Adolescent psychology

• Early adolescence: 10-13...middle school years
• middle adolescence: 14-17... high school years
• late adolescence: 18-21...college years
• emerging adulthood: 18-25...transistioning into adulthood

the biologica changes that occur to every individual, male and female.

• a ceremony held for an individual that is transitioning to another part of thier life
•  EXAMPLE: transisitioning into adulthood

empahsizes the BROAD context to which an individual develops within.

BRONFENBRENNER

• Individual: the biological changes within the individual
• Mircosystem: the immediate surroundings of the individual....things they directly interact with
• Mesosytem: an interaction between the microsystems
• Macrosystem: things that the individual doesnt have control over...things out of their power, like relogion or government

reference to parts of development that are both psychological AND social

EX: sexuality, identity

• discovering who you are as an individual
• self-conceptions

• establishing a healthy independance
• expressing your identity

the formation,maintenance and ending of relationships

• the development and expression of sexual feelings
• enjoying physical contact with others

• being a successful and competent individual of society
• evaluating situations

the fear of adolescents

organs that stimulate particular parts of the body to respond in specific ways to specific hormones

specific neurons that are activated by certain hormones (puberty ones)

the level of hormones that the body tries to maintain 

if below: endocrine system increases the secretion 

if above: stops the secretion 

• HPG axis
• hypothalamus
• pituitary
• gonads

two or more body functions respond and regulate one another

the pituitary gland regulates levels of hormones in the body

the hypothalamus controls the pituitary gland

the gonads secrete the sex hormones (testes and ovaries)

the maturation the the adrenal glands that occurs during puberty

the stress hormone

• a protein produced by fat cells
• accumulation of body fat seems to be linked to the beginning of puberty
• instructs the hypothalamus to stop doing all the things that was inhibiting puberty

the exposure to hormones organizes the brain and/or other organs in anticipation of later changes in behaviour or pattern of growth 

PRENTALLY 

changes in hormone levels  stimulate changes in the adolescent's behaviour, appearance or growth

PUBERTY

the time in which the largest change is seen in height and weight

the time in which the adolescent is growing most rapidly

• the closing of the ends of the bones
• terminates the growth spurt of adolescents

• breast development
• pubic hair-hair growth
• voice changes

TANNER STAGES: used a lot!! breaks down puberty into 5 stages

chemicals secreted by animals that stimulate certain behaviours in other members of the species

• within the past two decades
• puberty beginning earlier
• larger in stature
• due to improvements of health and nutrition

• wanting to go to bed later and getting up later
• emerges during puberty

Melatonin: secreted hormone that helps with sleepiness

levels of melatonin in adolescence increase later and later

the minimum amount of energy used by the body in a resting state

• measuring body fat 
• ratio of weight to height
• gauges obesity and being overweight

a disturbance in eating patterns

BULIMIA: normally among young women...eating lots and the throwing up

ANOREXIA: normally among young women...self induced weight loss

specific health care and information for adolescence... during the second phase of their life

• organismic view
• individuals go through stages that is EFFECTED by the environment
• adolescence is the pinnacle of development
• erikson
• freud
• piaget

• environment has a LARGE effect on the individual
• reinforcement and punishment
• social learning (bandura)

• believe individuals use useful tools in the environment to help them move forward
• Ex: Zone of proximal development

• Bibby, 2009 (comparing 1984 and 2008)
• Canadian adolescence very different from the american adolescent
• more permissive
• nuclear family
• lower divorce rate
• don't want to disappoint
• higher achievements
• contradicts the statement that teens are in "trouble"

• forgiveness, cleanliness and hard work has risen
• no moral absolutes
• personal choice
• actual behaviour contradicts relativism....

• disapprove of hooking up
• extramarital sex is less approved now then back then
• open to homosexuality (links to personal choice)
• same sex marriage and child rearing is up

• less holding hands and kissing for first time together
• older age for engaging in sexual activity
• same numbers for the use of contraception 
• AIDS movement had lessened to to treatments

• pressure to do well in school 
• money
• time
• losing friends
• self esteem
• conflict
• not being understood
• more stable and happy!!! (since 1984)
• drug use, smoking and drinking slowly going down

• support family
• being married before having kids
• don't like divorce
• very important family life
• TRADITIONAL aspirations

• lots of internet use (50% for ~2hrs a day)
• higher involvement in politics and world events
• online relations

• more consideration, but more skepticism
• lower christianity
• more muslims
• more athiests

• more professional
• 89% living on reserves
• vibrance, optimism
• 45% using weed
• higher levels of conflict with authority
• family is very important
• internet use growing (relationships) but still less than caucasian

• media showing a lot of sexual portrayles
• BUT!! sexual activity is going down 
• adolescent's these days are more INFORMED!!!
• therefore, people should not assume they are troubled or bad
• not needing as much supervision because they are showing the ability to make thier own proper decisions

stresses the hormonal and physical changes of puberty as driving forces

all about the individual

• G.Stanley Hall 
• each person travelled through stages that are determined by INSTINCT

changes are unavoidable

still stress the individual's changes BUT also looks at how the environment and contextual forces interact with the individual

Freud, Erikson, Piaget

a psychological revolution!

stress the working of the environment on the individual

• Skinner-punishment and reinforcement
• Bandura-modelling

focus on the things that are common among a group of individuals, such as age, gender, ethnicity

• Bronefenbrenner
• vytgotsky-socioculture

depending on different social circumstances, everyone develops differently

extreme environmental

adolescence is a social invention

all issues depend on social, economic and political forces present

• biological puberty are the changes that occur to the individual
• the cultural puberty focuses on the cultural and social aspect of adolescence 
• independance
• reponsibilites
• respect
• values
• beliefs
• gender role
• overcoming challenges
• VS
• sexual change
• height
• weight
• hormones
• voice
• primary and secondary sex characteristics
• body hair

• to be a successful adolescence, these two must coincide
• different for every individual

• the endocrine system increases hormone production!
• Physical changes:

• •adolescent
• growth spurt

• •changes
• in body composition

• •changes
• in circulation and respiration

• •development
• of primary and secondary sex characteristics

• everyone goes through the same changes, although the time frame can be quite different (early VS late maturers)
• increased vulnerability for some

hypothalamus stops inhibiting the pituitary gland

HPG axis-feedback loop that watches the levels of sex hormones

both are present in males and females, although more is found in one depending on their sex

related to secondary sex changes like boobs, hair...etc...

• changes in the skeletal system
• girls 2yrs ealier than boys
• happens earlier than period
• fixed sequenced...everyone goes through it

• 3:1 muscle in males
• 5:4 fat in women
• epiphysis: closing of the ends of the bones
• asymmetry of growth:hands and feet grow the quickest

could effect socialization and self esteem...

• size of lungs and heart increases
• capacity of heart and lungs increase
• exercise tolerance increases (higher in men)

• •Spermarche
• typically occurs 1 year after accelerated penis growth

• •Stein
• and Reiser 1994 – retrospective reports from 36 boys, mean age = 18.6 yrs

• found:
• spermarche occurred at 12-13 years, typically 1 year after puberty begins, it
• is socially

•   invisible, and the usual reactions are:
• confusion, surprise, pleasure

  **preparation increases positive reactions

boys are able to father a child before they look like adults

• •Sequence
• less regular than in boys

• •Menarche
• typically occurs after other secondary sex characteristics; regular ovulation
• follows 2 years later à
• thus,
• girls appear physically mature before they are actually capable of reproduction

• •onset
• of menarche  correlates with: heredity,
• father absence, stress, family stress, living arrangements ~ 12 years

• •Secular trend  - downward shift in the onset of
• menarche, stable in industrialized nations for 30 yrs 

• no specific age-variable
• there are early and late maturers
• everyone reaches the final stage of puberty
• late maturers slightly taller
• late maturing girls are heavier

• Hormones
• the individuals view of themselves (self esteem)
• other's view of the individual

• •Perception of being an early or late maturer is more important in affecting one’s feelings
• than the reality

Pros of early maturation

•Popularity, better self-esteem

•More responsible, cooperative, sociable later in adulthood

Cons of early maturation

• •More drug and alcohol use, precocious sexual activity, greater impact of
• victimization

•Less creative, more humorless in later adulthood

•Compared to early maturing boys, early maturing girls have more difficulties

•Maturational deviance hypothesis

•Developmental readiness hypothesis

•Cultural and contextual factors (valuing thinner body types)

Pros of early maturation

•Popularity with boys

Cons of early maturation

•Heavier and shorter stature later in life

• •Precocious sexual activity, lowered self-image, higher rates of depression, eating
• disorders, anxiety

• most common in girls due to dissatisfaction of the body....increase in body fat
• most common disorder is OBESITY
• disordered eating means having unhealthy eating habits

• it is better to be ON TIME then OFF TIME
• PREPARATION is key! 
• we make adjustments as a reaction to the context

delayed phase preference: wanting to go to bed later and later in adolescence

Carskadon:


investigates the pubertal stage and later bed times to physical maturation, birth order, school type, family and peer groups

• FOUND: physical maturation is more important than psychosocial factors
• BUT you can't say the environment has no effect....

Larson and Richards:

compared emotional ups and downs with random mood sampling and self report of pubertal status

FOUND: adolescence overall has biggest mood changes BUT it was related to environmental factors... NOT PUBERTAL STAGE

• thinking about what could be 
• no longer fixed by the observable
• career choices are increased
• "what would happen if..." (Idealism)
• more than one thing can be thought about at once
• if...then....(hypothetical reasoning)

• findings, formal reasoning improved with age
• adolescence improve with deductive logic
• think better about things that a RELEVANT to them 

• the adolescent can think deductively but doesn't mean they will act that way 
• knowing VS doing
• motivated by society and motivation 

• mental symbols begin to appear ( democracy, justice, truth)
• thinking without the senses
• Propositional logic: if A is true, and B is true, then C is also true

assimilation VS accomodation!!! experiencing new things and then changing them to accomodate new info...

• thinking about thinking
• "thinking take wings"-Piaget
• 20 questions EXAMPLE: adolescence thinks about the questions in order to get the appropriate answers
• introspection increases!

• everything is about YOU
• bring on the verge of discovery
• Imaginary audience: everyone is looking at you
• Personal fable:linked to risky behaviours, trying to make yourself different than other.. being unique

thinking about more than one aspect of a situation, word or topic

• EXAMPLE: applying for a job! many thoughts are in your head
• who am I?
• what do I want to be?

• sarcasm becomes increasingly possible
• more into adult thinking rather than egocentrism
• ANALYZING

• black and white disappear!!
• beginning to question things
• agruments-choosing your battles
• different rights and wrongs are thought about

• PROCESS THEORY
• really emphasized the difference between how a child thinks from how an adolescent thinks to how an adult thinks....thought they were verrrrryyyy different
• all about maturation 
• sensorimotor-preoperational-concrete operations-formal operations
• everyone goes through these stages in this order
• sensory-->internalized thought
• the progressive movement into internalized thought
• BUT WHAT ABOUT CULTURE?!!!

• environmental
• explaining a more gradual change between child and adolescent thinking
• focuses on specific parts of thinking and the development of them 
• with enough info, you can advance the child!
• all about quantity
• molding the brain by new information 
• the more the info, the more the child's brain has the capacity to think

• focus on age
• when does it begin and end?
• puberty starts before adolescence
• defining adolescence on the time frame that is begins and ends

• when is adult status conferred?
• lots of variation
• different opportunities given at different ages
• driving, drinking, voting, dating

the engagement and completion of the developmental tasks that mark adulthood

Havinghurst's 9 tasks

• accepting their physique
• forming relationships
• emotional independence
• intellectual skills
• marriage and kids prep
• establishing values

if struggling with any of those listed above, the individual is not able to focus their attention on things that are more important and adult like.

therefore, they need to develop and mature psychosocially

• strictly looking at the changes occuring during adolescence as biological processes
• the pubertal and hormonal changes effect the psychosocial development of the adolescent

• Hall: YES! storm and stress
• Arnett: No!! it is moderate 

• the storm and stress model states that the hormones are out of control and therefore, so are the teens....they are irresponsible...
• but this goes against research (generation tame)

Enright (1987)

examined historical portrayals of adolescence

economic depression: the were seen as dependant, immature, psychologically unstable and requiring education (treated more like children)

in war time: seen as mature, psychologically competent, and not needing education (treated more like adults)

IN CONCLUSION:social construction: adolescence are constructed depending on the needs and values of the economic and cultural tastes of the society