Teen Distrust Issues - Essay Example

Respondents will answer the following items:
- I believe that relationships and life are fleeting.
- Because no one is for me, then they must be against me.
- Opportunities will present themselves in due time.
- I will succeed and reach my goals.
- I avoid people when I begin to connect with them on a personal level.
- I can only trust myself.
- I am responsible for my life.
- I am keenly aware of disappointments.
- Once I decide on a course of action, there is no stopping me.
- I am constantly disappointed and looking for something better.

Because the teen years are prone to distrust, middle-class children between the ages of thirteen and eighteen will be questioned using the items above. Instruct the participant to follow these directions: There are ten statements on your questionnaire, which are to be answered in pen. Please answer every question by circling strongly disagree (SD), disagree (D), neither agree nor disagree (N), agree (A), or strongly agree (SA). We ask that you only make one selection.

For the following assignment of points, the abbreviations SD, D, N, A, and SA will be used. For questions 1, 2, 5, 6, and 10, SD equals one point, D equals two points, N equals three points, A equals four points, and SA equals five points. For questions 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9, SD equals five points, D equals four points, N equals three points, A equals two points, and SA equals five points. If the questionnaire itself shows signs of uncertainty, then a small notation should be made. A score of forty-five to fifty implies that the person is compulsive; a score of forty to forty-five implies a severe hindrance to forming meaningful relationships; a score of thirty to forty implies a level of distrust that could be managed with psychotherapy. A score of thirty or less is within the normal range of distrust.

The participants were all middle-class females between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. One had been sexually abused as a child. Two were voluntarily sexually active at the time that the questionnaire was administered. Of the five participants, three were Caucasian, two were African American, and one was Asian American. Their family income range was between forty and fifty thousand dollars a year. None of them had ever been diagnosed with mental or mood disorders.

The average age was 16.2 years old. The overall mean Likert scale score was 37.1. The median score was 37.1. However, for the two girls aged fourteen and fifteen, the level of their distrust was 32. The standard deviation was 1.7.

It is important to remember that the Likert scale is more interpretive of the range of trust and distrust. Given such a broad scale, the careful and slow process will be essential to the cases of those participants with scores of forty or more. Furthermore, because critically analyzing and comparing is typical of distrust, the administrator must be prepared to endure any remarks made in an attempt to create a distance from the participant, such as insults, lewd behavior, violence, etc. (Sancock 2007).

The mean score of our study was higher than anticipated, but the adolescent years are typically years of upheaval. However, these results imply that other developments, as in social or psychological arenas, come to bear at an average age of sixteen. The standard deviation was startlingly small in the three females aged sixteen or seventeen. These two years in particular seem to skew the results. The results would be more reliable and valid if administered only to girls the age of sixteen or seventeen. The possible correlation between the levels of distrust and teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, criminal conviction, and truancy would be of immeasurable use to the worldwide study of personality development. Read More