Conceptualizing Adolescence

Autism and adolescence reprise

Personified into a shallow existence

  • negative connotations with adolescence and being a teenager

  • focused on the world they are allowed to be a part of

    • gossip

Brain Development

  • Cortex

    • critical for planning, judgement, decision making, and impulse control

    • massive changes to this area of the brain in adolescence

    • one of the last areas to fully develop

      • once it does develop there is less flexibility within the brain

      • 13-24 is the best time to make differences in the brain

Theories of Adolescence

G. Stanly Hall

  • American Psychologist

  • original introduction to adolescent period

  • described as a time of

    • increased emotionality

    • developmental social deviance

    • exploration

      • push boundaries

    • identity seeking

  • Storm and Stress

“Teen in Turmoil” or “Positive Youth Development”

  • most theory and research reflect negative perfection of adolescence development

  • In reality most young people make a successful transition from childhood into adulthood

    • need to examine positive development pathways for young people in society

    • emphasize a young person’s active participation in society

Human Development Perspective

  • study the relations between individuals and contexts in an integrated, systematic, and temporal manner

    • we need context for every action a youth makes

      • take into account isolation or external influences

    • not every negative action is the fault of the youth

Adolescence understood by relationships

  • examine the role of families, friendships, society institutions, and communities play in the development of a young person

    • ties to developmental theory/attachment theory

  • Positive adolescent outcomes cannot be brought about without understanding adolescents’ life context

    • includes social environments

    • relationships

    • opportunities

Stages of Identity Development - James Marcia

  • Exploration and Commitment

    • yes-yes

      • identity achievement

    • yes-no

      • moratorium

    • no-yes

      • foreclosure

    • no-no

      • identity diffusion

  • exploration before commitment is the best for future outcomes

Arnett- Brilliance and Nonsense

  • Brilliance

    • an increase in depression

      • social anxiety

      • personal faults

      • increased self-awareness and reflection

    • Heightened sensation seeking -craves strong feelings and new sensations, when monotony, routine, and detail are intolerable

      • pleasure and pain more felt

      • ties to crime of risky behaviors (also pushing boundaries)

Romance Within

Emerging Adulthood