Developmental Psychology

• Drug Use o Statistics show that a lot of teenagers have experimented with drugs and/or alcohol before graduating from high school o Gateway drugs are  Tobacco  Marijuana o The risk of addiction will increase of first using a drug and drinking will decrease in chance of addiction • Sexual Abuse o Children between the ages of 7 and 13 years old are statistically at a greater risk for sexual abuse o Sexual abuse is defined as any sexual activity, or activity which can be considered sexual, without consent from all involved o There are legal ages of consent and in most states, it is usually between 14 years old and 16 years old o Sexual abuse is still considered abuse if consent is not given or if it has been revoked, even if consent is given o Sexual abusers are usually men that the child knows. It is said that females are usually abused more than males o There is no discrimination when it comes to sexual abuse. It can happen in general, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status and ethnicities 7.4 Adolescent Cognition Cognitive development will continue to occur throughout adolescence. Selective attention will usually improve memory improvement and metacognition as well. It was Jean Piaget that believes that adolescents come in the Formal Operational Thought category. This is the last stage according to Piaget’s cognitive development theory. During adolescence, adolescents will spend time hypothesizing the opinions of their peers or friends and will use these hypotheses as facts. David Elkind, a psychologist believed that adolescents will exhibit such behaviors because of the inability to know the difference between unique and universal. Elkind also called the extension of adolescent egocentrism the Invincibility Fallacy . This is where adolescents believed that the dangers that were connected to high risk behaviors would not be able to befall them. A lot of adolescents believe that they are untouchable; that they are heroes, unique, or should be famous. With these thoughts, comes an inflated sense of self, and while that may seem like a bad thing, it can actually be motivation as well. During adolescence, teens believe that what they go through in life should be intriguing to others, and they get a sense that the “world is their stage.” They believe that the rest of the world, big or small, that their life is interesting enough and consider the world their imaginary audience and that this audience should be concerned with the adolescent’s life.

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