Growth and Development of the Adolescent (Nursing)

00:01 Welcome to the final pediatric growth and development lecture.

00:04 This is on adolescent developmental milestones.

00:07 First, let's start with what age is considered adolescents? Well, the answer might surprise you.

00:12 It varies depending on who you ask.

00:15 The adolescent stage is usually considered aged 12 to 18.

00:19 But some sources state that it continues into the early 20s, since some types of growth and development continue until that point, but don't worry, the information in this lecture will apply either way.

00:31 Since, the motor and language milestones have already been completed by adolescent, in most healthy children, we're going to cover the physical growth and the cognitive growth that continue starting with physical growth.

00:46 There's actually three different phases of growth during the adolescent period.

00:51 Early adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence.

00:55 During early adolescence, there's a pubertal growth spurt.

00:59 It occurs usually a little earlier in girls and boys around age 11 to 14, and this is when they really grow up in height.

01:08 The final 20 to 25% of linear growth occurs during this stage, and the girls will often outgrow the boys that they know temporarily.

01:18 The secondary sexual characteristics start to appear at this time.

01:22 A secondary sexual characteristic is basically a characteristic that distinguishes the sexes.

01:27 It's different in girls and boys, but it's not directly related to reproduction.

01:32 So examples include breast development or facial hair.

01:37 Facial hair in boys. Breast development and girls.

01:41 During middle adolescence, or aged 15 to 17, the adolescent reaches about 95% of their adult height.

01:50 So for example, my daughter Jenna, who you may have heard about earlier in the growth and development lectures reach her adult height at that point, by the time she was about 17.

01:58 But her brother Greg didn't reach his full adult height until he was about 19.

02:03 Growth for girls especially slows down at this point.

02:07 The secondary sexual characteristics are well advanced at this point.

02:13 And by the time they're 18 or 20, the adolescent is physically mature.

02:17 However, as we all know, research indicates that brain development or neurodevelopment is not complete until they're about age 25.

02:26 And that is why some of them have trouble making judgment calls with risky behaviors, especially into their young adult life.

02:35 Reproductive growth is almost complete at this point.

02:40 Now let's walk through the cognitive development that continues to occur in adolescents.

02:46 Adolescents have already gone through the first three Piaget stages of cognitive development.

02:54 Now they enter into the formal operational stage.

02:59 This means that the adolescent has the ability to process abstract ideas such as feelings or qualities.

03:05 Things that do not exist in a physical form, but do exist in an abstract form.

03:10 Formal Operational Thinkers can consider different ways to solve a problem, including those that are creative in outside the box.

03:19 Once the adolescent is capable of formal operational thought, they can also consider hypothetical problems such as, "What if I don't study hard enough to pass this test?" And consider the consequences of various potential choices or actions such as, "If I study hard and read the book, I will be more likely to do well on the test." And that wraps up the adolescents growth and development.