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 7.0 - Development 2: Adolescence to the End of Life

7.1 Adolescence

Adolescence is a time of dramatic physiological change and social-role development. In Western societies, it is the transition between childhood and adulthood that typically spans ages twelve to twenty. Although most major physical changes take place during the �rst few years of adolescence, important and often profound changes in behavior and expectations occur throughout the period.

By cross-cultural standards, the prolonged period of adolescence in America and other modern Western societies is unusual. In many nonindustrial societies, adolescence is considered to be either nonexistent or nothing more than a period of rapid physical changes leading to sexual maturity. In such societies, some sort of “rite of passage” often marks the transition from childhood to adulthood (Dunham et al., 1986). Early in the 1900s, before schooling requirements were extended through high school, children were often expected to join the workforce when they became teenagers.

Our society has no single initiation rite that signals passage into adulthood. Instead, a variety of signposts may herald this transition, including graduation from high school or college, moving away from home, securing a full-time job, or establishing an intimate, monogamous relationship.

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Just as there is no one rite of passage into adulthood, in many ways there is no typical adolescence. Much has been written about the many con�icts and dilemmas faced by teenagers. However, the teenage years can also be a rewarding, relaxing, and exciting time of life, free from the stresses and responsibilities that come with adulthood. For most of us, adolescence probably varied between being a time of anxiety and stress and a time of freedom and optimism—depending on what day we were asked. Although we cannot describe a typical adolescence, we can describe some of the common physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes that most teenagers experience.

7.1a Physical Development During Adolescence

Puberty (from the Latin pubescere, “to be covered with hair”) describes the approximately two-year period of rapid physical changes that culminate in sexual maturity. In our society, the onset of puberty in girls generally occurs sometime between ages seven and fourteen, with the average about age ten. Boys typically enter puberty two years later at about age twelve, with a normal range of nine to sixteen years. Page 302 Back to top 

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Key term: Puberty Approximately two-year period of rapid physical changes that occurs sometime between ages seven and sixteen in our society and that culminates in sexual maturity

Physical Changes During Puberty

As we saw in Chapter 6, the �rst few years of life are marked by rapid growth. With adolescence, children enter a second period of accelerated growth, often called the adolescent growth spurt, which usually runs its course in the two years following the onset of puberty. Sexual maturity is reached soon after the growth spurt ends.

Key term: adolescence A period of transition from childhood to adulthood beginning around puberty and extending to adulthood (typically the teenage years, from thirteen to twenty years of age)

Key term: adolescent growth spurt Period of accelerated growth that usually occurs within about two years after the onset of puberty

The physical changes that occur during puberty are quite dramatic and rapid. Suddenly, the body a person has inhabited for years undergoes a mysterious transformation. What causes these changes? One important factor is a genetically determined timetable that causes the pituitary gland to release a growth hormone that triggers the rapid growth that takes place at the start of adolescence. The hypothalamus also increases production of chemicals that stimulate the pituitary to release larger amounts of gonadotropins—hormones that stimulate production of testosterone in men and estrogen in women. The resulting developments (breasts; deepened voice; and facial, body, and pubic hair) are called secondary sex characteristics. The timetable that governs these processes may also be in�uenced by environmental factors as well as by an individual’s health.

Key term: gonadotropins Hormones released by the pituitary gland that stimulate production of testosterone in men and estrogen in women

Key term: secondary sex characteristics Physical characteristics typical of mature males or females (such as facial, body, and pubic hair) that develop during puberty as a result of the release of testosterone or estrogen

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During adolescence, children’s bodies experience a growth spurt, which usually runs its course in two years. The onset of puberty can be dramatic; some may gain muscle tone or experience changes in metabolism and body type. Sometimes these changes can be desirable, but not always.

There is considerable variation in the rates of growth and development in different societies around the world. We cannot be certain about what causes these changes in human physical growth patterns (including height, weight, and rates of maturation) measured in sample populations throughout the world. However, the most likely cause is the improved standard of living in societies where these changes have been observed.

Effects of Early and Late Maturation

Adolescents are often very concerned with what other people think of them, and anything that sets them apart from the crowd is likely to have a notable impact on their psychosocial adjustment. Thus, it is not surprising that being either the �rst or the last to go through puberty can cause a good deal of self-consciousness. The timing of physical and sexual maturity may also have an important in�uence on psychosocial adjustment, especially for males.

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A number of studies have shown that early maturation often holds some advantages for boys. Males who mature early tend to be more poised, easygoing, and good-natured; they are also more likely to be school leaders, better at sports, more popular, and more

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successful academically (and later vocationally). However, those maturing early may �nd it dif�cult to live up to expectations that they should act mature just because they happen to have adult-like bodies. In addition, being thrust into adolescence at an early age shortens the period of transition from childhood. Early maturing boys tend to be more bound by rules and routines, more conventional in career and lifestyle choices, more cautious, and more inclined to worry about what other people think of them.

In general, late-maturing boys are more likely to be inappropriately aggressive and rebellious against adult authority; they may also lack self-con�dence, feeling inadequate and insecure. On the other hand, late-maturing males tend to be more �exible during their youth and more insightful, independent, and less bound to conventional lifestyles and routines later on. A few of the differences between early and late-maturing boys may persist into the adult years, but most disappear or are compensated for by the development of other traits.

For girls, the puberty process seems to be less advantageous than for boys, and they may feel terribly conspicuous at a time of life when they would most like to blend in. Early maturing girls tend to be at greater risk for a variety of behavioral problems, including smoking.

For girls, early maturation generally seems to be less advantageous than for boys. Early maturing girls are bigger than practically all the boys their age; they also look more grown-up than most of the girls their age. As a consequence, they may feel terribly conspicuous at a time of life when they would most like to blend in with the crowd. Early maturing girls also tend to be at greater risk than their peers for a variety of behavioral problems, including depression, attention problems, delinquency and aggression, and obesity (Kim & Lee, 2012; Qiao et al., 2008).

Early maturation, or precocious puberty, affects about one in �ve thousand children in the United States, and it is about ten times more common in girls than boys (Bräuner et al., 2020). While the causes of precocious puberty aren’t completely understood, they may include a variety of environmental and genetic factors that affect endocrine functioning.

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Early or Late Onset Puberty - Hormone Health Network [2:38]

7.1b Cognitive Development During Adolescence

Although the most obvious changes of adolescence are physical, signi�cant changes also take place in the way we think. With adolescence, individuals acquire the ability to think abstractly. Teenagers can engage in hypothetical reasoning, imagining all kinds of possibilities in a given situation. They also begin to approach problems more systematically and logically, rather than relying on trial-and-error strategies.

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Piaget’s Formal Operations Stage

As we saw in Chapter 6, Piaget maintained that most people enter the formal operations stage sometime around age twelve. This stage of cognitive development is marked by the emergence of the capacity to manipulate representations of objects, even when they are not physically present, and by the ability to engage in deductive reasoning. Advanced subjects such as mathematics and physics can be understood at this time. These cognitive abilities have important implications for the way adolescents perceive their world. With their increased ability to think logically and abstractly, teenagers often detect what they consider to be logical inconsistencies in other people’s thinking, and

Early or Late Onset PubertyEarly or Late Onset Puberty

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they may be impatient with the thought processes and decisions of others. Adolescents also may question their own judgments, and the result is often confusion.

Adolescence is also a time when individuals begin to ponder and debate such complex issues as social justice, the meaning of life, the validity of religious dogma, and the value of material wealth. No longer constrained by personal experiences and concrete reality, teenagers can explore all kinds of “what if” possibilities. They may feel compelled to contribute to ending human misery, poverty, social injustice, and war. As adolescents grow older, however, much of their idealism is replaced with a more pragmatic or practical view.

Critique of Formal Operations Stage

In Chapter 6, we explored some criticisms of Piaget’s theory, but we did not speci�cally discuss criticisms of his formal operations stage. A number of developmental psychologists have challenged Piaget’s ideas about the timing of this stage. Researchers have found that the transition to formal operations does not necessarily occur abruptly at the onset of adolescence, for even relatively young children often demonstrate rudiments of logical thinking (Commons & Grotzer, 1990; Ennis, 1975; Keating, 1988). In addition, adolescents (and even adults) often revert to illogical thinking as they deal with issues and problems. Thus, unlike the sudden and dramatic physical changes of adolescence, the shift to formal operations is often gradual, spanning late childhood and adolescence and perhaps even extending into the adult years.

Some critics have also argued that many adolescents and adults never attain the level of formal operations logic. A number of studies in the United States have shown that only about 50 percent of college students attain the formal operations stage of cognitive development (Moshman, 2009). Piaget noted that even though adolescents may attain the level of brain maturation necessary for abstract reasoning and logical thinking, they may never achieve the formal operations stage unless they are provided with adult models of formal reasoning and are schooled in the principles of logic. Thus, both neurological maturation and speci�c training may be necessary for higher cognitive development. As we see in the following section, whether we reach formal operations or not may have a profound in�uence on another area: moral development.

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Piaget's Formal OperationalPiaget's Formal Operational

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Piaget's Formal Operational - Sarah Dorger [10:35]

7.1c Moral Development During Adolescence

When we begin life, we are all amoral. We do not yet have even the rudiments of moral judgment. By the time we become adults, however, most of us possess a complex notion of morality. Morality is a system of personal values and judgments about the fundamental rightness or wrongness of acts, and of our obligations to behave in just ways that do not interfere with the rights of others. How do we evolve from amoral to moral, from a total lack of understanding our responsibilities to a complex perception of right and wrong?

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Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

The question of how moral development occurs has occupied the attention of a number of developmental theorists, most notably Lawrence Kohlberg (1964, 1968, 1969; Puka, 1994). Kohlberg was more interested in the ways in which thinking about right and wrong change with age than the speci�c things that children might consider to be right or wrong. For example, whether we are eight, sixteen, or thirty-two, most of us would say that it is wrong to break our society’s laws. However, our reasons for not breaking the law, as well as our views about whether we might be justi�ed in breaking the law under some circumstances, might change drastically as we develop.

To learn how this change takes place, Kohlberg devised a series of moral dilemmas that typically involved a choice between two alternatives, both of which would be considered generally unacceptable by society’s standards. “Heinz’s dilemma” is an example.

In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to

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everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug, and I am going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife (Kohlberg, 1969, p. 379).

What is your reaction to this story? Kohlberg would not be interested in whether you thought Heinz was right or wrong. (In fact, either answer could demonstrate the same level of moral development.) Instead, Kohlberg was interested in the process you used to reach your judgment, for your reasoning would indicate how advanced your moral thinking is.

Kohlberg asked his subjects a series of questions about each moral dilemma and then used a complex scoring system to assign a subject to a particular category or stage of moral reasoning. This approach led him to formulate a theory of moral development in which he proposed that we move through as many as six stages of moral reasoning that traverse three basic levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.

According to Kohlberg, most children between ages four and ten have a preconventional morality, a kind of self-serving approach to right and wrong. In Stage 1 of preconventional morality, children behave in certain ways in order to avoid being punished; during Stage 2, they behave in certain ways to obtain rewards. At this lowest level of moral development, children have not internalized a personal code of morality. Rather, they are molded by the standards of adult caregivers and the consequences of adhering to or rejecting these rules.

Key term: preconventional morality Lowest level of moral development in Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory, comprising Stage 1 and Stage 2, in which individuals have not internalized a personal code of morality

By late childhood or early adolescence, a person’s sense of right and wrong typically matures to the level of conventional morality. Here, the motivating force behind behaving in a just or moral fashion is the desire either to help others and gain their approval (Stage 3) or to help maintain the social order (Stage 4). As children and young adolescents progress through these stages, they begin to internalize the moral standards of valued adult role models.

Key term: conventional morality Second level in Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, consisting of Stages 3 and 4, in which the motivating force for moral behavior is the desire either to help others or to gain approval

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A few individuals, particularly those who become adept at the abstract reasoning of formal operational thought, may progress to the �nal level of postconventional morality. Stage 5 of postconventional morality af�rms values agreed on by society including individual rights and the need for democratically determined rules; in Stage 6 individuals are guided by universal ethical principles in which they do what they think is right as a matter of conscience, even if their acts con�ict with society’s rules. Table 7–1 summarizes Kohlberg’s six stages of moral reasoning and illustrates how an individual at each stage might respond to Heinz’s dilemma.

Key term: postconventional morality Third and highest level in Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, in which individuals are guided by values agreed upon by society (Stage 5) or by universal ethical principles (Stage 6)

Table 7-1 Lawrence Kohlberg’s Levels and Stages of Moral Development with Stage-Graded Answers to the Story of Heinz

Level One—Preconventional Morality

Stage Description Examples of Moral Reasoning Favoring Heinz's Actions

Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz's Actions

Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation (The consequences of acts determine whether they are good or bad.)

He should steal the drug because he offered to pay for it and because it is only worth $200 and not the $2,000 the druggist was charging. He should steal it because if he lets his wife die, he would get in trouble.

He shouldn’t steal the drug because it is a big crime. He shouldn’t steal the drug because he would get caught and sent to jail.

Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation (An act is moral if it satisfies one’s needs.)

It is okay to steal the drug because his wife needs it to live and he needs her companionship. He should steal the drug because his wife needs it and he isn’t doing any harm to the druggist because he can pay him back later.

He shouldn’t steal the drug because he might get caught and his wife would probably die before he gets out of prison, so it wouldn’t do much. He shouldn’t steal it because the druggist was not doing a bad thing by wanting to make a profit.

Level Two—Conventional Morality

Stage Description Examples of Moral Reasoning Favoring Heinz's Actions

Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz's Actions

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Stage Description Examples of Moral Reasoning Favoring Heinz's Actions

Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz's Actions

Stage 3: Good Person Orientation (An action is moral if it pleases or helps others and leads to approval.)

He should steal the drug because society expects a loving husband to help his wife regardless of the consequences. He should steal the drug because if he didn’t his family and others would think he was an inhuman, uncaring husband.

He shouldn’t steal the drug because he will bring dishonor on his family, and they will be ashamed of him. He shouldn’t steal the drug because no one would blame him for doing everything that he could legally. The druggist, and not Heinz, will be considered to be the heartless one.

Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order Orientation (Moral people are those who do their duty in order to maintain the social order.)

He should steal the drug because if he did nothing he would be responsible for his wife’s death. He should take it with the idea of paying the druggist back. He should steal the drug because if people like the druggist are allowed to get away with being greedy and selfish, society would eventually break down.

He should not steal the drug because if people are allowed to take the law into their own hands, regardless of how justified such an act might be, the social order would soon break down. He shouldn’t steal the drug because it’s still always wrong to steal, and his breaking the law would cause him to feel guilty.

Level Three—Postconventional Morality

Stage Description Examples of Moral Reasoning Favoring Heinz's Actions

Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz's Actions

Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights Orientation (A moral person carefully weighs individual rights against society’s needs for consensus rules.)

The theft is justified because the law is not set up to deal with circumstances in which obeying it would cost a human life. It is not reasonable to say the stealing is wrong because the law should not allow the druggist to deny someone’s access to a life- saving treatment. In this case, it is more reasonable for him to steal the drug than to obey the law

You could not really blame him for stealing the drug, but even such extreme circumstances do not justify a person taking the law into his own hands. The ends do not always justify the means. He shouldn’t steal the drug because eventually he would pay the price of loss of self-respect for disregarding society’s rules.

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Stage Description Examples of Moral Reasoning Favoring Heinz's Actions

Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz's Actions

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles Orientation (The ultimate judge of what is moral is a person’s own conscience operating in accordance with certain universal principles. Society’s rules are arbitrary, and they may be broken when they conflict with universal moral principles.)

He must steal the drug because when a choice must be made between disobeying a law and saving a life, one must act in accordance with the higher principle of preserving and respecting life. Heinz is justified in stealing the drug because if he had failed to act in this fashion to save his wife, he would not have lived up to his own standards of conscience.

Heinz must consider the other people who need the drug just as much as his wife. By stealing the drug he would be acting in accordance with his own particular feelings with utter disregard for the value of all the lives involved. He should not steal the drug because, though he would probably not be blamed by others, he would have to deal with his own self- condemnation because he did not live up to his own conscience and standards.

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A person may progress from conventional to postconventional morality any time during adolescence. However, Kohlberg maintained that only about 25 percent of adults in our society progress beyond Stage 4, and that most of these individuals do so sometime during their adult years.

Evaluating Kohlberg’s Theory

Kohlberg’s theory is an impressive attempt to account systematically for the development of moral reasoning. His writings have also provided some guidelines for implementing moral education for children and adolescents. He suggests that people are often encouraged to advance to higher, more mature levels of moral reasoning through exposure to the more advanced moral reasoning of others. In addition, moral reasoning may develop at a faster rate and achieve a higher pinnacle if children have frequent opportunities to confront moral challenges. Parents and educators might take a cue from these suggestions by arranging for frequent moral consciousness-raising experiences during the developmental years of childhood and adolescence.

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John Snarey (1985) reported his evaluation of data obtained from forty-�ve studies conducted in twenty-seven diverse world cultures that provide striking support for the universality of Kohlberg’s �rst four stages. More recent reviews of seventy-�ve cross- cultural research studies conducted in twenty-three countries also supports Kohlberg’s notion of universality of common moral values and moral judgment (Gibbs, 2007).

Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for a number of reasons. Some critics argue that a high level of moral reasoning does not necessarily go hand-in-hand with moral actions,

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especially if a person is under strong social pressure.

Other critics take issue with Kohlberg’s assertion that postconventional morality is somehow preferable to conventional morality. Since most adults in our society never reach these stages, critics argue that widespread moral education programs designed to take people to the sixth stage of moral development could have disastrous results. They ask where we would be if most people chose to act according to individual moral principles with little regard for society’s rules. Finally, some argue that morality plays a relatively minor role in the judgments and decisions people make each day (Krebs & Denton, 2005, 2006).

Finally, we should mention that researcher Carol Gilligan argues that Kohlberg paid little attention to the signi�cant difference between boys and girls, and men and women. Gilligan argues that Kohlberg’s stage theory ignores critical differences between the sexes in social and moral understanding. For example, in a research study, she compared men and women’s thinking about real-life dilemmas, such as abortion. Men tended to focus on issues about justice while women tended to focus on issues about care (Gilligan & Attanucci, 1988). Many psychologists agree that sex differences in moral reasoning should be considered in a complete theory of moral development.

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Kohlberg’s 6 Stages of Moral DevelopmentKohlberg’s 6 Stages of Moral Development

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7.1d Psychological Development During Adolescence

In addition to the physical, cognitive, and moral development of adolescence, there are also signi�cant social and behavioral changes. During this period, relationships with parents may be under stress, the peer group may become of paramount importance in in�uencing behavior, and there is an increased interest in sexual behavior. Perhaps the most important task an adolescent faces is to answer the question, “Who am I?”

Identity Formation

Considering the tremendous diversity of possible answers to questions such as, “Who am I?” and “Where am I headed?” it is understandable that a great deal of experimentation takes place during adolescence. This experimentation often takes the form of trying out different roles or “selves”—which explains the unpredictability of many teenagers who behave in different ways from one day to the next.

By experimenting with different roles, many adolescents eventually forge a functional and comfortable sense of self. For some, this process takes place with little con�ict or confusion. Parents of these young people may wonder why such a fuss is made over the supposedly rebellious teenage years. Other parents may feel like tearing out their hair as their adolescent children blaze their own trails in unexpected directions.

The rapid social changes in contemporary society have greatly complicated the task of achieving a sense of identity. Not only traditional gender roles but also values associated with religion, marriage, and patriotism are being challenged in society today. Perhaps as a

Page 309 result, psychologists have found that contemporary adolescents continue to struggle with their identity crises well into their college years. In fact, as we see in this chapter, our sense of identity is likely to be modi�ed and recast throughout our lives. However, it is during the glorious and confusing years of our adolescence that most of us �rst acquire a genuine appreciation of who we are and what we might become. (You might review Stage 5 of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development from the previous chapter.)

The Role of Parents and the Peer Group

An important part of establishing an identity is gaining independence from parents. Although this process begins long before adolescence, it is accelerated during the teenage years. As parental in�uence diminishes, the peer group’s in�uence grows, but relationships between parents and their teenage children do not necessarily take a nosedive. The popular image of the teenage years as a time of rebellion and intergenerational warfare is more myth than fact, and most teenagers and parents resolve their con�icts with a minimum of �reworks.

The process of becoming a separate, unique individual is a natural part of the transition from child to adult. Certainly, most parents would be distressed if their grown children still depended on them for their sense of self and direction in life. However, the process of separation may give rise to dif�culties. Parents may feel that their values are

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being rejected, and adolescents may be torn between the need to be dependent and the need to be independent.

The process of establishing an identity by gaining independence from parents is accelerated during the teenage years. Teens pursue their interests and begin trying out new ideas and behaviors. This is all part of the process of becoming a separate, unique individual.

When con�icts increase, family tension often rises. Culturally de�ned adult behaviors —such as driving, drinking, and smoking—are sometimes used by adolescents as symbols of maturity or as a form of rebellion. Adolescents may reason that they are not children anymore as they seek to become increasingly independent of their parents’ authority. However, they still need support from others. This need may be greater now than ever before, considering the profound physical and behavioral changes they are experiencing. In a sense, it is paradoxical that adolescents’ driving needs for independence force them to retreat from the very people who are likely to be the most supportive and nurturing. To satisfy their needs for both support and independence from their family, teenagers typically turn to other people who are in the same boat—namely, their peers.

Adolescent friendships are typically much closer and more intense than at any previous time in development. American teenagers spend over half their waking hours talking to and doing things with friends of the same age group. They tend to identify more with their peers than with adults, and most rate themselves as happiest when they

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are with their friends. Teens spend over nine hours a day online and over three hours of this time is spent on social media sites (Statista Research Department, 2021). It is therefore not surprising that social media plays a signi�cant role in the development of adolescent attitudes and beliefs.

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Young people may �nd it reassuring to be with friends who are experiencing the same kinds of awkward physical changes. Having friends the same age to go to for advice allows teenagers to get support and counsel without short-circuiting their independence from their parents. The peer group also provides a sounding board for trying out new ideas and behaviors. Finally, it is comforting for teenagers to feel they belong to a world of their own rather than being minor players in the adult world.

It is not surprising, then, that adolescents are strongly inclined to conform to the standards of their peer group in order to gain approval. This conformity may sometimes be taken to extremes in which they radically change their manner of dress, hairstyle, and behaviors—including risky sexual and drug-use behaviors. If they identify with a group whose values and behavioral styles are dramatically different from those of their parents, considerable strife and stress may result. Of course, teenagers often welcome parents’ horri�ed responses as evidence that their rebellion has succeeded!

Despite the increased in�uence of peers and occasionally extreme acts of independence, however, the so-called generation gap between parents and teens is rather small. Parents continue to exert a strong in�uence on their teenagers’ attitudes and values, and, in fact, adolescents are often more inclined to accept their parents’ values and opinions than those of their peers. Peer in�uence is strong in matters of dress and hairstyles, problems related to school and dating, and drug and alcohol use, while teenagers appear to be more in�uenced by their parents in issues of politics, religion, and major decisions such as career choices (Abrahamson et al., 2002).

Sexual Development and Behavior

It is impossible to explore the psychosocial development of adolescents without taking notice of the changes that take place in sexual development and behavior. During adolescence, boys and girls go through rapid developmental changes and often begin engaging in sexual activities. Peer pressure, self-perceptions of popularity, and the emergence of powerful sexual motivation—all contribute to a variety of sexual behaviors that normally emerge in adolescence.

The Double Standard During Adolescence. Although children have been exposed to gender-role socialization since infancy, the emphasis on gender-role differentiation often increases during adolescence. Thus, in our society, teenagers receive the full brunt of the double standard. For males, the focus of sexuality may be sexual conquest, to the point that young men who are not exploitative or are inexperienced may be labeled with highly negative terms like “sissy.” For females, the message and the expectations are often very different. Many girls learn to appear “sexy” to attract males, yet they often experience ambivalence about overt sexual behavior. If they do not have sexual relations, they worry

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that a boyfriend will lose interest. On the other hand, having sex might make a boy think they are too “easy.”

Despite the double standard, contemporary adolescents are as likely to engage in sexual behavior with casual friends or acquaintances as with someone with whom they feel emotionally attached. Girls are also more inclined than boys to perceive themselves as more popular if they engage in sexual behaviors even as their peer acceptance decreases (Kreager et al., 2016; Mayeux, et al., 2008).

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Peer Pressure and Sexual Behavior. While different social pressures may affect adolescent boys and girls, both males and females today are also affected by societal in�uence—the increasingly permissive attitudes toward sex.

A signi�cant number of adolescents experience premarital sex by the age of �fteen. The results of numerous nationwide surveys of adolescent sexual behaviors reveal a strong upward trend beginning in the 1950s through the 1980s, a decreasing trend through the 1990s, and a steady trend of about 50 percent being sexually active from 2000 to 2020 (see Table 7–2). Sexual surveys conducted annually at the authors’ institution between 1989 and 2016 show a much higher rate, with about 80 percent of students becoming sexually active by age nineteen. There is also accumulating evidence that young adolescents, under age �fteen, are engaging in intercourse and other sexual activities in increasing proportions. Results from several national surveys revealed that approximately 65 percent of boys and 66 percent of girls had engaged in noncoital (oral) sex by age �fteen (Goldstein & Halpern-Felsher, 2018).

Table 7-2 Percentage of Adolescents Who Reported Having Premarital Intercourse by Age Nineteen

Source Females Males

Kinsey et al. (1953) 20% 45%

Sorensen (1973) 45% 59%

Zelnik & Kantner (1977) 55% No males in study

Zelnik & Kantner (1980) 69% 77%

Mott & Haurin (1988) 68% 78%

Ku et al. (1998) 43% 68%

Centers for Disease Control (Martinez & Abma, 2020) 42% 38%

In broad terms, we can brie�y summarize the major changes in adolescent sexual activities since the 1950s. First, there was a rapid increase in premarital sex through the

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1980s, followed by a decline to about 50 percent, which has remained stable for the past decade. Second, the large differences in male and female sexual activity rates decades ago appear to have completely disappeared. Perhaps we should conclude with a warning when interpreting these numbers by saying that the data presented in Table 7–2 report premarital intercourse and do not include other sexual activities. There is some evidence that while sexual intercourse rates may be stable, the rates of other sexual activities are not (Martinez & Abma, 2015).

Video

Marcia's States of Adolescent Identity Development - Tiffany Dickie [4:53]

Check Your Comprehension - 7.1

Girls reach puberty between the ages of 9 and 16.

a. True

b. False

Gonadotropins are hormones that stimulate production of testosterone in men and estrogen in women.

Marcia's States of Adolescent Identity DeMarcia's States of Adolescent Identity De……

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 Report a problem

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 Report a problem

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a. True

b. False

Nikka is experiencing the development of the primary sexual characteristic of breast development.

a. True

b. False

When adolescents reach the final stage of Piaget’s cognitive development, they are in the preoperations stage.

a. True

b. False

If Jyme avoids doing bad things because he knows they are considered wrong, NOT because he personally feels they are wrong, he is in conventional morality.

a. True

b. False

Conventional morality is the desire to help others.

a. True

b. False

Conventional morality is when individuals are guided by values agreed upon by society.

a. True

b. False

The issue of discovering who an individual is fits with Erikson’s idea of finding your identity.

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 Report a problem

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a. True

b. False

The “double standard” of sex refers to the idea that women are NOT allowed to be sexual creatures, whereas men are.

a. True

b. False

Many adolescents are sexually active by the time they are 14 years old.

a. True

b. False

The prolonged period of adolescence is found in ALL cultures.

a. True

b. False

A new cognitive skill acquired in the formal operations stage is the ability to engage in inductive reasoning.

a. True

b. False

Homework View full assignment

Gunnar is 12 and has NOT yet begun his "growth spurt." His same-aged friends are ALL taller and look more mature than he does. We can predict that while Gunnar is in school he will _____.

 a. be easy going and good natured

 b. be a school teacher

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 c. lack self-confidence and feel insecure

 d. be better than other boys in sports

Week 1 Assignment 7

Who is more likely to say, “Hurting another person is wrong, but there may be times at which it is justified”?

 a. A 4-year-old

 b. An 8-year-old

 c. An 11-year-old

 d. A 16-year-old

Week 1 Assignment 7

When later-maturing girls are compared to early-maturing girls, _____.

 a. later-maturing girls have more advantages

 b. early-maturing girls have more advantages

 c. both types are equally at risk

 d. both types are equally poised for success

Week 1 Assignment 7

Jima is experiencing the development of facial and body hair as well as a deepening voice. These developments are _____.

 a. secular sex characteristics

 b. tertiary characteristics

 c. secondary sex characteristics

 d. primary sex characteristics

Week 1 Assignment 7

Compared to adolescent friendships, childhood friendships _____.

 a. are closer

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Read  7.2 - Adulthood

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 b. are more intense

 c. are less close

 d. are longer lasting

Week 1 Assignment 7

Who would be more likely to say, “Murder is wrong because it disrupts social order and causes chaos”?

 a. A 4-year-old

 b. A 5-year-old

 c. A 7-year-old

 d. An 11-year-old

Week 1 Assignment 7

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