PSY2001 Lecture 10 - Adolescence and Beyond

Adolescence and Puberty

Physical changes

• Sexual maturity - growth spurt (5-6cm per year in childhood → 9-10cm in adolescence)

Brain development

• “Remodeling of the brain”

  • Areas affecting emotional regulation, response inhibition, planning

• Increase white matter, decrease grey matter, greater plasticity.

Psychological changes

• Risk-taking, moodiness, aggression

• Transition from childhood to adulthood

Stages of adolescence

Generally:

• Early (11-14 years)

• Middle (15-17 years)

• Late (18+ years)

Arguably ends later…

Erikson - Identity Crisis

“Storm and Stress” model

• Conflict with Parents

• Mood disruption

Theory of psychosocial development

• Different “conflict” at each stage which must be resolved successfully

• (Ex: trust vs. mistrust in 1st year)

Identity:

• Sameness and continuity of personal qualities and beliefs about the world

• Psychosocial moratorium

Marcia (1966)

Interview technique to assess stage of identity crisis

• Occupational role, beliefs & values, sexuality

Identified 4 identity “statuses”:

• Diffusion: haven’t started thinking about it seriously (no identity crisis or commitment)

• Foreclosure: formed commitment without having explored possibilities

• Moratorium: still considering alternatives

• Achievement of identity: been through crisis and reached a solution

Identity Achievement

May develop into adulthood Meilman (1979)

• O’Connell (1976): women reported i.d.achieved after children went to school

Criticisms:

• Moratorium status for different areas at different times

• Gradual changes into adulthood

Storm and Stress

Adolescence traditionally viewed as period of turbulence

• Socrates: youth inclined to "contradict their parents" & "tyrannize their teachers” (taken from Arnett, 1999)

• Conflict with parents, risky behaviour, mood disruptions

More recent empirical evidence suggests a modified view is necessary

• Not experienced by all adolescents

• Over-exaggerated

Conflict With Parents - Age

• Conflicts increase in early adolescence

• Intensity peaks in middle adolescence (14-18 yrs, Laursen et al., 1998)

• Dip in closeness from 10 to 16 years, recovers at 25 (Rossi & Rossi, 1991)

Conflicts with parents - Overestimation

Only 1/6 of parents and 1/3 of adolescents reported conflicts (Rutter et al., 1976)

Conflict with parents - source of conflict

Often concern mundane matters (chores, appearance, finance)

• Core values and attachment typically maintained

• Helps develop autonomy in safe environment

Mood Disruption

Adolescents report more mood disruptions than children or adults

Some longitudinal studies report negative affect (Buchanan et al. 1992)

Mood disruption - over exaggerated

Rutter et al. (1976)

• Modest peak of reported mood disruptions in adolescence (compared to 10 yr olds)

• Only roughly 1/5 reported mood disruption

Features of young adulthood (Erikson)

20-40 yrs

• Acquisition & utilization of knowledge at peak

• Achieve maturity

• Conflict: intimacy vs. isolation

Features of middle adulthood (Erikson)

Roughly 40-64 yrs

• Some decline, but also intellectual stability

• Peak of career achievement

• Conflict: generativity vs. stagnation

Features of late adulthood (Erikson)

64 yrs+

• Memory and other abilities decline; some might remain stable

• Conflict: integrity vs. despair

Piaget’s formal operation

11+ yrs

• Logic, inferential reasoning, planning, ability to think about abstract concepts, hypothetical situations

• Criticisms: limited to straightforward situations, not complexities & vagaries of real-life situations

Post-formal thinking, 3 themes

(Kramer, 1983)

• Realization of “realitivistic” nature of knowledge

• Acceptance of contradiction

• Integration of contradiction into a whole concept

Cognition: Adolescence to Young Adulthood

• Information processing (e.g. perceptual speed & numerical ability)

• Social cognition

  • Functional changes in brain areas related to social cognition

  • Increased performance on tasks

Evidence supporting cognitive gains - adolescence to young adulthood

Vetter et al. (2012)

Strange stories task & Eyes task

• Young/mid adolescents (12-15 yrs) performed with lower accuracy than late adolescents/young adults (18-22 yrs)

• Individual differences in basic cognitive abilities and gender did not influence age differences

Cognition: young to middle adulthood

General stability in cognitive abilities

• Some slight decreases

Some evidence of increase in certain areas:

• Seattle Longitudinal Study - Willis & Schaie (1999)

  • Inductive reasoning, vocabulary, verbal memory, & spatial orientation peak from 40-60yrs

• Soederbreg et al (2000):

  • MA (40-59) showed no declines compared to YA (25-39)

  • Outperformed YA on vocabulary tests

Cognition: Middle to Late Adulthood

General decline in cognitive ability (Finkel et al., 1998)

• Significantly better performance in Middle (M = 55) than late adulthood (M = 83) on 14 cognitive abilities

  • Largest difference in perceptual speed

Most, but not all (Schaie et al.,1998)

• Decline in ages 60-67 in all tested areas except verbal recall

Terminal decline (Salthouse, 2012)

• Cognitive functioning often lower several years prior to death

Some cognitive abilities might remain intact

• Performance of cross word puzzle increased with age (Salthouse, 2012)

• Little evidence of relation between age (20 to 75-yr-olds) & functioning in society

• Role of experience

  • Ex: pilots - experience more important determinant of crash risk than aging

Factors affecting cognititive decline

• Different abilities affected more (novel problem solving, Salthouse (2012))

• Relationship between physical health and cognitive ability

• Type of job

• Genetic influence