This Adolescent LifeAn exploration of the physical, individual, social, and cognitive developments of adolescents

Group 3M

Michael Gadient Melanie HarringtonBrenda HummelErin Richards

Fat Cells Leptin Hypothalamus

GnRH

Pituitary Gland

ACTHAdrenal GlandAndrogens

Gonadotropins (FSH, LH) Gametes

Gonads

Sex Hormones (Estradiol, Testosterone)

GnRH = gonadotropin-releasing hormone ACTH = adrenocorticotropic hormone FSH = follicle-stimulating hormone LH = luteinizing hormone

Initiation of Puberty (1.35)

Leads to bodily

change

Physical Growth (2.5, 2.14, 3.2, 3.5)

Growth SpurtHeight dramatically increases

Body ShapeHips and shoulders widen

Girls

begins around age 10

greatest increase from ages 10-12

13–16 increase slows, levels off

average adult height 64 inches

wider hips

smaller waist

“curvier”

Boys

begins around age 13

greatest increase around age 14

15-18 growth continues

average adult height 70 inches

broader shoulders

lengthened form

Physical Growth (2.7-13)

1. Muscle growth is due to testosterone and is therefore greater in males.

Weight lifting is not recommended during pubertal muscle growth.  

2. During puberty fat levels increase dramatically in both sexes. Ratio of muscle to fat:

Girls 5:4 Boys 3:1

3. Female fat accumulation peaks just before menarche.

Feet, Head, Hands

Torso, Chest,

Shoulders

Arms and Legs

Changes in

Body Parts

Physical Growth (1.38)

Changes to

Organs

LungCapacityIncreases

Heart RateDecreases

HeartBecomes

Larger

Primary Sex Characteristics (1.41)

At birth: 400,000 immature eggsDuring puberty: 80,000 immature eggs in each ovaryMenarche: Begins between ages 9-16

a thick layer of blood and tissue cells is formed in uterus

ovary releases mature egg

egg is either fertilized (pregnancy) or released (menstruation)

egg becomes mature every 28 days during regular menstruation

At birth: No spermDuring puberty: millions of sperm produced every day Spermarche: Begins around age 12

1st production of sperm

appearance of nocturnal emissions about every 2 weeks

Primary Sex Characteristics

(1.41, 3.3, 4.2)

Males

Penis doubles in length and diameter

Testes increase in length and are 8.5 times their original weight. Testes reach adult size at 16 or 17 years of age

Erections occur

Females

Labia majora, labia minora and clitoris grow

Ovaries’ size and weight increases

Uterus doubles in length

Vagina’s length increases and deepens in color

Changes in reproductive anatomy caused by changes in hormones

Females 9-14 years of age

1. Pubic

2. Underarm

3. Facial

4. Limbs

Secondary Sex Characteristics (4.1-2,

3.1)

Hair increases, changing from soft and fine to thick and coarse, and grows where it didn’t before.

Males 12-16 years of age

1. Pubic

2. Underarm

3. Facial

4. Limbs

5. Chest

6. Back

7. Shoulders

Breast Buds Overall Breast Enlargement

Nipple Projection

Areolar Enlargement

Female Breast Development Process

Secondary Sex Characteristics (1.42-43)

Skin

Rougher

Increased sweat production makes skin oilier

More prone to acne and odor

Breast DevelopmentMost girls and some boys experience enlarged breasts. These breasts disappear in boys within 1 year of appearance.

Order of Pubertal Events (5)

Nutrition

Central Precocious

Puberty

MedicalCare

Genetics

Gender

Influences on Order and

Timing

Self Reflection

Behaviors

Lie on bed alone and listen to music

Look in the mirror and groom oneself

Sit alone and fantasize

Thoughts Who am I?

What do people think of me?

What kind of life will I have?

Consequences of Self-Reflection (1.164)

Change in self-concept Change in self-esteem

Change in emotional understanding

Change in identity

1. Focus on abstract traits

“I’m really nice, smart, and mature, but when I am with the guys I can be a real jerk.”

2. Actual self or feared self “I’ll probably be a loser just like my brother. He’s 30

and still lives with my parents.”

3. Possible self or ideal self

“I’m going to be a famous writer, make money and buy my own island.”

Self-Concept (1.165)

1. Appearance “Chelsea, does my butt look fat in these jeans?”

2. Social Acceptance

“Three people have already invited me to the party.”

3. Close Friendship “Jessica totally understands me. It’s like we’re twins.”

4. Romantic Appeal “I can’t believe he called me and asked me to the

dance.”

Four Domains of Self-Image that may affect Self-Esteem (6)

* Susan Harter *

Ignored

Nervous

Awkward

Lonely

Moody

EmotionalUnderstanding

(1.172-173)

Beliefs and

Values

Personal Relationships

(1.75)

Work

Identity

Psychosocial Moratorium(7)

Identity exploration

Periods of trying things

out

No adult responsibility+

+

=

Identity Achievement*It’s what parents can’t wait for*

Awareness of Identity(1.184)

Assimilation

Separation

Marginality

Biculturalism

I don’t think of myself as Asian American. I’m just American.

I’m not part of two cultures. I’m just African American.

When I’m with my Somali friends I feel American, and when I’m with my American friends I feel Somali.

Being Mexican and American means I get the best of both worlds.

Social Aspects of Adolescent Development

Parent-child Relationships

Friendships

Interactions with the opposite sex

Social Skills

Parent Child Relationships (8,9)

1. The establishment of Autonomy.

2. There is an increase in distance in parent-child relationships.

3. Autonomy is necessary if the teen is to become self-sufficient in society.

How Adolescents Spend Their Time (10)

School 23%

Leisure 29%

Sleep33%

Adult/ Parent 15%

Leisure can be separated into 3 categories:

40% Socializing with friends

23% Maintenance (self-care)

29% Productive (homework, volunteer activities)

An important part of establishing an identity in adolescence involves associations with cliques and crowds.

Cliques are small groups of friends who know each other well, do things together, and form regular social groups.

Crowds are larger, reputation-based groups who are not necessarily friends and do not necessarily spend much time together.

Cliques and crowds help define their own identities and the identities of others.

In late adolescence as identities are better established, and adolescents become more individualistic, the significance of crowds diminishes.

Establishing Identity Through Associations (1.249-253)

What’s up Rodgerson?

Need a lift?

Interactions with the Opposite Sex

As adolescence progresses, teens begin to spend more time in mixed sex crowds.

Dating helps adolescents develop intimacy and the ability to love and care for others.

Types of Dating (11)

Serious dating - The couple is committed to one another in an exclusive relationship.

Group dating - A group of many boys and girls go out together.

Casual dating - Individuals go out once in a while with no committed relationship. This gives adolescents a chance to experiment with dating and discover who they enjoy spending time with.

Social Skills (1.257)

Popularity and the ability to make friends easily are often associated with healthy social skills. Unpopular adolescents tend to lack social skills and have difficulty making friends. The two types of unpopular adolescents are:

Rejected Adolescent

These students are excessively aggressive, quarrelsome and disruptive. Tend to ignore others’ wants, and are selfish and belligerent. They are actively disliked by their peers.

Neglected Adolescents

These students are shy, withdrawn, and avoid group activities. They are rarely noticed by their peers.

Rejected adolescents have a greater risk of dropping out of school and having aggression-related problems.

Neglected adolescents are likely to have low self esteem and suffer from

loneliness, depression and alcohol abuse.

Interventions (1.259)

Teachers can help students counteract the affects of unpopularity by incorporating activities in the classroom that focus on learning social skills.

Rejected students should be taught how to control and manage anger and aggressiveness.

Neglected students should be taught how to enter a group, how to listen in an attentive and friendly way, and how to attract positive attention from peers.

Informational Support

Instrumental Support

Companionship Support

Esteem Support

Advice and guidance in solving personal problems.

Help with tasks.

Ability to rely on one another in social activities.

Encouraging success and consoling failure.

Ways in which Adolescents Support One Another (1.247)

Cognitive Learning TheoryCognitive Learning Theory – Explains learning by focusing on changes in mental processes and structures that occur as a result of people’s efforts to make sense of the world. (12.237)

Learners are active in their attempts to understand their

experiences

Learners development depends on what they already

know

Learners construct, rather than record, understanding

Learning changes person’s mental structure

4 basic principles

Cognitive Development“You cannot teach a 9-year-old something that only a 13-year-old can learn.” (1.66)

Adolescent Stages Critical Cognitive Tasks

Concrete Operational

(7-12yrs)

Concrete Logic

Formal Operational

(12+yrs)

Abstract Reasoning

(hypothetical and deductive)

Piaget’s Stages of Development

Classroom Application: (13)

Preoperational - Use concrete props and visual aids to illustrate lessons and help children understand what is being presented

Operational - Ask students to deal with no more than three or four variables at a time. Require reading with a limited number of characters.

Formal Operational - Give students an opportunity to explore many hypothetical

Cognitive Development - In Emerging Adulthood -

Postformal Thinking

Cognitive development beyond formal operations

Pragmatism Adapting logical thinking to the practical constraints of real-life situations

ReflectionThe capacity to evaluate the accuracy and logical coherence of evidence and arguments

“The gains that take place in emerging adulthood appear to be due more to education than to maturations.” (1.71-73)

Information ProcessingInformation Processing – Theory of learning that explains how stimuli enter our memory systems, are selected and organized for storage, and are retrieved from memory. (1.74)

Processing

Storing

Retrieving

Attention

Selective Attention

SpeedInformation processing speed

CapacityNumber of aspects of a situation you can keep in your mind at once

AutomaticityHow much cognitive effort needed to devote to processing

Stimuli Attention/ Perception

Working Memory

Memory(12.240,242)

Long-term Memory

Sensory Memory

Sensory MemoryInformation store that briefly holds stimuli from the environment until they can be processed

Working Memory Store that holds information as a person processes it

Long-Term Memory Permanent information Store

Critical Thinking – Way of thinking that involves not merely memorizing information but analyzing it, making judgments about what it means, relating it to other information, and considering ways in which it might be valid or invalid. (1.81-82)

Can Adolescents Make Competent Decisions?

Results of Research

Studies suggest that critical thinking skills do not develop automatically in adolescence.

Adolescents appear to be capable of making some decisions although psychological factors may be more likely to influence their decisions.

Identifying the range of possible choices

Evaluating the desirability of each

consequence

Assessing the likelihood of each consequence

Behavioral Decision Theory(1.81-82)

Integrating information

Identifying the consequences that would result from each choice

Awareness of Identity(1.83,86, 12.250-251)

Perspective Taking

Imaginary Audience

Perception

Meaningfulness

The limited ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others.

Everyone is staring at me!

The process people use to attach meaning to stimuli.

The number of connections or links between an idea and other ideas in long-term memory.

Bodily -Kinesthetic

Naturalist

Intrapersonal

Interpersonal

Linguistic

Logical -Mathematical

Musical

Spatial

Gardner’s 8 Types of

Intelligence

Psychometric Approach(1.88,92-93)

Psychometric Approach – Focuses on measuring individual’s cognitive abilities through Intelligence Testing.

Sternberg: Intelligence measured by IQ tests.

Intelligence test scores improved throughout the teens and twenties for verbal tests, but performance scores peaked in the mid-twenties.

Impact of Diversity on Information Processing(1.94-95)

The role of culture in cognitive development cannot be underestimated.

Cultural psychology suggests that cognition and culture are inextricably related.

Some scholars have suggested that the Western adolescent intense exposure to electronic media has diminished information-processing abilities.

So…what do you think of that?

References1. Arnett, J.J. (2001). (Custom edition.) Adolescence and emerging adulthood: A cultural approach.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

2. Maternal and Child Health Bureau. (2005). Adolescent Physical Development: Uses and Limitations fo Growth Charts. http://depts.washington.edu/growth/module7/text/page1a.htm

3. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2005). Puberty Information for Boys and Girls. http://www.aap.org/family/puberty.htm

4. University of Maryland Medical Center. (2001). Adolescent Development. http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/002003.htm

5. TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc. (2005). Central Precocious Puberty Symptoms and Causes. http://www.toosoon.com/PL.do/cpp/Default.aspx

6. Harter, S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Development. 53(1).

7. Strayer, J. (2002). The Dynamics of Emotions and Life Cycle Identity. Identity: An Intrinsical Journal of Theory and Research. 2(1), 47-49.

8. Zwick, S. Adolescence: What’s happening to the Child-Parent Relationship? http://inside.bard.edu/academic/specialproj/darling/adolescence.htm

9. Huebner, A. (2000). Adolescent Growth and Development. http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/family/350-850/350-850.html

10. Binger, J.J. (1994). Individual and Family Development, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, pp. 330-376. In Simon, J. How Do Adolescents Spend Their Time? http://inside.bard.edu/academic/specialproj/darling/adolescence.htm

11. Steinberg, L. (1989). Adolescence. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

In Oswald, A. Issues of Adolescent Dating. http://inside.bard.edu/academic/specialproj/darling/adsoc.htm#sexual

References

12. Eggen, Paul and Kauchak, Don., Educational Psychology Windows on Classroom. 6th-ed. Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River: New Jersey, 2004.

13. Huitt, W. (1997). Cognitive development: Applications. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date], from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/piagtuse.html.

Photographs

www.punchstock.com

uuhsc.utah.edu/andrology/photo_gallery.html

www.mos.org/cst/article/5671/4.html

www.ppae.ab.ca/templates/ppae/images/puberty_female.gif

www.ppae.ab.ca/templates/ppae/images/puberty_male.gif

www.periphery.co.uk/guardian/142puberty.htm