Adolesence Midterm PDF

Chapter 1: Biological Transitions Overview of Puberty: ○ Physical Changes: Puberty involves a rapid growth spurt and the development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics. This period of growth includes an increase in height and weight, muscle and fat...

Chapter 1: Biological Transitions Overview of Puberty: ○ Physical Changes: Puberty involves a rapid growth spurt and the development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics. This period of growth includes an increase in height and weight, muscle and fat distribution changes, and, for girls, the development of breasts and hips; for boys, increased muscle mass and body hair. ○ Adrenarche: The maturation of the adrenal gland that takes place during adolescence. Changes in the brain system regulate the adrenal gland, which is also the system that controls how we respond to stress. Cortisol: A hormone that is produced when a person is exposed to stress. ○ Epiphysis: The closing ends of the bones, which terminates growth after the adolescent growth spurt has been completed. ○ Primary sex characteristics: refer to changes to the sexual organs themselves (uterus, vagina, penis, and testes). ○ Secondary sex characteristics: refer to other visible changes that mark adult maturation such as changes in height and body shape ○ Endocrine System: Hormonal changes are regulated by the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which controls hormone levels that trigger puberty. Key hormones include testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol. ○ Hormonal Feedback Loop: Like a thermostat, the HPG axis adjusts hormone levels to maintain balance, influencing growth and mood changes. Key components include: Hypothalamus: Monitors hormone levels. Pituitary Gland: Signals gonads (testes or ovaries) to release sex hormones. Gonads: Produce sex hormones essential for physical development. ○ Triggers of Puberty: Factors such as body fat, nutritional resources, and environmental cues (e.g., pheromones from stepfathers) can influence the onset of puberty. Kisspeptin, a brain chemical, is a key trigger stimulated by leptin (related to body fat) and suppressed by melatonin. ○ Puberty occurs earlier: in those who are better nourished those in father absent families,conflict ridden households, sexual abuse, and have stepfathers ○ Secular Trend: The tendency, over the past two centuries, for individuals to be larger in stature and to reach puberty earlier, primarily because of improvements in health and nutrition. Psychological and Social Impact: ○ Mood Changes: Hormonal shifts can contribute to emotional volatility, often associated with environmental factors like stress and social interactions.  ○ Delayed Phase Preference: A pattern of sleep characterized by later sleep and wake times, which usually emerges during puberty Caused by interaction of biology and environment Timing of secretion of melatonin shifts later Environmental factors: internet, television, electronic media ○ Pubertal Timing: Early Maturation: Often linked to increased self-consciousness and behavioral risks, especially for girls, who may experience social pressures or body dissatisfaction. Late Maturation: Late-maturing adolescents may face teasing but tend to have positive self-esteem later. ○ Body Image and Eating Disorders: Body dissatisfaction is prevalent, especially among girls. Common disorders include: Anorexia Nervosa: Severe restriction of food intake. Bulimia: Binge-eating followed by purging. Obesity: Linked to poor body image and health risks​. Chapter 2: Cognitive Transitions Changes in Cognition: ○ Hypothetical/ If-Then Thinking: Being able to plan ahead, see future consequences of an action, provide explanations of events, and empathy. ○ Abstract Thinking: Adolescents can think about concepts like justice, friendship, and ethics, helping them understand complex social relationships and personal identities. ○ Metacognition: The ability to think about one's own thoughts (self-awareness) and the thoughts of others, leading to introspection and self-consciousness. ○ Thinking in Multiple Dimensions: Adolescents can consider multiple perspectives, aiding in the understanding of sarcasm, metaphor, and complex situations. ○ Adolescent Relativism: Teens start to question absolute truths and become more skeptical of established norms. ○ Imaginary Audience: The belief, often brought on by the heightened self-consciousness of early adolescence, that everyone is watching and evaluating one's behavior. ○ Personal Fable: Adolescent’s belief that they are unique and therefore not subject to the rules that govern other people’s behavior. Theoretical Perspectives: ○ Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: Sensorimotor Period: First stage, spanning between birth and age 2 Know the world through movements and sensations Preoperational Period: Second stage, spanning between agres 2-5 Begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects  Tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others Getting better with language and thinking, but still tend to think in very concrete terms Concrete Operations: Third stage, spanning between age 6- early adolescence Begin to think logically about concrete events Begin to understand the concept of conservation Formal Operational Stage: Fourth stage spanning from early adolescence to adulthood Adolescents can engage in hypothetical-deductive reasoning, allowing for systematic problem-solving. ○ Information Processing Theory: Cognitive development is gradual, with improvements in: Attention: Selective (focusing on one task) and divided attention (multitasking). Memory: Working memory, long-term memory, and autobiographical memory, especially for personally meaningful events. Processing Speed: Adolescents process information faster than children, enabling more complex decision-making. Brain Development: ○ Synaptic Pruning: The brain eliminates less-used neural connections, enhancing cognitive efficiency. ○ Myelination: Insulation of neural pathways that enhances processing speed. ○ Prefrontal Cortex: The last part to mature, responsible for planning, impulse control, and judgment. ○ Limbic System: Changes increase emotional responses and risk-taking behaviors. ○ Executive function: More advanced thinking abilities, enabled chiefly by the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, especially in early adolescence. ○ Functional connectivity: The extent to which multiple brain regions function at the same time, which improves during adolescence. ○ Dopamine: A neurotransmitter especially important in the brain circuits that regulate the experience of reward. ○ Serotonin: A neurotransmitter that is especially important for the experience of different moods. IQ: ○ Average score is 100 ○ Intelligence quotient Culture and Intelligence ○ Zone of proximal development: In Vygotsky’s theory, the level of challenge that is still within the individual’s reach but that forces an individual to develop more advanced skills.  ○ Scaffolding: Structuring a learning situation so that it is just within the reach of the student. ○ Social cognition: The aspect of cognition that concerns thinking about other people, interpersonal relationships, and social institutions. ○ Theory of mind: The ability to understand that others have beliefs, intentions, and knowledge that may be different from one’s own ○ Sensation seeking: The pursuit of experiences that are novel or exciting Chapter 3: Social Transitions Social Redefinition: ○ Emerging Adulthood: Ages 18-25, characterized by exploration, instability, self-focus, and a feeling of being “in-between.” This phase is more common in Western societies, where adolescence and adulthood are separated by longer educational periods and delayed family responsibilities. ○ Legal Boundaries: Adolescents' rights to drive, vote, drink, or join the military vary significantly across regions and are based on differing cultural and legal views on maturity. ○ Psychosocial Development: Identity: Developing a sense of self in relation to society, including future roles. Autonomy: Increased independence in decision-making, finances, and relationships. Achievement and Intimacy: New societal expectations for educational and career goals, as well as intimate relationships. ○ Developmental Task Domains: Succeeding Maintaining Stalling ○ Baby boom: The period following World War II, during which the number of infants born was extremely large. ○ Continuous transitions: Passages into adulthood in which adult roles and statuses are entered into gradually. ○ Discontinuous transitions: Passages into adulthood in which adult roles and statuses are entered into abruptly. Social Inventions and Adolescence: ○ Industrialization’s Influence: Industrialization led to child labor laws and extended schooling, creating a defined adolescent phase. Previously, young people transitioned directly from childhood to adulthood. ○ Emerging Adulthood and Cultural Variations: Differences in economic status and cultural expectations influence the nature and length of adolescence across societies​. Youngsters from some ethnic minority groups (Black, Latinx, Native American) have more difficulty making the transition to adulthood.  Possible factors involved include poverty, discrimination, disproportionate involvement in the justice system, and segregation. ○ Adolescents growing up in poor, urban communities are more likely to do the following: Be sexually active at an earlier age. Bear children as teenagers. Become involved in criminal activities. Achieve less in (or drop out of) high school. ○ Collective efficacy: The extent to which neighbors trust each other, share common values, and count on each other to monitor the activities of youth in the community. Chapter 4: Families Family Relationships in Adolescence: ○ Conflict Patterns: Typical disagreements over daily routines, chores, and autonomy. These conflicts often peak in early adolescence and decline later. ○ Parenting Styles (based on Baumrind’s model): Authoritative parents: Use warmth, firm control, and rational, issue-oriented discipline, in which emphasis is placed on the development of self-direction. Leads to confident, self assured individuals. Authoritarian parents: Use punitive, absolute, and forceful discipline, and place a premium on obedience and conformity. Leads to dependence and low self-esteem. Indulgent parents: Characterized by responsiveness but low demandingness, and who are mainly concerned with the child’s happiness. Leads to self-regulation struggles. Indifferent parents: Characterized by low levels of both responsiveness and demandingness. Associated with risky behaviors in adolescents. ○ Family System Changes: Midlife Challenges: Parents may face identity issues and the "sandwich generation" strain, caring for both children and aging parents. Economic Stress: Adolescence brings increased financial pressures due to education, activities, and daily needs. ○ Familism: An orientation toward life in which the needs of the family take precedence over the needs of the individual ○ Generational dissonance: Divergence of views between adolescents and parents that is common in families of immigrant parents and American-born adolescents Chapter 5: Peer Groups  Peer Group Formation: ○ Peer groups: Groups of individuals of approximately the same age. Educators first developed the idea of free public education, with students grouped by age. ○ Age grading: The process of grouping individuals within social institutions on the basis of age. ○ Cliques and Crowds: Cliques are close-knit groups (2-12 friends) based on friendship, while crowds are larger, reputation-based groups (e.g., “jocks,” “brains”) that influence identity and self-concept. ○ Reference groups: A group against which an individual compares themself. ○ Common Interests Among Friends: Orientation Toward School Adolescents and their friends tend to be similar in their attitudes toward school, school achievement, course selection, and educational plans. Students also influence each other’s academic performance. Involvement in Antisocial Activity Antisocial, aggressive adolescents gravitate toward each other and form deviant peer groups. Gangs: organized peer groups of antisocial individuals ○ Popularity: Sociometric Popularity: Being liked by peers. Perceived Popularity: Status-based popularity, which may involve both positive and negative social behaviors. Proactive aggression: Aggressive behavior that is deliberate and planned. Reactive aggression: Aggressive behavior that is unplanned and impulsive. Relational aggression: Acts intended to harm another through the manipulation of relationships with others (malicious gossip). ○ Bullying and Cyberbullying: Peer aggression impacts mental health and is exacerbated by social media. Victims often suffer from anxiety, depression, and lower self-esteem. ○ Peer Influence on Development: Adolescents' behaviors are shaped by peers, who may reinforce positive or negative behaviors. Peer influence peaks in early adolescence and declines as teens mature and form individual identities. ○ Teens with poor peer relationships are more likely to: Be low achievers in school. Drop out of high school. Show higher rates of delinquent behavior. Suffer from emotional and mental health problems as adults. Chapter 6: Schools  Educational Environment: ○ Secondary education: Middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools. ○ School Structure and Size: Smaller schools offer more individualized attention and increased participation in extracurricular activities, which benefit psychosocial development. ○ Tracking: Separating students by ability levels can have both positive (for high-achievers) and negative (for low-achievers) effects. ○ Teacher Expectations and Student Performance: Teacher beliefs about students’ abilities can become self-fulfilling prophecies, influencing student motivation and achievement. ○ School Safety and Policies: Zero-tolerance policies for violence and substance abuse can affect school climate. School violence and safety concerns impact students' academic and social outcomes. ○ Critical thinking: Thinking that involves analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting information, rather than simply memorizing it. Reform Movements: ○ No Child Left Behind (NCLB): Emphasized standardized testing, though it faced criticism for focusing too heavily on test scores at the expense of critical thinking and other skills. The law mandates that all states ensure that all students, regardless of economic circumstances, achieve academic proficiency on standardized annual tests. Schools that repeatedly fail face losing funding and closing. Social promotion: Promoting students from one grade to the next automatically, regardless of their school performance. ○ Problems With No Child Left Behind: Not enough resources. Teaching to the test—subjects and skills not on the test at risk for being cut or ignored. Impossible to assess critical thinking through standardized tests. No common set of standards—“Gaming the system” through low standards. Reporting school-wide average scores without revealing the huge gaps between low- and high-performing students. ○ Standards-Based Reform and Common Core: Aimed to improve academic performance but faced challenges, particularly for students who struggled to meet graduation standards​. Chapter 7: Work, Leisure, and Media Adolescents and Work:  ○ Types of Employment: Service and retail jobs are common among teens, with older adolescents taking more formal positions. ○ Work Impact: While part-time work can foster responsibility and money management, long hours can interfere with school and increase problem behaviors like substance use. Experience Sampling Method (ESM): A method of collecting data about adolescents’ emotional states, in which individuals are signaled and asked to report on their mood and activity. Routine activity theory: A perspective on adolescence that views unstructured, unsupervised time with peers as a main cause of misbehavior. Positive youth development: The goal of programs designed to facilitate healthy psychosocial development and not simply to deter problematic development. ○ The Five C’s of Positive Youth Development Competence A positive view of one's actions in domain-specific areas, including social, academic, cognitive, and vocational. Social competence pertains to interpersonal skills (e.g., conflict resolution). Cognitive competence pertains to cognitive abilities (e.g., decision making). School grades, attendance, and test scores are part of academic competence. Vocational competence involves work habits and career choice explorations. Confidence An internal sense of overall positive self-worth and self-efficacy; one's global self-regard, as opposed to domain-specific beliefs. Connection Positive bonds with people and institutions that are reflected in bidirectional exchanges between the individual and peers, family, school, and community in which both parties contribute to the relationship. Character Respect for societal and cultural rules, possession of standards for correct behaviors, a sense of right and wrong (morality), and integrity. Caring/compassion A sense of sympathy and empathy for others. - Leisure Activities: ○ Structured vs. Unstructured Time: Structured Activities: Extracurriculars like sports and clubs promote positive development, increasing academic success and reducing delinquency. Unstructured Time: Time spent unsupervised with peers can lead to delinquent behavior, especially during unsupervised afternoons. Media and Technology: ○ Media Use: Increased access to digital media introduces potential risks (e.g., addiction, exposure to inappropriate content) but can also provide positive social connections. ○ Social Media Impact: While it enhances connectivity, it can also contribute to mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Theories such as cultivation theory, uses and gratification, and routine activity theory help explain media’s role in adolescent development.