Week 15 Readings Flashcards
Describe key points about adolescence.
- Adolescence is the developmental stage beginning with puberty and ending with the transition to adulthood, typically spanning ages 10–20.
- Historically, adolescence has lengthened as puberty begins earlier (10–11 years for girls and 11–12 years for boys) and adulthood milestones, such as financial independence and parenthood, occur later.
- The average age of puberty onset has decreased since the 19th century by 3–4 months per decade, influenced by factors like better nutrition, obesity, and environmental changes.
- A new developmental stage, emerging adulthood (ages 18–29), has been introduced to capture the prolonged transition from adolescence to adulthood.
- Changes during adolescence occur across physical, cognitive, and social domains, affecting relationships, identity formation, and psychological adjustment.
Why are adolescents more prone to engaging in risky or dangerous behaviors?
Adolescents are more prone to risky behaviors because, during early adolescence, the brain’s dopaminergic system develops, increasing sensation-seeking and reward motivation.
However, the prefrontal cortex, responsible for self-regulation and risk assessment, matures later.
This imbalance means adolescents are strongly driven by rewards and impulses but lack the full cognitive control to resist or carefully evaluate potential dangers.
How do parent–child relationships change during adolescence, and what aspects of parenting become more important?
During adolescence, parent–child relationships are renegotiated as adolescents strive for greater independence and autonomy.
Parents’ distal supervision and monitoring become crucial, as adolescents spend more time with peers.
Effective parental monitoring involves setting rules, knowing their adolescents’ friends and activities, and encouraging adolescents to disclose information.
Psychological control, which includes manipulating and intruding into adolescents’ emotional and cognitive world, becomes more significant during this stage and is associated with problematic adolescent adjustment.
What is psychological control in terms of parenting?
Parents’ manipulation of and intrusion into adolescents’ emotional and cognitive world through invalidating adolescents’ feelings and pressuring them to think in particular ways.
What is homophily?
Adolescents tend to associate with peers who are similar to themselves.
What is deviant peer contagion?
The spread of problem behaviors within groups of adolescents.
What are crowds?
Adolescent peer groups characterized by shared reputations or images.
These crowds reflect different prototypic identities (such as jocks or brains) and are often linked with adolescents’ social status and peers’ perceptions of their values or behaviors.
What is the central issue of adolescent development according to Erikson’s theory?
According to Erikson’s theory, identity formation is the central issue of adolescent development. Successfully forming an identity indicates successful development, whereas role confusion signifies failure to meet the developmental task of adolescence.
What are the four identity statuses described by Marcia (1966) in adolescent identity formation?
Marcia (1966) described four identity statuses:
- Foreclosure: Commitment to an identity without exploration.
- Identity Diffusion: Lack of exploration and commitment to any identity.
- Moratorium: Active exploration of options without making commitments.
- Identity Achievement: Exploration of options followed by making identity commitments.
What is foreclosure in Marcia’s identity formation theory?
Individuals commit to an identity without exploration of options.
What is identity diffusion in Marcia’s identity formation theory?
Adolescents neither explore nor commit to any roles or ideologies.
What is moratorium in Marcia’s identity formation theory?
State in which adolescents are actively exploring options but have not yet made identity commitments.
What is identity achievement in Marcia’s identity formation theory?
Individuals have explored different options and then made commitments.
What is Phinney’s (1989) model of ethnic identity development?
Phinney’s model of ethnic identity development includes three stages:
- Unexplored Ethnic Identity
- Ethnic Identity Search
- Achieved Ethnic Identity
What is the difference between early starters and late starters in Patterson’s early versus late starter model of antisocial behavior?
In Patterson’s model, early starters exhibit antisocial behavior beginning in childhood and are at greater risk for persistent antisocial behavior into adulthood.
Late starters begin antisocial behavior in adolescence, often due to poor parental monitoring and increased involvement with deviant peers. Late starters are more likely to desist from antisocial behavior when environmental changes make other options more appealing.
What does Moffitt’s life-course persistent versus adolescent-limited model propose about the development of antisocial behavior?
Moffitt’s model distinguishes two patterns of antisocial behavior:
Life-course persistent: Begins in childhood and often persists into adulthood.
Adolescent-limited: Begins in adolescence, driven by a “maturity gap” between adolescents’ dependence on adults and their desire for autonomy. Adolescent-limited behavior typically decreases as legitimate adult roles and privileges become available.
What factors contribute to the development of antisocial behavior in late starters, according to Patterson’s model?
In late starters, poor parental monitoring and supervision contribute to increased involvement with deviant peers. These factors promote the development of antisocial behavior during adolescence, which often decreases when environmental changes provide alternative, appealing options.
What is the “maturity gap” described in Moffitt’s model, and how does it relate to adolescent-limited antisocial behavior?
The “maturity gap” refers to the discrepancy between adolescents’ dependence on and control by adults and their desire to demonstrate independence.
This gap motivates adolescents to engage in antisocial behavior as a way to assert autonomy. As they gain legitimate adult roles and privileges, the incentives for antisocial behavior diminish, leading to desistance.
How do anxiety and depression impact adolescents’ social relationships, and why are girls more vulnerable?
Adolescents with anxiety or depression often create stress in their relationships by poorly resolving conflicts, seeking excessive reassurance, and selecting maladaptive social contexts (e.g., befriending other depressed youths and co-rumination).
This process worsens negative emotions and stress.
Girls are more vulnerable because they have relationship-oriented goals focused on intimacy and social approval, making disruptions in relationships particularly impactful.
These social difficulties exacerbate anxiety and depression, leading to a cycle that maintains these issues over time.
What 3 factors predict academic achievement in adolescence?
Academic achievement during adolescence is influenced by interpersonal factors (e.g., parental engagement), intrapersonal factors (e.g., intrinsic motivation), and institutional factors (e.g., school quality).
What is differential susceptibility?
Genetic factors that make individuals more or less responsive to environmental experiences.
How do environmental and individual factors contribute to the diversity of adolescent development?
Adolescent development varies due to both universal biological and cognitive changes and environmental factors.
- Circumstances such as cultural norms, laws, and values shape experiences, like opportunities for risk-taking and family dynamics.
- Gender, ethnicity, immigrant status, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and personality also influence behavior and how others respond to adolescents. For example, early puberty can have worse outcomes for girls, and discrimination may create unique challenges for ethnic or sexual minorities.
- Additionally, genetic variations and gene-environment interactions can make adolescents more or less susceptible to certain environmental factors, contributing further to developmental diversity.
One major cognitive change in adolescence is a shift toward ______thinking.
abstract
Paul’s friends praised him when he stole some cigarettes. After, some of his friends began to shoplift also. What is the name for this phenomenon?
juvenile delinquency.
deviant peer contagion.
differential susceptibility.
peer pressure.
identity foreclosure
deviant peer contagion
Last year, Johnny was an athlete at school. This year, he has tried fitting in with the theater kids. He can’t decide what identity feels right to him and is experiencing ______.
identity diffusion.
identity moratorium.
identity achievement.
identity trials.
identity foreclosure
moratorium
According to Erik Erickson, the most important conflict in adolescence involves what?
physical pubertal changes.
romantic involvement.
identity formation.
parent-child relationships
identity formation
Genetic factors make individuals more or less responsive to environmental influences. This phenomenon is known as ______.
differential susceptibility
Fifteen-year-old Charlie is prone to risky behavior because his dopaminergic system has developed to reward him, but his ______ is still immature.
prefrontal cortex
Adolescents tend to associate with peers who are similar to themselves. What is the name for this condition?
homophily
What are the five features that make emerging adulthood distinct, and how does it vary across different regions?
Emerging adulthood, typically lasting from ages 18 to 25, is characterized by five key features:
- Identity explorations: Young adults actively explore different possibilities for their identity.
- Instability: This period involves frequent changes in relationships, work, and living situations.
- Self-focus: Emerging adults focus on personal development and independence.
- Feeling in-between: They feel neither fully adolescent nor fully adult.
- Sense of broad possibilities: There is a sense of unlimited potential for the future.
Emerging adulthood is most common in industrialized countries, where education and delayed marriage and parenthood are common. It lasts longest in Europe, while in Asian countries, it is more balanced by family obligations and conservative views on sexuality. In non-industrialized countries, it is typically experienced by the middle class but may grow as these countries become more affluent.
What is emerging adulthood?
A new life stage extending from approximately ages 18 to 25, during which the foundation of an adult life is gradually constructed in love and work.
Primary features include identity explorations, instability, focus on self-development, feeling incompletely adult, and a broad sense of possibilities.
Why is emerging adulthood considered the age of identity explorations, and how does it relate to Erikson’s theory?
Emerging adulthood is considered the age of identity explorations because individuals explore various possibilities in love and work, leading to enduring choices. This exploration helps them develop a clearer sense of who they are, their capabilities, beliefs, values, and how they fit into society.
While Erikson (1950) originally proposed that identity formation is primarily an adolescent issue, more recent research (Côté, 2006) suggests that identity explorations actually take place mainly during emerging adulthood.
How does emerging adulthood reflect instability, and what is a common example of this?
Emerging adulthood is characterized by instability as individuals explore different possibilities in love, work, and education.
A common example of this instability is the frequent changes in residence, with many emerging adults moving multiple times—whether to attend college, live independently, cohabit with a partner, or relocate for work or study.
- In fact, residential changes are most frequent during ages 18 to 29 in American society. In some countries, like southern Europe, emerging adults may stay in their parents’ home, but still experience instability in education, work, and relationships.
Why is emerging adulthood considered a self-focused age, and what does this self-focus involve?
Emerging adulthood is considered a self-focused age because individuals are transitioning between adolescence, where they rely on their parents, and adulthood, where they make long-term commitments in love and work.
During this time, emerging adults focus on themselves to develop the knowledge, skills, and self-understanding necessary for adult life.
- This includes making independent decisions, such as what to eat or whether to get married. Even in cultures where emerging adults live with their parents, they establish more independence than they had during adolescence.
Why is emerging adulthood considered an age of feeling “in-between,” and how is this feeling reflected across cultures?
Emerging adulthood is considered an age of feeling “in-between” because individuals do not fully identify as adolescents or as adults.
Most emerging adults report feeling that they are in a transitional period, responding with “in some ways yes, in some ways no” when asked if they feel they have reached adulthood. This feeling persists until their late twenties or early thirties.
This “in-between” experience has been found across various cultures, including Argentina, Austria, Israel, the Czech Republic, and China, indicating that it is a widespread feature of emerging adulthood.
Why is emerging adulthood considered the age of possibilities, and how is optimism reflected in this stage of life?
Emerging adulthood is considered the age of possibilities because individuals feel that many different futures remain open to them, and little about their life direction has been decided.
This stage is marked by high hopes and great expectations, as most dreams have not yet been tested by life’s challenges.
In a national survey of 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.S., 89% agreed with the statement, “I am confident that one day I will get to where I want to be in life” (Arnett & Schwab, 2012).
This optimism is also observed in other countries, reflecting a widespread sense of potential and confidence during emerging adulthood.
What are OECD countries?
Members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, comprised of the world’s wealthiest countries.
Also called industrialized countries
How does the experience of emerging adulthood differ in Asian cultures compared to Europe, and what role does collectivism play in this difference?
In Asian cultures, the experience of emerging adulthood is shaped by a legacy of collectivism and family obligations, which contrasts with the individualism prevalent in Europe.
While emerging adults in both regions engage in identity exploration and self-development, Asian emerging adults do so within the constraints of their obligations to their parents, especially regarding financial support.
For example, in contrast to their American and European counterparts, who prioritize financial independence as a marker of adulthood, Asian emerging adults often emphasize the importance of being able to support their parents financially. This sense of family duty can limit the extent of their identity exploration, as they are more likely to follow their parents’ wishes regarding education, career, and lifestyle choices.
How does the experience of sexuality differ between Western and Asian emerging adults?
Western cultures:
- Premarital sex and cohabitation are normative by late teens.
- Many experience cohabiting partnerships before marriage.
- In the U.S., Canada, northern and eastern Europe, premarital sex and cohabitation are widely accepted.
- In southern Europe, cohabitation is taboo, but premarital sex is tolerated during emerging adulthood.
Asian cultures:
- Premarital sex and cohabitation are rare and forbidden.
- Dating is discouraged until late twenties, expected to lead to marriage.
- Only about 1/5 in Japan and South Korea report premarital sex by age 20, compared to 3/4 in the U.S. and Europe.
How does emerging adulthood differ between industrialized and non-industrialized countries?
Industrialized countries:
- Emerging adulthood is normative.
- Delay in marriage and parenthood.
- Increasing proportion of young people pursue post-secondary education.
Non-industrialized countries:
- Emerging adulthood is less common.
- Majority marry around age 20 and finish education by late teens.
- Lower enrollment rates in tertiary education compared to industrialized countries.
How does emerging adulthood differ between wealthier and poorer segments of society in non-industrialized countries?
Wealthier segment (urban middle class):
- Emerging adulthood exists, marked by prolonged education, delayed marriage, and exploration of identity.
Poorer segment (rural and urban poor):
- Emerging adulthood is rare.
- Many enter adult-like work early, with early marriage and parenthood.
- Adolescence, as a distinct phase, is often absent.
Global trend:
- As globalization and economic development increase, the middle class expands, and more young people will experience emerging adulthood.
- By the end of the 21st century, emerging adulthood may become normative worldwide.
What are the pros and cons of the extended transition to adulthood through emerging adulthood?
Cons:
- Extended dependency: Young people depend on parents longer than before.
- Delayed contribution: They take longer to become full members of society.
- Struggles with choices: Many face difficulties in sorting opportunities, leading to anxiety and depression, despite overall optimism.
Pros:
- Better preparation: Delaying adult responsibilities allows more time for education and training, enhancing readiness for today’s economy.
- Mature decision-making: Delaying critical life choices in love and work to the late twenties or early thirties allows for more mature judgment, increasing the likelihood of successful long-term decisions.
What can societies do to help emerging adults successfully transition to adulthood?
Expand tertiary education opportunities:
- OECD countries’ education systems were built for a different economy and have not expanded sufficiently to meet the needs of all emerging adults.
- The cost of tertiary education, especially in places like the U.S., has risen and is often unaffordable for many.
- Non-industrialized countries have even smaller tertiary education systems.
Recommendation:
Make tertiary education accessible to all emerging adults, ideally free of charge, as this is a critical investment in preparing young people for future economies.
Presently, in the US, the average person has how many jobs between ages 20 and 29?
a) 2
b) 0
c) 14
d) 7
e) 4
d) 7
