Lecture 1 - Adolescent Development
Adolescence: the period between the onset of sexual maturation and the attainment of adult roles and
responsibilities
Aka the transition from:
Child status (requires parental monitoring)
Adult status (self-responsibility for behavior)
The health paradox adolescence
Adolescence in the healthiest and most resilient period of the lifespan
From childhood to adolescence
o Increase strength, speed, mental reasoning, immune function, reaction time
o Increase resistance to cold, heat, hunger, dehydration and most types of injury
Yet: overall morbidity and rates increase 200-300% from childhood to adolescence
Risk behavior?
Primary causes of death/disability are related to problems of control behavior and emotion
Increase rates od accidents, suicides, homicides, depression, alcohol and substance use,
violence, reckless behaviors, eating disorders, health problems related to risky sexual
behaviors
Increase risk taking, sensation seeking and erratic (emotionally influenced) behavior
Question raised because of the health paradox: what is the empirical evidence that adolescents are
“heated by nature”?
Biology? Hormones? Brain changes? Implications? Should we intervene? Can we?
If we don’t intervene:
Onset of problems such as nicotine dependence, alcohol and drugs use, poor health habits etc.
will show up as mortality in adulthood
It does more damage to a teen’s body, so legal drinking age, delaying starting drinking
Many adult onset problems such as depression can be traced to early episodes in adolescence
(considered) Father of Adolescence
G. Stanley Hall (1904) ( 1st president of APA)
Adolescence: its psychology and its relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex,
crime, religion and education (2 volumes)
Darwin and evolution theory
Recapitulation theory: stages of life mimic evolution of men, adolescence is this wild time
where we weren’t settled down, he tried to use Darwin’ evolutionary theory on adolescence
Lead to idea of storm and stress: adolescence is period of radical things and stress, do bad
thing for the world, wild period
Arnett (1999) wrote review of storm and stress
Oversimplifies a complex issues
Many adolescents navigate this interval with minimal difficulties
However, empirical evidence for:
o Increased conflict with parents (intensity0
o Mood volatility (and negative mood)
o Increased risk behavior, recklessness and sensation seeking
Lead to a modified view of storm and stress
o Not a myth, real for many, but not all and not necessarily related to psychopathology
Conceptualizing (the study of) adolescence across time
, Aristotle: Youth are heated by Nature as drunken men by wine
1904 G.S. Hall a period of heightened storm and stress
1920 Margaret Meade: questioned storm and stress in all cultures
1930-50s: psychoanalytic perspective – Anna Freud (daughter) – storm and stress is normal
1960-70s: attempts to understand the problems as due to raging hormones
1980s Petersen questioned the idea that all youth experience trouble (11% chronic
difficulties, 32% intermittent, 57% healthy)
1990s Arnett revised the idea of storm and stress
1990s-2000s context and time period recognized as important, thus different developmental
trajectories (Dubas, Miller & Petersin, 2003) with consideration of time and context
2000s evolutionary ideas applied to recast concept of risk
2010s neuroscience models of the adolescent brain in relation to behavior, risk taking is not
perse negative, can be positive: youth environment movements
Adolescence: interactions between biology, behavior and social context
Interdisciplinary approach needed
John P. Hill (1973) was the first president of the Society for Research on Adolescence
Framework for the study
Primary changes: the developmental changes that make adolescence distinctive
o Biological changes of puberty (and brain)
o Development of abstract thinking
o Social redefinition of an individual from a child to an adult (or at the least a non-
child)
Secondary changes: the psychological consequences of the interaction between the primary
changes and the (social) settings – organized into the domains of identity, autonomy,
intimacy, sexuality and achievement
What distinguishes an adolescent from a child? Responsibility, puberty changes, first period, psychical
changes, boys changing voice, moustache etc.
Age boundaries are not consistent across researchers
Steinberg text:
Early adolescence (10-13)
Middle adolescence (14-17)
Late adolescence (18-21)
Young adulthood (22-30)
Others: Emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood
Developmental tasks
1. Accepting one’s physical body and keeping it healthy (pubic hear, greasy hair, period,
moustache)
2. Achieving new and more mature relationships with age mates of both sexes
3. Achieving emotional autonomy form parents and other adults (not 100% dependence)
4. Achieving a satisfying gender role (what kind of woman am I going to be)
5. Preparing for a job or career (for a job that always change, flexibility)
6. Making decisions about marriage and family life (children and when)
7. Becoming socially responsible
8. Developing a workable philosophy, a mature set of values, and worthy ideals (goals, ideas and
values)
Adolescence consists of component processes
Rapid physical growth
, Sexual maturation
Secondary sexual characteristics
Motivational and emotional changes
Cognitive development
Maturation of judgement, self-regulation skills
Brain changes linked to each component
Relative synchrony but not perfect: all these things are occurring but not naturally at the same
time
Adolescence in context
Global human development revolution; children are growing faster, reaching reproductive and
physical maturity at earlier ages and achieving larger adult sizes (in almost every culture)
Statistics US
Average age at menarche (first menstruation) is now age 12
Average age of first marriage of females is 27
Pattern reflects recent changes
1970: woman 21 and men 23 first marriage
2015: woman 27 and men 29
2015: birth baby: woman 26,3 and men 31 more babies out of wedlock, cohabitation?
Dilemma: when are you an adult? When you marry, have a child, live together? Statistics change,
people get marry later and later. What if you never marry?
How do we define the end of the period and start the other (adulthood)?
Not simply about changing attitudes about marriage
Many other adult social roles
o Starting careers, owning a home, choosing to become parents are now occurring a
decade or more after puberty
Adolescence has expanded from a 2-4 year period in traditional societies to an 6-15 year
interval in contemporary societies
These changes have advantages (academic, economic) and costs (vulnerabilities)
Maturity gap: mismatch between biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological
transitions (adult roles (social))
Mature body and urges, but we’re telling kids to wait with sex etc.
1. Biologically capable and compelled to be sexual beings but asked to delay most positive
aspects of adult life
2. Cannot work until 16 and labor not respected by adults
a. Role-less
b. Economic liabilities
Adolescence: the period between the onset of sexual maturation and the attainment of adult roles and
responsibilities
Aka the transition from:
Child status (requires parental monitoring)
Adult status (self-responsibility for behavior)
The health paradox adolescence
Adolescence in the healthiest and most resilient period of the lifespan
From childhood to adolescence
o Increase strength, speed, mental reasoning, immune function, reaction time
o Increase resistance to cold, heat, hunger, dehydration and most types of injury
Yet: overall morbidity and rates increase 200-300% from childhood to adolescence
Risk behavior?
Primary causes of death/disability are related to problems of control behavior and emotion
Increase rates od accidents, suicides, homicides, depression, alcohol and substance use,
violence, reckless behaviors, eating disorders, health problems related to risky sexual
behaviors
Increase risk taking, sensation seeking and erratic (emotionally influenced) behavior
Question raised because of the health paradox: what is the empirical evidence that adolescents are
“heated by nature”?
Biology? Hormones? Brain changes? Implications? Should we intervene? Can we?
If we don’t intervene:
Onset of problems such as nicotine dependence, alcohol and drugs use, poor health habits etc.
will show up as mortality in adulthood
It does more damage to a teen’s body, so legal drinking age, delaying starting drinking
Many adult onset problems such as depression can be traced to early episodes in adolescence
(considered) Father of Adolescence
G. Stanley Hall (1904) ( 1st president of APA)
Adolescence: its psychology and its relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex,
crime, religion and education (2 volumes)
Darwin and evolution theory
Recapitulation theory: stages of life mimic evolution of men, adolescence is this wild time
where we weren’t settled down, he tried to use Darwin’ evolutionary theory on adolescence
Lead to idea of storm and stress: adolescence is period of radical things and stress, do bad
thing for the world, wild period
Arnett (1999) wrote review of storm and stress
Oversimplifies a complex issues
Many adolescents navigate this interval with minimal difficulties
However, empirical evidence for:
o Increased conflict with parents (intensity0
o Mood volatility (and negative mood)
o Increased risk behavior, recklessness and sensation seeking
Lead to a modified view of storm and stress
o Not a myth, real for many, but not all and not necessarily related to psychopathology
Conceptualizing (the study of) adolescence across time
, Aristotle: Youth are heated by Nature as drunken men by wine
1904 G.S. Hall a period of heightened storm and stress
1920 Margaret Meade: questioned storm and stress in all cultures
1930-50s: psychoanalytic perspective – Anna Freud (daughter) – storm and stress is normal
1960-70s: attempts to understand the problems as due to raging hormones
1980s Petersen questioned the idea that all youth experience trouble (11% chronic
difficulties, 32% intermittent, 57% healthy)
1990s Arnett revised the idea of storm and stress
1990s-2000s context and time period recognized as important, thus different developmental
trajectories (Dubas, Miller & Petersin, 2003) with consideration of time and context
2000s evolutionary ideas applied to recast concept of risk
2010s neuroscience models of the adolescent brain in relation to behavior, risk taking is not
perse negative, can be positive: youth environment movements
Adolescence: interactions between biology, behavior and social context
Interdisciplinary approach needed
John P. Hill (1973) was the first president of the Society for Research on Adolescence
Framework for the study
Primary changes: the developmental changes that make adolescence distinctive
o Biological changes of puberty (and brain)
o Development of abstract thinking
o Social redefinition of an individual from a child to an adult (or at the least a non-
child)
Secondary changes: the psychological consequences of the interaction between the primary
changes and the (social) settings – organized into the domains of identity, autonomy,
intimacy, sexuality and achievement
What distinguishes an adolescent from a child? Responsibility, puberty changes, first period, psychical
changes, boys changing voice, moustache etc.
Age boundaries are not consistent across researchers
Steinberg text:
Early adolescence (10-13)
Middle adolescence (14-17)
Late adolescence (18-21)
Young adulthood (22-30)
Others: Emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood
Developmental tasks
1. Accepting one’s physical body and keeping it healthy (pubic hear, greasy hair, period,
moustache)
2. Achieving new and more mature relationships with age mates of both sexes
3. Achieving emotional autonomy form parents and other adults (not 100% dependence)
4. Achieving a satisfying gender role (what kind of woman am I going to be)
5. Preparing for a job or career (for a job that always change, flexibility)
6. Making decisions about marriage and family life (children and when)
7. Becoming socially responsible
8. Developing a workable philosophy, a mature set of values, and worthy ideals (goals, ideas and
values)
Adolescence consists of component processes
Rapid physical growth
, Sexual maturation
Secondary sexual characteristics
Motivational and emotional changes
Cognitive development
Maturation of judgement, self-regulation skills
Brain changes linked to each component
Relative synchrony but not perfect: all these things are occurring but not naturally at the same
time
Adolescence in context
Global human development revolution; children are growing faster, reaching reproductive and
physical maturity at earlier ages and achieving larger adult sizes (in almost every culture)
Statistics US
Average age at menarche (first menstruation) is now age 12
Average age of first marriage of females is 27
Pattern reflects recent changes
1970: woman 21 and men 23 first marriage
2015: woman 27 and men 29
2015: birth baby: woman 26,3 and men 31 more babies out of wedlock, cohabitation?
Dilemma: when are you an adult? When you marry, have a child, live together? Statistics change,
people get marry later and later. What if you never marry?
How do we define the end of the period and start the other (adulthood)?
Not simply about changing attitudes about marriage
Many other adult social roles
o Starting careers, owning a home, choosing to become parents are now occurring a
decade or more after puberty
Adolescence has expanded from a 2-4 year period in traditional societies to an 6-15 year
interval in contemporary societies
These changes have advantages (academic, economic) and costs (vulnerabilities)
Maturity gap: mismatch between biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological
transitions (adult roles (social))
Mature body and urges, but we’re telling kids to wait with sex etc.
1. Biologically capable and compelled to be sexual beings but asked to delay most positive
aspects of adult life
2. Cannot work until 16 and labor not respected by adults
a. Role-less
b. Economic liabilities
