PUBERTY

Adolescence 1Defining AdolescenceThe years spent morphing from child to adult.

Starts with the physical beginnings of sexual maturity and ends with the social achievement of independent adult status.

Is adolescence a true concept in our culture? In other cultures?

2Your Thoughts?The timing of puberty can be socially and psychologically important. In Western Cultures, early puberty in males is viewed as desirable. Boys who go through puberty early are viewed as being more competent and receive more attention from girls and athletic coaches. Early puberty in girls is not always advantageous. Girls often feel awkward if they mature too early, and many early-blooming girls will become sexually active earlier than their later-maturing peers.3Your Thoughts, Once AgainFrontal lobe maturation lags the emotional limbic system. Pubertys hormonal surge and limbic system help explains teens occasional impulsiveness, risky behaviors, emotional stormsslamming doors and turning up the music. No wonder younger teens (whose unfinished frontal lobes arent yet fully equipped for making long term plans and controlling impulses) so often succumb to the lure of smoking, which most adult smokers could tell them they will later regret. Teens actually dont underestimate the risks of smoking, or driving fast, or unprotected sexthey just, when reasoning from the gut, weight the benefits more heavily.4In FactIn 2004, the American Psychological Association joined seven other medical and mental health associations in filing U.S. Supreme Court briefs, arguing against the death penalty for 16 and 17 year-olds.

They cited the brains immaturity in areas involving decision making as one of their primary arguments. 5Lets Take A Minute

Write down 10 answers to the question Who Am I listing only things that if lost, would make a real difference in your sense of identity. EXyour roles and responsibilities, groups that you belong to, beliefs, personality traits, needs, feelings, and/or behavior patterns.

6On a piece of scrap paperWhat would life be like if those things listed were no longer truefor example would the loss of a parent mean something different if you had written down son or daughter?

After you have looked at the items this way, order your list in terms of importance.7Are teens happy with their lives?81% of American teens that were polled said that I would choose my life the way it is right now?

Is that surprising to you?8Relating EriksonWe can agree about how easy it is to vividly picture identity v. role confusion?

But also, Erikson discussed the importance of intimacy at the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood. Erikson said, with a clear and comfortable sense of who you are, you are ready to form close relationships. Such relationships for most of us are a great sense of pleasure.9Rites of PassageThink of some adolescent rites of passage10Questions For DiscussionWhat factors have contributed to earlier physical development in teens?

What impact has early sexual development had on society?

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