Physical and Cognitive Development

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Physical and Cognitive Development

• Adolescence

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Adolescence

• Rousseau and Hall viewed adolescence as a time of
  great upheaval and turbulence
• Freud- the genital stage- period in which
  instinctive drives reawaken and shift to the
  genital region. Psychological conflict and
  volatile, unpredictable behavior
• Beginning adolescence is marked by
  puberty-biological changes that lead to an adult
  size body and sexual maturity

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Adolescence and the Environment

• Overall rate of severe psychological disturbance
  rises only slightly from childhood to
  adolescence- about 20 (emotional disturbance not
  routine feature of adolescence)
• Mead- the social environment was judged to be
  entirely responsible for the negative and
  positive experiences in teenagers
• Results of Meads work- teen years need not be a
  time of emotional turmoil and greater attention
  should be paid to social and cultural influences

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Balanced point of view

• Adolescence is both biologically and socially
  determined
• The length of adolescence varies among
  cultures-simpler societies may have shorter
  adolescence
• Societies that require many years of education
  for successful economic life have greater
  extended adolescence period.

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Puberty

• Puberty growth is regulated genetically
  influenced hormonal processes.
• Girls on average reach puberty 2 years earlier
  than boys
• Current research is indicating that girls may be
  reaching puberty at earlier rates (Time
  article,Early Puberty)

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Hormonal Changes

• Growth hormone (GH) and thyroxine contribute to
  the gains in body size and completion of skeletal
  maturation
• Estrogens are typically thought of as female
  hormones and androgens as male hormones-both
  types of hormones are present in each sex
• Testosterone- the androgen released in large
  quantities by a boys testes- leads to muscle
  growth, body and facial hair, etc.
• Estrogens-development of girls breasts, uterus,
  and vagina female proportions, accumulation of
  fat, and beginning of menstrual cycle

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Puberty Changes-Boys

• Body size generally complete by 17 ½ yrs
• Broadening of shoulders
• Less fat in arms and legs
• Larger skeletal muscles, heart and lung capacity
• Spurt in strength, speed and endurance
• Enlargement of testes and penis- one of 1st signs
  of puberty development of pubic and underarm
  hair
• Voice deepens
• Spermarche-first ejaculation of seminal
  fluid-about 13 yrs of age

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Puberty Changes -Girls

• Growth spurt usually complete by 16
• Broadening of hips
• Around age 8- start to add more fat in arms legs
  and trunk
• Gross motor development gains are slow and
  gradual, leveling off at about 14 yrs
• Development of breast-one of 1st signs of puberty
• Pubic and underarm hair appears
• Menarche- first menstruation-about 12 yrs in
  North American girls

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Puberty Timing

• Heredity is partly responsible for puberty timing
• Nutrition and exercise also contribute
• Physical health plays a role especially in other
  poverty-stricken countries
• Secular trend-generational change in puberty
  timing (improvement of health care, diet and
  sanitation) decrease in menarche age
• Secular trend is limited by genetic trend of
  species

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Reactions to Puberty

• Past generations-traumatic and disturbing
• Girls today mixture of positive and negative
  emotions-depends on prior knowledge and family
  members support
• Boys know about ejaculation but few get
  information from parents- most get info from
  reading material
• Boys get less social support
• Rite of passage- a community wide event that
  mark changes in privilege and responsibility
• Western culture-little formal recognition

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Parent-Child Relationships

• Bickering and standoffs increase
• Physical departure from family and psychological
  distancing from parents
• Adolescence demonstrate new powers of reasoning
  possible reason for bickering

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Early vs Late Maturation

• Early Maturing boys- relaxed, independent,
  self-confident and physically attractive
• Early Maturing girls- emotional and social
  difficulties, withdrawn, lacking self-confidence
  and psychologically stressed
• Late maturing boys- anxious, overly talkative,
  attention-seeking behavior
• Late maturing girls- physically attractive,
  lively, sociable and leaders in school.
• Society favors- girlish shape for girls (late
  developer) and tall, broad-shouldered and
  muscular-early developed boys

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Long Term ConsequencesVaries among cultures

• Early maturing girls and late maturing boys have
  a difficulty fitting in because they are at the
  extremes of physical development
• Teens feel most comfortable with peers that match
  their own biological maturity
• Early maturing teens of both sexes seek out older
  companions-may have unfavorable consequences
• Early maturing boys and late maturing girls
  admired in teen years may become rigid,
  conforming and discontented adults
• Late maturing boys and early maturing girls less
  stressed in teen years became independent,
  flexible and cognitively competent

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Nutritional Needs of Teens

• During growth spurt, boys require about 2,700
  calories a day and much more protein
• Girls require about 2200 calories and somewhat
  less protein
• Iron deficiency- most common problem in
  adolescence
• Calcium, riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and magnesium
  may be limited in diet as well
• Fad diets are too limited in nutrients and
  calories to be healthy for teens

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Eating Disorders

• At risk-girls with dissatisfied body images,
  growing up in economically advantaged homes where
  cultural concerns are weight and thinness

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Anorexia nervosa

• Parents have high expectations for achievement
  and social acceptance, overprotective and
  controllingAnorexia nervosa- individuals starve
  themselves because of compulsive fear of getting
  fat 1 in 50 girls peak age 14 and 18Lose
  between 25 to 50 of body weight and look
  painfully thinSymptoms- cessation of
  menstruation, or nonoccurrence of menarche, pale
  skin, brittle discolored nails, fine dark hair
  all over body and sensitivity to cold

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Bulimia

• Individuals go on eating binges following by
  deliberate vomiting, other purging techniques
  such as heavy doses laxatives and strict dieting
• Repeated vomiting causes erosion of tooth enamel,
  and can cause life threatening damage to the
  throat and stomach
• More common than anorexia, 5 bulimic girls have
  previously been anorexic
• Bulimic are not just impulsive eaters they lack
  self-control in other areas of their lives
• Abnormal eating habits, feeling depressed, and
  guilty about eating-usually easier to treat than
  anorexia

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Sexual Activity

• American parents typically give children little
  information about sex, discourage them from
  engaging in sex play and rarely talk about sex in
  their presence.
• Teens may receive contradictory and confusing
  messages about sex.
• Adults emphasize that sex at a young age and
  outside if marriage is wrong Broader social
  environments emphasizes the excitement and
  romanticism of sex
• Over past 30 years sexual attitudes are more
  liberal

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Sexually Active Teens

• Linked to early physical maturation, parental
  separation and divorce, large family size,
  sexually activity of friends, and older siblings,
  poor school performance, lower educational
  aspirations, and tendency to engage in
  norm-violating acts

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Sexual Orientation

• 3 to6 of young people discover they are lesbian
  or gay
• Heredity may contribute to homosexuality
• Stereotypes and misconceptions continue to be
  widespread

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STDs

• Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDS) are highest
  among teens 1 out 6 each year
• Teens at greatest danger- poverty stricken teens
  with sense of hopelessness
• Most serious STD- Acquired Immunodeficiency
  Syndrome (AIDS)

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Teen Pregnancy

• gt900,00 teens get pregnant in US30,000 are under
  15years

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Teen Moms

• Less likely to finish high school
• Less likely to get married
• More likely to be on welfare
• Babies are more likely to have prenatal
  problems,complications and LBW
• Know less about Child Development, positive
  parenting, and proper interaction with babies

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Community Prevention of Teen Pregnancy

• Inform teens about facts of anatomy, sex and
  reproduction
• Promote abstinence and provide information about
  birth control
• Encourage teens to look forward to promising
  future

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Substance Abuse

• By 14 yrs of age, 56 teens have already tried
  smoking
• 81 drinking, 39 at least one illegal drug
• Majority are substance experimenters are
  psychologically healthy, sociable and inquisitive

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Substance Abusers

• Troubled teens
• Peer encouragement
• Mental health problems
• Family drug use
• Lack of parental involvement
• Poor school performance

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Prevention

• School-based programs promoting effective
  parenting, educating students about drugs and
  dangers.
• Teaching teens to resist peer pressure
• There is a relapse rate

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Cognitive Development

• Piagets formal operational stage-abstract
  scientific thinking
• Hypothetico-deductive reasoning- problem solving
  strategy- begins with general theory and deduce
  specific hypotheses which is tested
• Concrete operational children experiment
  unsystematically.

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Formal Operation Stage

• Propositional thought-formal operational
  reasoning in which teens assess logic of verbal
  statements without referring to real-world
  circumstances
• Piaget agreed that language plays a significant
  part of adolescent development due to reasoning
  about abstract concepts

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Formal Operations

• About 40 to 60 of college students fail
  Piagets formal operational problems
• Abstract thinking comes from extensive experience
  in that area
• Some villages and tribal societies do not include
  formal operations

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Cognitive Development of Teens

• Can argue more effectively (page 374)
• Become more self-conscious and self-focused
  (374-375)
• Become more idealistic and critical (375-376)
• Become better at everyday planning and decision
  making (376)

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