Adolescence, the transition period between childhood and adulthood,
is the focus of chapter 4. During adolescence, an individual
experiences physical and sexual development, personality development,
social development and gender role development. Each of these
areas of change is discussed in this chapter.
Section 1 describes the physical and sexual changes
and challenges of puberty. The section details theories of
adolescence and concludes with a look at sexual attitudes.
Section 2 explores adolescence as a time of changes
in patterns of reasoning and moral thinking and the development
of one's personal identity. According to Jean Piaget, profound
development in moral thinking may develop during adolescence
due to the development of formal operations thinking and abstract
thinking. This section also discusses theories of identity
development, including Erik Erikson's theory of the identity
crisis, James Marcia's four attempts to achieve identity,
Margaret Mead's theory of environmental influence on identity,
and Albert Bandura's social learning theory.
Section 3 compares the influence of family and peers
on adolescent development, and discusses the problems that
some individuals face during adolescence.
Section 4 discusses how gender identity and gender
roles influence behavior. Besides the obvious physical differences,
there are personality differences between the genders as a
group. However, there are very few cognitive differences between
males and females. The chapter concludes with a discussion
of several theories of the development of gender.
