adolescence 1 Flashcards
agenda
- Puberty
- Link between puberty and wellbeing
- Parenting an adolescent
Link between family conflict and mental health
what is adolesnce
- “Growing up” period between childhood and maturity from approximately ages 10-19 (WHO)
- Major tasks of adolescence:
- 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
puberty in historical context
· Change over time:
- Age at puberty has declined dramatically over the last few hundred years
- E.g., Norway - 1840: mean age of mearche 17; today: 13
· Why?:
- Causes: increased standard of living, particularly nutrition, health, heredity and body mass
puberty
· 7 year range for the onset of puberty
· Full process lasts about 4 years
· Puberty begins 2-3 years earlier for girls than boys
· Includes an average growth spurt of 10 inches, and 40 lbs (almost 3 stone)
· Marked changes in hormone (testosterone and estradiol) levels
· Estradiol – one of 3 estrogen hormones naturally produced in the body. Involved in menstruation
psychology aspects
· Body image:
- Least satisfied with body image during puberty (Wright, 1989)
· Body image by gender:
- Girls less satisfied than boys (Brooks-Gunn & Paikoff, 1993)
· Changes to mood:
- Increased hormone levels related to changes in mood (Brooks-Gunn & Warren, 1989)
- Males: increased anger and irritability
Females: increased anger and depression
pubertal timing - 3 hypotheses
· Stressful change hypothesis (Simmons and Blyth, 1987):
- The intrinsic stress of pubertal change will cause distress during the period of most rapid change
· Off time hypothesis (e.g., Livson and Peskin, 1980):
- Events encountered earlier or later than expected will cause additional distress
· Early-timing hypothesis (Stattin and Magnusson, 1990):
- Early maturation may cause inappropriate maturity demands from others, causing distress
girls at puberty
· Set out to test 3 rival hypotheses in the prediction of behavioural problems from age menarche
· 348 girls from 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 - 14.1 - 15.0
· Behavioural problems included:
- Antisocial behaviour (steals, truant)
- Aggression (bullies, threatens)
- Anxiety and withdrawl (shy, hypersensitive, feels inferior)
- Attention problems (short attention span, impulsive)
- Odd behaviour (incoherent speech, unable to tell real from imagined)
- Motor tension (nervous, jittery, tense)
pubertal timing
· Boys:
- Like maturing early, gain in self-esteem (Alsaker, 1992), more popular, likely to be leaders, good-natured, may hold a cognitive advantage, BUT more cautious, bound by rules and routines (Gross & Duke, 1980).
- Late maturers are more dependent, insecure, aggressive, and more likely to rebel against parents.
· Girls:
- Dislike maturing early, and those who do tend to be less sociable, have poor body image, lower self-esteem, are more likely to engage in risky behaviours, and reach lower levels of educational attainment (Stattin & Magnusson, 1990; Petersen, 1993).
adolescence and mental health
- impulse control disorders
- substance use disorders
- anxiety disorders
- mood disorders
- schizophrenia
puberty and depression
· Lewis et al. (2018)
· Girls (n = 658) and boys (n = 511) measured on depression and pubertal stage at ages 14.5 and 17.5
· Depression was assessed using Mood and Feelings Questionnaire and clinical interview, and pubertal stage assessed with Tanner rating scales (breast and pubic hair). Pubertal timing also measured.
· Results
- Girls: for each increase in tanner breast stage, MFQ score increased by 1.4 points (irrespective of pubertal timing). No relationship with pubic hair.
- Boys: no relationship between depression with pubic hair.
two competing theories
· Adolescents individuate from their parents (Freud, 1946), becoming more emotionally and behaviourally independent (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986).
· The parent-child relationship changes over adolescence, leading to psychological independence with continued connectedness (Youniss & Smollar, 1985; Grotevant & Cooper, 1986).
Larson et al 1996
· 220 middle & working-class adolescents from the Chicago suburbs.
· Data from 5th (10 yr olds) - 12th (18 yr olds) graders.
· Participants carried pagers, and provided reports at random times 7/8 times per day when signalled.
· Reported who, what, where, emotional state, friendliness of partner, “leader” of interaction.
- time spent one-on-one with mother and father stayed the same
- time spent with siblings, family groups, and extended family decreased
results
· Oldest adolescents spent less than half the time with family than the youngest adols. did, BUT time alone with parents did not decrease.
· NO correlation between time spent w/ family members and quality of family relationships.
· Mediators of the decline in family time were external to the family system, e.g., having a job, driving, peer activities.
· Non-linear change in affect reported during interactions
has parenting changed
· This table shows that between 1986 and 2006, more parents monitor their adolescents closely, and more parents have high expectations of their children’s behaviour
- Gardner et al (2012)
parenting and adolescent anxiety
· Review paper - 22 studies identified
· Consistent preliminary evidence for an association between anxiety and perceived parental control and anxious rearing in adolescence
· Less consistent evidence for association between adolescent anxiety and perceived parental rejection and lack of warmth
Waite et al. (2014)
