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PEPSI Case Study

Melissa Bain

30 November 2016

College of Southern Nevada

For this PEPSI case study, I observed a 17 year old girl who is currently a senior in high

school. In this case study Im going to talk about her physical, emotional, philosophical, social,

and intelligent development, and how she can maintain or advance in each of these areas.
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The first part Im going to talk about is her physical development. Shes about 5 feet 7

inches tall and weighs around 135 pounds. A typical 17 year old girl should be mostly completed

with puberty by this time. Many teen girls have issues with body image but she doesnt show any

signs of having extremely low self esteem. Eating disorders are very common for teenage girls

(Teenagers). She used to have very low self esteem and would eat very little to help with that, but

that was a few years ago and she seems to have little to no problems with it now. She probably

gets about 8 hours of sleep every night which is great. She has a decently healthy diet and really

likes to cook healthy meals. She doesnt eat fast food too often and she eats a lot of vegetables

She really likes doing yoga and does it a couple times per week. She seems to be pretty

physically healthy. To stay this way, I would recommend that she continues to do yoga and

maybe even add some more activity into the mix. I would also say to continue getting enough

sleep and eating a healthy diet.

The next part Im going to talk about is her emotional development. She has a difficult

time dealing with stress and gets very upset when shes stressed out. Her main stress seems to be

about school. She worries a lot about failing and has a lot of anxiety. Anxiety and stress are

definitely common for her age because she has a lot going on like graduating, figuring where to

go to college, and other things like that (Snowman, Ch 3). Some things she can do to relieve

some of the stress are talk it out with someone trusted, get more physical activity, get more sleep,

find hobbies to take away some of the stress, or strike a balance between everything and get

organized (Palmiter & Wilson). Shes typically not too emotional but when she gets upset, she

gets extremely upset. Almost like she holds all of her emotions in for long periods of time, and

then lets everything out at once. She should definitely try to talk or write about what shes feeling

more often just so she can be in better control of her emotions.

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The third part is philosophical development. She is very smart and philosophical. In

Kohlbergs stages of moral development, I felt she was at the postconventional stage for most

things. She does many things because she knows its the right thing to do such as she enjoys

volunteering and helping people who are in need. She does other things because she has a social

contract such as homework, school work, and chores (Snowman, Ch 1). I think that she

genuinely wants to do the right thing but sometimes she can get distracted and selfish and just do

what she wants to do. I would still say that for most moral situations, she would be in the

postconventional stage.

The fourth part is her social development. Typically at this age, teens are very into their

friends and peers, but their parents influence more long term plans (Snowman, Ch 3). This is

very true for this teen. She takes her parents advice when it comes to higher education and her

future, but cares a lot more about what her friends think when it comes to the clubs and activities

shes involved in. She seems to have minimal interest in boys or having a boyfriend and likes to

spend time with her friends over boys. She has a pretty good circle of friends that are typically

good influences on her. She should definitely try to keep friendships that are healthy and she

should continue to have a good relationship with her family. She is also apart of theatre club at

her school where she has a leadership role with younger students. She gets a lot of social

interaction in this club and she loves it, but I would say that she is definitely an introvert and

needs her alone time. If she doesnt have enough time alone, she can become really grouchy and

be in a bad mood.

Lastly Im going to be talking about her intellectual development. She is very smart and

gets almost all As and very few Bs. According to Eriksons theory, she should be in the Identity

vs. Role Confusion stage, which I believe she is definitely learning more towards identity which
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is great (Snowman, Ch 1). She knows what she wants to do in the future and she has a solid plan.

To stay in this stage, she needs to stay focused on what she wants to do and work towards her

goals. She is very creative and loves to read and write. In Gardners Theory of Multiple

Intelligences, I would say that she is very musical because she plays the piano, guitar, and

ukulele. She is also very linguistic. She is great at writing and has won writing contests, she also

loves to read and reads a lot (Snowman, Ch 4). Shes great at English and is currently taking AP

Literature. Shes a great critical thinker and has really great ideas about things. She is also a very

self regulated learner. Shes great at monitoring her effectiveness of studying and when

something doesnt work for her, she tries something new. She wants to succeed and she tries

really hard to do so. She could become even better at this by organizing her time more

effectively and just being more organized in general (Snowman, Ch 9).

This student is pretty average when it comes to other students her age. She is in good

physical health, she is emotional which is normal for a teenager, she has morals, she is social and

enjoys hanging out with her friends, and shes a very bright and smart student.

References

Palmiter, D. J., & Wilson, D. (2016). Teens and Stress: How to Keep Stress in Check. Retrieved

November 22, 2016, from https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-teens.aspx

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching (14th ed.). Stamford, CT:

Cengage Learning.
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Teenagers (15-17 years of age). (2016, March 15). Retrieved November 22, 2016, from

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescence2.ht

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