LECTURE 11
Challenges & Positive Prospects
REALITY OF ADOLESCENT CHALLENGES
 Most problems reflect transitory experimentation
 Not all problems begin in adolescence
 Most problems do not persist into adulthood
 Problems during adolescence are not caused by
adolescence
Types of Problems
Externalizing
Problems
Internalizing
Problems
Problems that are
directed outwards,
towards others
Problems that are
directed inwards,
towards self
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Externalizing
problems in
childhood
Academic
problems in
adolescence
Internalizing
problems in
adulthood
EXTERNALIZING PROBLEMS
 Tend to come from families where parental control and
monitoring is lacking
 Seen more in males than females
Delinquency
 Can vary from status offences to
serious index crimes
 Most common types of youth crime:
 Assault, theft under $5000, mischief,
drug violations
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Risk Factors for Delinquency
 Risk factors for delinquency include
 genetics
 a hostile attributional bias
 learning disability
 association with deviant peers
 living in high poverty and neighbourhoods with
unemployment and low educational levels
 family stress and conflict; low parental monitoring
Types of Delinquency
Life-Course Persistent
Offenders
Those who have a
history of problems
prior to and following
adolescence
Adolescence-Limited
Offenders
Those who engage in
antisocial acts during
adolescence, but not
before or after this
period
Preventing Delinquency
 One successful approach has been on intervene at several
levels, including the home, the school and the
neighbourhood
 Multisystemic approach
 Effective in reducing arrests and out-of-home placements
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Substance Use
 Many adolescents are drawn into substance use, whether it
is instrumental or recreational
Experimental
Substance Use
Social
Substance Use
Medicinal
Substance Use
Addictive
Substance Use
Substance Use (contd.)
 Psychoactive substances, which affect the user’s thoughts,
feelings, and behaviour, may lead to a condition of drug
dependence, in which attempts to stop using the substance
create unpleasant withdrawal symptoms
Risk Factors for Substance Use
 Attitudes and behaviours of peers and friends
 Parents’ behaviour
 History of abuse in childhood
 Personal fable
 May discover that some drugs can relieve stress, at least
temporarily
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Preventing Substance Use
 Multisystemic approach
 family, peers, school and neighbourhood
INTERNALIZING PROBLEMS
 Tend to come from families where parents exert tight
psychological control
 As a result, their own personalities are often overly
controlled and self-punishing
 Seen more in females than males
Eating Disorders
 Distorted body image and body dissatisfaction are
common among adolescent girls
 can lead to eating disorders in some girls and boys
 Adolescent boys with body dissatisfaction are more likely
to over-exercise and use steroids to become more
muscular
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Anorexia Nervosa
Essential features:
 Do not maintain normal weight
 Show excessive concern over body shape and weight
 Distorted thinking about body shape and weight
 Usually deny the seriousness of their low body weight
 tend to be ego-syntonic
Bulimia Nervosa
 Recurrent binge eating and compensatory behaviour
 Binge eating occurs when a person
 consumes an unusually large amount of food in a discrete
period of time (e.g. 2 hours)
 feels out of control while eating
Bulimia Nervosa (contd.)
 People with BN also engage in some form of
inappropriate compensatory behaviour to prevent weight
gain
 inducing vomiting, misusing laxatives, diuretics or enemas
 Some do not purge
 Usually an ego-dystonic disorder
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Associated Problems
Health Problems (AN)
 Electrolyte imbalance
 Cardiac arrhythmias
 Hypokalemia
 Osteopenia
 Disrupts hormone and endocrine functioning
Associated Problems (contd.)
Health Problems - BN
 Hypokalemia
 Frequent vomiting can cause enlargement of salivary
glands, erosion of dental enamel and damage to esophagus
 Laxative misuse -> gastrointestinal problems
Treatment
Behavioural Treatment
 Primary goal is to monitor physical health and help patient
gain weight
Partial Hospitalization
 After discharge from the hospital, adolescents continue to
receive services from hospital staff; spend evenings at home
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Treatment (contd.)
Structural Family Therapy
 Focuses primarily on the quality and patterns of
relationships between family members (open lines of
communication)
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy
▪ Show that thoughts, emotions and behaviour are
connected
Depression
 Most common psychological disturbance in adolescence
 Childhood depression is equally common in girls and
boys, but in adolescence, twice as many girls as boys
become depressed
Causes of Adolescent Depression
 Parents who are depressed
 Other risk factors: changing schools, living in an
impoverished unsafe neighbourhood, parental divorce,
poor relationships with peers and difficulties with
romantic partners
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Treatment for Depression
 Antidepressants
 Cognitive behaviour therapy
a) correcting maladaptive thought patterns
b) improve social and communication skills; increase their level
of social activity and teach them to reward themselves for
successes and accomplishments
Suicide
 Some adolescents who are depressed consider or attempt
suicide
 Suicide ideation
 Most adolescents who consider suicide never actually
attempt it
 Girls more likely to attempt; boys more likely to complete
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POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
 Goes beyond the absence of problems
 Focuses on factors that promote development of healthy
attitudes and engagement in productive, life-enhancing
activities
STRESS, COPING AND RESILIENCE
 Chronic stress has been linked to a compromised immune
system, high blood pressure, depression and suicide
 Adolescents become more biologically sensitive to stress
and its negative consequences
 Risk factors:
 biological factors, personality traits, difficulties within the
family, challenges with peers or school, larger societal
pressures
Coping
Problem-Focused Coping
Emotion-Focused Coping
Trying to manage
stressful situation by
analyzing it and
mobilizing the means to
change it in a positive
direction
Trying to manage the
negative psychological
aspects of a stressful
situation that does not
seem open to being
changed
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Coping (contd.)
 Adolescents are flexible in switching between problem-
focused and emotion-focused coping, depending on the
situation
 Girls are more likely to prefer emotion-focused strategies and
boys tend to prefer problem-focused strategies
 Both parents and peers are important sources of
encouragement and support in stressful situations
Parents and Coping
 Parents act as
models and are
sources of support
 Self-Determination
Theory explains how Relatedness
authoritative
parenting affects
coping
Competence
Autonomy
Resilience
 Successful coping increases a teen’s sense of self efficacy
and, over time, leads to a more general ability to rise above
problems
 this ability is called resilience
 the capacity to develop normally under difficult conditions
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Resilience
 A number of factors can buffer adolescents from risks,
making them resilient
 parents who set limits, hold high expectations, and are
supportive
 high cognitive functioning
 belonging to a tight-knit family free from high levels of discord
 positive feelings about school
FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING
Basic Goals of Positive Youth Development
Competence
Confidence
Connection
Character
Caring
Contributions
to self, family
and
community
Language of Thriving
 Perceptions vary among practitioners, parents, adolescents
 Only three qualities appear on all lists:
Positive
SelfConcept
Future
Orientation
Communication
Skills
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Thriving as a Dynamic Process
 Researchers have suggested that human development can
be strengthened through adaptive developmental
regulation
 Goodness of fit between person and context is also
important
RESOURCES FOR POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Internal Resources
 Skill in selecting and optimizing opportunities advances personal
development
 Many personal resources help adolescents to develop positively
and thrive
 Critical thinking, positive self-regard, emotional self-regulation,
coping skills, conflict resolution skills, mastery motivation, a sense of
self-efficacy, a sense of responsibility for the self, optimism coupled
with realism, positive personal identity, prosocial values, a
commitment to civic engagement, a desire to plan for the future and
a sense of purpose in life
RESOURCES FOR POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
External Resources
 Parents
 parenting style; parents as models; parents providing social
capital
 Enlisting peers
 Youth activities and positive development
 School and community resources
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RESOURCES FOR POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
External Resources (contd.)
 All settings should have the following general features:
 Physical and psychological
safety
 Appropriate structure
 Supportive relationships
 Opportunity to belong
 Positive social norms
 Support for efficacy and
mattering
 Opportunity for skill
building
 Integration of efforts
INITIATIVE, ENGAGEMENT AND THE PURSUIT OF
HAPPINESS
 The development of initiative is important if adolescents are
to develop a vision for their lives and the skills needed to
realize it
 Daily contexts of adolescents afford few opportunities to
develop initiative
 Structured voluntary activities incorporate the components
thought to contribute to initiative
 intrinsic motivation, directed attention, challenging goals
YOUTH PROGRAMS
 Planned & systematic initiatives designed to:
1) reduce presence of emotional, behavioural or social problems
2) prevent such problems from ever occurring
3) promote positive, healthy behaviours
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Evaluating Programs
 Youth programs must be evaluated for:
Effectiveness
Scale
Sustainability
TRANSITION TO EMERGING ADULTHOOD
 Physical, cognitive and social gains of adolescence put
individuals in a good position to face the new challenges of
adulthood
 A number of factors support smooth transition
Factors for Smooth Transition
Cognitive Attributes
 Effective planning & decision-making
 Information-gathering cognitive style
 Good school performance
 Knowledge of vocational options
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Factors for Smooth Transition (contd.)
Emotional & Social Attributes
 Self-esteem
 Self-regulation & flexible coping strategies
 Conflict-resolution skills
 Persistence and good use of time
 Healthy identity development
 Strong moral character
Factors for Smooth Transition (contd.)
Social Support
 From parents, teachers, peers and community
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