Adolescence_Development

Adolescence Development Tiffany October 12, 2010 The adolescence years are one of the most fascinating and complex transitions in the life span. Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood and the ages range from 12-18 years old. Throughout these years, teenagers experience a new realm of physical and cognitive development. There are many factors that influence each stage in these particular developments. This paper will discuss some of the highlights of the physical and cognitive development stages that teenagers experience during this stage of life. Adolescence is a period that sometimes brings about physical, social, and emotional changes. It begins with the onset of puberty. Puberty is a period where the reproductive system matures and is marked by the increase in sex hormones. Fertility is achieved, and profound psychological changes take place. This would be one of the most significant factors that affect physical development. Both males and females experience growth and maturation at different times during this span but it eventually happens. Physical development in adolescence includes a growth spurt as the body fills out, voice changes (especially in males), and an increase in sex hormones. Also in males, they experience a growing beard. Girls' first menstruation usually occurs between the ages of 11 and 14 as cited by (Cliffs Notes, 2010) and her breasts begin to develop. More physical characteristics of physical development are the rapid increases in height, weight, skeletal growth, and by significant changes in reproductive structures and sexual characteristics. The male also experiences pubic hair growth, facial hair growth, leg and underarm hair growth, testes, scrotum, and penis development, and he experiences his first ejaculation. In females, their growth spurt is more noticeable. They tend to grow faster. Most females are about two years ahead of boys in their growth spurt and are usually taller than most boys between the ages of 10 and 14. Besides hormones affecting the physical development in adolescences, there are heredity and environmental factors that affect them as well. According to McDaniel, 2010, “heredity is responsible for some physical characteristics and growth aspects in both fetal and childhood development. However, both environment and genetics seem to play a role in overall physical development.” Dominant and recessive genes influence such things as height, weight, skin color, eye color and hair color. Genes are responsible for cognitive and mental processes as well as physical features as they are passed down through generations. It also determines specific each individual’s personal characteristics. Milestones also play an important role in their physical development. Doctors keep track of their growth at certain ages. By adolescence, boys tend to be shorter until they hit a growth spurt and their physique begins to change. Environmental affects such as if a fetus is exposed to pollutants or chemicals in the womb at specific stages in the developmental process can alter their DNA and cause mutations that may not otherwise have occurred if it were not for the exposures or the mother drinking , being stresses, not eating properly, or smoking while pregnant. “Cognition is the act or process of knowing or perceiving. Cognition development refers to how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of his or her world through the interaction of genetic and learned factors” (Encyclopedia of Children's Health, 2010). It can also be defined as the thinking, problem solving, concept understanding, and information processing and overall intelligence from childhood to adulthood. As children go through the adolescence, they encounter many challenges and opportunities. If all goes well, these challenges and opportunities lead to improvements in their social, emotional, and intellectual competencies. Adolescents are more likely to see things as relative. They begin to get their own views of the world. They tend to ask a lot of questions and questions facts to get some reasoning behind it. During these stages of cognitive development of adolescences, they tend to experience behaviors and attitudes such as argumentativeness, indecisiveness, finding fault with authority figures, apparent hypocrisy, self-consciousness, and assumption of invulnerability. Their mindset is to prove a point that adults are not always right and their opinions need to be heard. Nature and nurture are consider big factors as a part of environmental and heredity influences. Nature refers to heredity: the genetic makeup an individual carries from the time of conception to the time of death. Nurture, on the other hand, refers to various external or environmental factors to which he or she is exposed from conception to death. How he or she is raised, the environment, and how they are nurtured at younger ages affects how the adolescences will respond to certain situations in their lives as well. There are different factors that could affect adolescents’ social, moral, and personality development. In the social realm, the attachment behavior is seen here. Teens begin to define themselves and begin to get attached to groups and materialistic items such as clothing, smoking, drugs, etc. all based on their environment. Also, parenting styles affects social development. It is believed that most children’s personalities come out based on how their parents treated them while growing up. On the moral spectrum, adolescences experience what Kohlberg describes as the conventional level in their cognitive development. He believes that their “moral reasoning advances from being self-centered to other-centered” according to Carpenter & Huffman, 2010. These acts tie into the theoretical perspective of the developmental dimensions and the life-span developmental perspective. “Moral dilemmas can become much more important and challenging because their moral consequences become increasingly significant and personally relevant to self and to others. For example, the development of intimate and romantic relationships during adolescence can expose them to personally significant decision situations with far-reaching implications about who they are as a moral agent” as cited by Hart and Carlo, 2005. The information processing perspective is a good theoretical theory for teens. It also plays a part in heredity and environmental influences. It determines how they receive, think, mentally modify, and remember information. What adolescences perceive is what they will think. He or she becomes concerned with the way others feel about them and to gain approval from different people or groups. Good behavior or the “good child “orientation is what this is categorized as. Within the scope of heredity, sometimes, if a parent is a loaner, the child may be, or if they are used to being around lots of people, the child may be too. In viewing personality within teens, different factors affect how they perceive themselves and in turn create their personality. Their health, physical and mental capabilities, grades, physical appearance, the build of their body frame, etc can be attributed to their heredity. Environmental influences play a part in shaping personalities as well. The way a parent raises a child influences their behavior. The crowds they hang around usually are what the kids are. Groups may be known for stealing or cheating, etc. In conclusion, the influence on physical and cognitive development within these different spectrums for adolescences derives from either heredity or the environment. The affects on their physical, social, moral, and personalities come together to make the teens who they are. Being in different environments and their backgrounds influences their outlook on the world. Once they grow up, it’s up to them if they determine whether they want to change their outlooks or not. References Carpenter, S., & Huffman, K. (2010). Visualizing Psychology (2nd ed.). Retrieved from http://edugen.wiley.com/edugen/student/main.uni. Cliffs Notes. (2010). Development in Adolescence. Retrieved October 8, 2010 from http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Development-in-a dolescence.topicArticleId-25438,articleId-25383.html Encyclopedia of Children's Health. (2010). Cognitive Development . Retrieved October 9, 2010 from http://www.healthofchildren.com/C/Cognitive-Development.html Hart, D., & Carlo, G. (2005). Moral Development in Adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 15(3), 223-233. doi:10.1111/j.1532- 7795.2005.00094.x. McDaniel, R. (2010). Hereditary Factors That Affect Physical Development. eHow. Retrieved October 8, 2010 from http://www.ehow.com/about_5045762_hereditary- factors-affect-physical-development.html