Analysis of My Own Adolescence

Analysis of My Own Adolescence

Ashland University

Brittany McClish
Psychology 218B
Spring, 2012

Abstract

Analysis of My Own Adolescence
Introduction
“It was Sunday afternoon when I for the first time saw Brock. He was in the Praise Worship Center at the donut cart eating donuts. When I sat down he was two rows down from me. I stared at him what I could see of him. Then for the sermon I couldn’t see him at all so I didn’t look that way. When church was over he walked out and I stared at him the whole time. I hope he comes next Sunday” (McClish, 2004). This is the first entry from a journal I had about my first crush as an adolescent, and throughout this paper I will share other entries from my Brock Journal 1 and Brock Journal 2 to reflect on my own borderline stalker adolescence referenced to research and theory in the field of adolescent psychology. A crush is defined as “the emotion normally felt toward an individual of the opposite sex may suffer a change in its whole character or may be transferred to an individual of the same sex” (Klein, 1). Everyone has had a crush at one point or another and my first crush was on Brock Fickenscher, who was an eighth grader when I was in the seventh grade. I only saw him on Sundays at church because we attended different middle schools. I fell head over heels for him in the seventh grade because I thought he was everything with my blinders on. Adolescence is the time period considered after elementary school and throughout highschool. This is an account of my own adolescence and an analysis of my own adolescence in regards to identity, development, gender, and achievement.
According to the article, Early Adolescents’ Experiences with, and Views of Barbie, “particular toys enter into the lives of some children and become, as it were, central to their identity. Toys present messages about gender, adult roles, and values that children internalize” (1). In other words, this article discusses the role that Barbie plays in children’s lives and the effect on their self- esteem, their body image and their how they completely view themselves. At least I was an adolescent that compared myself to Barbie because I thought that that was what I had to look like for guys to consider me attractive. Although I have understood that if Barbie was put to a real life scale that half of her organs would not even fit in her body and that she would not even be able to stand up because her chest would be way too big for her body. I wish I would have known this when I was younger because Brock “I’m heartbroken. I saw Brock holding this blonde chick’s hand. He walked right behind me too. I suppose it’s his girlfriend, but I thought he liked me” (14).

“He’s so cute and I’m so ugly. The highschool is filled with pretty people that doesn’t include me. I’m such a fool to have thought that we actually had something. There will always be someone better than me that the guy I like prefers” (McClish, 2005, page 14).
According to Santrock, the textbook describes a passage through the eyes of adolescents:
When columnist Bob Greene called Connections in Chicago, a chatline for teenagers, to find out what young adolescents were saying to each other, the first things the boys and girls asked- after first names- were physical descriptions. The idealism of the callers was apparent. Most of the girls described themselves as having long blonde hair, being 5 feet 5 inches tall, and weighing 110 pounds. Most of the boys said that they had brown hair, lifted weights, were 6 feet tall, and weighed 170 pounds.
In other words, the textbook is saying that the do adolescents lie about what they look alike physically because appearances

There is also a difference between the genders in “In general, throughout puberty girls are less happy with their bodies and have more negative body images than boys”(Santrock, 60).

References
Klein, E. R., & Hurlock, E.B. (1934). Adolescent Crushes. Child Development, 5(1), 63.
Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
McClish, Brittany (2004). My Brock Journal. Ashland, Ohio.
McClish, Brittany (2005). My Brock Journal 2. Ashland, Ohio.
McDonald, Erin, & Kuther, Tara L. (2004). Early Adolescents’ Experiences with and Views of Barbie. Adolescence. 39 (153), 39-51. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Santrock, J. W. (2010). Adolescence (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Todd, Samuel Y., & Kent, Aubrey. Student Athletes’ Perceptions of Self. Adolesence, 38(152), 659-667. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

References: Klein, E. R., & Hurlock, E.B. (1934). Adolescent Crushes. Child Development, 5(1), 63. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. McClish, Brittany (2004). My Brock Journal. Ashland, Ohio. McClish, Brittany (2005). My Brock Journal 2. Ashland, Ohio. McDonald, Erin, & Kuther, Tara L. (2004). Early Adolescents’ Experiences with and Views of Barbie. Adolescence. 39 (153), 39-51. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Santrock, J. W. (2010). Adolescence (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Todd, Samuel Y., & Kent, Aubrey. Student Athletes’ Perceptions of Self. Adolesence, 38(152), 659-667. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.