FAD3220 Chapter 11 Adolescents and Puberty Class Notes Adolescence Time between childhood and adulthood w major physical cognitive and psychological changes Ages 11 19 20 Puberty Process by which person attains sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce Onset of puberty also dependent on critical amount of body fat percentage girls retain more body fat b c of estrogen Heightened emotionality and moodiness in early adolescents may be a result of hormonal developments Signs of Puberty Primary sex characteristics organs necessary for reproduction Secondary sex characteristics physiological signs of maturity that don t involve sex organs oiler skin bigger boobs hair growth Sequence is more consistent than the timing Body fat is signal for menstruation Adolescent growth spurt rapid increase in height weight muscle and bone o Typically lasts about 2 years o Usually happens 2 yrs earlier for girls than boys girls 11 13 are usually stronger taller and heavier than boys of the same age o Fat accumulates twice as rapidly in girls than boys Signs of Sexual Maturity Spermarche boy s first ejaculation o Avg age is 13 years Menarche girl s first menstruation o Vary from 14 to 16 Secular Trend trend that can be seen only by observing several generations o Decreased age in puberty increased height and weight o Nutrition economics health care family relationships exercise etc Adolescent brain Brain still maturing during adolescence Use of differing brain regions emotional instinctual regions vs reasoning and judgment regions may account for poor choices w adolescents logic vs emotions o Thrill seeking impulsiveness o Peer pressure Health Physical Activity activity decreases throughout high school years more homework no recess o Main culprit for obesity in adolescence Sleep deprivation o Poor sleep patterns going to sleep late and oversleeping can contribute to insomnia o Melatonin is secreted later at night during adolescence o Need just as much sleep or more than middle childhood Children b c of rapid growth and development 9 10 hours but school usually prevents this Nutrition food Compared to teens in other industrialized countries o U S teens are eating less healthy food and more unhealthy o U S teens are 2x more likely to be overweight Contributing factors could be portion size and less physical activity built into the day not as many cars and more biking in other industrialized countries Eating Disorders appearance Body Image descriptive and evaluative beliefs about one s o Girls less satisfied w gaining weight o Boys more satisfied w gaining muscle Anorexia Nervosa self starvation Bulimia nervosa binging and purging Disordered eating making poor food choices in an attempt to be healthier Drug use and Abuse Other Issues Substance abuse repeated harmful use of a substance Substance dependence addition physical psychological or both to a harmful substance Includes alcohol tobacco illicit drugs prescription drugs and over the counter drugs bath salts Depression biochemical imbalance in the brain Death o 71 of deaths among 10 24 year olds result from motor vehicles crashes unintentional injuries homicide and suicide Vehicle crashes are 1 Cognitive Development Piaget Formal operations o Ability to think abstractly 4x 5y know there is understood multiplication o Usually begins around 11 Hypothetical deductive reasoning ability to develop consider and test hypothesis Information Processing Structural Changes o Changes in working memory capacity o The increasing amount of knowledge stored in long term memory knowledge acquired Declarative knowing that consists of all factual Procedural knowing how to skills a person has Conceptual knowing why understanding Functional Change process for obtaining handling and retaining info are functional aspects of cognition Most important functional changes o Increase in processing speed o Further development of executive functioning selective attention decision making etc Moral Reasoning Kholburg Levels of Morality o 1 Proconventional people act under external conditions They obey rules in order to avoid punishment or reap rewards and act out of self interest age 4 10 o 2 Conventional people have internalized the standards of authority figures They are concerned with being good pleasing others and maintaining social order after 10 o 3 Post conventional recognize conflicts between moral standards and make their own judgments on the basis of right fairness and justice adolescence or young adulthood Prosocial Behavior Volunteering Increase through adolescence Girls show more prosocial behavior than boys Parents of girls emphasize social responsibility more than w boys Girls volunteer more than boys in community service try to get boys more involved or give them opportunities Influence on school achievement in High School Parents w high occupational status Self motivation self efficiency self discipline Higher SES Parents w education Gender Parenting Style Peer Influence The school o Some people just aren t cut out for school and feel forced to go to college and do bad causing them to fail causing their self esteem to be damaged Book Notes Reflect all bolded main information not presented in lecture Adolescent Language Development Social perspective taking ability to tailor their speech to another person s knowledge level Attain higher levels of abstract thought
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