Adolescence

HETAL PATEL
H.PATEL@MMU.AC.UK
 Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lecture students will be able to:
1. Define adolescence
2. Discuss ‘typical’ adolescent development
across five main categories
3. To appreciate that the developmental
categories overlap and influence each other
 When is Adolescence?
Prenatal – conception to birth
Childhood (0-12 years)
Adolescence (12-20 years)
Adulthood (20-65 years)
Aged and Aging (65 year +)

Normative age-related not normative history-

graded or non-normative life events
 Developmental categories

Behavioural
(Katchadourian, 1977 cited in Smith et al., 2015:647)
 Biological
Pituitary gland signals
the adrenal gland to
increase production
of androgen,
testosterone,
oestrogen and
progesterone.

Growth of the testes

and ovaries as well as
secondary sex
characteristics

Sex hormones are

raised during puberty
 Early and late maturation
Early maturation age Late maturation age
Girls 11 years 14 years
Boys 12 years 16 years

•Early maturing boys would be socially advanced – strength and

sporting achievement – highly valued
•Late maturing boy may feel less confident, less mature,
attractive or popular (Mussen and Jones, 1957)
•Early maturing girls engaged in drinking, smoking and playing
truant (Magnusson et al., 1985).
• However this was because they associated with older peers
• Early maturing girls also less likely to be in tertiary education.
• Engaged in sexual activity, get married and have children all earlier
QUIZ question
Which stage of Piaget’s cognitive
development theory do adolescents fall
under?
A. Sensorimotor
B. Pre-operational
C. Concrete operations
D. Formal operations
 Cognitive changes in adolescence:
Piaget’s cognitive stage theory

1 2 3 4
Sensorimotor Pre-operational Concrete operational Formal operational

0-2 2-7 7-11 11+

Marked by being able to think more rationally and

systematically about abstract concepts and
hypothetical events
Formal operational thought
characteristics
Think more rationally and systematically about
abstract concepts and hypothetical events
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning – think
hypothetically
Propositional thought – discussion of abstract
matters.
This is the stage where thought processes are what
we could consider to be most similar to adult
thought
Pendulum
task
Formal operational thinking
in adolescence
These new forms of thinking in adolescents are form of
hypothesis-testing:
◦ May lead to some good choices and some poor ones – potential to
significantly alter the developmental trajectory (e.g. drug abuse, teen
pregnancy)
May affect the way they reflect on how they are perceived by
hypothetical others, and have problems adjusting to changing
physical appearance
Rosenblum and Lewis (1999 cited in Smith et al., 2015:659)
• Girls experienced increased dissatisfaction with their bodies
over period 13-18 years
• This dissatisfaction was weakly related to how other adolescents
rated their physical attractiveness
Cognitive Development:
Morality
These theories are situated very much within the
cognitive domain of capacity for this type of
thinking
They link in with behaviour in social situations as a
consequence of the development of these new
ways of reasoning.
QUIZ questions

1. What are the two stages of Piaget’s moral

development theory called?

2. Which stage do adolescents fall into?

Autonomous morality (or morality of
cooperation)
Gradual release from adult control and increased peer
interaction leads to the development of autonomous
morality.
Rules start to be seen as ‘socially agreed’.
Morality of cooperation – children realise rules are flexible
and negotiable
Punishment should reflect the seriousness of the action.
Ability to see things from the perspective of others makes
thinking more complex; Intentions are considered
 E.g. Of Piaget’s Stories
Story A – A boy called Story B – A little boy
John is in his room and called Henry decides to
he is called to dinner, he have some jam one day
does not know that there when his mother was
is a tray with fifteen cups out. He climbed onto a
on it just behind the chair to try and reach the
door. The door knocks jam jar, while stretching
the tray over and the up he knocked over a cup
cups get broken which fell to the floor
and smashed.
QUIZ questions

1. What are the stages of Kohlberg’s moral

development theory called?

2. Which stage do adolescents fall into?

Kohlberg’s levels of moral
reasoning
Level 2 – Conventional morality (most adolescents
and adults)
3. Very concerned with trying to win approval from
others. (Conforming to the norm of the majority).
4. Insistence that there are rules which must not be
broken, and that if they are broken punishment will
be a consequence. Children’s ideas about guilt start
to form. Authority and social order obedience
driven. (Preserve social order)
 Cognitive:
Adolescent Egocentrism

Elkind (1967) argued that the adolescent period

fosters adolescent egocentrism
A stage of self-absorption where the world is seen
only from one's own perspective.
Thus adolescents are highly critical of authority
figures, unwilling to accept criticism, and quick to
find fault with others.
Adolescent Egocentrism
According to Elkind (1967) adolescent egocentrism
leads to two distortions:
IMAGINARY AUDIENCE – where adolescents think
they are the focus of everyone else's attention.
(Self-consciousness)
PERSONAL FABLES – the belief that the adolescent
is unique and exceptional and that they are
invulnerable so engage in risk talking behaviour.
(Invincibility)
 Social
Link with peer
relations and
imaginary
companions
Peers
Adolescent is a time for independence from
parents – spend more time with peers and turn to
them for social support and identity
Social relationships with peers is different from
parents/caregivers:
• Childhood – unilateral authority
• Friendship – mutually reciprocal relationships
• Parent–child relations during adolescence –
mutual relations
 Engaging in risky behaviour
Jarrett (2017) ‘Teenagers’ brains process risk differently when Mum is
around.’ BPS Research Digest.
• When adults are around, teens take fewer risks
• Brain show less reward related activity after taking risk
• ‘Social scaffolding’ – adult presence is helping teen attain adult-like
behaviour
Moreira et al scanned 23 15-year-olds.
• Risk based game
• Going through 26 traffic lights as quickly as possible and deciding
whether to accelerate or break as lights turned amber
• Played game twice – once with mother present, once with unfamiliar
female professor present
Found – took fewer risks with mother present than with professor (but
not statistically significant)
Peer relations
Peers can be an important
source of values
◦ E.g. conform to clothing,
music, choice of friends
Negative peer influence
◦ E.g. smoking, drug use,
bulling, gang violence
Peers however, nurture
social skills that are valuable
throughout life
Erikson’s (1978) eight
psychosocial stages
1. 0-1 – basic trust v basic mistrust
2. 2-3 – autonomy v shame / guilt
3. 4-5 – initiative v guilt
4. 6-12 – industry v inferiority
5. 13-18 – identity v role confusion
6. 19-25 – intimacy v isolation
7. 26-40 – Generativity v stagnation
8. 41+ - Ego integrity v despair
Trying on looks and social
identities
Trying different looks ‘teen identity crisis’?
See link as well with peer groups.
Environment influencing
gendered expectations
Riegle-Crumb and Morton (2017) examine how the presence of
biased male peers, as well as confident female peers, in
classroom environment shaped girls' subsequent intentions to
pursue different STEM fields
Results:
• Exposure to more male peers in the classroom who endorsed
explicit gender/STEM stereotypes resulted in a decrease in
girls' later intentions to pursue a computer
science/engineering (CS/Eng) major.
• Exposure to more confident female peers resulted in girls’
intention to study CS/Eng increasing
Peers are important regarding whether or not girls should
pursue non-traditional STEM fields.
 Social and Behavioural
There is a clear interaction between
behavioural and social aspects and as such
this will be considered within the context of
Social Learning theory (Bandura, 1977)

Is modelling important in adolescence?

Social learning theory and
teen smoking behaviours.
Harakeh and Vollenbergh
(2012) investigated the
impact of active and
passive peer influence on
young adult smoking
• 68 adolescent smokers
(aged 16-24)
• Observational design
Social learning theory and teen
smoking behaviours: Methods
The study aim was masked. Factorial design, resulting in four
conditions:
Participants had to do a 30-min
music task with a confederate. 1. No smoking and no pressure
(N=15)
Experiment consisted of a 2 by 2 2. Smoking but no pressure
condition (N=16)
3. Pressure but no smoking
1. Smoking condition:
(N=20)
confederate smokes (1) or
4. Smoking and pressure (N=17)
not (2)
2. Pressure condition: The primary outcome tested was
confederate offers the the total number of cigarettes
participant a cigarette (1) or smoked during this music
not (2) assignment.
Social learning theory and
teen smoking behaviours:
Findings
RESULTS:
Peer smoking significantly
predicted the total number of
cigarettes smoked by young
adults (conditions 1&2) while
peer pressure did not (conditions
3&4).
The interaction effect of peer
pressure and peer smoking was
not significant (condition 4).
CONCLUSIONS:
Peer pressure did not have a
significant additional
contribution, over and above
smoking of the peer.
Passive (imitation) peer influence
affected young adult smoking
rather than active (pressure)
peer influence.
Smoking cessation efforts should
aim at preventing interaction
with smoking peers and raising
awareness about its impact.
 Sexual behaviour
Percentage of participants reporting having had sexual intercourse in three
UK studies of adolescents
At 17 years At 19 years
Males Females Males Females
Scholfield 1965 25 11 37 23
Farrell 1978 50 39 74 67
Breakwell and Fife-Schaw
60 60 77 80
1992

(Smith et al., 2015 685)

Boislard et al. (2009) looked as risky sexual behaviour:

not using condoms and many sexual partners.
Association with similar peers is strongly predictive of
such risky behaviour
Emotional
Storm and stress?
Hall (1904) adolescence is a time of
storm and stress

1. Conflict with parents – rebel against

authority figures and seek
independence and autonomy
2. Mood disruptions – hormonal
changes result in changes in their
emotions
3. Risky behaviours – increase in risk
taking behaviours
Risky behaviour:
disregarding past bad
outcomes
McCormick and Telzer (2017) asked 58 adolescents (aged
13 to 17) to play a game that involved risks.
• Task – blowing up 24 virtual balloons shown on a
computer screen – earn points
• Chance that the balloon would pop
Results: outcome of balloon affected behaviour with next
balloon – didn’t risk more pumps the next time round
BUT some teens continued to pump more even after the
last balloon exploded.
For some it’s not just about remembering the good times,
it’s about forgetting the bad times
Example of exam questions
‘Adolescence is a period of turmoil.’ Discuss this
statement with reference to psychological theory
and research.

‘Physical changes to the body are the dominant

aspect of the adolescent development period.’
Discuss this statement with reference to
psychological theory and research.
References
Boyd, D. and Bee, H. (2009). Lifespan Development. 5th ed., London:
Pearson International Edition.
Elkind, D. (1967) ‘Egocentrism in adolescence.’ Child Development, 38
(4) pp. 1025-1034
Harakeh, Z. and Vollenbergh, W. (2012) ‘the impact of active and
passive peer influence on young adults smoking: an experimental
study.’ Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 121(3) pp.220-223.
McCormick, E. and Telzer, E. (2017) ‘Failure to retreat: blunted
sensitivity to negative feedback supports risky behaviour in
adolescents.’ NeuroImage 147pp.381-389.
Riegle-Crumb, C. and Morotn, K. (2017) ‘Gendered expectations:
examining how peers shape female students’ intend to pursue STEM
fields.’ Front. Psychol. 8:329. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00329