Running Head: ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT 1

Adolescent Development

Abigail Lopez

EDUC 532

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Introduction

This paper is a critical and descriptive analysis of an interview with a young adolescent.

This paper will utilize material from the textbook Adolescence by Laurence Steinberg (Steinberg,

2018) in conjunction with personal accounts from the adolescent and scholarly research articles

in order to best analyze material and achieve understanding.

The adolescent being interviewed goes by the name of Elizabeth Minkoff. Elizabeth is

thirteen years old and is in the seventh grade. Elizabeth is going currently going through a

plethora of changes. The parents of Elizabeth have recently endured a divorce. She lives with her

mother and her mother’s new girlfriend but shares time with her father on the weekends.

Elizabeth has recently just switched schools. Elizabeth is also going through the large life-change

of puberty. Elizabeth is considered to be an early maturing female. Elizabeth is currently trying

to adapt to all of these changes in her life.

Interview Analysis

To start off the interview, Elizabeth and I discussed the biological change of puberty.

Elizabeth expressed her peers’ opinions on the matter and that they discuss that it is rather an odd

time and they are not too keen on talking about the matter. At this time in her young teenage

years, the topic of puberty is not well discussed or looked upon positively. Elizabeth expressed

that during this time of puberty, her peers often talk about how they wish that they looked like

celebrities instead of the way that they currently look. This is an aspect of body dissatisfaction

which is extremely common during puberty (Steinberg, 2018).

Following the questions of puberty, I explained to Elizabeth what high-risk activities

were and what behaviors were considered to be high-risk behaviors as the textbook depicts. I
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then asked Elizabeth if she feels that peers and media influence high-risk behavior in her friends

or herself. Elizabeth expressed that she did not feel that either media or peers influenced her

behavior. She explained that in this stage of life, her views generally align with that of her

parents.

Elizabeth and I discussed the idea of a coming of age ceremony. We talked about the idea

of a transition from a child to a woman. Elizabeth plans on celebrating a Quinceanera. However,

she expressed that she believes that she will still feel like a child. The ceremony will have no

bearing on her perception of herself. Bouncing off of the topic I then asked Elizabeth about

conflict with her parents. Elizabeth stated that she does not often argue with her parents about

much. However, when arguments are brought up, it is often about her performance in school. As

stated in the book, Elizabeth’s parents would be considered indulgent parents. They allow

freedom in most areas and are very nurturing (2018). Elizabeth’s parents place few boundaries,

the only subject being regulation in matters of school.

With the next topic being peer groups, I explained to Elizabeth the idea of peers forming

groups based upon their orientation towards school (2018). I asked Elizabeth if she noticed a

similar formation of peer groups in her school. Elizabeth said that she had not yet noticed a

formation of peer groups based upon school orientation at her age. Following the topic of school,

I asked Elizabeth if she found the material boring in her classes and if that affected her

achievement at all. Elizabeth said that she did find the material to be boring, however, she feels

like she still receives a good education. Elizabeth expressed that she didn’t feel like there was

any way that the teachers could present the material in an interesting way.

When it came to the topic of work, since Elizabeth is so young, I asked her if she thought

she would like to have a job in high school. She expressed that she plans on getting a job as soon
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as possible so that she can drive, be responsible and independent. I then explained to Elizabeth

the concept of a false sense of behavior as the textbook explains. I asked Elizabeth if she ever

felt a similar feeling about herself. Elizabeth stated that she does not recall having thoughts

similar to the theory expressed.

On the subject of autonomy, I asked Elizabeth if she felt like her parents gave her the

correct amount of freedom. Too much or too little? Elizabeth answered that she felt like her

parents gave her too much freedom. Especially in the case of matters of school. On the topic of

Intimacy, I asked Elizabeth questions about the desire of having a significant other. Elizabeth

communicated that while the thought of having a significant other seemed nice, she is very

young and the relationship is not likely to go anywhere. She voiced her opinions about how

being in middle school demeaned the significance of the relationship. Still, on the topic of

intimacy, I asked Elizabeth if she had ever talked to her parents about intimacy. She disclosed

that she had talked to her mother about the matter but not her father. She said that was glad that

her mother discussed intimacy with her and that she enjoys hearing what her mother has to say.

The topic of sexuality ended about as quick as it started. I asked Elizabeth if she

considered herself to be sexually active and if she had ever kissed anyone of the opposite sex.

Elizabeth answered “No” to each of these questions. Elizabeth also answered no when asked if

she felt that her academic achievement had any bearing on her identity. Lastly, I asked Elizabeth

if she felt that externalized her problems upon explaining the definition. Elizabeth expressed that

she did not feel that she externalized her problems.

Critical Analysis

The first aspect of Elizabeth that I was drawn to further research was that of the effects of

early maturation. It is common that early maturation in girls leads to emotional difficulties
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including poor self-image, depression, and eating disorders (2018). During the research, I came

across the article Pubertal Development Predicts Eating Behaviors in Adolescence. This was a

study published in two-thousand and twelve and hypothesized that girls who matured earlier

would be directly associated with disordered eating. One thousand nine hundred and sixty-four

adolescents were examined in the time span of early adolescence to early adulthood. It was

discovered that pubertal development in early-to-mid adolescence was significantly associated

with EDI scores and dieting in late adolescence (Baker, 2012). The conclusion of this article is in

direct cohesion with the textbook Adolescence and the experience of Elizabeth Minkoff.

The next topic that I wanted to further research was the effect of early autonomy on

adolescents. Because Elizabeth is considered to be an early maturing adolescent, she has been

given many early freedoms from her parents. Elizabeth even expresses that her parents give her

too much freedom. The article of reference is Mothers’ and Fathers’ Autonomy-Relevant

Parenting: Longitudinal Links with Adolescents’ Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior. This

research article followed five hundred and eighteen families from the span of ages thirteen to

seventeen. This study hypothesized that the extent of parental control would predict the

internalizing and externalizing of problems during the span of adolescence. The study concluded

that greater psychological control from parent to adolescent predicted increases in internalizing

problems for both boys and girls. Therefore, the more autonomous an adolescent was allowed to

be, the more they externalized their problems (Lansford, 2013). This article is in cohesion with

what Elizabeth expressed. Elizabeth’s parents allow her to be autonomous at a young age and she

externalizes her problems.

The last aspect of adolescence that I wanted to study was the effects of having a mother

that is lesbian on an adolescent. This study examined the effects of lesbian parents on the
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sexuality of the children. The study measured 78 adolescents: 39 girls and 39 boys. The

adolescents answered a survey about abuse and identified their sexuality on the Kinsey scale.

The conclusion of the study was that adolescent daughters of lesbian parents were more likely to

identify on the bisexual spectrum but were not more likely to be homosexual than their peers.

However, the daughters were more likely to engage in homosexual activity than their peers. The

sons of lesbian parents were not more likely to identify as homosexual or bisexual than their

peers. All of the adolescents admitted to experiencing no sexual abuse and/or physical abuse.

This study helped give an insight into the effects of Mrs. Minkoff’s sexual identity on her

daughter Elizabeth.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I learned a plethora of information about adolescents from Elizabeth. I

learned about how some adolescents truly do want to discuss intimacy with their parents. I

learned about the effects of early maturation on early freedoms and how this affects adolescents

developmentally. I would have a few recommendations for educators, parents and the public

when working with adolescents. I would first ask them to be empathetic. Adolescence is a time

of massive changes in a child: physically and developmentally. These changes affect everything

including behavior and temperament. I believe that empathy should be at the core of

communicating with any adolescent. My last recommendation would be for people to talk to

adolescents. I was so surprised to learn about all of the topics that adolescents truly want to

discuss. I previously thought adolescents did not want to talk to parents or leadership figures. I

was very wrong. I plan on keeping these recommendations in mind when working with

adolescents currently and in the future.

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References

Baker, J. H., Thornton, L. M., Lichtenstein, P., & Bulik, C. M. (2012). Pubertal

development predicts eating behaviors in adolescence. International Journal of Eating

Disorders, 45(7), 819–826. doi: 10.1002/eat.22022

Gartrell, N. K., Bos, H. M. W., & Goldberg, N. G. (2010). Adolescents of the U.S.

National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Sexual Orientation, Sexual Behavior, and

Sexual Risk Exposure. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(6), 1199–1209. doi:

10.1007/s10508-010-9692-2

Lansford, J. E., Laird, R. D., Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., & Dodge, K. A. (2013). Mothers’

and Fathers’ Autonomy-Relevant Parenting: Longitudinal Links with Adolescents’

Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(11),

1877–1889. doi: 10.1007/s10964-013-0079-2

Steinberg, L. (2018). Adolescence. Dubuque, McGraw-Hill Education.

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Appendix

1. Biological Transitions

a. What are your peer’s perceptions of puberty?

b. Do your peers discuss body dissatisfaction/or eating disorders?

2. Cognitive Transitions

a. Do you feel like your peers influence high-risk activity?

b. Do you think that social media influences high-risk behavior?

3. Social Transitions

a. Do you see yourself participating in any coming of age ceremony are you happy

with what it represents?

4. Families

a. The conflict between parents and child reaches its height in the teenage years,

what are common things that you and your parents fight about if at all?

5. Peer Groups

a. Adolescents usually group with peers with similar school orientations. Do you

find that to be true? Why or why not?

6. Schools

a. Do you think that teachers do a good job of engaging the students and not being

bored in class? How do you think this affects your achievement?

7. Work, Leisure, and Media

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a. Do you think that you would want a job in high school? How does the idea of a

job make you feel?

8. Identity

a. Do you feel a False sense of behavior at times? The dynamic you that is different

around different people.

9. Autonomy

a. Do you feel like you are given the correct amount of freedom from your parents?

10. Intimacy

a. Do your friends talk about wanting a significant other? How do you feel?

b. Do you talk to your parents about intimacy?

11. Sexuality

a. Would you consider yourself to be sexually active?

b. Have you kissed someone of the opposite sex?

12. Achievement

a. Do you feel like your achievement in school weighs on your identity as a person?

13. Psychosocial Problems in Adolescence

a. Do you feel like you externalize your problems (asked after externalizing

problems was explained)?