Adolescent Development

[julesmichalakis]

[julesmichalakis]

There were days throughout my adolescence that I recall going through every emotion possible. I thought this picture matched that well.  

[julesmichalakis]

This picture made me laugh and reminded me of how I felt and must have come across in my early adolescent years. At one stage I got heavily into heavy metal and dressing in tie dyed skirts and doc' martin boots with Pantera t'shirts. Must have been a real shock for my family who were/are really conservative and quiet. A few years later I was back to my old self wearing pinks and jeans PHEW!! 

[rosebud890-deactivated20141205]

Depression in adolescence is a very real issue. This small cartoon by Cara Bean (who also has some more cartoons on this topic), shows some facts about depression in adolescence. Depression can affect all areas of an adolescents life and can have serious consequences for development, and it is sad to think that many adolescence will experience depression at some stage.

[julesmichalakis]

A dear friend of mine committed suicide in his teens, so sad wish there was more out there that we could do as a nation. 

[shelly39nz]

[gblackadolescentdevelopment-blog]

This is so important in recognizing. Young girls grow up idolizing Barbie, when they reach adolescent’s they still picture Barbie as a inspiring figure. This is sad, when Barbie is made into a women that wouldn’t even fit into society. 

[julesmichalakis]

I agree with the comment made about barbie and how disproportioned she  is. 

[youthourfuture]

Just an interesting experiment. I typed in teens in 1970 into Google images and it came up with the first image. Then I typed in teens in 2014 which produced the second image. A real sign of our changing times, not necessarily bad, but it is important that we teach our young people about balance.

[exploringadolescentdevelopment]

Wow quite a confronting image of how the times have changed!

[julesmichalakis]

Critical thinking.

[julesmichalakis]

If only decision making as an adolescent was this straight forward! 

[christinefrances12]

[julesmichalakis]

Times are changing in the classroom that's for sure. No more lines of desks all facing a blackboard. It interested me that all the children shared a common area and were not even divided into classrooms. 

[anniemjc]

[anniemjc]

I know a big party of my adolescence was partying…probably my most vivid memory of going through adolescence was the parties and organising them/sneaking out and binge drinking. It’s worrying how young it starts in NZ I think.

[julesmichalakis]

Yip binge drinking was a huge part of my adolescence too. Scary to think how much I would drink in one night out! Don't even want to think about the damage that was done to my brain. 

[julesmichalakis]

Attention - concentration and focusing of mental effort.

Selective attention: focusing on only the parts one chooses.

Divided attention: concentrating on more than one activity at a time.

Sustained attention: concentrating on one thing for a decent amount of time.

Executive attention: being aware and focusing on goals, error detection and compensation, monitoring progress on tasks, dealing with different types of circumstances. 

Santrock, 2013, pg103

[xadolescentdevelopmentx]

[julesmichalakis]

This made me laugh. So true!

[gblackadolescentdevelopment-blog]

Peer pressure in teen’s is highly inevitable. Teens are influenced by who and what they are surrounded by. Throughout adolescence many teen’s engage themselves in behavior  that is usually out of character. Through consequences of positive or negative impact adolescents learn from their experiences. The learning experience is what impacts how the adolescent will react to a situation in the future. 

[jennamidd]

So dam true!! So sad that a lot of adolescences are caught up in this type of pressure.  

[exploringadolescentdevelopment]

Ah this is so true, brings back memories of the feeling of trying to fit in/be cool/do what others are doing. Hopefully soon smoking will be considered uncool and gross among teenagers!

[shirley-thorby-blog-deactivated]

Yeah this was my experience as well. I remember smoking at school because I wanted to fit in, it tasted discusting, and I was really scared of getting caught, but such was the pull of wanting to fit in.

[julesmichalakis]

Yes I too think this was so true for many of us going up. 

[julesmichalakis]

Risk-Taking Behaviour

Looking back at my adolescence years and after reading about risk-taking behaviour I realised within my own actions as an adolescent how often I took risks and they are things that I would never do today as an adult. I remember 'teaching' my girlfriend how to drive. I myself was on a restricted licence and was barely even legal to drive myself. We were terribly reckless and that day we crashed pretty badly!! I also remember walking through parks in the middle of the night, walking home in the early hours of the morning alone things that now I could never bring myself to do! Drinking other peoples drinks at the bar and certainly not keeping an eye on my own drink when out partying. Risk-taking behaviour was something that came so easily and at the time didn't even come across as risky just apart of being an adolescence. I am dreading my daughter going through this stage!! 

[julesmichalakis]

The Major Endocrine Glands Involved in Pubertal Change

Hypothalamus: found in the brain, monitors the bodies regulation of hormones.

Pituitary: stimulates other glands by producing hormones. Aids in growth by producing growth hormones.

Thyroid gland: Helps to influence growth.

Adrenal gland: likely plays a role but little is known about it. 

The gonads, or sex glands: testes in males, ovaries in females. Strongly involves in the characteristics of things like facial hair in males and breast development in females. Estogens in females. Androgens in males. Testosterone in males and estradial in females.

Santrock, pg 52, 2013

[babystanley15-deactivated201410]

Here is a short (5min) clip about puberty. I think it is great that there are videos out there to educate children about puberty. I remember being in primary school (12 years old) and watching short films about puberty and anatomy of both genders. Personally?, puberty didn’t really begin until about 12 years of age. I didn’t think it was horrible, there was the normal developmental stages, acne, period, developing breasts. To be honest, i think i still look the same at that age! 

[julesmichalakis]

This clip is hilarious! Thanks for sharing!  

[teenageyears-thebestandworst]

Hmmm … this gets me thinking …

I think it would have to be in my 5th form year at high school. My parents separated for some time and in the peak of my teenage years at 15 on top of all the challenges, struggles, high times and low times … I found myself as my parents counsellor.

I remember it...

[julesmichalakis]

This post makes me even more determined to keep adult topics for adults and keep kids out of it as much as possible. Kids are exposed to so much these days they need to be encouraged to stay kids for as long as possible without growing up so fast.