Understanding Puberty and Adolescent Development

Determining ethnic identity

Involves sorting out and resolving positive and negative feelings and attitudes about one's ethnic group and others.

Unexamined ethnic identity

Describes someone who has given little thought to their ethnic heritage.

Menarche

First menstrual period.

Secondary sexual characteristics

Visible physical changes not directly linked to reproduction but signal sexual maturity.

Limbic system

Regulates emotion and reward, linked to hormonal changes at puberty.

Developmental mismatch in the brain

Occurs when reward-seeking regions mature faster than decision-making regions, leading to risky behavior and poor decision-making.

Oxytocin

A naturally occurring chemical that facilitates bonding and makes social connections more rewarding.

Circadian rhythms changes in adolescents

Pushes back sleep time until later in the evening, making it difficult to wake up.

Age puberty begins for girls

Around 10 years old.

Hips broadening in females

A secondary sexual characteristic that develops during puberty.

Identity foreclosure status

Made a commitment to an identity without having to explore the options.

Puberty

A period of rapid growth and sexual maturation.

Primary sexual characteristics

Changes in the reproductive organs.

Spermarche

First ejaculation of semen.

Brain maturation during adolescence

Becomes more interconnected and specialized, leading to significant improvements in thinking and processing skills.

Prefrontal cortex

Part of the brain involved in impulse control, organization, planning, and decision-making.

Dopamine

A naturally occurring chemical involved in reward circuits.

Parental involvement and teen pregnancy

Parent/child closeness, parental supervision, and parents' values against teen intercourse decrease the risk of adolescent pregnancy.

Challenges faced by adolescent mothers

Common outcomes include not graduating from high school, limited job prospects, difficulty achieving economic independence, and likelihood of living in poverty.

Bulimia Nervosa

An eating disorder characterized by recurrent binge eating followed by purging.

Age puberty begins for boys

Approximately two years later than girls.

Growth of testes, penis, and scrotum

Primary sexual characteristics in males.

Growth of the uterus

Primary sexual characteristic in females.

Menstrual cycle

One ovum is released after about 28 days.

Risk-taking in adolescents

Increased due to heightened emotional responses and struggles with impulse control.

Why might adolescents focus more on rewards than risks when making decisions?

adolescents are more sensitive to potential rewards while having less capacity to fully consider the consequences, resulting in impulsive actions driven by immediate gratification

Hair changes in males

Includes darker hair and growth in the pubic area, under the arms, and on the face.

Breast development in females

Occurs around age 10, although full development takes several years.

Anorexia nervosa

An eating disorder characterized by restricting food intake due to an intense fear of gaining weight.

Health consequences of anorexia

Abnormally slow heart rate, low blood pressure, increased risk of heart failure, reduction in bone density, muscle loss and weakness, severe dehydration, fainting, fatigue, overall weakness.

Health consequences of bulimia

Affects digestive system, electrolyte and chemical imbalances, frequent vomiting, inflammation, possible rupture of esophagus, tooth decay, and staining from stomach acids.

Health consequences of binge eating

Similar health risks to obesity, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and gallbladder disease.

Maudsley approach

Helps people with eating disorders by identifying and changing distorted thinking.

Abstract principles

Having no physical reference.

Hypothetical deductive reasoning

Developing hypotheses based on logical possibilities.

Adolescents vs. younger children in reasoning

Adolescents are able to think about all the possibilities in a situation beforehand and then test them systematically, engaging in true scientific thinking.

Egocentrism

The heightened self-focus many adolescents experience.

Imaginary audience

An adolescent's belief that others are as focused on their appearance as they are.

Personal Fable

An adolescent's belief that they are unique and special.

Introspection

Thinking about one's own thoughts and feelings.

Pseudostupidity

When adolescents approach problems at too complex a level and fail due to simplicity.

Hypocrisy

Pretending to be something one is not.

Idealistic

Insisting on high standards of behavior.

Self-regulation failure

Especially likely to fail when in a high stress or high demand on mental functions.

Inductive reasoning

Emerges in childhood and occurs when specific observations or specific comments from those in authority may be used to draw general conclusions.

Deductive reasoning

Emerges in adolescence and refers to reasoning that starts with some overarching principle and proposes specific conclusions based on it.

Which type of reasoning, inductive or deductive, is more likely to produce accurate results?

Deductive reasoning

Dual Process model

Describes two distinct networks (intuitive and analytic) for processing information.

Risks of teens working more than 20 hours a week

Can lead to declines in grades, a general disengagement from school, engaging in earlier sexual behavior, and pregnancy.

Self-concept changes in adolescence

Their ability to think of possibilities and reason more abstractly may explain further differentiation of the self, leading to contradictions.

Areas of competence for high self-esteem in adolescence

Academic, social, appearance, and physical/athletic dimensions.

Psychological moratorium

Where teens put on hold commitment to an identity while exploring the options.

What did Erikson believe was the primary psychosocial task of adolescence?

Establishing an identity.

Parental control differences

Parents are more controlling of daughters, especially early maturing girls; culture and ethnicity play a role in how restrictive parents are.

Common issues in teen-parent conflicts

Autonomy; seeking desire for independence.

Homophily

When adolescents choose to spend time with peers similar to themselves.

Deviant peer contagion

Peer behavior that reinforces problem behavior in adolescents by showing approval.

Cliques

A group of individuals who interact frequently.

Purposes of dating for teens

Romantic relationships contribute to adolescents' identity formation, changes in family and peer relationships, and emotional and behavioral adjustment.