Adam Steinberg Case Study Of Early Adulthood
This case study consisted of an adolescent named Adam Shores. He is currently a Junior in High School and is seventeen years old. Adam lives in a two parent household where his mom and dad are still married and has one younger brother. He comes from a lower socioeconomic class and the home condition is below average. He is bullied at school and is very active in activities; plays soccer, in show choir and has a job at Burger King. Adam’s parents fall under the indulgent parenting style due to no support, he has to find his way home from school/practices and basically does whatever he wants. He has dealt with previous issues such as:
Sexuality- He had a hard time coming out that he was gay.
Anxiety- From the different types of stress.
Depression- …show more content…
From being bullied in school.
Substance use- Used this to numb the pain and hurt he was experiencing.
Academic struggles- Stress, being bullied and his parents not being there to push him.
Identity- He felt as if no one noticed him.
His current issues today that he faces are:
Independence- He relies on his friends to help him.
Suicide- He faces suicidal ideation thoughts.
Peer pressure- From his friends trying to influence him on trying new things.
Social interaction- Has a hard time communicating and interacting with others. While picking up data and getting to know Adam more I got to see all the difficult milestones he has to achieve in life.
I compared his actions to different chapters in the book. The text states “The average 15 year old boy today is 15 pounds heavier than his peers and the average 15 year old girl is 10 pounds heavier than her peers” (Steinberg Ch. 1). Adam was bullied in his early pre adolescent years because he was overweight.He started losing weight when he became an adolescent. Steinberg states “When we are self-conscious, we are thinking about how others think about us” (Steinberg Ch. 2). Adam began to be self-conscious when his peers judged him for his body shape. This delayed his coming out process, because he did not know how people would react to him being gay. The text states “According to the national survey of secondary school students in American public schools, 1 out of every 4 students has been a victim of violence in or around school, and 1 out of every 6 is worried about being physically attacked or hurt there” (Steinberg Ch. 6). Adam is the one out of four students who faced violence at school by being physically bullied. This lead to depression and he now has suicidal ideation thoughts.Due to Adam’s life conditions he chose to be on the path of becoming an adult. The text states “The initiation ceremony usually marks the beginning of a long period of training and preparation for adulthood, not the adolescent’s final passage into adult status” (Steinberg Ch. 3). Adam decided to get a job to be able to afford the things he wants and so he will be able to get out of the house when he turns eighteen. I believe that this became an initiation ceremony for him when he made the choice to get a job and to better his life for
himself. Throughout getting to know more about Adam than what he showed to others, I learned about the connection his brother and he had. Steinberg states “Adolescents see aggression toward siblings as much more acceptable than aggression toward friends” (Steinberg Ch. 4). Adam decided to take out his depression, anxiety and other issues he was facing out on his brother because he knew he could not take it out on his friends. The text states “During adolescence there are important changes in the brain that lead individuals to become more sensitive to the emotions. Expressions, and opinions of others” (Steinberg Ch. 5). This relates to Adam, because he was and still is very sensitive. I do believe that he is this way because of his previous and current issues he faces. Steinberg states “Mass media has become a part of the typical adolescent’s life that for many, staying “connected” starts to take on qualities of an addiction” (Steinberg Ch. 7). Adam does face media addiction. He is so obsessed with what people think about you on social media and he wants everyone to like what they see of him on media. He does not want them to body shame him, so he tries his best to be what others want him to be. Steinberg states “Although important changes in identity certainly occur during childhood, adolescents are far more self-conscious about these changes and feel them much more acutely” (Steinberg Ch. 8). Adam use to not care about his identity to others, until he hit puberty when people became very judgemental about others. The text states “Tense family relationships during adolescence indicate problems, not positive development” (Steinberg Ch.9). Because Adam’s parents were not there for him and let him do whatever they have a tense relationship. Adam wanted them to be there for them and tried to enforce it. It just caused more problems between his family and he. During Adam’s life he had difficulty realizing how important friends were in his life, at first. The text states “Sullivan felt that forming intimate friendships during preadolescence is a necessary precondition to forming close relationships as an adolescent or young adult” (Steinberg Ch. 10). Adam figured out that most of his best friendships were formed during his pre adolescent years of his life. Steinberg states “Another factor that affects adolescents’ sexual activity is the extent to which they are supervised by their parents or other adults” (Steinberg Ch. 11). Unfortunately, because of Adam’s parenting style he was raised on, his parents did not care what he was doing and was not much of influence. This allowed him to experiment all that he wanted and found out which sexuality he liked. The text states “Even students who are determined to succeed are sometimes so afraid of failing that, their strong achievement motivation is undermined” (Steinberg Ch. 12). Due to Adam being afraid to face failure, this had a huge impact on his anxiety. The text states “One of the strongest predictors of delinquency and other forms of problem behavior is the extent to which the adolescent spends unsupervised time in unstructured activities with peers- activities like hanging out, driving around, and going to parties” (Steinberg Ch. 13). The things Adam would do with his peers, like in this statement are highly related to why he is associated with substance abuse and it has lead to his academic struggles. My plan of action considering being a Speech Language Pathologist, would be to first evaluate and assess Adam. Before I started any treatment I would be upfront with him and let him know that he can trust me. I would then get him and I together and we would set goals for him like: Provide opportunities to work on problem solving, social skills, use of memory strategies, and language skills while incorporating his day to day complications. Then, I would test his physical and cognitive skills and come up with a plan on how to increase his strength in these two categories. Finally, I would carry out therapeutic outings to ease his transition into the community and people to deal with his complications. Not only would I be treated him with the care I can provide, but if he needed any other care I would express my concerns with my co-workers and get him the other care that he would need to receive. By doing this case study I learned how many complications an adolescent face on an everyday base and how much a person has an impact on them. I got the feel of what it will be like to document my plan of care for a patient getting treatment from me as an SLP. During this course, I have learned a numerous amount of valuable information that I will be able to take with me, I also believe it has strengthened me for the Speech Language Pathology program. My most two favorite chapters by Steinberg were chapter eight and ten. It was easy for me to relate identity to today’s world. I really got myself involved with this chapter and I enjoyed it because I got to see how problems such as school shootings have to deal with the sense of identity. With chapter ten dealing with intimacy, I felt as if I could really relate myself to this chapter. This chapter would be my favorite of all, because during my adolescent years I had a really close relationship with my parents and friends, after going through a rough break up. This chapter allowed me to see how much of an impact my family had on me while achieving a difficult stage in life. I do believe that identity and intimacy, both play a huge role in adolescence and their development. I also learned that this stage is critical for adolescents, this is the stage that any problems they are facing can easily lead to more crucial problems.
Sexuality- He had a hard time coming out that he was gay.
Anxiety- From the different types of stress.
Depression- …show more content…
From being bullied in school.
Substance use- Used this to numb the pain and hurt he was experiencing.
Academic struggles- Stress, being bullied and his parents not being there to push him.
Identity- He felt as if no one noticed him.
His current issues today that he faces are:
Independence- He relies on his friends to help him.
Suicide- He faces suicidal ideation thoughts.
Peer pressure- From his friends trying to influence him on trying new things.
Social interaction- Has a hard time communicating and interacting with others. While picking up data and getting to know Adam more I got to see all the difficult milestones he has to achieve in life.
I compared his actions to different chapters in the book. The text states “The average 15 year old boy today is 15 pounds heavier than his peers and the average 15 year old girl is 10 pounds heavier than her peers” (Steinberg Ch. 1). Adam was bullied in his early pre adolescent years because he was overweight.He started losing weight when he became an adolescent. Steinberg states “When we are self-conscious, we are thinking about how others think about us” (Steinberg Ch. 2). Adam began to be self-conscious when his peers judged him for his body shape. This delayed his coming out process, because he did not know how people would react to him being gay. The text states “According to the national survey of secondary school students in American public schools, 1 out of every 4 students has been a victim of violence in or around school, and 1 out of every 6 is worried about being physically attacked or hurt there” (Steinberg Ch. 6). Adam is the one out of four students who faced violence at school by being physically bullied. This lead to depression and he now has suicidal ideation thoughts.Due to Adam’s life conditions he chose to be on the path of becoming an adult. The text states “The initiation ceremony usually marks the beginning of a long period of training and preparation for adulthood, not the adolescent’s final passage into adult status” (Steinberg Ch. 3). Adam decided to get a job to be able to afford the things he wants and so he will be able to get out of the house when he turns eighteen. I believe that this became an initiation ceremony for him when he made the choice to get a job and to better his life for
himself. Throughout getting to know more about Adam than what he showed to others, I learned about the connection his brother and he had. Steinberg states “Adolescents see aggression toward siblings as much more acceptable than aggression toward friends” (Steinberg Ch. 4). Adam decided to take out his depression, anxiety and other issues he was facing out on his brother because he knew he could not take it out on his friends. The text states “During adolescence there are important changes in the brain that lead individuals to become more sensitive to the emotions. Expressions, and opinions of others” (Steinberg Ch. 5). This relates to Adam, because he was and still is very sensitive. I do believe that he is this way because of his previous and current issues he faces. Steinberg states “Mass media has become a part of the typical adolescent’s life that for many, staying “connected” starts to take on qualities of an addiction” (Steinberg Ch. 7). Adam does face media addiction. He is so obsessed with what people think about you on social media and he wants everyone to like what they see of him on media. He does not want them to body shame him, so he tries his best to be what others want him to be. Steinberg states “Although important changes in identity certainly occur during childhood, adolescents are far more self-conscious about these changes and feel them much more acutely” (Steinberg Ch. 8). Adam use to not care about his identity to others, until he hit puberty when people became very judgemental about others. The text states “Tense family relationships during adolescence indicate problems, not positive development” (Steinberg Ch.9). Because Adam’s parents were not there for him and let him do whatever they have a tense relationship. Adam wanted them to be there for them and tried to enforce it. It just caused more problems between his family and he. During Adam’s life he had difficulty realizing how important friends were in his life, at first. The text states “Sullivan felt that forming intimate friendships during preadolescence is a necessary precondition to forming close relationships as an adolescent or young adult” (Steinberg Ch. 10). Adam figured out that most of his best friendships were formed during his pre adolescent years of his life. Steinberg states “Another factor that affects adolescents’ sexual activity is the extent to which they are supervised by their parents or other adults” (Steinberg Ch. 11). Unfortunately, because of Adam’s parenting style he was raised on, his parents did not care what he was doing and was not much of influence. This allowed him to experiment all that he wanted and found out which sexuality he liked. The text states “Even students who are determined to succeed are sometimes so afraid of failing that, their strong achievement motivation is undermined” (Steinberg Ch. 12). Due to Adam being afraid to face failure, this had a huge impact on his anxiety. The text states “One of the strongest predictors of delinquency and other forms of problem behavior is the extent to which the adolescent spends unsupervised time in unstructured activities with peers- activities like hanging out, driving around, and going to parties” (Steinberg Ch. 13). The things Adam would do with his peers, like in this statement are highly related to why he is associated with substance abuse and it has lead to his academic struggles. My plan of action considering being a Speech Language Pathologist, would be to first evaluate and assess Adam. Before I started any treatment I would be upfront with him and let him know that he can trust me. I would then get him and I together and we would set goals for him like: Provide opportunities to work on problem solving, social skills, use of memory strategies, and language skills while incorporating his day to day complications. Then, I would test his physical and cognitive skills and come up with a plan on how to increase his strength in these two categories. Finally, I would carry out therapeutic outings to ease his transition into the community and people to deal with his complications. Not only would I be treated him with the care I can provide, but if he needed any other care I would express my concerns with my co-workers and get him the other care that he would need to receive. By doing this case study I learned how many complications an adolescent face on an everyday base and how much a person has an impact on them. I got the feel of what it will be like to document my plan of care for a patient getting treatment from me as an SLP. During this course, I have learned a numerous amount of valuable information that I will be able to take with me, I also believe it has strengthened me for the Speech Language Pathology program. My most two favorite chapters by Steinberg were chapter eight and ten. It was easy for me to relate identity to today’s world. I really got myself involved with this chapter and I enjoyed it because I got to see how problems such as school shootings have to deal with the sense of identity. With chapter ten dealing with intimacy, I felt as if I could really relate myself to this chapter. This chapter would be my favorite of all, because during my adolescent years I had a really close relationship with my parents and friends, after going through a rough break up. This chapter allowed me to see how much of an impact my family had on me while achieving a difficult stage in life. I do believe that identity and intimacy, both play a huge role in adolescence and their development. I also learned that this stage is critical for adolescents, this is the stage that any problems they are facing can easily lead to more crucial problems.