Chapter 10:
Early Adolescence
(12 – 18 years)
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Chapter Objectives
– To describe the patterns of physical
maturation during puberty for females and
males, including an analysis of the impact of
early and late maturing on self-concept and
social relationships
– To introduce the basic features of formal
operational thought, highlighting the new
conceptual skills that emerge and factors that
promote the development of formal
operational thought
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Chapter Objectives (cont.)
– To examine patterns of emotional
development in early adolescence, including
three examples of emotional disorders: eating
disorders, delinquency, and depression
– To describe the further evolution of peer
relations in early adolescence, especially the
formation of cliques and crowds, and to
contrast the impact of parents and peers
during this stage
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Chapter Objectives (cont.)
– To characterize the development of sexuality
with a special focus on the transition to coitus,
the formation of a sexual orientation, and a
detailed review of the factors associated with
pregnancy and parenthood in adolescence
– To describe the psychosocial crisis of early
adolescence of group identity versus
alienation; the central process through which
the crisis is resolved, peer pressure, the prime
adaptive ego quality of fidelity to others, and
the core pathology of isolation
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Chapter Objectives (cont.)
– To review the patterns of adolescent alcohol
and drug use and the factors associated with
their use and abuse within a psychosocial
framework
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Physical Maturation
– Early adolescence begins with the onset of
puberty and ends with graduation from high
school (roughly age 18)
– Secondary sex characteristics are the
physical characteristics, other than genital,
that indicate sexual maturity, such as body
hair, breasts, and deepened voice
– Adaptation at puberty requires an integration
of biological, psychological, and social
changes
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Physical Maturation (cont.)
– The degree to which one’s body matches the
desired or socially valued body build of the
culture influences social acceptance by peers
and adults
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Case Study: Carly Patterson
– Thought Questions
• Thinking about the world of competitive athletics,
what are some examples of how the physical
changes of puberty might open up new
opportunities for adolescents? How might the
physical changes of puberty reduce opportunities?
• How does Carly’s case illustrate the interaction of
biological, psychological, and societal systems?
• How might a training program interact with the
changes of puberty to promote athletic ability?
What might be the risks of too much training or
poor training at this age?
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Case Study: Carly Patterson (cont.)
– Thought Questions (cont.)
• What personal, emotional, and intellectual
attributes do you think are necessary in order to
function as a world-class athlete? How likely is it
that a person in early adolescence has these
attributes?
• What messages might someone like Carly be able
to convey to other adolescents about health and
physical development in early adolescence?
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Physical Changes in Girls
– Concerns about obesity: the greatest concern
girls express about their bodies is the
perception they are too fat and may result in
peer rejection
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Physical Changes in Girls (cont.)
– Reactions to Breast Development and
Menarche
• The development of breast buds is a welcome sign
for most girls but menarche is associated with a
mix of positive and negative feelings
• Menarche: beginning of regular menstrual periods
• Although most girls are prepared by their mothers
for menstruation, the topic is often handled as a
matter hygiene rather than as a sexual transition
and therefore many girls do not understand the
relation of menstruation to reproduction
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Physical Changes in Boys
– Boys generally welcome the changes
involving increased height and muscle mass
that bring them one step closer to adult
maturity
– Boys are generally not well prepared by their
parents with information on maturation of their
reproductive organs
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
Figure 10.1 The Relationship of Body Image to Eating Disorders
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Physical Maturation: The Secular Trend &
Individual Differences in Maturation Rate
– A secular growth trend is a decrease over
time in the average age at which physical
maturation takes place
– Changes in hygiene, nutrition, and health care
have contributed to an earlier growth spurt
over the past century
– The age at onset of puberty and the rate of
change in physical maturation vary
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Physical Maturation: The Secular Trend &
Individual Differences in Maturation Rate (cont.)
– Early and late maturing have psychological
and social consequences for both boys and
girls
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Piaget’s Theory of Formal Operational Thought
– Early adolescents begin to think about the
world in new ways, as thoughts become more
abstract
– Thinking becomes more reflective, and
adolescents are increasingly aware of their
own thoughts as well as the accuracy or
inaccuracy of their knowledge
– Formal operations are complex cognitive
capacities such as reasoning, hypothesis
generating, and hypothesis testing
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Piaget’s Theory of Formal Operational Thought
(cont.)
– Young people use operations to manipulate
and modify thoughts and other mental
operations
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Formal Operations: Egocentrism & Decentering
– Egocentrism is the perception of one’s self at
the center of the world; the view that others
and events based their behavior on or occur
as a result of one’s own perceptions
• In the sensorimotor phase, egocentrism appears
as an inability to separate one’s actions from their
effects on specific objects or people
• In the phase of preoperational thought,
egocentrism is manifested in an ability to separate
one’s own perspective from that of the listener
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Formal Operations: Egocentrism & Decentering
(cont.)
– Egocentrism is the perception of one’s self at
the center of the world; the view that others
and events based their behavior on or occur
as a result of one’s own perceptions (cont.)
• The third phase of heightened egocentrism occurs
in the transition from concrete to formal operational
thought. As children develop the capacity to
formulate hypothetical systems, they begin to
generate assumptions about their own and other’s
behavior that will fit into these systems
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Formal Operations: Egocentrism & Decentering
(cont.)
– Decentering is gaining some objectivity over
one’s own point of view; reducing the
dominance of one’s subjective perspective in
the interpretation of events
– Two characteristics of egocentrism that may
affect adolescents social interactions and
problem solving
• Preoccupation with their own thoughts
• Belief that others are also preoccupied with their
thoughts
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Formal Operations: Egocentrism & Decentering
(cont.)
– Personal Fable: an intense investment in
one’s own thoughts and feelings, and a belief
that these thoughts are unique
– Imaginary Audience: adolescents assume that
they are the center of interest in others’
thoughts and attentions
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Formal Operations: Factors that Promote Formal
Operational Thought
– Early adolescents begin to function in a
variety of relationships that place both
compatible and conflicting demands on them
– Adolescent’s participation in a more
heterogeneous peer group
– Content of high school curriculum
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Formal Operations: Criticism of the Concept of
Formal Operations
– Some scholars question whether there really
is a qualitative, stage-like consolidation in the
use of formal reasoning
– Formal reasoning is not broad enough to
encompass the many dimensions along which
cognitive functioning matures in adolescence
– Some scholars claim that formal operational
thought does not represent the apex or end
point of adult thought and reasoning
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development
– Descriptions of adolescence often refer to
new levels of emotional variability, moodiness,
and emotional outbursts
– Some researchers have questioned whether
adolescence really brings the peaks and
valley of emotional intensity that are
stereotypically linked to this time of life
– Given the likelihood of a more differentiated
range of emotions during adolescence, a
major task during this time is to gain a
tolerance of one’s emotionality
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Eating Disorders
– Origins of eating disorders are not fully
understood. A preoccupation with body
appearance may be provoked by the relatively
rapid physical changes associated with
puberty
– Because of the seriousness and widespread
nature of eating disorders, public health
experts are working to create a more positive
acceptance of people of various body types
and shapes, with less focus on thinness
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Eating Disorders
(cont.)
– Eating disorders are an example of
internalizing problems, turning one’s
frustration, anger, or fear inward on the self
– Anorexia is characterized by a fear of gaining
weight, refusal to maintain a minimally normal
body weight, and perceptions of one’s body
as overweight in general or in specific area
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Eating Disorders
(cont.)
– Bulimia involves spurts of binging and
overeating followed by the use of different
strategies to prevent the absorption of food,
such as induced vomiting, the use of
laxatives, or strenuous exercise
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Delinquency
– Delinquency is an example of externalizing
problems, related to difficulties in controlling
or regulating one’s impulses
– Status offenses are offenses such as truancy,
running away, or underage drinking
– For some adolescents, committing several
delinquent acts weakens the ability to impose
social constraints on such behavior, and their
involvement in delinquency intensifies
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Delinquency (cont.)
– Since many young people now carry some
type of weapon with them, especially knives
and guns, questions are raised about the
emotional correlates to this type of behavior
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Depression
– Depression is a state of feeling sad, often
accompanied by feelings of low personal
worth and withdrawal from relationships with
others
– Depressed mood refers to feelings of
sadness, a loss of hope, a sense of being
overwhelmed by the demands of the world,
and general unhappiness
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Depression (cont.)
– Depressive syndrome refers to a constellation
of behaviors and emotions that occur
together. The syndrome usually includes
complaints about feeling depressed, anxious,
fearful, worried, guilty, and worthless
– Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by
a person who has experienced five or more
symptoms for at least two weeks
• Depressed mood or irritable mood most of the day
• Decreased interest in pleasurable activities
• Changes in weight or perhaps failure to make
necessary weight gains in adolescence
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Depression (cont.)
– Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by
a person who has experienced five or more
symptoms for at least two weeks (cont.)
• Sleep problems
• Psychomotor agitation or retardation
• Fatigue or loss of energy; feeling of worthlessness
or abnormal amounts of guilt
• Reduced concentration and decision-making ability
• Repeated suicidal ideation, attempts, or plans of
suicide
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Factors Associated
with Adolescent Depression
– Adolescents face a number of challenges that
make them vulnerable to depression
– Parental loss or rejection has been found to
increase an adolescent’s vulnerability to
depression
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Factors Associated
with Adolescent Depression (cont.)
– Adolescents are often exposed to more
negative events and hassles than are younger
children: social alienation, excessive
demands, romantic concerns, decisions about
one’s personal future, loneliness and
unpopularity, assorted annoyances and
concerns, social mistreatment, and academic
challenges
– Adolescents are relatively inexperienced in
coping with these kind of stressors
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Emotional Development: Gender Differences in
Depression
– Most studies find no differences in depression
between prepubescent boys and girls
– However, during the period from about age 11
to 15, gender differences are systematically
noted and continue to be evident into
adulthood with depression more common in
females than males
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Membership in the Peer Group: Cliques and
Crowds
– Before adolescence, it is important to have
friends but not so important to be a member
of a group
• Cliques are small friendship groups of 5 to 10
friends and these groups provide the framework for
frequent interactions both within school and in the
neighborhood
• Crowd refers to a large group that is usually
recognized by a few predominant characteristics,
such as their orientation toward academics,
involvement in athletics, use of drugs, or
involvement in deviant behavior
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Membership in the Peer Group: Cliques and
Crowds (cont.)
– Popularity and acceptance during high school
may be based on one or more of the
following: good looks, athletic ability, social
class, academic performance, future goals,
affiliation with a religious, racial, or ethnic
group, special talents, involvement with drugs
or deviant behavior, general alienation from
school
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Membership in the Peer Group: Peer Group
Boundaries and Norms
– Membership in cliques is relatively stable, but
always vulnerable to change
– Important skills that are learned by becoming
a member of a peer group are the
assessment of group structure and the
selection of the particular group or groups
with which one would like to affiliate
– Membership in an adolescent peer group is a
forerunner of membership in an adult social
group
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Membership in the Peer Group: Parents and
Peers
– Under optimal conditions, the increasingly
important role of peer relationships in early
adolescence takes place against a
background of continuing close, supportive
relationships with family members
– Adolescents describe a variety of overt signs
of independence from their families
– Conflict with parents increases during
adolescence
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Membership in the Peer Group: Parents and
Peers (cont.)
– The quality of the home environment affects
membership in peer groups as well, especially
parenting practices and the quality of parentchild interactions
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: The Transition into
Sexualized Relationships
– Most young people are involved in a variety of
romantic relationship during adolescence,
including dating, feeling of tenderness and
love, and deepening commitments
– Dating relationships provide the initial context
for most sexual activity
– First intercourse or the transition into sexual
activity may take place in very different
contexts
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: The Transition into
Sexualized Relationships (cont.)
– Usually the earlier the transition into sexual
activity and intercourse, the more likely the
act is to be part of a profile of high-risk
behaviors, including alcohol use, drug use,
and delinquent activity
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
Figure 10.4 Lifetime Sexual Activity Among Students in Grades 9-12 by
Sex, Grade Level, Race, and Ethnic Origin: United States, 1999
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
Figure 10.5 A Model of Transition to First Coitus in Early Adolescence
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: Sexual Orientation
– One might assume that sexual orientation
(heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual)
begins to take shape in early adolescence,
however the research on this point suggests
an earlier and more differentiated path
– For sexual–minority youth, two aspects of a
sexual orientation have been identified:
• Self-labeling: applying a label such as gay, lesbian,
or bisexual to one-self
• Disclosure: sharing this information with others
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: Problems and Conflicts
Associated with Sexuality
– The sexual system is one of the most
problematic components of psychosocial
development for young people in the United
States
– Most parents do not feel comfortable
discussing sexuality with their children
– Sexually Transmitted Disease
• About 25% of sexually active teens contract a
sexually transmitted disease each year
• Teens are especially at risk for chlamydia, genital
herpes, and gonorrhea
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: Problems and Conflicts
Associated with Sexuality (cont.)
– Unwanted sexual attention
• Often teens do no find the emotional closeness
and understanding they may seek in a sexually
intimate relationship
• Many instances of unwanted sexual contact occur
on the first date or in a dating relationship
• The lack of supervision and monitoring by adults
as well as the lack of opportunity to talk about
sexuality with them can place adolescents at risk
for early sexual experiences that are abusive or
associated with negative feelings
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: Problems and Conflicts
Associated with Sexuality (cont.)
– Contraception
• In spite of the fact that many parents and teachers
do not provide information about the use of
contraceptives as part of their education about sex
and sexual behavior, the use of contraceptives by
U.S. teens has increased
• The use of contraceptives is associated with
religious beliefs, family attitudes and behaviors,
and peer norms
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: Parenthood in Early
Adolescence
– Consequences of teenage pregnancy
• Poverty
• Increased risk of child abuse
• Increase risk of birth complications associated with
lack of prenatal care
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: Parenthood in Early
Adolescence (cont.)
– Adolescent fathers
• There is growing concern about adolescent fathers
• While most fathers of babies born to teen mothers
are within 2 years of the mother’s age, about 20%
are 5 or more years older than the mother
• Contrary to the stereotype, many fathers remain in
contact with the mother and child in the first
months after the birth
• By the time the children are in school, contact
drops off
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Sexual Relationships: Parenthood in Early
Adolescence (cont.)
– Adolescent fathers (cont.)
• Fathering a child is bound to stimulate conflicting
feelings of pride, guilt, and anxiety in the
adolescent boy
• Little systematic research has been done on the
attitudes, knowledge, or behaviors of adolescent
fathers or the impact of fatherhood on a teenage
boy’s subsequent development
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• The Psychosocial Crisis: Group Identity Versus
Alienation
– Group Identity: positive pole of the
psychosocial crises in which the person finds
membership in and value convergence with a
peer group
– Cognitive processes that support group
identity formation
• Group representations
• Group operations
• Reflective thinking about groups
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• The Psychosocial Crisis: Group Identity Versus
Alienation (cont.)
– Four Dimensions of Group Identity
• Categorizing people and recognizing distinguishing
features of group members
• Experiencing a sense of history as a member of a
group
• Emotional investment in the group
• Social evaluation of one’s group and its relation to
other groups
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• The Psychosocial Crisis: Group Identity Versus
Alienation (cont.)
– Alienation: withdrawal or separation of people
or their affections from an object or position of
former attachment
• The contribution of alienation to group identity and
individual identity is important
• A period of feeling alone and lonely may help
teens appreciate how good social acceptance feels
and how important it is for their well-being
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• The Central Process: Peer Pressure
– Peer pressure: a demand for conformity to
group norms and a demonstration of
commitment and loyalty
– Peer pressure is often used with a negative
connotation
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• The Central Process: Peer Pressure (cont.)
– Peer pressure can highlight the emerging role
of the peer group in the radius of significant
others
• Affiliating with a Peer Group – provides the context
within which the crises of group identity versus
alienation is resolved
• Conflicts Between Belonging and Personal
Autonomy – peer groups do not command total
conformity, most depend on the unique
characteristics of their members to lend definition
and vigor to the roles that emerge within them
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• The Central Process: Peer Pressure (cont.)
– Peer pressure can highlight the emerging role
of the peer group in the radius of significant
others (cont.)
• Ethnic-Group Identity – knowing that one is a
member of a certain ethnic group; recognizing that
aspects of one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions
are influenced by ethnic membership; and taking
the ethnic-group values, outlook, and the goals into
account when making life choices
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• The Prime Adaptive Ego Quality and the Core
Pathology
– Fidelity to Others: the ability to freely pledge
and sustain loyalties to others; the ability to
freely pledge and sustain loyalties to values
and ideologies
– Dissociation: a sense of separateness or
withdrawal from others; an inability to
experience the bond of mutual commitment
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Applied Topic: Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use
– Factors Associated with Alcohol Use
• Physical Effects of Alcohol: Death may result from
chugging, when combined with other drugs, and
when driving under the influence
• Assessment of Risk: Adolescents do not view
alcohol drinking as risky and may use it as
sensation seeking behavior
• Reference Groups: Two reference groups that
influence the acceptability of drinking and the
manner in which alcohol is consumed are the
family and the peer group
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
• Applied Topic: Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use
(cont.)
– Early entry into alcohol and drug use
• Children who perceived that many of their friends
had been drinking and experienced peer pressure
to drink were more likely to drink
• Children who were in classrooms where a larger
number of children reported drinking were also at
greatest risk of drinking
• Perceptions of the amount of drinking that
occurred in the family were also an important
predictor of early alcohol use
Early Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
Figure 10.6 Trends in Lifetime Prevalence of an Illicit Drug Use Index
for Twelfth-Graders