Adolescent Development
PLAN your interview before you begin. You will be turning in your INTERVIEW NOTES. While the paper must be typed, the notes may be hand-written. You should plan your questions BEFORE the interview.
Receive written permission from your participant to use their responses in your paper. Permission from the parent is always advisable. Under no circumstances should you reveal the identity of your participant. Do not share information that could, with any possibility, identify your participant.
Here, specifically, is the information you must gather from your participant and an outline to help you write up in your paper.
Application 1: Thinking About Adolescence
Open your paper by defining adolescence.
Describe how your participant feels about being an adolescent and what your participant believes are the most fun and most difficult aspects of being an adolescent. Why does he/she feel this way?
What aspect of your adolescence was most fun AND most difficult? How does your own experience compare to that of your participant
When does your participant believe an adolescent becomes an adult? A person becomes “middle-aged”? (Give specific ages.) How does this relate to your belief about the same concepts?
Strom and Stress. Stanley Hall suggested that all adolescents experience storm and stress. Based on your interview conversation, do you see evidence of that? If so, explain and if not, would you determine that your subject had it particularity any easier than other teens his/her age?
Stanley Hall proposed “Six Themes of Adolescence”. After interviewing your subject, what theme(s) were present for your subject. If no themes were identified, explain why you think that is for your subject; What does that say about Hall’s universal themes?
Application 2: Physical Development
Tell what age your participant knew that he/she was going through puberty. Report whether your participant thinks this was earlier, later, or at the same time as his/her friends. What reactions, if any, were experienced by your participant?
Choose one of the following:
If your participant has not experienced puberty or had a delayed response to puberty: Explain the early signs of puberty for your participant’s sex (either male or female) and the typical age range at which they are present.
OR
If your participant experienced puberty within the typical age range: Explain the secular trend for the timing of puberty onset, and why it has gotten earlier over the last 150 years.
OR
If your participant experienced puberty earlier than his/her friends: Explain precocious puberty and its potential impact on adolescents. What might your adolescence experience due to this experience?
Application 3: Cognitive Development
1. Explain how Piaget defined formal operational thought, and how it is different from concrete operational thought. Based on your interaction, what would you believe is a fair assessment of your adolescent’s stage of cognitive development as proposed by Piaget.
2. David Elkind’s egocentric thought:
Identify and define the behaviors that David Elkind said were characteristic of adolescent egocentric thought. You must define all in your paper for full credit.
Argumentativeness
Indecisiveness
Apparent hypocrisy
“Pseudo-stupidity”
Self-criticism and criticism of others
Give examples of how your participant demonstrated at least two of these types. If your participant does not provide much evidence, you must still demonstrate your understanding of at least two behavioral manifestations of egocentrism, and explain why you think your participant did not fit well with this particular cognitive theory. (Note: though adolescents demonstrate egocentrism regularly, it will be helpful to devise some questions believed to elicit these responses).
It probably would be best to use a table or chart in this part. Make sure you define and outline Elkins’s theory but use a table to demonstrate your response.
Application 4: Psychosocial Development
1. Self Concept and Self Esteem. Present to your participant the list of self-concept domains discussed in class (physicality, academics, athleticism, etc.) and have the student rate their area of greatest strengths and rate them. After a brief discussion about those concepts, provide a simple analysis of your participant’s overall self-esteem. This is for the purposes of this paper and should not be any sort of diagnosis.
2. James Marcia proposed that adolescents experience varying levels of crisis and commitment across multiple levels of identity development (i.e. career, relationship, friendships, etc.) It is during this period of crisis that adolescents explore alternatives, decision-making occurs, and identities begin to form.
Choose an area of identity development to explore with your participant (career, relationships, political, religious, achievement, sexual, cultural, interests, personality, physical, etc.)
Give examples of ways in which your participant is experiencing a crisis (exploration) and/or commitment in the chosen area
Based on their levels of crisis and commitment, identify your participant’s identity status. Note: in order to reach identity achieved, one must both explore alternatives and commit to something. Therefore, you must consider the age of your participant and their opportunities to experience a crisis, when identifying their identity status.
Application 5: Moral Development
Unlike Piaget, Kohlberg frequently used adolescence in his study of moral development. From his use of moral dilemmas, Kohlberg identified three major levels of moral development, each level having two stages of moral orientation or judgment.
Create a dilemma, similar to those presented in class and those in your text, to present to your participant. Based on the responses by your participant make a determination of which stage your participant fits based on their responses to your dilemma. Be sure to explain your rationale and use specific examples from the interview to support your decision. Make sure you put a good deal of thought into your response.
Be sure to include your dilemma AS AN APPENDIX ON THE LAST PAGE.
Application #6: Culture
Identify your subject’s ethnic background via your interview.
To what extent does your subject identify with their ethnicity and participate in their cultural traditions?
Does your subject know their cultural traditions?
In the interview did your subject present any ethnocentric views? If so, how did that manifest?
Based on your interview and what you may know about your subject’s culture, would you describe it to be more individualistic or collectivistic?
Exploring immigration with your subject
If your student is identified as an immigrant how has, if at all, affected them and their overall experience
Explore the issue of acculturation with your subject. If your subject is not of a ‘minority’ population, then explore with them how they view different cultures (again assessing ethnocentric views perhaps)
Explore the issue of stereotyping with your subject
How has stereotyping been experienced, if at all, by your subject
Does your subject identify any inequalities as it pertains to a particular ethnic group?
Does your subject believe that ethnicity influences school performance and if so why?
In this section, be sure to address topics with current literature and research. Do the items your subject present align with what the current research and literature is sharing on the topic of culture/ethnicity?
Application #7: Conclusion—A Critical Summary and Overall Presentation
During adolescence, people undergo changes in the physical, cognitive, and social domains (fundamental changes). Give at least 2 examples of fundamental changes your participant seems to be undergoing. Describe how your participant demonstrated these changes and how they were dealing/coping with these changes.
Assess the developmental changes of your participant according to one of the theories discussed thus far in the course (i.e. psychodynamic, learning, humanistic, cognitive, ethological, contextual). How would you explain/theorize the experiences your adolescent is facing using this theory?
Conclude your paper with a reaction from you. How was the experience of interviewing an adolescent on these topics? Were there topics that made you uncomfortable? Etc.
Warning: This is a formal paper. Make sure you have read and reread your paper for errors and coherence. Address all prompts and provide relevant details when addressing your points. A title page is expected. APA style is expected (7th). A reference page is only necessary if you reference outside sources.
Adolescent Development Project—Grading Rubric
14 Points
Application 1: Thinking About Adolescence
(1 pt.) Explain how adolescence is a socially constructed period of the life cycle in the United States.
(3 pt.) Describe what your participant believes are the most fun and most difficult aspects of being an adolescent. Why does he/she feel this way?
(3 pt.) What aspect of your adolescence was most fun AND most difficult? How does your experience compare to that of your participant?
(2 pt.) When does your participant believe an adolescent becomes an adult? Middle-aged? Give specific ages.
(5pts) Storm and Stress and Stanley Hall’s 6 themes.
9 Points
Application 2: Physical Development
(3 pts.) Tell what age your participant knew that he/she was going through puberty. Report whether your participant thinks this was earlier, later, or at the same time as his/her friends.
(6 pts.) Choose one of the following:
If your participant has not experienced puberty or had a delayed response to puberty: Explain the early signs of puberty for your participant’s sex (either male or female) and the typical age range at which they are present.
OR
If your participant experienced puberty within the typical age range: Explain the secular trend for the timing of puberty onset, and why it has gotten earlier over the last 150 years.
OR
If your participant experienced puberty earlier than his/her friends: Explain precocious puberty and its potential impact on adolescents.
14 Points
Application 3: Cognitive Development
(2 pt.) Explain how Piaget defined formal operational thought, and how it is different from concrete operational thought.
(4 pts.) Based on what you know of Piaget’s theory, what would be your EDUCATED guess as to your adolescent’s cognitive level (concrete vs. formal) AND WHY?
(3 pt.) Identify four of Elkind’s behavioral manifestations of egocentric thought. Organize this part by using a table/chart format.
(5 pt.) Give examples of how your participant demonstrated at least two of Elkin’s behavioral manifestations. If your participant does not provide much evidence, you must still demonstrate your understanding of at least two types of egocentrism by providing examples of what you would have been looking for to determine these TWO manifestations.
10 Points
Application 4: Psychosocial Development
(3 pts.) Self-concept and Self-Esteem preliminary assessment.
(3 pts.) Choose an area of identity development to explore (career, relationships, etc.). Give examples of ways in which your participant is experiencing “crisis” (exploration) and/or “commitment” in the chosen area.
(2 pt.) Based on their levels of “crisis” and “commitment”, identify your participant’s identity status.
(2 pts.) Provide a solid link between your discussion of identity development and Marcia’s identity theory.
10 Points
Application 5: Moral Development
(3 pts.) Create a dilemma, similar to those presented in class and those in your text, to present to your participant.
(7 pts) Based on the responses by your participant make a determination of which stage your participant fits based on their responses to your dilemma. Be sure to explain your rationale and use specific examples from the interview to support your decision.
10 Points
Application 6: Culture:
A thorough analysis of your subject’s ethnic and cultural experience was explored.
Statements and assumptions made by the subject should be followed up with what the current literature is addressing on these very topics.
13 Points
Application 7: CRITICAL SUMMARY, ORGANIZATION:
(5 pt.) The critical Summary is complete and coherent.
(3 pt.) The student followed formatting directions (12 pt. “Times New Roman” font, 1-inch margins, double-spaced.) The reference page is accurate. The paper includes interview protocol (e.g., questions asked) and legible, detailed notes.
(5 pt.) The paper is densely packed with ideas. The paper is clear, concise, and precisely written. The paper contains few spelling and grammatical errors (8 =A or better / 6 = C, / 4 = D / 0 = Many errors.)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Total Points: 80
If students do not submit the written paper by the due date, they will lose 8 points (10%). However, no papers will be accepted after the day of the final.
Paper length. The paper should not be less than five pages. Any less than 5 pages will likely be missing many important aspects/concepts. Students are graded on thoroughness and successful completion of the project’s tasks. Students who fudge-font or use larger fonts will be noted. I read every paper.
It is most important to always explain your rationales. I must know you understood the task. I will determine this by the level and quality of your responses and the examples provided.