Life Course Development of Adult - Essay Example

? LIFE DEVELOPMENT Goes Here Case Study Assignment - Adult 15/09 Contents Contents 2 Selection of the Participant 3 Interviewing and Interaction Processes 3 Socio demographic Background 4 Biological Development 5 Psychological Development 6 Social Development 8 Prediction for Next five years 10 Conclusion 11 Works Cited 11 Appendix A 12 Appendix B 13 Appendix C. 15 LIFE COURSE DEVELOPMENT: CASE STUDY - ADULT Due to changing life style and way of living has changed the role of adults. In 19th century, adults where more focusing on getting settled down and having children. While, at present adults are more focused on trying new things like travelling the world, testing their relations and changing one job to other. This essay will mainly focus on biological, psychological and social development ofMr.H. The main purpose of this essay is to test our different possibilities and focusing on self-development and how to balance our life and work. . This essay will show the use different types of data collection techniques observation, interaction and interviewing, that were used to support this case study. Selection of the Participant The client has been selected on the basis of age, physical, social and biological factors. As I was studying a young adult so the participant was perfect for my case study. He also seemed to be in good physical health and in my initial observations he seemed to be having a thriving social life. I wanted to inquire the details behind the individual and thus selected him for the case study. Interviewing and Interaction Processes The first part of the interaction with the client was the informal interactions. These informal interactions took place whenever he came to visit my workplace. These informal interactions were prepared by me well in advance .I wanted to know him well before telling the purpose of my study. Some of the observations made by me during these informal interactions have been included by me in the appendix A. These reports were later shared with the client and he has given his permission to use the data even though the study was conducted without his knowledge. This was done in order to ensure that he does not become conscious and answers to my questions freely and without any prejudice. After informing him about my course objectives, an interview was fixed with him at his workplace. I reached the workplace two hours before the interview. This was done by me to finish the naturalistic observations before the interview. I also arranged a second interview with him at his home to differentiate between his behavior at work place and home. So the interview in the case was preceded by naturalistic observation which allowed me a chance to compare the two. Results of the naturalistic observations are provided in appendix B. The results of the interview have been provided by me in appendix C. Socio demographic Background Mr. is a 21 year young adult. He is currently pursuing Bachelor of Engineering from Edith Cowan University. He is an international student, he lives with her sister. He works at in a supermarket as checkout supervisor. Mr. is an Indian male. His height is 173 cm and weight in kg: 80. Therefore, his BMI is 26.7. The client comes from a middle class family. His family consists of four members and has one sibling. He and his sister, who is 18 years old, live by themselves in Australia. His parents are in India and he communicates with them once a week. His both parents are well settled and are educated. They are with each other since 35 years. The client’s father is a businessman and mother is a house-wife, while his sister just finished the school and starting her tertiary education next year. He is single but has girlfriend from his country. The neighbors are not much interactive as they are busy with their own work and life. Biological Development The Biological growth of the participant is observed to be normal. His birth weight was 3 kg while the gestational age at birth was 38 weeks. During his birth, no complications were observed. He was a healthy child and had normal parameters at the time of his birth. From his interview it comes to the forefront that he did not have any intrauterine growth restrictions. The client did not have any family history of genetic disorders which means that he is unlikely to have any hereditary diseases which will affect his future health. The client informed me that he has minor back pain and postural problems but has not suffered from any deformities. The client suffers from a chronic illness called plantar fasciitis leg pain. (Donaldson, 2004)Plantar fasciitis leg pain is an inflammation of the fascia on the bottom of the foot. Due to this he usually has pain in the front and bottom of the wheel. This is one of the reasons he says that he hates his job as he has to remain standing throughout the duration of his job which makes the pain worse. He however refuses to consider this pain as anything serious and calls it a part and parcel of his life. The subject does not smoke and drink which is extremely good for his biological health. He claims that he has never smoked in his life and neither has he touched alcohol. These factors are one of the reasons of his good biological development. His diet usually consists of pizzas both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. He often skips meals due to his busy schedules and orders pizza to make up. He also admitted to eating a lot of junk food. He hardly eats home cooked food as neither he nor his sister has any time for cooking. He faces toxic environment exposure at his workplace. It was observed from naturalistic observations that he constantly had standoffs with his boss. In the 1 hour of observation both of them disputed over minor issues at least 5 times. In the formal interview he refused to have any major difference with his boss however he mentioned that he hated his boss during the informal chats that we had. He is quite comfortable at his school and home. At school he claims to be the favorite student of his professors and during the informal chats with him I came to know that he loved his sister very much and was also looking forward to spend time with her. In short his toxic environment exposure is at the supermarket where he works .This might be termed as mild toxic environment and might not have much effect on his biological development. A summary of the biological development is provided in the table below. Intrauterine Growth Restrictions None Family Genetic Disorders None Illness Minor Back Pain and postural problems Chronic Illness Plantar Fasciitis Leg Pain Disabilities None Diet Junk food and pizzas Smoking Never Alcohol None Toxic Environment At Supermarket(Workplace) The subject is can be considered to be enjoying the healthiest time of his life and is generally in very good health and his not subject to any major diseases. Psychological Development The cognitive functioning of the subject is perfect and reflects that of a healthy young adult. He wants to be a research scholar in the future and looks forward to do his PhD. To achieve this objective he has been doing research work on his own which he claims will improve his skills. According to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development the subject in the formal operational stage. (Wadsworth, 1971) He has moved beyond concrete life experiences and his looking forward to abstract thinking and applying his thought in order to reach his objectives of becoming a research scholar. The subject is thoroughly educated and has been an outstanding student. Putting this in perspective of the Piaget’s theory we can see that he has begin using hypothetical deductive reasoning in every aspect of his life. (Oakley, 2004) He has been systematically begun to deduce or conclude what will be the best path to follow ahead by him. He has started toying with the various things he can do in future after the completion of education. He discussed a few topic of PhD that he has been interested in undertaking. However he makes many mistakes and has been learning through the trial and error process. The self esteem of the subject is quite high and he thinks of highly of himself. He is not much affected by the problems in his workplace because he thinks that that is a temporary job that he has been forced to do. However he has been faced with problems normally related to his love life which he claims really casts a doubt on what he is worth of. Self esteem has to be found to be depended on a number of factors .Various researchers have connected self esteem to demographic variables, relationship variables as well as health experiences and life events (Orth & Robins, 2010). The demographic variables of the individual such as SES (Socioeconomic status) which is typically measured by education, income and occupational prestige (Srivastava & Potter, 2003) are high in the subject thus boosting his self esteem. A supportive relationship is very important factor for self esteem development. The subject has been in a stable relationship with his girlfriend and his sister. He and his parents also have mutually respected for each other. Due to the lack of any health related problems as well as no traumatic life experiences he faces little doubt in his mind and values himself highly. The subject does not have a history of any mental health problems and is generally satisfied with his life. His only source of trouble has been his evening job which he hates but is satisfied because it helps to pay off his bills. The main psychological factors are summarized in the table below – Cognitive Functioning Operational Stage according to Piaget’s theory Literacy and numeracy High (high TOFEL scores , engineering course study) Study Achievements High – top grade student throughout Tertiary Qualifications Carries out research in to engineering topics on his own without tutor’s guidance. Self Esteem High(based on demographics , SES ,health experiences , life events and relationship variables) Self Efficacy Believes that he can succeed in achieving his goals Mental Health Problems None Life Satisfaction High   Social Development Social development plays a very important role in the process of overall cognitive development of an individual.Vygotsky states that social learning precedes any other kind of development. (Lloyd, 1999)He states that every function in the development of an individual comes twice; first on the social level and later on the individual level. The normal tendency for human development is to move from experience to comprehension. (Robert R. McCrae, 2003) As experience precedes knowledge of the individual the social development of an individual is more a subconscious process to which he reacts without meaning toga good socio-economic status of the individual’s family like our subject leads to higher confidence and greater self efficacy. The relationship that the individuals experiences at home set the tone for his future relationships. If the relationship between family members is strained the individual is likely to suspect every new relationship that he forms in life. (Martha J. Cox, 1999) Considering the matrices of our subject we can safely say that his family has good relation amongst them. He states that fight do take place between family members but are normally solved easily. This has led to a healthy outlook in the subject. The extended family which comprises of an individual’s friends, neighbors and love interests also play a very important role on a person’s development. This extended relationship is extremely important in the case of an individual who is living in a foreign land away from his family. Our subject says that he has some problems in adjusting to the Australian culture as his culture is very different as compared to the culture of the country he is currently residing in. Apart from this the general economic and political factors are also responsible in making a person feel secure. Our subject says that he has faced some discrimination after the recent incidents in which there were clashes between the Asian students and the Australian ones. These macro factors led to an uncertainty in his future plans and he is not sure at the moment whether he will stay in Australia for his further studies. It has also led him to feel insecure and concerned for the safety of his sister. He has also become a bit loner due to these incidents and has even advised his sister to stay away from Australians and limit her friendship to Indian students in Australia. The following table summarizes the social factors of our subject – SES , Social Class High Status of the family Family demographics 6 members in family ,all Indian Brahmin community members , Hindi language spoken Work study environment Favorable Extended Family Limited in Australia- few friends and a girlfriend – all Indians Neighborhood Indifferent Political Context Insecurity due to anti-India rhetoric Prediction for Next five years On the basis of the in-depth interactions that have taken place with the subject we have come to the conclusion that the subject is biologically, socially as well as psychologically well on the track of becoming a successful individual. Biologically his health is good and is unlikely to create any major problem in the next five years. His back pain and his pain in the leg might aggravate if he continues to ignore these problems .Due to the fact that he has been suffering from Plantar Fasciitis Leg Pain he needs to get a sitting job and not a job in which he has to stand continuously. Although the job is not a permanent one but it might affect his health which is likely to affect the other parameters of his development too. Psychologically he is very mature and a self confident individual. He has high self efficacy and has fixed set of priorities and goals in life that he wants to achieve. He is a state of flux as far as his relationship variables affecting his psychology are concerned. I predict that it is likely to continue in the same state for the next five years as he continues to experience different sexual as well as emotional relationships. His confidence in his abilities is likely to grow as the subject completes his graduate studies and undertake his next mission of becoming a research scholar. Social development is the only area where there is a slight element of concern. He feels insecure due to the political context which has led him to go into a shell. He remains away from local people and likes to limit his friend circle to Indians .He is likely to become a very good research student who keeps to himself and doesn’t like to mix with anyone apart from those belonging to his own community. Conclusion The finding of this research helps us to examine how social, psychological and biological development factors affect the growth of an individual. The study is done from an independent perspective and as the subject is unknown to us it prevents unnecessary biases from creeping in. However the study is based on tools such as informal interviews and naturalistic observations. These tools are open to interpretation in different ways and depend largely on the way that the researcher sees life and thus may be biased to some extent. Works Cited Donaldson, M. C. (2004). Leg Pain. Wiley-Blackwell. Lloyd, P. (1999). Vygotsky's Theory. USA: Routledge. Martha J. Cox, J. B.-G. (1999). Conflict and Cohesion in families : causes and consequences. Routledge. Oakley, L. (2004). Cognitive Development. New York: Routledge. Orth, U., & Robins, K. H. (2010). Personality Processes and individual differences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol 98 , 645 - 657. Robert R. McCrae, P. T. (2003). Personality in Adulthood : a five factor theory perspective. Guilford Press. Srivastava, S., & Potter, O. J. (2003). Development of Personality in early and middle adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 1041-1053. Wadsworth, B. J. (1971). Piaget's theory of cognitive development : an introduction for students of psychology and education. USA: Mckay. Appendix A The notes made form informal interactions with the subject – Appears to be very confident. Is very easy going and has a distinct sense of humor Is clear about his life goals - has decided on becoming research scholar – has no other aim at present – is trying to finalize the areas he will research in Hates his job but says essential to meet his ends meet Hates his job Respects his parents – consider them as his role models – says that he wants to have a relationship with his future wife just like the relationship between his father and mother. Has healthy sexual life and likes to talk about it Has a stable girlfriend Is concerned about the recent riots targeting Indian students – his views are that Indians are being unfairly targeted and victimized Very proud of his nationality. Cribs about his leg pain consistently whenever I met him. Appendix B The naturalistic observations are described below – 1) Work Place environment – extremely crowded supermarket 2) Skills required for work – Social skills 3) The type of customers – highly sophisticated , upper class customers , require special handling 4) Surroundings – No place to rest for the subject in between 2 customers, work load is medium as the supermarket keeps high end goods and is not much crowded. 5) Subject was very well organized in his work – likes to arrange different bills in stacks making it easier to hand out change to the customers. 6) Tries to be very courteous to the customers. 7) Subject is often consulted by other Indians working in the store about how to do a particular task. 8) He didn’t talk to any white employee throughout the period of his job. 9) Subject was not comfortable standing after one hour and was very uneasy. 10) He was fighting with his boss on various subjects throughout the observation. 11) One of his co-workers was heard saying that the boss has personal issue with the subject. 12) Talked very less on the phone. 13) Didn’t seem very friendly or didn’t try to start conversations with customers other than that related to billing. Appendix C. On the basis of interview conducted with the subject the following observations have been made – Intrauterine Growth Restrictions None Family Genetic Disorders None Illness Minor Back Pain and postural problems Chronic Illness Plantar Fasciitis Leg Pain Disabilities None Diet Junk food and pizzas Smoking Never Alcohol None Toxic Environment At Supermarket(Workplace) Cognitive Functioning Very well developed Verbal and non-verbal aspects seen. Literacy and numeracy High (high TOFEL scores , engineering course study) Study Achievements High – top grade student throughout Tertiary Qualifications Carries out research in to engineering topics on his own without tutor’s guidance. Self Esteem High(based on demographics , SES ,health experiences , life events and relationship variables) Self Efficacy Believes that he can succeed in achieving his goals Mental Health Problems None Life Satisfaction High SES , Social Class High Status of the family Family demographics 6 members in family, all Indian Brahmin community members, Hindi language spoken at home. Work study environment Favorable Extended Family Limited in Australia- few friends and a girlfriend – all Indians Neighborhood Indifferent Political Context Insecurity due to anti-India rhetoric Read More