Chapter 11

Physical and Cognitive Development in

Adolescence
Adolescence

◦Transition between childhood and

adulthood

The beginning of adolescence is marked

by “puberty”
◦A flood of biological events leading to an
adult-sized body and sexual maturity
Stanley Hall (1904)

◦Era in which humans evolved from savages into

civilized beings
Anna Freud (1969)
◦Universal developmental disturbance
Biological perspective
◦ puberty
◦ storm and stress
◦ Freud – genital stage
◦ Fulfill biological destiny  sexual
reproduction and survival of species
Social perspective
Overall rate of psychological disturbance
rises only slightly  3 percent
Margaret Mead (1928)  Samoan
adolescents
◦ social and cultural influences
Balanced point of view
◦ both biological and social influences
 11–12 to
Early Rapid pubertal change
14 years

Middle 14 to 16 years Puberty nearly complete

Full adult appearance

Late 16 to 18 years
 Anticipation of adult roles
 Growth hormone and thyroxine
increase around age 8–9.
Estrogens
◦ more in girls
◦ adrenal estrogens
Androgens
◦ more in boys
◦ Androgen testosterone
 Muscle growth, facial and body
hair, gains in body size
 Testes secrete small amounts of
estrogen as well  50% 
temporary breast enlargement
 Estrogens in both sexes 
increase GH secretion  gains in
©Camille Bruggner/Dreamstime.com bone density
 Growth hormone and thyroxine
increase around age 8–9.
Estrogens

◦ more in girls
◦ adrenal estrogens
◦ Breasts, uterus, and vagina mature
◦ Body take on feminine proportions
◦ Fat accumulates
◦ Regulation of menstrual cycle
◦ Adrenal androgens  girls’ height
spurt and growth of underarm and
pubic hair

◦ Two broad types:

 Overall body growth
©Camille Bruggner/Dreamstime.com  Maturation of sexual
characteristics
 Boys Girls
starts age 12½ starts age 10
Growth spurt

shoulders broaden, hips broaden

Proportions longer legs

Muscle–fat gain more muscle, gain more fat

makeup aerobic efficiency
The first outward sign of puberty is the rapid gain in height and weight
called the growth spurt.
Adolescents add 10 to 11 inches in height and 50 to 75 pounds during
the growth spurt.
Growth is complete for most girls by age 16 and for boys by age 171⁄2.
Body Proportions
◦ At first, growth of the hands, legs, and feet accelerates, and then
the torso, reversing the cephalocaudal growth trend of infancy and
childhood and making the early adolescent appear out of
proportion.
◦ The most obvious sex differences in body proportions are the
broadening of boys’ shoulders relative to the hips and the
broadening of girls’ hips relative to the shoulders and waist.
Muscle–Fat Makeup and Other Internal Changes
◦ Around age 8, girls start to add fat on their arms, legs, and trunk,
a trend that accelerates from age 11 to 16, while boys’ arm and leg
fat decreases.
◦ Boys develop larger skeletal muscles, hearts, and lung capacity
than girls.
Motor Development and Physical Activity
 Girls’ gains in gross-motor performance  slow and gradual,

leveling off at age 14, boys  a dramatic spurt in strength,

speed, and endurance.
 Gender-segregated physical education begins in middle school

because girls and boys are no longer well-matched physically.

 Among boys, athletic competence  strongly related to peer

admiration and self-esteem, leading some adolescent boys to use

performance-enhancing drugs.

 In one study, 8 percent of U.S. high school seniors reported using

creatine to enhance short-term muscle power;
 In another study, 2 percent reported taking anabolic steroids or a
related drug, which can have dangerous physical and emotional
side effects.
Motor Development and Physical Activity

 High school girls’ sports participation has increased since 1972,

when the U.S. government required schools receiving public funds to
provide equal opportunities to girls and boys, although girls’
participation is still far lower than boys’.

 Activity rates of U.S. youths decline over the teenage years. By age
15, less than one-third meet government recommendations for
exercise.

 Sports and exercise have beneficial effects on cognitive and social

development, as well as on motor performance, and regular
sustained physical activity—ensured by required physical education—
is associated with lasting health benefits.
Figure 11.2
Primary Secondary Sexual
Sexual
Characteristics Characteristics
Maturation Other visible parts of
of the
reproductive organs the body that signal
(overies, uterus, and sexual maturity
vagina in females, ◦ girls: breasts
penis, scrotum, and ◦ boys: facial hair,
testes in males) voice change
◦ girls: menarche ◦ both: underarm hair
◦ boys: spermarche
Typically completed in 4 years
Menarche  mostly 12.5 in US;

13 in Europe
The first sign of puberty in boys

 enlargement of testes, along by

changes in texture and color of the
scrotum, and enlargement of penis
Another  deepening of voice 

larynx enlarges and vocal cords

lengthten

Corbis Images
Heredity
Nutrition, exercise
◦ body fat, fat cells release a protein
called leptin in girls  sends the
message that a girls’s energy
stores are sufficient for puberty.
Geographical location
SES
Ethnic group
◦ Industrialized nations  age 9 in
African-American
◦ The movie “Precious”
Earlyfamily experiences
Secular trends  a generational
change in puberty
Corbis Images
 Brain-imaging research  continued
pruning of unused synapses in the cerebral
cortex occurs in adolescence; also, growth
and myelination of stimulated neural fibers
accelerates.
 Linkages between the cerebral hemispheres
and the frontal lobes and other brain areas
expand, supporting a variety of cognitive
advances.
 Neurons become more responsive to
excitatory neurotransmitters during puberty.
Corbis Images
 Pruning
Frontal lobes
continues. Cognitive advances
 attention
 planning
Growth and Strengthen  integrating information
myelination connections  self-regulation
speed up. among regions

Neurotransmitter More sensitive to Intensifies reactions to

response excitatory  stress
changes. messages  pleasure, novelty
 Changing States of Arousal (p. 368)

◦ At puberty, changes occur in the brain’s

regulation of the timing of sleep, so that
adolescents go to bed much later than they did as
children, although they need almost as much
sleep as children.

◦ Adolescents are often sleep deprived. As a result,

they are more likely to achieve less well in school,
suffer depressed mood, and engage in high-risk
behavior. Corbis Images
 Still
need almost as much sleep, but go
to bed later
◦ biological “phase delay”
◦ social habits
 Lackof sleep impairs regulation of
attention, emotion
◦ lower achievement
◦ mood problems
◦ high-risk behaviors
 Girls today typically report a mixture of positive and negative
emotions at menarche.
 Individual differences in girls’ response to menarche depend on
prior knowledge and support from family members. Unlike in the
1950s, today few girls are uniformed, a result of greater parental
openness about sexual matters and the spread of health education
classes.
 Boys respond to spermarche with mixed feelings, and those who
feel better prepared tend to react more positively. Overall, boys
get much less social support for the physical changes of puberty
than do girls.
 The larger cultural context affects the experience of puberty.
◦ Many tribal and village societies celebrate puberty with an initiation
ceremony.
◦ Western culture grants little formal recognition to movement from childhood
to adolescence or from adolescence to adulthood.
◦ Western adolescents are granted partial adult status at many different ages—
for example, an age for starting employment, for driving, and for drinking—
making the transition to adulthood especially confusing.
  Preparation,
Surprise information help
Girls  More positive than in  Father’s involvement

past helps
 Ethnic variations

 Preparation helps
Mixed reactions

Boys   Could benefit from
Sooner than expected
telling people
 Pubertal Change, Emotion, and Social Behavior

Adolescent Moodiness

◦ Although higher pubertal hormone levels are related to greater

moodiness, these relationships are not strong.

◦ In several studies tracking mood fluctuations in children,

adolescents, and adults, adolescents’ negative moods were linked
to a greater number of negative life events, including difficulties
with parents and breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend.

◦ Teenagers seemed to react to negative events with greater emotion

than did children.

◦ Compared with the moods of older adolescents and adults, those of

younger adolescents (ages 12 to 16) were less stable, often shifting.
  More negative life
events
 Stronger
responses
 Mood swings
◦ related to daily
events
©Joe Mercier/Dreamstime.com
◦ cultural scripts
 Friday and Saturday

Figure 11.3
Risein conflict
◦ adaptive behavior
 Animals and non-industrialized nations  decreased
possibility of sexual intercourse with relatives
◦ Modern substitute for those who cannot leave the family
 psychological distancing
◦ More intense  mother-daughter
◦ Culture  Canada vs. Italy
◦ different views of teen readiness for responsibility
Most conflict is mild.

◦ also affection, support

 Girls Boys
 Unpopular, withdrawn, low  Popular
confidence  Confident, independent
Early  More deviant behavior  Positive body image
Maturing  Negative body image
 More long-term problems
 Popular  Unpopular
 Sociable, lively, school leaders Anxious, talkative,
Late 
 Positive body image attention-seeking
Maturing  Negative body image
Physical attractiveness – body image
(conception of and attitude toward
their appearance)
◦ girls: most want to be thinner,
smaller
◦ boys: most want to be bigger
Fitting in with peers

◦ prefer similar level

of physical maturity

©Isabel Poulin/Dreamstime.com
 ◦ Early-maturing adolescents of both sexes
tend to seek out older companions—
sometimes with unfavorable consequences.
 Long-Term Consequences
◦ Early-maturing girls are prone to
lasting difficulties, compared to
their on-time counterparts.
◦ In boys, early maturation tended to
be only a temporary stressor.
◦ Interventions targeting at-risk
early-maturing youths are needed,
to help them handle the emotional
and social challenges of the teenage
years.
©Isabel Poulin/Dreamstime.com
Calorieneeds increase.
Poor food choices are
common
◦ less fruits, vegetables
◦ less milk, breakfast
◦ more soda, fast food
Iron, vitamin
deficiencies - anemia
Eating with family can
help.
Discourage fad diets.
 Severe dieting  strong indicator
 Family relationships
 Cultural pressure
◦ anorexia nervosa
 starve out of fear of getting fat
 difficult to treat
 About 1% of girls
 Boys  10% of the cases  about half are
homosexual or bisexual boys
 About 6% dies  either because of physical
complications or suicide
 Only about 50% fully recover
 Genetics  twin studies
 Parents  what do you expect?
◦ bulimia nervosa
 strict diet and exercise, then binge and purge
 more common (2 to 4 percent), easier to treat
Q.S OF THE DAY: (1) What are the commonalities
and differences in personality types of
anorexics and blumics?
(2) What about their relationships with their
parents? Do they have similar patterns or
different patterns?
North American attitudes restrictive
◦ media contradicts family messages
 abstinence programs
◦ more liberal over past 40 years
 most say premarital sex OK for
committed partners
Activity matches attitudes
◦ rates declining since 1990s
◦ few partners
Corbis Images
 Foster open communication.
 Use correct terms.
 Listen, discuss, collaborate.
 Think before talking.
 Keep conversations going.
 The Internet can be a hazardous educator.
 42% of 17 years olds  pornography
Figure 11.4
  Early puberty
 Tendency to violate norms
Personal  Little religious involvement

 Step, single-parent, or large family

Family  Weak parental monitoring, parent–child
communication

Peer  Sexually active friends or siblings

 Poor school performance
Educational  Low educational goals
  Recent increase in use
 But many Americans,
Canadians do not use
 Reasons for not
using:
◦ concern about image
◦ adolescent risk-taking
◦ social environment
Figure 11.5 ◦ forced intercourse
◦ unrealistic about
consequences
Feeling different
 ages 6–12
Confusion
 ages 11–15
Self-acceptance
 timing varies

(3) Q.S. OF THE DAY: What

are the factors contributing
to homosexuality?
Heredity
Morecommon on the maternal side of the family
 might be X-linked
HOW?
◦Some genes affect the level or impact of prenatal
hormones
◦But also environmental factors may alter prenatal
hormones
◦Homosexual men  later in birth order and have more
than usual number of older brothers

(4) Q. OF THE DAY: Stereotypes and misconceptions about

homosexuality?
Adolescents  highest STD rate
◦ high rate in United States
◦ 1 in 6 teens, among sexually
active
AIDS  most serious
◦ manifests 8–10 years later
◦ often infected during adolescence
Females  more easily infected
Education  improving
 750,000–850,000
Teens pregnant each year (25,000 under age 15)
Percent of teen 40%
pregnancies ended with
abortion
Percent of teen mothers 86%
who are unmarried

Repeated teen births 35% within two years

Less educational achievement
More time as single parents
Economic problems
Pregnancy and birth complications
Lack of parenting skills
Figure 11.6
 Intervention
with
Prevention Strategies
◦ more sex education Teenage Parents
◦ skills for handling ◦ health care
sexual situations ◦ help staying in school
◦ promoting abstinence ◦ job and life-
◦ information and access management training
to contraceptives ◦ parenting instruction
◦ academic and social ◦ adult mentors
competence
◦ affordable child care
◦ school involvement
◦ father support
Mother’s age at childbirth
◦ strong predictor of next generation’s age
at childbirth
Not inevitable, but linked to
◦ home environment, parenting
◦ intelligence, education
◦ father’s absence
Have tried, by grade 10:
◦ cigarettes – 40%
◦ alcohol – 63%
◦ illegal drugs – 38%
By end of high school:
◦ 17% smoke regularly
◦ 28% recent heavy drinking
◦ 40%+ tried illegal drugs

Figure 11.7
Compared to experimenters:
◦ more antisocial, impulsive acts
◦ start earlier
◦ more likely to be affected by
genetic and environmental factors
 low SES
 family drug use
 family difficulties
 physical, sexual abuse
 poor school performance

DigitalVision
 Best
school and
community programs:
◦ promote effective
parenting
◦ teach skills to resist
peer pressure
◦ reduce social
acceptability of drugs
©Christina Deridder/Dreamstime.com
◦ commit adolescents to
drug-free lifestyles
Capacity for abstract, systematic, scientific thinking 
rather than operating on reality they operate on operations
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
 deducing hypotheses from a general theory

 pendulum problem

Propositional thought
◦ evaluating the logic of verbal
propositions without referring to real-
world circumstances
Figure 11.8
 School-age children start developing abstract
thinking skills.
◦ problems with propositional thinking
 logical necessity of propositional reasoning  that the
accuracy of conclusions drawn from premises rests on
the rules of logic, not on real-world confirmation.
Formal operations may not be universal.
 training, context contribute

 often fall back on easier thinking

 Schooling as an essential factor

 Attention  selective and better-
adapted to changing demands of the
task
 Inhibition
 Memory strategies
 Knowledge
 Metacognition
 Cognitive self-regulation
 Processing capacity
 Speed of thinking

Corbis Images
Coordinating theory with evidence
Improves with age

◦ from childhood through adulthood

◦ individuals vary
Contributing factors:
◦ working memory capacity
◦ exposure to complex problems
◦ metacognitive understanding
 Think about theories, deliberately isolate variables, and
actively seek disconforming evidence
◦ open-mindedness  a personality trait
Self-consciousness and self-focusing
◦ imaginary audience  adolescents’ belief that they
are the focus of everyone else’s attention and
concern.
◦ sensitivity to criticism
◦ personal fable  adolescents’ belief that they are
so special and unique that others cannot possibly
understand their thoughts and feelings.
Idealism and criticism
Planning and decision making
◦ inexperience
◦ overwhelming options
 Biological Environmental
Skill Performance
Influences Influences
Girls:
 Parents talk more
 Girls do better from to girls
advantage in left
Verbal early ages,  Language arts

throughout school hemisphere of considered

brain “feminine”
 Boys better at Boys:  Math considered
abstract reasoning better numerical “masculine”
 Parents see boys
Math  Gap larger at memory, spatial
higher levels, reasoning as better at math
although shrinking
Figure 11.10
 Grades decline with each
transition.
◦ higher standards
◦ less supportive teaching–
learning environment
 Lower self-esteem
◦ more with 6–3–3 Corbis Images

organization than 8–4

◦ girls more than boys
Figure 11.12
 Parental involvement, monitoring
 Smaller units within schools
 Homeroom teacher relationships
 Classes with familiar peers
 Minimize competition, treatment by

ability at school
Child-rearing Peer
Peer influences
influences
practices  value
value high
high
◦ authoritative achievement
achievement
◦ joint decision making Employment
Employment schedule
schedule
◦ parent–school  vocational
vocational education
education
partnerships
School characteristics
◦ classroom learning
experiences
◦ teaching
◦ tracking
Figure 11.13
Figure 11.14
High-quality vocational training
Remedial instruction
Personalized counseling
◦ address factors in students’
lives outside school
Extracurricular activities

DigitalVision
 Academic performance
Social skills, peer acceptance
Self-esteem, confidence
Less antisocial
behavior
Improved family

relationships
Sports and Recreation