Week 15 Flashcards
(95 cards)
How has adolescence evolved historically
Evidence indicating that this stage is lengthening as individuals start puberty earlier and transition to adulthood later than in the past. Puberty today begins on average at age 10–11 years for girls and 11-12 for boys. This average age of onset has decreased gradually over time since the 19th century by 3-4 months per decade
Adolescence
Often characterized as a period of transformation, primarily, in terms of physical, cognitive, and socials-relational change. A developmental stage that has been defined as starting with puberty and ending with the transition to adulthood (approximately ages 10-20)
Factors that cause puberty age to decrease over time
Better nutrition, obesity, increased father absence, and other environmental factors
Some markers of the end of adolescence and beginning of adulthood
Completion of formal education, financial independence from parents, marriage, and parenthood. These transitions happen, on average, later now than in the past
What marks the onset of adolescence
Physical changes of puberty; growth spurts, boys experience growth of facial hair and a deepening of their voice, girls experience breast development and menstruation
Cognitive changes during adolescence
Shift from concrete to more abstract and complex thinking. Fostered by improvements during early adolescence in attention, memory, processing speed, and metacognition
Family relationships during adolescence
Remain important. Key changes during adolescence involves a renegotiation of parent-child relationships. Adolescents strive for more independence and autonomy. Parents’ distal supervision and monitoring become more important as adolescents spend more time away from parents.
Psychological control
Parents’ manipulation and intrusion into adolescents’ emotional and cognitive world through invalidating adolescents’ feelings and pressuring them to think in particular ways
Romantic relationships during adolescence
Often short-lived rather than long-term committed partnerships, but their importance should not be minimized. Contribute to adolescents’ identity formation, changes in family and peer relationships, and adolescents’ emotional and behavioural adjustment
What are the effects of adolescents regarding their sexuality?
Parents, policymakers, and researchers have devoted a great deal of attention to adolescents’ sexuality, at large because of concerns related to sexual intercourse, contraception, and preventing teen pregnancies. Sexuality involves more than this narrow focus. Adolescence is often when individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender come to perceive themselves as such. Romantic relationships are a domain in which adolescents experiment with new behaviours and identities
Why are adolescents bigger risk-takers than adults?
The brain’s cognitive control centres on the prefrontal cortex, increasing adolescents’ self-regulation and future orientation. Development of the different regions of the brain contributes to more risk-taking during middle adolescence because they are motivated to seek thrills
how does the influence of peers affect risk taking?
Influence of peers can be both positive and negative as adolescents experiment together with identity formation and new experiences. As children become adolescents, they usually begin spending more time with their peers and less time with their families, and peer interactions are increasingly unsupervised by adults
Homophily
Adolescents tend to associate with peers who are similar to themselves
how do peer groups evolve during adolescence
During adolescence, peer groups evolve from primarily single-sex to mixed-sex. Adolescents within a peer group tend to be similar to one another in behaviour and attitudes
Deviant peer contagion
The process by which peers reinforce problem behaviour by laughing or showing other signs of approval that then increase the likelihood of future problem behaviour
Negative peer pressure
Can lead adolescents to make riskier decisions or engage in more problematic behaviour than they would alone or in the presence of their family. Adolescents are much more likely to drink alcohol, use drugs, and commit crimes when they are with their friends than when they are alone or with their family
Positive peer relationships
Peers serve as an important source of social support and companionship during adolescence, and adolescents with positive peer relationships are happier and better adjusted than those who are socially isolated or have conflictual peer relationships
Crowds
Adolescent peer groups are characterized by shared reputations or images. Reflect different prototypic identities and are often linked with adolescents’ social status and peers’ perceptions of their values of behaviours
Erikson’s classic theory of developmental stages
Identity formation was highlighted as the primary indicator of successful development during dolescence
Foreclosure
occurs when an individual commits to an identity without exploring options
Identity diffusion
Occurs when adolescents neither explore nor commit to any identities
Moratorium
A state in which adolescents are actively exploring options but have not year made commitments
Identity achievement
Occurs when individuals have explored different options and then made identity commitments
Patterson’s early versus late starter model of development of aggressive and antisocial behaviour
Distinguishes youths whose antisocial behaviour begins during childhood versus adolescence.