Invitation to Psychology

ChapTer 3 Development Over the Life Span 103

© The New Yorker Collection 2001 Barbara Smaller from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.

Peers become especially important to ado-

lescents because they represent the values and

style of the generation that teenagers identify

with, the generation that they will share experi-

ences with as adults (Bukowski, 2001; Harris,

2009). Many people report that feeling rejected

by their peers when they were teenagers was

more devastating than punitive treatment by

parents. According to a government-sponsored

review of whether and how online technolo-

gies affect child safety, the most frequent dan-

gers that teenagers face on the Internet are

not pornography or even predatory adults, and

definitely not sexting. “Bullying and harassment,

most often by peers, are the most frequent

threats that minors face, both online and of-

fline,” the report found (Berkman Center for

Internet & Society, 2008).

Adolescents who are lonely, depressed, wor-

ried, or angry tend to express these concerns in

ways characteristic of their sex. Boys are more

likely than girls to externalize their emotional

problems in acts of aggression and other anti-

social behavior; the great majority of the mass

shootings in schools and other public places

have been committed by teenage or young-adult

males. Girls are more likely than boys to inter-

nalize their feelings and problems by becom-

ing withdrawn, blaming themselves for what-

ever goes wrong, or developing eating disorders

(Wicks-Nelson & Israel, 2003). In general, girls

are more dissatisfied than boys with their bod-

ies and general appearance; boys are more dis-

satisfied than girls with their social behavior at

school and with friends (Gentile et al., 2009).

Keep in mind that the “psychology of ado-

lescence” depends profoundly on the larger cul-

ture in which teenagers live. During the 1960s

and early 1970s, a period of great social upheaval

during which many teenagers rebelled against

their parents’ lives and values, some observers

wrote as if teenage rebellion were a universal,

biologically driven phase; today, most teenagers

remain close to their parents and see no reason

to rebel against them.

Recite & Review

Recite: State out loud all you remember about adrenarche, puberty, menarche, the psychology

of adolescence, the biology of the adolescent brain, and the kinds of problems more common in

adolescence than in childhood or adulthood.

Review: Next, reread this section.

now take this Quick Quiz:

1. What is the difference between puberty and adolescence?


2. Extreme turmoil and rebellion in adolescence are (a) nearly universal, (b) the exception rather
   than the rule, (c) rare.


3. What changes occur in the brain during adolescence?
   Answers:

Study and Review at MyPsychLab

Puberty refers to the physiological process of sexual maturation; adolescence is a social category marking the years 1.

pruning of synapses, myelinization, and strengthening of connections between 3. b 2. between puberty and adulthood.

the emotional parts of the brain and the prefrontal cortex

“So I blame you for everything—whose fault is that?”