Life Span Development For Normal Puberty

Questionnaire

Describe about the Life Span Development for Normal Puberty.

Adolescence starts with the onset of physiologically normal puberty and generally ends at the time when an adult recognize and behaviors are accepted. This period of development corresponds roughly to the period between the ages of 10 and 19 years that is consistent with the definition of adolescence of World Health Organization (Selemon, 2013). This is one of the interesting parts of the human lives and thus to carry on the entire research work, this specific time has been selected. Sara Marlin, a 14 years old girl has been selected, as some behavioral issues have been observed in her case. For gaining proper information regarding her issues, both interview and observation would take place for long 4 weeks. It is obvious that during adolescence, the teens most of the time struggle with their body changes, mood swings as well as social issues and these all together leave impact on their behavior. Therefore, it is suggested that the youngsters are required to learn how to navigate the adolescent years, how to foster healthy conversations with their adolescent regarding peer pressure, body self-image, rape, drug/alcohol abuse and many more (Farb & Matjasko, 2012).

Questionnaire

• With whom you stay at home?
• How close are you with your father?
• With whom you feel comfortable enough to hang out?
• How often do you hand out with your friends?
• What are your future plans?
• How would you achieve this?
• How do you spend your leisure time?
• How have you state your targets for the coming years in your life?
• Do you believe in pre-marital sex?
• How often do you interact with your father?
• What are your viewpoints regarding married life?
• Do you prefer to stay alone in your home?

Based on the above mentioned questionnaire, the entire analysis would be made.

It can be stated that the pre-teen see lots of changes- physical, emotional, cognitive and social. During this time, the bodies and emotions of children change a lot and recognize changes in different ways at different times. In case of girls, the physical changes around puberty takes into account breast development, changes in body shapes and height, growth of pubic and body hair as well as the start of menstruation. Apart from that, it can be stated that the brain growth tends to continue into the early 20s and the development of the frontal lobe particularly is significant during this stage. Crockett and Crouter (2014) have stated that due to the rates of physical development vary largely among the teenagers; puberty can be a source of pride or embarrassment. Apart from that, it is necessary to mention that during adolescence, children develop the ability to understand abstract ideas, establish as well as maintain satisfying relationships, move towards a more mature sense of themselves and at the same time questions old values and beliefs without losing their identity. In this particular case, it has been found that Sara Marlin during her adolescence has not met ant physical challenges, but she had some other issues (Hetherington, Reiss & Plomin, 2013).

Physical development

Chadwick, Miller and Hurd (2015) have stated that cognitive development means the growth of child’s ability to think and reason and Sara Marlin has been affected due to cognitive development. Sara has seen her divorced father from childhood and this has forced her to think abstractly. Apart from that, it can be stated that in adolescence, changes in brain directly interact with experience, knowledge and social demands and produce rapid cognitive expansion. From the research work of Jean Piaget has demonstrated adolescence as the stage of life in which the thoughts of an individual start taking more of an abstract form and egocentric thoughts decrease. His theory hypothesizes that cognitive improvement of adolescents are relatively sudden as well as drastic (Kunnen, 2012).

As youth’s cognitive, emotional and social development continues to mature, their understanding of morality expands and their behavior becomes more closely aligned with their values and beliefs. Therefore, moral development demonstrates the evolution of these guiding principles and is demonstrated by the ability to apply these guidelines in the daily life. Being frustrated enough in her daily life, Sara likes hanging out with the friends and she has developed addiction towards drug consumption. Although she has been warned by her father, she continues to stick to her own point of view regardless of the opinion of her lover ones. Therefore, it is understood that Sara has faced challenges in case of her moral development and this is one of the features of adolescence (Arnett, 2014).

In order to explain in detail this phase, it is necessary to discuss Kohlberg’s theory and from this it can be found that at the pre-conventional level, children generally do not have a personal code of morality. In that phase, their moral code is shaped by the standards of adults and Sara has seen a degraded moral situation at her home. In the post conventional morality, individual judgment is based on self selected principles and here Sara has become stubborn enough. As per the Kohlberg’s theory, only 10% to 15% of people achieve post-conventional morality (Hill et al., 2012).

Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development are one of the important theories that are required to discuss here, as this justifies the situation carefully. It can be seen that teenagers would be experiencing an identity crisis during this time, they are unsure of themselves, unsure of their future and Sara has been one of the prominent examples of this dilemma. Apart from that, it can be stated that this is also a time when the teenagers seek for independence as well as autonomy. Apart from that, they want to make their own decisions and use their own morality scale. Meschke, Peter and Bartholomae (2012) have opined that friendships and intimacy are important to adolescents and this often becomes their priority and in this time, peers have a great influence on the behaviors and attitudes. Sara has been largely influenced by her group of friends and they matter everything to her.  

Cognitive development

Vrieze, McGue and Iacono (2012) have stated that teenagers most of the times experiment with a variety of actions as well as substances. Unfortunately, this experimentation can lead to substance abuse and addiction and Sara in this case has developed a habit of drug consumption. It can be stated that there are several symptoms of drug abuse, but some of the most common signs that the teens are abusing drugs are:

• Issues at school like excessive tardiness, poor grades, suspension and some more
• Mood swings
• Loss of interest in favorite actions (Hill et al., 2012)
• Drug paraphernalia
• Withdrawal
• Depression
• Poor hygiene
• Missing memory
• Carefulness of parents (Vrieze, McGue & Iacono, 2012)
• Improper life style of the parents and many more

From the above discussion, it can be found out that Sara has been suffering from bad habits of consuming drugs and it is believed that due to negligence of her father, she has grown such habit. Apart from that, from the interview with the Sara, it can be derived that Sara might be interested enough in premarital sex, as she has different viewpoint regarding marriage (Hill et al., 2012).

Conclusion

After going through different parts, it can be found out that the adolescents might face several issues like mental health issues like mood disorders, anxiety disorders, thought disease, psychological disorders and some more. Sara has been interview and observed for this research work and it has been found that she is going through adolescence and has grown a habit of drug addiction. Since her childhood, she saw her father who used to consumed alcohol and this has affected her childhood badly and thus in her adolescence, she has faced numerous issues.

References

Arnett, J. J. (2014). Adolescence and emerging adulthood. Pearson Education Limited.

Chadwick, B., Miller, M. L., & Hurd, Y. L. (2015). Cannabis use during adolescent development: susceptibility to psychiatric illness. Clearing the smokescreen: The current evidence on cannabis use, 32.

Crockett, L. J., & Crouter, A. C. (2014). Pathways through adolescence: Individual development in relation to social contexts. Psychology Press.

Farb, A. F., & Matjasko, J. L. (2012). Recent advances in research on school-based extracurricular activities and adolescent development. Developmental Review, 32(1), 1-48.

Hetherington, E. M., Reiss, D., & Plomin, R. (Eds.). (2013). Separate social worlds of siblings: The impact of nonshared environment on development. Routledge.

Hill, R. A., Wu, Y. W. C., Kwek, P., & Buuse, M. V. D. (2012). Modulatory Effects of Sex Steroid Hormones on Brain?Derived Neurotrophic Factor?Tyrosine Kinase B Expression during Adolescent Development in C57Bl/6 Mice. Journal of neuroendocrinology, 24(5), 774-788.

Kunnen, S. E. (Ed.). (2012). A dynamic systems approach to adolescent development. Psychology Press.

Meschke, L. L., Peter, C. R., & Bartholomae, S. (2012, February). Developmentally appropriate practice to promote healthy adolescent development: Integrating research and practice. In Child & Youth Care Forum (Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 89-108). Springer US.

Selemon, L. D. (2013). A role for synaptic plasticity in the adolescent development of executive function. Translational psychiatry, 3(3), e238.

Vrieze, S. I., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (2012). The interplay of genes and adolescent development in substance use disorders: leveraging findings from GWAS meta-analyses to test developmental hypotheses about nicotine consumption. Human genetics, 131(6), 791-801.