Lecture 1: Introduction to Adolescent Development
Part 1: What is adolescence? Conceptualisations and definitions
Negative behaviors come first in mind while thinking about adolescence -> the teenage
brain. This idea that adolescence is a period of negative behavior is recognized for a long
time (Aristotle & Shakespeare). G. Stanley Hall described adolescence as a period of ‘storm
and stress’. This period is unavoidable = hormonal, biologically determined. Now we have a
much more positive view on adolescent development.
There’s empirical evidence for increased conflicts with parents (intensity), mood volativity
(and negative mood), and increased risk behavior.
Studies showed that if you have an idea of adolescence being a period of risk taking it
increases the risk taking, but if you have an idea of adolescence not being a period of risk
taking it decreases risk taking.
Defining adolescence
The period between the onset of sexual maturation (puberty) and the attainment of adult
roles and responsibilities. We’re looking at the transition from ‘child’ status (requires adult
monitoring) to ‘adult’ status.
Age boundaries of adolescence:
Book: early adolescence (10-13 years), middle adolescence (14-17 years), late adolescence
(18-21 years), and young adulthood (22 – 30 years).
Others: emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood.
There are 3 primary changes that we see during the adolescence period
1. Biological change: puberty (body and brain changes).
2. Cognitive change: abstract thinking, executive functions, and social cognition.
3. Social change: redefinition of an individual from child to an adult (or non- child).
We see a lot of changes in all these three different domains from early age.
Development doesn’t occur in a vacuum -> Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model.
Part 2: The beginning of adolescence: puberty
Puberty: maturational process during which primary (e.g., testes, ovaries) and secondary
(e.g., breasts, pubic hair) sex characteristics mature resulting in capacity to reproduce. As
psychologist we are also interested in HOW this affects our behavior.
Five areas of change:
1. Maturation of reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics
2. Nervous and endocrine system
3. Skeletal growth
4. Body composition, change in distribution of fat and muscle
5. Circulatory and respiratory systems
,Measuring pubertal development in research
• Tanner Staging (physicians/ nurses)
- Girls: breast/ pubic hair development
- Boys: penis & testes/ pubic hair development
- 5 stages where 1= no development, 2= beginning stages and 5= adult
• Self-report
• Visual inspection by researcher of clothed adolescent
• Hormone levels
Pubertal timing is earlier for girls than for boys. Pubertal timing for early girls is earlier than
early boys.
Factors influencing puberty:
• Genetics (the average difference in time of menarche for strangers is 19 months, for
sisters 13 months, for identical twins 2.8 months) causes people to go through
puberty earlier or later.
• Increase kisspeptin (via leptin and melatonin) causes people to go through puberty
earlier.
• Environmental factors: e.g., nutrition, health care causes people to go through
puberty earlier.
• Social factors: environmental stress and conflict causes people to go through puberty
later (book earlier), and related vs unrelated family (accelerates the process of
pubertal maturation) members of opposite sex
Group differences: secular trend
It does matter that people go through puberty earlier.
Male mortality humps. The hypothesis is that if you get through puberty earlier you get an
increase in risk taking behavior. This can lead to injury and death.
Early maturation in boys (leads more to positive outcomes)
Emotional effects (positive): increased popularity, and an improved self-concept + self-
esteem. Though: increase internalizing problems?
Behavioral effects (negative): deviant friends (less supervision), and risk-taking, substance
use.
Early maturation in girls (leads more to negative outcomes)
Emotional effects: increased emotional difficulties (e.g., depression, self-image, eating
disorders), greater emotional arousal, and increased popularity.
But there are cultural differences of what is desirable
Behavioral effects: deviant friends
Theories why early maturation is harder on girls than boys
Maturational deviance hypothesis: early maturation in girls causes them to get attention
while they are just trying to fit in. Late development in boys also causes problems for them.
Developmental readiness hypothesis: young adolescents struggle to cope with challenges of
early maturation. Early boys are relatively older and psychologically more mature.
Cultural desirability of body types: tall and muscular vs increase in body fat.
,Part 3: The end of adolescence
The ideas of when people are an adult have changed over time -> Romeo and Juliet.
As society changes, so do our ideas about what it means to be an adult.
We can have a mismatch of biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological
transitions (‘adult roles’). Our biological changes and our psychosocial transitions have a gap
-> maturity gap.
Milestones are shifting
Many other adult social roles occurring a decade or more after puberty: starting careers,
stable relationships, owning a home, and choosing to become parents.
Adolescence has expanded from a 2–4-year period in traditional societies to a 6–15-year
interval in contemporary societies. These changes have advantages (academic, economic)
and costs (vulnerabilities).
This is important because it creates important developmental challenges for adolescents
during a ‘window of opportunity’.
Cohort-specific demands explains diversity in results.
Theoretical concepts may only be limited to historical circumstances
An adolescent now is different from an adolescent in the earlier years.
Lecture 2: Cognitive and Brain Development
The information we had about brain development was in the past mostly from postmortem
studies. Now we use techniques likes MRI.
In a study they showed how the brain developed through childhood and adolescence. It
showed that there was different development in different regions in the brain. The region at
the back of the brain is matured/ developed early (the visual cortex/ visual regions). The
prefrontal cortex developed late. So, the regions at the back of the brain develop early and
the regions front of the brain develop late.
Development in the brain differs per individual. Males have a larger brain volume than
females. Brain development in females appears earlier than males.
Not all the regions mature at the same pace. This is in order because the most important
functions that you need for survival develop earlier. Sensory pathways (vision, hearing)
develop early, and higher order cognitive functions develop later -> expectant framework.
Structural MRI: we look at the structure of different areas
Functional MRI: we look at which part of the brain are being recruited at the time of a
specific task. We look at which part of the brain activates while doing a task.
DTI: looks at connectivity
In MRI we take one picture which has a high spatial resolution. Which means you can zoom
in and it gets really detailed. You get one 3D volume. fMRI has a low spatial resolution. You
, get a series of 3D volumes and put those pictures on top of each other to get a better look.
Cause one picture isn’t as detailed.
Changes during adolescence
• Grey matter changes (connections between neurons): we get synaptic proliferation
which means that we get more of these connections from childhood and during
adolescence. In later adolescence we lose the connections that we don’t need, which
is called pruning.
• White matter changes: we have increased myelination. This allows information to be
transformed faster through neurons.
è There are individual differences in these trajectories.
There are three networks that are important during adolescence
• Social cognition.
- Dorsomedial PFC
- Temporal Parietal Junction (TPJ)
- Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (PSTS)
• Cognitive control (goal- directed behavior)
- Medial prefrontal cortex
- Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
- Ventromedial PFC
- Dorsolateral PFC
• Reward processing
- Orbitofrontal Cortex/ Ventromedial PFC
- Ventral Striatum.
Cognitive control network: network of regions (largely in the PFC) involved in inhibition,
controlling emotions, planning and organization.
Socio- emotional network: network of regions (largely in limbic regions e.g., NAcc* and
Amygdala) involved in emotion processing, motivation, and reward sensitivity -> pubertal
influence *Nacc = nucleus accumbens, part of ventral striatum.
Dual- systems models suggests that we have development in the socioemotional system
and development in the cognitive control system, and these doesn’t develop at the same
pace.
Differences in developmental trajectories between the networks leads to a maturational
gap, with specific effects on adolescent behavior. All these different models suggests that we
have these temporarily maturational gaps.
We have cognitive, social, and emotional development. There are interactions between
these.
Cognitive development
Changes in how an individual thinks, solves problems and processes information. Book: two
perspectives, Piagetian and information-processing
Part 1: What is adolescence? Conceptualisations and definitions
Negative behaviors come first in mind while thinking about adolescence -> the teenage
brain. This idea that adolescence is a period of negative behavior is recognized for a long
time (Aristotle & Shakespeare). G. Stanley Hall described adolescence as a period of ‘storm
and stress’. This period is unavoidable = hormonal, biologically determined. Now we have a
much more positive view on adolescent development.
There’s empirical evidence for increased conflicts with parents (intensity), mood volativity
(and negative mood), and increased risk behavior.
Studies showed that if you have an idea of adolescence being a period of risk taking it
increases the risk taking, but if you have an idea of adolescence not being a period of risk
taking it decreases risk taking.
Defining adolescence
The period between the onset of sexual maturation (puberty) and the attainment of adult
roles and responsibilities. We’re looking at the transition from ‘child’ status (requires adult
monitoring) to ‘adult’ status.
Age boundaries of adolescence:
Book: early adolescence (10-13 years), middle adolescence (14-17 years), late adolescence
(18-21 years), and young adulthood (22 – 30 years).
Others: emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood.
There are 3 primary changes that we see during the adolescence period
1. Biological change: puberty (body and brain changes).
2. Cognitive change: abstract thinking, executive functions, and social cognition.
3. Social change: redefinition of an individual from child to an adult (or non- child).
We see a lot of changes in all these three different domains from early age.
Development doesn’t occur in a vacuum -> Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model.
Part 2: The beginning of adolescence: puberty
Puberty: maturational process during which primary (e.g., testes, ovaries) and secondary
(e.g., breasts, pubic hair) sex characteristics mature resulting in capacity to reproduce. As
psychologist we are also interested in HOW this affects our behavior.
Five areas of change:
1. Maturation of reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics
2. Nervous and endocrine system
3. Skeletal growth
4. Body composition, change in distribution of fat and muscle
5. Circulatory and respiratory systems
,Measuring pubertal development in research
• Tanner Staging (physicians/ nurses)
- Girls: breast/ pubic hair development
- Boys: penis & testes/ pubic hair development
- 5 stages where 1= no development, 2= beginning stages and 5= adult
• Self-report
• Visual inspection by researcher of clothed adolescent
• Hormone levels
Pubertal timing is earlier for girls than for boys. Pubertal timing for early girls is earlier than
early boys.
Factors influencing puberty:
• Genetics (the average difference in time of menarche for strangers is 19 months, for
sisters 13 months, for identical twins 2.8 months) causes people to go through
puberty earlier or later.
• Increase kisspeptin (via leptin and melatonin) causes people to go through puberty
earlier.
• Environmental factors: e.g., nutrition, health care causes people to go through
puberty earlier.
• Social factors: environmental stress and conflict causes people to go through puberty
later (book earlier), and related vs unrelated family (accelerates the process of
pubertal maturation) members of opposite sex
Group differences: secular trend
It does matter that people go through puberty earlier.
Male mortality humps. The hypothesis is that if you get through puberty earlier you get an
increase in risk taking behavior. This can lead to injury and death.
Early maturation in boys (leads more to positive outcomes)
Emotional effects (positive): increased popularity, and an improved self-concept + self-
esteem. Though: increase internalizing problems?
Behavioral effects (negative): deviant friends (less supervision), and risk-taking, substance
use.
Early maturation in girls (leads more to negative outcomes)
Emotional effects: increased emotional difficulties (e.g., depression, self-image, eating
disorders), greater emotional arousal, and increased popularity.
But there are cultural differences of what is desirable
Behavioral effects: deviant friends
Theories why early maturation is harder on girls than boys
Maturational deviance hypothesis: early maturation in girls causes them to get attention
while they are just trying to fit in. Late development in boys also causes problems for them.
Developmental readiness hypothesis: young adolescents struggle to cope with challenges of
early maturation. Early boys are relatively older and psychologically more mature.
Cultural desirability of body types: tall and muscular vs increase in body fat.
,Part 3: The end of adolescence
The ideas of when people are an adult have changed over time -> Romeo and Juliet.
As society changes, so do our ideas about what it means to be an adult.
We can have a mismatch of biological (mature reproductive capacity) and psychological
transitions (‘adult roles’). Our biological changes and our psychosocial transitions have a gap
-> maturity gap.
Milestones are shifting
Many other adult social roles occurring a decade or more after puberty: starting careers,
stable relationships, owning a home, and choosing to become parents.
Adolescence has expanded from a 2–4-year period in traditional societies to a 6–15-year
interval in contemporary societies. These changes have advantages (academic, economic)
and costs (vulnerabilities).
This is important because it creates important developmental challenges for adolescents
during a ‘window of opportunity’.
Cohort-specific demands explains diversity in results.
Theoretical concepts may only be limited to historical circumstances
An adolescent now is different from an adolescent in the earlier years.
Lecture 2: Cognitive and Brain Development
The information we had about brain development was in the past mostly from postmortem
studies. Now we use techniques likes MRI.
In a study they showed how the brain developed through childhood and adolescence. It
showed that there was different development in different regions in the brain. The region at
the back of the brain is matured/ developed early (the visual cortex/ visual regions). The
prefrontal cortex developed late. So, the regions at the back of the brain develop early and
the regions front of the brain develop late.
Development in the brain differs per individual. Males have a larger brain volume than
females. Brain development in females appears earlier than males.
Not all the regions mature at the same pace. This is in order because the most important
functions that you need for survival develop earlier. Sensory pathways (vision, hearing)
develop early, and higher order cognitive functions develop later -> expectant framework.
Structural MRI: we look at the structure of different areas
Functional MRI: we look at which part of the brain are being recruited at the time of a
specific task. We look at which part of the brain activates while doing a task.
DTI: looks at connectivity
In MRI we take one picture which has a high spatial resolution. Which means you can zoom
in and it gets really detailed. You get one 3D volume. fMRI has a low spatial resolution. You
, get a series of 3D volumes and put those pictures on top of each other to get a better look.
Cause one picture isn’t as detailed.
Changes during adolescence
• Grey matter changes (connections between neurons): we get synaptic proliferation
which means that we get more of these connections from childhood and during
adolescence. In later adolescence we lose the connections that we don’t need, which
is called pruning.
• White matter changes: we have increased myelination. This allows information to be
transformed faster through neurons.
è There are individual differences in these trajectories.
There are three networks that are important during adolescence
• Social cognition.
- Dorsomedial PFC
- Temporal Parietal Junction (TPJ)
- Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (PSTS)
• Cognitive control (goal- directed behavior)
- Medial prefrontal cortex
- Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
- Ventromedial PFC
- Dorsolateral PFC
• Reward processing
- Orbitofrontal Cortex/ Ventromedial PFC
- Ventral Striatum.
Cognitive control network: network of regions (largely in the PFC) involved in inhibition,
controlling emotions, planning and organization.
Socio- emotional network: network of regions (largely in limbic regions e.g., NAcc* and
Amygdala) involved in emotion processing, motivation, and reward sensitivity -> pubertal
influence *Nacc = nucleus accumbens, part of ventral striatum.
Dual- systems models suggests that we have development in the socioemotional system
and development in the cognitive control system, and these doesn’t develop at the same
pace.
Differences in developmental trajectories between the networks leads to a maturational
gap, with specific effects on adolescent behavior. All these different models suggests that we
have these temporarily maturational gaps.
We have cognitive, social, and emotional development. There are interactions between
these.
Cognitive development
Changes in how an individual thinks, solves problems and processes information. Book: two
perspectives, Piagetian and information-processing
