I. Section One: Adolescent Issues

Physical Issues Social Issues Psychological Issues

II. Section Two: Puberty Kohlberg and Gilligan

Physical Development:

Growth is on average grow 2-3 inches a year.

Average height at age 11: Girls: 4 feet, 10 inches Boys: 4 feet, 9 ½ inches

In America we receive enough nutrition and thus grow at a natural rate.

In many countries a lack of proper nutrition greatly affects the maturational process.

Childhood Obesity:

Defined: Body weight that is more than 20% above the average

for a person of a given age and height.

United States: 15% of U.S. children are obese. This has tripled from 5% since the 1960’s. Most obese country in the world. Why?▪ We are in no short supply of resources.▪ Speed of our economy.▪ No time anymore to make a good meal.▪ Both parents working.

Are there extreme differences between boys and girls in motor abilities?

Do boys out perform girls in sports? Are boys better designed for this

type of activity?

Truth: There are little if any physical differences between boys and

girls in ability to excel at physical activities. Testosterone does not make a difference at this age. Why would research in the past say one thing and now

today it say a different thing? In the past it was not expected of girls and girls were told

that they would fail if they tried. Today it is normal and expected for them to participate in

physical activity. If a person is told that they will fail all the time they will

most likely fail.

Children have more dexterity today than we ever did:

They can now type on a computer and use a pen/pencil efficiently, with skill

Children today are more excelled at this task today than we ever were. Why is this? Video games and internet?

Children in this age group are more likely to get sick. Continues through high school but not as strong there.

Asthma: Chronic condition characterized by periodic attacks of:

Wheezing Coughing Shortness of breath

Has been on the rise. Affects more than 15 million U.S. children.

Potential Reasons: ▪ Increased pollution▪ More insulated buildings today:

Air can’t flow well▪ Increased ability to detect it▪ Increased concern over illness in children

Accidents: • Not a common source of

mortality in this age group.• Increased mobility increase

their chances of being in an accident.

• Bicycle and auto Accidents: • Most frequent of accidents causing death in children at

this age.• Kills 5 out of every 100,000 children.• Fires, burns, drowning, and gun-related deaths follow in

frequency.• Not many children in this age group die from accidents,

nonetheless they get in many accidents.

Anorexia Nervosa: Individuals refuse to eat. While denying that their behavior

and appearance are out of the ordinary. Social issue. Advertisements and commercials.

Bulimia: Characterized by binges on large quantities of food. Followed by purges of the food through vomiting. Or the use of laxatives. Personal Issue. Must be treated by looking at their life: ▪ What is out of control?

Depression: State of intense sadness, melancholia or despair. That has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an

individual's social functioning and/or activities of daily living.

More than ¼ of adolescents reportfeeling depressed for more than two weeks at a time.

2/3 of adolescents report having felt depressed.

3% report major depression. Adolescent Girls experience depression more often than

boys. African-American adolescents have higher rates of

depression than Caucasian adolescents. Native Americans have high rates of depression.

Suicide: Willful act of killing oneself. Rate of adolescent suicide has

tripled in the last 30 years. There is one teenage suicide

every 90 minutes. Parents are not reluctant to report it as a

suicide as opposed to an accident anymore. Suicide rate is higher for boys than girls▪ Boys use more violent methods than girls

Adolescent Egocentrism: State of self-absorption in which the world is viewed from

one’s own point of view.

Imaginary Audience: Adolescent’s belief that his or her own behavior is a

primary focus of others’ attentions and concerns.

Personal Fables: View held by some adolescents that what happens to

them is unique, exceptional, and shared by no one else.

Average dropout makes 42% less than high school graduate.

Unemployment rate for dropouts is 50%.

50% of high school seniors and 20% of eighth graders used THC within the past year.

Reference Groups: Groups of people with whom one compares oneself.

Cliques: Groups from 2 to 12 people

whose members have frequent social interactions.

Crowds: Larger groups than cliques, composed of individuals who share

particular characteristics but who may not interact with one another.

Sex Cleavage: Sex segregation in which boys interact primarily with boys and

girls primarily with girls.

Why friendship and more time spent with peers is important in middle and late childhood: Companionship (familiar playmate) Stimulation (excitement, etc.) Physical support (time, assistance) Ego support (feedback, etc.) Social comparison Intimacy/self-disclosure, affection Not all friendships are alike

In childhood, friends are usually similar in age, sex, race, attitudes, aspirations, etc.

Identifying 5 types of peer status Popular children Average children Neglected children (not disliked) Rejected children (disliked by peers) Controversial children

Social skills affect being well liked: Giving out reinforcements Careful listening Keeping communication lines open Showing enthusiasm and concern Being self-confident, not conceited

Neglected child has low rate of peer interactions Social cognition is important to peer relationships Rejected children

Have serious social adjustment problems Often find that rejection increases antisocial

behavior over time Best predictor of delinquency or dropping out from

school may be aggression toward peers Bullying

Has many forms Ranges in effects on both victims and bullies

Child victims often tend to Be lonely and have difficulty making friends Be seen as “different” Have overly protective parents Lose interest in school, have excessive absences Suffer low self-esteem and depression

Child bullies Have low grades in school Come from homes with intrusive, demanding, or

unresponsive parents Tend to use alcohol and/or tobacco

Bullying Behavior Among U.S. Youth

Subject of sexual comments or gestures

Belittled about religion or race

Subject of rumors

Hit, slapped, or pushed

Belittled about looks or speech

Females

Males

5 250 10 15 20Percentage experiencing bullying

Minority students:

Segregation is still a factor in the U.S.

Almost one-third of all African American and Latino students attend schools with minority group populations of 90% or more

Less likely to be in college prep courses

More likely to be in remedial or special education programs

African Americans are twice as likely to be suspended from school than any other group

90% of U.S. teachers are white

Asian students take more advanced math and science courses than any other group

James Marcia: Suggested that identity can be seen in terms of which of

two characteristics: Crisis or Commitment Is it present or Absent

Crisis: Period of identity development in which an adolescent

consciously chooses between various alternatives and makes decisions.

Commitment: Psychological investment in a course of action or an

ideology.

Marcia proposed 4 categories of adolescent identity: Identity Achievement

Status of adolescents who commit to a particular identity following a period during which they consider various alternatives.

Identity Foreclosure Status of adolescents who prematurely commit to an

identity without adequately exploring alternatives. Moratorium

Status of adolescents who may have explored various identity alternatives to some degree, but have not yet committed themselves.

Identity Diffusion Status of adolescents who consider various identity

alternatives, but do not commit to one or even consider options.

Controversial Adolescents: Children who are liked by some peers and

disliked by others.

Rejected Adolescents: Children who are actively disliked. Whose peers may react to them in an obviously

negative manner.

Neglected Adolescents: Children who receive relatively little attention

from their peers in the form of either positive or negative interactions.

Permissiveness with affection: Premarital intercourse is viewed as

permissible for both men and women if it occurs in the context of a long-term, committed, or loving relationship.

One in five children and adolescents has a psychological disorder that produces at least some impairment:

5% depression 13% anxiety disorder

Diagnosed disorders have been higher than it has ever been: Increased acceptance Increased ability to diagnose Increased concern about psychological

problems

Defined: Difficulties in the acquisition and use of:

Listening Speaking Reading Writing Reasoning Mathematical

Growing concern in America. Growing trend toward child diagnosis in America.

Dyslexia: Reading disability that can result in the

misperception of letters during reading and writing. Unusual difficulty in sounding out letters. Confusion between left and right orientation. Difficulties in spelling.

ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): Inattention, impulsiveness, low tolerance for frustration, and generally a

great deal of inappropriate activity. Affects 3-7%

Social Problems: Many, many children are misdiagnosed with this disorder. Many teachers will say that a child has it when they don’t because they don’t

know how or refuse to learn how to deal with children. If the teacher is using up a large chunk of her class time to deal with a student

then there is a problem. School stigmatizes these children and these children grow up believing that they

will never succeed in life.

Treatment: Ritalin (Meth-Amphetamine): Common treatment for these children

Not most effective. Division of Class Work and Activity:

Children need rewards and often. Instead of giving them 20 questions to work on divide it up into 4 sets of 5 and

have them bring it up to you after completing each. Give them lots of physical activity and involve them often. Don’t give them sugar.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) Interesting: Montessori almost died at age 10

of illness, she told her mother-“Don’t worry, Mother, I cannot die; I have too much to do”

First interest was in mental retardation. She was impressed by the extreme interest in knowledge that

institutionalized children showed. We can’t teach developmentally delayed children things that we think

they ought to know.▪ Such as reading and writing.▪ This will only lead to frustration.▪ They are not intellectually ready.

Best time to learn a language is this at this age, this ability will get worse and worse as they mature.

Theory of Development:o Owed much to Rousseau.o Children think and learn differently than adults.o Concept of Sensitive Periods-

o “If a child is prevented from enjoying these experiences at the very time when nature has planned for them to do so, the special sensitivity which draws him to them will vanish, with a disturbing effect on development”

o Main component: o Need a certain attitude about education.o It is not our job to direct our children’s learning.o Respect their efforts at independent mastery.

o Sensitive Periods:o Ordero Detailso Use of Handso Walkingo Language

Montessori School: 2 ½ years to enter. All ages through 6 are in same class. Environment contains the right materials that correspond

to the children’s inner needs at various sensitive periods the children will enthusiastically work on them on their own.▪ Without supervision.

Methods: Free Choice Rewards and Punishments (never reward or punish a child) Gradual Preparation

Mental Age/Chronological age X 100

Standardized test with 100 being the mean IQ.

2/3 of all people on this planet fall between one standard deviation of the population mean (85-115) Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Wechsler-Adult Intelligence Scale (WISC-IV) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

Revised

Two types of Intelligence: Fluid Intelligence: Reflects information processing capabilities,

reasoning, and memory Crystallized Intelligence: Accumulation of information, skills, and

strategies that people have learned through experience and that they can apply in problem-solving situations

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8 types of Intelligence:▪ Musical▪ Kinesthetic▪ Mathematical▪ Linguistic▪ Spatial▪ Interpersonal▪ Intrapersonal▪ Naturalist

Do you believe in this division?

Triarchic Theory of intelligence: Model that states that intelligence consists of three aspects of information processing:

ComponentialExperientialContextual