Lesson 16 And 17

Question 1

Adolescence is…

Answer 1

Viewed as a period of unavoidable storm and stress. Characterized by many significant changes and challenges.

Question 2

Cognitive Development in Adolescents:

Answer 2

Adolescent thought combines ego, logic, and emotion. Sometime, ego overrides logic; sometimes, emotion overrides both. Brain maturation, internet conversations addition years of schooling, moral challenges, and increased independence all occur during adolescence, and this combination furthers cognition. Simply, there is much to consider when trying to understand cognitive development during adolescence.
Brian maturation proceeds at different rates for different parts of the brain. This accounts for the fact that often, it is emotions rather than rational thought that rule the adolescent’s behavior.

Question 3

Brain development for Adolescents in detail:

Answer 3

The lambic system matures before the prefrontal cortex. You will recall that the lambic system includes the amygdala, where intense emotions originate. The prefrontal cortex controls functions such as planning, impulse control and regulation of emotion. Thus we can see that during adolescence, the instinctual/emotional areas of the brain develop ahead of the more reflective, analytic areas. Additionally, hormones associated with this stage of development target the amygdala directly, whereas the cortex is less affected y hormones as it responds more to age and experience. All of this is to say there are good reasons why adolescents tend to be ruled more by their emotions than their reasoning abilities.

Question 4

Piaget: Formal Operations

Answer 4

Piaget refers to adolescence as the period of formal operations, which he proposed begins somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age, and lasts throughout adulthood. Individuals are no longer limited by their personal experience because they are able to consider abstractions.

Key features of this stage are:
Teenagers learn to reason logically about abstract concepts
Transition from thought based in reality (concrete thought) to thought regarding possibility. (This means that adolescents no longer are limited in their thinking to only things they have seen or otherwise experienced)

Question 5

What are all characteristic abilities of the Formal Operations stage

Answer 5

• Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
• Deductive reasoning
• Systematic problem solving
• Understand symbols as representations of symbols
• Ability to look to and think about the future and its possibilities
• Two modes of thinking
• Reflective Thinking

Question 6

What is Hypothetico-deductive reasoning?

Answer 6

Ability to derive conclusions from hypothetical premises

Question 7

What is Deductive reasoning?

Answer 7

Begins with an abstract idea or premise and then uses logic to draw specifics conclusions.

Question 8

What is Systematic problem solving?

Answer 8

Ability to search for a solution by testing hypotheses about single factors (one at a time).

Question 9

What is Understand symbols as representations of symbols during adolescent stage?

Answer 9

The ability to understand things that are twice removed from reality, such as occurs while learning algebra. When you’re young, you lean that a symbol (2) represents a reality of two of something. It is possible to understand that a different symbol (x) can represent another symbol (2) which represents a reality, such as in the equation 6x-4=8. The symbol (x) is twice removed from reality, and thus is much more abstract than the symbol (2). Another example of this ability is that of understanding a wordless cartoon. Cartoons with words are simple representations of reality. Cartoons without words are further removed from reality in that you have to figure out what the words would be if they were there, and the you have to see that as a representation of reality.

Question 10

What is the Ability to look to and think about the future and its possibilities in the Adolescent stage?

Answer 10

For the first time, the individual is capable of thinking about the future, and realizing that what s/he does NOW can have an impact on what might be possible LATER (e.g., the grades I earn in high school will affect my college choices; the things I learn now will influence my career opportunities). This is an important advancement in thinking that comes at an opportune time, but recognize also that this is a burden on the adolescent, who for the first time is coming to understand that s/he is accountable for his/her actions and their effects on both the present and the future.

Question 11

What is Two modes of thinking?

Answer 11

Adolescents are said to think in two particular ways. Intuitive thought arises from an emotion or a hunch and is beyond rational explanation. Analytic thought results from analysis and depends on logic and rationality (as displayed in hypothetico-deductive and deductive reasoning, explained above)

Question 12

What is reflective thinking?

Answer 12

This is a very significant characteristic of adolescent thought. It is the ability to think about one’s own thought. The adolescent to sitting around thinking, which is a favorite pastime of this stage. Suddenly, the adolescent is amazed to find that he is thinking a bout the fact that he is thinking. Often this kind of ‘outside looking in’ experience is portrayed as drug-induced, but the reality is that it is adolescence-induced, and becomes possible with the onset of formal operational thought.

Question 13

Elkind: Adolescent Egocentrism

Answer 13

The term used to encompass a variety of interrelated limitations is adolescent egocentrism, coined by David Elkind. The basic idea is that the adolescent sees him/herself as much more central and significant in the world than he/she actually is. Although the adolescent is perfectly capable of recognizing that other people have their own unique perspectives, and that each person is likely to be different, what they’d say to happen is that the individual adolescent cannot discriminate between his/her personal interests ad the interests of others. As. A result, the adolescent often makes the mistake of believing that others are as preoccupied with the things s/he is thinking about as s/he is. If it is important enough to the adolescent for him or her to spend a lot of time thinking about it, he/she assumes it is equally important to everyone else.

Question 14

Adolescent egocentrism shows itself in a number of ways, according to Ekind what are they?

Answer 14

Invincibility fable
Personal fable
Imaginary Audience
Physical Development
Puberty
Nutrition

Question 15

What is invincibility Fable?

Answer 15

The adolescent believes s/he is immune to the laws of mortality and probability. This helps us to understand why adolescents exhibit risk-taking behaviors, including dangerous driving and unprotected sex. The adolescent believes that the ‘risks’ associated with such behaviors do not pertain to him/her.

Question 16

What is Personal Fable?

Answer 16

The adolescent imagines his/her own life as heroic or even mythical, and believes in the uniqueness of his/her own experience. For example, an adolescent might believe that “No one has ever felt love like the love I feel right now. Romeo and Juliet might have come close, but even they couldn’t have experienced what I’m experiencing, and in my case it wont end in death!”

Question 17

What is Imaginary Audience?

Answer 17

The adolescent SES himself as the center of attention and sees everyone else as a member of an ‘attentive’ audience that is watching his every move. As if this isn’t intense enough, since its all a creation fo the adolescents imagination, in addition to assuming that everyone is watching, the adolescent also assumes that every member of this audience knows as much about him/her as he/she knows about him/herself.
So if I’m an adolescent and I wake up one morning and discover the beginnnings of a zit on my chin, it doesn’t matter that this discovery required my high-powered magnification mirror! If I saw it and know it’s there, everyone else will know it’s there also, and as soon as I walk into school, everyone will turn immediately and look at me. These kinds of experiences are likely o be intense, and also are likely to lead to anxiety and feelings of self- consciousness.

Question 18

What is Physical Development?

Answer 18

Adolescence is a time of great physical growth and change, when sexuality emerges in full bloom. The body changes of early adolescence rival those of infancy in speed and drama but differ in one crucial way: Adolescents are aware. Even tiny changes (a blemish, a fingernail, a hair out of place) matter when a person watches his or her own body transforming.

Question 19

What is Puberty within adolescents egocentrism?

Answer 19

Puberty is defined as the period of rapid physical growth and sexual maturation that ends childhood and brings the individual to adult size, shape, and sexual potential. Puberty begins with an onrush of hormones that produces external sign as well as the heightened emotions and sexual desires that many adolescents experience. The process typically begins somewhere between 8 and 14 years of age, and the biological changes follow a common sequence.

Question 20

What are Hormones?

Answer 20

Beginning with increased concentrations of hormones in the hypothalamus in the brain, which in turn triggers hormonal activity in the pituitary gland, which triggers hormonal activity in the gonads (Ovaries and Testes). In girls the primary hormone produced by the ovaries is estradiol; in boys, testosterone, which is produced in the testes.

Question 21

What are some obvious changes during puberty?

Answer 21

The most obvious changes of puberty are associated with sexual maturity. These changes are organized into two categories primary sex characteristics, which include changes in organs directly involved in reproduction, and secondary sex characteristics, which include Chang’s in parts of the body that do not affect fertility but that signify masculinity or femininity.

Question 22

What are primary sex characteristics?

Answer 22

Include growth of the penis and testes in males growth of the ovaries, uterus and varna in females.

Question 23

What are Secondary sex characteristics?

Answer 23

Include growth of underarm and pubic hair both boys and girls. Also fo boys, includes voice change, change in body shape (smaller waste and broad shoulders),and beard growth. Also for girls are breast development and change in body shape (widening of the hips).

Question 24

What are some of the sequences of changes during puberty?

Answer 24

For girls, puberty typically begins with growth of the uterus and begins, but the first changes the young girls will notice are to the breasts (development of breast buds and growth of the nipples) and development of pubic hair. These changes are followed closely by a peak in the height spurt (will be noticed by persons who see the young girls on a regular basis), menarche (First menstruation), final pubic hair growth and full breast development. The average age for Menarche among well-nourished girls is 12 years 8 months.
For boys, puberty typically begins with the growth of the testes and scrotum, followed by the appearance of pubic hair, growth of the penis, first ejaculation of seminal fluid, facial hair, peak height spurt, voice deepening and final pubic-hair growth. The average age of spermarche is just under 13 years, the same as for menarche. Typically, physical growth and maturation (i.e. puberty) are complete four years after the first signs appear, although some individuals (usually late developers) add height, and most (especially early developers) gain more fat and muscle in their late teens or early 20s.

Question 25

Dealing with Nutrition within adolescent age

Answer 25

All the changes of puberty depend on nutrition, yet many adolescents are deficient in necessary vitamins or minerals, with research showing that eating habits get worse throughout the teen years.
Fewer than helpful of all teenagers consume the recommended daily dose of 15 milligrams of iron, found in green vegetables, eggs, and meat. Because menstruation depletes the body of iron, more adolescent girls are anemic than those in any other age or gender group. Adolescent boys also suffer from anemia, especially if they engage in physical labor or competitive sports, because muscles need iron.
Calcium is another example.
Such nutritional deficiencies result from the choices young adolescents are allowed, even enticed, to make. There is a direct link between deficient diets and the availability of vending machines in schools. Fast-food establishments cluster around high schools, if zoning permits, and many such places are hangouts for teenagers.

Question 26

Body Dissatisfaction

Answer 26

Another reason for poor nutrition during adolescence is anxiety about body image—that is, a person’s idea of how his or her body looks. Since puberty alters the entire body, it is almost impossible for teenagers to welcome every change. Unfortunately, their perceptions are distorted; they tend to focus on and exaggerate the problems.

Question 27

Eating disorders

Answer 27

One result of dissatisfaction with body image is that many teens, especially girls, develop extreme behaviors related o eating. Eating disorders increase dramatically during adolescence.

Question 28

Anorexia Nervosa

Answer 28

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by voluntary starvation. It is officially diagnosed when four symptoms are evident: 1) refusal to maintain a weight at least 85% of normal body mass index (BMI); 2)intense fear of weight gain; 3) disturbed body perception along with denial of the problem; and 4) absence of menstruation in adolescent and adult females. While about 1% o all women in late adolescence suffer this disorder, it leads to death by organ failure or suicide in 5-20% of these women.

Question 29

Bulemia Nervosa

Answer 29

Bulemia Nervosa is characterized by compulsive overeating, or binging, followed by purging through vomiting or the use of laxatives. Bulemia is about three times more common than anorexia. And while starvation typically is not a risk associated with bulimia because most with this condition are close to normal weight, there are serious risks associated with the disorder, including damage to the gastrointestinal system, cardiac arrest, compulsive disorders and depression.
Approximately 6.6% of U.S. high school girls and 2.2% of high school boys reported bulimic behaviors in a 2013 survey.

Question 30

Teenage Pregnancy

Answer 30

Pregnancy during adolescence occurs with alarming frequency, even if the rate has declined over the past 50 years. This is a nationwide phenomenon, though it is encouraging to report that the rate of teen pregnancy in Utah has dropped substantially in recent years. In 2006, approximately 0 of every 1000 young women age 15-19 years became pregnant. By 2011, this rate had dropped to better educate teens about reproduction, sexual behavior, personal responsibility, contraceptive methods.

Question 31

Research findings about Teen mothers

Answer 31

When compared to women who wait (beyond their teens) to bear children, teen mothers are more likely to exhibit:

1. Diminished education (more likely to drop out of high school)
2. Marital instability (even if they marry the father of the child ,this relationship is not likely to last, and subsequent relationships also are likely to fail).
3. Long-term reliance on public assistance (difficult to find and keep work when you are a single parent without a high school education)
4. Poverty as an adult;
5. non-optimal parenting (the typical teen mother does not have the personal or other resources that would be required to care adequately for an infant or young child)
6. High numbers of subsequent children (a surprising proportion of girls who become mothers in their teens will have one or two additional children while still in their teens)

Question 32

Research findings: Children of teen mothers

Answer 32

When compared to children of older mothers, children of teen mothers are more likely to experience:

1. Pre- and perinatal health complications (e.g. problems during pregnancy, problems during delivery, low birth weight, serious illness, etc.)
2. Intellectual deficits
3. Poor adjustment/low achievement during later school years
4. Teen parenthood (oddly enough, children born to teen parents are more likely than others to become parents themselves during their teens)

Question 33

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Answer 33

Sexually transmitted infections (STI, formerly referred to as STD’s) are another risk associated with sexual activity. STI is defined as any infection transmitted through sexual contact (oral or genital). These include syphilis, gonorrhea, genitals herpes, chlamydia, and HIV. World-wide, sexually active teens have higher rates of common STI’s than any other age group. And while teen pregnancy and abortion rates have fallen over recent years, STI’s show no signs of reduction.

Question 34

Sexual Interactions

Answer 34

It is understood that the hormones of puberty awaken sexual interest. As such, we must recognize that adolescent sexual impulses are normal, they can be a source of joy, and they can be instructive in preparing adolescents for health, mature adult relationships. It also is important to recognize that the current cohort of teenagers is sexually healthier and more responsible than was true of previous cohorts.