Observation

Observation #4
Class/section: FHS 1500 _______________________________________________________
Name:

SoniaGutierrez____________________________________________________

Assignment: Observation 4 ____________________________________________________

Background Information
Childs age:

16 years_______________________________________________________

Childs name:

Areli__________________________________________________________

Location:

Coffee Shop____________________________________________________

Brief Description: I interviewed Areli at a coffee shop and asked her questions about her____
experiences. I asked cognitive, psychosocial and then biological questions in
that order to make her feel more comfortable._________________________
Biological Development
As children mature into adolescence it is normal to begin seeing physical changes during
puberty. Some begin to note changes earlier than the norm, and others later. For female
adolescents, breast development begins around age ten on average (Berger, 2015, p. 316), which
was when Areli began. The interesting fact was that compared to her peers, she was an early
bloomer. Girls who mature earlier compared to their peers, tend to have lower self-esteem, more
depression, and poorer body image than do other girls (Berger, 2015, p.321). If I based the
previous statement to Areli, she was actually reacting normally to maturing earlier than everyone
when she felt and felt scared, uncomfortable and insecure about her body. To try to feel more
normal she would try to hide the changes by wearing large jackets.
One thing that is also very common during adolescence is having insecurities about ones
body, as seen in the previous paragraph. This subject actually came up several times during my
interview with Areli. She noticed how, because of the media and changes in the culture, the
standards of beauty have changed. Before it was considered beauty for women to be tall and
thin. This is still true today but with the added long hair, thick lips, large breasts and buttocks.
Since everybodys bodies are different it will obviously be impossible for many girls to reach
these standards. Because of this many, become depressed because of some characteristics they
wish they had or did not have (Berger, 2015, p. 324). Many of Arelis friends would complain
about not having the right body shape or would take vitamins to grow their hair; one of her
friends even struggled with anorexia nerviosa despite the fact that she was already really thin.

Cognitive Development
It is very common in adolescence to make decisions with little thought as, adolescents
tend to be fast and furious intuitive thinkers, unlike their teachers and parents, who prefer
slower, more analytic thinking (Berger, 2015, p. 335). This is not the case for Areli who makes
her decisions based on logic, or analytic thought. She believes, based on her experiences, that if
she followed her gut feeling or her heart, she would make the wrong decision. If her heart told
her one thing and her brain another she would choose what her brain said. This type of thinking
is more mature than that of the average teenager but it is also more, slow and costly, not fast and
frugal because it takes a lot longer to come up with a decision (Berger, 2015, p.337).
According to Berger, there are two theories of intelligence. Adolescents believe they have
either an entity theory or an incremental theory (Berger, 2015, p. 343). With the entity theory
students believe that they are born with a certain amount of ability to do tasks; in the incremental
approach, students believe that with practice comes perfect (Berger, 2015, p. 343). Areli has an
incremental theory because even though she struggled with mathematics in middle school, she
continued to practice and now understands more than she did when she began. Her grades at the
beginning of middle school went down because of the large change in the level of difficulty, but
because of her incremental approach to intelligence, her grades continued to rise. This motivates
her to continue challenging herself to learn because she believes that even though she doesnt
understand something now, she will eventually.
Psychosocial Development
According to Erikson, Areli is currently in the psychosocial crisis of identity vs. role
confusion. Working through the complexities of finding ones own identity is her main job at
this time (Berger, 2015, p. 351). Arelis identity in religion continues to be the same beliefs as
her parents. This is normal as, few adolescents totally reject religion if theyve grown up
following a particular faith, especially if they have a good relationship with their parents
(Berger, 2015, p. 353). Areli is currently confused about her political identity, pointing to role
confusion in this part of her identity. Even though she may not know which party to support, she
does know where her vocational identity lies as she cant think of working anywhere except in
criminal justice in the future. Arelis gender identity is also developing. Although her parents
value more traditional genders roles, such as men being the breadwinners and head of the home
and women being there for the children, she believes men and women are equal and wants to
have a career in criminal justice.
One thing that Areli noticed in her school was that more than half of the students in her
high school are currently on antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication. This is a troubling fact
but it makes sense as confidence and self-esteem fall and depression rises during adolescence; in
fact, rates of clinical depression more than doubles from childhood to adolescence (Berger,
2015, p. 369). Areli tries to avoid increasing the risk of becoming depressed by not ruminating,

or, mentally replaying past experiences (Berger, 2015, p. 370), avoiding spending too much
time alone in a closed room and taking walks with her dog.
References:
Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the life span (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.