John W. Santrock

1. Children 15 Socioemotional Development in Adolescence John W. Santrock

2. Socioemotional Development in Adolescence • What Is the Nature of Adolescence? • What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? • What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? • How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized?

3. What Is the Nature of Adolescence? Views of Adolescence • Biological view: Hall’s view that adolescence is a turbulent time of “storm and stress” • Adolescence, like childhood, is an interaction of genetic, biological, environmental, and social factors

4. What Is the Nature of Adolescence? What Is the Nature of Adolescence? • Today’s adolescents exposed to complex menu of lifestyle options • Most have positive self-images, finish high school, and have self-control • U.S. adolescent drug use highest of all Western industrialized countries

5. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? Determinants of Puberty • Puberty: period of rapid physical maturation • Heredity: programmed genes • Hormones: testosterone, pituitary gland, gonads, androgens, hypothalamus, and estradiol • Weight and body fat

6. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? Puberty • Gonadarche: sexual maturation and the development of reproductive maturity • Menarche: girl’s first menstrual period • Spermarche: boy’s first ejaculation of semen

7. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? Growth Spurt • Most rapid increases in growth since infancy • Adolescents gain weight approximately the same rate as they gain height • Changes in hip and shoulder width

8. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? Sexual Maturation Male • Increase penis and testicle size • Pubic hair growth • First ejaculation • Maximum growth • Hair in armpits • Voice change • Facial hair • Female • Breasts enlarge or pubic hair appears • Hair in armpits • Growth • Hips widen • First menstruation

9. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? Secular Trends in Puberty • Patterns over time, especially across generations • U.S.: average age of menarche declined about two to four months per decade much of 20th century • Improved health and nutrition

10. Males Females Onset (avg) Completion (avg) Height spurt Penile growth Menarche Testicular growth Breast growth Growth of pubic hair 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Age in years Normal Range and Average Development of Sexual Characteristics in Males and Females Fig. 15.3

11. Norway 18 Finland Sweden 17 U.K. U.S.A. 16 Median age (years) at menarche 15 14 13 12 1980 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 Year Median Ages at Menarche in Selected Northern European Countries and the United States from 1845 to 1969 Fig. 15.4

12. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? Psychological Dimensions of Puberty • Body image • Preoccupation, dissatisfaction with changing body • Girls more negative than boys • Early and late maturation

13. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? Early and Late Maturation

14. Early development Late development +.30 +.20 +.10 Body Image Score Mean -.10 -.20 -.30 Grade 6 Grade 10 Early- and Late-Maturing Adolescent Girls’ Perceptions of Body Image in Early and Late Adolescence Fig. 15.5

15. What Are the Physical and Psychological Aspects of Puberty? The Brain • Activity during emotional processing differs in adolescents and adults • Prefrontal lobe not fully developed, “gut” reactions from adolescents • Influences of reward and punishment; adolescent difficulty in controlling behavior • More research needed

16. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Developing a Sexual Identity • Time of • Ambivalence: sex used in movies/videos/TV shows/music, advertisements, and Internet • Frequent viewing tied to casual sex attitudes • Mastering sexual feelings and forming sense of sexual identity is lengthy, multifaceted

17. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Sexual Activity • Typical progression of sexual behavior • Necking, kissing • Petting • Oral sex or intercourse • 50% have had intercourse by age 17, 80% by age 19

18. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Sexual Activity • Adolescent males more likely to report being sexually active than females • Culturally: Asian Americans have more restrictive timetable for sexual activity • African-American males and inner-city adolescents more sexually active; risk factors exist and sexual problems

19. 100 80 60 Percentage 40 20 0 15 16 17 18 19 What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Sexual Intercourse Rates in U.S. Adolescents Fig. 15.7

20. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Homosexuality in Adolescence • Diverse patterns of attractions • Homosexual identity, attractions, behaviors increase with age • 6% of 18-year-olds “predominantly homosexual” • Some stop homosexual behavior after adolescence

21. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Contraceptive Use in Adolescence • Contraceptive use increasing • Nearly 80% use at first intercourse • Pill most popular • Also injectables, withdrawal, implants • Younger adolescents less likely to use • Higher risk of pregnancy and disease

22. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Sexually Transmitted Infections • HIV and AIDS caused greatest impact in world • Other STDs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes • At greatest risk: drug users, poor, young homosexuals, Latinos and African Americans

23. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Why Are U.S. Adolescent Pregnancy Rates So High? • Causes • Childbearing regarded as adult activity • Unclear messages on sexual behavior • Little access to family planning services • Lack of health insurance, basic heath care • 2002: record low births to adolescent girls

24. 80 U.S. England and Wales 60 Canada France Births per 1000 women 15 to19 40 Sweden 20 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Year Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Adolescent Pregnancy Rates Fig. 15.9

25. What Are the Dimensions of Adolescent Sexuality? Reducing Adolescent Pregnancy • Sex education and family planning • Access to contraceptives • Life options approach • Opportunities other than parenting • Broad community involvement, support

26. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? Risks of Adolescent Pregnancy • Risk factors • Health problems for baby and mother • Low education for mothers • Low income • Educational, behavioral problems for children

27. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? Adolescent Problems and Health • Risk Factors • Poverty • Ineffective parenting • Mental disorder in parents • Assets • External • Internal

28. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? Substance Use • Cigarette smoke begins primarily in childhood and adolescence • Alcoholics begin drinking habits in high school and college • Most adolescents use drugs at some point • Drug use poses hazard to development when adolescents use for “coping”

29. 60 12th grade 40 Percent of students who reported illicit drug use in the last 12 months 10th grade 20 8th grade 0 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2004 Year Trends in Drug Use by U.S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-Grade Students Fig. 15.10

30. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? Alcohol Use and Cigarette Smoking • Alcohol use dropping, rates still high • 19% of eighth-graders, 48% of seniors • More boys than girls • Smoking • Decreasing use among adolescents • Social disapproval a reason to quit • Earlier the onset, the more damaging

31. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? Eating Disorders • Impact of body image and parenting • Obesity and successful interventions • Anorexia nervosa: relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation • Bulimia nervosa: consistently follows a binge-and-purge eating pattern

32. 15 10 Percent of overweight adolescents, 12-19 years of age 5 1966-1970 1971-1974 1976-1980 1988-1994 1999 Year The Increase in Being Overweight in Adolescence from 1968 to 1999 in the U.S. Fig. 15.12

33. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? Adolescent Health • Establishing bad habits sets risks for adult health problems • Premature disability and mortality • U.S. adolescents exercise less • New interest in adolescent sleep patterns; biological clocks changing

34. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? Adolescent Health • Adolescents have more acute health conditions than adults; underutilize health system, especially males • Barriers for adolescents • Costs • Poor organization • Availability of health services • Confidentiality of care

35. How Can Adolescent Problems and Health Be Characterized? The Leading Causes of Death in Adolescence • Accidents • Homicide • Suicide

36. Children 15 The End