Download Adolescence

Adolescence
Adolescence
• Stage between childhood & adulthood
• Several changes occur!
• Initiation rites:
– Birthday milestones
– Bar mitzvahs & bat mitzvahs
– Graduation
– weddings
G. Stanley Hall
• 1904
• Adolescence is a transitional period
• Time of “great storm and stress”
Margaret Mead
• Enjoyable time of life
• Storm and stress happens in industrial
societies
• Culture plays an important role
1998 study on adolescence:
15%
20%
65%
Serious
Difficulties
Sporatic
Problems
Healthy
Development
Robert Havighurst
Challenges of Developmental Tasks
Accept physical body
Develop relationships with peers
Emotional independence
Economic independence
Deciding on a career path
Develop cognitive skills for social competence
Understand socially acceptable behavior
Preparation for marriage & family
Acquire appropriate values
Physical Adjustment:
• Puberty: sexual maturation
• Average age to begin
puberty:
– girls 8 – 10
– boys 9 – 16
• hormones trigger internal
and external changes
• growth spurt
• Asynchrony - uneven
growth or maturation of
body parts
Reactions to Growth:
• Many self-conscious with early or late develop
• Most say they don’t like physical appearance
• Differences in growth affect their personalities
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–
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Boys who mature early – BOOST in self-confidence
Boys who mature late – withdrawn or rebellious
Girls who mature early – embarrassment or bossy
Girls who mature late –get along better w/ peers
• Behaviors can be psychological self-fulfilling
prophecy
Sexual Development:
• Sexual behavior has
increased in US over the
past 30 years
– More STDS
– More teenage pregnancies
• 1997 study – 1 million
adolescent pregnancies
– Abstinence = only safe
choice
Cognitive Development:
• Adult thinking patterns
• Can approach life abstractions – ethics,
conformity, & phoniness
• Introspection
• Rationalization
• Adolescents reach this stage at different
ages
• Rate of mental growth
• Economic classes
Cognitive Development:
• Changes:
– Thinking patterns
– Personality
– Social interactions
• Adolescents = idealistic
• Some think they can save the world
• Impatient w/ failures of adult generations
Moral Development:
• Lawrence Kohlberg
• Moral thinking develops in stages
• Have to think abstractly to reach higher levels  see
something from another’s viewpoint
• 1 in 10 adolescents show higher levels of moral thinking
Erikson’s Theory of Identity Crisis:
• Children are aware of what
other’s think about them,
• Identity Crisis: inner conflict
when they intensely worry
about their identities
– awareness of sexual drives
– see future as a reality
• Evaluate their past & think
about future
Look at the following aspects of
self to find a way to express self
in socially acceptable way.
Organizational
Needs
Abilities
Talents
Interests
Background
Culture
Peer Demands
Slice 8
Identity forms when adolescents resolve issues
James Marcia’s
View of the Identity Crisis:
•
Identity Crisis exists in adolescents
4 Categories for sense of identity:
1. Identity moratorium adolescents
2. Identity foreclosure adolescents
3. Identity confused or diffused adolescents
4. Identity achievement adolescents
Exploring
Identity Issues
Not Exploring
Identity Issues
Decisions already
made
Identity Achievement
Identity Foreclosure
Decisions not yet
made
Identity Moratorium
Identity Diffusion
Social Learning Theory:
• Individuals develop from contact with
others
• Crisis only happens in 20% of adolescent
boys because of an EXTERNAL cause,
not biological
• Development is a continuous process
Social Development
Role of Family
• Adolescents are finding new roles
• They want to become independent of their
families
• Can be difficult for parents and
adolescents
Social Development
Role of Peers
•
•
•
•
They define themselves with their friends
How are social groups formed?
What makes someone popular?
Cliques – group within a group
• Sense of belonging & closeness
• Way to define yourself
• Establish identity
• What does a group provide?
• Self-confidence
• Independence from family
• Clarify values
• Experiment with new roles.
• Conformity: acting in accordance with some specified
authority
Shaping the Adolescent:
• Peers:
– Fashion
– Music taste
– Advise on school related issues
• Parents:
–
–
–
–
Beliefs
Standards in marriage
Religion
Educational plans
• Peer groups are NOT a threat to parental
authority
Difficulty During Adolescence:
• Juvenile
Delinquency
• Teen Depression
• Suicide
• Anorexia/Bulimia
Juvenile Delinquency:
• Some psychological difficulties surface through
changes
• although rare for teenagers rate of mental illness
and suicide are increasing
• suicide has tripled over the past 50 years
• What are some examples of juvenile delinquency?
•
•
•
•
running away
teen pregnancies
alcohol/drug abuse
underachievement in school
• Juveniles Crime Involvement 1997:
• 17% of all violent crime arrests
• 35% of property crime arrests
Teen Depression & Suicide:
• Depression Causes:
• loss of a loved one through
separation
• family relocation
• Divorce
• Death
• Lack of communication
• Neglected emotional needs
• Reactions to Causes:
•
•
•
•
Grief
Guilt
Panic
anger
Teen Depression & Suicide
• How depression looks &
• Suicide Warning Signs:
acts:
• change in intensity and
• angry
frequency of rebellious
• rebellious behavior
behavior,
• Truancy
• Withdraw from friends
• running away
• Excessive self-criticism
• drinking, drug use, or sex • Talking about suicide
• hyperactive
• frantic
What do you do for that person?
TALK about the problems
SEEK professional help
Eating Disorders:
• Anorexia nervosa: refusing to eat and not
maintaining weight
• Treatment: encourage weight gain
• deal w/ psychological problems
• Bulimia nervosa: binge eating followed by
purging
– vomiting, using laxatives, dieting and fasting
to get rid of calories from binge
• Treatment: therapy
• antidepressant drugs
Gender
• Gender Identity: one’s physical and biological
makeup
• age 2 or 3 can label self a boy or a girl
• age 5 or 6 know difference between genders
(thoughts, expectations & behaviors)
• Gender Role: set of behaviors that society
considers appropriate for each sex
• Vary in different societies
• Change over time
Gender Stereotypes
• Oversimplified or distorted generalization
about the characteristics of men and
women
• What are some stereotypes of how men &
women should behave?
• men should be rugged
• women should be sensitive
Gender Differences:
• Study:
– males are more confident in academic areas (math/science)
– women saw themselves as less competent EX: children playing
• Aggression:
– Females: more verbal aggression
– Males: more physical aggression
• Males – play fighting, rough play
• Females – indirect aggression
•
•
•
•
Gossip
Ignoring
Rejecting
Avoiding the target
Gender Differences
Cognitive Abilities
• Study: Janet Hyde & Marcia Linn
– No measurable difference of verbal skills
– No difference in mathematic ability
• Study on specific topics & age trends
Difference:
• males outperform females on problem solving and
tests of spatial ability.
• Women do better on tracking objects
Androgynous:
• Combining or blending traditional male
and female characteristics
• traits desirable for men: ambition, selfreliance, independence, and assertiveness
• traits desirable for women: affectionate,
gentle, understanding, and sensitive to the
needs of others
Biological Theory
of Gender Difference
• Behaviors evolved throughout time:
• men got a mate by showing dominance,
• women increased chances of raising kids through
compassion, warmth, and concern
Psychoanalytical Theory
of Gender Difference
• Gender identity results when the child
identifies with the same sex parent
• 3 – 5 years old
Social Learning Theory
of Gender Difference
• children learn gender roles through
imitation
• Parents
• Friends
• Teachers
• Other people respond to behavior through
rewards and consequences
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
of Gender Difference
• Children get gender roles through
interaction environment & thinking about
experiences
• they learn standards about behavior
• must see self as male or female
• Gender schema
Change in Gender Roles:
• 1960’s – few women looked for a career
• 1980’s – most women have careers
• - work provides $$$ and a sense of selfworth
END
Kohlberg’s
Stages of Moral Development
• Stage 1: act is right or wrong depending if there is punishment
• Stage 2: act is right or wrong depending + o r –
consequences for self
• Stage 3: judge actions whether it is socially approved or not
• Stage 4: judge actions whether it is sanctioned by authority
{many people don’t go past stage 4, moral thinking remains
rigid}
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•
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•
•
Stage 5: concerned w/ whether a law is just or not
laws must change as the world changes
Stage 6: concerned w/ making fair and just decisions
formulate absolute ethical principles
moral laws apply to everyone & can’t be broken, & more
important than the law
James Marcia’s
4 Categories for sense of identity:
1. Identity moratorium adolescents
- Seriously thinking about issues, but haven’t made a
commitment
about any important matter facing them
2. Identity foreclosure adolescents
- Commitment made on issues from suggestions of
others,
not own choice
3. Identity confused or diffused adolescents
- Haven’t thought about making a decision about issues,
no clear sense of identity
4. Identity achievement adolescents
- Consider many possible identities, have freely
committed to occupations & other important life matters