Adolescent Development

In its entirety I have found the Tumblr project an interesting one. In essence it has been both a technological nightmare and somewhat of an enjoyable ride all at the same time. I have times felt considerably frustrated with trying to understand its concept and continuously stop my university brain from nitpicking at the lack of academic references throughout the whole project. This said I have discovered that the project has opened other doors with regards to my knowledge and understanding of Adolescent development. For example, the opportunity to communicate with fellow students through social media opens up the connections with different ages and stages. It was great to read some of the information and sometimes personal submissions from some students who are still in their adolescent years, it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own adolescents and consider weather things were really all that different 20 years ago or not. Of course the Tumblr project confirms that notion in some ways as we consider the incredible changes in technology and how that affects the lives of adolescents today. In looking back, it would have been nice to have had a better grasp on the technology to begin with but as a whole I have enjoyed the project and I hope, I am just a little wiser for it.

I found this article interesting as it brought to mind my own adolescence. I would have been 16 in 1994, with no mobile phone or ipod although my parents did attach an extra cord from the landline for my brothers and I to share at the other end of the house and I boom box was a joint christmas present between two of us. At the time I can remeber my parents noting how lucky we were and how amazing the cd player was on the boom box, no needle required! How much then is technology changing the future of our adolescents and which changes are for the better?

Whilst searching the other day for a tramping trip I came across this website. I must say I laughed loud when I read some of the destinations and imagined my daughters New York bound on a family holiday. I suppose it took me back to my own family holidays which were in fact sometimes spent on tropical islands and international destinations, however, some of the most memorable trips away with my family were spent in a two tent or borrowed bach, fishing off the rocks, long walks over the hill to the next village or bunking down with the cuzzies in a caravan park. In essecence, it was time and we could have been anywhere as long as we were all there together and it seemed more important during our teen years as we all looked for that something to call home. It does, however, seem as though society seems to place a degree of family happiness on the international destination? Or are the majority still happy to find a spot of sunshine at the camp local camp ground with Uncle Ian and Auntie Kath?

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too, If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream-and not make dreams your master, If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on! ' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings-nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much, If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son! Whe I think of Morality during my teenage years this poem comes instantly to mind.My father gave this poem to my brothers and I around the age of 15 or 16. I don't recall what he said to us about it but I remember thinking that it was important to him and that perhaps it said all he wanted to say to us about his moral understanding in words that he could perhaps not find himself.

Although the saying "Sex Sells" has been around longer than any of us can remember, I think it is fair to say that there is certainly more of an opportunity to do so in the 21st century. When I was just entering puberty the first album I ever purchased was none other than "Tiffany", now although Tiff was still trying to escape her parents and tumbling to the ground alone with boys she was fully clothed, usually head to toe in denim or sporting an oversized yellow cardi...so cool! I would see her on RTR countdown on a Saturday morning or in a pin up poster I stole out of my brothers "smash hits" magazine and I bought her record album with my birthday money from a record shop. Today is rather a different story, Brittany Spears is pictured half naked across her album cover, her albums can be down-loaded from a phone, computer, ipad at any time and her music videos can be watched on a multitude of social media at any time of the day or night for free, she generally sings about boys, love and other general teenage concerns and I don't believe the content of the music has changed in 25 years, however the sexulisation and imagery that adolescents are certainly more extreme and ultimately made more acceptable by its availabilty. Although I believe that not all adolescents strive to become Brittany and believe that dresssing in very little will make them more attractive and appealing to the opposite sex, however somewhere out ther is a market for Brit...if only Tiffs second album hadn't been a flop, perhaps the oversized cardi would've never died out!!??

I read the following article on an Educational news blog I recieve through work. I just thought it added another demention to the discussion of teenage sexuality or perhaps many? When we look at who is responsible for who and how alchohol effects the brain and therefore decisions adolescent make with regards to their sexual behaviour. "Teenagers whose parents supply alcohol in early adolescence are three times as likely to be drinking full serves of alcohol at age 16 as children in families that do not supply alcohol, a major new study from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Australia has found. In the largest study of its kind, researchers followed nearly two thousand parent/child pairs over four years in a bid to provide guidance to parents on how best to moderate their child’s drinking. Chief investigator of the study, Professor Richard Mattick, said there was a deal of confusion among parents as to how best to moderate their child’s drinking and thereby hopefully minimise risks such as injury, violence, poisoning, risky sexual practices and future alcohol problems. At age 12 and 13 years, close to one in six children in the study reported being given alcohol by their parents. By 15 and 16 years of age more than a third of the sample was being supplied alcohol by their parents. Of these, 15 per cent were drinking full serves compared with only 1.5 per cent of the younger children. “What we found was that early parental supply of alcohol through school years 7 to 9 was the single biggest predictor of drinking in year 10,” said Professor Mattick. “It was more influential than family circumstances and issues; more influential than individual psychological risk factors and more influential than peers.” By age 15/16 years, half of all children in the study were drinking alcohol and obtaining it from a variety of sources including parents, peers, older teens and other adults. Children who were given alcohol by their parents were also more likely to be obtaining alcohol from these “non-sanctioned” sources as those whose parents did not supply alcohol. Professor Mattick said the results showed that contrary to opinion among many parents, supplying children with alcohol did not moderate their drinking. “Parents are the major supplier of alcohol to the under 18s,” said Professor Mattick. “Many of these do so with the best of intentions – to introduce alcohol in a safe, supervised environment with the aim of moderating a child’s drinking.” There is also a great deal of interest in the so-called European model whereby parents allow children to sip alcohol from a relatively young age, he said. “We know that adolescent drinking is associated with a wide range of later harms in early adulthood including injury, sexually-transmitted diseases, adult alcohol dependence, and changes in brain function have been reported by US researchers,” said Professor Mattick. Dr Monika Wadolowski, who has recently completed her PhD on aspects of the study, said that by supplying alcohol, parents may inadvertently sanction drinking. “Most parents will do whatever they can to minimise these risks. Our study suggests that supplying alcohol is not the best strategy to achieve this outcome,” Dr Wadolowski said. “The results also indicate that those children who are given alcohol by their parents may be more likely to seek out alcohol from a variety of other sources.” Further analyses will be conducted to determine the extent to which parental supply moderates excessive risky drinking at age 16 and beyond, she said. The marketing of alcohol, industry advertising, changes in palatability to sweeter more acceptable drinks, plus the density of liquor outlets all also contribute to adolescent drinking. Results from the parental supply of alcohol study will be presented at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre Annual Symposium in Sydney on Monday 8 September. Refer to page four of this release for key slides that will be presented at the symposium about this study." - Marion Downey and Erin O’Loughlin

I have been studying student anxiety with regards to Mathematics in another paper and in my readings found some relevance with regards to adolescents, in particular adolescent girls. There is a general trend of Mathsphobic adolescent girls who practice the art of avoidance when it comes to maths related situations particularly at a high school and college level (Wigfield, Eccles, Mac Iver, Reuman & Midgley, 1991 as cited in Stipek 2002).A further consideration with regards to developmental issues of self awareness and puberty may well be applicable when making associations between mathematics and anxious behaviour in classroom situations and by addressing some of the biopsychosocial changes that may also affect the way in which Adolescent girls consider their own presence within the classroom. As we have all read in Santrock, as the adolescent brain develops so the psychology of the adolescent changes, which in turn alters the concept of the physical situation the student finds themselves in ( p. 424). It is noted by Rosenberg (1979) that adolescents become increasingly self conscious in social and peer related situations as well as being very aware of comparisons made of themselves with and by others (as cited in Santrock, p. 132). This developmental consideration corresponds to the issue of eighth graders perception of those who were “high in ability and low in effort as the most popular” (Juvonens, 2000 as cited in Stipek, 2002, p 86).

The following is a section of the abstract from a study on teenage mood variabilty which I found an interesting read. During the emotional ups and downs of adolescence when feelings and hormonal imbalances are are somewhat erratic, teenagers may feel as though the world is against them and what parents consider to be the 'best way' may well appear the opposite to the adolescent. This paper gives insight as it asseses both adolescents and their parents. "This study explored the influence of adolescent mood variability on the symptom development of generalized anxiety and depression in the context of parent-adolescent negative interactions. Participants were 456 adolescents (55.7 % male) from a community sample, who were followed from age 13 to 16 years. During 4 annual assessments, adolescents reported on their generalized anxiety and depressive symptoms, and both parents and adolescents on levels of negative interactions with each other" Maciejewski, D. F.,Lier, P. A. C.,Neumann, A., etl (2014).

In connection with our current topic on gender I found this site, which clearly gives information with regards to gender identity issues. Clearly these are issues which affect teenagers globablly and I found there was some clear and useful information here to support adolescents at what can potentially be a difficult and complex time in their development.

Whilst in the process of researching for my resource paper I stumbled across this article. I thought it was interesting as it showed youth immersion in technology from rather a more positive aspect with regards to adolescent development, than is usually refered to.

This is an interesting read and I can definitley say that I have seen evidence of this in children I have worked with over the years. The connection with the horse and in general the responsibilty for an animal seems to curb many anxieties and stress levels within adolescents.

Ths image brought back a lot of memories of what it was like to be a teenager. My parents seemed to fade in to the background and when I did notice them it was as if they were speaking a completely different language and didn't understand where I was coming from at all. It can become a very lonely period of time for adolescents if parents are more concerned with their own authority rather than understanding the development taking place within their own child.

Quite often throughout this process I find myself thinking about, not only my own experience as an adolescent bu my role as the mother I will be to my own teenagers. I had always thought that if my parents had had a better grasp on what battles to pick, I may not have spiralled off into such outlandish behaviour. The following blog is an interesting read for not sweating the small stuff for those who are parents or guardians of adolescents.