adolescenta

Question 1

When does adol start?

Answer 1

First period for girls
First ejaculation for boys

Question 2

When does adol end?

Answer 2

When you have a stable, independent role in society.

Question 3

What are the physical changes of adolescents?

Answer 3

Undergoing puberty.
Sex differences become more obvious.
Short/stocky body shapes mature earlier than slimmer/leaner body shapes.

Question 4

What are the biological changes in adolscence?

Answer 4

Decreasing grey matter (cells/synapses?
Increase in white matter (myelin)
Increase in levels of sex hormones

Question 5

What are the psychological aspects of puberty?

Answer 5

Body image - least satisfaction during puberty - the body is changing so quickly that you constantly have to recalibrate
Girls tend to report less satisfaction than boys

Increased hormone levels related to emotional changes:
- mood swings
- feelings are more intense
- increased anger and low mood
- feelings of sexual attraction

Question 6

What are the 2 key theories of parent-teen relationship change?

Answer 6

1. Disengagement
2. Continuity and trasnformation

Question 7

What is the disengagement theory?

Answer 7

Adolescents pull away to find out who they are independently
They become more emotionally and behaviourally independent

Question 8

What is the continuity and transformation theory?

Answer 8

Adolescents build psychological independence but with continued connectedness.

Question 9

What is the research to test these theories?

Answer 9

220 middle and working class adolescents from Chicago suburbs
Majority lived with both biological parents
Data from 10-18 y.o.
Asked participants to carry a pager that vibrated randomly throughout the day
They had to report what they were experiencing in the moment: who, what, where, emotional state, friendliness of parter, leader of interaction

Question 10

What has evidence found about time spent with family?

Answer 10

Oldest adolescents spent less than half the time with the family than the youngest
BUT
Time spent with mother only and with father only doesn’t decrease
What decreases is time spent doing group family activities

There was also NO correlation between time spent with family members and quality of family relationship

Question 11

What have the results found about affect during interaction?

Answer 11

Adolescents emotional engagement with family is more negative in early adolescence.
It gets better later.

Question 12

Does this evidence support any of the theories?

Answer 12

Disengagement:
- total quantity of time adolescents spent with family decreases
- this is due to being alone or with friends

Continuity and transformation:
- continued to spend time with each parent alone
- talking time did not decrease
- increased view of self as leader of interactions

Question 13

What is Erikson’s teenage identity crisis theory?

Answer 13

There are 8 stages each with a specific crisis to resolve.
Crisis is a point questioning your identity
Men are seen as needing to achieve identity prior to intimacy
Women’s identity is defined through her intimate roles of wife and mother

Question 14

What is Marcia’s identity statuses?

Answer 14

Marcia came up with 4 stages of being, characterised by 2 dimensions.

Question 15

What are the 2 dimensions?

Answer 15

1. Current level of crisis - instability and change
2. Commitment to current identity - are you concrete about who you are, or committed to your current identity

Question 16

What is the diffusion stage?

Answer 16

Low in current level of crisis & low in commitment.
Diffusion is ambiguous beliefs and low motivation to explore new options
Low commitment to who you are and low motivation to drive changes.

Question 17

What is foreclosure stage?

Answer 17

Low level of crisis, high level of commitment
You are not interested in exploring anything further because you are confident in who you are
Individuals have adopted the identities prescribed by parents without exploring options or experiencing identity crisis.

Question 18

What is moratorium?

Answer 18

High crisis but low commitment
Highly motivated to explore new things
Exploring alternatives
Individuals think about their way of relating to the world

Question 19

What is achieved identity stage?

Answer 19

High crisis, high commitment
Perfectly happy with asking questions and discovering your rship to the world but you also know who you are
Acceptance of an identity from a range of alternatives
After a period of exploration, individuals emerge with a firm commitment to their identity.

Question 20

What is the difference between Marica and Erikson?

Answer 20

Erikson saw his stages as linear
Marcia sees it as a cycle

Question 21

What are the neurological changes in the brain with adolescence?

Answer 21

One of the most dramatic changes is the prefrontal cortex.
Prefrontal cortex is proportionally bigger in humans than any other species.

Question 22

What is the prefrontal cortex involved in?

Answer 22

Planning
Decision making
Emotion regulation
Inhibition
Social interactions
Understanding others

Question 23

How does the prefrontal cortex change in adolescence?

Answer 23

Loss of grey matter density in adolescence
Synaptic pruning - elimination of weaker synaptic connections to make the brain more efficient

More specific regions respond to more specific stimuli while overall efficiency is enhanced
Reorganisation in areas associated with response inhibition, risk and reward, emotion regulation

Question 24

What happens to the limbic system is adolescence?

Answer 24

The limbic system (emotional brain) develops earlier than the prefrontal cortex (thinking brain)

Question 25

What is the evolutionary reason why limbic system develops earlier?

Answer 25

Encourages teenagers to take risks.
Good for survival as you have to find food, shelter and mate.

Question 26

Why are teenagers more risky?

Answer 26

They have poor self control
The limbic system has grown faster than the prefrontal cortex so there is a lack of ability to plan or control yourself.

Question 27

What is Blakemore’s counterargument?

Answer 27

Blakemore proposes that social risk of being rejected is the thing that drives risky behaviours
Research shows young adolescents are strongly more influenced by peers.
Peer influence can lead to prosocial as well as anti-social behaviours.