Week 13: Puberty and Adolescent Development

Question 1

What are the 3 interdisciplinary approaches to understanding adolescent development?

Answer 1

1. Neurobiological Contexts
2. Sociological Contexts
3. Psychological Contexts

Question 2

What does G. Stanley Hall’s Storm and Stress Hypothesis describe?

Answer 2

The hypothesis suggests that adolescence is marked by decreases in cognitive control (“storm”) and increased emotional sensitivity (“stress”) to novel stimuli.

Question 3

What are some characteristics of adolescence according to Hall’s Storm and Stress Hypothesis?

Answer 3

Adolescence is characterized by frequent, intense conflicts with parents, mood disturbance, and risky behaviors.

Question 4

What core ideas of Hall’s Storm and Stress Hypothesis have been challenged?

Answer 4

Contemporary challenges to the hypothesis include questioning its notion of adolescence being inevitable, normative, and ubiquitous in nature.

Question 5

What does Arnett’s (1999) critique of Hall’s Storm and Stress Hypothesis argue?

Answer 5

Arnett criticizes Hall’s view that adolescence-specific difficulties are universal and inevitable, suggesting there are individual differences, cultural variations, and effects of chronological time.

Question 6

What are the key factors Arnett (1999) introduces in understanding adolescence?

Answer 6

Arnett introduces the “4 Ts”: Typicality, Temperament, Transactions, and Timing to understand adolescent development.

Question 7

What is identity development in adolescence?

Answer 7

Identity development is a major personality achievement and a crucial developmental step toward becoming a productive, content adult, involving defining who you are, what you value, and the directions you choose to pursue in life.

Question 8

According to Erikson, what happens during adolescence in terms of identity?

Answer 8

Erikson believed adolescents experience an identity crisis, a temporary period of distress as they experiment with alternatives before settling on values, personally meaningful convictions, and goals.

Question 9

What are the 4 stages of identity development?

Answer 9

1. Identity Achievement
2. Identity Moratorium
3. Identity Foreclosure
4. Identity Diffusion

Question 10

What is Identity Diffusion in Marcia’s theory?

Answer 10

Identity Diffusion refers to a state where individuals are neither committed to values and goals nor actively trying to reach them. They may never have explored identity alternatives.

Question 11

What is Identity Foreclosure in Marcia’s theory?

Answer 11

Identity Foreclosure occurs when individuals have committed to values and goals without exploring alternatives, often following what authority figures (e.g., parents) have decided for them.

Question 12

What is Identity Moratorium in Marcia’s theory?

Answer 12

Identity Moratorium refers to a “delay or holding pattern.” Individuals have not yet made definite commitments but are in the process of exploring alternatives, with the desire to find values and goals to guide their lives.

Question 13

What is Identity Achievement in Marcia’s theory?

Answer 13

Identity Achievement happens when individuals have explored alternatives and are committed to a clearly formulated set of self-chosen values and goals.

Question 14

What are the two key dimensions in Marcia’s theory of identity development?

Answer 14

The two key dimensions are Crisis (exploration of alternatives) and Commitment (adopting values and goals).

Question 15

What is puberty?

Answer 15

Puberty is the state of physical development at which individuals are first capable of reproduction. It begins with neuroendocrine changes, hormonal surges, and physical morphological changes, leading to reproductive maturity.

Question 16

What are the key features of puberty?

Answer 16

Puberty is controlled and sustained by hormones.
It involves morphological changes in height, weight, and body shape.
Puberty is associated with changes in behavior and mood.

Question 17

What are synapses?

Answer 17

Synapses are tiny gaps between neurons where fibers from different neurons come close together to communicate by releasing neurotransmitters.

Question 18

What is synaptic pruning?

Answer 18

Synaptic pruning is the process where neurons that are seldom stimulated lose their synapses, returning the neurons to an uncommitted state for future development.

Question 19

What happens during synaptic pruning?

Answer 19

Neurons that aren’t used frequently lose their synapses, allowing the brain to strengthen important connections and eliminate unnecessary ones for more efficient functioning.

Question 20

How does synaptic pruning affect brain development?

Answer 20

Synaptic pruning during puberty helps in the structural neural maturation and reorganization of the brain, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which takes longer to mature compared to sensory perceptual areas.

Question 21

What happens to gray matter (GM) volume during puberty?

Answer 21

Total gray matter volume increases during early childhood but begins to decrease around puberty due to synaptic pruning, which marks the brain’s structural neural maturation and reorganization.

Question 22

When does synaptic pruning start?

Answer 22

Synaptic pruning starts around puberty, indicating the beginning of structural neural maturation and reorganization processes in the brain.

Question 23

Which brain area matures last during synaptic pruning?

Answer 23

The prefrontal cortex matures more slowly compared to sensory perceptual areas during synaptic pruning and neural development.

Question 24

What is the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)?

Answer 24

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is a laboratory task used to measure risk-taking behavior by assessing how much participants are willing to inflate a balloon in order to earn money, with the risk of it popping.

Question 25

What measures were used in Braams et al. (2015) to track pubertal development and testosterone levels?

Answer 25

Pubertal development was measured using the PDS (Pubertal Development Scale) and salivary testosterone levels.

Question 26

What brain region was tracked in Braams et al. (2015) to study risk-taking behavior?

Answer 26

The brain activity in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc) region was tracked using fMRI scanning.

Question 27

What are the two neurobiological systems involved in risky decision-making during adolescence?

Answer 27

Socio-emotional system (limbic regions, the Hot system, “Accelerator”)
Cognitive control system (lateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortices, the Cold system, “Brake”)

Question 28

What is the role of the Socio-emotional system in risky decision-making?

Answer 28

The Socio-emotional system, associated with the limbic regions, is responsible for sensation-seeking and emotional responses. Surges in dopaminergic activity in this system increase adolescent sensation-seeking and risky decision-making.

Question 29

What is the role of the Cognitive control system in risky decision-making?

Answer 29

The Cognitive control system, involving the lateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortices, acts as the “brake,” helping to regulate impulsive behaviors and control decision-making.

Question 30

How do the two systems interact in adolescent decision-making?

Answer 30

The interaction between the Socio-emotional system (the “Accelerator”) and the Cognitive control system (the “Brake”) results in heightened risky decision-making and sensation-seeking behaviors during adolescence, particularly when the socio-emotional system is more active than the cognitive control system.

Question 31

What experimental task was used in Chein et al.’s study to examine adolescents’ risk-taking behavior?

Answer 31

The Stoplight Driving Game was used, where participants decided whether to run a yellow traffic light (GO) or stop to avoid a crash, under conditions with and without peer presence.

Question 32

How did peer presence influence adolescents’ decision-making in the study?

Answer 32

Adolescents were found to be more likely to take risks when peers were present, due to enhanced activity in the brain’s reward circuitry.

Question 33

What has early pubertal maturation, especially in girls, been linked to?

Answer 33

Early pubertal maturation has been linked to poor psychosocial and mental health trajectories, including greater risks for smoking, drinking, eating disorders, body image problems, depression, lower self-esteem, and early sexual activity.

Question 34

What is the “Maturation Deviance Hypothesis”?

Answer 34

The “Maturation Deviance Hypothesis” suggests that early maturation, especially in girls, can lead to maladjustment and increase the risk for negative outcomes such as mental health issues and risky behaviors.

Question 35

What are some opportunities to support adolescents during this period of development?

Answer 35

Opportunities include harnessing adolescents’ desire for novel experiences, maximizing learning opportunities, and helping them develop a sense of competence through youth policies and theoretically-informed educational interventions.

Question 36

How can we help adolescents develop a sense of competence?

Answer 36

By providing opportunities for adolescents to seek new experiences, maximize their learning, and offering support through educational interventions and youth policies that promote positive behavioral change.