Adolescence 1

Question 1

What is adolescence?

Answer 1

The “Growing up” period between childhood and maturity from approximately ages 10-19 (WHO).

Question 2

What are some problems associated with adolescence?

Answer 2

Adjust to changing body size and shape
Come to terms with sexuality
Adjust to new ways of thinking
Strive for emotional maturity and economic independence of adulthood

Question 3

Describe puberty in a historical context.

Answer 3

Bellis et al. (2006)
Age of puberty = declined dramatically during last few hundred years.

Causes = increased standard of living, SES, particularly nutrition, health, heredity and body mass.

Nearly 200 years ago, periods starts 14-16yrs, 2000 = 12-13.5yrs depending on the country.

People are becoming biologically mature before reaching social cognitive/ emotional maturity markers.

Question 4

What is puberty?

Answer 4

7 year range for the onset of puberty

Full process = ~4 years

Puberty = 2-3 years earlier for girls than boys

Includes an average growth spurt = 10 inches height + 40 lbs (almost 3 stone) weight

Marked changes in hormone (testosterone and estradiol) levels
Estradiol = one of 3 estrogen hormones naturally produced in the body. Involved in menstruation.

Question 5

What are the psychological aspects to puberty?

Answer 5

Body image - least satisfaction during puberty (Wright, 1989).

Girls = less satisfied than boys (Brooks-Gunn & Paikoff, 1993).

Increased hormone levels = changes in mood (Brooks-
Gunn & Warren, 1989):
- Males = increased anger & irritability
- Females = increased anger & depression

Question 6

What are the 3 hypotheses of pubertal timing?

Answer 6

1. Stressful Change Hypothesis (Simmons & Blyth, 1987)
2. Off Time Hypothesis (e.g., Livson & Peskin, 1980)
3. Early-Timing Hypothesis (Stattin & Magnusson, 1990)

Question 7

What is the Stressful Change Hypothesis?

Answer 7

(Simmons & Blyth, 1987)

The intrinsic (innate) stress of pubertal change = cause distress during the period of most rapid change.

Question 8

What is Off Time Hypothesis?

Answer 8

Livson & Peskin (1980)
Events encountered earlier/ later than expected = cause additional distress.

Question 9

What is Early-Timing Hypothesis?

Answer 9

Stattin & Magnusson (1990)
Early maturation may cause inappropriate maturity demands from others, causing distress.

Question 10

What happened in Caspi & Moffitt (1991), Girls at Puberty study?

Answer 10

Set out to test 3 rival hypotheses in predicting behavioural problems from age at menarche.

348 girls from the population sample in New Zealand.
– Early Age = 12.0 or younger
– Early/middle = Age 12.1 – 13.0
– Late/middle = Age 13.1 – 14.0
– Late = Age 14.1 – 15.0

Behaviour problems = antisocial behaviour, aggression, anxiety and withdrawal attention problems

Question 11

What are some problems girls face in their pubertal timings?

Answer 11

Dislike maturing early, and those who do tend:
* to be less sociable
* to have poor body image
* to have lower self-esteem
* spend time / participate in risky behaviours/ people

Tend to reach lower levels of educational attainment
(Magnusson et al, 1985)

These differences are small but significant.

Question 12

What happens in boys and their pubertal timings.

Answer 12

Maturing early = gain in self-esteem (Alsaker, 1992), more popular, likely to be leaders, good-natured, may
hold a cognitive advantage, BUT = cautious, bound by rules and routines (Gross & Duke, 1980).

Late maturers = more dependent, insecure, aggressive, and more likely to rebel against their parents. Externalising and internalising problems.

Not much research has been done on boys + hard to research bc no clear onset of puberty in contrast to girls who have periods.

Question 13

What is the age onset of mental health disorders?

Answer 13

19.5yrs old = most common age of onset for depression
20.5 yrs = most common age of onset for Sz
15.5 + 30.5 = anxiety onset

Adolescence = common time of onset

Question 14

What did Daly (2022) show?

Answer 14

Daly (2022)

Sample of ~180,000 American adolescence
Saw an increase in depression consistently
Saw a consistent gap between females and males

Question 15

What does Stumper & Alloy’s review (2021) on puberty and depression show?

Answer 15

Review of 36 studies of adolescents aged 9-20

Rates of depression = similar among boys and girls in childhood, but girls 2x likely to experience depression in adolescence

Gender gap in depression persists across lifespan

Pubertal processes = role in the emergence of this gender gap. relationship = stronger + consistent in girls.

Changing hormone levels, perceptions abt body changes + shared environment stresses = mediate this relationship

Question 16

What are the two competing theories on adolescence and the role of parent-child relationships

Answer 16

Adolescents individuate from their parents (Freud, 1946),
becoming more emotionally and behaviourally independent (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986).

Parent-child relationship changes over adolescence = psychological independence w/ continued connectedness Grotevant & Cooper, 1986).

Question 17

What did Larson et al.’s study do (1996)?

Answer 17

220 middle & working-class adolescents from the Chicago suburbs.

Data = 5th (10 yr olds) - 12th (18 yr olds) graders.

Ps carried pagers + provided reports at random times, 7/8 times per day when signalled.

Reported who, what, where, emotional state, friendliness of partner, “leader” of interaction.

Question 18

What were the results of Larson et al. (1996)?

Answer 18

Oldest adolescents = less than half the time w/ family that the youngest adols. did, BUT time alone with parents did not decrease.

NO correlation between time spent w/ family members + quality of family relationships.

Mediators of the decline in family time = external to the family system, e.g., having a job, driving, peer activities.

Boys and girls start similarly, but change in puberty + most pronounced when peak puberty. End of adolescence = closer to each other in affect.

Question 19

Has parenting changed?

Answer 19

Gardner et al. (2012)
Looked at parenting trends and compared samples = 1986 vs 2006. Asked about their parenting monitoring + expectations.

The trend shows = monitoring + expectation has increased

Question 20

What happened in Gorostiaga et al., 2019?

Answer 20

Reviewed 59 studies (in ~30 countries) looking at parenting and internalising outcomes

Both psychological control + harsh control associated w/ higher levels of anxiety

Higher levels of parental warmth associated w/ lower levels of anxiety

Association found = anxiety + family dysfunction + overprotection

Higher levels of parental warmth, behavioural control, authoritative parenting style = associated w/ lower levels of depression

neglectful + authoritarian parenting stylesassociated = higher levels of depression