Anthropology: Why the World is the Way it is

Why the World is the Way it is

            Planet earth is slowly disintegrating into a place full of violence, homelessness, war, and poverty. According to Statistic Brain there are 2.2 billion children in this world and about 1 billion of them live in poverty. According to Safe Horizon Statistics approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific. Domestic violence is the third leading cause of homelessness among families, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. There is about 1,750,000 homeless people just in the US alone. Since the end of the Second World War in 1945 there have been some 250 major wars in which over 50 million people have been killed, tens of millions made homeless, and countless millions injured and bereaved. These are just a few of the many statistics out there about the problems through-out the world. After seeing all of these problems you should wonder why and how the world has gotten into this trouble.

The Neolithic Revolution plays a huge role into where the world is at today. It started around 10,000 years ago with some profound cultural changes. People that lived during the Neolithic Revolution needed to live near the water because that was where all of the fertile grounds were to grow food and where all of the animals were. The people were finding solutions to their problems, such as drought. There was a domestication of plants and animals that caused a huge change in society. There was a bigger supply of food which provided for larger populations that lived closer together. These groups of people lead to ideas coming forth to strengthen their communities such as new uses for animals for more than just food such as for farming uses. They then could have a division of labor which lead to more elaborate governments, banking, and markets. Jared Diamond’s theory states that the reason why different societies advanced differently was because of location. The reason for that was because of the East-West axis where species, agriculture, and technology could spread easily. Draft animals in this band can spread through-out it. This east-west axis was critical to this period. Without the Neolithic Revolution, the world would not be where it is at today.

The Neolithic Revolution brings us to what the American culture is today. We have so much that our biggest concern is time. Everyone is concerned with what is going to happen tomorrow or next week rather then what is right in front of their face. I personally think that the invention of technology has triggered a lot of the problem of hurrying around. We are always looking to get the newest thing when it comes out and focused on what is coming in the future. Another big hurry is trying to find who “the one” is. Once we have found who the one is the normal thought is to be in a Romantic Love Marriage. This would consist of the mom and dad being together by choice and having children because of love resulting in a nuclear family. In my culture we get to choose who we marry instead of having somebody else choose for us. We decide who we want to love instead of having to have our love grow for someone who was placed into our lives. This individualism of choosing our own choices plays a role into the market economy. This also goes along with US democracy because what choices we make will determine what happens within the democracy and develops thoughts and ideas through individualism.

Another reason that the world is the way it is is because of structural power. Structural power is a mix between hard power and soft power. Hard power is constructing minds through political and economic forces while soft power is the power of more personal thoughts such as values and beliefs. Structural power has emerged from the 10,000 year history by combining both soft and hard power that allows us to understand how communities operate. During the Neolithic Period they developed a division of labor and found solutions to problems and then persuaded others that what they were doing worked in a positive way. Our American culture is part of this system because we have strong economic leadership and a strong military. Sometimes this leads to structural violence which is physical or psychological harm cause by impersonal, exploitative, and unjust social, political, and economics systems. The structure of America is to always make more money to provide wealth or power. This power and wealth only gets distributed to the wealthy instead of helping the poor. The structural power of America weakens the well-being of many Americans.

Everything from the Neolithic Revolution to today’s mindset of the typical day being at a set schedule leads us to how the world is today. In my own words, I think the world is a jumbled mess and we are the ones who made it this way. We can’t not put any blame on anything but the people living right now. We have two choices in life, to fix what we don’t like or to just deal with it. Instead of being caught up in the drama of the world I think we should step back and look at what the problems are throughout the world. Change starts with the little adjustments that lead to bigger improvements. Annie Leonard and Immanuel Wallerstein didn’t start out the same way of how they ended. They started with the ideas to help the world and then took action on those thoughts and ideas. Many people these days don’t believe in themselves enough to express their ideas in a way that they think will help improve the world. There are so many ways to help and it all starts with becoming educated on a topic and acting upon the thoughts that come out of learning. For me it helps to see the big picture of how little change does impact the world. After thinking about all of this, I plan on starting with the little changes such as educating myself about world problems, recycling to improve the environment, and just taking a step back to not worry about time for once. I believe that if everyone starts with the little things we can all stand together to change and make this world a better place.

Leadership Studies: Final Reflection

Throughout this past semester I have gained a lot of knowledge about what it takes to be a good leader. My description of what a leader is has also expanded. To me, leadership is taking the responsibility to step outside of your comfort zone to help someone before yourself by using your strengths. This definition has broadened since the first time I started learning about leadership. The two topics that stood out to me during class that helped me define leadership are the StrengthsQuest talents and the servant leadership. The strengths quest really opened my eyes to see what I am good at. I took the strengths quest a year ago but I never looked into and actually practiced what my strengths are. My strengths are communicator, consistency, arranger, includer, and woo. I learned how they all can work together to make me the best leader that I can be. I learned that to strengthen my woo strength I have to step outside of my comfort zone to succeed.

I learned through the servant leadership topic that to be a good leader you need to put your wants and needs second so that you can really listen to what is being said and what is needed. When you put both your strengths and the perspective of a servant leader together then you can become an excellent leader. I just recently got selected to be on the board of St. Jude’s “Up ‘til Dawn” event here on the KSU campus. I had to share what I was good at in the interview and being able to explain what type of leader I was really helped. I now am practicing my leadership skills while I am on the board.

I think having the qualities of a strong leader can improve anyone. The reason why I want to be a leader is because I have a passion for helping people. I have a very strong love for children too. Something that is close to my heart is children in need and I feel as though I have what it takes to be a helper. Being a strong leader will help in the process of successfully helping others. I am involved in the St. Jude fundraising event and I also am in the process for volunteering at the hospital and the life choice ministries pregnancy center. With all of these events comes a responsibility. That responsibility can be easier if I involve my leadership skills in it. I grew up in a strong Christian home so I have grown up with the want to help other people. Like I said earlier, servant leadership plays a huge role in this. To be able to help others I need to exercise servant leadership. I can’t look down upon those people that are in need of help, but instead put myself as one of them and use what skills and values that I have to help them in whatever they need help with. Servant leadership also requires me to put the one needing help first to successfully help them.

I see myself leading in the future with my career and as I start a family. Since I want a helping career that involves children I will practice leadership every day. I believe that every child needs a strong leader to help them develop socially, emotionally, and cognitively. The career that I want is to be a child life specialist and I can lead children every day with this career. Being a leader in this job will help myself to focus on what my goal really is in life. It will also be a humbling experience for everyone involved, myself, the person being helped, and my coworkers. If I can be a positive, servant leader to the children at my work then it can brighten their moods. If their moods are lifted then it will make my mood even better. My mood can affect those people who I work with. This all can happen just by being a leader in my career.

I think the biggest gap between where I am now and where I want to be and need to be is leadership experience that isn’t within my comfort zone. I have had experience in leading but I typically don’t go out of my way to be a leader. I want to gain leadership through stepping outside of my comfort box. An example of this is when it was time to interview I asked to be head of a committee instead of be on the executive board because that was outside of my comfort zone. From now on I will seek out lead roles that I don’t feel comfortable with. Every time that I accomplish a leadership activity that is a little bit out of my comfort zone then I can move on to a task that is a little more difficult. Being able to accomplish these tasks will help me to be able to close the gap between where I am now and where I want to be. It will also help me to become a better leader throughout my life.

 

Emotional, Cognitive, and Social Effects on Sexually Abused Children: Research

Emotional, Cognitive, and Social Effects on Sexually Abused Children

Sexual abuse is a topic that many people through-out the United States have heard about or have even had a conversation about. It is talked about so much because it is a widespread social problem that affects both genders from childhood through adulthood. More specifically, people talk about the effects that sexual abuse has on children. A common question that arises about children who are sexually abused is what type of emotional, cognitive, and social effects sexual abuse has on the brain and body. Fourty-five studies have been done that clearly demonstrate that sexually abused children have more symptoms than nonabused children, with abuse accounting for 15–45% of the variance (Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993). Children can have lasting symptoms that carry on into adulthood and may even gradually get worse as they age.

“Sexually abused children can show a variety of symptoms,” according to Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor (1993). Some of the most common broad symptoms shown by children who were sexually abused are fears, posttraumatic stress disorder, behavior problems, family dysfunction, sexualized behaviors, and poor self-esteem. Researchers did a study on the more specific symptoms of children who have been sexually abused and found that symptoms in children can show different results according to their different age groups.

“For preschoolers, the most common symptoms were anxiety, nightmares, general posttraumatic stress syndrome, internalizing, externalizing, and in-appropriate sexual behavior. For school-age children, the most common symptoms included fear, neurotic and general mental illness, aggression, nightmares, school problems, hyperactivity, and regressive behavior. For adolescents, the most common behaviors were depression; withdrawn, suicidal, or self-injurious behaviors; somatic complaints; illegal acts; running away; and substance abuse (Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993).” Some symptoms that were common through-out the age groups were aggression, nightmares, and depression. All of these symptoms can affect a child’s emotional, cognitive and social growth because, if they start out as a child with these symptoms then they can cause development to lack and may also slow development down.

During that same study done by Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor (1993) they found out the different symptoms for different ages of children. Researchers Mannarino and Cohen, (1986) that were researched in this study, found that about 36% of the tested children were asymptomatic. The first possibility according to Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor (1993) is that the studies did not include measures of all appropriate symptoms or the researchers were not using sensitive enough instruments. Another possibility is that asymptomatic children are those who have yet to develop their symptoms. This could be because the children are effective at suppressing symptoms or have not yet processed their experiences or because true traumatization occurs at subsequent developmental stages, when the children’s victim status comes to have more meaning or consequences for them (Berliner, 1991).

Children who did show asymptomatic symptoms were expected to show symptoms later on in their lives. According to another study, it proved that expectation to be correct. In this study by Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor (1993) and researched by Gomes-Schwartz, Horowitz, Cardarelli, & Sauzier (1990), the asymptomatic children were the ones most likely to worsen by the time of the 18-month follow up: 30% of them developed symptoms. Even though these children who showed asymptomatic symptoms were expected to show symptoms later on in life, not all of them do. These children might have had the least damaging abuse or have good psychological and social treatment resources according to Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor (1993).

A study was done in Korea by Choi and Oh (2013) to identify the mediating effects of emotion regulation on the association between cumulative childhood trauma and behavior problems in sexually abused children by using structural equation modeling. They collected data on 171 children ranging in ages between six to thirteen years old who referred to a public counseling center for sexual abuse. These children were defined on the basis of number of traumas and the severity and duration of traumas. In clinical groups composed of abused children, those who experienced both physical abuse and sexual abuse showed higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than those who experienced just one type of abuse, and they also tended to show higher rates of psychiatric diagnoses and comorbidity (Ackerman et al., 1998, Deblinger et al., 1989 and Fergusson et al., 2008). Choi and Oh (2013) reported that sexually abused children who had experienced multiple interpersonal traumas were significantly more likely to have multiple psychiatric diagnoses than those who had not experienced multiple interpersonal traumas, even after statistically controlling for the effects of sexual abuse characteristics and environmental and post-incident factors.

Choi and Oh (2013) collected information from Shipman, Zeman, Penza, and Champion (2000) who found that sexually abused girls showed less emotional understanding and also more unstable, negative, and deregulated emotions in comparison to nonabused peers. According to Choi and Oh (2013) sexually abused children who suffered from more serious and long-lasting trauma were found to have more serious damage to their emotion regulation ability, which was the mechanism underlying various areas of psychological maladjustment.

Another study that was done by Diehl and Prout (2002) tested on how symptoms of sexually abused children affected the child’s self-efficacy. “Beginning in middle childhood, children who are sexually abused report that they are less competent and less accepted than non-abused peers of the same socioeconomic status. The internal self, social self, and socially comparative self are more prominent during middle childhood, according to Diehl and Prout (2002).” Diehl and Prout gathered information from Harter (1999) informing that sexual abuse disrupts the development of certain cognitive components of the self, such as self-agency. A sexually abused child is more likely to compare himself less favorably with his peers and incorporate beliefs in his inferiority. When a child compares their self in a negative way, it can affect their social and emotional development. The different part of Diehl and Prout’s (2002) study shows that another way that child sexual abuse hinders the development of self-efficacy is through the production of negative self-evaluations and negative core beliefs. Not only does this just affect children but it can affect adults who were abused earlier on.

The research on the cognitions of adults who were sexually abused as children indicates that the adults more frequently generated statements of self-blame and self-denigration or lowered self-efficacy according to Diehl and Prout (2002). Mannarino, Cohen, and Berman (1994) found that sexually abused children reported heightened self-blame for negative events, reduced interpersonal trust, and a sense of being different from nonabused peers. Within the study, Diehl and Prout (2002) found that women who had used emotion-focused strategies when coping with sexual abuse reported experiencing more symptoms in adulthood. The older the woman was as a child or youth when the abuse began, the more likely she was to have used problem-solving strategies. This greatly affects their cognitive and emotional development.

A study done by Parent-Boursier and Hebert used 142 child participants who disclosed sexual abuse involving a perpetrator other than the biological father. This study was done to show the effect of the child’s perception of security in their relationship to the father and also behavior problems. “Women who experienced paternal support during childhood who were not sexually abused used less emotional coping strategies, such as avoidance, and instead relied on more active strategies linked to better psychosocial adjustment,” according to Parent-Boursier and Hebert (2010). Parent-Boursier and Hébert (2010) found, in a sample of 79 children aged six to twelve years old, that perception of paternal security (i.e. being available and providing support) was a predictor of children’s internalizing behavior problems and self-esteem, even after controlling for the influence of perception of maternal security and characteristics related to the child sexual abuse. “Less than 10 % of sexual abuse cases reported in a community sample of high school students were perpetrated by fathers; thus 90 % of victims may potentially benefit from their father’s support following disclosure of child sexual abuse, according to Parent-Boursier and Hébert (2010).”

Many people believe that child sexual abuse has an effect on women who get pregnant later on in life or have postpartum. A study was done by Wosu, Gelaye, and Willims on effects of sexual child abuse for pregnant and postpartum women. According to Wosu, Gelaye, and Willims (2014), “those who experienced adult or childhood sexual violence reported more pregnancy-related symptoms like headache, leucorrhea, heartburn, urinary incontinence, pruritus gravidarum, and edema.” Studies have also documented associations of history of sexual abuse with smoking or illicit drug use during pregnancy (Gisladottir et al. 2014), delivery by caesarian section (Nerum et al. 2013), and two- to threefold odds of preterm delivery.

This study by Wosu, Gelaye, and Willims showed that, “Women are at particularly elevated risk for posttraumatic stress disorder during their reproductive years, specifically during pregnancy and postpartum periods, with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms likely to reach their peak closer to delivery,” according to Wosu, Gelaye, and Willims (2014). Wosu, Gelaye, and Willim’s (2014) study also suggests that women with a history of child sexual abuse may re-experience flashbacks of their traumatic abuse, as well as increased anxiety and stress during labor and delivery which may prolong childbirth.

Traumatic events such as child sexual abuse is thought to have a link to why someone turns into a psychopath. A study of the correlation between child sexual abuse and psychopathy was done by Borja and Ostrosky (2013). The relationship between these two was studied in 194 male inmates and was done by assessing the frequency of abuse, age of onset, perpetrator, and the impact on the individual. According to Borja and Ostrosky (2013), “Experiencing traumatic events during critical developmental stages, intense anxiety, and chronic stress directly affects the maturation of cerebral structures, namely the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex, and can lead to hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system.” These kinds of traumatic events can include sexual abuse. “The path that turns a child into a psychopath after a traumatic event such as sexual child abuse are namely learning antisocial strategies to cope with stressful situations, hyper activating the sympathetic nervous system, or damaging brain structures implicated in emotion, inhibition, and aggression”, according to Borja and Ostrosky (2013).

All of these studies clearly show a wide variety of emotional, cognitive, and social symptoms that are the effects of child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse can damage a child and can hinder their growth as an adult. Starting out as a child with symptoms such as depression, aggression and nightmares affects them in all three development areas. As the sexually abused child grows into an adult their self-worth, self-esteem, and self-efficacy gets affected. Other situations in life are also affected such as relationships with parents, problems during pregnancy, or even at its worst, psychopathy. Many studies show that child sexual abuse has a negative effect on a person’s emotional, cognitive, and social growth and development.

References

Borja, Karina and Ostrosky, Feggy (2013). Early Traumatic Events in Psychopaths. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 58, 927-931. DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.12104

Choi, Ji Young., Oh, Kyung Ja (2013). Cumulative childhood trauma and psychological maladjustment of sexually abused children in Korea: Mediating effects of emotion regulation. Journal of Traumatic disorder, 26, 149-157. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.09.009

Diehl, Amy S., and Prout, Maurice F. (April 2002). Effects of posttraumatic stress disorder and child sexual abuse on self-efficacy development. American Journal of Orthopschiatry, 72 (2), 262-265. DOI:10.1037/0002-9432.72.2.262

Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen A., Williams, Linda M., Finkelhor, David. (January, 1993). Impact of             sexual abuse of children: A review and synthesis of recent empirical studies. Journal of Behavior Disorders & Antisocial Behavior, 113, 164-180. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.113.1.164

Parent-Boursier, Claudel and Hébert, Martine. (2006). Security in father-child relationship and behavior problems in sexually abused children. Journal of Family Violence, 21, 287-299. DOI:10.1007/s10896-006-9026-2.

Wosu, Adaeze C., Gelaye, Bizu, and Williams, Michelle A. (2014). Childhood sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder among pregnant and postpartum women: review of the literature. Journal of Women’s Mental Health of the World Psychiatric Association, 18, 61-72. DOI: 10.1007/s00737-014-0482-z

 

 

The Helping Profession

Helping others has always been something that I have been very passionate about since I was a child. My heart has always been the fullest when I am making somebody else happy. I want to enter the helping profession because I feel as if I have what it takes to successfully help someone in need. I am most comfortable and most fulfilled when I know that I am able to help someone. Something that I really enjoy in the helping profession is working with children. Right now I work at the Kansas State University Center for Child Development and it has opened my eyes to what my strengths are and even what my possibilities are within the helping profession. I enjoy having a job where I look forward going to work every day. I love it because I get to see those children’s faces light up when I get there and when they are learning something new. Every day I get to see a child take one more step developmentally and I know that I have played a part in helping them get there. Those few simple reasons are what makes me want to continue in this journey within the helping profession.

Something that stands out to me in the helping profession is getting to see positive results. I really enjoy getting to see what the outcomes are of me helping somebody. Even if the task is very small and the result comes soon after or the task is large and the results take a while, I still look forward to what will come out of the experience. I believe that it makes me a stronger person when I am helping other people because of the feeling I get when something good comes out of the time and effort I put into a task of helping. I am really involved in church and I feel as if the helping profession if where God wants me to be. I want to display the hands and feet of Jesus and I feel as though the best way for me to do that is to pursue a career in the helping profession. The helping profession is what fits my personality best and what will fulfill my life in the most meaningful way. Being able to work with others, getting to see results from my help, and following what I feel like is God’s plan for me are all my top reasons for entering the helping profession and they all make me excited for what my future holds.

I am looking into a couple of different helping professions. My choices that I have narrowed down to are a Child Life Specialist, a Doula, or a Midwife. I just recently learned about all three of these professions in the past year and found them very interesting. I found out about the midwife and doula careers in my early childhood class I took freshman year. I have always felt drawn to help in the medical field but not as a medical profession. When I heard about being a doula it really stood out to me because it is involved with the medical field but I would be working with the helping side of the process. In my class we listened to a panel of midwives and doulas and it made me want to know more about the careers. As I looked into both of these careers I definitely felt more drawn towards the doula side of the practice than being a midwife. I am still looking into being a midwife but my first choice is to be a doula. I am in the process of being able to shadow some of the doulas in Manhattan and I am really looking forward to getting that experience. I am hoping to talk to a few midwives around the area just to get a feel for what that career can offer me.

I also have been looking into the career of a Child Life Specialist. Since I have felt drawn to the medical field and love working with children I searched jobs that included both of those characteristics. Both my mom and I came across the career of a Child Life Specialist and I have since then been looking into it. I interviewed a Child Life Specialist from Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital and became even more interested in finding out more information regarding this. In April I went to a workshop at the same hospital to learn more about this career and really enjoyed the experience. At that workshop I learned what it takes to become a Child Life Specialist, what the everyday agenda would look like, and even got to tour the hospital where all of the Child Life Specialists work. I learned from this workshop that there are many different precise steps that I would need to follow to even get certified as a C.L.S. I am looking into different classes that I am required to take to get qualified for the exam and am trying to get in as many volunteer hours as I can so if I do decided that being a Child Life Specialist is right for me then I am already on the right track. I am leaning towards being a doula right now because of the location factor of all three careers. There are a lot more locations around Kansas that need doulas but only a few locations that have jobs for a Child Life Specialist. Since I feel more at home in a small town I feel as if a doula is a better fit for a career choice.

Another step that I am taking to further myself along the path to deciding a career is volunteering. I have applied to volunteer at the hospital here in Manhattan and also at the Life Choice Ministries Pregnancy Center. I am hoping that by volunteering at these two places I will gain a better understanding of what it takes to work within the helping profession. I hope to increase my knowledge within the medical field that will come in handy with all three careers that I am looking into. Not only will it strengthen my knowledge but I am gaining volunteer hours and making connections in areas of work that tie into the helping profession. I am currently involved on the executive board with an event called “Up ‘Til Dawn” for St. Jude that is here on campus. There are many volunteer opportunities that come along with the St. Jude organization and I do plan to continue to volunteer after I graduate.

If I take the route of being a doula I will need to get my doula certification. This requires me to first attend a DONA approved birth doula workshop of sixteen or more hours in length. After I finish that I am required to read at least five books from the Birth Doula required reading list and purchase a birth doula certification packet. I will then need to train to be a doula which will require me to complete an essay, develop a list of local resources, and provide doula service to a minimum of three clients. After I finish all of the requirements I will get my certification to be a Doula.

If I pursue a career as a Child Life Specialist there are a many different goals that I want to complete. I want to receive my masters in Child Life so that I am certified to take the child life certification exam right after I graduate. I would want to accomplish this within the two years after I graduate with my bachelor’s degree in Family Studies. If I decide not to follow the route of getting my masters I will apply to do a practicum and an internship in a hospital that has the Child Life program. There are a couple of different ways that the practicum can be accomplished. I am wanting to accomplish the practicum where I will be supervised by a Certified Child Life Specialist who has achieved a minimum of 2,000 hours of paid work experience as a child life specialist and is currently practicing in the field of child life. I would need to complete 480 supervised hour within this practicum before I can apply for an internship. Some of the hospitals do vary with the amount of hours that they accept so I want to get as many volunteer hours in as I can. Doing the course work, the practicum, and the internship will get me ready for the Child Life Certification Exam that will then make me a certified Child Life Specialist.

To be in the helping profession I believe that one of the most important qualities a person can have is to be able to put other people’s needs before your own, especially while in the work place. Strengths that I have that contribute to this are cooperativeness, communication, work ethic, flexibility, and responsibility. In the helping profession other people are going to rely on me to complete what I say I am going to do. To have a strength of responsibility means that I know I will get done what needs to be done for those relying on me. Responsibility will not only get me far in my career but also in my home life and school life. To be able to achieve my goals I have to practice self-care which starts in my own personal life. When I am responsible in taking care of my personal life then it shows up in my academics. When my academics are where I want them to be then I can focus on my goals for my profession. Responsibility is a strength that completes a balanced circle between my personal, academic, and professional life.

My others strengths are what contribute into the quality of putting others before myself. Being cooperative and flexible along with having good communication skills will help me achieve many of my goals because it shows other people that I am focused on more than just myself. These are great strengths to have for when plans don’t go as expected, not only in the work place but in my personal and academic life. They keep stress levels low and help when other people need help from someone with a calming and positive attitude. Having work ethic completes all of these strengths and involves using all of my strengths to be my very best and to get things accomplished in a way that I feel like I have succeeded. All of my strengths work together to make my personal, academic, and professional goals turn out the best that they can be.

 

IAT – Equality between Gay and Straight People

Equality between Gay and Straight People

            I took the Gay – Straight IAT because this has been a huge topic in America through out the past few years. I am wanting to be a Child Life Specialist or a Midwife so I am sure I will have to work with families that have gay relationships. In those careers you have to be willing to work with anybody and everybody, regardless of what your personal views are. Everybody has a different opinion on this subject because of their own personal experiences. Some are from family beliefs, religious views, or maybe even from experiencing it first hand in their own life or someone who is close to them.

My result suggested a moderate automatic preference for Straight People compared to Gay People. I am a little surprised but when I really think about it I don’t think I should be surprised. There are many factors that play into why I think the way I do. A couple of the factors are the way I was raised and my own personal beliefs that play into my results. I think I was a little surprised because I don’t like to show my disagreement about this topic to everyone but I also agree with it in a way that it is the way that I do think. With this being said, I would have to agree with my results.

            I think I reacted this way because like I said, I don’t like to show my disagreement about this topic to others around me. I think that there is so much hate for either view of this subject because each person thinks that there way is the right way. You can never please everyone so you might as well follow what you believe. Even though I think you should follow what you believe, I think there is a right and wrong way to go about it. Even though I strongly disagree with people being gay it isn’t right to be going around and stating what I think. Everyone has an opinion but people most likely aren’t going to change just because you think differently than they do. I do realize that I view this topic this way, I just think that the result surprised me a little bit.

I have several reasons for where this association comes from. I grew up in a very religious home. My family which consisted of my mom, dad, and brother, all attended church along with my grandparents. One of my uncles has been a preacher since I was born so my extended family is also religious. Growing up we were always taught that a relationship and marriage is always meant to be between a man and a woman. I don’t really remember when I was younger if I even knew what gay meant or not. I do remember my family talking about this issue and them not agreeing with it because of our religious views. I do have a family member that is lesbian and has gotten married to another woman in the last year so I do have a personal experience. My family doesn’t agree with this act but we treat her just like we would any other family member. If this issue got to an extreme, how would we repopulate? I think there are many issues regarding gay versus straight and many different reasons for my opinions, but my religion and family definitely have played a huge role in what I think.

Regardless of what I think is right, I also think that everyone should be treated equally. To be the best you can be in a career, you have to be willing to work with all types of people. If I am working with a gay couple who is using a surrogate mother to start a family I have to treat them the same way I would treat another couple. If I chose to take the route of a child life specialist and have a gay family that comes into the hospital, I need to treat them the same way as any other family that I attend to. Everyone has feelings and should be treated the same. If you get positive feedback from all types of people it will also help your helping relationship because more people are going to feel comfortable around you. You can gain a network of people by just treating people the way that you want to be treated. I think that saying is something to live by and to remember daily in anything that you do. Just because someone is different than you doesn’t mean that they should get a different treatment than you. Everyone is going to need help in certain parts of their life regardless of the way that they choose to live there life. You have to choose to decide whether you are going to put your differences away and help them or not.

I am hoping that my views on gay people do not hinder my helping relationship in my future career. I think that it will be difficult to draw the line between my own opinions and helping people that are going to be different from me. I know that I will have to work on my thoughts if I do come across working with gay people. I may want to help straight people more than gay people. I also may be more personable with straight people because I feel more comfortable with them. I will have to learn that everyone needs to be treated equally both inside and outside of the work place.

JUNO Case Study

BIOLOGICAL

            The biological domain is the development domain that includes bodily changes, maturation, and growth. The biological domain includes the prefrontal cortex, which is discussed below, and puberty in adolescents. Puberty changes many different parts of the adolescent body. Puberty is the period of maturation during which the sexual organs mature. The endocrine system is a chemical communication network that sends messages throughout the body via the bloodstream during puberty. All of this happens in the biological domain. The biological domain expresses that development is holistic.

During the biological domain neurons in the brain grow in increasingly dense connections, become coated with layers of myelin, and enabling faster and more efficient message transmission. Experiences help to define the brain’s responses to stimulation. As the prefrontal cortex develops the maturity develops, depending on the other two domains of development. During this adolescent period the brain development includes dopamine sensitivity and brain lateralization which are both discussed below.

We are born with 90% our brain, assuming that we had an excellent environment to grow. Every single minute starting from the prenatal period 250,000 of brain neurons are developed. When that HPG feedback loop is switched on, the adolescent brain has to reverse its function. During development in the prefrontal cortex there is lots of activity going on that can cause different reactions emotionally and physically. The basic cell of the nervous system is the neuron.

 

The Prefrontal Cortex

 

            A few of the components that a neuron consists of are dendrites, the cell body, myelin sheath, synapses, and axons. Information goes into the dendrite and then gets processed in the cell body. The dendrites are a source of communication between one cell to another. The axons also are a form of communication but carry away information for other neurons through neurotransmitters through small gaps called synapses. Once an adolescent reaches adulthood a neuron usually has around a minimum of five thousand connections to other neurons or other parts of the body. Since the body has more than they need it goes through a process called synaptic pruning. The body also forms synapses throughout our life based on our changing experiences meaning that billions more are created than needed. Synaptic pruning is when unused neurons are eliminated. Neurons that do not become interconnected with other neurons become unnecessary and eventually die out, increasing the efficiency of the nervous system. Even though a lot of neurons are getting cut back during pruning, there are still lots of sophisticated neurons that now have more room to grow. This is important because it determines which ones stay and which ones go.

From infancy on, neurons continue to increase. Not only do the dendrite grow, but the axons of neurons become coated with myelin. Myelin is a fatty substance that provides protection and also speeds the transmission of nerve impulses. The brain produces an oversupply of gray matter during early adolescence, which is later pruned back at the rate to 1-2% per year. Myelination happens, which is the process in which nerve cells are insulated by a covering of fat cells that increases and continues to make the transmission of neural messages better. As neurons grow the reposition themselves becoming arranged by function. Some most into the cerebral cortex and some move to subcortical levels. The subcortical levels regulate breath and heart rate. The cells in the cerebral cortex are responsible for higher-order processes such as thinking and reasoning. This is important because this develops more during this time by becoming more interconnected. All of this development leads up to the prefrontal cortex.

There are a number of examples from Juno that illustrate that her prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed.

Brain Lateralization

When looking at all parts of adolescent development it shows that the brain is not developed fully which means that an adolescent is not capable of making thoughtful decisions. The two halves of the brain illustrate significance differentiation and specialization. Brain lateralization is the process in which certain functions are located more in one hemisphere than the other, is pronounced during adolescence. Brain lateralization is pronounced during adolescence. Each half develops different tasks for the body so it is important for the brain to develop correctly during adolescence. The left hemisphere is responsible for tasks necessary for verbal competence. This includes speaking, reading, thinking, reasoning, and language. The right hemisphere is responsible for nonverbal areas. This includes comprehension of spatial relationships, recognition or patterns and drawings, music, and emotional expression. In both halves the information is processed differently. The left hemisphere considers information sequentially, one piece of data at a time. The right half considers information in a global way, reflecting on it as a whole. Culture can also have effects on brain lateralization. Native speakers of Japanese process information related to vowel sounds primarily in the left hemisphere of the brain. In comparison, North and South Americans and Europeans process vowel sounds primarily in the brains right hemisphere. The HPG axis and the GnRH that go along with puberty all affect how the body and brain is going to develop. Adolescents are not capable of thinking at the same level as an adult.

Dopamine Effects

            The PFC isn’t even fully developed until the early 20s assuming everything else has developed correctly. The PFC is important because it is known as the judgement center since it allows you to make complex judgements in a uniquely human way. PFC is the executive decision maker and is responsible for impulsive control and coping mechanisms. During adolescence the prefrontal cortex is biologically immature making them have the inability to inhibit impulses. Brain immaturity leads to some risk and impulsive behaviors, especially if the adolescent has been using substances or is currently using substances.

Adolescent brain development also produces changes in regions involving dopamine sensitivity and production. As a result of changes in these areas, adolescents may become less susceptible to the effects of alcohol, meaning that they can have a greater number of drinks before they experience the reinforcing qualities of intoxication. This also means that an adolescent could consume more alcohol than their older peers. On top of the alcohol, alterations in dopamine sensitivity may make adolescents more sensitive to stress causing them to consume more alcohol.

Examples from Juno that Illustrate the Prefrontal Cortex, Brain lateralization, and Dopamine Effects     Juno is still stuck in the typical adolescent mindset. She says that she is in the freak category and her best friend is the cheerleader type. Juno says that all guys want the cheerleader type but that they still seem to find Juno more attractive even if they choose to date the cheerleader type. In Juno’s mind this still all makes sense because she isn’t fully developed. Juno finds lots of things during her pregnancy comical. This shows that she still thinks that nothing can happen to her, “teen pregnancy can’t happen to me”. She jokes about the baby having fingernails inside of her. Juno’s best friend also jokes about the baby having fingernails when it comes out and scratching her insides during delivery. They find these situations to be jokes. Juno also makes light on her pregnancy situation through-out the whole movie. She jokes about drinking booze during the pregnancy so the sex of the baby might not even be normal. While she is making light of her pregnancy situation she is still stressed over typical high school drama. She gets really upset with Bleeker taking somebody else to prom. An adult with their prefrontal cortex fully developed would not joke about the pregnancy in negative light and wouldn’t be as concerned about the prom. The fingernails also come into play when she is deciding on abortion. Su-Chin tells her that the unborn child has fingernails and so Juno focuses on people using their fingernails in the waiting room. This sort of humanizes the baby for her and makes her not want the abortion. An adult that is having to go through these decisions would take much more information into account before going into get an abortion. The fact that Juno didn’t get an abortion because of the fingernails makes her seem more immature in her thinking and her logic. Juno and Leah looked in the penny saver ads for adoption parents. This shows that her prefrontal cortex isn’t developed because she couldn’t think through why this wouldn’t be a good idea. When she does meet the adoption parents the mom asks, “How far along are you?” Juno replies with “Junior” because she still isn’t in the mindset of the pregnancy being a reality. When Juno and Bleeker have sex, the scene shows her clothes and underwear hitting the floor like in a mature sex scene of another movie. When it shows Juno’s underwear we see that they are cherry printed briefs. This shows that she is still stuck in the adolescent phase where she isn’t really trying to impress the sexual partner with what she is wearing to turn him on. Juno tries to show Paulie a grand romantic gesture but does it in a way that shows she is still an adolescent. Juno fills his mailbox at his parent’s house with orang tic-tacs which are his favorite. We also get a glance into both Juno and Leah’s bedrooms. Their walls in their rooms are covered with their favorite poster. Juno also use a hamburger phone that she uses to call the women’s center. When she is on the phone she uses words such as “guestimation” and gets uncomfortable when the lady asks her if she is sexually active. If she was developmentally ready to have sex she would be comfortable talking this way. When she went in to the abortion clinic the receptionist ask her if she wanted blueberry condoms. Juno was grossed out by these. Juno even states, “I am out dealing with things way beyond my maturity level.” Juno knows that she isn’t mature enough to be dealing with a pregnancy at her age. All of these show that Juno’s prefrontal cortex isn’t all of the way developed.

 

COGNITIVE DOMAIN

Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. Cognition is the way that we understand the world. A fifteen year old is going to think differently than a twenty year old because of where they are at developmentally. This is important to understand because each age group masters a level of complexity in the way the brain is developed and the way that they are able to think.

The way we understand the world is through our schemes. Schemes are organized mental patterns or categories that represent behaviors and actions. Schemes grow by assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the way we understand a new experience in terms of our current cognitive development and way of thinking. Accommodation is the change in existing ways of thinking in response to encounter with new stimuli or event. Adolescents start to form an identity which is discussed below. How we understand the world and how our scripts are written helps develop our identity.

The cognitive domain includes Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. The formal operational stage is the main focus in the cognitive domain, which is discussed below. Adolescents gain logical and abstract thinking instead of being stuck in concrete thinking like they were as a child. Adolescents start to think in idealistic terms. Idealism is the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically.

 

Formal Operational Thought

 

According to Piaget stages of Cognitive Development this stage is in the formal operational stage. This is the stage where they develop logical and abstract thinking instead of being limited to concrete thinking. Adolescents in this stage have been developing this abstract thinking but it is still very flawed until they get older. Being about to fully think in abstract concepts doesn’t just come suddenly. It unfolds as there are biological changes and they have different environment experiences. Environment can persuade their abstract thinking which is important to know if you are needing to know why and how and adolescent is thinking. Adolescents gain systematic problem solving during this stage. Systematic problem solving is important because they gain the ability to search methodically for answer to a problem. This means that they are more organized in their problem-solving by trying one solution at a time rather than many at once. In this formal operational stage adolescents use hypotheticodeductive reasoning. This means that they start with a general theory about what produces a particular outcome and then deduce explanations for specific situations in which they see that particular outcome. They have to ability to derive conclusions from hypothetical situations or premises. Adolescents start to think in idealistic terms. Idealism is the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically. They develop adolescent egocentrism where they believe that their thoughts, beliefs, and feelings are unique. This is important because they are starting to form their own identity.

During this formal operational stage adolescents are also able to have propositional thoughts. Propositional thought is reasoning that uses abstract logic in the absence of concert examples. Propositional thinking allows adolescents to understand that if certain premises are true, then a conclusion must also be true. There are also consequences of being in this stage. Formal thinking leads to change in everyday behavior such as being more argumentative and being impatient with imperfections of others and the world.

The Identity

Identity achievement is one of the most important tasks of life. Since Erikson only focused on males, James Marcia updated his approach to identity development. He proposed four categories of adolescent identity. The four are identity achievement, identity foreclosure, moratorium, and identity diffusion. Identity achievement is when they have successfully explored and thought through who they are and what they want to do. Following this stage is Identity foreclosure. Identity foreclosure is when an adolescent has committed to an identity but didn’t have to experience a period of crisis in which they explored alternatives. Moratorium are when adolescents have explored various alternatives to some degree, but have not yet committed themselves. During this stage they tend to show relatively high anxiety and experience psychological conflict, but are also lively and appealing, seeking intimacy with others.

The fourth category is identity diffusion. Adolescents in the identity diffusion category neither explore nor commit to a consideration of various alternatives and are usually socially withdrawn. Adolescents can move around between the categories. Adolescents have to individuate, form an identity, separate from family of origin, and try on different roles. Everything that you think, the decisions your make, your behavior and actions come from the self. The self is the core of identity. Our peers, our environment, and the way we identify our self writes a script for our identity.

 

Examples of Formal Operational Thought and the Identity   Juno demonstrates many idealist thoughts through-out the movie. When she is looking for adoptive parents she has this idealistic view of a perfect family. She sees the picture of the family in the paper and thinks that it fits her view of perfect. When she meets the adoptive family, Mark and Vanessa, she thinks that they have a perfect, orderly house. This is constructing her idealism and personal fable. When she notices the guitar in the house she is surprised to see a room that is less orderly, but is filled with stuff that she loves. Mark tells Juno that Vanessa gave him his own room for just his stuff. Juno seems to have a connection with Mark, as if it was a connection between a dad and a daughter. I think all of this is what she would want, and is thinking would be perfect for her baby. We see that Juno is heartbroken when Mark says he wants to split up with Vanessa because it is tearing her idealistic thoughts apart. Even though her parents are split apart she is looking for a family that is perfect in her mind. Her identity is being formed through-out the pregnancy. When she tells her parents they put her down which sets her back. During the movie it shows her going against the crowd in the hallway at school. This shows that her identity is different than those of her classmates. She now also has to rely on her parents which is going to affect her development with the family of origin.

 

 

PSYCHOSOCIAL

            The psychosocial developmental domain focuses on a lot of emotional tasks. In this domain personality traits, such as introversion and extroversion develop. Emotional responses changes from basic reactions to more complex responses. More independent behaviors increase including developing the self and morality. The self and morality are both discussed below. Adolescents have many different types of selves. Each “self” shapes how they view themselves in the here and now and also for the future.

            Adolescents start to determine who they are and what they are like. They reach out to their peers, to the world around them, and their environment to grasp onto what they determine is their self. Adolescents go through an identity crisis where they are confused about all of the roles and are confused about their lack of identity.

 

The Self

They have the non-academic self and the academic self and the emotional and physical self. The non-academic self relates to their physical appearance and their relationship with their peers and their families. The emotional self is their emotional state and the physical self is their physical abilities. Each “self” shapes how they view themselves in the here and now and also for the future. The way we understand the world is through our schemes. Schemes are organized mental patterns or categories that represent behaviors and actions. Schemes grow by assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the way we understand a new experience in terms of our current cognitive development and way of thinking. Accommodation is the change in existing ways of thinking in response to encounter with new stimuli or event.

Development of morality develops throughout the lifespan. They are developing self-concept and identity which helps to determine how they think about themselves. Identifying now only shapes the way adolescents view themselves in the here and now, but it also shapes the way they view themselves in their future lives. Possible selves are those aspects of the self that related to the future. They reflect adolescents’ dreams, concerns, and views of what could and might happen to them. Possible selves can both be positive and negative. These play into an adolescent’s self-esteem, which is an affective component of the self. Adolescents develop social comparison when developing their self. Social comparison is the desire to evaluate one’s own behavior, abilities, expertise, and opinions by comparing them to those others.

David Elkind referred to hypothetico-deductive reasoning as adolescent egocentrism. Adolescents believe that their thoughts, beliefs, and feelings are unique. During the adolescent egocentrism stage they develop personal fables. Personal fables are beliefs that events in their life are controlled by a mentally constructed autobiography. This also includes having an imaginary audience. An imaginary audience is an internalized set of behavioral standards or expectations that are derived from their peer group. This means that adolescents will imagine or act out in their minds how people are going to respond to their behavior. Erikson provided a psychodynamic view in his theory of psychosocial development. Erikson stated that in adolescence they develop an awareness of uniqueness of self and knowledge of role to be followed. He also said that adolescents have the inability to identify appropriate roles in life. Adolescence often get involved in “trying on” different roles or choice to see if they fit an adolescent capabilities and views about themselves. Erikson called this stage the identity vs. role confusion stage. According to Erikson, adolescents who stumble in their efforts to find a suitable identity may go off course in several ways. They may adopt socially unacceptable roles as a way of expressing what they do not want to be, or they may have difficulty forming and maintaining long lasting close personal relationships.

During this identity vs. role confusion stage adolescents get defined by their peers. Identity achievement is one of the most important tasks of life. Since Erikson only focused on males, James Marcia updated his approach to identity development. He proposed four categories of adolescent identity. The four are identity achievement, identity foreclosure, moratorium, and identity diffusion. Identity achievement is when they have successfully explored and thought through who they are and what they want to do. Following this stage is Identity foreclosure. Identity foreclosure is when an adolescent has committed to an identity but didn’t have to experience a period of crisis in which they explored alternatives. Moratorium are when adolescents have explored various alternatives to some degree, but have not yet committed themselves. During this stage they tend to show relatively high anxiety and experience psychological conflict, but are also lively and appealing, seeking intimacy with others. The fourth category is identity diffusion. Adolescents in the identity diffusion category neither explore nor commit to a consideration of various alternatives and are usually socially withdrawn. Adolescents can move around between the categories. Adolescents have to individuate, form an identity, separate from family of origin, and try on different roles. Everything that you think, the decisions your make, your behavior and actions come from the self. The self is the core of identity.

Morality

Morality is a very important aspect in adolescence because you can’t reach higher stages until you have advances in cognition. Moral Development is one’s sense of justice and of what is right and wrong, and our behavior related to moral issues. Children think in concrete unvarying absolutes. An example of this is when a child thinks that something is wrong, it is always going to be wrong to them no matter the circumstances. When we reach formal operations we are able to comprehend abstract, formal principles of morality. Lawrence Kohlberg is a developmental psychologist that developed moral reasoning’s. Kohlberg believes that people pass through a series of stages as their sense of justice evolved and in the kind of reasoning they use to make moral judgments. Kohlberg’s sequence of moral reasoning has three levels and six stages that adolescents move though in a fixed order.

The first level is the pre-conventional morality level. In the level there is stage one and two and it consists of preschool and grade school aged children. In these stages there are concrete interests in terms of rewards and punishments. Children behave in these stages because they don’t want the consequences. In the second level called the conventional morality level there is stage three and four. This is where adolescents approach morality as a member of society. They want to please others by acting in ways that the society thinks is acceptable. The third level has stages five and six and is called the post-conventional morality stage. In this stage people use moral principles that are seen as broader than those of any particular society. A consequence of morality it that morality differs from culture to culture.

Carol Gilligan Theory

Carol Gilligan also came up with a moral development theory. Her theory was directed towards women and had three different stages. Stage one was orientation toward individual survival. During this stage a person if more focused on what is best for the self. There is a gradual transition during this stage from selfishness to responsibility. The second stage is goodness as self-sacrifice. During this stage a woman might feel that she must sacrifice her own wishes and dreams to what other people want her to do. There is a gradual transition from “goodness” to “truth” which they are focused on both the self and others. The third and last stage is morality of nonviolence. During this stage there is a moral equivalence stablished between the self and others. Hurting anyone is seen as immoral in this stage. This stage is seen as the most sophisticated form of reasoning. Another look at morality is the social learning perspective.

This if focused more on how the environment in which adolescents operate produces moral behavior. Social learning approaches build on behavioral approaches. It acknowledges that some instances of adolescents’ prosocial behavior stem from situations in which they have directly received positive reinforcement for acting in morally appropriate ways. Morality is a very important concept in adolescence because it forms how and what you think of the world. It forms down to the basic of what you think is right and wrong. It can play into choices that we see as personal choices such as hooking up, premarital sex, alcohol use, and drug use. It also plays into the academic world of dishonesty in the classroom.

Examples of Morality and the Self     Juno shows lots of examples of personal fables. Juno comes up with these plans in her head for her baby’s future. She finds the perfect adoptive parents, with the perfect house, and with the best relationship. She has lots of common interests with Mark, the adoptive dad. When Mark and Vanessa have an argument about leaving each other, Juno leaves her personal fable and scripts about them being the perfect family and couple. Her idealism is that two people fall in love and stay happy forever. She acts this idealism out with Bleeker when Juno and Bleeker state their love for each other. Juno has left him out of the pregnancy the whole time and it hadn’t been real for him until this moment. When Juno goes into the abortion clinic Su-Chin tells her that her baby has fingernails. She leaves the clinic after watching everybody using their fingernails. I think that this is a morality issue for Juno. She doesn’t want to abort her baby because she now sees it as being a real human being. During the Moratorium stage adolescents search for intimacy. I think Juno could be fit into this category when her and Mark are connecting. She almost treats him like a dad or a best friend. Her and Mark connect with their hobbies such as their CD interests and playing the guitar. Juno doesn’t quite understand though why it might be morally wrong for them two to hang out alone. This is an example of her prefrontal cortex not being fully developed going along with her morality not being developed. To her she is just connecting with him, but to someone else they could see it as potentially damaging.

Brain Development and Morality: Case Study 3

Victor is in the process of developing his morality and his self. Development of morality develops throughout the lifespan. Morality is a very important aspect in adolescence because you can’t reach higher stages until you have advances in cognition. They are developing self-concept and identity which helps to determine how they think about themselves. Identity now only shapes the way adolescents view themselves in the here and now, but it also shapes the way they view themselves in their future lives. Adolescents develop social comparison. Social comparison is the desire to evaluate one’s own behavior, abilities, expertise, and opinions by comparing them to those others. This is important to realize because Victor thinks that it would be wrong for someone to steal, rob, or take stop signs, but in his mind it wasn’t wrong to carry a knife or to stab someone because he was protecting himself.

Erikson provided a psychodynamic view in his theory of psychosocial development. Erikson stated that in adolescence they develop an awareness of uniqueness of self and knowledge of role to be follow. He also said that adolescents have the inability to identify appropriate roles in life. Adolescence often get involved in “trying on” different roles or choice to see if they fit an adolescent capabilities and views about themselves. Erikson called this stage the identity vs. role confusion stage. According to Erikson, adolescents who stumble in their efforts to find a suitable identity may go off course in several ways. They may adopt socially unacceptable roles as a way of expressing what they do not want to be, or they may have difficulty forming and maintaining long lasting close personal relationships. During this identity vs. role confusion stage adolescents get defined by their peers. Identity achievement is one of the most important tasks of life. Since Victor is a male, Erikson’s theory explains his identity development well.

Since Erikson only focused on males, James Marcia updated his approach to identity development. He proposed four categories of adolescent identity. The four are identity achievement, identity foreclosure, moratorium, and identity diffusion. Identity achievement is when they have successfully explored and thought through who they are and what they want to do. Following this stage is Identity foreclosure. Identity foreclosure is when an adolescent has committed to an identity but didn’t have to experience a period of crisis in which they explored alternatives. Moratorium are when adolescents have explored various alternatives to some degree, but have not yet committed themselves. During this stage they tend to show relatively high anxiety and experience psychological conflict, but are also lively and appealing, seeking intimacy with others. The fourth category is identity diffusion. Adolescents in the identity diffusion category neither explore nor commit to a consideration of various alternatives and are usually socially withdrawn. Adolescents can move around between the categories. Adolescents have to individuate, form an identity, separate from family of origin, and try on different roles. Everything that you think, the decisions your make, your behavior and actions come from the self. The self is the core of identity.

The main issue with Victor in this incident is moral development. Moral Development is one’s sense of justice and of what is right and wrong, and our behavior related to moral issues. Children think in concrete unvarying absolutes. When we reach formal operations we are able to comprehend abstract, formal principles of morality. Victor isn’t at the age to realize that stabbing someone is just as morally wrong as robbing or stealing from someone. Lawrence Kohlberg is a developmental psychologist that developed moral reasoning’s. Kohlberg believes that people pass through a series of stages as their sense of justice evolved and in the kind of reasoning they use to make moral judgments. This would explain why Victor doesn’t understand they differences between what certain acts are right and wrong and adults do.

Kohlberg’s sequence of moral reasoning has three levels and six stages. The first level is the preconventional morality level. In the level there is stage one and two and it consists of preschool and grade school aged children. In these stages there are concrete interests in terms of rewards and punishments. Children behave in these stages because they don’t want the consequences. In the second level called the conventional morality level there is stage three and four. This is where adolescents approach morality as a member of society. They want to please others by acting in ways that the society thinks is acceptable. The third level has stages five and six and is called the postconventional morality stage. In this stage people use moral principles that are seen as broader than those of any particular society.

Victor didn’t see him stabbing as being anything wrong. In his mind he was protecting himself and the knife was there to protect him and not to cause harm to somebody else. If Victor was an adult they would have the moral development to know that stabbing somebody was morally wrong even if they were trying to protect themselves. Victor knew that stealing and hurting somebody was wrong but he couldn’t process that he was hurting somebody while he was protecting himself because his main purpose was to protect himself. Victor would have different views of even carrying a knife if his moral development was the same as an adults. I think that Victor is stage three of Kohlberg’s sequence of moral reasoning. He wants to respect others and do what he think is right. Victor didn’t think he was doing anything wrong and still had the same moral thoughts of the society. This is very important to understand because he can’t think the same was an adult can in the ways of moral development. Victor was in the middle of developing his self and his moral development when this incident occurred.

Brain Development: Case Study 2

To start from the beginning of this case we have to first look at the stage that this adolescent’s brain is in. We have to look at the prefrontal cortex because this shows how the adolescent thinks. The PFC isn’t even fully developed until the early 20s assuming everything else has developed correctly. The PFC is important because it is known as the judgement center since it allows you to make complex judgements in a uniquely human way. The PFC is the executive decision maker and is responsible for impulsive control and coping mechanisms. Since the adolescent was only fifteen years old when he committed a robbery, his brain wasn’t fully equipped to full think through that decision. This is important to note because if the adolescent had been an adult then the prefrontal cortex would be developed and they would be able to develop decisions and thoughts that were more appropriate for the situation.

The main part of determining what was going on in this adolescent’s head and why they took part in these actions is their cognitive development. This is important because cognition is the way that we understand the world. A fifteen year old is going to think differently than a twenty year old. This is important to understand because each age group masters a level of complexity in the way the brain is developed and the way that they are able to think. The way we understand the world is through our schemes. Schemes are organized mental patterns or categories that represent behaviors and actions. Schemes grow by assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the way we understand a new experience in terms of our current cognitive development and way of thinking. This can play a role into the adolescent seeing violence in their neighborhood. Accommodation is the change in existing ways of thinking in response to encounter with new stimuli or event.

According to Piaget stages of Cognitive Development this adolescent is in the formal operational stage. This is the stage where they develop logical and abstract thinking. This fifteen year old adolescent has been developing this abstract thinking but it is still very flawed. Environment can persuade their abstract thinking which is important to know in this situation. If the adolescent is around violent activity in their neighborhood then the way that they see right and wrong is going to be different than an adolescent who isn’t around violence. They gain systematic problem solving during this stage. Systematic problem solving is important because they gain the ability to search methodically for answer to a problem. In this formal operational stage adolescents use hypotheticodeductive reasoning. This means that they start with a general theory about what produces a particular outcome and then deduce explanations for specific situations in which they see that particular outcome. Early onset behaviors are dangerous, and in this case violence would fall under this category. During this formal operational stage adolescents are also able to have propositional thoughts. Propositional thought is reasoning that uses abstract logic in the absence of concert examples. Knowing about how adolescents think is very important to track what exactly their through processes are capable of. This adolescent has a scheme about the violence in his neighborhood and his thought process is to save his family so to do that he has to steal money.

Information processing is also an important aspect of an adolescent’s development. Information processing is the method by which information is encoded, stored, and received. The foundations of information processing start with encoding. Encoding is the process by which information is initially recorded in a form usable to memory. Adolescents are exposed to large amounts of information daily, which means that they choose which information to remember and which they are going to forget. The information that the adolescent chooses to listen to is stored into the memory. The information then is in the retrieval stage, where the material is located and then brought into awareness and used. Information processing is important to look into because we don’t know what the adolescent has stored into their memory or not.

Adolescent egocentrism is another important aspect. This is where adolescents believe that their thoughts, beliefs, and feelings are unique. Adolescents think that what they are currently going through or have been through already can’t be the same experience as somebody else. This is important to note because in this situation the adolescent might not have felt like asking for help would benefit them since they think nobody else has felt the way that they are feeling. They have these personal fables and they are in the phase where they do something and then think about what they did after the event has happened. In the adolescents mind robbing the cab driver might have been the best decision right then and there but the consequences came afterwards. During this egocentrism stage adolescents tend to base decision on unrealistic ideas about other’s potential reactions. This adolescent based their decision on committing a robbery by playing this video in their head that the violence was going to happen to him and his family so he needed to do something about a situation that wasn’t even currently happening.This adolescents thought process would have been different if they were an adult because their prefrontal cortex would be better developed to make better decisions. Their cognitive development would be more complex because their abstract thoughts would not be as flawed.

Brain Development Case Study

A sixteen year old adolescent should not be charged as an adult for murder simply from their brain development. Before the adolescent does anything, their brain needs to be examined for what has developed and what hasn’t. When the adolescent body is ready to being puberty it flips a switch to start the HGP feedback look. If the HPG does not switch on then psychosocial and cognitive do not change.

Brain development starts with the HGP feedback loop being switched on for puberty, which stands for hypothalamus, pituitary, and gonads. Lots of activity is happening in the body during this transition. The hypothalamus is for homeostasis and it contains the gonadostat which is like a thermostat. It also monitors and releases sex hormones and is responsible for producing the gonadotropin-releasing hormone. GnRH is released in a pulse-like fashion through-out the body. For boys it is a constant pulse of GnRH but for girls it depends on where the menstrual cycle is at for it to be released. The pituitary gland is the master gland. At the pituitary the GnRH stimulates the production and the secretion of gonadotropins, which acts as the thermostat that is sensitive to the amount of hormones the body has. The pituitary produces follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. The FSH stimulates sperm production in the males and ovaries for females. The LH regulates the production of testosterone in males and estrogen and eggs in the female. All of this has to happen in the HGP feedback loop to smoothly start the process.

The timing of the HGP feedback loop and puberty affects every single other development area of the adolescent. This is important because it can change their mind and body completely different than the adolescent who hit puberty at a later time. Looking into the time of puberty of this adolescent is crucial to determine what is going on in the brain. If an adolescent goes through puberty at an earlier time then it can cause more stress which produces cortisol, a hormone that suppresses reproduction. It also can affect how the adolescent reacts with peers. A girl can become more competitive with other girls which can cause then to become meaner. A boy who hits puberty earlier than normal can become more athletic than his fellow classmates. When you have adolescents going through puberty earlier you have more emotions that run through-out the body. Starting puberty early can increase risk of social intelligence problems which can affect the age at which we are intellectually, emotionally, mentally, and educationally equipped to handle adulthood. If this child falls under this category it shows that they aren’t mature enough to even process this task in their brain. It affects their behavior differently so looking into the puberty aspect can gain some insight as to why they murdered someone at such a young age.

Adolescent brain development is the next step to look into. We are born with 90% our brain, assuming that we had an excellent environment to grow. Every single minute starting from the prenatal period 250,000 of brain neurons are developed. When that HPG feedback loop is switched on, the adolescent brain has to reverse its function. During brain development there is also lots of activity going on that can cause different reactions emotionally and physically. The basic cell of the nervous system is the neuron. A few of the components that a neuron consists of are dendrites, the cell body, myelin sheath, synapses, and axons. Information goes into the dendrite and then gets processed in the cell body. The dendrites are a source of communication between one cell to another. The axons also are a form of communication but carry away information for other neurons through neurotransmitters through small gaps called synapses. Once an adolescent reaches adulthood a neuron usually has around a minimum of five thousand connections to other neurons or other parts of the body. Since the body has more than they need it goes through a process called synaptic pruning. Synaptic pruning is when unused neurons are eliminated. Even though a lot of neurons are getting cut back during pruning, there are still lots of sophisticated neurons that now have more room to grow. This is important because it determines which ones stay and which ones go.

All of this development leads up to the prefrontal cortex. The PFC isn’t even fully developed until the early 20s assuming everything else has developed correctly. The PFC is important because it is known as the judgement center since it allows you to make complex judgements in a uniquely human way. Telling somebody that this adolescent didn’t know what they were doing isn’t just an excuse. The PFC is the executive decision maker and is responsible for impulsive control and coping mechanisms. If this adolescent was at an age where the brain was fully developed then they would be able to evaluate their decision but since the adolescent was only 16 then they could have acted out of anger or rage and committed a murder.

There also can be other factors in the adolescent’s life that can affect decision making. Since brain development in adolescents produces changes in regions involving dopamine sensitivity and production they can become less sensitive to the effects of alcohol. When this happens the adolescent can drink more alcohol causing them to make more poor decisions. Brain immaturity leads to some risk and impulsive behaviors, especially if the adolescent has been using substances or is currently using substances. When looking at all parts of adolescent development it shows that the brain is not developed fully which means that an adolescent is not capable of making thoughtful decisions. The HPG axis and the GnRH that go along with puberty all affect how the body and brain is going to develop. Adolescents are not capable of thinking at the same level as an adult.

 

 

Treatment for Adolescent Substance Use: Reaction Paper

Treatment for Adolescent Substance Use: Reaction

            Treatment is something that every adolescent substance user has to face if they want to accomplish getting better or to get over their substance use. The trick with treatment is finding which one fits the user the best way. Everybody is unique and reacts to treatment differently which is why there are many different treatments available. It can also make it difficult to pin point which one will work the best for that specific user. Some treatments have similarities and some are polar opposites. It really depends on the adolescent and what they have been through and are still going through to determine the correct treatment. Involving family is an aspect that you can find in many of adolescent substance use treatments.

According to Treating Families of Adolescent Drug Abusers (1980) “For the most part, parents and family members of adolescent abusers are less resistant to entering family treatment than are those of adult addicts.” I do believe that involving family in an adolescent’s life is a positive experience especially under the circumstances of substance abuse. This shows the child that they are going to have a support system for them no matter what. Some adolescents might not want help because they feel as if their family is mad at them or disapproves of them. If you get them involved and let the child know that they are going to be there for support then they can move ahead to get help.

While I was reading through the different family treatments one really stuck out to me. I think that the multidimensional family therapy would have the most impact on an adolescent substance user. Of course taking into account what type of family they have and how many members of family are still present in their life. This treatment really focuses on three aspects to get results. According to the Multidimensional family thereapy for adolescent drug abuse: Results of a randomized clinical trial (2001) “MDFT is a family-based, developmental-ecological, multiple systems approach. This treatment addresses the individual characteristics of the adolescent, the parent(s), and other relevant family members; as well as the interactional patterns that link to the development and continuation of drug use and related problem behaviors.” I am a firm believer that how a parent raises their child has an effect on the child for the rest of their life. This treatment really focuses on all the main points that I think are factors for substance use.

Multidimensional family thereapy has been tested with different versions and with different outcomes studies according to the Multidimensional family thereapy for adolescent drug abuse: Results of a randomized clinical trial (2001). “Treatment development goals, adolescent sample characteristics, and a variety of scientific questions are among the factors that have led to the development of different versions and tests of multidimensional family therapy” according to Multidimensional family thereapy for adolescent drug abuse: Results of a randomized clinical trial (2001). This treatment is also influenced by the family systems theory.

Multidimensional family therapy would be the most effective in my eyes because of everything that it focuses on. First it focuses on the characteristics of the adolescent. To be able to help someone you have to really get to know them first. You have to know their perspective, their feelings, and their thoughts about the whole situation. Since adolescents are going through so many changes in their life there can be much more going on in their head than what is showing on the surface. Really getting to know the adolescent in the first step. The second part of this treatment is getting to know the parents. Like I said before, I believe that parental roles play a huge part in an adolescent’s life. You have to get to know how the parent acts with the child including their parenting styles. I think that situations within the family can also cause conflict so finding out anything that is different within the family or with the parents can help in the process. The last factor that it covers is looking for extra family members that could be drug abusers. I think this should include looking into family history to see if it involved substance use. Looking for extra pieces that are in the adolescent’s life are key to finish the process. This treatment really is my favorite because it covers a lot of the main points of an adolescent’s life.

If I was in this situation and needing treatment I would want to go with a mix if it was available. I would definitely want to be involved in the multidimensional family therapy because I think that is the most clear to me, but I would also want to be involved with the adolescent group therapy. According to the Multidimensional family thereapy for adolescent drug abuse: Results of a randomized clinical trial (2001) “The adolescent group therapy is based on phases of group development, with different therapeutic tasks and goals assigned to each phase. The emphasis was on developing individual social skills such as communication, self-control, self-acceptances, and problem solving, as well as building social support among group members.”

I love my family but I think I would get burnt out with solving the issue with just them alone. For me, I think intertwining these two treatments would provide maximum results. If I was involved in a group of adolescents that were going through the same issue as me then I would feel a little more comfortable and many gain some extra motivation to get better. To really focus on yourself in a group like this is something that can be helpful in the long run. Connecting to the other adolescent’s in the group can development friendships and maybe even accountability partners if you choose the right people. I think the multidimensional family therapy focuses a lot on the actual problem and the adolescent group therapy focuses on yourself within the problem of substance abuse. These two really go hand in hand because if you are only focusing on what is causing the problem then you aren’t really working on yourself. By focusing on relearning basic emotional skills and reconnecting yourself back into life then you can repair the patches of the actual problems. I would definitely chose a mix between the adolescent group therapy and multidimensional family therapy as my treatments.

There are many different treatments for adolescents to get involved in. Choosing one that has family involvement is bound to have many positive results. Each treatment has many different aspects that go along with it so that the adolescent can accomplish their goes and successfully get treated. Even though my favorite treatment is the multidimensional family treatment, so many other treatments will work just as good as this one. Finding the correct treatment for the adolescent and their family is key to a healthy growth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Berg, I. K., Gallagher, D. (1991). Solution focused brief treatment with adolescent substance abusers. In T. C. Todd & M. D. Selekman (Eds.), Family therapy approaches with adolescent substance abusers (pp. 93-111). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Bernal, G., & Flores-Ortiz, Y. (1991). Contextual family therapy with adolescent drug abusers. In T. C. Todd & M. D. Selekman (Eds.), Family therapy approaches with adolescent substance abusers (pp. 70-92). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Chabot, D. R., Matteis, M. C. (1991). Adolescent substance abuse: A systemic intergenerational approach. In T. C. Todd & M. D. Selekman (Eds.), Family therapy approaches with adolescent substance abusers (pp. 112-134). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Durrant, M., & Coles, D. (1991). Michael White’s cybernetic approach. In T. C. Todd & M. D. Selekman (Eds.), Family therapy approaches with adolescent substance abusers (pp. 135-175). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Fishman, M. C., Stanton, M. D., & Rosman, S. L. (1982). Treating families of adolescent drug abusers. In. M. D. Stanton & Todd, T. C. (Eds.), The family therapy of drug abuse and addiction (pp. 335-357). New York: The Guilford Press.

Selekman, M. D., & Todd, T. C. (1991). Crucial issues in the treatment of adolescent substance abusers and their families. In T. C. Todd & M. D. Selekman (Eds.), Family therapy approaches with adolescent substance abusers (pp. 1-20). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Selekman, M. D., & Todd, T. C. (1991). Major issues from family therapy research and theory: Implications for the future. In T. C. Todd & M. D. Selekman (Eds.), Family therapy approaches with adolescent substance abusers (pp. 311-325). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.