Adolescent Sexuality and Development

• These notes cover adolescent sexuality, teen pregnancy, achievement motivation, and the influences of home and friends on academic success.

Sexual Activity and Psychological Development

• Sexual activity during adolescence is not inherently harmful.
• Adolescent sexual activity is generally not linked to psychological distress.
• Adolescents engaging in sex at a normative age (16 or older) report similar levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction compared to non-sexually active peers.
• Early sexual activity (before age 15) is associated with higher risks, including delinquency, drug/alcohol use, and lower academic achievement.
• Risky sexual behaviors (e.g., unprotected sex, multiple partners) are linked to personality traits like impulsivity and sensation-seeking.
• Cultural norms influence the impact of early sexual activity on mental health, depending on the culture early sexual activity does or does not predict mental health issues.
• Adolescents who abstain from sex entirely tend to have strong religious commitments and report better mental health and relationship satisfaction later in life.

Causation or Correlation

• There is a correlation between early sexual activity and problem behaviors, but the relationship is complex.
• Early sexual activity correlates with small scale deviance.
• No strong evidence suggests early sex causes delinquency.
• Impulsivity and risk-taking tendencies may underlie both behaviors.
• Parental supervision and structure help delay sexual activity.
• Adolescents left unsupervised after school are more likely to engage in sexual activity.

Parental and Peer Influences on Sexual Activity

• Adolescents from authoritative households (warm but firm parenting) are less likely to engage in early or risky sexual activity.
• Parent-adolescent conflict is linked to earlier sexual activity, especially in physically mature adolescents.
• Parental monitoring reduces the likelihood of risky sexual behaviors.
• Open communication about sex delays sexual activity and promotes safer behaviors.
• Adolescents with sexually active friends are more likely to become sexually active themselves.
• Peer norms shape attitudes toward sex.
• Perceiving that "everyone is doing it" increases the likelihood of early sexual activity.
• Having older romantic partners increases the likelihood of early sexual initiation.

Adolescents' Reasons for Not Using Contraception

• Many sexually active adolescents fail to use contraception consistently, increasing the risk of pregnancy and STDs.
• Reasons for not using contraception: lack of planning, lack of access, lack of knowledge, personal or partner objections, and romanticized views of sex and pregnancy.
• Adolescents' age is the best predictor of contraceptive use.

Improving Contraceptive Behavior

• Better sex education programs improve contraceptive use by providing accurate information about protection and pregnancy risks.
• Increasing access to contraception through schools, clinics, and community programs leads to higher rates of consistent contraceptive use.
• Parental communication about contraception improves responsible sexual behavior.
• Developing future-oriented thinking helps adolescents recognize the long-term consequences of unprotected sex.
• Encouraging dual protection reduces both pregnancy and STD risks.

Teen Pregnancy

• Teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. have declined significantly, but they remain higher than in many other developed countries.
• Contributors to teen pregnancy: lack of contraceptive use or inconsistent use, limited access to sexual health education, cultural or peer norms that do not discourage early childbearing, and socioeconomic disadvantage.
• Outcomes for teen mothers: increased likelihood of dropping out of school and having lower future earnings, higher risk of poverty and reliance on public assistance, and challenges in parenting due to a lack of emotional and financial resources.
• Interventions to reduce teen pregnancy: comprehensive sex education (rather than abstinence-only programs) and access to contraception and reproductive healthcare.
• Programs that promote academic and career aspirations reduce motivation for early parenthood.

Achievement Motivation

• Definition: Achievement motivation refers to an adolescent's drive to succeed in academic and work-related settings.
• Noncognitive Factors Matter: motivation, self-control, and perseverance significantly impact success.
• "Grit" (persistence and effort) is often more important than intelligence in long-term success.
• Delay of Gratification: The ability to wait for a larger reward instead of taking an immediate but lesser reward predicts higher academic and career success.
• Fear of Failure: anxiety about failure can interfere with performance.
• Achievement motivation is undermined by too much anxiety.
• Moderate anxiety can be helpful, but excessive anxiety reduces concentration and problem-solving abilities.
• Yerkes-Dodson Law: Too little or too much arousal/anxiety impairs performance.
• Self-Handicapping: Some adolescents deliberately avoid effort to have an excuse for failure.
• Boys typically blame lack of effort, while girls attribute failure to emotional stress.

Beliefs About Success and Failure

• Mastery vs. Performance Orientation: mastery motivation focuses on learning and self-improvement, while performance motivation focuses on outperforming others.
• Parental Influence: Excessive parental control fosters performance motivation, while autonomy-supportive parenting fosters mastery motivation.
• Stereotype Threat: awareness of negative stereotypes about one's racial or gender group can decrease performance.
• Fixed vs. Growth Mindset: a fixed mindset (belief that intelligence is static) can lead to avoidance of challenges, while a growth mindset (belief that intelligence can develop with effort) leads to resilience in learning.
• Self-Efficacy: confidence in one's ability to succeed increases motivation.
• Students with high self-efficacy exert more effort and persist through challenges.

The Influence of the Home Environment

• Parental Expectations & Values: higher parental expectations correlate with better adolescent achievement.
• Parents who expect a lot foster strong self-expectations in their children.
• Parental Involvement in Education: effective involvement includes setting high academic expectations and engaging in school activities.
• Authoritative Parenting: balances warmth and structure, leading to better school performance.
• Home Environment Quality: presence of books, newspapers, and educational materials correlates with higher achievement.
• Family income and social capital play a role in success.

The Influence of Friends

• Peers Shape Academic Behavior: friends, more than parents, influence daily academic habits.
• High-achieving friends encourage better performance; low-achieving friends discourage it.
• Peer Pressure & Academic Performance: students are more likely to enroll in challenging courses if their friends do.
• Adolescents worry about being perceived as "too academic" by peers, leading some to downplay their intelligence.
• Peer Influence on Future Aspirations: having friends who plan to attend college increases an adolescent's likelihood of doing the same.
• Low-achieving students benefit from friendships with high achievers.
• Balancing Social Life & Academics: high achievers maintain friendships but structure their time effectively, spending less time socializing on weekdays.
• Family & Peer Influence Interact: authoritative parenting + academically engaged friends = highest achievement.
• Low parental involvement + disengaged friends = highest risk of poor performance.