TUES-THURS 10:30-11:50AM
May 8, 2014
Adolescent Interview When picking my adolescent I had quite a few choices to pick from but I decided on my adolescent 15 year old sister since I know a lot about her and have seen first-hand how she is coping with this adolescent stage. Patricia is a normal 15 year old girl still in high school. She lives in a household of 7 with 3 older siblings and one younger one. She mentioned that she lived in a small home with three dogs, two fish, a bird and six other humans. Both her parents are field workers so they aren’t really at home much. Patricia has a younger 7 year old sister that she pays attention to a lot, they have a really close relationship, and she cares for her younger sister when her mother is at work. Patricia is in a special program in her high school called the International Bachelorette Program “IB,” this program challenges high school students and gives them and idea of what college is like after they graduate. She gets a lot of homework every day for all her classes, she manages to do all of it and still helps take care of her younger sibling.
I think my teenager didn’t quite fit in the conceptions people have of a typical adolescent. She seems to be really close to her family. When I asked her what her family life was like I was surprised with the answer she gave me. She said she loved her family and that they were the best. Most teens at her age tend to distance themselves when they hit puberty. Puberty brings an increase in parent-child conflict- psychological distancing that may, in part be a modern substitute for physical departure from the family. (Berk, 2012, p.541.) According to what my teen said about her family life, she has a very good relationship with her family; her parents seem to play an important role in how hard she is working on her education and her good grades since she mentioned that school was really important to her because her mother wanted her to have a better life
References: Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, Children, and Adolescents (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.