Chapter Eight of our textbook, Understanding Human Behavior was filled with information based on “Social Development in Adolescence”. In this chapter I found it entirely fascinating, in addition to being full of multiple fragments of the social transformations and obstacles that an adolescent faces. Adolescences go through a lot of changes, not only physically, but also psychologically, and socially. These changes are never experienced the same from one person to another, but there can be common ground. It is easy for me to see how all the information in chapter Eight is essential and relevant to the social work profession. The main area that shocked me was the “Eating Disorders”(pp.360-367). I originally felt that this section was misplaced, but after much thought I now understand how it fits in this chapter. When I did not grasp why eating disorders was a section in this chapter, it was because my first thoughts were that social development in adolescents in not the only contributing factor to an adolescent developing an eating disorder. After reading the chapter in it’s entirety, it made more sense to me, mainly because social development does play one of the larger roles in an adolescent developing an eating disorder. There was one other aspect of this section that surprised me, and that was the text using a photograph of Nicole Richie, in regards to anorexia nervosa. My thought is that individuals whom suffer from anorexia nervosa do not always appear as she does in
The lives of children are greatly influenced by the environment they grow up in, and the people they come in contact with. For years, psychologists, researchers, and social workers have studied children, and why they do what they do. All have developed many different perspectives on how to view social problems and the development of individuals.
In order to illustrate a key stage in the life course, I will be looking at the area of adolescence because I believe that this is one of the most critical life stages, with so many immense transitions young people go through. I have chosen to focus on adolescence because of a commitment to working with these vulnerable individuals aged from 14 to 19. We can no doubt all reflect on wrong choices we felt we made in our adolescence, and how our education and employment prospects may have benefited from good advice at this crucial juncture in life. I want to be able to guide vulnerable adolescents in the right direction and help them make the right choices, by understanding their needs, and supporting them in practical ways to live fulfilling and independent lives. From personal experience, I sincerely believe that with the right kind of guidance and attention, troubled teenagers can get back on track.
Helwig begins her article by drawing attention to the idea that it is “normal for North American women to have eating disorders” (Helwig 1). Pointing this out makes the audience think about how often they notice someone with an eating disorder, and when they do if they are shocked. It also makes the audience consider how they react when they discover someone has an eating disorder, and it makes them wonder if they would truly be concerned, or even surprised. The amounts of people with an eating disorder continues to grow every day all across the United States, but the highest numbers of eating disorders are found among “well-off young women” (Helwig 3). Eight out of every ten
Adolescence describes the transitional stage in a teenager’s life, from childhood to adulthood, where an individual evolves physically, psychologically, emotionally, cognitively and socially. It is a defined social category that is expressed through immaturity and unpredictability and allows an individual to learn and discover their sense of self and identity. The idea of adolescence came into perspective after children were expected to take on adult roles as soon as they were mature enough to, going straight from puberty to adulthood. As society changed and moulded, so did the ideas about life stages, which is evident in Erikson’s theory.
They are going through transitions in intellectual development and the process and transition of primary to secondary education.’ There are various intellectual skills that an adolescent will learn within this life stage. When in the adolescent life stage, the emotional development norms for an individual is to learn their personal identity and they must leant about who they are about how to control their emotions within the change of puberty. Low self-esteem and confidence issue is often something most teenagers struggle with. With adolescence secondary learning occurs, a person’s self-worth can change within this life-stage due to the social situations that an individual had to be within, also their use of clothing, language and religion etc. The introduction of hormones can often change how teenagers see themselves. Adolescent’s independence that they go through can affect their social and emotional development.
It seems like every young girl dreams of becoming a model these days. Every young girl has the desire to get thinner than other girls in order to look like models on T.V, magazines and so on. The New York Times publishes articles for the majority of the audience to read, which is mostly adults. Mim Udovitch’s article, “A Secret Society of the Starving” talks about two major eating disorders that are anorexia and bulimia within many girls. Udovitch reports stories about three girls that are going through these disorders or have gone through them. The three girls Udovitch includes are Claire, Chaos, and Futurebird. Ken Jackson’s interpretation of
Something that Mary Pipher has brought up in the first chapter of her book was how society is causing young women to suffer many different problems. One of the most common and worst problems that arise is eating disorders. The media may be the culprit for this issue. Girls who are striving to be thin, and fit the mold of a star may never reach their goal, under natural conditions. As a result
In a recent survey done by the National institute on Media and the Family, fifth graders, ten year old boys and girls told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show “Friends.”(4) If this isn’t shocking enough, the research group reported that at the age of thirteen, fifty-three percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to seventy-eight percent by the time the girls reach seventeen. Also, eating disorders are beginning to start at an alarming young age. Statistics show that girls are developing eating disorders at the age of six.(1) Young girls that are exposed to appearance focused television programs, and magazine shows feel that they need to look like the models that they see. Most of these girls are not even have fully developed bodies yet and are already trying to perfect themselves. One girl had even shared how one of her best friends discovered that her fifth grade cousin was bulimic. Girls at that age should not even be concerned with their bodies yet and eating disorders being developed is a harsh wake up call as to how young girls everywhere are being effected by the media each and everyday.
In this paper I plan to discuss the developmental stages of adolescence. Adolescents are also referred to as "teenagers" or "young adults." Adolescence begins after the childhood stage and ends right before adulthood. The years of adolescence range from 12 years old to 21 years old. The years of adolescence can be quite a roller coaster ride. Young people in this stage encounter a great deal of changes in their life as they prepare for adulthood. I will discuss emotional, intellectual, physiological, and social domains of development and how it relates to adolescents. I will also discuss some helpful tips for teachers to aide in communicating effectively to adolescents and understanding their
First of all, with the use of plot and character as dramatic elements, MacLeod is able to depict the main characteristics of the nature of adolescence, mainly the search for identity and the quest for independence. Among the scientific community, adolescence is believed to be the most crucial period in human development. It is a period of “rapid biological, social and psychological change” (Soto, et al. 330). There are the transformations that define puberty, there are changes in the relationships and attitudes towards adults and peers, and many teenagers struggle to form a coherent identity (331). In the process of discovering their identities, most adolescents become self-centered. Having not yet
The encyclopedia of Social work can be located at the MIKC in the reference collection, in the mars at the MIKC or online on the MIKC website under the library catalog Encyclopedia of Social work [Terry Mizrahi, Larry E. Davis, Editors in chief]. I choose to read about Adolescence because I have a growing almost 11 month old and any insight on kids is fascinating to me. The references located at the end of the entry can easily help anyone find more information on their specific topic and possibly help find other articles that are related to this entry.
According to an article Social cognitive development article it states that during adolescence years’ social development has a huge role in teen lives. It is during these young adult years which is the transition period from
Becoming familiar with different cognitive, physical, social and emotional theories regarding adolescent youth is important for youth development workers because it can help us understand our audience. Sometimes adolescents can be frustrating, but with being familiar with different youth development theories can help us understand their actions. Being aware of Alyson’s insecurities can help youth development workers to guide Alyson in a group that may have similar interests with
Adolescence is both a social and cultural construct as well as biological one, it is the developmental period where one transition from being a child to adult and face biological, psychological, and social challenges. This challenging, and important time in between childhood and adulthood has caused a lot of interest in the psychological field and a number of theories have been developed in order to try and explain the different stages of development. One of the most significant models of psychosocial development was created by Erikson (1963) and the stage related to adolescents is known as the “Identity vs. Role-Diffusion”, where the one is in constant pursuit of a coherent sense of self during the teenage years. When the teenager is unable to put together aspects of themselves they experience role-diffusion. Later on Elkind (1967) introduced his theory of adolescent egocentrism, explaining the increase in preoccupation with oneself during the teenage years. Kohlberg (1969) quickly followed up with his theory of moral development, in order to examine how adolescents develop their ability to solve ethical dilemmas. Another challenge teenagers need to face is mental health. The psychological part of striving for independence, while still struggling with identity formation and having poor coping strategies can have serious consequences and lead to mental illnesses, such as depression which is a growing concern among youths. This essay will further examine to what extent
I have believed that working with children (juvenile) is challenging. Different explanations and studies have been done to explain the challenges and conflicting personalities often observed in adolescent. Freud’s theory, child development occurs in various stages of development, at every stage, they experience different pleasures areas of their body and influential experiences that occur at each stage made me wonder how much influence environment influence behavior, had led to the myth that adolescent come with baggage. Criminal behavior is reaction against shame, and humiliation (Braithwaite, 1989). The role shame and humiliation play in behavior buttress the works of Erik Erikson hinging on the importance of social interaction and experience