Advice on Maintaining a Healthy Growth: Adolescent Sleep, Puberty, Media Usage, and Cognitive Development
Overview
This resource goes over the importance of parental involvement during puberty, Piaget's stages of cognitive development, the importance of sleep during adolescent development, and the impact of media on adolescents as well as working during adolescence.
Puberty and the Importance of Parental Involvement
Editor Shyann Gambill
Puberty can be a difficult time for adolescents, but it is important for both parents and adolescents to understand what is happening chemically and physically during puberty. The better that kids understand what is really happening to their bodies, the better they are going to be able to handle it and make the most out of a potentially difficult time. Parents can play a huge role in how their kids view puberty and how they are going to handle it (Wilson). Knowing chemically what hormones are and how they affect the body can be important because it explains what the body is really going through as it is making these changes. Children and parents do not need to know every little effect that all the hormones might have throughout the body but having a basic understanding can help them be able to better respond to their situation. On top of being better suited to react to situations, knowing what the brain and body need can help improve their development as best as possible.
Parents need to be able to communicate this with their children which can be difficult because it is an awkward conversation and also they don’t have the same context of puberty as compared to adults. They don’t have the same context because they haven’t experienced it or been aware of what is happening when they have interacted with older kids experiencing it themselves. Another reason why it can be hard for parents to teach kids about puberty is that they probably have never heard of a hormone and didn’t know that the body had a whole list of chemicals that have a whole list of functions and properties.
On top of emotional and mood changes that might occur kids need to understand the physical changes that occur to their body as well. This can help them be more comfortable with themselves as they change which can increase their self-confidence and self-esteem. It can also improve the amount of bullying that occurs for some kids as they might experience more dramatic changes or simply just start these changes before most of the other kids.
Puberty for girls usually begins around 9-10 and not until 10-12 for boys. This developmental change lasts for about 2-3 years for both boys and girls (The Peper &Dahl 2013). It is important for a parent to be aware of this timing so they can be proactive and inform their kids before it happens and not during the process.
Before I started puberty, I always thought growing up was just a linear progression in which I would get taller stronger, and smarter every day until I was a full-blown adult. I wasn’t aware that there were going to be the drastic changes that occur during puberty where the body almost goes through a sort of metamorphosis.
References
Peper, J. S., & Dahl, R. E. (2013). The teenage brain: Surging hormones—Brain-behavior interactions during puberty. Current directions in psychological science, 22(2), 134-139.
Wilson, E. K., Dalberth, B. T., Koo, H. P., & Gard, J. C. (2010). Parents' perspectives on talking to preteenage children about sex. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive health, 42(1), 56-63.
A Walkthrough of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
By Hailey Reynolds
Editor Shyann Gambill
There are a few different theories out in the world today that focus on the cognitive or psychosocial development of humans. One of the theories is Piaget's theory of cognitive development. The theory explains how people, from birth and on, make sense of the world around them (Arnett, 2013). Piaget believed that intelligence was not a trait that someone was born with or simply had, but that people develop cognitively naturally and through environmental interaction (McLeod, 2018). In his work as a psychologist, he studied the cognitive development of children and found that there were stages that people went through from birth and on (Edelstein, 2019). These stages are the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, concrete operations, and formal operations (Arnett, 2013). In my life, and the lives of my family members, I have seen how Piaget's theory applies to people through his identified stages of cognitive development. This theory, as it is broken down into stages, can be a help to parents and teachers as they teach and guide their children or students to understand the world around them through their maturation and understand why children do what they do.
During the sensorimotor stage, which takes place between birth and the age of 2, young children use their senses and motor skills to gain experience and attempt to understand the world around them as they are new to it (Arnett, 2013). They use their senses and often place objects in their mouths and try to touch everything in an attempt to understand the world around them. They develop object permanence and attach themselves emotionally to the group that they are often around and experience stranger anxiety when introduced to others outside of that immediate group. Object permanence occurs when the child knows that objects exist despite being removed from the senses and requires an ability to make a mental representation of the removed object (McLeod, 2018). For example, I frequently babysit my nephew, and whenever he sees something shiny like a phone screen or a small musical instrument, he starts crawling over to inspect. If I hide the object, he will often pause for a few minutes and start crawling over to a box or a blanket covered object to which he will obtain once he removes it.
During the preoperational stage, children ages 2 through 7 learn what words are associated with objects and are learning to describe the world around them. "Systematic research has increasingly demonstrated a series of clear benefits of children's engagement in pretend games from the ages of about two and one half through ages six or seven. Actual studies have demonstrated cognitive benefits such as increases in language usage including subjunctives, future tenses, and adjectives" (Kaufman, 2012). They are increasing their vocabulary, playing pretend, and have egocentric thinking patterns (Arnett, 2013).
Through personal experience, recess in elementary school between the ages of 5 and 7 was a time when my friends and I applied or incorporated what we had previously learned in the classroom to our play. We would take what we learned in science class and pretend to be a scientist or pretend we were the president as we would often watch news segments. Since this is a preoperational stage, children cannot fully understand the complexities of the world, they are not able to use logic or piece together multiple ideas. Still, they can understand things on a symbolic level. They are very egocentric and have a difficult time understanding other's points of view. There are limits in their abilities due to egocentrism. For example, "conservation is the ability to understand that redistributing material does not affect its mass, number or volume," and there is a test that has been performed in the past to see if children can understand conservation (McLeod, 2018). If a tall and narrow glass and a small glass are sitting next to each other, both containing the same amount with a different appearance, the child in this age range would think that the tall and narrow glass had more water than the small glass.
The concrete operational stage takes place when logic is applied in the lives of children. This takes place between the ages of 7 and 11. Children can think more rationally and can have more in-depth conversations than before, process numbers, and can find connections between things (Arnett, 2013). They are "mature enough to use logical thought or operations but can only apply logic to physical objects" (McLeod, 2018). Unlike in the last example provided with the water glass and conservation, children at this stage are capable of understanding the change that occurs. They are also able to classify objects based on several characteristics and can work problems out with the aid of objects.
The formal operational stage occurs when children or adolescents can think abstractly and logically. This takes place when the children/adolescents are in the age group from 11 to 15, or it lasts into adulthood (McLeod, 2018). They are more analytical and can process complex thinking. They no longer depend on objects to help them process information and problem solve, but they can use their minds and can apply reason to find a logical answer (McLeod, 2018). For example, when asked, "If Michael is taller than Suzy, and Trisha is taller than Michael, who is tallest?" a concrete operational thinker would most likely have to draw a picture to answer the question. A formal operational thinker would find a conclusion in their head without any dependence on images or other forms (McLeod, 2018). Adolescents begin to think abstractly and test hypotheses during this age, which starts discussions on worldly matters as they can comprehend more of what is occurring around them and logically break it apart. They begin discussing matters such as politics, ethics, what is moral and immoral, hypothetical scenarios, and so on (Arnett, 2013). I have a cousin who is 13, and she loves talking about environmental cleanliness and the importance of taking care of our habitats. She was raised by the ocean and always saw garbage floating in. In her school, they taught about environmental science and the effects that pollution can have on our environment. Due to the knowledge she gained, she decided to start cleaning parks, beaches, rivers, and so on because she believes that it is our responsibility to do so. She has developed a sense of moral obligation to care for the environment around her based on her own analysis of the world. When discussing the matter of environmental cleanliness, she brings topics such as climate change, animal protection, diseases, and beauty into view. She likes to discuss how people can make a difference for future generations.
There are some criticisms of Piaget's Theory of Development, especially when looking at the views of Vygotsky and Bruner, who focus more on the continuity of development, and some argue that some people do not reach a formal operational stage (McLeod, 2018). Although there are criticisms of this theory, the effects of it are undeniable as it has helped to influence teaching and learning children and adolescents. It has helped to identify what makes for the best learning environment and ready student. According to Piaget, "assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered" (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958).
Some ways this can help parents is to understand why their children may not be understanding them or always following through on their instructions. It can also help them to know when their children perhaps are not doing as well in school and allow them to seek help. It can also help them to teach their children at home and foster a love of learning through actively working with them. This theory is constructive in the classroom, as it has been used to influence education policies and teaching practices. As mentioned before, Piaget believed that an active learner would get the most out of learning. Something that helps in elementary school learning is allowing children to discover what is around them and learn that way. What has been seen as effective in children's education is through individual work, having flexibility, the inclusion of play in children's learning, allowing for discovery, and evaluation of progress (McLeod, 2018). Teachers can read through the theory and better understand their students and their personal capacities. They have to remember that everyone learns differently and also at a different rate. They have to be ready for specific concepts. "According to Piaget's theory, children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage of cognitive development" (McLeod, 2018). This is why schools are set up the way they are and why some children progress to another level of schooling or are held back. Teachers can help their students by focusing on learning, not test scores. Test scores will improve if learning is the main objective. Collaboration and individual activities allow children to learn from each other and from their points of view (McLeod, 2018). They can also try to work with students on their level. From personal experience, I had a fantastic 5th-grade teacher who had me stay after class somedays, and she worked with me on subjects that I was struggling with. She created a plan to help me learn and understand the information presented in class, and this has helped me throughout my schooling career.
In my life, I have seen examples of how the stages of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development can be applied through the lives of my younger family members, through my friends and those whom I grew up with. These stages are identifying markers that allow all of us to understand how we develop from birth to our formal operative years and provide us with some understanding as to how we cognitively develop overtime. The theory can be useful for parents to understand further where their children are in terms of cognitive development and can help teachers who want to improve how their students learn effectively and help them foster a love of learning.
References
Arnett, J. J. (2013). Adolescence and emerging adulthood: a cultural approach (Instructors 5th
edition). Upper Saddle Ridge River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
McLeod, S. A. (2018, June 06). Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Simply
Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Edelstein, M. R. (2019, July 26). New Concept in Cognitive Development. Retrieved from
Kaufman, S. B. (2012, March 6). The Need for Pretend Play in Child Development. Retrieved
Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence.
New York: Basic Books.
Adolescence and the Importance of Sleep
By Hailey Reynolds
Editor Shyann Gambill
Adolescence is a time when a person's body is growing, maturing, and they are becoming their own person in searching for their individual identities. It is a busy time filled with chances for independence, school, possibly work, time with friends, activities, and more! Throughout the busy schedule that comes with being an adolescent, the downtime that every person needs in life cannot be more crucial. Parents and adolescents themselves need to recognize the importance of sleep during this time of development, how a lack thereof can affect their daily lives, and how sleep patterns can be improved upon.
Sleep is something that everyone needs unless you fall into the impossible category of being a vampire. It has been estimated that people spend 1/3 of their lives sleeping (Florida State College). The reason why we all need to be well-rested has to do with our bodies and how they function. Sleep helps with brain function and body system functions as it allows for the maintenance of neural pathways, which can affect the bodily functions of the rest of the body (Florida State College). Sleep can be beneficial for energy conservation and neuronal maintenance, synaptic health, and brain plasticity. For example, sleep is shown to serve in terms of functionality to many of the body systems such as endocrine, immune, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems (Brand & Kirov, 2011). During adolescence, people experience puberty, and several changes occur in the body starting in the brain. Since sleep has such significant effects on brain function as well as body system functions, adolescence is a crucial time for sufficient sleep as so much communication between neurons is occurring in the brain and body.
When sleep is pushed back and disturbed during adolescence, potential problems may arise in homeostasis concerning their bodies, learning, memory, stress coping, and can even contribute to risky behaviors (Brand & Kirov, 2011). In my personal experience, high school was a time when I often set sleep aside for schoolwork and friends. My homework load was intense at times, and I often found myself staying up most nights writing papers, reading, and taking notes in an attempt to prepare for the next day. I would wake up around 5:45 a.m. for a zero hour and run around all day until late at night. I probably got 6-7 hours of sleep each night, and I remember being exhausted from schoolwork and extracurriculars. My parents encouraged me to drop an unnecessary class during the second semester of my junior year, so I would no longer have to take a zero hour. I finally got the sleep I needed. My grades improved, I learned so much more, and I felt present instead of stressing about the next day or week. Unfortunately, the "average school-night bedtime among high school seniors is after 11:30 p.m. (despite the fact that the average wake-up time on school days for these students is 6:15 a.m.). The resulting chronic sleep deprivation (and catch-up sleep on weekends resulting in very late schedules) further amplifies the spiral of negative effects" (Peper & Dahl, 2013). The effects of sleep deprivation can lead to the risk of developing disorders such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, obesity, hormonal imbalances, and more, which is why adolescents ages 13-18 should have at least 8-10 hours of sleep per 24 hours (Florida State College).
Sleep patterns in adolescents can improve in many ways. One way is to be consistent with sleep patterns. Having a set bedtime and wake up time can allow the body to regulate appropriately. Another is having an ideal environment that is comfortable and without distraction. For me, I need my room to remain at a cold temperature, and it has to be dark. Electronic devices should be removed from the bedroom or far enough away from the sleeper to ensure no distractions wake or disturb one's sleep (Vernon et al, 2018). Parents can help facilitate this by sending their children to bed and taking away any devices that will keep them up. Explaining the importance of sleep to their children might also help them understand the great impact that sleep has on the body. When I was in high school, my parents put a lock on my phone so I couldn’t be on it from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. in order to help me get the sleep that I needed. Something that seemed to help me in high school and throughout college thus far is prioritizing personal health. Creating time for physical activity each day helped me to feel good about myself, accomplished in a way, and helped me to fall asleep with ease. Avoiding large meals, caffeine, and alcohol before bedtime helps, as well as avoiding tobacco and nicotine products (Florida State College).
Sleep is a large part of everyone's life. Sufficient rest is crucial during the development of adolescents, both physically and mentally. How much sleep people get, and the quality thereof can affect even the basic of functions, and on-going deprivation can lead to unhealthy scenarios. It is essential is to remember that quality of sleep affects us all, and we can develop good habits to help us get the rest we need.
References
Florida State College. (n.d.). Child and Adolescent Psychology. Retrieved from
Brand, S., & Kirov, R. (2011). Sleep and its importance in adolescence and in common
adolescent somatic and psychiatric conditions. International journal of general medicine, 4, 425–442. doi:10.2147/IJGM.S11557
Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Understanding-Sleep.
Peper, J. S., & Dahl, R. E. (2013). The Teenage Brain: Surging Hormones-Brain-Behavior
Interactions During Puberty - Jiska S. Peper, Ronald E. Dahl, 2013. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0963721412473755
Vernon, L., Modecki, K., & Barber, B. (2018). Mobile phones in the bedroom: trajectories of
sleep habits and subsequent adolescent psychosocial development. Child Development, 89(1), 66-77. doi:10.1111/cdev.12836
Media May Not Be More Than Staying Connected: Likes and Followers
By Collin Shillingburg
Editor Shyann Gambill
Media has grown drastically in the recent past and has come to shape much of our daily routines and our social interactions. Social media has come to the point where it runs so much of life, especially for younger generations. This development of social media is largely due to the development of modern technologies. This increase in connectivity has developed into a platform for people to communicate and show off whatever image they want others to see about themselves. It has given us the ability to connect with someone across the world, but it may hurt the connections we form with the people closest to us.
Social media can have a very negative impact on people. People are having more of their social interactions through a screen instead of in person. This can decrease their ability to read the social cues of others because they are not exposed to this through online communication. Even when people are spending time together, personal connections can be limited by phone use. One issue of social is that it is though to negatively impact on personal connections (Walden). If a group of people is at dinner and relying on their phones for entertainment they are not working at their social skills in the same way without this distraction.
Media can cause us to change how we value our self-worth. Media has created a form of social currency where people use likes, comments, and reposts as a value to their presence instead of benefits that they can have on other people or companies (Parnell). We become motivated to act in certain ways to increase the number of likes from people random people on the Internet. This might be dressing in certain ways or saying certain things that we might not do otherwise for attention from people we may never actually meet.
We idolize people's lifestyles on social media with more likes and followers than we might. Body image is something that can be idolized from following various celebrities or fitness models and make people feel they need to lose weight to be as skinny as this model or buy a product to have a certain complexion. This can have psychological impacts on people when they are constantly comparing themselves to other lifestyles that might not even be real. Many of these models on social media platforms like Instagram have production crews, special cameras, and filters we don't have access to that makes them look more appealing than they might be in real life. People make their posts based on how they want others to view them, which can create a glamorized sense of what their life is like. For example, people are going to post pictures where they look the best and are doing cool things like when they are on vacation even if it is not what their life is like. Someone following this user might look at this when they are stressed about work and money and wish their lives could be like this even though the picture does not really represent their life at all.
Social media can definitely have some negative impacts on its users, but it still does provide a great opportunity to its users in the way of communication and connectivity. No other invention has left us with this ability to interact with people around the world in the same way. Although media comes with its complications, it has a lot to offer if used properly.
References
Parnell, B. (2017, June 22). Is social media hurting your mental health. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czg_9C7gw0o.
Walden University. (2019, May 16). The Pros And Cons Of Mass Media. Retrieved from https://www.waldenu.edu/online-bachelors-programs/bs-in-communication/resource/the- pros-and-cons-of-mass-media.
Is Working Through School a Good Idea?
By Chase Dreksler
Editor Shyann Gambill
How can a child multitask so much at one time? As an adolescent I was concerned about this, and even as a parent I would be concerned about it too. How do we know when to give up the extra-curricular activities and to get a job? In the WorkForward YouTube video (Ma, 2018), Dennis Ma studied a group of teens who worked during school and in his research paper he concluded that those teens had a higher likelihood of being employed later on. He also claims that those teens had access to better career networks and were able to find more attractive jobs. Ma found that the more that these adolescents work, the lower the benefits. According to Marc-David Seidel (Seidel, 2018) adolescent learn more powerful skills at jobs that are of high quality. He also claims that how much a teenager works matters less than who their parents are and where they come from. Unfortunately, this means that socioeconomic status is more relied on to get a job, and even a career.
Realistically, an ideal working environment, for a child in school, would look like this: 25 hours a week, broken up over 5 hours in 5 days, having them prior to school early in the morning, and the job is on track to their career goal. This would be the most effective way to have a job during high school because it is not too many hours at one time and increases productivity when it is done early in the morning. Students will also be more motivated to apply what they learn in school at their job, as they may work hand in hand with their future career goal. According to Amy Morin LCSW (Morin, 2019) after school jobs may impact students negatively as it interferes with other opportunities, but if they have 2 days off a week and only work five-hour shifts, this would be hard to miss. If it is an office job, it would not be super stressful, even though jobs teach you how to deal with stress in reality. Again, at an office job a student would be able to study there which would help them to learn to multitask.
Although working an office job would be effective for students, it does not mean that they should be working more than one job, regardless of the quality. Most of the time adolescents are faced with working multiple jobs that are in high stress environments. Unfortunately, this can prevent students from doing homework or studying when they are having to cover shifts for others consistently, so it is best to work for someone who prioritizes your education as much as you do. A reality that a lot of teens have to face is that they have to pay for their own college, therefore they find it mandatory to work multiple jobs while in school.
When I was in high school, I was working two jobs and at one point I worked three jobs and would skip school and get a doctor note from my boss saying that I was sick that day. I had never missed school other than during that time, so I was not considered truant. At that point I was not worried about paying for college but paying for a car and paying to be able to get my car fixed. However, working during school taught me how to multi-task, how to work with others, and I ultimately got to learn more about myself and my career path. Students need to have a job while in school to be able to gain these same skills and to be more engaged with their future.
Ma, Dennis (2018). How Working Affects Teenagers and Their Career, WorkForward. YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2koUeDwAA
Seidel, Marc-David (2018). How Working Affects Teenagers and Their Career, WorkForward. YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2koUeDwAA
Morin, Amy (2019). The Pros and Cons of Afterschool Jobs for Teens, verywellfamily. Blog Link: https://www.verywellfamily.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-afterschool-jobs-for-teens-2610471