The Challenges of Change

371
Adolescence
The efforts of some parents to deemphasize gender roles in their children’s upbringing may be helping to reduce the size of gender differences in areas such as verbal and
quantitative skills. However, the evolutionary approach to psychology suggests that
other gender differences are unlikely to change much. These differences include males’
greater ability to visualize the rotation of objects in space and females’ greater ability
to read facial expressions. Evolutionary psychologists see these differences as deeply
rooted reflections of gender-related hunting versus child-rearing duties that were adaptive eons ago for the survival of both sexes (Buss, 2004). Others have suggested that
such differences result from prenatal exposure to male or female hormones that shape
brain development in different ways (Halpern, 1997). Still others see gender differences
as reflecting social inequality, not just biological destiny (Wood & Eagly, 2002).
Adolescence
䉴 What threatens adolescents’ self-esteem?
The years of middle childhood usually pass smoothly, as children busy themselves with
schoolwork, hobbies, friends, and clubs. But in adolescence, things change dramatically.
All adolescents undergo significant changes in size, shape, and physical capacities. In
Western cultures, many adolescents also experience huge changes in their social lives,
reasoning abilities, and views of themselves.
The Challenges of Change
puberty The condition of being able,
for the first time, to reproduce.
A sudden spurt in physical growth is a visible signal that adolescence has begun. This
growth spurt peaks at about age twelve for girls and at about age fourteen for boys
(Tanner, 1978; see Figure 9.7). Suddenly, adolescents find themselves in new bodies.
At the end of the growth spurt, menstruation begins in females, and live sperm are
produced in males. This condition of being able for the first time to reproduce is
called puberty.
In Western cultures, early adolescence (the period from age eleven to fourteen or so)
is filled with challenges. Sexual interest stirs, and there are opportunities to smoke,
drink alcohol, and take other drugs (Patton et al., 2004). All of this can be disorienting.
Adolescents—especially early-maturing girls—may experience bouts of depression and
other psychological problems (Ge, Conger, & Elder, 2001; Ohring, Graber, & BrooksGunn, 2002).
Some of these problems appear as adolescents begin to face challenges to their selfesteem, their sense of being worthy, capable, and deserving of respect (Harter, 2006).
Adolescents are especially vulnerable if other stressors occur at the same time (DuBois
et al., 1992; Kling et al., 1999). The switch from elementary school to middle school is
particularly challenging. Declining grades are especially likely among students who were
already having trouble in school or who don’t have confidence in their own abilities
(Rudolph et al., 2001). But grades do not affect self-esteem in all teens; many base their
self-esteem primarily on what others think of them or on other social factors that might
affect their feelings of self-worth (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001).
The changes and pressures of adolescence are often played out at home. Many
teenagers become discontented with their parents’ rules and values, leading to arguments over everything from taking out the garbage to who left the gallon of milk on
top of the refrigerator. Serious conflicts may lead to serious problems, including running away, pregnancy, stealing, drug taking, or even suicide—especially among teens
who do not feel close to their parents (Blum, Beuhring, & Rinehart, 2000; Goldstein,
Davis-Kean, & Eccles, 2005). Fortunately, although the bond with parents weakens
during the transition from early to mid-adolescence, most adolescents and young
adults maintain reasonably good relationships with their parents (van Wel, ter Bogt, &
Raaijmakers, 2002). In fact, research suggests that in Western cultures, more than half
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Chapter 9
FIGURE
Human Development
9.7
Physical Changes in Adolescence
At about ten and a half years of age, girls begin their growth spurt, and by age twelve, they are taller than their male peers. When boys, at
about twelve and a half years of age, begin their growth spurt, they usually grow faster and for a longer period of time than girls. Adolescents
may grow as much as five inches a year. The development of sexual characteristics accompanies these changes in height. The ages at which
these changes occur vary considerably across individuals, but the sequence of changes is the same.
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Age (in years)
15
16
17
18
3
2
1
8
9
10
11
12
13
Penis adult size;
mature pubic hair
Testes adult size
Mature breasts
1
First ovulation
Mature pubic hair
2
Pubic hair appearing
Underarm hair appearing
First menstruation
3
Peak of
growth spurt
First ejaculation
Underarm, facial hair appearing;
voice deepening
Peak of
growth spurt
Testes enlarging
Pubic hair appearing
Penis enlarging
Height increase per year (in inches)
BOYS
Breast buds appearing
Uterine and vaginal
changes beginning
Height increase per year (in inches)
GIRLS
14
15
16
17
18
Age (in years)
of today’s teens find early adolescence relatively trouble free (Arnett, 1999); only about
15 percent of the adolescents studied experience serious turmoil.
Love and Sex in Adolescence Surveys suggest that nearly half of fifteen-year-olds
and 70 percent of eighteen-year-olds have romantic relationships (Carver, Joyner, &
Udry, 2003) and that by age sixteen almost half of North America’s young people have
had sexual intercourse (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, 2002). Teens who have sex differ from those who do not in a number of
ways. They hold less conventional attitudes and values, and they are more likely to
smoke, drink alcohol, and use other drugs (National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse, 2004). They also have more unsupervised time after school (Cohen et al., 2002),
and they are more likely to have sexually active best friends (Jaccard, Blanton, & Dodge,
2005). Their parents tend to be less educated, less likely to exert control over them, and
less likely to talk openly with them. The typical pairing of sexually active teens is a
“macho” male and a “girly” female (Udry & Chantala, 2003). Adolescents who displayed
poorer self-control skills as children are the ones most likely to take greater sexual risks,
such as having multiple partners and not using condoms (Raffaelli & Crockett, 2003).
Too often, sexual activity leads to declining school achievement and interest, sexually transmitted diseases, and unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. Teenagers have the
highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases (such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and pelvic
inflammatory disease) of any age group (National Center for Health Statistics, 2000;
Ross, 2002). One-fifth of all AIDS cases start in adolescence, and although teenage pregnancy rates have been declining of late, nearly 9 percent of all teenage girls in the United
States get pregnant before they reach age nineteen (National Center for Health Statistics, 2003; Starkman & Rajani, 2002). The teens most likely to become pregnant are
those with little confidence in themselves or in their educational futures (Young et al.,
2004). More than half of the U.S. adolescents who become pregnant elect to keep their
babies and become single mothers.
A teenage pregnancy can create problems for the mother, the baby, and others in the
family. Teenage parents tend to be less positive and stimulating with their children than