Intro to Adolescence and Prosocial Behaviour

When is adolescence?

→ Adolescence is the stage of development between childhood and adulthood (WHO - World Health Organisation)

Traditionally this period is considered to bridge between the ages of 10-19 years, based on the assumption that physiological maturation is reached and adulthood transitioned into by 19.

But we know that adolescence does not smoothly transition to adulthood (where body stops youth development) until 24 years (Sawyer et al. 2008)

There is some cross-over with the middle-childhood period.

: The transition from middle childhood to adolescence comes when puberty begins.

Puberty

: The process of physical changes through which a child’s body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, and the testes in a boy (NHS, 2022)

→ Typical age of onset varies between individuals, with gender differences also.

Puberty begins when the hypothalamus starts secreting hormones that activate the pituitary and gonadal glands, initiating a cascade of physiological changes.

Different Stages of Adolescence

Barrett (1996) broke down adolescence into distinct stages, linked with phases of biological, social, and cognitive shifts:

  • Early Adolescence (11-14 years)

  • Middle Adolescence (15-17 years)

  • Late Adolescence (18-24 years)

Changes Associated with Adolescence

→ Biological growth and development, an undefined status, increased decision-making, increased pressures, and the search for self are all part of adolescence.

  • Biological Changes - endocrine changes, physical growth, changes to cortical regions

  • Social Changes - peers become more influential than adults; changes in gender-mixed groups

  • Cognitive Changes - changes in reasoning, risk perception, executive functioning, and attention.

As well as these, there is an expansion of discovering one's interests and new and pertinent social networks (NHS, 2022)

Challenges of Adolescence

  • Stereotypes: West’s views of adolescents as caricature negatives with little example of understanding of the period of development (children’s society, 2022).

  • Mental health challenges in adolescence: typical period of lifespan when mental health concerns are commonly emerging (Zarrett & Eccles, 2006)

  • Social challenges during adolescence: increased sensitivity to ostracism; experiences of exclusion, trolling, and bullying most keenly felt. Exacerbated by going through this period of lifespan with ever-present social media (Pachuki et al., 2015)

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NOTE. What group differences do and do not tell us..

→ Need to be critical of research examining group level or individual differences when looking at this topic across the stages of development.

→ If we are seeing gender differences in prosocial development, is that nature/nurture? Is it inevitable or facultative (dependent on contextual factors)