LECTURE 1. INTRODUCTION
During adolescence
● The period between the onset of sexual maturation and the attainment of adlt roles
and responsibliites.
Follow the tutorial for writing the paper!!!!
The health paradox of adolescence
● Adolescence is the healthiest and most resilient period of the lifespan.
● From childhood to adolescence:
○ More: strength, speed, mental reasoning, immune function…
○ More: resistance to cold, heat, hunger, dehydration, and most types of injury.
● Yet: overall morbidity and rates increase 200-300% from childhood to late
adolescence.
Sources of morbidity and mortality in adolescence
● Primary causes of death/disability are related to problems of control of behavior and
emotion.
● Increased rates of accidents, suicicdes, homocides, depression, alchol &substance
use, violence, reckless beavior, eating disorders, health problems related to risky
sexual behavior.
● Increased risk taking, sensation seeking, and erratic (emotionally influenced)
behavior.
Recognized for a long time
● Youths are heated by nature as drunken men by wine - Aristotle.
● I would that there were nog age between ten and twenty-three..for there is nothing in
between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry , stealing, fighting… -
Shakespeare.
Scientific questions (Ronald Dahl)
● What is the empirical evidence that adolescents are “heated by nature”?
● Are these changes based in biology?
○ In the hormones of puberty?
○ In specific brain changes that underpin some behavioral and emotional
tendencies & problems that emerge in adolescence?
● What are the implications for interventions? Should we intervene?
If we don't intervene…
● Onset of problems such as nicotine dependence, alcohol and drug use, poor health
habits, etc. will show up as mortality in adulthood.
● Many adult onset problems such as depression can be traced to early episodes in
adolescence.
The father of adolescence
● G. Stanley Hall (1904) (1st president of APA).
, ● Book: Adolecence: its psychology and its relations to physicology, antrhopology,
sociology, sex, crime, religion, and education (2 volumes).
○ Recapitulation theory.
○ Storm and stress.
● Adolescence is considered a wild time where we are not settled down as humans.
● Hall tried to take Darwin’s evolution theory, out of this idea grew the idea of storm
and stress: adolescence is a period of radical problems and a lot of stress (this is not
good for a person).
Arnett (1999): review of storm and stress
● Oversimplifying a complex issue.
● Many adolescents navigate this interval with minimal difficulties.
● However, empirical evidence for:
○ Increased conflicts with parents (intensity).
○ Mood volavity (and negative mood).
○ Increased risk behavior, recklessness and sensation seeking.
● Modified view of storm and stress:
○ Not a myth, real for many, but not all and not necessarily related to
psychopathology.
Conceptualization (the study of) adolescence across time
● Aristotle: youths are heated by nature as drunken men by wine.
● Hall (1904): a period of heightened “storm and stress.”.
● Margareth Meade (1920): questions storm and stress in all cultures.
● Anna Freud (1930-50s): psychoanalytic perspective - storm and stress is normal.
● 1960s and 1970s: attempts to understand the problems as due to “raging hormones”.
Later conceptualizations
● 1980s: Peterssen (1988) questioned the idea that all youth experience trouble (11%
chronic difficulties, 32% intermittent, 57% healthy).
● 1990s: Arnett (1999) revised the idea of storm and stress.
● 1990s-2000s: context and time period recognized as important, thus different
developmental trajectories (Dubas, Miller & Petersen, 2003) with consideration of
time and context.
● 2000s: evolutionary ideas applied to recast the concept of risk.
● 2010s: neuroscience models of the adolescents brain in relation to behavior.
Developmental trajectories of binge drinking during college
Alcohol use increases
significantly in the college
years.
● Non diagnosing: never
drink.
● Chronic: were heavy
drinkers in high school
and stay heavy
drinkers in college.
, ● Remitting: were heavy drinkers in high school and drinking declines in college.
● Fling: did not drink a lot in high school, drinks a lot in beginning and mid-adolescence
and drinking declines in late adolescence.
● Late onset: did not drink a lot in high school and increased drinking in college.
How to conceptualize adolescent development from a scientific standpoint?
● Adolescence - interactions between biology, behavior and social context.
● Interdisciplinary approach is needed.
Defining adolescence
● The period between the onset of sexual maturationf an the attainment of adults roles
and reponsibilities.
● The transition from:
○ Child status (requires adult monitoring).
○ To adult status (self-responsibility for behavior).
John P. Hill (1973) first president of the Society for Research on Adolescence
● Framework for the study of adolescence.
● Primary changes: the developmental changes that make adolescence distinctive.
● Secondary changes: the psychological consequences of the interaction between the
primary changes and the setting - organized into the domains of identity, autonomy,
intimacy, sexuality, and achievement.
Three universal primary changes
● Biological changes of puberty (and brain).
● Development of abstract thinking.
● Social redefinition of an individual from a child to an adult (or at the very least a non-
child).
● What distinguishes an adolescent from a child?
○ Responsibility.
○ Physical changes.
Age boundaries are not consistent across researchers
● Steinberg text:
○ Early adolescence: 10-13 years.
○ Middle adolescence: 14-17 years.
○ Late adolescence: 18-21 years.
○ Young adulthood: 22-30 years.
● Others:
○ Emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood.
Developmental tasks
1. Accepting one’s physical body and keeping it healthy.
2. Achieving new and more mature relationships with age mates of both sexes.
3. Achieving emotional autonomy from parents and other adults.
4. Achieving a satisfying gender role.
5. Preparing for a job career.
6. Making decisions about marriage and family life.
, 7. Becoming socially responsible.
8. Developing a workable philosophy, a mature set of values, and worthy ideals.
Adolescence consists of component processes
● Rapid physical growth.
● Sexual maturation.
● Secondary sexual characteristics.
● Motivational and emotional changes.
● Cognitive development.
● Maturation of judgement, self-regulation skills.
● Brain changes linked to each component.
● Relative synchrony but not perfect.
Part C. Adolescence in context
● The past 150 years have witnessed a quiet revolution in human development that
still sweeps across the globe today: children nearly everywhere are growing faster,
reaching reproductive and physical maturity at earlier ages, and achieving larger
adult sizes than perhaps ever in human history - Carol Worhman.
Secular trend in age at menarche
● The age at which girls get their period has
decreased drastically from 17,5 years in
1830 to 13 years in 1960.
Schlegel & Barry (1990)
● 187 non-industrialized cultures
● Adolescence is recognized as the interval
between childhood and adult status.
● End of childhood marked by a ritual
(linked to age or puberty).
● Onset of adult roles.
○ Marriage.
○ Work roles (e.g., hunting).
○ Owning property.
○ Becoming a parent.
○ Independence (absence of monitoring).
● Interval between puberty and marriage as an index of length.
Puberty, marriage, and adult roles in traditional human societies
● Among girls, marriage occurred within two years of the onset of puberty in 63% of the
societies.
● Among boys the ability to take a wife would require a specific level of achievement
(e.g., making a kill on a hunt).
● Boys: 64% were married within four years of puberty.
Puberty, marriage, and adult roles in traditional human societies (United States)
● Average age at menarche is now 12.
● Average age of first menarche for females is 27.
During adolescence
● The period between the onset of sexual maturation and the attainment of adlt roles
and responsibliites.
Follow the tutorial for writing the paper!!!!
The health paradox of adolescence
● Adolescence is the healthiest and most resilient period of the lifespan.
● From childhood to adolescence:
○ More: strength, speed, mental reasoning, immune function…
○ More: resistance to cold, heat, hunger, dehydration, and most types of injury.
● Yet: overall morbidity and rates increase 200-300% from childhood to late
adolescence.
Sources of morbidity and mortality in adolescence
● Primary causes of death/disability are related to problems of control of behavior and
emotion.
● Increased rates of accidents, suicicdes, homocides, depression, alchol &substance
use, violence, reckless beavior, eating disorders, health problems related to risky
sexual behavior.
● Increased risk taking, sensation seeking, and erratic (emotionally influenced)
behavior.
Recognized for a long time
● Youths are heated by nature as drunken men by wine - Aristotle.
● I would that there were nog age between ten and twenty-three..for there is nothing in
between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry , stealing, fighting… -
Shakespeare.
Scientific questions (Ronald Dahl)
● What is the empirical evidence that adolescents are “heated by nature”?
● Are these changes based in biology?
○ In the hormones of puberty?
○ In specific brain changes that underpin some behavioral and emotional
tendencies & problems that emerge in adolescence?
● What are the implications for interventions? Should we intervene?
If we don't intervene…
● Onset of problems such as nicotine dependence, alcohol and drug use, poor health
habits, etc. will show up as mortality in adulthood.
● Many adult onset problems such as depression can be traced to early episodes in
adolescence.
The father of adolescence
● G. Stanley Hall (1904) (1st president of APA).
, ● Book: Adolecence: its psychology and its relations to physicology, antrhopology,
sociology, sex, crime, religion, and education (2 volumes).
○ Recapitulation theory.
○ Storm and stress.
● Adolescence is considered a wild time where we are not settled down as humans.
● Hall tried to take Darwin’s evolution theory, out of this idea grew the idea of storm
and stress: adolescence is a period of radical problems and a lot of stress (this is not
good for a person).
Arnett (1999): review of storm and stress
● Oversimplifying a complex issue.
● Many adolescents navigate this interval with minimal difficulties.
● However, empirical evidence for:
○ Increased conflicts with parents (intensity).
○ Mood volavity (and negative mood).
○ Increased risk behavior, recklessness and sensation seeking.
● Modified view of storm and stress:
○ Not a myth, real for many, but not all and not necessarily related to
psychopathology.
Conceptualization (the study of) adolescence across time
● Aristotle: youths are heated by nature as drunken men by wine.
● Hall (1904): a period of heightened “storm and stress.”.
● Margareth Meade (1920): questions storm and stress in all cultures.
● Anna Freud (1930-50s): psychoanalytic perspective - storm and stress is normal.
● 1960s and 1970s: attempts to understand the problems as due to “raging hormones”.
Later conceptualizations
● 1980s: Peterssen (1988) questioned the idea that all youth experience trouble (11%
chronic difficulties, 32% intermittent, 57% healthy).
● 1990s: Arnett (1999) revised the idea of storm and stress.
● 1990s-2000s: context and time period recognized as important, thus different
developmental trajectories (Dubas, Miller & Petersen, 2003) with consideration of
time and context.
● 2000s: evolutionary ideas applied to recast the concept of risk.
● 2010s: neuroscience models of the adolescents brain in relation to behavior.
Developmental trajectories of binge drinking during college
Alcohol use increases
significantly in the college
years.
● Non diagnosing: never
drink.
● Chronic: were heavy
drinkers in high school
and stay heavy
drinkers in college.
, ● Remitting: were heavy drinkers in high school and drinking declines in college.
● Fling: did not drink a lot in high school, drinks a lot in beginning and mid-adolescence
and drinking declines in late adolescence.
● Late onset: did not drink a lot in high school and increased drinking in college.
How to conceptualize adolescent development from a scientific standpoint?
● Adolescence - interactions between biology, behavior and social context.
● Interdisciplinary approach is needed.
Defining adolescence
● The period between the onset of sexual maturationf an the attainment of adults roles
and reponsibilities.
● The transition from:
○ Child status (requires adult monitoring).
○ To adult status (self-responsibility for behavior).
John P. Hill (1973) first president of the Society for Research on Adolescence
● Framework for the study of adolescence.
● Primary changes: the developmental changes that make adolescence distinctive.
● Secondary changes: the psychological consequences of the interaction between the
primary changes and the setting - organized into the domains of identity, autonomy,
intimacy, sexuality, and achievement.
Three universal primary changes
● Biological changes of puberty (and brain).
● Development of abstract thinking.
● Social redefinition of an individual from a child to an adult (or at the very least a non-
child).
● What distinguishes an adolescent from a child?
○ Responsibility.
○ Physical changes.
Age boundaries are not consistent across researchers
● Steinberg text:
○ Early adolescence: 10-13 years.
○ Middle adolescence: 14-17 years.
○ Late adolescence: 18-21 years.
○ Young adulthood: 22-30 years.
● Others:
○ Emerging adulthood (18-25 years) then young adulthood.
Developmental tasks
1. Accepting one’s physical body and keeping it healthy.
2. Achieving new and more mature relationships with age mates of both sexes.
3. Achieving emotional autonomy from parents and other adults.
4. Achieving a satisfying gender role.
5. Preparing for a job career.
6. Making decisions about marriage and family life.
, 7. Becoming socially responsible.
8. Developing a workable philosophy, a mature set of values, and worthy ideals.
Adolescence consists of component processes
● Rapid physical growth.
● Sexual maturation.
● Secondary sexual characteristics.
● Motivational and emotional changes.
● Cognitive development.
● Maturation of judgement, self-regulation skills.
● Brain changes linked to each component.
● Relative synchrony but not perfect.
Part C. Adolescence in context
● The past 150 years have witnessed a quiet revolution in human development that
still sweeps across the globe today: children nearly everywhere are growing faster,
reaching reproductive and physical maturity at earlier ages, and achieving larger
adult sizes than perhaps ever in human history - Carol Worhman.
Secular trend in age at menarche
● The age at which girls get their period has
decreased drastically from 17,5 years in
1830 to 13 years in 1960.
Schlegel & Barry (1990)
● 187 non-industrialized cultures
● Adolescence is recognized as the interval
between childhood and adult status.
● End of childhood marked by a ritual
(linked to age or puberty).
● Onset of adult roles.
○ Marriage.
○ Work roles (e.g., hunting).
○ Owning property.
○ Becoming a parent.
○ Independence (absence of monitoring).
● Interval between puberty and marriage as an index of length.
Puberty, marriage, and adult roles in traditional human societies
● Among girls, marriage occurred within two years of the onset of puberty in 63% of the
societies.
● Among boys the ability to take a wife would require a specific level of achievement
(e.g., making a kill on a hunt).
● Boys: 64% were married within four years of puberty.
Puberty, marriage, and adult roles in traditional human societies (United States)
● Average age at menarche is now 12.
● Average age of first menarche for females is 27.
