or stopping risky behavior? Why?
research has failed to identify clear age differences between older adolescents’ and adults’ evaluations/understanding of the risks related to activities such as drunk driving and unprotected sex, as well as the costs, benefits and consequences related to risky behavior
so adolescent’s greater involvement in risk-taking behaviors does NOT result from lack of knowledge or ignorance!!
it’s because the cognitive control network, particularly in the prefrontal and frontal cortex, is NOT fully mature in early adolescence
AND
in the presence of peers or during emotional arousal, the socioemotional network* becomes highly activated and diminishes the effectiveness of the still-developing cognitive-control network
so basically the emotional centers of the brain are very active but the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for planning, setting priorities, good judgement, anticipating consequences, controlling impulses ex. is not yet mature!!!
what is an imaginary audience?
brain development allows them to recognize that others think and have feelings different than their own, BUT early and middle adolescence are primarily egocentric and believe that others are focused on them and that they’re being observed and judged by others
so this self focus + rapid bodily changes seen in puberty lead adolescence to question “am i normal?”
so that’s why coming to accept and understand their adult body aka body image during adolescence is a very important task in this stage
how much sleep to adolescence need?
9.2 hours
but in reality they get 7 hours on weekdays and 8.5 hours on the weekends which means a lot are sleep deprived during the week –> this leads to poor performance on cognitive tasks in the morning, depressed moods and high risk behaviors
what percent of individuals under the age of 18 suffer from developmental, emotional, or behavioral difficulties?
20%
during adolescence specifically:
1. substance abuse increases
- incidence of psychotic disorders increases
- eating disorders
what are the signs of depression in adolescence?
- irritable mood
- anhedonia = inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable
- persistent thoughts of death
- social impairment like academic failure, poor family or peer relationships, isolation
- somatic symptoms = insomnia, loss of appetite, psychomotor retard/agit
