Adolescence and early adulthood

(Age 12-25)

Adolescence: Physical

• Growth:
  • growth spurts (10-11 inches in height, 50-75 pounds)
  • sex differences (starts age 10 for females, 12.5 for males)
• Brain Development:
  • synaptic pruning in cerebral cortex
  • myelination increases
  • Prefrontal Cortex – still not fully developed (executive functioning, inhibition not as strong as in adults)

Hormones & Puberty

• Hormones drive body growth and maturation of sexual characteristics
• GH and Thyroxine promote growth spurt
• Sex differentiation
• • Testes: Androgens such as testosterone
  • Ovaries: Estrogen / Progesterone
  • Everyone has both, gonads just produce a lot of one
• Hormones (and nutrition, culture, SES, etc) determine
  • Primary sex characteristics: reproductive organs
  • Secondary sex characteristic: visible changes elsewhere
  • Puberty timing, the age at which uberty occurs

Puberty and sex

• Minor differences compared to other primates
• Male sex (~13.5 years)
  • enlargement of testes, prostate gland, seminal vesicles, scrotum, spermarche (development of sperm)
  • More muscle, wider shoulders
• Female sex (~12.5 years)
  • Breast devlope, menarche (first menstration)
  • More fat, wider hips
• Intersex (depends)
  • intersex individuals may exhibit normal development depending on there gonads,  a partial/mixed puberty, or no puberty

Puberty and gender

• Sex only refers to gonads, gender refers to a social role
• but, sex characteristics are often gendered
  • Gender dysphoria can be treated with...
    • Puberty blockers
    • Hormone therapy
    • Sometimes plastic surgery
• Early adolescence: rigid and stereotyped understanding of gender roles
• Late adolescence: with confidence in identity, more flexiblity in gender performance

Eating disorders

• Body dysmorphia - Obsession with some aspect of one's own body being flawed
• Anorexia Nervosa
  • Extremely restricted eating and unwillingness to maintain a healthy body weight often due to intense fear of weight gain
  • Can stop menstruation in females. The most fatal mental disorder, with a 10% mortality rate
• Bulimia Nervosa
  • Mix of binging and purging behavior
  • Specific health risks depend on type of binging/purging
  • Usually a normal body weight
• Binge Eating Disorder & Purging Disorder

Physical Development in Early Adulthood

• Bodily growth subsides by late teens, met with slowing metabolism
• Athletic skills peak between 20 and 35
• Responsibility for maintaining own health and fitness
  • Societal factors Bronfrenbrenners bioecological systems model
  • Impacts of SES & Education

Early Adulthood- Physical considerations

• Genetic level
  • Protective "cap" on DNA known as telomeres gradually shortens
  • Highly reactive free radicals molecules destroy DNA, proteins and fats
    • from oxidized molecules, esp in fats, meats and alcohol
    • mitigated by fruits/veggies
  • Cross-linkage theory- protein fibers in the body gradually connect to eachother and become less elastic
• Fertility peaks - more rapid decline for uterus and ovaries due to difficulty
• Increase use of substances
• Increased risk of STIs

Adolescence & Cognition

Formal Operational Stage

• From 11 onward, children develop abstract, systematic, and scientific thinking.
• No longer require concrete objects/events to engage in thought
• Children can engage in generative internal reflection

Adolescence & Cognition

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning

• The ability to generate hypotheses and  deduce logical inferences
  • "If A is true and B is true, C must be true"
• Using hypotheses, can systematically isolate & combine variables
• Propositional Thought- can evaluate logic of verbal statements unconnected to real-world experiences

(Inductive reasoning is present in concrete operational phase. Is the reverse, "XYZ are true, so A is likely true")

Adolescence & Cognition

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning example

Pendulum Problem

Limitations of Piaget

• Many well-educated adults still fail some formal operational tasks
  • Exposure to tasks, similar issues as testing bias
• This stage is absent in some tribal or village societies
• No strong connection to puberty and other adolescent milestones

Cognitive legacies of adolescence

• Self-consciousness and sensitivity to public criticism: "imaginary audience"
• Self-focusing: "personal fable"
• Domains of rationality

Early Adulthood Cognition

Early Adulthood Cognition

The College Experience

How much of this is thanks to college?

Vocational (career) choice