Adolescence

What is Adolescence?

• What time frame?

• What constitutes the end of adolescence?

• What are the most significant aspects or events in adolescence?

When Does Adolescence begin and end?Perspective When adolescence begins When adolescence ends

Biological Onset of puberty Becoming capable of sexual reproduction

Emotional Beginning of detachment from parents

Attainment of separate sense of identity

Cognitive Emergence of more advanced reasoning abilities

Consolidation of advanced reasoning abilities

Interpersonal Beginning of shift in interest from parental to peer relations

Development of capacity for intimacy with peers

Social Beginning of training for adult work, family, and citizen roles

Full attainment of adult status and privileges

Educational Entrance into junior high school Completion of formal schooling

Legal Attainment of juvenile status Attainment of majority status

Chronological Attainment of designated age of adolescence (e.g., 10 years)

Attainment of designated age of adulthood (e.g., 21 years)

Cultural Entrance into period of training for ceremonial rite of passage

Completion of ceremonial rite of passage

Stages of Adolescence• Early Adolescence (10-13

years)

• Middle Adolescence (14-17 years)

• Late Adolescence (18-21 years)

Some of the transitions we will be studying

• Biological – how changes influence psychological development

• Cognitive-how thought processes change and become more mature

• Social-how adolescents change in their friendships and relationships at home

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model

Theoretical perspectives on how adolescents ‘evolve’

• Biosocial theories– Hall’s theory of recapitulation

• Organismic theories– Freudian Theory– Eriksonian Theory– Piagetian Theory

• Learning theories– Behaviorism– Social Learning theories

• Sociological theories– Adolescent marginality– Intergenerational conflict

• Historical and Anthropological Theories– Adolescence as an

Invention– Anthropological

perspectives

Biosocial Theories

• Hall’s Theory of Recapitulation– Adolescence is when a

person becomes civilized

– Says adolescence is a period of ‘storm and stress’

– Said hormonal changes were not productive for teen or those around them – upheaval

Organismic theories (combination of biological and contextual theories)

• 1. Freudian theory

– Child comes out of the latency period into the genital period

– Oedipal complex revived but different

– Saw adolescence as a period of upheaval

Organismic theories

• 2. Eriksonian theories

– Identity vs. role confusion

– Changes in adolescence due to puberty and society’s demands on an adolescence

Organismic theories

• 3. Piagetian theory

– Formal operational thought• Abstract, hypothetical

thinking

• Biological changes (esp in brain) affect cognitive abilities

Learning theories

• 1. Behaviorism

– John Watson

– Operant conditioning

• Reinforcements• Punishments

Learning theories

• 2. Social Learning Theory

– Albert Bandura

– Interested in the ways in that adolescents learn to behave• Through modeling• Observational learning

Sociological Theories

• 1. Adolescent marginality

– Treated like ‘second-class’ citizens

– Aren’t given meaningful job opportunities

– Need to spend more time with adults in order to better transition to adulthood

Socological Theories

• 2. Intergenerational conflict

– Tension between adults and adolescents results from different attitudes and beliefs

– Some see adolescents as being hostile to the ‘culture’ of adults

Historical and Anthropological Theories

• 1. Adolescence as an invention

– Compulsory education created the concept of adolescence

– Prior to this, teen girls got married/had children and boys went to work

Historical and Anthropological Theories

• 2. Anthropological perspectives

– Says in ‘continuous’ societies, the transition from adolescence to adulthood is smooth

– In ‘discontinuous’ societies, the transition to adulthood is abrupt – harder to deal with