Annotated Bibliography Essay

In the book, Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence, the author, Lawrence Steinberg, starts out the first chapter by explaining how we once thought that the brain was mostly done maturing by adolescence, but with new research we are learning that the brain continues to develop into one’s twenties. He goes on to say that children are hitting puberty earlier in life and placing them “at significantly greater risk for a host of physical, mental, and behavioral problems, including depression, delinquency, and even cancer” (9). The reason why children are going through puberty is based on a mix on environmental and genetic influences. The more nourished and fed you are the higher chance of you going through puberty earlier. Although this was the case in 1850-1950, the continuing decline of age in puberty today, is due to more troubling reasons. The five mains reasons for today is: 1. Obesity 2. Artificial light 3. Endocrine disruptors 4. Premature birth 5. Family stress. Steinberg explains how adolescent is a time of neuroplasticity and the longer period of adolescence can have good consequences or severely negative consequences, depending on if they’re in a stimulating environment or a toxic environment.

Teenage years can be a challenging time for many individuals. Beginning at the age of 11 through 20, adolescence is defined as a “transitional period in the human life span, linking childhood and adulthood” (Santrock 2009). At this point, the person is no longer a child, but not yet an adult. This makes it a very critical and sensitive time frame for identity formation.

The adolescence stage in one’s life is often portrayed as a time of ‘storm and stress’ (Lipsitz, 1980). However, there are

“President Donald Trump is criticizing the NFL over players kneeling during the national anthem. Trump has suggested the owners should "fire" any players who knelt during the "Star Spangled Banner.” Third Paragraph

In this paper I plan to discuss the developmental stages of adolescence. Adolescents are also referred to as "teenagers" or "young adults." Adolescence begins after the childhood stage and ends right before adulthood. The years of adolescence range from 12 years old to 21 years old. The years of adolescence can be quite a roller coaster ride. Young people in this stage encounter a great deal of changes in their life as they prepare for adulthood. I will discuss emotional, intellectual, physiological, and social domains of development and how it relates to adolescents. I will also discuss some helpful tips for teachers to aide in communicating effectively to adolescents and understanding their

It is essential to consider the interconnectedness of the system from an ecological perspective, contemplating the involvement of the system parts, which include the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. Characteristics such as the neighborhood in which the adolescent lives, their socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic background, play a role in their development. A spectrum that considers a multifaceted framework, provides a platform to enhance one’s understanding of the assessment outcomes. According to Hill, Bromell, Tyson & Flint (2007), the stages of adolescent development from ages eight to sixteen, involve biological, social, and cognitive components. Adolescents move through phases of identity development which encapsulates changes within relationships of friends, peers, family members, and parents. Within that timeframe, approximately two transitions occur between educational facilities in the adolescent’s life. The biological shift occurring, involves hormonal changes and affects the adolescent’s mood. Behavioral changes are expressed through heightened anxiety, the onset of depression, and extreme high mood levels followed by extreme low levels. The identity development phase involves self-conscious behavior, self-centeredness, and questioning one’s ability to be successful.

It’s estimated that the onset of 50% of chronic mental illnesses occurs by the age of fourteen, and about 75% by the age of 24 (NAMI, 2015). The most common mental health diagnoses in the United States are mood disorders, which include the spectrums of anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Unfortunately, 60% of adults and 50% of youth did not receive medical services for their mental health conditions in the previous fiscal year (NAMI, 2015).

The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI, 2015) estimates 1 in 5- 48.8- million adults in the United States are diagnosed with a mental illness each year. Amongst adolescents and children, it is estimated 1 in 5 youth ages 13-18-(21.4%) have, or will have a serious mental illness every year (NAMI, 2015). For children ages 8-15 the prevalence of experiencing a serious mental illness at one point in their life is 13% (NAMI, 2015). Although, children and adolescents are most commonly diagnosed with mood, conduct and anxiety disorders, there are those who occasionally experience psychotic disorders such as early onset schizophrenia.

Arnocky, S., Sunderani, S., Gomes, W., & Vaillancourt, T. (2015). Anticipated partner infidelity and men’s intimate partner violence: The mediating role of anxiety. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 9(3), 186-196. doi:10.1037/ebs0000021

The introduction and advancement of automation and robots has reduced the amount of jobs available for the less educated.

Andrews, C., O’Brian, S., Harrison, E., Onslow, M., Packman, A., & Menzies, R. (2012). Syllable-timed speech treatment for school-age children who stutter: A phase I trial. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 43(3), 359-369. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2012/11-0038)

This paper is will focus on the influences of physical and cognitive development in adolescence from 12 to 18 years of age. This part of the developmental stage has many factors that affect the physical development as well as the cognitive development in adolescence. In addition to influences of physical and cognitive development this paper will also focus on the hereditary and environmental influences that make up this stage in life.

What variables influence the adolescent developmental process? Does biology outweigh the effect of environment? Do teenagers mature in a continuous or discontinuous fashion? What effect do early verse later experience influence the young people’s maturity into adulthood? Through the ages, researches have investigated these questions to better understand the growth adolescent experience between the ages of ten to twenty-one. The intermingling of the biological, cognitive, and socioemotional process constitutes the development of an adolescent. By examining the effects of nature verse nurture, continuous verse discontinuous development, and early verse later experiences, we will conclude that the developmental process in an adolescent is the intertwining of all these variables and not a result of one over the other.

There are five characteristics that all adolescents have. These characteristics are biological growth and development, an undefined status, increased decision-making, increased pressures, and the search for self. The brain and the endocrine system control biological growth and development. During the early stages of adolescence, individuals experience growth in height and weight, changes in the body, the development of sexual characteristics, and skin problems. For example, I started getting curves in my body when I hit puberty. My body started to develop changes. Our society’s expectations for children and adults are clear, but for the adolescent, expectations are inexplicit. Some adolescents are treated like children, but some are treated like adults. There is an undefined status. For example, my parents pay for my lunch, but I have to have a job so I can support myself.

Adolescence is the distinct transitional stage between childhood and adulthood in human development, extending primarily over the teenage years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached (Rathus, 2014). However in some instances, this biological, cognitive, social and emotional maturity may not be reached until a later stage and may be dictated by gender. Adolescence is characterised by rapidly changing and unpredictable behaviour (Freud, as cited in Rathus 2014), heightened and unstable emotions (Hall, as cited in Rathus 2014), disturbances in identity, the gradual development of one’s moral reasoning (Kohlberg, as cited in Rathus, 2014) and the gradual establishment of one’s independence. Several of these changes may occur at differing phases in adolescent growth. This development is categorized into three separate stages; early adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence. Early Adolescence, commencing from the ages of eleven or twelve until the age of fourteen, comprises of several features such as rapid biological development and maturity, heightened stress levels and limited coping capabilities. On the other hand, middle adolescence, from the approximate age of fourteen to sixteen, involves the gradual cease of biological change, an increase in coping strategies and declined stress levels. Furthermore, late adolescence, commencing from the age of sixteen until the age of eighteen or nineteen, encompasses physical maturity, whereby the