Lecture 7- Adolescent Development Flashcards
What is Adolescence?
- critical period of development
- Defined by malleability and plasticity
- Aged 10-25
What are some key characteristics of brain development and growth during adolescence?
1) highly malleable period= brain changes, highly influenced externally
2) Window of change
3) still need scaffolding and support
What are the stages of pubertal development?
Adrenarche (6-9)
Gonadarche (9-11)
Menarche
What occurs during the Adrenarche stage?
1) maturation of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA)
2) adrenarche hormones continue to rise and peak in the early 20s
3) Associate with pubic hair growth
What happens during the Gonadarche stage
1) Reactivation of HPG
2) Rise contributes to breast and genital development
What is the Menarche stage?
The arrival of the first period in girls
How to measure Pubertal development?
1) Status- how far along maturation
2) Timing- how mature compared to peers
3) Tempo
How does stress influence Puberty Timing?
1) Early Pubertal timing- Accelerated maturation by premature activation of HPA and HPG
2) Sexual abuse- lowers Menarche age
3) Physical abuse- Rapid tempo
Which environmental factors influence pubertal timing?
1) Parental harshness and father absence- early menarche
How does early puberty affect girls?
obesity and low birth weight
How does late puberty affect boys?
obesity
What are the socila norms of puberty?
- change in self-image- shame (menarche)
- changing relationships
- maturation is associated with sexual harassment
How does puberty affect stress?
- pubertal hormones alters their response to stress, and girls are impacted
- cortisol promotes positive adaptation in the brain and body
How does puberty affect neurobiological development?
1) Changes in gray matter
2) synaptogenesis (formation) & synaptic pruning
3) Myelination increase= increase quality and speed of neuron to neuron communication
What happens to the brain as you age?
1) grey matter becomes more specialised
2) Nerve cells in the outer layer (cortex) get wrapped with myelin- speed signals
3) communication links, white matter tracts, start to solidify into adult-like structure
What is Cortical thinning?
1) increase in grey matter and increase in white matter organization
2) Increased connectivity of important circuitry and pruning of unnecessary synapses
3) Improves quality of neural connections
What are the structural brain changes of puberty?
1) Pre- frontal cortex
2) Top-down processing- EF, planning, and decision making
3) Improve connectivity
What are the psychological effect of the brain changes during Puberty?
- EF
- Self-regulating
- development of top-down processes
- increase in memory and learning
How does puberty affect social-emotional development?
- integrate lots of perspectives
- integrate experiences across contexts
- Deepens ability to understand complex phenomena
- a sense of self becomes more integrated
What is the neurobiological take on the sense of self?
- integration of neural circuity
- evaluation associated with the development of ventromedial PFC (inhibition of emotion in decision and self control)
How does sex impact PTSD?
Boys= larger volume of grey matter
Girls= small volume of grey matter and surface area
- sexual dimorphism happening between boys and girls
What is emotional empathy?
imaging how it feels to be in another situation
What is cognitive empathy?
more rational
thinking about what the other person might be thinking about
What allows you to have empathy accuracy?
both cognitive and emotional empathy
Why is adolescence important?
highly adaptive
time of neuroplasticity- the brain is malleable interventions ae salient
