Adolescence

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood. Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier and end later.

Associated with major changes related to biology, social status and organisational context. There is a shift from primary school (small and familiar) to secondary school (large and unfamiliar).

Understanding of adolescene depends on information from various perspectives including psychology, biology, history, sociology, education, and anthropology. Within all perspectives, adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural purpose is to prepare children for adult roles. It's a period of multiple transitions involving education, training, employment and unemployment, as well as transitions from one living circumstance to another.

Physical changes through adolescence. Blue indicates changes for boys, pink for girls

• 10-11 years: first growth of testes and penis. Budding of breasts and pubic hair
• 11-12 years: activity of prostate gland producing semen. Changes in lining of vagina and growth of external and internal genitalia
• 12-13 years: pubic hair. Pigmentation of ******* and filling out of breasts
• 13-14: rapid growth of testes and penis. Axillary hair (under armpits). Menstruation typically begins around this age
• 14-15: axillary hair. Down on upper lip, and voice changes
• 15-16: mature spermatozoa. Acne, deepening of voice
• 16-17: facial and body hair. Acne. Skeletal growth stops
• 21: skeletal growth stops

General markers: for girls, onset of menstruation. Boys - first ***********. In general, sex differences become more obvious.

Height: steady growth in school years until adolescent growth spurt. Increases early on in puberty and falls sharply at adulthood.

• Body image: least satisfaction with body during puberty (Wright, 1989). Girls even less satisfied than boys (Brooks-Gunn & Paikoff, 1993)
• Increased hormone levels related to changes in mood (Brooks-Gunn & Warren, 1989). In males, there is increased anger and irritability. In females, there is increased anger and depression
• Cognitive developments result in greater self-awareness, greater awareness of others and their thoughts and judgements, the ability to think about abstract, future possibilities, and the ability to consider multiple possibilities at once

Two competing theories about parent-child relationships in adolescence

• Adolescents individuate from their parents (Freud, 1946), becoming more emotionally and behaviourally independent (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986)
• The parent-child relationship changes over independence with continued connectedness (Youniss & Smollar, 1985)

Larson et al (1996): 220 middle and working-class adolescents from the Chicago suburbs. Data from 10 year olds to 18 year olds. Carried pagers, and provided reports at random times 7-8 times a day when signalled. Reported who, what, where, emotional state, friendliness of partner and leader of interaction. Oldest adolescents spent less than half the time with family than the youngest, but time alone with parents didn't decrease. No correlation between time spent with family members and quality of family relationships.

There is evidence for both transformation and disengagement in daily interactions across adolescence. Disengagement: decrease in time spent with family, due primarily to pulls from outside, rather than issues within the family. Continuity and transformation: continued spending time with each parent alone, and talking did not decrease.

Puberty plays a part in provoking identity development during adolescence. As said before, cognitive development means greater self-awareness, allowing for self-concept to really develop. Adolescents experience a significant shift from the simple, conrete, and global self-descriptions typical of young children. As children, they defined themselves by physical traits, whereas adolescents tend to define themselves based on their values, thoughts and opinions (Carlson, 2010).

Adolescents can conceptualise multiple "possible selves" that they can become, and long-term possibilities and consequences of their choices (Nurmi, 2004). Exploring these possibilities may result in abrupt changes in self-presentation as the adolescent chooses or rejects qualities and behaviours, trying to guide the actual self toward the ideal self, and away from the feared self.

Egocentrism in adolescents forms a self-conscious desire to feel important in their peer groups and enjoy social acceptance (Carlson & Heth, 2010). Adolescents begin by defining themselves based on their crowd membership and by clothing choice.

Looking glass self (Cooley, 1902): opinions of others are a large determinant of self-esteem

Report (#StatusOfMind) examined positive and negative associations between social media and young people's mental health and wellbeing. Includes a league table of social media platforms according to association with young people's mental health. Youtube most positive, instagram and snapchat most negative.

Erikson's theory of stages of development includes the identity crisis in which adolescents must explore different possibilities and integrate different parts of themselves before committing to their beliefs. He described the resolution of this process as a stage of identity achievement.

Marcia, identity statuses (1980): achievement status - individuals who, after a period of exploration, emerge with firm commitment to their identity within domain. Moratorium - active period of exploration when individuals examine alternatives in an attempt to arrive at a choice. Foreclosure - these individuals have adopted the identities prescribed by parents or other authority figures without ever exploring options or experiencing an identity crisis. Diffusion - individuals who have little sense of commitment are are not actively seeking to make decisions