adolescent development

  • Physical development begins in puberty

  • Chronologically, adolescence begins at around 10

  • social is the time between childhood and adulthood

  • The upper boundary of adolescence is less clear, transition is very gradual

  • Prolongation of adolescence

    • Education: people stay in school longer

      • Good jobs require advanced skills

    • Economics: financially dependent on parents

      • Parents willing to support longer

    • Independence: people move out of their parents’ homes later

      • Economy, real estate market, maturity

    • Commitment: marry later

      • Birth control, sexual liberation

  • Emerging adulthood: phase of life span between adolescence and adulthood characterized by experimentation and exploration (~18-25)

    • Five key features

  1. Identity exploration: kove and work

  2. Instability: moving, relationships

  3. Self-focused: limited obligations or duties to others (usually no kids)

  4. Feeling in-between: am I an adult or child?

  5. Age of possibilities: optimistic about future; challenging upbringing=potential for new beginning

  • Processes of defining adulthood

    • Biological: physical changes in individual’s body

      • Genetics

      • Brain, height, weight, motor skills, hormonal changes

    • Cognitive: changes in individual’s thinking and intelligence

      • Solving math problems, memorizing poems

    • Socioemotional: changes in individual’s emotions, personality, relationships with others, social contexts

      • Talking back to parents, aggression towards peers, assertiveness, enjoyment of social activities (prom), gender-role orientation