Adolescence

Defining Adolescence The years spent morphing from child to adult. Starts with the physical beginnings of sexual maturity and ends with the social achievement of independent adult status. Is adolescence a true concept in our culture? In other cultures?

Your Thoughts? The timing of puberty can be socially and psychologically important. In Western Cultures, early puberty in males is viewed as desirable. Boys who go through puberty early are viewed as being more competent and receive more attention from girls and athletic coaches. Early puberty in girls is not always advantageous. Girls often feel awkward if they mature too early, and many early-blooming girls will become sexually active earlier than their later-maturing peers.

Your Thoughts, Once Again Frontal lobe maturation lags the emotional limbic system. Puberty’s hormonal surge and limbic system help explains teens’ occasional impulsiveness, risky behaviors, emotional storms—slamming doors and turning up the music. No wonder younger teens (whose unfinished frontal lobes aren’t yet fully equipped for making long term plans and controlling impulses) so often succumb to the lure of smoking, which most adult smokers could tell them they will later regret. Teens actually don’t underestimate the risks of smoking, or driving fast, or unprotected sex—they just, when reasoning from the gut, weight the benefits more heavily.

In Fact… In 2004, the American Psychological Association joined seven other medical and mental health associations in filing U.S. Supreme Court briefs, arguing against the death penalty for 16 and 17 year-olds. They cited the brain’s immaturity in areas involving decision making as one of their primary arguments.

Let’s Take A Minute Write down 10 answers to the question “Who Am I” listing only things that if lost, would make a real difference in your sense of identity. EX—your roles and responsibilities, groups that you belong to, beliefs, personality traits, needs, feelings, and/or behavior patterns.

On a piece of scrap paper… What would life be like if those things listed were no longer true…for example would the loss of a parent mean something different if you had written down “son” or “daughter”? After you have looked at the items this way, order your list in terms of importance.

Are teens happy with their lives? 81% of American teens that were polled said that “I would choose my life the way it is right now? Is that surprising to you?

Relating Erikson We can agree about how easy it is to vividly picture identity v. role confusion? But also, Erikson discussed the importance of intimacy at the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood. Erikson said, “with a clear and comfortable sense of who you are, you are ready to form close relationships. Such relationships for most of us are a great sense of pleasure.

Rites of Passage Think of some adolescent rites of passage…

Questions For Discussion What factors have contributed to earlier physical development in teens? What impact has early sexual development had on society?