1. How healthy are the nutrition habits of today’s adolescents? What do they actually
eat? Describe the two most common eating disorders? Nutrition Habits of Today’s Adolescents
Among all the age groups, adolescents of today have the most impoverished eating habits.
Studies show that more than 80 percent of youths in the United States eat unhealthy diets (Chin
et al. p.3). Some of the foods preferred by adolescents include chips, pizza, pasta, and fried
chicken. Prolonged intake of fast foods among adolescents increases the risk of developing
disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder. Anorexia Nervosa is both a
psychological and eating disorder. People with Anorexia Nervosa fear gaining weight, have food
restriction, and distorted body image (Steward p. 602). Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a type of
eating disorder when individuals eat large chunks of food and feel unable to stop eating (Steward
p. 602).

2. Describe adolescent cognitive development.
Cognitive development in adolescent refers to the period between the age of 12 and 18 when
young adults acquire the ability to think and reason (Jean-François et al. p. 99). During this
period, adolescents develop more advanced reasoning skills. This means that they develop more
sophisticated reasoning skills such as exploring all possibilities inherent in a situation. Additionally, the adolescents in the said period develop the ability to think critically (Jean-
François et al. p. 99). The ability to think in adolescents occurs in areas such as attention,
memory, metacognition, and processing speed (Jean-François et al. p. 99).
3. Discuss the adolescent quest for identity. Include a description of Erikson’s and
Marcia’s theories in your answer.
Identity in adolescents' entails developing a strong sense connection with self and others. The
way adolescents see themselves changes concerning peers, family, and social environments.
Identity vs the role of confusion is the fifth stage of the psychological development theory
developed by Erik Erickson (Katie and Weinstein p. 2). Adolescents in this stage seek for self
and personal identity by exploring personal values, goals, and beliefs (Katie and Weinstein p. 2).
James Marcia’s identity theory believes that identity is based on two things, namely occupation
and ideology (Marilyn p. 3). In other words, identity depends on the role of an individual in
society and a person’s beliefs on issues such as religion and politics.

Use MLA format