Chapter 8: Rites of Passage Do adolescents get enough exercise?

What are the

Pubertal Changes pros and cons of participating in sports in high
What physical changes during adolescence mark the school?
transition to a mature young adult? ● Individuals who work out at least three times
● Puberty includes bodily changes in height and weekly often have improved physical and mental
weight as well as sexual maturation. Girls typically health. Unfortunately, many high school students do
begin the growth spurt earlier than boys, who not get enough exercise.
acquire more muscle, less fat, and greater heart and ● Millions of American boys and girls participate in
lung capacity. The brain communicates more sports. The benefits of participating in sports include
effectively, and the frontal cortex continues to improved physical fitness, enhanced self-esteem, and
mature. Sexual maturation, which includes primary an understanding about teamwork. The potential
and secondary sex characteristics, occurs in costs include injury and abuse of performance-
predictable sequences for boys and girls. enhancing drugs.
What factors cause the physical changes associated What are common obstacles to healthy growth in
with puberty? adolescence?
● Pubertal changes take place when the pituitary ● Accidents involving automobiles or firearms are
gland signals the adrenal gland, ovaries, and testes to the most common cause of death in American
secrete hormones that initiate physical changes. The teenagers. Many of these deaths could be prevented
timing of puberty is influenced strongly by health and if, for example, adolescents did not drive recklessly
nutrition. Its timing is also influenced by the social (e.g., too fast and without wearing seat belts).
environment; for example, puberty occurs earlier for Adolescents often seem themselves as invulnerable
girls who experience stress, harsh punishment, or to risk and often place greater value on the rewards
depression. associated with risky behavior.
How do physical changes affect adolescents’
psychological development? Information Processing During Adolescence
● Pubertal changes affect adolescents’ psychological How do working memory and processing speed
functioning. Teens, particularly girls, become change in adolescence?
concerned about their appearance. When ● Working memory increases in capacity, and
forewarned, adolescents respond positively to processing speed becomes faster. Both achieve
menarche and spermarche. Adolescents are moodier adultlike levels during adolescence.
than children or adults primarily because their How do increases in content knowledge, strategies,
moods shift in response to frequent changes in and metacognitive skill influence adolescent
activities and social setting. Early maturation tends to cognition?
be harmful, especially for girls. ● Content knowledge increases to expert-like levels
in some domains, and strategies and metacognitive
Health skills become more sophisticated.
● For proper growth, teenagers need to consume What changes in problem-solving and reasoning take
adequate calories, calcium, and iron. Unfortunately, place in adolescence?
many teenagers do not eat properly and do not ● Adolescents often solve problems analytically,
receive adequate nutrition. using mathematics or logic. They also acquire skill in
● Anorexia and bulimia, eating disorders that detecting weaknesses in scientific evidence and in
typically affect adolescent girls, are characterized by logical arguments. But they don’t consistently use
an irrational fear of being overweight. Adolescents these skills, sometimes resorting to simpler
are at greatest risk for eating disorders when they’re heuristics and sometimes allowing beliefs to interfere
overly concerned with their bodies and have with reasoning.
internalized the thin-body ideal. Treatment and
prevention programs emphasize changing
adolescents’ views toward thinness and their eating-
related behaviors.
Reasoning About Moral Issues -Obedience orientation- Characteristic of Kohlberg’s
How do adolescent reason about moral issues? stage 1, in which moral reasoning is based on the
● Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning includes belief that adults know what is right and wrong.
preconventional, conventional, and postconventional
levels. Moral reasoning is first based on rewards and -Instrumental orientation- Characteristic of
punishments and much later on personal moral Kohlberg’s stage 2, in which moral reasoning is based
codes. on the aim of looking out for one’s own needs.
What other factors influence moral reasoning? -Conventional level- Second level of reasoning in
● As predicted by Kohlberg’s theory, people progress Kohlberg’s theory, where moral reasoning is based
through the stages in sequence and morally advanced on society’s norms.
reasoning is associated with more frequent moral -Interpersonal norms- Characteristic of Kohlberg’s
behavior. However, Kohlberg’s theory ignores the stage 3, in which moral reasoning is based on
impact of caring, which often influences moral winning the approval of others.
reasoning. And adolescents often balance fairness -Social system morality- Characteristic of Kohlberg’s
with group loyalty. stage 4, in which moral reasoning is based on
What factors help promote more sophisticated maintenance of order in society.
reasoning about moral issues? -Postconventional level-Third level of reasoning in
● Many factors can promote more sophisticated Kohlberg’s theory, in which morality is based on a
moral reasoning, including (1) observing others personal moral code.
reasoning at more advanced levels; (2) discussing -Social contract- Characteristic of Kohlberg’s stage 5,
moral issues with peers, teachers, and parents; and in which moral reasoning is based on the belief that
(3) being involved in a religious community that laws are for the good of all members of society.
connects adolescents to a network of caring peers -Universal ethical principles-Characteristic of
and adults. Kohlberg’s stage 6, in which moral reasoning is based
on moral principles that apply to all.
Key Terms:
-Puberty- Collection of physical changes that marks
the onset of adolescence, including a Chapter 9: Moving into the Adult Social World
growth spurt and the growth of breasts Identity and Self-Esteem
or testes. How do adolescents achieve an identity?
-Primary sex characteristics- Physical signs of ● The task for adolescents is to find an identity, a
maturity that are directly linked to the reproductive search that typically involves four statuses: Diffusion
organs. and foreclosure are more common in early
-Secondary sex characteristics- Physical signs of adolescence; moratorium and achievement are more
maturity that are not directly linked to reproductive common in late adolescence and young adulthood. As
organs. they seek identity, adolescents often believe that
-Menarche- Onset of menstruation. others are constantly watching them and that no one
-Spermarche- First spontaneous ejaculation of sperm. else has felt as they do.
-Body mass index- Adjusted ratio of weight to height; ● Adolescents are more likely to achieve an identity
used to define “overweight”. when parents encourage discussion and recognize
-Anorexia nervosa- Persistent refusal to eat their autonomy; they are least likely to achieve an
accompanied by an irrational fear of being identity when parents set rules and enforce them
overweight. without explanation.
-Bulimia nervosa- Disease in which people alternate What are the stages and results of acquiring an ethnic
between binge eating—periods when they eat identity?
uncontrollably—and purging with self-induced ● Adolescents from ethnic groups often progress
vomiting, laxatives, fasting, or through three phases in acquiring an ethnic identity:
excessive exercise. initial disinterest, exploration, and identity
-Reconventional level- First level of reasoning in achievement. Achieving an ethnic identity usually
Kohlberg’s theory, where moral reasoning is based results in higher self-esteem.
on external forces.
How does self-esteem change in adolescence? What circumstances make dating violence likely?
● Social comparisons begin anew when children ● Many adolescents experience dating violence,
move from elementary school to middle or junior particularly if they’ve experience harsh parenting,
high school; consequently, self-esteem usually their peers are familiar with and accept dating
declines somewhat during this transition. In middle violence, and they’re aggressive and antisocial.
and late adolescence, self-esteem becomes Programs to prevent dating violence provide
differentiated, especially in the academic and greater awareness of dating abuse and emphasize
social domains. Self-esteem is linked to adolescents’ that all community members have a stake in
actual competence in domains that matter to them preventing dating violence.
and is linked to how parents and peers view them.
● The parent–child relationship becomes more The World of Work
egalitarian during the adolescent years, reflecting How do adolescents select an occupation?
adolescents’ growing independence. Contrary to ● In his theory of vocational choice, Super proposes
myth, adolescence is not usually a period of storm three phases of vocational development during
and stress. Most adolescents love their parents, feel adolescence and young adulthood: crystallization, in
loved by them, rely on them for advice, and which basic interests are identified; specification, in
adopt their values. which jobs associated with interests are identified;
and implementation, which marks entry into the
Romantic Relationships and Sexuality workforce.
Why do teenagers date? ● Holland proposes six different work-related
● Romantic relationships emerge in mid- personalities: realistic, investigative, social,
adolescence. For younger adolescents, dating is for conventional, enterprising, and artistic. Each is
both companionship and sexual exploration; for older uniquely suited to certain jobs. People are more
adolescents, it is a source of trust and support. productive when their personality fits their job and
Adolescents in romantic relationships are more self- less productive when it does not.
confident but also report more emotional upheaval. ● According to social cognitive career theory,
vocational choice reflects beliefs about their abilities
Why are some adolescents sexually active? Why do so and beliefs about the outcome of their behavior.
few use contraceptives?
● By the end of adolescence, most American boys What is the impact of part-time employment
and girls have had sexual intercourse, which boys on adolescents?
view as recreational but girls see as romantic. ● Most adolescents in the United States have part-
Adolescents are more likely to be sexually active if time jobs. Adolescents who are employed more than
they believe that their parents and peers approve of 15 to 20 hours per week during the school year
sex. Adolescents do not use birth control consistently typically do poorly in school, often have lowered self-
because they do not see the need for contraception, esteem and increased anxiety, and have problems
don’t know where to obtain contraceptives, and interacting with others. Most employed adolescents
sometimes find pregnancy appealing. Because they save little of their income. Instead, they spend it on
use contraception infrequently, they are at risk for clothing, food, and entertainment, which can yield
contracting sexually transmitted diseases and misleading expectations about how to allocate
becoming pregnant. income.
● Part-time employment can be beneficial if
Who are sexual-minority youth? adolescents work relatively few hours, if the work
● Sexual-minority youth identify as gay, lesbian, allows them to use existing skills or acquire new
bisexual, queer, intersex, or transgender. For boys ones, and if teens save some of their earnings.
who identify as gay, the first step involves feeling Summer employment, which does not conflict with
different from other boys and becoming interested in the demands of school, can also be beneficial.
gender-atypical activities. For females, the path to a
sexual-minority identity is more variable. Sexual-
minority youth face special challenges, and some
suffer from mental health problems.
The Dark Side -Implementation- Third phase in Super’s theory of
Why do teenagers drink and use drugs? career development, in which individuals enter the
● Many adolescents drink alcohol regularly. The workforce.
primary factors that influence whether adolescents -Personality-type theory- View proposed by Holland
drink are encouragement from others (parents and that people find their work fulfilling when the
peers) and stress. Similarly, teenage smoking is important features of a job or profession fit their
influenced by parents and peers. personality
-Depression- Disorder characterized by pervasive
What leads some adolescents to become depressed? feelings of sadness, irritability, and low self-esteem.
How can depression be treated? -Adolescent-limited antisocial behavior-Behavior of
● Depressed adolescents have little enthusiasm for youth who engage in relatively minor criminal acts
life, believe that others are unfriendly, and want to be but aren’t consistently antisocial.
left alone. Depression can be triggered by a negative -Life-course persistent antisocial behavior- Antisocial
event; those adolescents who are most likely to be behavior that emerges at an early age and continues
affected can’t control their emotions and see throughout life.
themselves in a negative light. Treating depression
relies on medications and on therapy designed to
improve social skills and restructure adolescents’ Chapter 10: Becoming an Adult
interpretation of life events. Emerging Adulthood
What role transitions mark entry into adulthood?
What are the causes of juvenile delinquency? ● The most widely used criteria for deciding whether
● Many young people engage in antisocial behavior a person has reached adulthood are role transitions,
briefly during adolescence. In contrast, the small which involve assuming new responsibilities and
percentage of adolescents who engage in life-course duties.
persistent antisocial behavior are involved in many of ● Some societies use rituals, called rites of passage,
the serious crimes committed in the United States. to mark this transition clearly. However, such rituals
are largely absent in Western culture.
Life-course persistent antisocial behavior has been
linked to biology, cognitive processes, family What evidence from neuroscience helps us
processes, and poverty. Efforts to reduce understand behavioral development in young
adolescent criminal activity must address all of these adulthood?
variables. ● The prefrontal cortex fully develops during young
adulthood and forms key connections with other
KEY TERMS: areas of the brain.
-Adolescent egocentrism- Self-absorption that is ● Edgework may reflect aspects of this continued
characteristic of teenagers as they search for identity. neurological development.
-Imaginary audience- Adolescents’ feeling that their ● Young adults make the transition to Erikson’s
behavior is constantly being watched by their peers. struggle of intimacy and isolation.
-Personal fable- Belief of many adolescents that their
feelings and experiences are unique and have never How do going to college, obtaining career training,
been experienced by anyone else. and entering the workforce reflect the transition to
-Illusion of invulnerability- Adolescents’ belief that adulthood?
misfortunes cannot happen to them. ● Roughly 70% of high school graduates continue
-Ethnic identity- Feeling that one belongs to a specific their education at the postsecondary level. College
ethnic group. students experience transitions in thinking.
-Crystallization- First phase in Super’s theory of Returning adult students tend to be more focused on
career development, in which adolescents use their academic program, but face challenges
their emerging identities to form ideas about careers balancing education, career, and family.
-Specification- Second phase in Super’s theory of ● Many emerging adults obtain career or job training
career development, in which adolescents learn as a way to further education without obtaining a
more about specific lines of work and begin training. college degree.
● Joining the workforce is a major step toward ● Higher education is associated with better health
financial independence, which in turn is a major via better access to health care and more knowledge
marker of achieving adulthood. about proper diet and lifestyle.

Physical Development and Health Cognitive Development

In what respects are young adults at their physical What is intelligence in adulthood?
peak? ● Most modern theories of intelligence are
● Young adulthood is the time when certain physical multidimensional. Research reveals interindividual
abilities peak: strength, muscle development, variability and plasticity.
coordination, dexterity, and sensory acuity. Most of ● Intellectual abilities are organized into factors of
these abilities begin to decline in middle age. interrelated abilities that form the structure of
intelligence.
How do smoking, alcohol, and nutrition affect young
adults’ health? What are primary and secondary mental abilities?
● Young adults are at the peak of health. Death from How do they change?
disease is relatively rare, especially during the 20s. ● Intellectual abilities can be studied as groups of
Accidents are the leading cause of death. However, related skills known as primary mental abilities.
homicide and violence are major factors in some ● Clusters of related primary abilities are called
groups. Poor ethnic minorities have less access to secondary mental abilities. Secondary mental abilities
good health care, and poverty is also a major barrier are not measured directly.
to good health. ● These abilities develop differently and change in
● Smoking is the single biggest contributor to health succeeding cohorts. More recent cohorts perform
problems. One is never too old to quit smoking. better on some skills, such as inductive reasoning, but
Smoking causes several forms of cancer and is a older cohorts perform better on number skills.
primary cause of respiratory and cardiovascular
disease. Although it is difficult, quitting smoking has What are fluid and crystallized intelligence? How do
many health benefits. they change?
● For most people, drinking alcohol poses few health ● Fluid intelligence consists of abilities that make
risks. Binge drinking has numerous negative effects, people flexible and adaptive thinkers. Fluid abilities
but peaks in emerging adulthood. Campus sexual generally decline during adulthood.
assault is related to alcohol use. Several treatment ● Crystallized intelligence reflects knowledge that
approaches are available for people with alcohol use people acquire through life experience and education
disorder. in a particular culture. Crystallized abilities improve
● Nutritional needs change somewhat during until late life.
adulthood, mostly due to changes in metabolism.
Some nutrient needs, such as carbohydrates, change. How has neuroscience research furthered our
The ratio of LDLs to HDLs in serum cholesterol, understanding of intelligence in adulthood?
which can be controlled through diet or medication in ● Neuroscience research has begun mapping specific
most people, is an important risk factor in areas in the brain that relate to intelligence. One
cardiovascular disease. prominent theory based on this work is the parieto-
frontal integration theory (P-FIT).
How does young adults’ health differ as a function of
socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and education? What is postformal thought? How does it differ from
● The three most important social factors in health formal operations?
are socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and education. ● Postformal thought is characterized by a
Poverty is the most important factor in limiting recognition that truth may vary from one situation to
access to quality health care. another, that solutions must be realistic, that
● Even with other variables held equal, people of ambiguity and contradiction are the rule, and that
color have poorer access to quality health care than emotion and subjectivity play a role in thinking. One
European Americans. example of postformal thought is reflective judgment.
How do emotion and logic become integrated in edgework (320)
adulthood? How do emotional intelligence and returning adult students (322)
impression formation demonstrate this integration? intimacy versus isolation (323)
● Cognition (logic) and emotion become integrated binge drinking (327)
during young adulthood and middle age. This means alcohol use disorder (328)
that the way people approach and solve practical metabolism (330)
problems in life differs from adolescence through low-density lipoproteins
middle age. (LDLs) (330)
● Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to high-density lipoproteins
recognize and correctly identify one’s own and (HDLs) (330)
other’s emotion, and to use this information to guide body mass index (BMI) (332)
thinking and behavior. Emotional intelligence multidimensional (334)
increases with age and likely underlies many multi-directionality (334)
social cognitive situations. interindividual variability (334)
● Impression formation is the way we form and plasticity (335)
revise first impressions. How this process influences structure of intelligence (335)
judgments about people differs with age. factor (335)
primary mental abilities (335)
Who Do You Want to Be? secondary mental abilities (335)
Personality in Young Adulthood fluid intelligence (337)
What is the life-span construct? How do adults create crystallized intelligence (337)
scenarios and life stories? parieto-frontal integration theory
● Young adults create a life-span construct that (P-FIT) (339)
represents a unified sense of the past, present, and neural efficiency hypothesis (340)
future. This is manifested in two ways: through a postformal thought (341)
scenario that maps the future based on a social clock reflective judgment (341)
and in the life story, which creates an autobiography. emotional intelligence (EI) (343)
What are possible selves? Do they show differences impression formation (343)
during adulthood? life-span construct (346)
● People create possible selves by projecting scenario (346)
themselves into the future and thinking about what social clock (346)
they would like to become, what they could become, life story (346)
and what they are afraid of becoming. possible selves (347)
● Age differences in these projections depend on the personal control beliefs (348)
dimension examined. In hoped-for selves, 18- to primary control (349)
24year-olds and 40- to 59-year-olds report family secondary control (349)
issues as most important, whereas 25- to 39-year-
olds and older adults consider personal issues to be
most important. However, all groups include physical
aspects as part of their most feared selves.

What are personal control beliefs?

● Personal control is an important concept with
broad applicability. However, the developmental
trends are complex because personal control beliefs
vary considerably from one domain to another.

KEY TERMS:
emerging adulthood (318)
rites of passage (319)
role transitions (319)