Development in Adolescence

1. ADOLESCENCE
(age 10 or 12 until 19 or early 20s)
Saphal Sapkota (Psychologist)

2. Puberty & Adolescence
 Begins with Puberty (the process that leads to sexual
maturity, or fertility – the ability to reproduce) and ends
with the age of legal maturity
 Adolescence, in modern industrial societies, is the long
transitional period from childhood to adulthood
 Around seventeen (average adolescence enters the senior
year of high school) is regarded as dividing line between
early and late adolescence
 Changes in attitude, behaviour and values are more rapid
and different in the early than in the later part of
adolescence

3. Adolescence
 Full of opportunities for physical, cognitive,
and psychosocial growth, But also of risks to
healthy development.
 Risky behaviour patterns, such as drinking
alcohol, drug abuse, sexual and gang activity,
motorcycling without helmets and use of sharp
arms, tend to be established
 About 4 out of 5 young people experience no
major problems.

4. Characteristics of Adolescence
 Important Period
 Transition Period
 Period of Change
 Problem Age
 Time of search for identity
 dreaded age
 Time of unrealism
 Threshold of Adulthood

5. Physical Changes
Puberty : The end of Childhood
 Rapid growth in height and weight
 Changes in body proportion and forms (pubic hair, muscular
growth). Deeper voice
 Attainment of sexual maturity
 Hormonal changes affect mood and behavior
 Strongly related to moods in boys than girls especially in early adolescents
 Girls are taller, heavier, and stronger between 11 and 13 than
boys
 Though boys start their growth spurt later than girls, their
growth continues longer, with the result that, at maturity,
 they are usually taller and
 have more muscular strength than girls

6. Physical Changes
 Eyes grows faster causing an increase in near
sightedness
 Lower jaw becomes longer and thicker
 Jaw and nose project more
 Incisor teeth become more upright
 Most concerned about their looks than about any
aspects themselves. (may lead to eating problems)

7. Physical Changes
 Period Adolescence categorized into three
stages
 early adolescence (12-14 years)
 middle adolescence (14-17 years)
 late adolescence (17-19 years)

8. Adolescence
early adolescence (12-14 years)
 Gains in height and weight;
 Growth of pubic and underarm hair;
 Body sweats more;
 Hair and skin become more oily;
 Breast development and menstruation in girls;
 Growth of testicles and penis,
 Nocturnal emissions (wet dreams),
 Deepening of voice,
 Growth of hair on face in boys

9. Adolescence
middle adolescence (14-17 years)
 Continued height and weight gains;
 Growth of pubic and underarm hair;
 Body sweats more;
 Hair and skin become more oily;
 Breast development and menstruation in girls;
 Growth of testicles and penis,
 Nocturnal emissions (wet dreams),
 Deepening of voice,
 Growth of hair on face in boys

10. Adolescence
late adolescence (17-19 years)
 Most girls fully developed;
 Boys continue to gain height, weight, muscle mass,
body hair

11. Perception and Reaction to Physical Changes

12. Perception and Reaction to
Physical Changes
 Few experiences body satisfaction with their bodies
(more dissatisfaction with some parts of their bodies than with other
parts)
 One of the cause of unfavorable self-concepts and
lack of self-esteem
 Clothing and beauty aids can be used to hide their
physical features the adolescent regards as
attractive, they assures body- cathexis.

13. Cognitive Development

14. Cognitive Development
 Though their thinking may remain immature in
some ways, many are capable of
 abstract reasoning (highest level of cognitive
development)
 sophisticated moral judgments and
 can plan more realistically for the future
 Can engage in hypothetical – deductive
reasoning

16. Cognitive Development
Hypothetical Deductive Reasoning
 Adam is shown the pendulum – an object hanging
from a string, letting him known about he can
change any of four factors
 The length of the string
 the weight of the object,
 the height from which the object is released and
 The amount of force he may use to push the object
 He is asked to figure out which factor or
combination of factors determines how fast the
pendulum swings

17. Cognitive Development
 Adam, not yet 7 years
 Unable to formulate plan to solve it
 Tried one thing after another in a hit or miss
manner randomly
 First he puts a light weight on a long string and
pushes it
 Then swinging a heavy weight on a short string
 Then removes the weight entirely
 Cannot understand or report what has happened

18. Cognitive Development
 Adam at age 10
 Discovers that varying the length of the string and
the weight of the object affects the speed of swing
 But, as he varies both factors at the same time,
cannot tell which is critical or whether both are

19. Cognitive Development
 Adam at age 15
 design an experiment systematically to test all the
possible hypothesis, varying one factor at a time –
 first, the length of the string;
 The weight of the object
 Then the height from which it is released;
 Finally, the amount of force used – each time holding
the other 3 factors constant.
 Able to determine that only one factor – the length
of the string – determines how fast the pendulum
swings

20. Cognitive Development
 around age 11, becomes more flexible to
manipulate in formation
 No longer limited to here and now
 Use symbol for symbols (letting the letter X stand
for an unknown numeral)
 Better appreciate metaphor and story
 Can think what might be, not just what is

21. Cognitive Development
 Imagine possibilities and can form and test
hypothesis
 Can integrate learning from the past with the
challenges of the present and make plan for
future
 Brain maturation, environmental stimulation,
culture and schooling are important to attain this
stage

22. Moral Development

23.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALE5H9Byms0
 A woman in near death from cancer. A druggist has
discovered a drug that doctors believe might save
her.
 Druggist is charging $2ooo for a small dose – ten
times what the drug costs him to make.
 Sick woman’s husband, Heinz, borrows from
everyone he knows but can scrape together only
$1000.
 He begs the druggist but refuses saying “ I
discovered the drug and I’m going on make money
form it.”
 Heinz, desperate, breaks into the man’s store and
steals the drug.
 Should Heinz have done that? Why or why not?

25. Moral Development
Moral Reasoning
 based on a developing sense of justice and growing
cognitive abilities
 progresses from external control to internalized
societal standards to personal, principled moral codes.

26. Moral Development
(Ages 4 -10)
 Control is external
 Obey rules to avoid punishment or reap rewards,
or act out of self – interest
(after age 10)
 Standards of authority figures are internalized
 Concerned about being “good”, pleasing others, and
maintaining the social order
 Many people never move beyond it, even in
adulthood.

27. Moral Development
(early adolescence, or not until young adulthood, or never)
 Follow internally held moral principles and
 can decide among conflicting moral standards on the
basis of principles of right, fairness, and justice
 People generally do not reach this level of moral
reasoning until at least early adolescence, or more
commonly in young adulthood, if ever.

28. Social Development

29. Social Development
Achieving independence from parents
 Just as adolescents feel tension between dependency
on their parents and the need to break away,
 parent often have mixed feelings of that they want
their children to be independent, yet they find it hard
to let go.
 These tensions often lead to family conflict, and
parenting styles can influence its shape and
outcome.
 Adolescents and parents may spend less time

30. Social Development
 An accumulation of frequent “hassles” can add up
to a stressful family atmosphere
 Family conflict is
 most frequent during early adolescence, when
negative emotionality is greatest,
 but conflicts are most intense in mid adolescence
and
 reduce in late adolescence
May be related to the strain of
puberty and the need to assert autonomy.

31. Social Development
 Young people going through the physical changes feel
more comfortable with peers who are experiencing
similar changes
 Questioning their parents’ adequacy as models of
behavior, but not yet sure enough of themselves to
stand alone, look to peers to show them what’s “in”
and what’s “out”.
 Influence of peer strongest in early adolescence;
 peaks at 12 -13, and
 declines during middle and late adolescence as
relationship with parents are renegotiated

32. Social Development
 Attachment to peers in early adolescence does not
forecast trouble unless the attachment is so strong that
the young person is willing to give up obeying house
hold rules, doing schoolwork, and developing his or
her own talents in order to win peer approval and
popularity.

33. Social Development
Development of Relationship
 Spend more time with peers and less with family
 However, most teenagers' fundamental values remain
closer to their parents’ than is generally realized
 Even as adolescent s turn to peers for companionship
and intimacy, they look to parents for the “ secure
base” from which they can try their wings.
 culture affects development of relationship.

34. Personality Development

35. Identity Formation, especially
in late adolescence
Identity vs Identity Confusion
 Chief task is to resolve the “crisis” of Identity
vs Identity Confusion
 To become a unique adult with a coherent
sense of self and a valued role in society.
(Who am I uniquely?)
 to form an identity, they must ascertain and
organize their abilities, needs, interests, and
desires so they can be expressed in a social context.
 Prime danger of this stage = identity confusion,
which can greatly delay reaching psychological
adulthood. (some degree of identity confusion is normal).

36. Ethnic Factors in Identity
Formation
 Ethnicity is an important part of identity
 Skin color, other physical features, language
differences and stereotyped social standing can have
strong influence in molding minority adolescent’s self -
concept.
 Keenly conscious of conflicts between the values
stressed at home and those dominant in the wider
society.

37. Emotional Characteristics
 Adolescence was thought to be of as a period of "storm
and stress" -a time of heightened emotional tension
resulting from the physical and glandular changes that
are taking place.
 Adolescent emotionality can be attributed mainly to
the fact that they come under social pressures and face
new conditions for which they received little if any
preparation during childhood
 Not all adolescents, go through a period of exaggerated
storm and stress.

38. Emotional Characteristics
 most of them experience emotional instability from
time to time, required for making adjustments to new
patterns of behavior and to new social expectations.
 Adolescent’s intense, uncontrolled, seemingly
irrational emotions generally improved with each
passing year.
 Eg. 14 years, are often irritable, easily excited, and "explode"
emotionally instead of trying to control their feelings.
 16 years, by contrast, say they "don't believe in worrying.”
 Thus, storm and stress of this period lessens as early
adolescence draws to a close.

39. Emotional Characteristics
 express their anger by sulking, refusing to speak, or
loudly criticizing those who angered them
 also becomes envious of those with more material
possessions.
 may not complain and feel sorry for themselves, as
children do
 achieved emotional maturity if, by the end of
adolescence, when they assesses a situation critically
before responding to it emotionally instead of "blowing
up" emotionally

40. Emotional Characteristics
 To achieve emotional maturity, adolescents must learn
to
 get a perspective on situations which otherwise
would lead to emotional reactions.
 They can do this best by discussing their problems with
others.
 Use emotional catharsis to clear their systems of
pent-up emotional energy.
 This they can do by strenuous physical exercise, in play or
work, by laughing or by crying.