adolescence

Examples of adolescence in the following topics:

• Socioemotional Development in Adolescence

  • Adolescence is the period of life known for the formation of personal and social identity.
  • This is common, as peer relationships become a central focus in adolescents’ lives.
  • Early in adolescence, cognitive developments result in greater self-awareness.
  • Adolescents can begin to qualify their traits when asked to describe themselves.
  • Differentiation becomes fully developed by mid-adolescence.

• Cultural and Societal Influences on Adolescent Development

  • The influence of parental and peer relationships, as well as the broader culture, shapes many aspects of adolescent development.
  • Adolescence is a crucial period in social development, as adolescents can be easily swayed by their close relationships.
  • While adolescents strive for freedom, the unknowns can be frightening for parents.
  • Although conflicts between children and parents increase during adolescence, they are often related to relatively minor issues; regarding more important life issues, many adolescents will still share the same attitudes and values as their parents.
  • Many factors that shape adolescent development vary by culture.

• Cognitive Development in Adolescence

  • Adolescence is a time for rapid cognitive development.
  • Adolescents think more quickly than children.
  • Processing speed improves sharply between age five and middle adolescence, levels off around age 15, and does not appear to change between late adolescence and adulthood.
  • Adolescents can think about thinking itself.
  • Adolescents are more likely to take risks than adults.

• Physical Development in Adolescence

  • During puberty, an adolescent experiences a period of rapid physical growth that culminates in sexual maturity.
  • Adolescence is a socially constructed concept.
  • The accelerated growth in different body parts happens at different times, but for all adolescents it has a fairly regular sequence.
  • This non-uniform growth is one reason why an adolescent body may seem out of proportion.
  • The adolescent brain also remains under development during this time.

• Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

  • If children do not learn to get along with others or have negative experiences at home or with peers, an inferiority complex might develop into adolescence and adulthood.
  • In adolescence (ages 12–18), children face the task of identity vs. role confusion.
  • Adolescents struggle with questions such as “Who am I?”
  • After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, we are ready to share our life with others.
  • Adults who do not develop a positive self-concept in adolescence may experience feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation.

• Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders

  • Almost all adolescents who have a substance use disorder have conduct disorder-like traits; therefore it is important to exclude a substance-induced cause before diagnosing CD.
  • Interference might take the form of preventing the child or adolescent from learning at school or making friends, or placing him or her in harmful situations.
  • According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, treatments for ODD are tailored specifically to the individual child, and different treatment techniques are applied for pre-schoolers and adolescents.
  • For adolescents at risk for ODD, cognitive interventions, vocational training, and academic tutoring have shown preventative effectiveness.
  • Studies done on children and adolescents suffering from pyromania have reported its prevalence to be between 2.4%-3.5% in the United States.

• Cognitive Development in Adulthood

  • According to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the establishment of formal operational thinking occurs during early adolescence and continues through adulthood.
  • This kind of thinking includes the ability to think in dialectics, and differentiates between the ways in which adults and adolescents are able to cognitively handle emotionally charged situations.

• Neuroplasticity

  • Generally, the number of neurons in the cerebral cortex increases until adolescence.
  • Apoptosis occurs during early childhood and adolescence, after which there is a decrease in the number of synapses.
  • Neurons grow throughout adolescence and then are pruned down based on the connections that get the most use.

• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  • Despite being the most commonly studied and diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents, the cause in the majority of cases is unknown.
  • Approximately 30%–50% of children diagnosed with ADHD continue to experience symptoms as adolescents and adults.
  • This over-diagnosis has led to a colloquial use of the term "ADHD" among children, adolescents, and adults alike, to indicate a general tendency toward distractibility and inattention.

• Eating Disorders

  • AN typically occurs in middle to late adolescence.
  • BN affects predominantly adolescents and young adults in industrialized societies, but has also been described in a variety of non-Western cultures as well.