Adolescence:

Hormonal development influences the physical growth within adolescents. Growth

hormone production doubles during puberty. The growth hormone or GH is the only pituitary
secretion produced continuously throughout life which affects the development of all tissues
except the central nervous system and genitals. When the GH increases it contributes to
tremendous gains in body size. Testosterone, which is a male hormone, leads to muscle growth ,
body and facial hair, and other male characteristics. Other physical development may include a
height spurt, voice begins to deepen, and a strength spurt. Estrogen, which is released in girls
ovaries cause breasts, a uterus, and a vagina to mature. Estrogen also contributes to the menstrual
cycle of teen girls. Other physical development within girls may include a height spurt, peak
strength spurt, and peak weight spurt (Berk, Laura E. 2014 Child development 9th edition).
During puberty teenagers go through a grow spurt and begin to eat more food because of
rapid body growth. Most adolescence are most likely to skip meals, eat on the run, and consume
empty calories. Families need to be a part of their teenagers eating habits during meals so that
they don't eat so much fast food. Nutrition and exercise have an impact on when teenagers hit
puberty. In females, a rise in body weight and fat may trigger them to develop quicker sexual
maturation. Fat cells release a protein called leptin, which is believed to signal the brain that
girls energy stores are sufficient for puberty - a likely reason that breast and pubic hair growth
and menarche occur earlier for heavier and especially, obese girls. Girls that exercise often or
are actively involved in sports will mature sexually at a later. Studies have not been able to link
puberty to obesity in boys (Berk, Laura E. 2014 Child development 9th edition).

Children in adolescence from the ages of 11 years old to adulthood are pretty well
developed with their phonology, semantics, grammar, and pragmatics. The phonology that they
will still learn is to master syllable stress patterns of abstract words. The semantics that will
develop are comprehension of over 40,000 words which include many abstract terms. They will
understand subtle, nonliteral word meanings, as in sarcasm, irony, and proverbs. The
grammatical development will continue to refine complex grammatical structures. Pragmatics
will include the ability to communicate clearly and in accord with social expectations in divers
situations (Berk, Laura E. 2014 Child development 9th edition).
Adolescents begin to gain more diverse cognitive skills as they grow. They will begin to
gain speed in their thinking, attention, memory, planning, capacity to integrate information, and
regulation of cognition and emotion. A teenagers performance on task of self-restraint, planning,
and future orientation is not fully mature. There also begins to be a change within the social/
emotional development of an adolescent. They respond more strongly to stressful events and
experience more pleasurable stimuli because neurons become more responsive to excitatory
neurotransmitters. This imbalance is why adolescents have an imbalance that contributes to an
unchecked drive for novel experiences. This may include drug taking, sex, reckless driving, and
delinquent activities. This is particularly true for those teens that are highly stressed and engage
in reward seeking to counteract the chronic emotional pain (Berk, Laura E. 2014 Child
development 9th edition).
Adolescence have to deal with many social issues as they go through puberty and begin
to make a lot of their own choices. Teenagers with high social self-esteem seem to be

consistently liked by their peers. These teenagers seem to be well-adjusted, sociable, and
conscientious. Teenagers that have low self-esteem can be linked to a wide array of adjustment
difficulties. These teens are more likely to become anxious or depressed. Teens that are highly
concerned with social approval may be putting their self-esteem on the line. This can cause
frequent self-esteem shifts. Teenagers that have parents that are warm and accepting and provide
reasonable expectations for mature behavior feel good about themselves. These parents let their
adolescent children know that they are accepted as worthwhile and competent. On the other hand
parents that are too controlling communicate to their adolescent child that they are not capable of
making decisions which can cause a feeling of inadequacy. These parents can be linked to their
child having low self-esteem because they are repeatedly disapproving and inadequate to their
teenager. These teenagers may look to their peers for affirmation so that they feel self-worth.
This can lead to aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency (Berk, Laura E. 2014 Child
development 9th edition).
Emotionally adolescents need to have positive social networks. Adolescents begin to
learn identity versus identity fusion. Between the ages of 13 to 20 adolescents begin to answer
who am I? Most boys and girls will deal with delinquency and rebellion begins to flourish.
Self doubt begins to flood their emotions. Erikson believes that during successful early
adolescence, mature time perspective is developed; the young person acquires self-certainty as
opposed to self-consciousness and self-doubt. Later in this period of development adolescents
seek leadership. Adolescents may also, for the first time experience intimacy (Child
Development Institute Stages of Social-Emotional Development Erik Erikson http://
childdevelopmentinfo.com).

Clinical research has shown that children and adolescents with ADHD tend to have
significant emotional and behavioral problems. ADHD is diagnosed more often in males that in
females. In the general population the male-to-female population is four to one and in a clinical
setting of nine to one. Boys are rated to have more symptoms of hyperactivity. Youth with ADHD
tend to have more than one psychiatric disability. Of these children about 31.8% were diagnosed
with only ADHD, 39.9% were also diagnosed with operational defiant disorder, 38.7% were also
diagnosed with anxiety, and 14.3% with conduct disorder. Children with ADHD tend to have
more impairments across a variety of domains including behavioral functioning, social
functioning, academic functioning, and family functioning (Neece, Cameron L.; Baker, Bruce L.;
Crnic, Keith; Blancher, Jan 2012 Examining the Validity of ADHD as a Diagnosis for
Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities: Clinical Presentation www.proquest.com).
One of the most common atypical developmental issues that adolescent girls between the
ages of 14 to 16 deal with are eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa. These teens typically
starve themselves for the fear of getting fat, or becoming overweight. Boys account for 10-15
percent of anorexia cases. Adolescents that deal with anorexia have an extremely distorted body
image. They see themselves as overweight even when they have become extremely thin because
of the disorder. These individuals also exercise strenuously to enhance their weight loss. These
individuals will lose 25 to 50 percent of their body weight in these attempts. Malnutrition will
cause pale skin, brittle discolored nails, fine dark hairs all over the body, and extreme sensitivity
to cold. If adolescents continue with this disorder the heart muscle will begin to shrink, the
kidneys can fail, and irreversible brain damage and loss of bone mass can occur. About six

percent of individuals with anorexia nervosa die of the disorder because of physical
complications or suicide (Berk, Laura E. 2014 Child development 9th edition).
Cultural factors can play a big part on an adolescents self-esteem. Japanese and U.S.
childrens self-esteem seems to be lower than other cultures. Asian children value modesty,
competition in school is tougher, and their culture values social harmony. Because of these
factors Asian children rely less on social comparisons for their self-esteem. As far as gender in
adolescents goes girls feel less confident than boys about their physical abilities and physical
appearance. When it comes to academics boys self-esteem is higher than girls. Girls do test
higher in language arts and social acceptance. Boys also tend to score higher in science,
mathematics and physical athletics. It is perceived that a boys self-esteem is higher than a girls
(Berk, Laura E. 2014 Child development 9th edition).
Many adolescents are going through so many changes and begin to stray away from the
needs of their parents. Parents can support them by showing them comfort by letting them know
that you are always there for them. They may not want their parents within close proximity, but
they are comforted knowing that their parents is there for them. Adolescents who understand
their parents and trust their parent confidently move foreword towards early adulthood. These
securely attached adolescents do not avoid conflict, exploration and individuation, nor do they
push to independence without the support of her parents (Moretty, Marlene M., Peled, Maya
2004 Adolescent-parent attachment: Bonds that support healthy development http://
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) Parents can also be there for their adolescent child while they are
learning new social roles. The successful transition of adolescence is achieved through

attachment with parents and not detachment from parents.healthy transition to autonomy and
adulthood is facilitated by secure attachment and emotional connectedness with
parents.(Moretti, Marlene PhD; Peled, Maya MA 2004 Adolescent
ParentAttachment:Bondsthatsupport healthy development).