Adolescent Psych Exam 3

For Prof Fabian's Fall 2023 class

What is the constructivist approach to teaching?

• Learner centered

• Individuals actively construct their knowledge & understanding

• Teacher is a guide

• Critical & creative thinking

What is a criticism of the constructivist approach to teaching?

Doesn’t teach enough content

What is the direct instruction approach to teaching?

• Structured & teacher centered

• High teacher expectations for student progress

• Maximize student learning time

What is a criticism of the direct instruction approach to teaching?

Makes learners passive

How do we hold teachers & schools accountable?

State-mandated tests that measure what a student has or has not learned

What are proponents of state-mandated tests as a system of accountability?

• High expectations for all students

• Teaching the designated subjects

• Identification of poorly performing schools/teachers

• Track improvement in schools

What are critics of state-mandated tests as a system of accountability?

• A single test as the sole indicator of competence is a very narrow view

• Does not measure creativity, motivation, flexible thinking, & social skills

• Too much “teaching to the test”

• States can set a low standard for passing

How can we improve middle schools?

• Develop smaller “communities” to lessen the impersonal nature

• Lower student-to-counselor ratio

• Involve parents

• Boost students’ physical health, mental health, & fitness

• Encourage students to achieve higher standards & become lifelong learners

How can we make the transition to high school smoother?

• Get students more engaged

• Promote a sense of belonging

• Create a supportive, caring social environment

The proportion of young people in the U.S. who fail to complete high school has steadily ______ (increased/declined).

declined

For what ethnic group is the high school drop out rate the highest?

Latino & Native American adolescents

What are the causes of dropping out of high school?

• A history of school difficulties (poor grades, behavior problems, etc.)

• Dislike school, being suspended or expelled

• Economic reasons

• Lower ability beliefs & lower educational expectations

How can we reduce the high school dropout rate?

• Early detection of children’s school-related difficulties

• Tutoring, counseling, mentoring

• Getting children engaged in schools in positive ways

What are some traits of an authoritative strategy of classroom management?

• Effective monitoring, clear rules & regulations

• Warm & caring attitude

• Verbal give-and-take

• Active, appropriately challenging tasks

• Activities that encourage students to be engaged & motivated; high expectations

Why is it important for teachers to have high expectations?

Sends kinds the message that they are competent & able to meet the high expectations

What are some typical traits of students of a teacher with an authoritative strategy of classroom management?

• Self-reliant

• Delay gratification

• Get along with peers

• Show high self-esteem

What is an authoritarian classroom style like?

Restrictive and punitive

What are the typical trait outcomes of students with an authoritarian teacher?

Anxious, passive, low initiative, low motivation

What is a permissive classroom style like?

Little support or management

What are the typical trait outcomes of students with a permissive teacher?

Inadequate academic skills and low self-control

What are the traits of competent teachers?

• Enthusiastic, warm, supportive

• Ability to plan, be organized

• Self-regulated & encourage self-regulation

• Flexible

• Aware of individual differences

• Develop caring classroom communities

• Enhance motivation, focus on improvement & effort

How can parents positively contribute to adolescents’ school success? And examples?

• Effective family management practices

  • Maintaining a structured and organized family environment

  • Parental monitoring

  • High expectations for achievement

  • Positively correlated with grades & self-responsibility

  • Negatively correlated with school-related problems

• High parental involvement

  • Better grades, achievement

  • More motivation

  • Parents should interact with adolescents in positive ways & keep in mind that ability is not fixed & can change

  • Be sensitive to their unique characteristics

How can bullying be prevented?

• Involve the whole school

• Decrease opportunities & rewards for bullying

What is participation in extracurricular activities linked to?

• Higher grades, increased school engagement

• Reduced likelihood of dropping out

• Improved probability of going to college

• Higher self-esteem

• Lower rates of depression, delinquency, & substance abuse

What is education like for a student from a low-income background?

• Parents may be less involved, have low standards, can’t afford educational materials or experiences

• Poor health, nutrition

• Schools have more inexperienced teachers, encourage rote learning, buildings in bad condition

• Adolescents are more aware of barriers to their success

What are some interventions to improve the education of students from low-income backgrounds?

• Annual review of children’s needs

• School-based educational enrichment

• Comprehensive family services

What are some strategies for improving relationships among ethnically diverse students?

• Place students from different cultural backgrounds in cooperative groups

• Encourage positive personal contact

• Help with perspective-taking

• Help students to resist stereotyping

• Think critically & deeply about interethnic relations

• View the school & community as a team

A learning disability is a persistent impairment in at least one of what three major areas?

reading, written expression, and/or math

What is the most common area for learning disabilities?

Reading

What are learning disabilities likely due to?

Problems with integrating information from multiple brain regions or to subtle impairments in brain structures & functions

What are the causes of ADHD?

• At least partly inherited

• Damage to brain during prenatal or postnatal development

• Delayed brain development, especially in prefrontal regions of the brain —> executive function

Which gender is more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD?

Boys

What are some of the traits associated with autism spectrum disorder?

• Problems in social interaction

• Problems in verbal and nonverbal communication

• Difficulties in processing information

• Repetitive behaviors

• May show atypical responses to sensory experiences

• Diagnosed more often in boys

What are the causes of autism spectrum disorder?

• Genetic factors likely play a role

• Autism is a brain dysfunction characterized by abnormalities in brain structure & neurotransmitter levels

• Lack of connectivity between brain regions

When does internal motivation increase?

When students have opportunities to make choices & take responsibility for their learning

What is flow?

When people develop a sense of mastery & are absorbed in a state of concentration when they engage in a challenging activity

What is the attribution theory?

Individuals are motivated to discover the underlying causes of their own performance and behavior

What is mastery orientation?

• Focusing on the task, on skill development, on learning strategies (instead of outcome)

• Feel challenged, not threatened, by difficult tasks

What is helpless orientation?

Feeling trapped by difficulties & attribute their difficulty to lack of ability

What is performance orientation?

Focused on winning, on grades; only focused on outcome, not process

What is a fixed mindset?

belief that my qualities are set & cannot change

What is a growth mindset?

belief that my qualities change & improve with my effort

What is self-efficacy?

the belief that one can master a situation and produce favorable outcomes

What should parents’ relationships with adolescents look like?

• Provide the right amount of challenge & support

• A positive emotional climate

• Be a good model

What should peers & friends’ relationships with adolescents look like?

• Friends’ academic orientation (tends to resemble your own)

• If social dominance/popularity is a priority, academic goals get less attention

What should teachers’ relationships with adolescents look like?

• Create a positive environment

• Guide students to become motivated to try hard & develop self-efficacy

What should mentors’ relationships with adolescents look like?

• One caring adult is a significant protective factor, especially for at-risk youth

• Can help youth develop a sense of purpose

How do SES & ethnicity affect adolescents’ achievement?

• SES predicts achievement better than ethnicity does

• Middle & upper SES —> better achievement, high expectations, goals, recognize the importance of effort, etc.

• Adolescents from low-income families lack resources that support learning

• Low quality schools & lack of access to jobs can restrict career choices

How do expectations of Asian parents & American parents differ?

• Asian parents - student’s achievement (or lack thereof) is attributed to effort

• American parents - student’s achievement (or lack thereof) is attributed to innate ability

What percent of adolescents are employed at some point during high school?

80-90%

What is working 15-20 hours a week as an adolescent is more or less associated with?

• Poor grades

• Less engaged & less involved in school

• More absences

• Less time spent doing homework

• Higher rates of substance use

Parents in individualistic countries may raise children to be…

self-reliant, independent, and have high self-esteem

Parents in collectivist cultures may raise children to be…

respectful, obedient, more emotionally & physically close to others, and oriented to the larger group

American adolescents spend ____(more/less) time on schoolwork than other countries.

less

American adolescents have ____(more/less) free time than adolescents in other countries.

more

Adolescent males in developing countries spend ____(more/less) time in paid work.

more

Adolescent females in developing countries spend ____(more/less) time in household labor.

more

American adolescents spend ____(more/less) time in paid work than other developed countries.

more

How do low SES parents tend to raise their children?

promote conformity to society’s expectations, more authoritarian, more physical punishment, less conversational with children

How do higher SES parents tend to raise their children?

promote development of initiative & delay of gratification, more authoritative, less physical punishment, more conversational

What are low SES adolescents at a higher risk of?

• Low achievement

• Emotional problems, depression

• Smoking, juvenile delinquency

• Lower occupational achievement

• Health problems

What are low SES schools like?

• Fewer resources

• Lower test scores

• Lower graduation rates

• Fewer opportunities to attend college

Which ethnic backgrounds have especially high rates of poverty?

African American & Latino

What do poor children & adolescents experience?

• More conflict, violence, instability, chaos in the home

• Less social support, less parental monitoring

• Less responsive & more authoritarian parenting

• Inferior schools & child-care facilities

• More pollution, more dangerous & deteriorating neighborhoods

What is the feminization of poverty?

far more women than men live in poverty

What are some of the causes of the feminization of poverty?

women’s lower pay, infrequent alimony payments, poorly enforced child support from fathers

How do antipoverty programs intervene with parents?

• Adult education

• Job skills training

• Assistance with job searches

• Income supplements

• Subsidized childcare

• Health insurance

How do antipoverty programs intervene with children/adolescents?

• Academic support

• Planning for college and/or jobs

• Personalized support from a counselor or social worker

• Long-term mentoring

• Physical & mental health

• Self-control & responsibility

What are the unique stressors that immigrant families experience?

• Language barriers

• Separation from social networks

• Struggle to preserve identity & to acculturate

• Changes in SES

What are the negative impacts of high levels of screen time?

• Distraction from homework

• Teaches stereotypes

• Provides models of aggression

• Presents an unrealistic view of the world

• Increased risk of sleep problems and obesity

• Decreased physical activity

• Less time interacting with peers

What are the impacts of violent media exposure?

• Increase in:

  • aggressive thoughts

  • angry feelings

  • physiological arousal

  • hostile appraisals

  • aggressive behavior

  • desensitization to violence

• Decrease in:

  • prosocial behavior

  • empathy

What are the impacts of exposure to sexual content?

• More permissive attitudes about recreational sex

• The perception that people engage in sex frequently

• More likely to initiate sex earlier than peers

• Acceptance of the rape myth

• Increased coercive & punitive behavior toward women

What are the positive outcomes of technology & digitally mediated communication?

• identity exploration

• self-disclosure

• social support & connections

What are the negative outcomes of technology & digitally mediated communication?

• sleep deprivation

• school problems

• depression

• eating disorders

• substance abuse

• negative social comparisons

• cyberbullying

• sexting

What are some recommendations to make social media less harmful for adolescents?

• provide more positive images to youth

• media literacy programs - how to critically analyze media messages

• use of the media to promote health & well-being

What are some biological factors that produce problems in adolescents?

Genes, puberty, hormones, brain functioning, & development

What are some psychological factors that produce problems in adolescents?

Identity, personality traits, intense emotions, decision-making, self-control, cognitive processing

What are some social factors that produce problems in adolescents?

the social contexts of family, peers, schools, SES, poverty, neighborhood, & the media

What are the problems most likely to cause adolescents to be referred for mental health treatment?

feelings of sadness or depression, poor school performance

What are some common risk factors for problems in adolescents?

• poverty

• mental disorders in parents

• insecure attachment

• low levels of positive parenting

• lack of warmth, nurturance

• family conflict

• parental divorce

• peer rejection

• lack of self-regulation

• delinquent friends

What are some protective factors for problems in adolescents?

• secure attachment; love, nurturance

• support

• parental monitoring & involvement

• positive discipline strategies

• positive peer influence

• constructive use of time

• commitment to learning/academic engagement

• positive values

• social competencies

• positive identity

What is successful coping linked with?

• a sense of personal control

• positive emotions

• personal resources

What is problem-focused coping?

changing the stressor/problem

What is emotion-focused coping?

focus on emotional response to stressor

What is coping flexibility?

ability to modify coping strategies to match the demands of a situation

What are the characteristics of resilience that come from the individual?

• good intellectual functioning

• appealing, sociable, easygoing disposition

• self-confidence, high self-esteem

• talents

• faith

What is resilience?

good outcomes despite serious threats to adaptation & development

What are the characteristics of resilience that come from family?

• close relationship to caring parent figure

• authoritative parenting: warmth, structure, high expectations

• socioeconomic advantages

• connections to extended supportive family networks

What are the characteristics of resilience that come from extrafamilial context?

• bonds to caring adults outside the family

• connections to positive organizations

• attending effective schools

Why has marijuana use by U.S. adolescents increased in recent years?

• Fewer adolescents today perceive much danger associated with its use

• Greater ease of access

How does marijuana affect the brain?

decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex & overall lower IQ

When does cigarette smoking typically begin?

in adolescence

What are the negative health effects of smoking in adolescence?

can cause permanent genetic changes in the lungs & forever increase the risk of lung cancer

What are some risk factors in drug abuse?

• genetic predisposition

• a high-risk family (poor, single, or teenage mother)

• friends’ use of substances

• delinquent peers

• peer rejection

• older siblings’ substance use

• high parent-adolescent conflict

• harsh parenting

• low parental monitoring

What are some protective factors in drug abuse?

• high levels of parental monitoring, support, & involvement

• positive relationship with parents

• authoritative parenting

• educational achievement

What is conduct disorder?

• a diagnostic category in the DSM

• only can be diagnosed if under the age of 18

• includes:

  • aggression to people and animals

  • destruction of property

  • deceitfulness or theft

  • serious violations of rules (truancy, running away)

• risk of antisocial personality disorder in adulthood

What are the risk factors for juvenile delinquency?

• Low self-control

• Callous unemotional personality traits

• Low school achievement

• Parents: low support, low monitoring, ineffective discipline

• Delinquent friends

• Low SES & high crime neighborhood

How can juvenile delinquency be prevented through programs?

• Home visiting programs that provide services to pregnant adolescents & their at-risk infants

• Quality preschool education that involves home visits & working with parents

• Focus on improving the family context & providing skills to caregivers

How are juvenile delinquency prevention programs usually ineffective?

Focus on punishment or attempt to scare youth

What percent of adolescents have ever experienced major depressive disorder?

15-20%