Adolescence Chapter 1 Vocab

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Adolescence

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period of transition spanning the second decade of life during which a person's biological, psychological, and social characteristics undergo change in an interrelated manner and the person goes from being childlike to adultlike.

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storm and stress

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Phrase often used to stereotype general and universal turmoil throughout the adolescent years.

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Developmental trajectories

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Individual's path through life as influenced by combinations of biology, psychology, and context unique to each person

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context

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Environments in which an individual exists such as family, school, work, and culture.

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ecology

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Levels of a person's social context that influence individual development

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social role

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Socially prescribed set of behaviors that society believes is important for its maintenance and perpetuation.

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Intervention studies

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Research designed to understand how changing aspects of the social world or an individual's behavior can lead to improvements in a person's life.

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Policies

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Actions taken by social institutions (the enactment of laws), such as governments to ensure or increase desired behaviors (better school performance) or to decrease unwanted behaviors (drunk driving).

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Life-span perspective

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Approach that characterizes individual development as occurring across a lifetime through the combination of internal and external ifluences; the approach stresses differences within and between people and attempts to optimize lifetime development.

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Multidisciplinary

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Research and knowledge from diverse fields.

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Developmental tasks

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Behavior that must be achieved at a particular age or stage in order for adaptive development to occur.

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Self-definition

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Understanding of who you are as a person based on how you view yourself physically, psychologically, and socially.

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Adaptive functioning

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Development that responds to biological, psychological, and social influences n ways that are healthy, positive, and successful.

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Inter-individual differences

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Variability between people that leads to different developmental outcomes.

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Intra-individual changes

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Alterations within a person that occur with development.

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Programs

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Standardized procedures followed to enable a person or group to increase desired behaviors (the enhancement of literacy through instruction in reading) or to decrease unwanted ones (school dropout).

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Stereotype

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Exceptionless generalization or commonly held belief about a group (adolescents) or social institution (fraternities or sororites).

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Culturally conditioned

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Ideas, views, beliefs, attitudes, or values engendered by the social, cultural, and historical enviornment in which we live.

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Cognitive reorganization

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Changes in the way a person thinks or reasons.

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"Continuous growth"

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Developmental path through adolescence characterized by smooth, nonabrupt change.

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"Surgent Growth"

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Developmental path through adolescence characterized by abrupt spurts or changes in behavior, but not necessarily with turmoil, storm, or stress.

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"Tumultuous growth"

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Developmental path through adolescence experienced by a milority of adolescents, characterized by turmoil, storm, and stress.

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Cross-cultural variation

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Differences in values, beliefs, attitudes, and action that occur between societies.