Adolescent Development - Essay Example

? Adolescent Development Affiliation> Adolescence is a period where a teen develops mentally. This can be in a positive or negative depending on the peers who he/she is with, parenting style, their sex, race and community. Every Cloud has a silver lining and it is the duty of every parent to explore and encourage that talent in every adolescent. While a parent should respond to the child’s wishes, the teen should make sure that they do not cross the line which is set by their culture. Every adolescent has to make sure that she balances her personal and social life equally. This concept is expressed quite well in the film “Bend it like Beckham”. Bend it like Beckham is a wonderfully spun comedy drama film which addresses the dreams and skills of a young girl who dreams of making it to the big stage. Jesminder “Jess” Bhamra, a teenager aspires to play football not just in the parks but in a bigger stage like her super hero, David Beckham. Being from an orthodox Punjabi family living in London, she struggles to convince them about her dream of playing football. Her parents are very orthodox and do not like her playing football. Her parents have immigrated and live in London with their large Indian community. Recognizing her excellent skills, the Hounslow Harriers, a local team selects her in their team where she meets Juliette (Member of the team who recommends Jess for selection) and Jonathan (Coach of the team). After few weeks with the team, Jess gets close to Juliette and Jonathan. After all the struggles with her family, she follows her dreams and guides her team to victory. The movie explores the world of women football with all the kicks, bending free kick and the intensity displayed to win games. The movie also shows how relationships are built during the adolescent period. The main character, Jess is in her late adolescence. This is noted by the fact that she has started moving more with friends of her age and started taking her own decisions. She is more daring and to reach her goal of playing football, she has started taking more risks. She has started to understands the situation well and react well accordingly. Her attempt to kiss Jonathan in one of the instance gives even clearer picture that she is in her late adolescence. Her casual and fearless attitude further supports this fact. Jess’s development appears normative. This is depicted from many instances during the movie. As the movie progresses, she starts behaving more matured. Initially when she joined the team, she was upset with the fact that her skin near her thighs was burnt and she refused to wear shorts. Jonathan comes to her and convinces her so nicely that she starts training with them after that. She carries this confidence with her all through. In an instance where her friends in the park bully her about the burnt skin, she ignores that completely. This shows her maturity when it comes to handling things independently. The movie begins with Jess’s dreams of playing for Manchester united along side with David Beckham. Most of the teenagers during this period dream and dream big. Her room is decorated with Beckham’s poster all over the walls, as it is with most of the teenagers. Though she plays against her parents wish, she understands that her parents do not want her to play football because they care for her and want to protect her. During this age, teenagers sometimes lie to people if they want to achieve their goal. Such lie was committed by Jess when she hid from Jonathan about her family. All these instances and her desires to kiss Jonathan in two instances in the movie tell that she is developing normally. It is normal for anyone from the adolescent period to get lost in a crowd. But Jess handles her role and her identity perfectly. Jess is basically a Punjabi who lives in London with her family. All the religions expect the young to respect their elders. Such is the case in Jess religion as well. She respects all the elders in her society and treats them with care. There are moments when she shows excellent commitment to her family. In the movie, during her sister’s wedding the finals of the league is scheduled on the same date. This puts Jess in a dilemma as to what she should choose. She understands that her family is the most important for her and cancels her football if she is not permitted. Another classic example is when Jess confesses to everyone about her lie. She had lied to her relatives that she had not played the final which was scheduled on the same day as her sister’s wedding. Later in the movie, she confesses to everyone that she had lied and maintains her culture to apologize. She also follows her father’s orders on not to play the final when he tells us that he was a victim of racism during his college days when he used to play cricket. These instances support the stand on the fact that Jess had perfectly maintained her identity throughout the film. Her dreams never let her sleep. Her football skills were good enough to earn a place in the Hounslow Harriers team. By always giving full effort for the team, she never lets her team down. Jess perfectly understands her role in life to become a footballer and works towards it. During the adolescent period, many get lost in between identity and role. Being from an Orthodox Punjabi family, Jess never allows that to happen as she keeps her family happy by not crossing her lines and reaches her goal as well. This can be depicted from the instance when she leaves the marriage hall only with the permission of her father, giving equal importance to identity and role in her team as well. Eventually she wins the scholarship to play in the academy, giving it a perfect icing on the cake. Jess’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bhamra show very high affection and love on their daughter. Her mother cares for Jess a lot and regulates her on how she should behave within the society and with people. She puts in a lot of effort to make sure she does not fall out of line at the same time she makes sure that she is given her own independence. She wants to make sure that Jess learns how to cook food, dresses properly and be safe by not playing football. Though she dictates her not to play football, she has her own good motive behind that. Her mother tells her their society does not accept a girl playing football. In one of the scenes, Jess is carried by her male friend on his shoulders after a football match is seen by her mother. She and her father advice her on how she should behave with men in their society. Even though she expects much from Jess, she responds well to Jess’s needs and expectations. She along with Mr. Bhamra makes sure that they get everything for their children what they expect. This way of parenting is more of the Authoritative mode where a parent demands from the child and responds to the needs as well. Mr. Bhamra time and again tells Jess that they are not allowing her to play in order to protect her. He tells us that once he was a fast bowler during his college days in Africa and helped his team to win. Later when he joined the team in London, he was insulted for wearing a turban by the people. Citing this reason, Mr. Bhamra does not want the same to happen with Jess. His orders for her to not to play is depicted as the father’s concern and care for a child. This explains an Authoritative parenting style depicted where the parent explains his/ her motive behind setting limits for a child. During marriage though, Mr. Bhamra sets a perfect example for everyone where he allows Jess to attend the finals. He wants her to follow and reach her goals which he was not able to do, perfectly understanding the needs of the child and gifting it. This gives the child to respect their parents more and be within their limits when they do something. Such a parenting style is recommended for all. Adolescents are largely influenced by their peer group. Teens want to be with people of their age. More time is spent with their peers than with their parents. With peers, an adolescent learns how to behave in a social environment. This learning could be either negative or positive which is very critical to an individual’s life. Peers who do the right things are the ones who influence in a positive way. Every parent wants their children to be with a person who keeps him/her away from harmful or illegal activities. Such is the importance of peer group in an adolescent’s life that if there is a positive relation with his friends, he/she will have a healthy influence on the society in the long run. A more positive influence can be witnessed in schools and colleges where a positive influence can lead an individual to perform better in academics when he competes positively with his peers. The negative side is that the individual might end up competing in the wrong way by cheating in exams. Teens, who feel they are isolated or neglected from a group, are more likely to engage themselves in risky behaviors which are not encouraged. In such situations, peer pressure encourages them to involve in dangerous activities which they normally would not be doing. It has been observed that most of the girls who are not accepted well by their peers often enter into sexual activity. We have witnessed in this movie is that Jess has been influenced positively by her friends. They encourage her to explore all her skills of the game and improve everyday. This helps her to find the superhero, David Beckham in her by scoring the free kick in a similar manner as Beckham to help her team win the title. Community has a lot of influence the upbringing of any individual. The values, culture, traditions and practices are the main base of development for anyone at the adolescent age. Many communities where the environment is pure and free, teenagers grow up with a positive and independent frame of mind. But Community violence affects an adolescent mentally. When adolescent witnesses violence in the neighborhood, fights on the road, violence at home, physical attacks with or without weapons by people in the school or at home, their development is affected badly. Children who witness such violent acts have a higher chance of developing a view of the world that is dangerous and harmful to them. Continuous exposure to such crimes makes the child lose trust in his neighbors and the adults surrounding. Such is the defined effect of crime and violence on an adolescent. Despite the increasing awareness on sex education, we see many children being abused. Drunken fathers, strangers on the road or close friends abuse the children. Many of the cases like eve teasing in college, ragging in the hostels or bullying by friends have a drastic effect on them. Many communities have come in terms with the new generation’s thinking. Parents in these communities impart knowledge to their children on sex education, the rights and wrongs about the world. Teen parenting in these communities stands out as an example to others since they guide the child to a better development. They have a better knowledge on how to move with their peers and behave with the outside world. This also helps in avoiding teen pregnancy and encourages safe sex. There are a lot of communities which expect parents to be very strict with their children when it comes to abiding by their community laws. The effects on teenagers could be that they might end up committing the mistake for which they are expected not to. Situations where teenagers might end up having unsafe sex will end up destroying the career’s and life of them. In this case, teen parenting is the most important. All the inputs given during adolescent period directly affects the long term behavior and thinking of an individual. Sex of an adolescent plays an equally important role in the development of an adolescent to the Communities. Usually men are given the full freedom to involve in all kinds of activities. They are allowed to play all kinds of outfield games and all kinds of sports activities right from a young age. These activities make them fearless about things in life and are very independent. They do not have the fear of things and are emotionally strong. This is not the case with women. Right from a very small age, they are not allowed to participate in certain activities by their parents, fearing that they might get hurt since they are less strong physically. This mindset is developed which is carried in the long term. Low self-esteem starts developing among girls. They start to feel depressed more frequently and the emotional levels are very high. Fearing that competition with boys might spoil their relationship, most often they minimize their capabilities to perform. Many of the adolescent’s development are affected by their race. Many of the races do not allow their children to go to school and play with other children. They either do not have enough money to support that or it is their family tradition to teach their children. Not letting them mingle with other children makes a great impact on the child’s development. The child does not mingle with other people when he grows up. In some societies, girls are not allowed to be educated after some extent. They are expected to take up household work with limited exposure to the outside world. In the long term, she does not have enough knowledge on the happenings in the outer world. Boys are also treated in a similar manner where they are expected to work and earn for the family. In some races, poverty forces them to send their children to factories to work which affects children very badly. They are treated badly at the factories, which impact them in a way that they fear to do something. An adolescent’s development is greatly affected by the environment and the place where he/she is born and brought up. Parents need to make sure that the adolescent gets proper guidance. After all an adolescent’s development determines how the nation shapes up. In this movie, Jess is born and brought up with great cultural values. Her development is not much affected by her sex since she plays soccer better than guys. It is however influenced by her family. She greatly respects that and apologizes for the entire lie she had committed. Such an adolescence development is truly amazing to watch. The movie brings out great examples of parenting style and the way an adolescent follows her dreams. She respects all her family members and understands their care for her. Her breakup of friendships with her peers also brings out the emotion that goes through while expectations are crashed. It tells us how an adolescent develops. An adolescent goes through all the stages from doing everything to achieve her dreams to a matured stage where she sacrifices that dream for her family. We also get to know how a parent should be responsive to the child’s dream. Works Cited “Peer Influence and Peer Relationships” Retrieved from http://www.focusas.com/PeerInfluence.html Read More