Hoorcolleges Adolescent Development
HC 1: Introduction to Adolescent Development
Often when people think about adolescents they think about negative associations.
Thoughts on the teenage brain:
G. Stanley Hall, 1st APA president
- Adolescence is characterized by a period of ‘storm and stress’
- Hormonal, biologically determined = unavoidable
- Adults are the developed humans and adolescents are still developing
Adolescence should be viewed as a second developmental process:
Empirical evidence for:
- Increased conflicts with parents (intensity)
- Mood volitivity (and negative mood)
- Increased risk behavior
Defining adolescence:
= The period between the onset of sexual maturation (puberty) and the attainment of adult
roles and responsibilities. It is the transition from child status tot adult status.
,Age boundaries:
(BOOK)
- Early adolescence (10-13 years)
- Middle adolescence (14-17 years)
- Late adolescence (18-21 years)
- Young adulthood (22 – 30 years)
(OTHERS)
- Emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood
Three primary changes:
1. Biological: puberty (body and brain)
2. Cognitive: abstract thinking, executive functions, social cognition
3. Social/ societal roles: redefinition of an individual from child to an adult and the
different societal expectations we have from adolescents (or non-child)
A lot of change is on a personal level, but it doesn’t have to. It is also shaped by society and
environment because it all interacts with the developmental process. Development doesn’t
occur in a vacuum. F.e: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model
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. (very
biological definition).
➔ Because of these physical changes, it changes the way how people interact with the
adolescents.
Five areas of change
1. Maturation of reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics
2. Nervous and endocrine system
3. Skeletal growth
4. Body composition, change in distribution of fat and muscle
5. Circulatory and respiratory systems
Measuring pubertal development
- Tanner Staging (physicians/nurses)
• Girls: Breast/pubic hair development
• Boys: Penis & Testes/pubic hair development
• 5 stages where 1= no development, 2=beginning stages and 5= adult
- Self-report
• Line drawings of Tanner Stages
• Questionnaires e.g. Pubertal Development Questionnaire
- Visual inspection by researcher of clothed adolescent
- Hormone levels
Factors influencing puberty:
- Genetics (The average difference in time of menarche for strangers is 19 months, for
sisters 13 months, for identical twins 2.8 months)
, - Increase kisspeptin (via leptin, amount of fat and melatonin, amount of light) -> if you
are in an environment with more fat, you could reproduce faster and therefor
puberty could start earlier.
- Environmental factors: e.g. nutrition, health care
- Social factors: Environmental stress, conflict or related vs unrelated family members
of opposite sex. If you live with people who are not biologically similar, you could go
unto puberty earlier (when you, as a woman, live with a man, for example because
evolutionary you could reproduce).
Early maturation – boys
Emotional effects:
- Increased popularity
- Improved self-concept + self-esteem
- Though: increase internalizing problems?
Behavioral effects:
- Deviant friends (less supervision)
- Risk-taking, substance use
Early maturation – girls
Emotional effects:
- Increased emotional difficulties (e.g. depression, self-image, eating disorders)
- Greater emotional arousal (can be more sexualized earlier)
- Increased popularity
➔ But: cultural differences
Behavioral:
- Deviant friends
Why are there differences?
Maturational deviance hypothesis = individuals who mature significantly earlier or later than
their peers are at higher risk for psychological and behavioral problems because their
development deviates from the norm, causing stress and adjustment difficulties.
Developmental readiness hypothesis:
- Young adolescents struggle to cope with challenges of early maturation
- Early boys are relatively older and psychologically more mature.
Cultural desirability of body types:
- Tall and muscular vs increase in body fat
Maturity Gap = The mismatch of biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological
transitions (‘adult roles’).
, Milestones (in society) are shifting
Many other adult social roles occurring a decade or more after puberty: Starting careers,
stable relationships, owning a home, choosing to become parents
- 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).
Why is this important?
- Creates important developmental challenges for adolescents during a ‘window of
opportunity’
- Cohort-specific demands explain diversity in results
- Theoretical concepts may only be limited to particular historical circumstances
HC 2: Cognitive & brain development during adolescence
Why do not all regions mature at the same pace? And why in this order?
In adolescence there are certain regions that develop, which are linked to evolutionary
development. The areas where we see a lot of change are linked to the developmental tasks
for a certain age (= Experience- expectant framework).
➔ The same, but different structure. With a MRI, you can zoom-in and an fMRI, you are
interested in cognitive tasks, so you print more pictures, and you can see the change
more clearly. The timing within these pictures is important, but because of this the
quality of the pictures aren’t that good.
Changes during adolescence in the structure:
HC 1: Introduction to Adolescent Development
Often when people think about adolescents they think about negative associations.
Thoughts on the teenage brain:
G. Stanley Hall, 1st APA president
- Adolescence is characterized by a period of ‘storm and stress’
- Hormonal, biologically determined = unavoidable
- Adults are the developed humans and adolescents are still developing
Adolescence should be viewed as a second developmental process:
Empirical evidence for:
- Increased conflicts with parents (intensity)
- Mood volitivity (and negative mood)
- Increased risk behavior
Defining adolescence:
= The period between the onset of sexual maturation (puberty) and the attainment of adult
roles and responsibilities. It is the transition from child status tot adult status.
,Age boundaries:
(BOOK)
- Early adolescence (10-13 years)
- Middle adolescence (14-17 years)
- Late adolescence (18-21 years)
- Young adulthood (22 – 30 years)
(OTHERS)
- Emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood
Three primary changes:
1. Biological: puberty (body and brain)
2. Cognitive: abstract thinking, executive functions, social cognition
3. Social/ societal roles: redefinition of an individual from child to an adult and the
different societal expectations we have from adolescents (or non-child)
A lot of change is on a personal level, but it doesn’t have to. It is also shaped by society and
environment because it all interacts with the developmental process. Development doesn’t
occur in a vacuum. F.e: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model
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. (very
biological definition).
➔ Because of these physical changes, it changes the way how people interact with the
adolescents.
Five areas of change
1. Maturation of reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics
2. Nervous and endocrine system
3. Skeletal growth
4. Body composition, change in distribution of fat and muscle
5. Circulatory and respiratory systems
Measuring pubertal development
- Tanner Staging (physicians/nurses)
• Girls: Breast/pubic hair development
• Boys: Penis & Testes/pubic hair development
• 5 stages where 1= no development, 2=beginning stages and 5= adult
- Self-report
• Line drawings of Tanner Stages
• Questionnaires e.g. Pubertal Development Questionnaire
- Visual inspection by researcher of clothed adolescent
- Hormone levels
Factors influencing puberty:
- Genetics (The average difference in time of menarche for strangers is 19 months, for
sisters 13 months, for identical twins 2.8 months)
, - Increase kisspeptin (via leptin, amount of fat and melatonin, amount of light) -> if you
are in an environment with more fat, you could reproduce faster and therefor
puberty could start earlier.
- Environmental factors: e.g. nutrition, health care
- Social factors: Environmental stress, conflict or related vs unrelated family members
of opposite sex. If you live with people who are not biologically similar, you could go
unto puberty earlier (when you, as a woman, live with a man, for example because
evolutionary you could reproduce).
Early maturation – boys
Emotional effects:
- Increased popularity
- Improved self-concept + self-esteem
- Though: increase internalizing problems?
Behavioral effects:
- Deviant friends (less supervision)
- Risk-taking, substance use
Early maturation – girls
Emotional effects:
- Increased emotional difficulties (e.g. depression, self-image, eating disorders)
- Greater emotional arousal (can be more sexualized earlier)
- Increased popularity
➔ But: cultural differences
Behavioral:
- Deviant friends
Why are there differences?
Maturational deviance hypothesis = individuals who mature significantly earlier or later than
their peers are at higher risk for psychological and behavioral problems because their
development deviates from the norm, causing stress and adjustment difficulties.
Developmental readiness hypothesis:
- Young adolescents struggle to cope with challenges of early maturation
- Early boys are relatively older and psychologically more mature.
Cultural desirability of body types:
- Tall and muscular vs increase in body fat
Maturity Gap = The mismatch of biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological
transitions (‘adult roles’).
, Milestones (in society) are shifting
Many other adult social roles occurring a decade or more after puberty: Starting careers,
stable relationships, owning a home, choosing to become parents
- 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).
Why is this important?
- Creates important developmental challenges for adolescents during a ‘window of
opportunity’
- Cohort-specific demands explain diversity in results
- Theoretical concepts may only be limited to particular historical circumstances
HC 2: Cognitive & brain development during adolescence
Why do not all regions mature at the same pace? And why in this order?
In adolescence there are certain regions that develop, which are linked to evolutionary
development. The areas where we see a lot of change are linked to the developmental tasks
for a certain age (= Experience- expectant framework).
➔ The same, but different structure. With a MRI, you can zoom-in and an fMRI, you are
interested in cognitive tasks, so you print more pictures, and you can see the change
more clearly. The timing within these pictures is important, but because of this the
quality of the pictures aren’t that good.
Changes during adolescence in the structure:
