Adolescent Development - Adolescent Health

Adolescent Development

·        Summary:

o   An age of transition

o   Experimentation and change: inherent risk taking

o   Behaviours reflect maturational tasks 

o   May use maladaptive behaviours to achieve developmental goals (eg smoking to gain peer acceptance). Need to change them to adaptive behaviours

·        Also see Topic: Cognitive Development

·        Physiological:

o   Puberty: highly variable – generally from 9 – 14 years.  Can take 2 – 5 years to complete

o   Gain 25 cm in height, 50% of ideal adult body weight

·        Stages of adolescence:

o   Early: coming to terms with body/biological changes

o   Middle: establishing self among peers as a worthwhile individual

o   Late: vocational/education direction and one-to-one intimate relationships

·        Developmental issues

o   Abstract reasoning

o   Preoccupied with their own thinking

o   Peer group membership and conformity important

o   Consolidation of self image and identity

·        Psychosocial:

o   Who am I and where do I fit in

o   Identity: self, culture, ethnicity, sexuality

o   Autonomy vs relatedness/connectedness

o   Goals and future direction

·        Developmental tasks of adolescence: