HN144: Human BehaviorInstructor: Jamie C. Sherman, MA

• Ages between 12-22• Erickson referred to this time as identity vs.

identity confusion• Two developmental tasks: independence from

family and development of personal identity• Increased concerns over physical appearance, the

way other people perceive them, and lots of physical development

• Biophysical Growth and Development:• Experience growth spurt where they gain in height and weight• Puberty for girls usually means menstruation (menarche). Now,

the median age for menstruation is 12.4 years of age. In the 1840’s, the average age was 17. As we have gotten taller, heavier, seen advances in medicine, etc. puberty has come faster for girls!• Menstruation in girls is associated with greater social maturity,

improved status among peers, higher self-esteem, and increased self-consciousness.• No clear indicator for boys but nocturnal emissions and facial

hair are among the signs. • Better for boys to mature sooner rather than later as results in

more successful peer relationships, a stronger athletic orientation, and more confidence

• Biophysical Strengths, Hazards, and Risks• Adolescent brain is not fully formed and functional• Cognitive functioning (problem-solving, maturity, and

insight) still developing• Adolescents need to increase their caloric intake to match

the rate of growth• Obesity is considered to be 20% or more above the

recommended weight for one’s height• Obesity can be associated with certain diseases such as

high blood pressure, social, and psychological problems• Headaches can begin to occur due to illness, tension, and

stress• Adolescents need about 9 hours of sleep a night

• Cognitive Development and Information Processing• Piaget defines this as the formal operational period• Adolescent is capable of abstract thought (flexible); prior to this

everything was concrete• Begin to understand abstract propositions and try to reason

logically• This type of problem-solving is hypothetical-deductions

reasoning • Adolescents can also think about why they were thinking about

something• Happens in 2 distinct stages: assimilation-focus on the ideal,

unlimited possibilities then accommodation-adjust to cognitive changes that have occurred• At the end of this stage, adolescents begin to test reasoning

against experience

• Communication• Improvement in thinking abilities allows for a greater

capacity for effective communication• Communication starts to vary between males and females• Boys are more competitive in conversation whereas girls

talk more about their personal feelings and relationships• Helping professionals need to understand the social and

legal aspects of communicating consent and confidentiality to adolescents because they are engaging in a variety of health-risk behaviors and are more likely to seek help if they know it is confidential

• Attitudes and Emotions• Adolescents develop more integrated self-concept

through greater freedoms in behaviors and decision-making• Adolescents face low self-esteem problems; however,

adolescence is not as awful as people make it sound• Four main strategies for enhancing adolescents’ self-

concept• Encouraging achievement• Prompting competencies in specific areas • Provision of peer and parental support• Developing coping skills

• Social Cognition and Regulation• Adolescents enter a psychological moratorium-a gap

between childhood security and adult autonomy (Erikson and Marcia-Marcia developed classification system for adolescent identity statuses p. 430)• Identity diffusion• Identity foreclosure• Identity moratorium• Identity achievement

• The idea of crisis can be misleading because identity development is a lengthy process

• Social Cognition con’t• Moral development refers to the rules of conduct people

use in their interactions with others• Kohlberg said that rules of conduct develop as individuals

progress through 6 stages (each stage represents a different way of reasoning about various rules of conduct• See page 434 in your book for Kohlberg’s stages• Biggest critic of Kohlberg-Carol Gilligan• She believes that he left out the idea that people care,

that is people are concerned with their connections with others not purely based on the rights of an individual

• Psychological Strengths, Hazards, and Risk• Stress-resistant adolescents: positive and nurturing

relationships with others, caring relationships with parents, easy temperaments, internal locus of control, active coping style, good social skills, good cognitive and intellectual abilities, and outside activities and hobbies• Majority of psychological involve externalizing disorders-

most common are delinquency and conduct disorder• DSM criteria is on p.440

• Internalizing behaviors include depression and suicide• Suicide is 3rd leading cause of death among adolescents;

highest among Native Americans

• Groups and Families• Three developmental tasks for the family: development of

autonomy, resolution of parent-adolescent conflict, and parent-adolescent attachment• Democratic family structure tends to produce young person with

healthy sense of autonomy• Adolescents with secure parental attachments tend to do better

in terms of self-reliance, independence, behavioral competence, and psychosocial well being • Peer relationships become more important• Gangs are different because it usually involves delinquent

activity• Biggest risk factor is growing in impoverished neighborhoods

where there is little attachments to people and social institutions

• Communities and Support Systems• Transition from elementary to middle school may be stressful

due to impersonal school environment and the top-dog phenomenon• Middle school students would benefit from smaller

environments, team approach by educators, and opportunity for the student to connect with at least one adult in the building• High school dropout rates are decreasing. Factors include poor

attendance, disinterest in school, living in poverty, single-parent families, conduct problems, poor grades, and pregnancy• Relocation can be difficult for at-risk children who has social-

adjustment problems• Homeless youth are more likely to engage in drug/alcohol use,

experience sexual/physical abuse, participate in criminal activity, and have thoughts of suicide

• Multicultural and Gender Considerations• Young people of color become more aware of their ethnic

status and begin to develop an ethnic identity• Ethnic identity is related to a stronger sense of purpose,

increased self-confidence, and social competence• Adolescents also become increasingly identified with their

gender roles; however, more acceptance of androgyny• Adolescent girls may lose their voice and sense of self• Depression is common for girls and often revolves around

body image, girls tend to interpret their maturing bodies in a negative way• HIV/AIDS-AIDS is caused by HIV which destroys the immune

system and leads to opportunistic infections. AIDS is 6th leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds

• Social Strengths, Hazards, and Risks• Most adolescents have few assets and many more risk

factors• Teen pregnancy-about 10% of teenage girls will become

pregnant• Greatest risk factor to teenage pregnancy is poverty• Teenage mothers face reduced education achievement, low-

status jobs, lower income, and welfare dependency• Efforts to reduce adolescent pregnancy include expanding

sex-education efforts (specifically ones that emphasize decision-making skills, life skills, life planning, and increasing accessing to birth control)• Overall, drug use among adolescents has declined• Binge drinking is very common problem

• Seminar 6 complete….any questions?