Some Features of Human Adolescence Viewed in Evolutionary Perspective

Weisfeld, Glenn E.; Berger, Janet M.

doi:10.1159/000272876

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…[183]), nonhuman primates [386,586] and even rodents [348,383]. This behavior is sexually dimorphic, with males generally across a variety of species showing lower levels of interest in infants than females [383,586].…”

Section: Social Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations

Spear

2000

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

4,697

110

4,301

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To successfully negotiate the developmental transition between youth and adulthood, adolescents must maneuver this often stressful period while acquiring skills necessary for independence. Certain behavioral features, including age-related increases in social behavior and risk-taking/novelty-seeking, are common among adolescents of diverse mammalian species and may aid in this process. Reduced positive incentive values from stimuli may lead adolescents to pursue new appetitive reinforcers through drug use and other risk-taking behaviors, with their relative insensitivity to drugs supporting comparatively greater per occasion use. Pubertal increases in gonadal hormones are a hallmark of adolescence, although there is little evidence for a simple association of these hormones with behavioral change during adolescence. Prominent developmental transformations are seen in prefrontal cortex and limbic brain regions of adolescents across a variety of species, alterations that include an apparent shift in the balance between mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine systems. Developmental changes in these stressor-sensitive regions, which are critical for attributing incentive salience to drugs and other stimuli, likely contribute to the unique characteristics of adolescence. ᭧

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Section: Social Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations

Spear

2000

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

4,697

110

4,301

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“…It is known that the rapid hormone changes at puberty include increases in androgens, which are presumed to be linked to aggressive behavior. In many species studied, aggression also increases at puberty, most clearly for males (Weisfeld & Berger, 1983).…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Puberty also is a period of psychological development characterized by increases in aggressive and rebellious behavior in most cultures (Weisfeld & Berger, 1983). How these two sets of changes relate to each other is the focus of the present study.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hormones, Emotional Dispositions, and Aggressive Attributes in Young Adolescents

Susman¹,

Inoff‐Germain²,

Nottelmann³

et al. 1987

Child Development

273

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Relations among hormone levels, emotional dispositions, and aggressive attributes were examined in 56 boys and 52 girls, age 9 to 14 years. The adolescents represented all 5 stages of pubertal development. Serum levels of gonadotropins, gonadal steroids, adrenal androgens, and testosterone-estradiol binding globulin were assessed. Levels of these hormones were related to stage of pubertal development and were assumed to represent relatively stable biological characteristics. The emotional dispositions assessed were adolescent self-reported anger, nervousness, sadness, and impulse control. The aggressive attributes assessed were mother-reported acting out and aggressive behavior problems and rebellious and nasty characteristics. Hormone levels were related to emotional dispositions and aggressive attributes for boys but not for girls. For example, higher levels of androstenedione in boys were related to higher levels of acting-out behavior problems. Level of testosterone-estradiol binding globulin was negatively related to sad affect and acting out behavior.

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“…It would seem that documenting and analyzing universal and widespread features of this life stage would be the place to start in developing such a theory (cf. Pereira & Altmann, 1985;Schlegel, 1995;Weisfeld, 1979;Weisfeld & Berger, 1983;Weisfeld & Billings, 1988).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main utility of puberty rites may be that they help prepare the adolescent for social maturity If so, then puberty rites constitute the cultural analogue of biological puberty, which likewise provides an intense, final preparation for mature functioning (Weisfeld & Berger, 1983). More specifically puberty, and perhaps puberty rites as well, usher a child who is dependent on her parents into maturity when she will bear and help raise children of her own.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Puberty Rites as Clues to the Nature of Human Adolescence

Weisfeld

1997

Cross-Cultural Research

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Puberty rites are widespread in traditional cultures and hence probably offer some general adaptive advantages. Elucidating the general features and functions of puberty rites may shed light on the basic nature of human adolescence itself. It is suggested that puberty rites function generally to provide intensive instruction in adult sex roles, instill cultural loyalty, regulate and publicize the attainment of adult status, and enhance the mate value of the initiate. These functional explanations are consistent with evolutionary theory and with data on pubertal changes and their functions, and with cross-cultural and cross-species behavioral data. That is, puberty rites may conspire with the evolved bodily and behavioral changes of adolescence to prepare the individual for adulthood. Moreover, although puberty rites vary widely around the world, they may possess certain common features to accomplish these functions. Preliminary functional explanations of these modal features are proposed and evaluated.If there is one point of agreement among adolescence psychologists, it is on the absence of a unifying, species-wide, functionalist theory of this life stage. It would seem that documenting and analyzing universal and widespread features of this life stage would be the place to start in developing such a theory (cf.

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Some Features of Human Adolescence Viewed in Evolutionary Perspective

Cited by 23 publications

References 31 publications

The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations

The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations

Hormones, Emotional Dispositions, and Aggressive Attributes in Young Adolescents

Puberty Rites as Clues to the Nature of Human Adolescence

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