Adolescent Development – Lectures – 2025/2026
Table of Contents
HC1 – Course Introduction – 4/2/26............................................................................................ 2
HC2 – Emotional and Moral development – 6/2/26 ...................................................................... 7
HC3 – Cognitive Development and Brain Development – 11/2/25 ............................................... 12
HC4 – Self and Identity – 13/2/25.............................................................................................. 18
HC5 – Psychopathology during adolescence – 18/2/26 .............................................................. 23
HC6 – Substance Use and Delinquency – 25/2/26 ..................................................................... 31
HC7 – Family Relations and Autonomy – 6/3/26......................................................................... 36
HC8 – Peers – 11/2/26 ............................................................................................................. 36
HC9 – Romantic Relations and Sexuality – 13/3/26 .................................................................... 36
H10 – Schools and Achievement – 18/2/26 ............................................................................... 36
H11 – Media Use – 20/2/26 ...................................................................................................... 36
1
,HC1 – Course Introduction – 4/2/26
Preparation: read introduction, chapter 1 (p. 13-33) & chapter 3.
Part 1: Practical Information
Course set up
1. Foundations (6 lectures): introduction, puberty, cognition, emotional and moral development,
identity, psychopathology -> 1st exam
2. Social world (3 lectures): family, peers, romantic relationships -> 2nd exam
3. Broader issues (2 lectures): schools & achievement, social media -> 2nd exam
Practical assignments
• Interview
o Interview with adolescent (age 12-16)
o Write interview summary and analysis: choose 1 interview to analyze.
o Group assignment (each person in group does an interview)
• Research report
o Data collection (adolescent aged 12-16 + parent/guardian)
o Write research report analyzing and interpreting data (see BB)
o Group assignment (4 students)
Part 2: Introduction to the study of adolescence
1: What is adolescence? Conceptualizations and definitions
2: The beginning of adolescence: puberty
3: The end of adolescence
Part 1:
Research shows that parents associate the ‘teenage brain’ with undesirable behavior, which is something
that adolescents do less, but they do indeed think that their parents hold these attitudes.
G. Stanley Hall (1st APA president): adolescence is characterized by a period of ‘storm and stress’.
Adolescence is a biological, hormonal, driven process that is unavoidable.
However (what we know in the present): adolescence should actually be viewed as a second period of
learning and changes in the brain.
Empirical evidence for:
• Increased conflicts with parents (intensity)
• Mood volitivity (and negative mood)
• Increased risk behavior
Research in China: Turbulence in adolescence predicted an increase in negative emotions a year later.
The way adolescents think about and describe adolescence influences the way adolescents behave
in a more stereotypical way (=self-fulfilling prophecy).
There are multiple ways in which you can define adolescence:
• The period between the onset of sexual maturation (puberty) and the attainment of adult roles
and responsibilities
2
, o The transition from child (requiring adult monitoring) to adult (self-responsibility for
behavior)
• Age boundaries
o Book:
▪ Early adolescence (10-13 years)
▪ Middle adolescence (14-17 years)
▪ Late adolescence (18-21 years)
▪ Young adulthood (22-30 years)
o Others: emerging adulthood (18-25) then young adulthood
The first one is usually used, the second one can be added to the first one.
3 primary changes:
1. Biological: puberty (body and brain)
2. Cognitive: abstract thinking, executive functions, social cognition
3. Social: redefinition of an individual from child to an adult (or non-child)
This graph tries to summarize the changes
(developmental relevance). The darker the
square, the more change there was in that
age category.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model:
Change happens within a social context.
Development does not occur in a vacuum.
Part 2:
Puberty: maturational process during which primary (e.g. testes, ovaries) and secondary (e.g. breasts,
pubic hair) sex characteristics mature resulting in capacity to reproduce.
5 areas of change:
1. Maturation of reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics
2. Nervous and endocrine system
3. Skeletal growth: people get taller, and the skeletal shape changes.
4. Body composition, change in distribution of fat and muscle
5. Circulatory and respiratory systems
3
, Measuring pubertal development
• Tanner staging (physicians/nurses): based on huge study of bodily changes that you can study.
o Girls: breasts/pubic hair development
o Boys: penis & testes/pubic hair development
o 5 stages where 1 = no development, 2 = beginning stages and 5 = adult
->Is not seen as the best way of measuring anymore. Instead:
• Self-report (e.g. when a girl started menstruating)
• Visual inspection by researcher of clothed adolescent
• Hormone levels (is also often done today)
Hormones -> two important feedback systems:
• The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis: The earliest hormonal changes of
adolescence occur through the (HPA) axis. The hypothalamus releases adrenocorticotropin-
releasing hormone (CRH), which, in turn, stimulates release of adrenocorticotropic hormone
(ACTH) from the pituitary. ACTH activates the adrenal cortex to produce the androgens
dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione, which initiate armpit and pubic hair
growth and skin changes.
• The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) Axis: The hypothalamus releases gonadotropin
hormone–releasing hormone (GnRH), which stimulates the pituitary gland to release
luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormones, these in turn stimulate the gonads to
synthesize and secrete sex steroids and corticosteroids.
4
Table of Contents
HC1 – Course Introduction – 4/2/26............................................................................................ 2
HC2 – Emotional and Moral development – 6/2/26 ...................................................................... 7
HC3 – Cognitive Development and Brain Development – 11/2/25 ............................................... 12
HC4 – Self and Identity – 13/2/25.............................................................................................. 18
HC5 – Psychopathology during adolescence – 18/2/26 .............................................................. 23
HC6 – Substance Use and Delinquency – 25/2/26 ..................................................................... 31
HC7 – Family Relations and Autonomy – 6/3/26......................................................................... 36
HC8 – Peers – 11/2/26 ............................................................................................................. 36
HC9 – Romantic Relations and Sexuality – 13/3/26 .................................................................... 36
H10 – Schools and Achievement – 18/2/26 ............................................................................... 36
H11 – Media Use – 20/2/26 ...................................................................................................... 36
1
,HC1 – Course Introduction – 4/2/26
Preparation: read introduction, chapter 1 (p. 13-33) & chapter 3.
Part 1: Practical Information
Course set up
1. Foundations (6 lectures): introduction, puberty, cognition, emotional and moral development,
identity, psychopathology -> 1st exam
2. Social world (3 lectures): family, peers, romantic relationships -> 2nd exam
3. Broader issues (2 lectures): schools & achievement, social media -> 2nd exam
Practical assignments
• Interview
o Interview with adolescent (age 12-16)
o Write interview summary and analysis: choose 1 interview to analyze.
o Group assignment (each person in group does an interview)
• Research report
o Data collection (adolescent aged 12-16 + parent/guardian)
o Write research report analyzing and interpreting data (see BB)
o Group assignment (4 students)
Part 2: Introduction to the study of adolescence
1: What is adolescence? Conceptualizations and definitions
2: The beginning of adolescence: puberty
3: The end of adolescence
Part 1:
Research shows that parents associate the ‘teenage brain’ with undesirable behavior, which is something
that adolescents do less, but they do indeed think that their parents hold these attitudes.
G. Stanley Hall (1st APA president): adolescence is characterized by a period of ‘storm and stress’.
Adolescence is a biological, hormonal, driven process that is unavoidable.
However (what we know in the present): adolescence should actually be viewed as a second period of
learning and changes in the brain.
Empirical evidence for:
• Increased conflicts with parents (intensity)
• Mood volitivity (and negative mood)
• Increased risk behavior
Research in China: Turbulence in adolescence predicted an increase in negative emotions a year later.
The way adolescents think about and describe adolescence influences the way adolescents behave
in a more stereotypical way (=self-fulfilling prophecy).
There are multiple ways in which you can define adolescence:
• The period between the onset of sexual maturation (puberty) and the attainment of adult roles
and responsibilities
2
, o The transition from child (requiring adult monitoring) to adult (self-responsibility for
behavior)
• Age boundaries
o Book:
▪ Early adolescence (10-13 years)
▪ Middle adolescence (14-17 years)
▪ Late adolescence (18-21 years)
▪ Young adulthood (22-30 years)
o Others: emerging adulthood (18-25) then young adulthood
The first one is usually used, the second one can be added to the first one.
3 primary changes:
1. Biological: puberty (body and brain)
2. Cognitive: abstract thinking, executive functions, social cognition
3. Social: redefinition of an individual from child to an adult (or non-child)
This graph tries to summarize the changes
(developmental relevance). The darker the
square, the more change there was in that
age category.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model:
Change happens within a social context.
Development does not occur in a vacuum.
Part 2:
Puberty: maturational process during which primary (e.g. testes, ovaries) and secondary (e.g. breasts,
pubic hair) sex characteristics mature resulting in capacity to reproduce.
5 areas of change:
1. Maturation of reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics
2. Nervous and endocrine system
3. Skeletal growth: people get taller, and the skeletal shape changes.
4. Body composition, change in distribution of fat and muscle
5. Circulatory and respiratory systems
3
, Measuring pubertal development
• Tanner staging (physicians/nurses): based on huge study of bodily changes that you can study.
o Girls: breasts/pubic hair development
o Boys: penis & testes/pubic hair development
o 5 stages where 1 = no development, 2 = beginning stages and 5 = adult
->Is not seen as the best way of measuring anymore. Instead:
• Self-report (e.g. when a girl started menstruating)
• Visual inspection by researcher of clothed adolescent
• Hormone levels (is also often done today)
Hormones -> two important feedback systems:
• The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis: The earliest hormonal changes of
adolescence occur through the (HPA) axis. The hypothalamus releases adrenocorticotropin-
releasing hormone (CRH), which, in turn, stimulates release of adrenocorticotropic hormone
(ACTH) from the pituitary. ACTH activates the adrenal cortex to produce the androgens
dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione, which initiate armpit and pubic hair
growth and skin changes.
• The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) Axis: The hypothalamus releases gonadotropin
hormone–releasing hormone (GnRH), which stimulates the pituitary gland to release
luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormones, these in turn stimulate the gonads to
synthesize and secrete sex steroids and corticosteroids.
4
