1. By Clayton and Scott and Katie
Adolescents
By Clayton and Scott and Katie

2. Facts Adolescents occurs from beginning of puberty to early 20s
Main question for the adolescent stage: identity vs. role confusion

3. Step one: puberty Begins at about age 11 in girls and age 13 in guys.
When adolescents mature sexually, also has a surge of hormones
Females start menstrual period
Primary sex characteristics develop dramatically
Frontal lobes are not fully matured, which is why teens make risky behaviors, and have emotional storms.

4. Step two: cognitive development
Adolescents begin to think about what other people are wearing (causes awkwardness socially).
Reasoning is self-focused, adolescents think their experiences are unique and something their parents could never understand.
Morality is developed within adolescents in two parts
conventional morality; caring for others and social rules simply because they are rules
Postconventional morality; they use basic ethic principals to judge their actions from right or wrong.

5. Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking
Approximate Age
Focus
Example
Preconvention morality
(Before age 9)
Self-interest; obey rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards
“if you save your wife, you'll be a hero”
Conventional morality
(early adolescence)
Uphold rules to gain social approval or maintain social order
“If you steal the drug, everyone will think you’re a criminal”
Preconvention mortality
(adolescence and beyond)
Actions reflect belief in basic rights and self-denied ethical principles
“People have a right to live”

6. Step three: social development
Erik Erikson says the task of adolescents is to synthesize the past, present, and future possibilities into a clear sense of self
We ask ourselves:
Who am I as and individual?
What do I want to do with my life?
What values should I live by?
What do I believe in?

7. Early Physical Maturation
boys
girls
Can make boys more popular because they are stronger and more athletic in their early teen years. This could also lead to delinquency and alcohol use, as well as early sexual activity.
It could cause girls to befriend older girls and be subject to teasing or sexual harassment.

8. Why are adolescents impulsive?
Maturation of the frontal lobe happens a lot slower than that of the limbic (emotional) system. This is why teens struggle to make long term decisions, or why smoking or unprotected sex seem like a good idea because they fail to see the long term consequences. The frontal lobe is not fully developed until age 25.

9. The search for Identity
Identity- a self definition that unifies the various selves into a consistent and comfortable sense of who one is
Social Identity- we form the perception of who we are based on what we see by the people around us
Often can be at school: jocks, geeks, goths, preps
Some of us find identity sooner than others, every person is unique
By the time you are a college senior, you should have a positive self-concept of who you are