GIRL TEENS

Sometimes argumentative, they feel dread, (twins)

Followed for 2 years

Rebecca and Jessica (11) – twins

Their view of Puberty: they get bigger hips, taller, stronger, pubic hairs

4  years to transform girl to adult starting as early as age 8

Hormones: Growth hormones, cortisol, estrogen, progesterone

Hormones are released most at night.  Hormones to ovaries

Estrogen is produced every 90 minutes, till eventually the stream of estrogen is consistent in the blood.

Breasts develop before pregnancy: nipples, fat ducts, and sweat glands,

Usually breasts develop first in the body, but not always.

Alex (girl), at age 7,had mood changes, irate temper tantrums.  Hit puberty early.  Adpoted from Rumanian orphanage.  Doctor noticed by examining x-ray of hand (hand of a teen).  Rest of her body was not far behind.  She was taller, chest got bigger, got more stinky smelling (sweat).  The change was unwelcome at such a young age.

Jeanne Brooks-Gunn psychologist: early changes affect a young girl if she develops too early.  Emotional and physical development are not linked.  Early development in girls means girls are

3 x as likely to have eating disorder

2 x as likely to take drugs

2 x as likely to attempt suicide

Blacks develop more quickly than whites.

Stressed children develop earlier.

Fat enhances early puberty.

Release hormone in blood aimed at the brain.  When the brain detects enough fat, it triggers beginning of puberty.

Twins go to biggest middle school (Junior High) in London.  Worried about if they’ll fit in, if they’ll be bullied.

Charlie Redmain runs a website for girls.  He was surprised at the amount of responses to his questionnaire on bullying.

16 % of students ages 6-10  (80% bullied at least once a week.)

One way to avoid bullying is to fit in. 

85 billion is spent by young girls in America each year on fashion goods.

Claudia (aged 12) is a dancer, but her body is growing so fast that she cannot keep up with it balance-wise.  All the things she used to be able to do, now become hard.  She spends 30 hours a week in training.

The growth of the body goes in this order:

Hands and feet

Forearms and chin,

Upper arms, 

Legs stop at puberty.

Spine (till fourteen)

Osteoblasts (designed to destroy) filmed massing to make acid.  The acids sculpt the growing bones to give them the right shape.

Bones grow faster than muscles, muscles lag well behind.  Claudia has no muscles to hold her new body.

Bones can grow 1 cm per month.

Hormonal rushes cause teens to think they are “no good anymore” at what they used to do.  This leads to insecurity.

Charmaine lives in England.  She is 14 and almost physically fully developed.  She is a pest and bothers everyone in the family.  She used to listen to her mom, now she wants her independence.  Mom is trying to prevent mistakes.

Puberty is universal in all cultures, there are arguments and disagreements between teens and parents.  The change in hormone levels creates unreliability and aggression.

Children withhold information from their parents.  They are resetting the boundaries with their parents.

Kids use arguing to learn negotiating skills while still in the family because it is the safest place to do so; parents are still going to love you.

Children are now in a phase where they want to be more “grown up.”

The twins find their period disgusting.

The period of a girl is an extraordinary process.  Ovaries produce eggs.  It travels to the fallopian tube.  This is where new life can begin.  6 inches long, the journey of the egg takes 3 days.  Bleeding in the period casts away the lining of the uterus.

It happens about 400 times in a girl’s life.  All girls are about 105 pounds when they get their period.  Nature tries to provide the woman with 17% body fat before she gets her period.

Concerned about body fat.  What looked good last month, might be all wrong today.  At 14: self-conscious and insecure.  They worry about what others want them to be.  In the head of the very confident are the same insecurities.  Teen girls are their own worst critics.  The brain is changing too: they are aware of the world around them and that others have a point of view: they become painfully critical. 

Pimples: allergy and infection cause them.  Sebum is produced in the follicle.  ½ a quart is produced each year.  Bacteria find their way into a sticky hairless follicle.  White cells are sent to cure the allergy.  The result is the pimple.

The weight mirror experiment.  Girls look into the distortion mirror. They must then try to guess their own shape.  Most can do it. 

Only 11% of girls are overweight, but 60% think they are.  Not being attractive.  Appearance and popularity are linked for teen girls.

Friends:  before puberty - boys want teammates, play team sports.  Girls want to talk and share secrets.

Claudia: interest in boys is now growing.  The gender divide is still strong, though weakening.  Peer influence peaks between 11-14.  Peers are not always bad, as some parents think.

Most parents worry about sex.  Most teens feel the pressure of the crowd.  Claudia shows more independence at age 14.

Jessica (one of the twins) started her period first, Jessica started the next day.

BOY TEENS

Teen boys are obsessed with sex. 

Andy: 11 Manhattan.  Interested in computer, rockets, science.  Taller, heavier, growth sport, acne, facial hair.  I have friends that are girls, they are maturing physically faster than boys.  Andy is changing too, but the changes are out of sight.  Testosterone is the most important hormone for the male.  It increases throughout puberty.  It changes how they grow, sound and think.  It starts in a very private place.  It happens between 10-14.  Most have begun by thirteen, but not all.  Mark is noticeably shorter.  No facial hair, no pubic hairs, voice hasn’t broken, Adult height is marked by genes.  He will probably be about 5” 8’.  First his feet and hands will grow.

Andy shops for shoes frequently now at age 12.  He is stronger now, he can beat his mom in arm wrestling.  Teens grow from the outside in.  Feet and hands, then arms and legs (4 inches in one year is possible), at end the chest and torso catch up.  Growth produces hunger, and accidents.  The duck on the line experiment in the gym shows how clumsiness exists.  The 13 year olds lost balance 2-3 times more often, because they are growing the fastest.  The brain can’t keep track of the growing limbs.

Dominic (12 year old).  A singer.  He has a high voice.  Vocal chords change, they get longer as the boy grows.  These chords sound deeper.  A man’s is 50% longer than a boy’s.  In the past many stayed till 14 and 16.  Now the voices break faster because puberty begins earlier: they eat more.

Teens develop faster in the summer from playing, sleeping and eating.  Dominic’s voice changes drastically in this summer.  Now his temperament changes too, another effect of puberty. 

Jessie: 14 he likes the height and masculinity.  His muscles are changing.  Muscles made up of hair-like fibers.  Testosterone makes the fibers grow bigger, as does exercise.  Air sacks grow in the lungs.  Concentration of red blood cells grows by one quarter.  The heart doubles in volume.  Lots of oxygen can now feed the growing muscles.  He now gets great confidence.  He has now experienced his interesting “night” dream.

Mark, may have lasting emotional scars.  He is so small.  Bullies look for small people.  Late developers do less well at school, they are less popular at school and don’t tend to be able to get girlfriends. 

Waking Jessie.  90% of teens find it hard to get up in the morning.  They like staying up late.

Melatonin is a hormone that induces sleep.  Changes occur in the brain that alter the time that melatonin is released into the blood stream.

Mary Carskadon

Sleep study: 10:30 hard to go to sleep.  In the saliva we find little melatonin, the hormone that tells the body to sleep.  9 year olds get it by 9:00 p.m.  In a teen, the melatonin is not released till 10:30, yet teens still need a full 10  hours sleep.  This creates a sleep-deprived state since the world forces them up to go to school.  REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is essential for us.  Without it, it is hard for us to concentrate.  Poor learning happens.  The state changed the hours: the grades improved, they got to school on time, and the bad moods were reduced. 

Dominic now 13 is not getting along as well as he used to.  He is now questioning disciple. He realizes that he doesn’t always like what he hears and says so.  His face will change in predictable ways.

Eastman Dental Institute scans his face.  First, jaw widens for teeth, bones in nose and jaws grow twice as fast as the rest of the face.  Longer face and chisel jaw.

Jessie started shaving at 14.  Mustache is the first hair to grow.  Legs get hair next.  Hair in weird places serves a purpose.   Hair traps sweat that is fatty and full of pheromones.  But the sweat has to be fresh.  By 15, many changes have occurred.  Testicles produce 1 000 sperm every second.  Sperm production occurs at lower temperatures.  The penis develops “a mind of its own.”  Erections are not really a matter of choice.  Blood flow stays in the penis because the vessels at the base are restricted. 

In America 2 in 5 teens have had sex by 16. 

Matthew is physically developed and angry.  He is not yet an adult.  He wants to be.  80% of teens admit to doing crime. 

Terry Moffat

In the developed world 1/5 of boys are convicted of a crime by age 18.  Much of this is linked to the fact that kids are bored.  Adolescence lasts longer than ever before.  Teens have no clear role. They are in a sense a superfluous member of society. 

Boys commit far more crimes than girls.  Testosterone increases the competitive nature in boys.  Respect is crucial for boys.  The vast majority grow out of this phase.

Andy is going through his bar mitzvah, a time when a youth becomes an adult. 

Jessie: feels people should be who they want to be.  He says he’s not doing it for the attention.  “We’re not selling out.  What we do is meant to be for the kids.  We’re never going to sell out “and go corporate label.

Older Teens

16 year olds are soon to be seen as adults.  They think they are already adults. 

Beatrice: “I’m not a rebel” Asian: soccer player

Senet: pregnant                Billy: Senet’s partner

Beatrice: 16 – most girls have reached their full height.  They could theoretically start a family, but are they waiting. 

Teens have big ideas, though they don’t often work at a level to obtain these ideas.

Senet 16- has big plans.

Teens overconfident, insecure

Beatrice and Fred (baby brother 11 months old) are both going through brain alterations and adjustments.

In teens, crucial rewiring is needed, just like with babies.  That’s why teens are very emotional. The nerves are still being sheathed in the teen years.  

Osian is also nervous while waiting for his results.  He wants to be a pro soccer player.  He has to get in much better shape.  His muscles have to catch up to his growth.  Bones grow earlier than muscles.  They need the muscles to handle the new bone growth. 

How long can you hold your weight from a horizontal bar.  Kids find it easy, adults don’t.  Boys and girls can hold for the same amount of time before puberty.  Older teen boys have more muscle than girls, they can’t hold themselves as long because they get fat instead of muscles.  An adult female is only ¼ muscle and should have at least 1/3 fat to have kids.

Boys’ social skills are not quite adult yet. 

Teens fall in and out of love, hard to match this level of falling in love later in life. 

Brain research: the immature brain does some things just as well as adults.  It wanted to research the brain of people who were deeply in love. (Andreas Bartos: researcher).  People looked at pictures of friends, then finally at the one they loved.  The brain was scanned at this time.  This activity in the brain is a pattern unique to love and cocaine.  So love is the “drug” after all that produces euphoric feelings.

Lust is different from love.  It is about the sex drive.  Teens are certainly interested in it, even if they are not “at it.”  At 16 a key gets switched in the brain.  It is turned on by testosterone in both sexes.  At this point, sex becomes an issue. 

Adolescents feel because the nerves in the brain are not quite finished preparing themselves.  The sheath that covers the nerves is not yet finished.  When it is, teens will process information twice as fast as kids.  So teens end up feeling things so strongly. 

16 year olds are generally horrified by the thoughts having a baby.

1 million get pregnant, over ½ keep the babies.

Is society out of step with biology?  Society says that teens should not get pregnant, yet the girls reach puberty and are ready to have kids by about 13 years of life.  

A menstruating girl looks almost like an adult.  She has not yet laid down the essential pounds of fat.  The nutrients thus are not able to get to the fetus in the 16 year old body, they go to laying down fat stores.  Thus the fetus is deprived of nutrients.  This leads to unhealthy babies.

Stress hormones induce premature babies.  The organs of the baby are not fully deformed.  Blood in brains, lungs not fully developed and baby may need a respirator. 

Teens that get pregnant are often in denial.  They think of all kinds of reasons to explain what they did was not sex.

It’s hard for teens to understand what they’re getting into.  They see gifts, sometimes the boyfriends stay around, but the deeper understanding about raising a child is far from them. 

Deliberate reckless behavior kills more teens than anything else.  One third of all crime is committed by teens.

Many crimes are committed by teens: they have trouble controlling themselves while their brains are being rewired.

The way we make decisions changes dramatically during adolescence.  The medical cure story reveals this.  As a pre-teen, we see the world in black and white.  Later, teens see shades of gray in issues.  Later teens can see different points of view and can offer different solutions to the same problem. 

Harvard Medical School experiment in the MRI machine.  Emotions showed something teens can’t really pick up on.  A typical 16 year old shows he doesn’t understand the facial expression.  ¾ of teens did not see that the faces were scared.  Teens don’t recognize the emotions of others, most of the time.  Brain finally finishes rewiring near the end of the teenage years.

When teens look at fear faces, the frontal brain does not light up (frontal lobes).  These lobes inhibit and help self control.  Adolescents function without the fully developed part of the frontal lobes.  They respond with more a gut response than with a judgment response.

Senet sees she is maturing more quickly because she had Eli.  Her friends she says are going nowhere.

Beatrice’s advice to adults of teens: Talk to your children.