Naturalistic of Adolescent Behaviour and Development - Term Paper Example

due: Naturalistic Observation of Adolescent Behaviour and Development Introduction This paper will explain and elaborate the changes that occur in the bodies of teenagers both physically and emotionally during their adolescence years. Adolescence is a phase where teenagers have to establish their beliefs, values and achievements in life. Adolescents continuously evaluate themselves in many ways. For instance, they become extremely self-conscious and emotional. Self-evaluation process leads to the beginning of emotional changes and self-independence, thus, muddling them to being mature (Jeffrey 96). This study is aimed at helping parents to be able to understand, know and learn to deal with teenagers undergoing this phase of life. Through this research the parents, teachers, and guardians will be able to understand and help the children go through this phase of life. Thus, help them in decision making so that they can become productive adults in their future life. General Context I choose to base my research on my two teenage boys and their friends of whom I observed at a food restaurant. Teenage boys are highly affected by their lives. Therefore, it is difficult for parents and teachers to tame them, unlike girls. Moreover, most teenage boys do not like spending time alone but most likely at the company of their friends. With this reasoning in mind, I allowed my sons to go out for lunch with their friends. I did this as I wanted to plant cameras in the house. This was an important step in commencing this observational study. Next, I came up with an excuse to be away. I told my sons that an emergency trip had just come up, and I had to leave as it was work related. I insisted on nanny supervision, but my boys insisted that they were mature enough. They said I should trust them because they were not kids anymore. I agreed to give them a chance and took that opportunity to do my observation. Puberty and Growth Spurt Puberty is a process of which physical changes appears to the body which signifies the transformation from childhood to adulthood which is maturity. It is very difficult to decide or rather to know when the puberty stage will begin or even end. Puberty is often noted when one is in his or her teenage. Puberty commences at the ages of nine to fourteen. Growth spurt in boys is rapid. They grow tall at least up to 9 cm. Their body grows too fast more than what their brain can handle. This growth manifest from the outer parts of the body and works internally. The fact is that the brain cannot keep up as the teenagers’ height rapidly grows. This is because it happens too fast that the brain is not given time to level the previous and the present changes. The process of increasing in height is a process of a teenager experiencing puberty. The structural figures that described the boys indicated that they had gone through a growth spurt. Teenagers at this stage of adolescence tend to be self-conscious most especially about their bodies and looks. Most teenagers’ self-esteem is mostly affected by how they look and their physical appearances. They tend to compare their bodies with those of friends, same age groups or even celebrities. I also noted this with my sons that their bodies constantly change and their height also gradually changes. There is also weight gain; the body shape starts to grow in proportions because various body parts are growing at a different rate. Moreover, there is the presence of facial and body hair (Jeffrey 309). Identity Formation Identity formation can also be phrased as individuation. This is where a teenager develops a distinct personality; with which his or her behaviors or rather characters are determined by a person he or she looks up upon. In addition, the society is seen to play a major role in the process of identity information for the teenagers in the society. Teenagers are positively affected by their surroundings; making up their social background. Most teenagers take ethnic identity formation by transforming from one stage to the other. In addition, during sexual changes among teenagers; when they are facing puberty, gender and sexual identity became a major issue and also very relevant. Families and the community can influence the adolescents or rather the teenagers. The family and the society play a major role in influencing these teenage children and also provide an important environment in which identity formation occurs. Peer Relations Peer relations are most noted in schools or on areas of development. In schools when teenagers engage themselves with co-curricular activities they get social and interact among themselves. This mostly happens to teenagers who are of the same age group or rather at the same level of development. A friend at this time when a teenager is developing is imperative. Additionally, during the stage of adolescence; the teenagers prefer to pass their time in the company of their friends. As young people grow from childhood to adulthood, they become more involved with peer relations. At this stage, the teenagers suddenly want to spend time with their friends as compared to their families and parents. Peer relation becomes so intense when growing. Individuals, therefore, learn to steer relationships with friends and romantic partners. This is evident because my two sons also do not like to spend time with me anymore they prefer to be with the friends in the malls and other fun places. Sexual and Spiritual Development Sexual development includes the development of character traits and skills necessary for intimate and sexual relationships. Children that are in their sexual development stage struggle with issues that cannot be easily understood. It is researched that children at this stage have much information in the areas of sexuality, spiritual and religious beliefs. Spiritual development is the multitude of factors that give life value, purpose, and meaning. In spiritual development, there are a lot of virtues and principles that need to be considered. This will signify what one is, and what they will turn out to be in the future. This profound truth needs to be kept in the mind and heart, and this will make these teenage children have good morals and virtues in future. Emotional Development Emotional development in the stage of adolescences is filled with hormone-induced emotional turmoil. Adolescence is the stage that more emotional development is noticed in a teenager. This will help one know what to expect and how to support a child going through this changes. During adolescence, one can notice the way the teenager behave or reacts towards family friends or people of the same age groups. There are different reaction and changes in every teenage. The unique chances of a teenager will depend with his or her combination of genes and their brain development, their environment that they live in and family experiences. There are some teenagers that have strong and intense feelings at different times. They might have mood while others are sensitive to other people’s emotions. In this stage, one also can notice a rebellious character. This is evident as they have a lot of arguments with their friends or parents. Their arguments are because they are beginning to think more abstractly, and they have a lot of different points of views. Moreover, there are some conflicts between teenagers and their parents at this stage. They also tend to see things differently from others (Jeffrey 58). Observations Adolescence is a time of growth where teenagers develop and change their behaviors. The teenagers at their adolescence stage develop changes with their emotions, social life and also physically. In order to have accurate observations, I had to plant a camera in my house because I was leaving for an impromptu business trip with my employer. I had to leave my two teenage boys at home alone since they insisted that they did not need a nanny. After the trip, I returned home and removed all the cameras I had put so that I would listen and watch what my teenage boys were doing when I was away. As I observed and listened to the conversation, I learned that they had invited some of their friends. These boys discussed on how they would like to do things all by themselves and be free of their meddling nosy parents. I heard my sons complain that they did not want to ask permission from me anymore. They did not want to seek permission to do anything or even go anywhere, they wanted to have the liberty to do what they thought was right. I realized that they needed an independent life. Some of the boys were comfortable with their parents’ rules. This was evident as they would even try and talk and try to reason with the others. This implies that they had already known their strengths and weaknesses, and were comfortable with the situation. When the conversation was intense, and the group of boys seemed to argue; there were some of them who seemed to control their emotions. They seemed more mature than the others they also seemed like the kind to form strong relationships, and the bonds between them and the friends were stronger. Next, I heard some of the boys who looked rather calm, and all they would discuss was about the future and where the wanted to stand in the today’s world. They seemed very enthusiastic about their future and what they wanted to achieve. From these observations, it is evident that every teenager develops or rather grows at his or her pace. Not every teenager will progress at the same pace with the others. This, therefore, proves that every teenager has his or her own like and dislikes strengths and interest. Next, I saw my fifteen-year-old son come with a magazine from his room. Once he showed the latest magazine to the friends, all attention was drifted to the magazines. The magazine was about cars; I learned that from how I heard them speak about how fast the cars were. They laughed and passed the magazine all over the table for everyone to see. One of the boys commented that one of the cars they saw in the magazine was the exact same model used in the famous comedy ‘in between us’. They discussed a little about the movie then suddenly, one of them received a text message, he frowned a little; I guess it was bad news. Then, I heard him say that his girlfriend had just broken up with him via a text message. The lively atmosphere changed all of a sudden, and the friends tried to console him. One of them said, “How can a girl be this mean?” They debated the issue for a while. I would see that they were encouraging the affected boy from their body language. They talked about the issue in a hushed tone, and I would not hear clearly, but they seemed to be words of encouragements. Their emotions seemed very low and disturbed. It seemed as though the text message had affected them all. From the concept of identity formation, the society has a major influence among these teenagers. This is evident during the observations where the group of boys compared a model of a car that they saw from the magazine to one they saw in a movie. Thus, this implies that movies and magazines create a more social and society influence on individuals. This is based on the fact that these media influences are exposed to every person; thus influencing their social life. Peer relation is evident in this case. This is clear when the teenagers were seated at a restaurant and not at their homes, discussing their issue in life. This justifies that peer relation is important and present when it comes to teenage life. It is important that teenagers to have friends or rather to be involved in peer relations. This is because it makes the teens feel accepted and in these same cliques, they are able to develop a sense of belongings. Peer relations also help teenagers to develop and practice social skills necessary for future success (Jeffrey 28). In this case of observation, there was evidence of moral thinking. Moral thinking is the reasoning of an individual where he or she tries to determine whether a situation it is right or wrong using moral values. During the observation, the teenage boy who received a text message was in a dilemma. He did not know what to do. In this scenario, the boy wondered and used moral reasoning to try come with the answer to the puzzling text message. There was also adolescence egocentrism where they argued about cars and their independence. Everyone wanted his answer to be right. No one would reach the same conclusions about those cars in the magazines and their independence. The feeling that they knew better was displayed all over. Also, the exaggerated sense of personal uniqueness was all over the place because everyone felt that they had a unique reason to their opinion. They seemed to feel that each of them had a unique thought, and once again they would not come up with a united conclusion. Later after my research, I came to realize that the group of boys who were invited by my sons at home actually schooled together with my sons. They were a clique that always stayed together and helped each other in time of any problem. From the group, I could see the characteristics of good friendship that include, love, support, respect, encouragement, consistency, kindness, non-judgmental and togetherness. In this case, the all the characteristics of true friendship were present. True friends always have time for each other. The boys also understood that it takes time to spend time together in order to keep the friendship ongoing. That is why they created the time to come and sit down together at a restaurant and enjoy lunch together. Real friends do not judge each other no matter the situation. They did not judge or criticize the boy after the break up. They stood by him even if they did not know the cause of the problem. True friends are kind to each other. In this case, the friends contributed the same amount of money in the restaurant to pay the bill they had used. They did not wait for one of them to pay, but they did it all together. That was an act of togetherness and kindness. True friends are not only there for each other physically, but also emotionally. There was evidence of constant friendship from the observation, when one of them was going through a hard moment, and the friends stood by him. Thus, true friends always are involved in a positive influence, as they always encourage each other in time of difficulties. Moreover, true friends understand that they may not agree with everything the others says and does. In regard to the observation, there was the lack of evidence of moratorium, positive or negative achievement for closure or diffusion. Advantages and limitations The advantages I noted from this observation approach is that, it is factual. This implies that I got first-hand information. The fact that I had planted cameras in the house made it hard for them to know that they were being watched. This, therefore, made it easy in acquiring every detail on my research. However, they also were some limitations I faced. For instance, it was a risk-taking research because if they had noted the cameras in the house, they either would have decided to go out to a restaurant or even, they would have behaved as in a bizarre manner as they would have the knowledge that they were being monitored; thus distorting my research. Also, I was uneasy in observing my teenage boys secretly. I knew that if they knew I was watching they would not be happy with what I was doing behind their backs. Another limitation was voice clarity. The camera could not clearly take the hushed voices clearly. Observation to my sons After this research, I learned that the reason as to why my fifteen-year-old seeks approval for everything he does is because seeks attention. He cannot show this openly because he feels that he is grown and mature, so he does seek the attention indirectly. For instance, he keeps asking about his hair. I have also learned that it is normal for an adolescent to be body conscious. In regard to body consciousness, during adolescence, teenagers experience sexual objectification. This results to them seeing their bodies as objects to be analyzed and evaluate. In addition, I learned why my eleven-year-old son always gets embarrassed in front of my friends and his own friends is because he feels shy and has low self-esteem issues. He is language sensitive because he feels shy and uncomfortable when some words and topics are mentioned. For instance, if I bring up the issue about bringing girls home and physical features that are appearing on his body, he feels uncomfortable. That is why he dislikes them mentioned. This is also because of the changes he is experiencing, and he is embarrassed. The two brothers argue literally about everything because they both feel that they are mature and what they deem is right they tend to feel that they are undermined if they do not agree with each other. Conclusion In conclusion, I have learned that when facing puberty one’s body grows faster than any other time. It is imperative to note that everybody has to go through this change. Moreover, teenagers going through adolescence should be able to display their feelings openly. Through discussions with their older individuals, they should be capable of making the right choices. Most parents do not know or even understand why their teenage children act in a rebellious, impulsive and dangerous way. They seem not to care or think about the consequences that come with their actions. Additionally, teenagers are different from the way they think, make their decisions and solve their problems. However, that does not imply that they cannot be able to make their choices or even differentiate between right and wrong. This also does not mean that teenagers can be held responsible for what they do. By having such knowledge at hand, then dealing with such an age group will be easier than expected. Work cited Jeffrey .A. Human Development + New Mypsychlab with Etext Access Card Package: A Cultural Approach. Pearson College Div, 2013. Print. Read More