psy 231 exam 3

3. Discuss family relationships in middle childhood and the influence of family structure on adjustment.

parent-child: - parents tend to use less direct management and instead begin to share power - children who are securely attached to parents tend to develop positive emotion regulation skills that aid them in home, peer and school contexts siblings: - through interactions, children learn relationship skills such as conflict resolution - offer each other social support and assistance with academic, family and peer challenges - help each other manage stressful life events and reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms same-sex parented families: - LGBTQ+ parents are 3 times more likely to adopt than heterosexual parents (10%-30%) - there are no differences in kids raised by same sex parents - equal rates of academic competence single-parent families: - more physical and mental health problems - poorer academic achievement - less social competence - more behavioral problems - vast majority of children are well adjusted - differences depend on divorce vs. single parent by choice - disproportionately likely to live in poverty - transitions between houses due to low income can pose challenges to adjustment - show more mental health problems - single mothers are more likely to raise kids than single fathers (90%) - grandmothers are usually highly involved with the child - maybe an uncle as well - live in lower income housing and high rates of poverty cohabitating: - more likely to experience in home conflict and adjustment issues - economic situations tend to be better than those in single parent families, but more economically stressful than those in married parent families divorced/divorcing families: - internalizing and externalizing problems - majority of children of divorce are resilient - increased physiological arousal - elevated stress response - poorer adjustment - if high levels of conflict; anxiety, depression, delinquency, poor academics - the effects of divorce on boys and girls differ - the effects of divorce are due to changes in ($$) resources rather than the change in family - boys experience more adjustment problems - boys with adjustment difficulty: predictor of divorce - temperament plays a role in adjustment to divorce - child may blame themself for the divorce - parental relationships change, dad may become the "fun parent" blended families: a family composed of a biological parent and a non related adult, most commonly a mother and a stepfather - most children reared in stepfamilies do not differ from those raised in single parent families in terms of cognitive, academic and social outcomes - girls tend to have a strong relationship with a step dad than a step mom - girls can feel different if it seems the step dad is altering her relationship with mom - girls have a harder time adjusting to step parents than boys - 20% of kids live with step parents

1. Summarize patterns of physical and motor development during middle childhood.

physical development: middle childhood: - growing 2-3 in/yr - gaining 5-8 lb/yr average 10 year old: - 4.5 ft, 70 lbs late childhood: - girls gain 10 1b/yr - heavier and taller than same age boys motor development: gross: - gross motor skills developed in early childhood refine and combine into more complex abilities, such as running and turning to dodge a ball, walking heel to toe down the length of a balance beam and turning around, or creating elaborate jump rope routings that include twisting, turning and hopping - increases in body size and strength contribute to advances in motor skills, which are accompanied by advances in flexibility, balance, agility and strength - child can bend their bodies to do a somersault or carry out a dance routine, balance to jump rope, demonstrate ability to run and change speed and direction rapidly and have the strength to jump higher and throw a ball farther than ever before fine: - allow them to develop new interests - build model cars, braid friendship bracelets, and learn to play musical instruments - critically important for penmanship - most 6 year olds can write the alphabet, their names, numbers in large print by writing with entire arm - uppercase are usually mastered first - by 3rd grade: most kids can write in cursive Motor skill advances are influenced by body maturation and brain development - the pruning of unused synapses contributes to increases in motor speed and reaction time

4. Analyze the role of resilience in promoting adjustment to adversity, including characteristics of children and contexts that promote resilience

protective factors: may reduce or protect the child from the poor outcomes associated with adverse circumstances - neighborhood violence, child maltreatment, parental mental health problems, poverty, homelessness, and war - risk factors are cumulative, the more risks children face, the more difficult it is for them to adjust - poor responses to adversity include anxiety, depression, frequent illnesses and hospitalizations, poor academic achievement and delinquent activity - adaptation to adversity is a dynamic process involving interactions among a child's developmental capacities and his or her changing context, which includes both risk factors and protective factors - protective factors may help shield children from risk factors, buggering the poor outcomes that accompany adverse circumstances and contexts - resilient children tend to have personal characteristics that protect them from adversity and help them learn from experience, such as easy temperament, sense of competence, self control, good information processing an problem solving skills, friendliness, and empathy - a fundamental characteristic is that they are successful in regulating their emotions and behavior - resilient individuals also have a proactive orientation, take initiative, believe in their own effectiveness, and have a positive sense of self - promoting resilience: promoting children's strengths and bolstering children's executive function skills, self appraisals, and sense of efficacy - exposure to adversity in childhood does not necessarily lead to maladjustment, many children thrive despite challenging experiences

2. Summarize the physical changes that occur with puberty and the correlates of pubertal timing.

puberty: biological transition to adulthood in which adolescents mature physically and become capable of reproduction - by age 8, the brain signals the endocrine system to gradually increase the release of hormones that trigger the onset of puberty - a process that takes about 4 years to complete but can vary dramatically from 1 to 7 years testosterone: a hormone responsible for male sex characteristics estrogen: a hormone responsible for female sex characteristics - ~ 10 yrs: testosterone increases and many children begin to feel a sense of sexual attraction adolescent growth spurt: a rapid gain in height and weight that generally begins in girls at about age 10 (as early as age 7 and as late as 14) and in boys at about age 12 (as early as age 9 and as late as 16) - on average, the growth spurt lasts about 2 years, but growth in height continues at a more gradual pace, ending by about 16 in girls and 18 in boys - adolescents gain a total of about 10 inches in height - girls gain more fat overall, particularly on their legs and hips, so that fat comes to comprise 1/4 of their body weight (nearly twice as much as boys) - boys gain more muscle than do girls, especially in their upper bodies, doubling their arm strength between ages 13 and 18 - bone density increases in both boys and girls - respiratory and cardiovascular systems mature - boys become much better at taking in and using oxygen as their hearts and lungs grow larger and function more effectively and the number of red blood cells increases secondary sex characteristics: body changes that indicate physical maturation but are not directly related to infertility - breast development, deepening of the voice, growth of hair, changes in the skin rapid increase in estrogen: causes the budding of breasts and tends to accompany the growth spurt testosterone: causes boys' voices to deepen - oil and sweat glands become more active, resulting in body odor and acne - hair on the head, arms, and legs becomes darker, and pubic hair begins to grow, first as straight and downy, and later becomes coarse primary sex characteristics (females): ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina primary sex characteristics (males): penis, testes, scrotum, seminal vesicles, prostate gland menarche: (sexual maturity due to) first menstruation - during the first few months, menstruation takes place without the ovulation (although doesn't apply to all girls) - spermarche: first ejaculation - contains few living sperm - may be experienced through wet dreams reactions to pubertal change depends on: - if it's too early/late - knowledge of spermarche/menarche - parents acceptance/support timing is based on: - nutrition/health - girls with a higher BMI mature earlier, girls who have a low percentage of body fat tend to experience menarche later - less in boys than girls - genetics - social contexts/exposure to stress - stress affects hormone production throughout the lifespan, it can trigger irregular ovulation and menstruation as well as reduce sperm production - severe stress can speed the onset of menarche - early maturation in boys: lots of positive attention - late maturation boys: malnutrition, less position attention - anxious and attention seeking - late maturing girls: anxious and attention seeking - malnutrition - early blooming girls: withdrawn, higher rates of obesity, physically attraction, negative attention delayed phase preference: a change in adolescents' sleep patterns and preferred sleep schedule - triggered by a change in the nightly release of melatonin, about 2 hours later - melatonin is released later in the day and the ability to fall asleep is influenced by blue light exposure/screen time - average hours of sleep reported decreased from 8-7 hours, although 9 hours are needed to support healthy development - poor sleep is associated with anxiety, irritability and depression - increases the probability of health problems including illnesses, obesity, and accidents - less engagement in extracurricular school activities and declines in academic performance - associated with risky behaviors such as substance use sex drive: - increases - sexually active children: may live in single parent/blended/step family homes, more comfortable with the idea of sex, limited religious beliefs, have sexually active friends, drug/alcohol use, early developers teenagers: highest rate of STIs, followed by the elderly - fear of families finding out - limited knowledge on sex education nutrition: - calories required is highest in adolescence, unless you are an athlete - boys need around 2,700 calories - girls need around 2,200 calories

6. Describe the challenges that school transitions pose for adolescents and the role of parents in academic achievement.

- academic motivation and achievement often suffer - may experience depressive symptoms or feel more lonely and anxious - for most students, these are temporary - school transitions -> stressful - may feel they receive less support from teachers - more responsibilities - valuing school is more likely if a peer does - positive interactions with faculty and parent involvement in school increase the connection to school - less choice of what is happening in an educational setting - less personal interaction with teachers/faculty authoritarian & permissive parenting styles: associated with poor academic performance uninvolved parenting: tend to show the poorest school grades authoritative parenting: associated with academic achievement in adolescents around the world - open to discussion - involve their adolescents in joint decision making - firmly but fairly monitor their adolescents' behavior and set limits - this helps adolescents feel valued, respected and encouraged to think for themselves - adolescents are learning to regulate their emotions and behavior and to set, work toward and achieve educational goals

1. Evaluate the storm and stress perspective on adolescence in light of research evidence.

- adolescents and emerging adults tend to endorse storm and stress notions, and such beliefs can create self-fulling prophecies, whereby adolescents' expectations influence their behavior - in early puberty hormones rapidly increase and fluctuate enough to cause such erratic and powerful shifts in adolescents' emotions and behaviors - moodiness is also influenced by changes in psychological and social factors that accompany situational changes - also influenced by their activities and the degree to which adolescents perceive the activity as important to them and a personal choice - lack of sleep: moodiness - distancing from parents: moodiness - maintaining friendships/relationships: moodiness - identity formation: moodiness - gradual changes

4. Identify ways in which thinking changes in adolescence and how these changes are reflected in adolescent decision making and behavior.

- adolescents become better able to control attention and deploy it selectively, focusing on stimuli deemed important while tuning out others and remaining focused even as task demands change - increases in attention permit material to be held in working memory while new material is taken in and processed - become better at response inhibition, which allows us to keep responding or activating cognitive operations in response to a stimulus - working memory reaches adult-like levels by about age 19 - combined with a growing knowledge base and increased strategy use, advances in working memory result in more sophisticated, efficient, and quick thinking and learning - scientific reasoning advances - can compare multiple variables at once, learn how to highlight the specific/important points - comprehension checking: the ability to read and recognize that you got nothing metacognition: - teenagers are better able to be planful about their cognitive system, how they take in, manipulate, and store information - better able to under how they learn and remember and to choose and deploy strategies that enhance the representation, storage and retrieval of information - ability to check your knowledge adolescent egocentrism: - imaginary audience: adolescents misdirect their own preoccupation about themselves toward others and assume that they are the focus of others' attention - being the center of attention - personal fable: adolescents' preoccupation with themselves also leads them to believe that they are special , unique, and invulnerable - the idea that you are absolutely unique and that your thoughts, experiences and actions are original decision making: - under laboratory conditions, adolescents are capable of demonstrating rational decision making that is in line with their goals and is comparable to that of adults - adolescents tend to place more important on the potential benefits of decisions (ex: social status/pleasure) than on the potential costs or risk (ex: physical harm, short/long term health issues) - in emotionally arousing situations, adolescents often act impulsively, seemingly without thought, and their decisions often are influenced by affective motivators such as the desire fro pleasure, relaxation , stimulation, and excitement - the prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive functioning and decision making, is the last part of the brain to reach full maturity, lagging far behind the limbic system, responsible for emotion - can think analytically, better at focusing - lack the experience of pros and cons - fail at conflicting choices - will fall back to previous outcomes/decisions made

4. Compare postformal reasoning, pragmatic thought, and cognitive-affective complexity.

- adults come to expect uncertainty and ambiguity, as well as recognize that everyday problems are influenced by emotion and experience rather than pure reasoning epistemic cognition: the ways in which individuals understand the nature of knowledge and how they arrive at ideas, beliefs, and conclusions - how you know stuff, how you reflect on how we have arrived at beliefs, ideas, values - less polarized views, see more gray area postformal reasoning: integrates abstract reasoning with practical considerations - recognize most problems have multiple causes and solutions, that some solutions are better choices than others, and that all problems involve uncertainty dualistic thinking: knowledge and accounts of phenomena are viewed as either right or wrong with no in between - learning is viewed as a matter of acquiring and assessing facts - individuals tend to have difficulty grasping that several contradictory arguments can each have supporting evidence - with experience and exposure to multiple viewpoints, multiple arguments, and their inherent contradictions, individuals become aware of their diversity of viewpoints that exist in every are of study - their thinking becomes more flexible, and they relinquish the belief in absolute knowledge that characterizes dualistic black and white thinking relativistic thinking: most knowledge is viewed as relative, dependent on the situation and thinker - recognize that beliefs are subjective that there are multiple perspectives on a given issue, and that all perspectives are defensible, at least to a certain extent reflective judgement: acknowledges the multiple options and carefully evaluates them to choose the most adequate solution - recognizes that options and opinions can be evaluated and generates criteria to do so - most mature type of reasoning as it synthesizes contradictions among perspectives - social interaction is critical to postformal development - with maturation, young people become more likely to compare their reasoning process and justifications with others - exposure to realistic but ambiguous problems with diverging information, as well as supportive guidance such as that which is often a part of college education will aid in the formation of postformal reasoning pragmatic thought and cognitive affective complexity: - pragmatic thought: the ability to accept inconsistencies and use reasoning to determine the best alternatives, to apply reflective judgement in real world contexts - using logic to solve problems, inconsistencies become more common, consistencies < inconsistencies, compromising, more logic than ever before - managing various roles and tackling the problems of everyday life requires thinking that is adaptive and accepting of contradiction - our evaluations of potential solutions to problems are influenced by logic and emotions - over the course of adulthood, individuals become better at understanding and regulating their emotions and become less swayed by emotions, which influences their reasoning in everyday situations - successfully coordinating emotion and cognition improves people's capacity to adapt to the complexities of adult life and the inherent balancing of many roles and obligations - cognitive-affective complexity: the capacity to be aware of emotions, integrate positive and negative feelings about an issue, and regulate intense emotions to make logical decisions about complicated issues - decisions have positives and negatives, taking emotion into account when deciding - positive and negative feelings influences how we think about things and the emotional component of decision making revealed - adults better understand others, including their perspectives feelings and motivations - adults are more likely than adolescents to demonstrate postformal reasoning, but not all adults reach the most advanced levels of reasoning - most do not - increase in early adulthood through late middle adulthood

2. Summarize the physical developments of emerging and early adulthood.

- all of the organs and body systems, including digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and reproductive systems, peak in functioning from emerging adulthood into early adulthood senescence: a biological fact that once individuals are physically mature with growth and physical development at adult levels, (definition) a pattern of gradual age related declines in physical functioning begins - measurable age related changes in functioning occur by about age 30, but most people do not notice these until middle adulthood - gradual changes in appearance, strength, body proportions, and fertility - multidimensional and multidirectional - different parts of the body age at different rates, and development comprises both gains and losses in strength, endurance, and motor skill - due to different individual differences in genetics, context, and experience, including health, SES, and behaviors such as smoking, exercise, and diet physical changes: - age related changes in the skin are gradual, predictable, and unavoidable, and they begin in emerging adulthood, at about age 20 - the connective tissue gradually thins, resulting in less elastic skin and some visible wrinkles around the eyes by age 30 - the skin becomes drier as oil glands become less active - most adults in their 30s notice lines developing on their foreheads, and by the 40s, these lines are accompanied by crow's feet around the eyes and lines around the mouth, markers of four decades of smiles, frowns, laughter, and other emotions - exposure to sun is thought to be the most dramatic contributor to skin aging, 80% of skin changes and leading cause in skin cancer - more apparent in middle age, by age 30, some individuals begin to notice gray hairs, as the hair follicle cells that produce pigment, or color, become less abundant - men who are prone to hereditary baldness typically begin balding in their 30s - physiological function, including muscle development and strength, tends to improve throughout he 20s, peaking at about age 30 - performance in activities requiring body coordination tend to peak in the early 20s, whereas those that require endurance, such as running, peak in the early 30s, and show declines after age 40 - muscle strength shows a gradual decline beginning at about age 30 but is generally not noticeable to most people until middle age aging begins: - max capacity for what the body can do - changes vary in activeness - use it or lose it - health habits and environmental factors - microscopic level: - breakdown of cells - risk factors for longevity: inherited - organ tissue - cross linking theory of aging - fibers stiffen (such as heart muscles) - things are no longer flexible - lung capacity: 35 - diet and exercise are impacting how you are down the road - muscle mass declines - changes in immune system: more susceptible to illness - stress factor diet and exercise: - SES plays a role - fast food is cheaper - having to work more than one job - not enough time to make food - mental health issues - available choices - maybe wasn't taught how to cook - nutrition needs change - do not need as much food as in adolescence - trend to become overweight may set in - exercise helps stay in shape and manage stress - substance use results in higher levels of stress, higher risk for intake - peaks 19-22, declines in late early adulthood - 1/3 will die from a smoking related death - stress: a lot more responsibilities, lack of self care wear and tear theory: - your body ages because you "wear it out: - athleticness may predict knee replacement, etc. Cross Linking Theory: - muscles stiffens - lung capacity and blood pressure decline - reduced capacity for cellular division - telomeres shorten after long term division, cells die health and wellness: - heart health - heart is less flexible -> increase in blood pressure - risk factor for heart disease - lung capacity is decreasing - 10% per decade - 25: 10% loss - motor performance - peaks at ~35 - non athletes: steady decline - immune system: - high rates of illness/susceptibility - due to stress fertility and productive capacity: - reproductive capacity peaks in the 20s and declines with age, increasing the risk for women in their mid to late 30s of experiencing difficulty conceiving - although women are born with about 400,000 ova, they decay with age and chromosomal anomalies accumulate, increasing the risk of pregnancy loss, or miscarriage - a common cause of female infertility is the failure to ovulate, to release and ovum into the fallopian tube - with increasing age, ovulation becomes less regular - alcohol and substance abuse, environmental toxins, obesity and being underweight, illnesses such as ovarian cancer and ovarian cysts, can also make it difficult or impossible to conceive - most men remain able to conceive into older adulthood - sperm can be affected by anything that interferes with the functioning of the body, such as fever, stress, drug abuse, alcoholism, radiation, environmental toxins - exposure to these can reduce the number or sperm or affect their physical structure, activity and motility - the number and quality of sperm produced decline in middle adulthood, beginning at about age 40 - capacity: greater in women, not much change in men - men: things could take a little longer - women: decline in eggs - harder time getting pregnant, not high rates of defects - higher rates of pregnancy complications

5. Explain how attending college influences young adults' development, and identify challenges faced by first-generation and nontraditional students.

- college presents young people with new perspectives and encourages experimentation with alternative behavior, beliefs and values - college courses often require students to construct arguments and solve complex problems, fostering the development of postformal reasoning - attending college is associated with advances in moral reasoning, identity development, and social development - rather than the type of institution attended. developmental outcomes are most influenced by student involvement in campus life and peer interaction in academic and social contexts - students who are active in campus life and feel a sense of belonging tend to show greater educational attainment - those who live in residence halls show the greatest cognitive gains in the college years first generation college students: - higher risk of dropout - students of color or low SES are more likely to be first generation college students - tend to be less active in campus and extracurricular activities and less academically prepared than their peers, two factors that often aid students in adjusting to college and are risk factors for college dropout - face economic circumstances that interfere with their ability to participate on campus - with few family and peer role models, first generation and minority students may feel isolated and find it difficult to understand and adjust to the college student role and expectations - report having fewer opportunities to talk about their negative experiences and are more likely to feel guilty about their educational achievement - when students feel that they are part of a campus community they are more likely to persist and graduate nontraditional college students: - adult learners over age 25 - older than the typical age student, independent for financial aid purposes, have one or more dependents, attend college part time, and may work full time - more likely than other students to juggle multiple life roles, such as worker, spouse, parent, and caregiver - adult learners often seek a college degree to be eligible for higher paying and more satisfying careers, others enroll to change careers, or employers sometimes encourage students to enroll in college to learn new skills - tend to show a readiness to learn and a problem centered orientation toward learning that emphasizes acquiring the knowledge and skills needed for career advancement - tend to have more complex knowledge base from which to draw and emphasize seeking meaning and applying what they learn to their lives the forgotten third: - those who finish high school but do not attend college - the population of non college bound youth has been referred to in the literature as "forgotten" by educators, scholars, and policy makers because relatively few resources are directed toward learning about or assisting them, as compared with college bound young adults - have fewer work opportunities - spend their first working years in jobs that are similar to those they held in high school, unskilled, and with low pay and little security

7. Examine patterns of moral development during middle childhood.

- development of moral reasoning is influenced by childhood advances in cognitive development, social experience, and opportunities to consider issues of fairness - moral development is influenced by how parents and caregivers discuss moral issues, such as those involving telling the truth, harming others, and respecting property rights Piaget: autonomous morality: children being to see rules a products of group agreement and tools to improve cooperation Kohlberg: conventional moral reasoning: children are now able to take others' perspectives and and are motived by reciprocity, seeking to be accepted and avoid disapproval - young children's behavior it governed by self-interest, the desire to gain rewards and avoid punishments (THERE IS TABLE DISTINGUISHING THE VIEWS ABOVE, DECIDE LATER WHETHER TO ADD) Distribute Justice reasoning: ~7 years: children take merit into account and believe that extra candy should go to the child who has excelled or worked especially hard ~ 8 years: children can act on the basis of benevolence, believing that others at a disadvantage should get special consideration 8-10 years: children come to understand that people can have different yet equally valid reasons for claiming a reward older children: tend to differentiate among their relationships, which may influence their judgements pre/young adolescents: try to coordinate claims of merit, need and equality and provide increasingly sophisticated answers that often cannot be expressed in a single sentence Distinguishing Moral and Conventional Rules: - school-age children judge moral rules as more absolute than conventional rules - moral rules are seen as less violable, less contingent on authority, and less alterable than social conventions - social conventions that serve a purpose, such as preventing injuries (eg, no running indoors) are evaluated as more important and more similar to moral issues than social conventions with no obvious purpose (eg, avoiding a section of schoolyard with no apparent danger) - distinguish among moral issues, such as bullying

work work work

- finding work - liking work - balancing work and life

4. Analyze patterns of adolescent sexual activity, including sexual orientation.

- hand holding -> kissing -> touching through/under clothes -> oral sex -> genital sex - adolescents are as likely to engage in oral sex as vaginal intercourse - overall rates of sexual intercourse among US high school students has declined from 57% in 1991 to 47% in 2013 - most people have sexual intercourse for the first time at about age 17 - early sexual experience is more common in adolescents who reared in stressful contexts - associated with problem behaviors, including alcohol and substance use, poor academic achievement, and delinquent activity as well as having a larger number of sex partners relative to peers - having sexually active peers and perceiving positive attitudes about sex among schoolmates predict initiation and greater levels of sexual activity and a greater number of sexual partners - adolescents' perceptions of the sexual norms in their neighborhood, as well as siblings' sexual activity are associated with age of initiation, casual sex, and the number of sexual partners, even after controlling for neighborhood demographic risk factors sexual orientation: an enduring pattern of emotional romantic, and sexual attraction to opposite sex partners (heterosexual), same-sex partners (gay or lesbian), or partners of both sexes (bisexual). sexual minority: after a period of questioning and exploration, adolescents may commit to a sexual orientation and integrate their sexuality into their overall sense of identity sexual identity: (final stage of sexual identity development) acceptance and disclosure, may occur in adolescence but often occurs in emerging adulthood and afterward contraceptive use: - authoritative parenting: and open discussions about sex and contraception are associated with increased contraceptive use - boys and girls with more reproductive knowledge report greater use of contraceptives and more consistent use of contraceptives teen pregnancy: at risk: - those who experience menarche early - poor academic achievement - delinquency - substance use - depression - affiliation with deviant peers - low SES - poor neighborhoods - low levels of parental worth and monitoring - having adolescent parents or siblings results: - less likely to achieve many of the typical markers of adulthood on time, such as completing high school, entering a stable marriage, becoming financially and residentially independent - poor educational outcomes without proper access to childcare, etc. - (adulthood) extreme poverty, family instability, few educational and community supports

1. Describe school-age children's self-conceptions and motivation.

- self concept shifts from concrete descriptions of behavior to trait-like psychological constructs - older children include both positive and negative traits, unlike younger children who tend to describe themselves in all or none terms. - come to understand that their traits very with context - as self concept differentiates, children develop a: physical appearance self concept: physical attributes and attractiveness academic self concept: school performance social self concept: social relationships with peers and others athletic self concept: physical skills beliefs about behavioral conduct: whether they can behave appropriately - fall and rise in self esteem, self esteem drops with school transitions - older children's ability to take other peoples perspectives enables them to consider their abilities more objectively - children evaluate their characteristics, abilities, and performance in comparison with peers, which influences their overall sense of competence - children receive feedback about their abilities from parents, teachers, and peers and this affects their self esteem - children's self esteem is influenced by children's self evaluations as well as by the importance they assigned to the particular ability being evaluated - promote mastery orientation: a belief that success stems from trying hard and that failures are influenced by factors that can be controlled, like effort - effort plays a role in success - growth mindset: viewing their characteristics as malleable or changeable - fixed mindset: believing their characteristics are enduring and unchangeable - bad on one spelling exam -> bad on all spelling exams - teachers play an important role in this - or learned helplessness orientation: characterized by a fixed mindset and the attribution of poor performance to internal factors authoritative: higher self esteem authoritarian: aren't able/don't develop industry permissive: bigger fall of self esteem as it was inflated by parent

4. Compare the experiences of young adults as stepparents, never-married parents, and same-sex parents.

- the average age at which US women give brith have increased over the past three decades, from 21.4 in 1970 to 26.4 in 2014 becoming a parent: - women in high status, demanding jobs are likely to delay/deny childbearing, as well as values, health, and financial status - birth-18: $234,000 - many parents report not feeling prepared - reduced sense of self esteem and well being - some parents express an inability to regain the happiness and life satisfaction from pre kids - although may adopt a "it's all worth it" mentality - parenting contributes to a sense of meaning - parenthood is associated with sudden declines in martial satisfaction - conflict tends to rise - declines are higher if couples experienced problems prior to birth, have temperamentally challenging infants and have an insecure attachment to spouse or child - later in life, less kids than ever before - both partners working - biological windows close - increased stress on parents and marriage - prepared vs. not prepared for the adjustment - role strain for working moms - keeps of info, may pump for breast feeding during the day - financial strain, cost of raising a child to age 18: $245,000 never married single parent: - 4/10 infants are born to never married mothers each year - never married parents in the US are less likely to have attended college and are more likely to live at or near the poverty level -although some research suggests that never married mothers tend to be similar to married mothers in mental health, other work suggested that never married single mothers are less happy and more likely to have poor health in middle or older adulthood - single mother homes are disproportionately likely to live in poverty - primary challenge never married mothers face is economic - less likely to receive child support than divorced mothers - non marital child bearing is adversely associated with the ability to marry an economically attractive mate and maintain a long term marital union same sex parents: - lesbian women become parents through a more diverse set of pathways than heterosexual women, including adoption and parenting a spouse or partner's child - the majority of children in sex sex parented homes were conceived through previous heterosexual relationships, but an increasing number of gay and lesbian women become parents through adoption and reproductive technologies - families created through reproductive technology face unique challenges - social (nonbiological) mother does not have an automatic legal connection to her spouses offspring, as male fathers do in opposite sex marriages - heterosexual married couples do not have to face a similar process to obtain legal rights for their children - viewed as stigmatizing and biased - such bias and discrimination pose threats to same sex parents well being - children reared in same sex parents do not differ from those reared by heterosexual parents in social developments, psychological adjustment, and gender and sexual orientation - same sex parents do not differ from heterosexual parents in competence or commitment to their roles as parents - same sex parents tend to be more equal than heterosexual parents, however, their relationship dynamic often shift in similar ways as those of heterosexual parents stepparents: - stepmothers: tend to face particularly high levels of conflict, to be more disliked by their stepchildren, and to experience more stress, anxiety and depression - may be expected to take on maternal roles and develop relationships quickly - stepparent-step child bonds take a great time to. develop, and stepmother may feel guilty fo r not feeling maternal and for preferring life without stepchildren - stepparents who do not have children of their own may hold unrealistic expectations for family life that sharply contrast with the reality they encounter - stepparents who have children of their own have an easier time, perhaps because they are more experience in forming warm attachments with children and may engage children in fun activities; this is particularly the case for stepfather, as they experience less pressure to take on parenting roles than do stepmothers - remarried parents tend to show high levels of tension and conflict about parenting compared with first married parents - positive child communication and high quality marriage, as well as social support, predict positive coping on the part of stepmothers - stepmothers who perceive a lack of control over parenting practices during visitations are more likely to feel powerlessness, anger and resentment, which may be manifested in depression childlessness - frequently involuntary, infertility or postponing of parenthood - may also be voluntary: flexibility and freedom of child care responsibilities, pursuit of career aspirations, economic security, environmental reasons, and desires to preserve marital satisfaction - education and career status - involuntary: associated with life dissatisfaction varying from ambivalence to deep disappointment, especially when it is accompanied by self blame, rumination, and catastrophizing

3. Discuss brain development during adolescence and its effect on behavior.

- the increase in sex hormones with puberty triggers a variety of neurological developments, including a second burst of synaptogenesis, resulting in a rapid increase of connections among neurons - the volume of the cerebral cortex increases, peaking at about 10.5 years in girls and 14.5 in boys - connections between the prefrontal cortex and various brain regions strengthen, permitting rapid communication, enhanced cognitive functioning, and greater emotional and behavioral control - synaptic pruning decreases the volume of gray matter, thins and molds the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for rational thought and executive function and results in markedly more efficient cognition and neural functioning - myelination leads to increases in the brain's white matter, especially in the prefrontal cortex and the corpus callosum, which increases up to 20% in size, speeding communication between the left and right hemispheres dual systems model: the limbic system, responsible for emotion, undergoes a burst of development well ahead of the prefrontal cortex, responsible for judgement, and this difference in development can account for many "typical" adolescent behaviors - adolescents have difficulty identifying emotions depicted in facial expressions - pubertal hormones cause a burst of development in the limbic system in early adolescence, well ahead of the parts of the brain responsible for executive control - adolescents experience heightened emotional reactivity, influencing their responses to emotionally charged stimuli, such as facial expressions of fear or anger - adolescents experience more emotional arousal yet less cortical processing and control than adults risky behavior: - ~9-10: the prefrontal cortex and limbic system experience a marked shift in levels or serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that are associated with impulsivity, novelty seeking and reward salience - sensitivity to rewards peaks at the same time as adolescents experience difficulty with response inhibition, the ability to control a response - a heightened response to motivational cues coupled with immature behavioral control results in a bias toward immediate goals rather than long term consequences

3. Analyze physical and sexual health issues in emerging and early adulthood.

- the leading cause in death in US young adults through age 35 is unintentional injury, followed by homicide and suicide, and then cancer and heart disease - at all stages in life, SES is linked with health through its influence environmental factors, health enhancing factors, and health risks overweight and obesity: - obesity is defined as a body mass index of 30 or above, and overweight is defined as a BMI greater than 25 - obesity increase from early to middle adulthood for all adults, with females showing a small increase over men - influenced by heredity, but today's global obesity epidemic has stronger ties to environmental issues than genetic factors - physical labor is less a part of the lifestyle in industrialized nations than ever before - individuals in developing countries become less active with gains in technology - with age, it becomes more difficulty to avoid overeating become caloric needs drop between the ages of 25 and 50, and the rest, gradually falls as muscle cells decline in number and size - sedentary lifestyles, desk jobs, and especially amount of hours watching TV are closely related with obesity - sense of neighborhood safety, low SES leading to fewer chain supermarkets and grocery stores and more convenience stores and fast food restaurants offering high calorie food items, financial disparities - associated with health problems and illnesses such as high blood pressure, stroke, circulatory problems, diabetes, digestive disorders, arthritis, cancer, and ultimately, early death - weight gain throughout early adulthood predicts illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as death in middle adulthood - may increase bias, which may lead to depression physical activity: - important influence on longevity - regular moderate exercise enhances immunity, lowering the risk of, and speeding recovery to illnesses - exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and at least 20 other illnesses and reduced overall mortality at all times in the lifespan - mental health benefits of regular physical activity include improved mood, energy, and ability to cope, as well as lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression - fitness is linked to cognitive performance throughout adulthood - high levels of cardiovascular fitness: tend to perform better on measures of basic cognitive abilities, such as attention, reaction time, working memory, and processing speed - helps maintain motor skill competence - 150 minutes of moderate activity, 75 minutes of rigorous activity a week to obtain health benefits such as reduced cholesterol levels, decreased body fat, and reduced risk of developing diabetes or heart disease - 300 minutes of moderate activity, 150 minutes a of rigorous activity a week to lose weight. - physical activity tends to decline from adolescence into emerging adulthood and young adulthood, increasing the risk for poor health outcomes throughout adulthood sexual activity: - the social script of merging adulthood as a "time to experiment" is conducive to casual sex, sexual activity outside of romantic relationships - negative consequences of hooking up are generally more common and more pronounced form women than men - a double standard exists regarding the social acceptability of sex outside of romantic relationships, in which women receive negative social sanctions while men receive social rewards, and may even experience psychological distress if they do not engage in hookups - this makes hooking up potentially more challenge for women - frequency of sexual activity is closely related to marital status - married adults are more sexually active than single adults - sexual activity is highest among people in young adulthood, from their mid 20s to mid 30s, and declines gradually for people in their 40s and again their 50s, but the amount of decline is modest - frequency of sexual intercourse is associated with emotional, sexual, and relationship satisfaction, as well as overall happiness in adults sexual coercion: - survivors of sexual assault have a higher than average risk of developing PTSD, anxiety, and depression and of abusing alcohol and other substances - women who blames themselves tend to experience more adjustment difficulties including a higher risk for depression, whereas support from family and friends influences positive adjustment - men feel a greater sense of shame and stigma than women and are even less likely than women to report being sexually assaulted - college men are more accepting of rape myths than are women and are more likely to cling to them following date rape education classes substance abuse: - tends to rise - tends to begin in adolescence and peak in early 20s, and decline into the 30s - tends to decline as young adults become parents and transition into new family roles, however substance abuse remains prevalent in adulthood alcohol use and abuse: - binge drinking: defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting in men and four drinks in one sitting in women - associated with negative short and long term consequences for physical and psychological well being, including academic problems, fatal and nonfatal injuries, violence and crime, STDs, and sexual assault - heavy drinking is defined by two or more instances of binge drinking within the last 30 days - binge and heavy drinking are highest in emerging and young adulthood - binge and heaving drinking may be part of a "stage of life phenomenon" for which the transition out of high school increases the risk - greater exposure to drinking, high levels of peer drinking, positive peer attitudes toward alcohol leads to increase in alcohol use - most emerging adults report experiencing more positive consequences of drinking than negative consequences, which contributes to high rates of binge and heavy drinking in this age group - alcohol use tends to decline as young people enter early adulthood - generally, young adults in their 20s continue to drink frequently but consume less alcohol on each occasion - the transition to adult responsibilities such as career, marriage, and parenthood physically predicts decline in heavy drinking and alcohol related problems - alcohol dependence: a maladaptive pattern of alcohol use that leads to clinically significant impairment or distress - signified by tolerance, cravings and withdrawal, inability to reduce drinking, drinking more or for longer than intended, neglect of activities and obligations, and continued use of alcohol despite alcohol related psychological or physical problems - genetic risk factors, alcoholism, environmental factors, personal choices and circumstances all influence alcohol as a coping mechanism - increase risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, intestinal problems, neurologic impairment, liver disease, and several types of cancer, brain damage can eventually lead to memory and concentration problems, confusion and apathy marijuana: - use for medical reasons is more common with middle adulthood - sustained marijuana use is associated with self reported cognitive difficulties and personal problems during their middle to late 20s, including lower levels of academic attainment, lower income, greater levels, of unemployment, conflict with partners, and poor life satisfaction - interferes with executive functioning, problem solving, abstract reasoning and judgement, and the earlier the age of onset the greater the negative effects tobacco: - nearly 90% of smokers have their first cigarette before age 18, but regular or daily smoking often does not begin until about age 20 or later, and the overall risk of initiating smoking plateaus at about age 22 and is rare after 24

2. Discuss the nature of parent-child relationships in adolescence.

- the parenting challenge of adolescence is to offer increasing opportunities for adolescents to develop and practice autonomy while providing protection from danger and the consequences of poor decisions - conflict peaks in middle adolescence and declines from middle to late adolescence and emerging adulthood as young people become more independent and begin to better understand their parents as people - conflict is generally innocuous bickering over mundane matters (small arguments over the details of life, such as household responsibilities, privileges, relationships, curfews, cleaning of the adolescents bedroom ,choices of media, or music volume - parent-adolescent conflict is associated with internalizing problems such as depression, externalizing problems such as aggression and delinquency, and social problems such as social withdrawal an poor conflict resolution with peers, poor school achievement, and (among girls) early sexual activity - wanting more distance, independence, may not be granted - evolutionary aspect: when animals are sexually mature, they leave the home authoritative parenting: - fosters autonomy, self reliance, self esteem, a positive view of the value of work, and academic competence in adolescents - associated with reduced levels of depression, psychological disorders and behavioral problems - helps adolescents feel valued, respected and encouraged to think for themselves authoritarian parenting: - inhibits the development of autonomy, and has been found to be linked to low self esteem, depression, low academic competence, and antisocial behavior in adolescence through early adulthood - moreover, it is the adolescents' perceptions of negative controlling parenting behavior, not parents' own views that predict behavioral problems - more likely to show immaturity, have difficulty with self control and conform to peers parental monitoring: being aware of their teens' whereabouts and companions - associated with overall well being in adolescents, including academic achievement, delayed sexual initiation, and low levels of substance use and delinquent activity - effective parental monitoring: accompanied with warmth and is balance with respect for adolescents' autonomy and privacy - ineffective parental monitoring: adolescents may view this as intrusive, likely to conceal their activities from their parents and continue to do so at least a year later - view of warmth and control provided by their parents are linked with their psychological adjustment, including conduct, emotional symptoms and peer relations

3. Examine the developmental progression of peer relations in adolescence.

- typical adolescent has 4-6 close friends - adolescent friendships are characterized by intimacy, self disclosure, trust and loyalty - tend to include cooperation, sharing, intimacy, and affirmation - reflects emerging capacities for perspective taking, social sensitivity, empathy and social skills girls: - tend to prefer one-on-one interactions - talking, sharing thoughts and feelings, supporting each other - shorter in duration but more closeness than boys - can just hangout boys: - tend to excel at being fun companions, coping with a friend who violates an expectation, sustaining friendships within the overall context of having other friends - need to be doing something/have an activity to form that bond - friends are similar in demographics, close friends tend to be similar in orientation towards risky activity adolescent friends tend to share interests: - tastes in music - similar academic achievement - educational aspirations - political beliefs - similar trends in psychosocial development friendships: - become a stronger relationship - intimacy, trust and self disclosure - being close and being able to be vulnerable, getting to be known - vulnerability -> trust - secrets are being kept - unless not, guard may rise - need to be getting support from friends with lack from parents aid in social adjustment: - develop perspective taking, empathy, self concept, and a sense of identity - reduce risk of delinquency, manage stress cliques: close-knit, friendship based groups, "squads", 3-5 people, inner circle, strong alliances with similar beliefs/values crowds: larger and looser groups based on shared characteristics, interests and reputation (typical groups in school jocks vs. geeks), may align strongly with one or more crowd/bounce between, labelled larger groups, opportunities to gain social skills, experiment with values and rules, temporary identity, away from family needing peers, modify behavior peer conformity: - the pressure to conform t o peers rises in early adolescence, peaks at about 14, and declines through age 18 and after - tend to exert pressure to conform to day-to-day activities such as clothing, hairstyle makeup - it is not simply peer behavior that influences adolescent behaviors, but it is adolescents' perceptions of peer behavior, as well as beliefs about peers' activity, that predict engaging in risky activities dating: - adolescents' capacity for romantic intimacy develops slowly and is influenced by their quality of their experiences with intimacy in friendships and their attachments to parents - learn to share, be sensitive to others' needs, and develop the capacity for intimacy - opportunities to develop and practice sensitivity, cooperation, empathy and social support, as well as to aid in identity development - in middle to late adolescence, romantic relationships are associated with positive self concept, expectations for success in relationships, fewer feelings fo alienation and good physical and mental health - early dating relative to peers is associated with higher rates of alcohol and substance use, smoking delinquency, and low academic competence over the adolescent years, as well as long term depression - dating violence: the actual or threatened physical or sexual violence or psychological abuse directed toward a current or former boyfriend/girlfriend/dating partner

6. Compare two alternative views of intelligence.

Howard Gardner: intelligence is the ability to solve problems or create culturally valued products multiple intelligence theory: proposes at least 8 independent kinds of intelligence - expands the use of the term intelligence to refer to skills not usually considered intelligence by experts and has led to a great deal of debate among intelligence theorists and researchers - each person has a unique pattern of intellectual strengths and weaknesses - each form of intelligence is thought to be biologically based, and each develops on a different timetable - optimistic perspective that allows everyone to be intelligent in her or her own way, viewing intelligence as broader than book-learning and academic skills 1. verbal-linguistic intelligence: ability to understand and use the meaning of subtleties of words (word smarts) 2. logical-mathematical intelligence: ability to manipulate logic and numbers to solve problems (number smarts) 3. spatial intelligence: ability to perceive the visual-spatial world accurately, navigate and environment, and judge spatial relationships (spatial smarts) 4. bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: ability to move the body skillfully (body smarts) 5. musical intelligence: ability to perceive and create patterns of pitch and melody (music smarts) 6. interpersonal intelligence: ability to understand and communicate with others (people smarts) 7. intrapersonal intelligence: ability to understand the self and regulate emotions (self smarts) 8. naturalist intelligence: ability to distinguish and classify elements of nature: animals, minerals, and plants (nature smarts) Sternberg: intelligence is a set of mental abilities that permits individuals to adapt to any context and to select and modify the sociocultural contexts in which they live and behave triarchic theory of intelligence: poses three forms of intelligence: - analytical intelligence: refers to information processing capacities, such as how efficiently people acquire knowledge, process information, engage in metacognition, and generate and apply strategies to solve problems - creative intelligence: taps insight and the ability to deal with novelty - people high in creative intelligence respond to new tasks quickly and effectively - learn easily - compare information with what is.already known, come up with new ways of organizing information, and display original thinking - practical intelligence: influences how people deal with their surroundings; how well they evaluate their environment, selecting and modifying it, and adapting it to fit their own needs and external demands - people high in practical intelligence apply their analytical creative, and applied abilities to suit the setting and problems at hand - some situations require careful analysis, others the ability to think creatively, and yet others the ability to solve problems quickly in everyday settings

Other Theories:

Levinson's season of life: - life transitions every 10 years - creating life structures - consists of forming relationships - life structure: underlying design to one's life, consists of relationships - others, groups, institutions - social clock: - age related expectations that society has for major life events

3. Discuss school-age children's capacities for reasoning as well as cultural differences in patterns of development.

Piaget's concrete operational stage of reasoning: - @ ~ 6/7, children become able to use logic to solve problems but are still unable to apply logic to abstract and hypothetical situations - classification: the ability to understands hierarchies, to simultaneously consider relationship between a general category and more specific subcategories - transitive inference: the ability to infer the relationship between 2 objects by understanding each object's relationship to a third - seriation: the ability to order objects in a series according to a physical dimension such as height, weight, or color - class inclusion: understanding hierarchical relationships among items - conservation: children understand that certain characteristics of an object do not change despite superficial changes to an objects appearance, this shows an understanding of reversibility - Piaget emphasized the universal nature of cognitive development, assuming that all children around the world progress through the same stages - studies of children in non-Western cultures suggest that they achieve conservation and other concrete operational reasoning tasks may be influenced by methodology (how questions are asked and the cultural identity of the experimenter) - 10-11 yr old Canadian Micmac Indian children were tested in english on conservation problems, they performed worse than 10-11 yr old white english speaking children, when tested in native language, the children performed just as well as english speaking children - children are more likely to display logical reasoning when considering substances with which they are familiar - ex: Mexican children making pottery will understand at an early age that clay remains the same when its shape is changed - despite having never attended school and scoring low on measures of mathematics achievement, many 6-15 yr old children living in the streets of Brazil demonstrate sophisticated, logical and computational reasoning - children who have been in school longer tend to do better on transitive inference tasks than same age children with less schooling - Zimbabwean children's understanding of conservation is influenced by academic experience, age, and family socioeconomic status

5. Discuss moral development and influences on moral reasoning.

Stage 3: Conventional moral reasoning entails internalizing the norms and standards of authority figures, in a desire to be accepted... (increases through middle adolescence) Stage 4: ...and to maintain social order (increases in middle to late adolescence and becomes typical of most individuals by early adulthood) post conventional moral reasoning: entails autonomous decision making from oral principles that value respect for individual rights above all else - recognize their self chosen principles of fairness and justice may sometimes conflict with the law Stage 5: individuals view laws and rules as flexible and part of the social contract or agreement meant to further human interests Stage 6: abstract ethical principles that are universal, valid for all people regardless of law, such as equality and respect for human dignity - hypothetical - most advanced type of moral reasoning has led to four decades of research - few people advance beyond stage 4 - post conventional reasoning is rare, and appears as stage 5 reasoning social interaction & moral reasoning: - high quality parent child relationships predict advanced moral reasoning - reasoning advances when adolescents have opportunities to engage in discussion that are characterized by mutual perspective taking - parents who engage their children discussion, listen with sensitivity, ask fro children's input, praise them, engage them with questioning, and use humor to promote the development of moral reasoning - adolescents who have more close friendships in which they engage in deep conversations tend to show more advanced moral reasoning than do teens who have little social contact gender and moral reasoning: - males typically showing stage 4 reasoning, characterized by concerns about law and order - females typically showing stage 3 reasoning, characterized by concerns about maintaining relationships care orientation: characterized by empathy, a desire to maintain relationships, and a responsibility to not cause harm justice orientation: based on the abstract principles of fairness and individualism captured by Kohlberg - sex differences are very small - most mature forms of moral reasoning incorporate both justice and car concerns culture and moral reasoning: - people in non Western cultures rarely score above stage 3 moral reasoning and behavior: - reasoning is only moderately related to behavior - advances in moral reasoning, adolescents often begin to coordinate moral, conventional and personal concepts and are more likely to act in ways that are in line with their beliefs - the ability to recognize the gray area in a black and white decision - kids who spend more time thinking/decision making tend to think deeper and have higher advances in moral reasoning - no differences in gender - culture may play a role, collectivist cultures vs. individualist cultures - behavior: knowing how to act and acting that way

2. Analyze common health issues facing school-age children, including associated risk factors

childhood injuries: - unintentional injuries from accidents are the most common cause of death in children and adolescents in the US (1 in 5) - motor vehicle accidents are the most frequent cause of fatal injuries in children ages 5-19 - rates for non-fatal injuries are high in infancy and ages 15-19 - males experience more injuries than females - age 9: falls - ages 10-14: fall or being struck by an object or person - adolescents: being struck by an object or person risk factors: - poor parental and adult supervision - parents report feeling little control over their behavior - some parents hold the belief that injuries are an inevitable part of child development and may therefore provide less supervision and intervention - children who are impulsive, overactive, and difficult, as well as those diagnosed with ADHD - parent distraction - parents who work long hours or multiple jobs and who living in challenging environments - neighborhood disadvantage childhood obesity: - obesity: defined as having a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for height and age, as indicated by the CDC growth charts - more than 17% of school-age children are classified as obese - heredity plays a strong role in obesity, but contextual factors also place individuals at risk for obesity and interact with biology to determine whether genetic predispositions to weight gain are fulfilled - US children who eat an evening meal with parents are less likely to be overweight than other children and are less likely to be overweight as young adults, tend to have more healthy diets that include more fruit and veggies and less friend foods and soft drinks - associated with short and long term health problems, including are disease, high blood pressure, orthopedic problems and diabetes - at risk for: peer rejection, depression, low self esteem and body dissatisfaction

3. Analyze the diverse romantic situations that may characterize early adulthood, including singlehood, cohabitation, marriage, and divorce.

cohabitation: living together, not leading to marriage singlehood: - singlehood: not living with a romantic partner - some women attribute singlehood to focusing more on career goals than marriage, and others point to disappointing romantic relationships or to never having met the right person - women are more likely than men to remain single for many years or for their entire lives - voluntarily single: self supporting, feel a sense of control over their romantic lives, have not encountered anyone they wish to marry. tend to report enjoying singlehood and the freedom to take risks and experiment with lifestyle changes. associate singlehood with independence, self fulfillment and autonomy - involuntarily single: may feel a sense of romantic loneliness and loss and may be concerned with singlehood's impact on childbearing - single adults tend to maintain more social connection of both men and women - more likely to stay in frequent touch with parents, friends and neighbors and to give an receive help from them, suggesting some important social benefits of singlehood cohabitation: - the practice of unmarried couples sharing a home - some adults move in with their partners early in the relationships because of changes in employment or housing situations, for the sake of convenience, or in response to pregnancy - adults commonly cite assessing romantic compatibility, convenience, and potential improvement in finances as reason for cohabiting - cohabitating couples in the US without plans to marry, tend to show poor relationship quality, be less satisfied, and have less stable relationship than married couples - most cohabiting couples do not eventually marry, and those who do have unhappier marriages with a greater likelihood of divorce - cohabiting couples list similar reasons for breakups: most commonly growing apart, followed by arguments - older adults show more positive outcomes from cohabitation marriage: - in 2017, the median age of first marriage in the US was 27.4 for women and 29.5 for men - young people of low SES tend to marry at younger ages than do those of higher SES - marriage offers economic, physical and psychological benefits - married people around the world ten dot live longer and are happier, physically healthier, wealthier, and in better mental health than non married people - many newlyweds struggle with rising debt, which is associated with higher levels of conflict - couples who are successful at managing the transition to married life express warmth, empath and respect in their relationship - they are able to address differences and resolves conflicts constructively by expressing feelings calmly, listening, accepting responsibility, and compromising - partners in successful marriages are able to maintain positive emotions for their spouse even in the midst of conflict - unhappy couples during arguments easily sink into negative emotions that are overwhelming, and like quicksand, difficult to escape - one of the best predictors of marital satisfaction and long lasting marriage is the partner's chronological maturity or age - the younger the bride and groom, the less likely they are to have a lifelong marriage - forging an intimate relationship relies on a secure sense of identity, which many emerging adults are still developing - marital success to also predicted by the similarity between the members of the couple; SES, education, religion and age - men generally report being happier with their marriages than women, although the difference is small - satisfaction, especially in women, tends to be highest in egalitarian in which home and family duties are shared and couples view themselves as equal contributors - dual earner couples who view themselves as equal contributors to household duties tend to divide work most equitable and report highest levels of satisfaction - if the division of household responsibilities feels equal, then the couple is likely to report marital satisfaction - marriage changes things - women: 20, men: 23, now: women: 25, men: 27 - marital roles need to be discussed - traditional egalitarian - equal divide between partners - satisfaction: - not together long: poor satisfaction - marrying young: less satisfaction - mismatch in SES: less satisfaction - kids early in marriage: less satisfaction same sex marriages: - gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples have found no significant differences in love, satisfaction, or the partners evaluations of the strengths and weakness of their relationships - serious problems such as intimate partner violence, exist in both types of relationships - the breakup rate is also comparable - experience the same psychological benefits - unmarried same sex couples are significantly less stressed than those in a legal marriage, as with heterosexual relationships - suggests a mental health benefit to marriage - marital satisfaction in same sex unions is influenced by perceived equality and associated with physical and mental health, life satisfaction, and well being - stigma and prejudice are stressors that may be lessened with legal marriage - same sex couples living in states with legalized marriage: report high levels of self assessed health, greater self acceptance, and less isolation than those living in state that barred same sex marriage - legally married same sex older adult couples reported better quality of life and more economic and social resources than unmarried couples divorce: - poor education, economic disadvantage, not attending religious services, and experiencing multiple life stressors and role overload are associated with increased risk of divorce - adults who have experienced parental divorce may be more prone to divorce - they have poor coping and conflict resolution skills, experience more conflict in their relationships, and be less able or willing to resolve differences - remarriages experience higher rates of divorce - a critical predictor of divorce is the couples communication and problem solving style - negative interaction patterns and difficulty regulating discussions predict later divorce even in newlyweds reporting high marital satisfaction and these patterns are often evident even before marriage - disagreements over finances are particularly srtong predictors of divorce - divorce entails a series of stressful experiences, including conflict, physical separation, moving, distributing property, and for some, child custody negotiations - divorce is associated with decreased life satisfaction, heightened risk for a range of illnesses, and even an increase in early mortality - divorce is thought to be more harmful to women's health than men, because it tends to represent a greater economic loss for women, often including a loss of health insurance - most people are resilient and fare well, especially after initial adjustment - women who successfully make the transition through a divorce ten dot show positive long term outcomes - become more tolerant, self reliant and nonconforming, all characteristics that are associated with the increased autonomy of self reliance demands that come with divorce - social network may shrink at the same time that their needs for social support increase - divorced adults are prone to depression, loneliness, anxiety, an increase in risky behaviors (drug/alcohol use), promiscuous sexual activity and poor eating, sleeping and working habits - divorced people ten dot report lower life satisfaction than married, never married, and widowed people - spouses in a very low quality relationship may experience divorce as a relief and show increased life satisfaction afterward - most find that their happiness and life satisfaction improve when they find a new romantic partner and establish a relationship - women are more likely to not want to marry again - divorce represents an opportunity for growth and development, and adaptive outcomes following the divorce appear to be the norm, not the exception dinks: - dual income no kids - seeing an increase in these - having more money - greater marriage satisfaction - flexibility is increased - more career opportunities

Stages of Occupational Development and Personality and Vocational Choice

crystallization: (14-18) begin to think about careers in increasingly complex ways, considering their own interests, personality, abilities, and values as well as the requirements of each career specification: (18-21) individuals identity specific occupational goals and pursue the education needed to achieve them implementation (21-24) emerging adults complete training, enter the job market, and make the transition to become employees stabilization: (25-35) become established in a career, they settle into specific jobs, gain experience, and adapt to changes in their workplace and in their field of work investigative: enjoys working with ideas, likely to select a scientific career (biologist, physicist) social: enjoys interacting with people, likely to select a human services career (teaching, nursing, counseling) realistic: enjoys working with objects and real world problems, likely to select a mechanical career (carpenter, mechanic, plumber) artistic: enjoys individual expression, likely to select a career in the arts, including writing and performing arts conventional: prefers well structured tasks, values social status, likely to select a career in business (accounting, banking) enterprising: enjoys leading and persuading others, values adventure, likely to select a career in sales or politics

5. Identify common psychological and behavioral problems in adolescence.

depression and suicide: - depression: most common in teens, following by anxiety (comorbid) - rises in 13-15, post puberty - rates are higher in girls than boys - at risk for long lasting affects if treatment isn't sought - genetic factors play a role in depression as they influence the brain regions responsible for emotional regulation and stress responses, as well as the production of neurotransmitters - extended experience of stress - some adolescents find a discrepancy between their level of acculturation and that of their first generation immigrant parents as stressful - poor parental acculturation is linked with adolescent depression when adolescent-parent relationships are poor - intense and long-lasting depression can lead to thoughts of suicide - LBGT youth (especially male and bisexual youth) experience an exceptionally high risk for suicide, with 3 or 4 times as many attempts as other youth - family conflict, peer rejection, inner conflict - adolescents are more likely to attempt suicide following a friends' attempt - peer victimization is a risk factor for suicide attempts, as well as high anxiety - suicide numbers rise in adolescence - girls attempt more than boys, boys succeed more - differences in means - girls: pills, cutting - males: guns - could be a lasting concern - may express depression first through antisocial activity such as bullying, fighting, stealing, substance abuse, and risk taking eating disorders: - rapidly changing physique leads many to become dissatisfied with their body image - negative body image, obsession with weight control, extreme weight control behaviors anorexia nervosa: may starve themselves in an attempt to achieve thinness, maintaining a weight that is substantially lower than expected for height and age - may avoid eating even when hungry, exercise vigorously to increase their weight loss - may lose one quarter to one half of their body weight - serious health consequences: loss of bone mass causing brittle and easily broken bones, kidney failure, shrinkage of the heart, brain damage, and even death - associated with perfectionism and strict regulation of eating, and thus it may be viewed as a way to exert control and reduce negative mood states bulimia nervosa: recurrent episodes of binge eating, consuming an abnormally large amount of food in a single sitting coupled with a feeling of being out of control, following by purging, an inappropriate behavior designed to compensate for the binge, such as vomiting, excessive exercise or use of laxatives - more common than anorexia nervosa - nutritional deficiencies, sores, ulcers, and even holes and cancers in the mouth and esophagus caused by repeated exposure to stomach acids - occur more often in identical than fraternal twins, indicating a genetic basis - eating disorders are associated with those who have impulse control and anxiety - also associated with altered neural activity in several limbic system structures and parts of the prefrontal cortex, responsible for aspects of emotions, rewards and decision making treatments may include: - hospitalization (if needed), antianxiety or antidepressants, individual and family therapy alcohol and substance abuse: - may serve as a developmental function in middle and late adolescence, such as a way of asserting independence and autonomy from parents, sustaining peer relationships, and learning about oneself - alcohol and marijuana use tends to peak in emerging adulthood and then declines - short term dangers: overdose, accidents, and motor impairment - long term dangers: dependence and abuse - adolescents are particularly vulnerable to alcohol abuse because they show reduced sensitivity to the effects of alcohol that serve as cues in adults to limit their intake, such as motor impairment, sedation ,social impairment, and quietness or distress - they develop a tolerance and are at risk for developing dependence for alcohol more quickly than adults alcohol use: - associated with damage to the brain, including reduced volume in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus - heavy drinking reduced frontal cortex response during working memory tasks, slower information processing, and reductions in attention, visuospatial functioning, and problem solving - executive function, working memory, and learning suffer - adolescents become less able to regulate behavior - academic problems, social problems, aggression, and victimization, unintentional injuries, anxiety, depression, car crashes and suicide - at higher risk for substance abuse: tend to being drinking earlier than peers, low SES, family members with poor mental health, drug abuse within the family and community, and disadvantaged neighborhoods, adolescents who have mental health problems, difficulty with self regulation, are victims of physical or sexual abuse - other factors: parental warmth, access, perceptions of peer support for such use delinquency: - most delinquent acts are limited to adolescent years and do not continue into adulthood - with advances in cognition, moral reasoning, emotional regulation, social skills, and empathy, antisocial activity declines - increase in early adolescence, continues into middle adolescence, then declines in late adolescence - adolescents who engage in serious crime are at risk to become repeat offenders who continue criminal activity into adulthood - biological and individual risk factors are coupled with challenging home and community environments, the risk for childhood onset of serous antisocial behavior that persists into adulthood increases - inconsistent parenting, high controlling, harsh punishment, lower monitoring can worsen this - exposure to high levels of community violence predicts delinquent activity - low income communities, communities of pervasive poverty characterized by limited educational, recreational, and employment activities, coupled with access to drugs and firearms, opportunities to witness and be victimized by violence, and offers of protection and companionship by gangs that engage in criminal acts - dropping out of school: preceding criminal behavior - boys are more likely to be arrested - law breaking occurs more in larger communities - predicts antisocial behavior - the earlier the prominence, the longer lasting

1. Describe the features and characteristics of emerging adulthood.

emerging adulthood: 18-25 years old early adulthood: 25-40 years old - much as adolescence is believed to be a social construction, a result of societal changes that separated adolescents from adults, developmental scientists have posed have posed that recent social changes have prolonged the transition to adulthood, creating the new period of emerging adulthood markers of emerging adulthood: - instability - arguably the most unstable period in life - highest rates of residential change of any age group - changes in romantic relationships - several job changes - poses risks to mental health - more than half emerging adults often experience anxiety, a third report often feeling depressed - identity exploration: - have the opportunity to sample opportunities and life options. - no longer under parental restrictions and without the full range of adult responsibilities, emerging adults are bale to fully engage in the exploration that comprises identity development - often make changes in educational paths, romantic partners, and jobs - risking, such as increased substance use - often confusing, especially for emerging adults who find themselves unable to make choices about which paths to explore or who feel that the choices they would like to make in love relationships and work are unattainable sense of feeling in between neither adolescents or adults: - tend to view becoming an adult as independent of traditional markers of adulthood, such as marriage, and instead based on personal characteristics, such as accepting responsibility for themselves and becoming financially independent - although emerging adults do not identity role transitions, such as marriage and parenthood, as necessary for people to be considered adults, young people who have experienced these role transitions are more likely to see themselves as adult than are those who have not completed similar role transitions - as young people make progress toward resolving their identity, they are more likely to perceive themselves as adults - with increasing age, emerging adults are more likely to view themselves as full fledged adults - most have a sense of optimism - which is important - indeed, progress the tasks of emerging adult are associated with psychosocial development - self esteem rises steadily from late adolescence through mid 20s - depressive symptoms decline, and well being increase as young people make advances in emotional regulation, especially the ability to regulate intense emotions such as anger contextual nature of emerging adulthood: - thought to be a response to larger societal changes in Western societies, such as increased education and later onset of marriage and parenthood - emerging adulthood is not universal - transitions do not occur at the same pace or in the same order for everyone - college enrollment often delays residential and financial independence, as most college students tend to depend on on parents for financial and often residential support - Jeffery Arnett describes college as an essential playground for emerging adults, a temporary safe haven where they can explore possibilities in love, work and worldview without many responsibilities of adult life - emerging adulthood may be interwoven in SES - young people who are employed are more likely to be financially self supporting and live in a residence independent of parents, markers of adulthood - young people who drop out of high school, experience early parenthood, being working at a job immediately after high school, or live in low SES homes and communities may experience only a limited period of emerging adulthood or may not experience merging adulthood at all - emerging adulthood may be extended into the lates 20s for people who obtain advanced training, such as attending medical school or law school, which delays entry into career, other adult roles and financial independence - is argued that it is not a life stage, it does not exist everyone and for everyone - given that ethnicity is often interwoven with SES, people of color may be less likely to experience emerging adulthood early adulthood (18-40) - breaking from family - babies? - finding and creating bonds with partner - more experiences - navigating

Piaget's Stage 4 of Operational Reasoning

formal operational reasoning: entails the ability to think abstractly, logically and systematically - 11-adulthood - abstract thought: being able to think about things they are already familiar with but may not be present, thinking bigger - reason about ideas, possibilities that do not exist in reality and that may have no tangible substance, such as whether it is possible to love equitably hypothetical-deductive reasoning: the ability to consider problems generate and systematically test hypotheses, and draw conclusions - scientific thought/reasoning - can form hypotheses and test them - comes from formal education propositional thought: ability to evaluate the logic of something not present

2. Examine the roles of friendship, peer acceptance, and peer victimization in school-age children's adjustment.

friendship: - become more complex - children chose who they play with vs. based on availability - trust is big, is broken may result in heartbreak - seen as a serious breach - children are responsive to each other's needs - similarities can include age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, academic achievement, popularity, and prosocial behaviors - friendships tend to remain stable from middle childhood to adolescence, especially among children whose friendships are high in relationship quality, characterized by sharing, mutual perspective taking and compromise - although, because friendships rely on similar characteristics, proximity, and opportunities for interaction, they may come and go as children develop new interests, competencies and values - children who fail to make friends after losing some may show poor adjustment - may lack social skills - may direct friendship towards children who are unlikely to reciprocate - they are not cognitively prepared to take another person's perspective into account groups: - proximity, sex, academic achievement, popularity, levels of aggression, specialized culture (what they wear, where they play), nature draw to groups acceptance: - popular prosocial: "good kids," higher levels of achievement, parents/teachers like them - popular antisocial: "bad kids," poor actions, bad kids but still have the desire to play with them, parents/teachers don't like them, lower achievement - rejected aggressive: "bullies," actively avoided, mean, - rejected withdrawn: "loners," socially awkward, a little different, passive, social anxiety, likely to be targets of bullying peer acceptance: the degree to which a child is viewed as a worthy social partner by his or her peers, becomes increasingly important in middle childhood popular children: tend to have a variety of positive characteristics, including helpfulness, trustworthiness, assertiveness, and prosocial habits - skilled in emotional regulation and social information processing - children are good at reading social situations, problem solving, self disclosure and conflict resolution peer rejection: tend to be disliked and shunned by their peers - at risk: children who have poor communication, language, emotional control, and social information processing skills peer victimization: refers to an ongoing interaction in which a child repeatedly attempts to inflict physical, verbal, or social harm on another child by, for example, hitting, kicking, name calling, teasing, shunning or humiliating the other child cyberbullying: a type of relationship bullying carried out by electronic, means by text or electronic communication and social media - anxiety - depression - academic problems - behavioral problems children who bully: - have poor school achievement - perceive less support from teachers than do other children - may show higher rates of depression than other children - more likely to experience inconsistent, hostile and rejecting parenting children who are bullied: - nonassertive styles of interacting with peers - shyness - passivity - anxiety - depression - poor emotional control risk factors: circumstances that increase the likelihood of negative outcomes and, in extreme cases, can impede development bully-victims: share characteristics of both bullies and victims but function more poorly than either - high rates of anxiety and depression - low rates of social acceptance - self esteem common to victims - more aggression - impulsivity - poor self control - have difficulty managing emotions

Mate Selection, Components of Love, Intimate Partner Violence

mate selection: - mate selection begins during emerging/early adulthood - SES, experience, attitudes, levels of education, goals - men: tend to prefer a younger mate and assign greater value to physical attractiveness and domestic skills - women: tend to assign greater important to earning potential, intelligence, height and more character and seek mates who are the same age or slightly older - most intimate partners share similarities in demographics, attitudes, and values - perceived similarity (the degree to which individuals believe they are similar to their partner) predicts attraction to potential and current mates and is more important in mate selection than actual, measurable characteristics - personality style - intelligence - educational aspirations - attractiveness - also share similarities in health behaviors (eg smoking), patterns of alcohol use, and tendencies toward risk taking - the more similar partners are, in values such as political beliefs, the more likely to report being satisfied with their relationship and to remain in the relationship - they may share overlapping contexts such as workplace, college, clubs or activities, peer group and community components of love: - Sternberg: intimacy, passion, commitment/companionate - sensitive to needs - wanting to be near them - maintaining love, cognitively committed despite bumps in the road - intimacy and commitment, not passion, determine the relationship's fate and the likelihood that a family will form - increases in intimacy predict increase in passion and vice versa - liking/friendship: intimacy - infatuated love: passion - empty love: commitment - romantic love: intimacy, passion - companionate love: intimacy, commitment - fatuous love: passion, commitment - consummate love: intimacy, passion, commitment intimate partner violence: - intimate partner violence: includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse directed at a romantic partner - intimate terrorism: coercive control and repeated battering of a partner

2. Discuss influences on friendship and mate selection and interactions in early adulthood.

friendships: - in adulthood, close friendships are based reciprocity - entails intimacy, companionship, exchanging favors, and giving advice - adults' beliefs influence their friendships, and their flexible thinking enables them to form relationships with peers who are demographically different - adults who value diversity are more likely to have friends of different ethnicities, religion, and sexual orientation - shared interests, attitudes, and values are most important to forming and maintaining adult friendships - the more that friendships are characterized by social support and self disclosure, the more satisfaction single young adults repot, and the longer the relationships last - about trust, intimacy, and loyalty sex differences: - women tend to have more intimate and long lasting friendships and rely more on friends to meet social and emotional needs - men tend to center on sharing information and activities, such as playing sports, rather than intimate disclosure - as male friendships endure to become long lasting ties, self disclosure increase and the friends become closer - offer powerful protection against stress - friendship quality is associated with psychological adjustment an dwell being, including social competence, life satisfaction, and lower levels of depression and loneliness - men's friendships dwindle as the need to be doing something to hangout persists - girl's have more friendships than men opposite sex friendships: - important sources of social support but tend not to last as long as same sex friendships - among men, friendships with women tend to decline after marriage, but women, especially highly educated women, tend to have more friendships with men throughout adulthood, especially in the workplace - a source of companionship and support and offer opportunities to learn about gender differences in the expression of intimacy - men learn about emotional expression and intimacy, and women often report that male friends offer a different, objective point of view on problems - women most commonly describe their opposite friendships as sibling relationships and men most frequently label their relationship "just friends" - lessens as you grow older - partners may become involved or friends themselves may become involved - educated women tend to have more male friends - in the workplace, etc. - married men tend to have less female friends siblings: - provide support, can look more like friendships, value on friends "she's like my sister!" -> indicates strong bond loneliness: - mismatch: wanting friends but not having them - harder to make friends as you grow older

(14) 1. Summarize psychosocial development in early adulthood.

identity vs. role confusion: - psychosocial task of adolescence - identity formation - identity development is one of the defining markers of emerging adolescence - individuals begin the identity search process in adolescence, but most people do not establish a firm sense of self until emerging adulthood - the identity search process is multidimensional - identity achievement is associated with positive outcomes, including a sense of well being, happiness, and life satisfaction - figuring out who you want to be - social, sexual, occupational - a lot less "parental structure" - ongoing process - abilities you are good in, knowing what you are good at results in confidence - completion of stages -> good identity formation - low in trust: may lose faith in figuring out what they want to do - low in autonomy: may lack risk taking in identity formation - low in industry: may not find something that they are good at - personality is forming - role confusion: may not have confidence/take risks because they don't know where to go next politcal identity: - illustrated by civic participation, such as voting, beliefs about civic responsibilities, and saying informed about national and local issues, also by engaging in organized community based activities suggesting reciprocal influence/process - predict volunteerism and helping - having a higher education is associated with civic participation religious identity: - determining the degree to which religion is integral to the sense of self. - congregation of one: the individualized belief systems many emerging adults develop gender and sexual identity: - embodies feeling comfortable in one's gender and sense of sexuality - through a variety of sexual experiences, emerging adults explore and consider who they are attracted to and what kinds of sexual behaviors they enjoy - also must determine the ways they are comfortable expressing affection and love ethnic identity: - exploring one's ethnic group, including the attitudes, values, and culture associated with that group - determine what elements to internalize and adopt, develop a sense of belonging, and commit to an identity intimacy vs. isolation: - early adulthood, ages 18-40 - developing the capacity for intimacy and making a permanent commitment to a romantic partner - not attaining a sense of intimacy and not making personal commitments to others is the negative psychosocial outcome of isolation, entailing a sense of loneliness and self absorption - maybe challenging for young adults who may often continue to struggle with identity issues and who are just gaining social and financial independence - developing a sense of intimacy relies on identity development, many emerging adults who are just forming their identities are ill prepared for this task - young people immersed in moratorium of identity development are exploring opportunities and are less likely to form successful intimate relationships than those whose identities have been achieved - identity achievement, including a sense of self, values, and goals, predicts readiness for intimate and committed romantic relationships and the capacity to actively seek and establish them - as adults form intimate relationships, they must reshape their identities to include their role as partner and the goals, plans and interest shared with their partner - they must resolve identity and intimacy demands that may conflict - as they engage in continued identity development, they must do the work of establishing an intimate relationship, making sacrifices and compromises that may involve a temporary loss of self, before expanding the sense of self to include a partner - centered around a person's thoughts and feelings about a permanent commitment to a partner - without these ties, isolation is the result - intimacy: - being vulnerable, open, able to give and receive - stages were resolved incompletely/lack of support - isolation will result/will not be ready to be intimate - loneliness may impact emotional functioning and health

Erikson's Stage 3

industry vs. inferiority - developing a sense of competence rather than feel inadequate - success at reading, mathematics, writing and using computers and even simple culturally valued tasks influences children's feelings of competence and curiosity as well as their motivation to persist and succeed in all contexts in which they are embedded - when children are unable to succeed or when they receive consistently negative feedback from parents or teachers, they may lose confidence in their ability to succeed and be productive at valued tasks - development of industry influences self concept, self esteem and readiness to face the physical, cognitive and social challenges of middle childhood - expectations must be attainable - if a child is asked attainable things, they will develop industry and if a child is asked more than they are capable they will develop inferiority - will lead to poor self esteem as the child internalizes that they don't have the competence to do things on their own - based on adult expectations - determines how a child will be/who they are/their abilities/how they feel about themselves

4. Explain changes in children's information processing capacities and thinking.

information processing: describes development as entailing changes in the efficiency of cognition rather than qualitative changes in reasoning working memory and executive function: - by 8 yr: children on average recall about half as many items as adults - steady increases in working memory and executive function - advanced executive function: enable older children to control their attention and deploy it selectively, focusing on the relevant information and ignoring other information, compared with younger children, who are easily distracted and fidget - children get better at: attending to and manipulating information, storing information in long term memory, organizing it in more sophisticated ways and encoding and retrieving it more effectively and with less effort - improvements in memory, attention and processing speed are possible because of brain development, particularly myelination and pruning in the prefrontal cortex and corpus callosum - neural systems for visuospatial working memory, auditory working memory, and response inhibition differentiate into separate parts to enable faster and more efficient processing of these critical cognitive functions - development of the prefrontal cortex leads to advances in response inhibition, the ability to withhold a behavioral response inappropriate to the current context - these advances improve children's capacity for self regulation, controlling their thoughts and behavior - advances in working memory and executive function are associated with language, reading, writing, and mathematics skills metamemory: includes the understanding of one's memory and the ability to use strategies to enhance it

10. Identify common disabilities that pose educational challenges for children as well as methods of educating children who have special needs.

intellectual disability: a condition in which a child or teenager shows significant deficits in cognition (as defined by an IQ below 70) and in age appropriate adaptive skills to a such a degree that he or she requires ongoing support to adapt to everyday living - down syndrome - metabolic disorders (phenylketonuria) - mutations autism spectrum disorder: a family of neurodevelopment disorders that range in severity and are characterized bu deficits in social communication and a tendency to engage in repetitive behaviors attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: (ADHD) the most commonly diagnosed disorder in children, diagnosed in about 10% of schoolchildren in the United States, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent difficulties with attention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity that interferes with performance and behavior in school and daily life - learning disabilities are diagnosed in children who demonstrate a measurable discrepancy between aptitude and achievement in a particular academic area given their age, intelligence, and amount of schooling developmental dyslexia: demonstrate age inappropriate difficulty in matching letters to sounds and difficulty with word recognition and spelling despite inadequate instruction and intelligence and intact sensory abilities dyscalculia: (mathematics disability) slow in learning mathematical concepts such as counting, addition, and subtraction and have poor understanding of these concepts special education: - US and Canada legislation mandates: children with disabilities are to be placed in the "least restrictive" environment, or classrooms that are a similar as possible to classrooms for children without learning disabilities - whenever possible, children are to be educated in the general classroom, with their peers, for all or part of the day (mainstreaming) - teachers are sensitive to special needs of students and provide additional instruction and extra time for them to complete assignments - inclusion: including children with learning disabilities in the regular classroom but proving them with a teach or paraprofessional specially trained to meet their needs - different from mainstreaming because it entails additional educational support tailored to the learning disabled students' special needs - students are placed in the regular classroom, but for part of the day, they are taught separately in a resource room

5. Analyze the uses, correlates, and criticisms of intelligence tests.

intelligence: an individual's ability to adapt to the world in which he or she lives intelligence tests (IQ tests): measure intellectual aptitude, an individual's capacity to learn - usually conducted one-on-one - IQ scores are a strong predictor of academic achievement - children with high IQs tend to earn higher than average grades at school and are more likely to stay in school - school, in turn, provides children with exposure to information and ways of thinking that are valued by the majority culture and reflected in IQ tests - same-age children with more years of schooling tend to have higher IQs than their less educated peers - correlations between IQ and school achievement tests tend to increase with age, suggesting that schooling is also an influence on IQ - cultural bias - some experts argue that IQ tests tap the thinking style and language of the majority culture - intelligence entails more than just academics - some cultures have different definitions of intelligence

9. Examine patterns of academic achievement in reading, mathematics, and second languages.

reading: - school play, cognitive development (especially advances in executive function and working memory) contribute to advances in math achievement and reading comprehension in elementary school - in past generations, children were taught to read through: - phonics instruction: lessons and drills that emphasized learning the patterns of sound and combinations in words - children learned the sounds of each letter, memorized language rules, and sounded out words whole language approach: (late 1980s) literacy is viewed as an extension of language, and children learn to read and write through trial and error discovery that is similar to how they learn to speak, without drills or learning phonics - deficits in reading skill are associated with social adjustment problems, this association increases over time mathematics: - in past generations: math was taught through rote learning activities such as drills, memorization of number facts, and completion of workbooks - in 1989: the national mathematics curriculum was modified to emphasize mathematical concepts and problem solving, estimating, and probability; teachers were to encourage student interaction and social involvement in solving math problems - the method was changed from getting correct answers quickly (product) to learning how to understand an execute the steps in getting an answer (process) - the past decade has seen new educational initiatives that emphasize math and reading instruction coupled with frequent assessments of student achievement to ensure that progress is made and children do not fall through the cracks second language: - immersion: places foreign language speaking children in english speaking classes, requiring them to learn english and course content at the same time - dual language learning: (two way immersion) in which english speaking and non english speaking students learn together in both languages and both languages are valued equally - children exposed to dual language learning tend to retain their native language while learning the new language - the first language may be lost or the second language may become more dominant - individuals who have mastered two or more languages have higher scores on measures of memory, selective attention, analytical reasoning, concept formation and cognitive flexibility - bilingual children tend to score higher on measures of executive function, particularly in the ability to control attention and ignore misleading information

1. Summarize the processes by which self-concept, self-esteem, and identity change during adolescence.

self concept: - adolescents use multiple abstract and complex labels to describe themselves (witty/intelligent) - begin to use qualifiers (I'm sort of shy) - adolescent views' of themselves reflect but also influence their behavior (academic self-concept predicts academic achievement) ideal self: the self thy aspire to be, characterized by traits that they value actual self: adolescent's personal characteristics - adjustment is influenced by the match of these - mismatches between ideal and actual selves are associated with poor school grades, low self esteem, and symptoms of depression - adolescents who show poor stability/consistency in their self-descriptions tend to experience higher rates of depressive and anxiety symptoms self esteem: global self esteem: the overall evaluation of self-worth - tends to decline ~age 11, reaches its lowest point at about 12/13 years of age, and then rises - determined by the multiple transitions that young adolescents undergo, such as body changes and the emotions that accompany those changes, as well as adolescents' self comparisons to peers - adolescents describe and evaluate themselves overall, as well as in specific areas, such as academics, athletic ability, and social competence - authoritative parenting: associated with greater self-worth and better adjustments in adolescents - parental-adolescent content/critical, inconsistent and not contingent parental feedback: predict development of poor self esteem - adolescents who feel supported and well liked by peers tend to show high self esteem identity: identity: a sense of self that is coherent and consistent overtime - individuals must consider their past and future and determine a sense of their values, beliefs, and goals with regard to vocation, politics, religion, and sexuality - identity achievement: represents the successful resolution of this process, establishing a coherent sense of self after exploring a range of possibilities - psychosocial moratorium: a timeout period the gives adolescents the opportunity to explore possibilities of whom they might become - provides more freedom and independence than childhood but is without the full responsibilities of adulthood - will explore careers, religion - success will result in a sense of identity, failure will result in confusion identity formation: - can vary across lifetime - differ in terms of commitment and exploration - commitment without exploration: gaps, no journey/opportunities to figure out, "following" family identity statuses: identity status: the degree to which individuals have explored possible selves and whether they have committed to specific beliefs *statuses NOT stages identity achievement: (commitment and exploration present) description: has committed to an identity after exploring multiple possibilities characteristics: active problem solving style, high self esteem, feelings of control, high moral reasoning, and positive views of work and school - identity is "completed" identity foreclosure: (commitment present, exploration absent) description: has committed to an identity without having explored multiple possibilities characteristics: avoid reflecting on their identity choice, not open to new information, especially if contradicts their position, rigid and inflexible - taking over the family business moratorium: (commitment absent, exploration present) description: has not committed to an identity but is exploring alternatives characteristics: information seeking, active problem solving style, open to experience, anxiety, experimentation with alcohol or substance abuse - undecided majors or college students identity diffusion: (commitment and exploration absent) description: has neither committed to an identity nor explored alternatives characteristics: avoidance, tend to not solve personal problems in favor of letting issues decide themselves, academic difficulties, apathy and alcohol and substance abuse - 40 year old who still lives at home - may have been discouraged - moratorium status tends to increase during adolescence, peaking at ~19, declining over emerging adulthood as young people gradually commit to identities - people form a new sense of identity in many different realms within both ideological (ie, occupation, religion, and politics) and interpersonal domains (ie, friendships and dating) - identity development continues and is pivotal at college - identity achievement is associated with high self esteem, mature sense of self, feelings of control, high moral reasoning, and positive views of work and school ethnic identity: or a sense of membership to an ethnic group, including the attitudes, values, and culture associated with that group personality: indesicive, curiosity levels family: parents may model exploration or inhibit peers: good/bad influences schools: teacher/student relationships, may lack support/opportunities community: may have lack of access to exploration, SES society: systemic forces

8. Discuss language development during middle childhood and its implications for capacities for communication.

vocabulary: - 6 yr olds's vocabularies expand by 4 times by the end of elementary school years and 6 times by the end of formal schooling - learn that words can describe a given action, but the words often differ slightly in meaning - become more selective in their use of words, choosing the right word to meet their needs - learn that some words can have more than one meaning, such as run - this understanding that words can be used in more than one way leads to the understanding of metaphors and similes in 8-10 yr olds grammar: - metalinguistic awareness: becoming increasingly aware of and knowledgable about the nature and qualities of language - 8 yrs: children can analyze the grammatical acceptability of their utterances and spontaneously self correct many of their errors - middle childhood: become better able to understand complex grammatical structures - begin to use the passive voice (The dog is being fed), complex constructions (I have already fed the dog), and conditional sentences (I would have fed the dog if I was home earlier) - school-age: often have difficulty understanding spoken sentences of which the meaning depends on subtle shifts in intonation pragmatics: the practical application of language to communicate - children are more likely to change their speech in response to the needs of the listeners - children speak differently to adults than to other children as well as differently on the playground than in class or home - older children begin to understand that there is often a distinction between what people say and what they mean - many contextual, linguistic and developmental factors influence the processing and comprehension of irony, such as the ability to interpret intonation and facial expressions as well as the capacity to evaluate how well a statement matches the situation - 5-6 yrs: become capable of recognizing irony when they are able to understand that a speaker might believe something different from what has been said - yet most children at this age tend to interpret irony as sincere, relying on the person's statement and disregarding other cues in the story, such as intonation and gestures - by age 8: children can recognize and use irony - although, as old as 13: children do not reliably distinguish irony, intended to joke or mock, from deception, intended to conceal information