PERDEV

Physical and Physiological Changes and Their Implications

ADOLESCENT
A person who is no longer a child but not yet an adult. “growing toward” adulthood.
Adolescent—Latin: adolescens means growing up or growing toward. An adolescent is someone “growing
toward” adulthood.
PHYSICAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Adolescence begins with a
Puberty - period of dramatic sexual development
Both boys and girls experience markedly rapid physical development because of the hormonal changes in the
body.
Androgens and estrogens are hormones or chemical substances produce by endocrine glands that actively
affect physical growth and development.
Boys come to know that there is production and release of sperm, spermarche when they experience
nocturnal emissions or wet dreams. This is an indication that their male reproductive organs have become
mature in function and that they are already capable of reproduction.
Menarche, the first menstrual period, marks a girl’s sexual maturity and is indicative of her capacity to be
pregnant.
Testosterone - an androgen that is strongly associated in the physical maturation of boys.
Estradiol - an estrogen that is strongly associated in the physical development of girls. Hormonal changes
especially among girls may trigger weight gain and is often associated with obesity.
Physical Changes
GIRLS BOYS
• Initial breast elevation • Enlargement of testes
• Beginning of growth spurt • Changes in texture and color of
• Appearance of pubic hair scrotum
• Widening of the hips • Increased penis size
• Increased size of uterus, vagina, • Widening of the shoulders
labia, clitoris • Appearance of pubic hair
• Further breast development • First ejaculation
• Peak of growth spurt, followed by
• Peak of growth spurt
more growth
• Menstruation
• Growth of facial hair
• Attainment of adult height (about 2 • Increased size of larynx and vocal
years after start of menstruation) chords cause voice to deepen
• Completion of breast development • Completion of penis growth
• Completion of pubic hair growth • Attainment of adult height
• Completion of pubic hair growth

According to Stice and Shaw (2002), only few adolescents experience body-cathexis or satisfaction
with their bodies. This maybe so because physical attractiveness is one of the major concerns of teenagers
as their social experiences underline its importance.
To be able to cope up well during this stage, you need to make some adjustments on how you view the
things that are happening inside and outside your body. You may put emphasis in maintaining physical
hygiene and perform physical exercise to be fit and maintain physical attractiveness.

: COGNITIVE CHANGES
Cognitive Development
Growth of child's ability to think and reason. This growth happens differently from ages 6 to 12, and
ages 12 to 18.
Ages 12 to 18 is called adolescence. This age group does more complex thinking. This type of thinking
is also known as formal logical operations. They include the ability to:
 • Do abstract thinking. This means thinking about possibilities.
• Reason from known principles. This means forming own new ideas or questions.
• Consider many points of view. This means to compare or debate ideas or opinions.
• Think about the process of thinking. This means being aware of the act of thought processes.
How cognitive growth happens during adolescence
During adolescence your brain goes through significant structural development stages as well. At this
stage, the neurons in the corpus collasum thicken and connect the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of
your brain, making the brain process information faster and more effectively.
Prefrontal Cortex - Involved in decision making, reasoning and controlling one’s emotions.
Amygdala - The seat of your emotions such as anger, sadness and happiness, matures much earlier than the
prefrontal cortex.
Prefrontal Cortex and Amygdala
While your amygdala is already fully developed to recognize your emotions, your prefrontal cortex is not
yet adequately mature to reason and understand your experiences objectively and may fail to control intense
emotions. Hence, your feelings or emotions sometimes dominate your capacity to think logically.
As the cognitive apparatuses develop, teenagers become more capable of thinking abstractly,
instead of thinking only of the here and now.
Abstract thinking is a level of thinking about things that is removed from the facts of the “here and now”, and
from specific examples of the things or concepts being thought about. ... Thus, for example, a concrete thinker
can think about this particular dog; a more abstract thinker can think about dogs in general.

JEAN PIAGET
Adolescent’s cognitive ability for abstraction and advanced reasoning is a characteristic of a formal
operation period that he explained in his theory of cognitive development.

This means that you can now follow clear logic and reason, such that you can already process
information into meaningful messages and understand complex situations for you to solve problems.
Metacognition
Refers to a student's ability to be aware of what they are thinking about and choosing a helpful thought
process. It captures students' ability to analyze how they think, have high self-awareness and control of their
thoughts and choose an appropriate and helpful strategy for the task at hand.
Metacognition: intentional thinking about how you think and learn
Cognition: your thinking activities and processes
Cognitive development during this stage is characterize by thinking which is not anymore limited to a
single scope:
• Looking at a situation through more complicated lenses and seeing them as relative.
• Ask questions not only about yourself , but also about everything in your environment.
 • Look for deeper meaning of things.
You are encouraged to pause and study the situation before making decisions. It will be helpful to consult a
trusted adult.
As a transition period, adolescence has often been described as a period of “storm and stress”
(Hurlock, 1982). Teenagers like you experience a lot of emotional ups and downs.
• You get easily excited with some situations.
• Easily shown your irritation.
• When confronted by complicated situations, your emotions can sometimes be really overwhelming.
Adolescents are emotionally unstable from time to time.
Being envious of others who possess more material things is common among adolescents. According to
Hurlock(1982), teenagers use material possessions as status symbol.
Emotional maturity should be achieved by the end of adolescence.
One indicator that you have finally attained emotional maturity is when you know how to express your
emotions in a socially acceptable manner.
• You exercise critical thinking before being emotionally carried away.
• You become less reactive to provocations and emotionally heated situations, reflecting moods that do
not swing from one emotion to another.
• Lessons learned from difficult experiences and that you gain important life skills from each obstacle you
conquer.
These realizations are important in your journey toward self-actualization.

SOCIAL CHANGES DURING ADOLESCENCE

Social pressures and demands

Add to the storm and stress of the adolescence years. You need to make social adjustments to
overcome challenges.
Heavily influence by your peers
• Attitude
• Speech
• Interests
• Appearance
• Behavior
Peer acceptance becomes very important
As you go through adolescence you prefer fewer friends and intimate relationships.
Also, you become curious about relationships with the opposite sex and experience physical attraction to them.
You begin to look for a relationship wherein you are comfortable sharing your feelings and experiences.
If not handled well, your need for belongingness may lead may lead to your conforming to the
standards of your peers without considering the consequences.
Early adolescence is characterized by bias regarding the members of the opposite sex. As they
progress through the years of adolescence, social insight improves (Hurlock, 1982).
You can relate with them and adjust in social situations more easily. Further, the more you participate in
social gatherings, the more socially competent you become, which is manifested by your ability to carry on
conversations, behave properly in front of people and have confidence sharing your talent.
Moreover, choosing a leader who would represent the peer group is important for teenagers.
They want leaders who are admired and respected by others and a good reflection of their peer group.
To successfully make social adjustments, you need to enhance your social skills.
Doing so will let you be comfortable in social settings, carry yourself gracefully in front of others, and enjoy the
company of your peers.
To cope well with social pressures, you should learn to clarify your boundaries so that you maintain self-
reliance.

MORAL/SPIRITUAL CHANGES
Lawrence Kohlberg
American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral development.
Adolescents should have attained the postconventional reasoning or have developed moral reasoning
based on the universal human rights.
Also when faced with a moral dilemma, adolescents must be able to stand on what their personal
conscience dictates them to do.
If we judge the situation through postconventional morality reasoning,
-you should stand your ground
-do what you think is right
- perceive the situation as a personal decision based on the personal codes you installed as your own
operating system.
Adolescents who deviate from their own general principles and act upon the wishes of others even these are
wrong are more likely to suffer from self-condemnation (Hurlock, 1982).
self-condemnation- blaming oneself.
You come to critically think about how the world is usually ran by adults, and you want to validate
established norms by experimenting on them yourself.
You to build your own moral codes, which you will use as basis in judging what is right and what is
wrong.
Your religious and spiritual views affect your commitment to this set of codes, which also influence the
clarity of your values.
Doing wrong act becomes socially accepted especially when sound logic and reason are used to justify it by
its end.
Through mass media, children and teenagers see inconsistencies in upholding these moral standards, which
add up to the confusion.
According to Hurlock, developing a sound conscience or the inner force that makes external controls
unnecessary plays an important role in assuming responsibility in your life.
Being focused will assist you in your journey on how you want to live your life.