Manaury Alvarado Ponce
Adult Interview Paper
PSYC 2314-50182
November 25, 2016
Linking Psychology
A young adult named Lolita Bean, 28, shared some events throughout her adolescence during a brief interview on November 25, 2016. She is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and is currently pursuing a nursing degree from Texas Christian University. The purpose for the interview was to gather information about a developmental stage in the life of Ms. Bean and synthesis it to theories and concepts of developmental psychology. She shared topics that dealt with physical development, identity, parenting, peers, stress, and life satisfaction.
Physical Development
Lolita had difficulty with puberty. Physicians told her that her development was delayed, so puberty …show more content…
She tried an identity known as Goth: Lolita wore skinny jeans, dark eye make-up, and short hair. However, she soon realized drugs and the Goth image was not who she wanted to be. In her junior year of high school, she became involved in student council and earned straight A’s. This type of academic achievement not only made Lolita proud of herself, but it also helped her identify who she wanted to be. Lolita’s search for identity can be linked to Erik Erikson’s identity formation concept. Erikson believed teenagers “use the hypothetical reasoning skills of the formal-operational stage to experiment with different selves to learn more about possible identities” (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013, p. 316). Lolita experimented with identities such as Goth, Prep, and Hipster; Goth was the identity she had for three years. She decided she wanted to leave the Gothic ways she explored to pursue academic achievement instead, with her new identity as a nerdy book worm. Lolita can be classified under the achievement status Marcia’s Identity Statuses. The status of achievement includes someone who has tested the waters with multiple identities and as a result have chosen a particular identity in which they feel like their true self (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013). Today, as a twenty-eight year old in …show more content…
Stress affects Lolita mentally: “if I don’t do things in a timely manner, it will drive me crazy. I can’t speed through assignments, because I will see a reflection of it on my exam results. If I don’t study correctly, that will stress me out to the max, which is definitely not healthy” (Bean, 2016). Fortunately, she has coping strategies--avoid procrastination, use a planner, create to-do lists, keep reminders on her iPhone, and (most importantly) prioritize. These are effective and positive ways of helping her get over stress. A negative approach would be if she cried each time she failed and gave up on school. Some individuals “focus on how they feel about the situation and deal with things on an emotional level” (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013, p. 467). In contrast, others change their perspective about an issue and try to use helpful strategies, which Lolita did to overcome stressful situations (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013). Above all, Lolita admitted that she has a Type A personality, and was not proud of it. In the long run, her personality is a hindrance for her and others around her. She described herself as “too angry, competitive, and impatient” (Bean, 2016). Correspondingly, such personalities do carry risks, as research has demonstrated that “type A behavior is a more important predictor of cardiovascular disease than body weight, alcohol intake, or activity level” (Kail &
Adult Interview Paper
PSYC 2314-50182
November 25, 2016
Linking Psychology
A young adult named Lolita Bean, 28, shared some events throughout her adolescence during a brief interview on November 25, 2016. She is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and is currently pursuing a nursing degree from Texas Christian University. The purpose for the interview was to gather information about a developmental stage in the life of Ms. Bean and synthesis it to theories and concepts of developmental psychology. She shared topics that dealt with physical development, identity, parenting, peers, stress, and life satisfaction.
Physical Development
Lolita had difficulty with puberty. Physicians told her that her development was delayed, so puberty …show more content…
She tried an identity known as Goth: Lolita wore skinny jeans, dark eye make-up, and short hair. However, she soon realized drugs and the Goth image was not who she wanted to be. In her junior year of high school, she became involved in student council and earned straight A’s. This type of academic achievement not only made Lolita proud of herself, but it also helped her identify who she wanted to be. Lolita’s search for identity can be linked to Erik Erikson’s identity formation concept. Erikson believed teenagers “use the hypothetical reasoning skills of the formal-operational stage to experiment with different selves to learn more about possible identities” (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013, p. 316). Lolita experimented with identities such as Goth, Prep, and Hipster; Goth was the identity she had for three years. She decided she wanted to leave the Gothic ways she explored to pursue academic achievement instead, with her new identity as a nerdy book worm. Lolita can be classified under the achievement status Marcia’s Identity Statuses. The status of achievement includes someone who has tested the waters with multiple identities and as a result have chosen a particular identity in which they feel like their true self (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013). Today, as a twenty-eight year old in …show more content…
Stress affects Lolita mentally: “if I don’t do things in a timely manner, it will drive me crazy. I can’t speed through assignments, because I will see a reflection of it on my exam results. If I don’t study correctly, that will stress me out to the max, which is definitely not healthy” (Bean, 2016). Fortunately, she has coping strategies--avoid procrastination, use a planner, create to-do lists, keep reminders on her iPhone, and (most importantly) prioritize. These are effective and positive ways of helping her get over stress. A negative approach would be if she cried each time she failed and gave up on school. Some individuals “focus on how they feel about the situation and deal with things on an emotional level” (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013, p. 467). In contrast, others change their perspective about an issue and try to use helpful strategies, which Lolita did to overcome stressful situations (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2013). Above all, Lolita admitted that she has a Type A personality, and was not proud of it. In the long run, her personality is a hindrance for her and others around her. She described herself as “too angry, competitive, and impatient” (Bean, 2016). Correspondingly, such personalities do carry risks, as research has demonstrated that “type A behavior is a more important predictor of cardiovascular disease than body weight, alcohol intake, or activity level” (Kail &