DEVELOPMENTAL

PSYCHOLOGY
Prepared by:
Guevarra, Lorna
Karasig, Patricia Anne
Quian, Jonathan P.
Physical and Cognitive
Development in
Adolescence
Adolescence
 Adolescence
 It is the transitional period in the human life span, linking childhood and
adulthood.
 It is not best viewed as a time of rebellion, crisis, pathology, and
deviance. A far more accurate vision of adolescence describes it as a
time of evaluation, of decision making, of commitment, and of carving
out a place in the world.
 Most of the problem of today’s youth are not with the youth
themselves. What adolescents need is access to a range of long-term
support from adults who deeply care about them.
1. NATURE OF ADOLESCENCE
 Nature of Adolescence
• Development of children, genetic, biological, environmental, and social

factors interact in adolescent development

• Genes inherited from parents still influence thought and behavior during

adolescence, but inheritance now interacts with the social conditions of

the world – with family, peers, friendships, dating and school experiences.

• Adolescents thoughts are more abstract and idealistic

• Biological changes trigger a heightened interest in body image.

2. PHYSICAL CHANGES
 Physical Changes:
Puberty ,Adolescent Sexuality, The Brain
 Puberty
•Like the growth spurt, puberty begins earlier for girls than boys. Girls start
puberty around age 11 or 12, and boys start at around age 13 or 14.

•It is the period of rapid physical maturation involving hormonal and bodily
changes that occur primarily during early adolescence.

•The period during which the sexual organs mature, begins when the pituitary
gland in the brain signals other glands in children's bodies to begin producing
the sex hormones

•Genetic factors also are involved in puberty. Puberty is not simply an

environmental accident.
Sexual Maturation in Girls
•Menarche – Girls first menstruation

•Environmental and cultural factors play a role. In poorer, developing

countries, menstruation begins later than in more economically
advantaged countries. Even within wealthier countries, girls in more
affluent groups begin to menstruate earlier than less affluent girls

•Menstruation is just one of several changes in puberty that are related

to the development of primary and sex characteristics.
Primary sex characteristics
◦ Are associated with the development of the organs and structures of the
body directly relate to reproduction
◦ In girls, the development of primary sex characteristics involves changes in
the vagina and uterus.

Secondary sex characteristics

◦ Are the visible signs of sexual maturity that do not involve the sex organs
directly
◦ It includes the development of breast and pubic hair
Sexual Maturation in Boys
•Spermarche – Boys first ejaculation
•The penis and scrotum begin to grow at an accelerated rate

around age of 12, and they reach adult size about 3 or 4 years later.

•As boys penis enlarge, other primary sex characteristics are developing with
enlargement of the prostate gland seminal vesicles which produce semen.

•Secondary sex characteristics are also developing, the pubic hair begins to grow
follow by the growth of underarm and facial hair. Voice deepen as the vocal cords
become longer and the larynx larger
Height and Weight
•At the beginning of the adolescent period, girls tend to be as tall or
taller than boys of their age, but by the end of the middle school years
most boys have caught up or, in many cases have surpassed girls in height

•The rate at which adolescents gain weight follows approximately the

same developmental timetable as the rate at which they gain height.

•Marked weight gains coincide with the onset of puberty. During early
adolescence, girls tend to outweigh boys, but, just as with height, by
about age 14 boys begin to surpass girls.
Body image
o Adolescents are preoccupied with their bodies and develop individual
images of what their bodies are like. Preoccupation with one’s body image
is strong throughout adolescence, but is specifically acute during puberty,
a time when adolescents are more dissatisfied with their bodies than in
late adolescence.

o In general, throughout puberty, girls are less happy with their bodies and
have more negative body images, compared with boys feelings about their
bodies
Early and Late Maturation
• In Berkeley Longitudinal Study some years ago,

• Early maturing boys perceived more positively and have more successful
peer relations than did their late maturing counterpart.

• When the late maturing boys were in their thirties, they had developed a
stronger sense of identity than the early maturing boys had

• Early maturing girls were similar but not as strong as for boys

• More recent confirms, though that at least during adolescence it is

advantageous for early maturing rather than late maturing boys.
Adolescent Sexuality
Adolescent Sexuality
•Adolescence is a time of sexual exploration and experimentation, of sexual
fantasies and realities, of incorporating sexuality into ones identity.

•Adolescent have an almost insatiable curiosity about sexuality’s mysteries.

•Majority of adolescents eventually manage to develop a mature sexual

identity, but most experience times of vulnerability along life’s sexual journey.

•Sexual Development and interest in sex are normal aspects of adolescents

development and that the majority of adolescents have healthy sexual
attitudes and engage in sexual practices that will not compromise their
development.
Developing a sexual identity
• This lengthy process involves learning to manage sexual feelings (such as

arousal and attraction) developing new forms of intimacy, and learning the
skills to regulate sexual behavior to avoid undesirable consequences.

•Sexual identity emerge in the context of physical factors, social factors, and
cultural factors, with most societies placing constraints on the sexual
behavior of adolescents

•An adolescents sexual identity involves an indication of sexual orientation

(homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual) and involves activities, interests and
styles of behavior.
 Progression of Adolescent sexual Behavior
• Adolescents engage in a rather consistent progression of sexual behaviors.

• Necking usually comes first, followed by petting. Next comes intercourse,

or in some cases, oral sex, which had increased substantially in adolescent

in recent years.

•Male adolescents reported engaging in this sexual behaviors approximately

one year earlier than female adolescents.

•The timing of teenage sexual initiation varies by country and gender

 Risk factors for Sexual Problems
•Adolescents become sexually active at some point during adolescence, some

adolescents engage at sex in early ages and experience a number of partners

overtime.

•These adolescents are the least effective users of contraception and are at

risk for early, unintended pregnancy and for sexually transmitted disease.

•It also linked with other risky behaviors such as excessive drinking, drug use,

delinquency and school related problems

 Risk factors for Sexual Problems

Important factor in sexual risk taking:

 Self Regulation – the ability to regulate one’s emotion and

behavior

 Parent – Adolescent relationship

Contraceptive Use
Two kinds of risk that youth encounter :
1. Unintended / Unwanted pregnancy
2. Sexually transmitted Infections

•Both of these risk can be reduced significantly by using contraceptives and barriers.

•Sexually active younger adolescents are less likely than older adolescent to use
contraception precautions. Younger adolescents are more likely to use condom or
withdrawal, whereas older adolescents are more likely to use the pill or the diaphragm
Sexually transmitted Infections
• are contracted primarily through sexual contact, which is not
limited to sexual intercourse. Oral-genital and anal-genital contact
also can transmit STIs.
• A single act of unprotected sex with an infected partner, a
teenage girl has a 1 percent risk of getting HIV , a 30 percent risk
of acquiring genital herpes, and a 50 percent chance of contracting
gonorrhea.
•Chlamydia (can spread by sexual contacts and infects the genitals
of both sexes) is more common among adolescents than among
young adults.
The Brain
 The Brain
• Spurts in the brain’s electrical activity seem to occur at about 9, 12, 15,
and 18 to 20 years of age. These spurts may signal changes in cognitive
development.

•During puberty, neural activity using the neurotransmitter dopamine

increases while activity using neurotransmitter serotonin decreases.

•Adolescents brain focuses on the developmental changes in the areas of

the brain that involves emotion and higher level cognitive functioning.
 The Brain
• Amygdala – a region of the brain that handles the
processing of information about emotion; prefrontal
cortex is especially important in higher level functioning.
The amygdala matures earlier than the prefrontal cortex

•Prefrontal cortex – the very last part of the brain to

mature, where planning, setting priorities, suppressing
impulses and weighing the consequence of ones actions
takes place
 The Brain
• This means that the brain region for
putting the brakes on risky, impulsive
behavior and thinking before acting is
still under construction during
adolescence.
3. ADOLESCENT PROBLEMS AND
HEALTH
 Adolescent Problems and Health:
Substance Use and Abuse, Eating Problems and
Disorders, Adolescent Health
 Substance Use and Abuse
• The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time of marked
increases in the use of illicit drugs.

•During the social and political unrest of those

years, many youth turned to marijuana,
stimulants and hallucinogens.

•Adolescent also increased their alcohol

consumption
 Alcohol and Cigarette Smoking
• Alcohol use by secondary school students has
declined in recent years, college students show
little drop in alcohol use and an increase in heavy
drinking. Heavy drinking at parties among college
males is common and is becoming more common.

• Once adolescents begin to smoke cigarettes, the

addictive properties of nicotine make it extremely
difficult for them to stop.
 Cigarette Smoking decreasing among
adolescents
• Increasing of prices

•Less tobacco advertising reaching adolescents

•More anti smoking advertisements

•Increase in negative publicity about the

tobacco industry
 Roles of Development, Parents and Peers
• Parents, peers and social support plays an important

roles in preventing adolescent drug abuse.

•Positive relationship with parents and others are

important in reducing adolescents drug use.

•In one study, parental control and monitoring were

linked with a lower incidence of problem behavior by
adolescents, including substance abuse
Roles of Development, Parents and Peers
• Also, the parents that were more involved
in setting limits, such as where adolescents
went after school and what they were
exposed to on TV and the internet, were
more likely to have adolescents who did
not use drugs.
EATING PROBLEMS and DISORDERS
Eating Problems and Disorders
• Eating disorder have become increasingly common

in adolescence especially in females.

Some research finding involving adolescent
eating disorder
• Girl who felt negatively about their body in early adolescence were more likely to develop
eating disorders, two years later, than their counterparts who did not feel negatively
about their bodies

•Negative parent-adolescent relationships were linked with increased dieting girls over a
one year period

•Girls who were sexually active with their boyfriends and in pubertal transition were most
likely dieting or engaging in disorder eating patterns

•Girls who were highly motivated to look like same sex figures were become very
concerned about their weight
Two Eating Disorders that may
appear in Adolescence

Anorexia Nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa
 Anorexia Nervosa
Three main characteristics of anorexia Nervosa

1. Weighing less than 85 percent of what is

considered normal for their age and height

2. Having an intense fear of gaining weight and the

fear does not decrease with weight loss

3. Having a distorted image of their body shape.

 Anorexia Nervosa
•An eating disorder that involves the relentless pursuit of thinness
through starvation. It is a serious disorder that can lead to death.

•It typically begins in the early to middle teenage years often

following an episode of dieting and some type of life stress

•Its about 10 times more likely to occur in female.

•Most anorexics are adolescents from well educated, middle and

upper income families and are high achieving and competitive.
They set high standard, become stressed about not being able to
reach the standards, and are intensely concerned about how
others perceived them, they turn to something they cant control.
 Bulimia Nervosa
•An eating disorder in which the individual consistently
follows a binge and purge pattern. The bulimic goes on an
eating binge and then purges by self inducing vomiting or
use of laxative.

•People who binge and purge typically fall within normal

weight range, which makes bulimia more difficult to
detect.

•A person is considered to have a serious bulimic disorder

only if the episodes occur at least twice a week for 3
months
Adolescent Health
 Adolescent Health
• Poor health habits and early death in the adult years begin during adolescence

• The early formation of healthy behavioral patterns and engaging in regular

exercise contributes to the delay or prevention of major cause of premature
disability and mortality in adulthood – heart disease, diabetes and cancer

•Sleep pattern – Adolescent are not getting enough sleep and their desire to
stay up later at night and sleep longer in the morning has physiological
underpinnings. These have implications for the hours during which adolescents
learn most effective in school.
Adolescent Health
Health experts increasingly recognize that whether adolescent will
develop a health problem or be healthy primarily based on their behaviors

Goals for improving adolescent health

1. Reduce adolescents’ health compromising behavior such as drug abuse,

unprotected sexual intercourse, and dangerous driving.

2. Increase health enhancing behaviors, such as eating nutritiously,

exercising, wearing seatbelts and getting more sleeps.
 Risk taking behavior
• It is one type of health-compromising behavior that increases in
adolescence is risk taking.

• It is important for parents, teachers, mentors and other responsible adult

to effectively monitor adolescents behavior

• When adolescents are in a tempting and dangerous situation with minimal

adult supervision, their inclination to engage in risk taking behavior
combined with their lack of self regulatory skills can make them
vulnerable to a host of negative outcomes
3 Leading causes of death in Adolescence

1.Accidents

2.Homicide

3.Suicide
Adolescent Cognition
Piaget’s Theory
• Piaget’s formal operational thought is more abstract than concrete
operational thought. It begins approximately age 12

• Adolescents are no longer limited to actual, concrete experiences as

anchors for thought. They can make believe situations, events that are
purely hypothetical possibilities or strictly abstract propositions, and
can try to reason logically about them

• Nature of Formal operational thought in adolescence is thought full of

idealism and possibilities, and they also think more logically
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
 Where adolescents begins to think more as a scientist thinks,
devising plans to solve problems and systematically testing
solution

 Piaget’s formal operational concept that adolescents have the

cognitive ability to develop hypothesis, guesses, about ways to
solve problems, such as an algebraic equation. Then they
systematically deduce, or conclude which is the best path to
follow in solving the equation.
Adolescent Egocentrism
- The heightened self consciousness of adolescents.

David Elkind (1976) – believes that adolescent egocentrism can be dissected into 2 types
of social thinking:

(1) Imaginary audience – involves adolescents belief that others are as interested in them
as they themselves are, as well as attention getting behavior – attempts to be noticed,
visible and on stage.

(2) Personal fable – the part of adolescent egocentrism involving the sense of uniqueness
and invincibility. As part of their effort to retain a sense of personal uniqueness,
adolescent might craft a story about self that is field with fantasy, immersing
themselves in a world that is far removed from reality.
Information Processing
The 2 most important aspect of changes in information processing in adolescence
involve decision making and critical thinking

(1) Decision Making – Adolescence is a time to increased in decision making. One

strategy for improving adolescents decision making is for parents to involve
their adolescents in appropriate decision making activities.

(2) Critical Thinking – Adolescence is an important transitional period in the

development of critical thinking. Although adolescence is an important
period in the development of critical thinking skills, if a solid basis of
fundamental skills is not developed during childhood, such critical thinking
skills are unlikely to mature in adolescence
Schools
 Transition to middle or junior high school
•Transition to middle school or junior high school from elementary schools can be
stressful

•The transition takes place at a time when many changes in the individual, in the
family and in school are occurring simultaneously. These changes include puberty,
and related concerns about body image.

•The positive aspects in the transition – Students are more likely to feel grown up,
have more subject from which to select, have more opportunities to spend time
with peers and locate compatible friends and enjoy increase of independence from
direct parental monitoring.

•Also experience the top-dog phenomenon

Service Learning
Is a form of education that promotes social responsibility
and service to the community.

An important goal of service learning is for students to

become more motivated to help others. Service learning take
education out into the community.
SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT in
ADOLESCENCE
SELF AND EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Self and Emotional Development:

Self Esteem, Identity, Emotional

Development
 Self Esteem
Self Esteem – the overall way we evaluate and that self esteem is
also referred to as self image or self worth. Self esteem of girls
decline more than self esteem of boys during adolescence. Reason
for the decline of self esteem of females during adolescence is
that they focuses more on negative body images during pubertal
change compared with boys.
 Identity
• The most comprehensive and provocative story of identity development has
been told by Erik Erickson.

• Adolescence is the time of being interested in finding who one is, what one
is all about and where one is headed in life

• During adolescence, worldviews become important to the individual who

enters what Erikson calls “Psychological Moratorium” a gap between the
security of childhood and the autonomy of adulthood

• Identity Confusion – What Erikson calls to adolescents who do not

successfully resolve this identity crisis are confused and suffering.
Identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces. These
pieces include:
•Vocational/Career Identity

•Religious Identity

•Sexual Identity

•Gender Identity

•Personality Identity

•Interest Identity

•Relationship Identity
 Identity Statuses and Development
Crisis – is a period of identity development during which the
adolescent is choosing among meaningful alternatives

Commitment – is defined as the part of identity development in

which adolescents show a personal investment in what they are
going to do.
 Four identity Statuses
•Identity diffusion – occurs when individuals have not yet experience a
crisis or made any commitments.

• Identity foreclosure – occurs when individual have made a commitment

but have not yet experience a crisis.

• Identity moratorium – occurs when individuals are in the midst of a crisis

but their commitments are either absent or only vaguely defined.

•Identity Achievement – occurs when individuals have undergone a crisis

and have made a commitment.
 Family Influence on identity
The presence of a family atmosphere that promotes both individuality and
connectedness is important in the adolescents identity development.

 Individuality – consist of 2 dimensions:

Self assertion – the ability to have and communicate a point of view, and

separateness – the use of communication patterns to express how one is

different from others

Connectedness - consist of 2 dimensions:

mutuality – sensitivity to and respect for others views

` permeability – openness to others views

 Gender and Identity Development
 In Erikson’s classic discussion of identity development, the division of labor
between the sexes was reflected in his assertion that males aspirations were mainly
oriented toward career and ideological commitments, while females were centered
around marriage and child bearing.
• One view is that for males identity formation precedes the stage of intimacy, while
for females intimacy precedes identity.
• The task of identity exploration may be more complex for females than for males, in
that females may try to establish identities in more domains than males.
• Todays world, the option for females have increased and thus may at times be
confusing and conflicting, especially for females who hope to successfully integrate
family and career roles.
 Emotional Development
•Adolescence has long been described as a time of emotional turmoil.

•It is important for adults that moodiness is a normal aspect of early adolescence and
most adolescents make it through this moody times to become competent adults.

•Emotional fluctuation in early adolescence may be related to the variability of hormones

during this time period. Moods become less extreme as adolescence move into
adulthood, and decrease in emotional fluctuation may be due to adaptation of hormone
levels over time.

•Environmental experiences may contribute more to the emotions of adolescence than

hormonal changes. Both hormonal and environmental experiences are involved in the
changing emotional landscape of adolescence.
FAMILIES
 Autonomy and Attachment
While most adolescents get along with their parents, they do spend less
time with them. This decrease in the time spent with families may be a
reflection of a teenager’s greater desire for independence or autonomy. It
can be difficult for many parents to deal with this desire for autonomy.

•However, it is likely adaptive for teenagers to increasingly distance

themselves and establish relationships outside of their families in
preparation for adulthood. This means that both parents and teenagers
need to strike a balance between autonomy, while still maintaining close and
supportive familial relationships.
Parent- Adolescent Conflict
The early years of adolescence are characterized by
dramatic physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes
initiated by the onset of puberty. These changes are associated
with transformations in family relationships and with the
emergence and escalation of conflict between
young adolescents and their parents.
PEERS
FRIENDSHIP
Friendship wins out over fairness. When children
decide to share, the giver's relationships with the pool of
recipients determine who gets how much. Others believe
that sharing behavior in young children is primarily motivated
by the desire to improve their social status.

•Harry Stack Sullivan-was the most influential theorist to

discuss the importance of adolescent friendship. He argued
that there is a dramatic increase in the psychological
importance an intimacy of close friends during early
adolescence.
PEER GROUP
In sociology, a peer group is both a social group and a
primary group of people who have similar interest, age,
background, or social status. The members of this group are
likely to influence the person's beliefs and behavior. Peer
groups contain hierarchies and distinct patterns of behavior.
CLIQUE
-A small group that ranges from 2 to about 12 individuals, averaging
about 5 to 6 individuals, and can form because adolescents engage in similar
activities.

 CROWD

-A larger group structure than a clique, a crowd is usually formed

based on reputation and members may or may not spend much time
together.
DATING AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Dating and Romantic relationship are a central part

of adolescents’ social worlds. These emerging relationships
represent an entirely new dynamic for youth, challenging
them to deal with intense feelings involving sexuality, love,
and intimacy. By the end of high school, the vast majority
of teens will have experienced at least one intimate
relationship.

•Types of Dating and Developmental Changes

Dating in Gay and Lesbian Youth
Dating Scripts
Sociocultural Contexts and Dating
CULTURE AND ADOLESCENT
DEVELOPMENT
 CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON
Cross-Cultural Comparison. Comparison of various psychological,
sociological, or cultural factors in order to assess the similarities or diversities
occurring in two or more different cultures or societies.
Thus, depending on the culture being observed, adolescence may involve many different
experiences.
Global Traditions and Changes in Adolescence
Health
Gender
Family
School
Peers
 ETHNICITY
- group' as a people having 'common ties of race (my
emphasis), language, nationality, or culture’.

Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

Differences and Diversity

Value Conflicts, Assimilation, and Pluralism

ADOLESCENT PROBLEMS
JUVENILE DELIQUENCY

-Juvenile Delinquency, which basically is the rebellious or unlawful

activities by kids in their teens or pre-teens, is caused by four main risk

factors namely; personality, background, state of mind and drugs. These
factors may lead to the child having low IQ and may increase the rate of
illiteracy.

Authority conflict

Covert

Overt
DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE

DEPRESSION – is more likely to occur in adolescence than in

childhood than in childhood and more likely to occur in adulthood than
adolescence. Further, adolescent girls consistently have higher rates of
depression than adolescent boys.

SUICIDE- suicidal behavior is rare in childhood but escalates in

early adolescence. Suicide is the third leading cause of death today
among adolescents 13 through 19 years of age.