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Kelly Enderle
May 5, 2017
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Biography
Kimberly is a 16-year-old female who is approximately five feet and eight inches tall and
weighs around 168 pounds. She is a slender athletic build with brown hair and blue eyes. She
does wear glasses as they are prescription and she is near sighted. She does have tiny scars on
her arms from where she had a rash recently from not using her medicated steroid cream for her
eczema. She lives with her mom, dad, and two sisters who are the ages of 21 and 20. Kimberly
is the youngest and will be graduating in the summer of 2018. Both of her sisters graduated with
Kimberly is involved in her high school marching band where she plays the mallet
instrument and the percussion instruments during concert band season. She is extremely talented
and over the course of three years has become the section leader of her section. Normally she is
shy and does not like to open to a lot of people especially people she just meets. With her older
sister, she is very open and can talk to her about anything as if she is her best friend. She
communicates openly with her parents, best friend, and boyfriend. She has a very strong
relationship with everyone in her immediate family, her boyfriend, and her best friend.
Her boyfriend, Danny, is shy as well but has helped Kimberly become more outgoing as
she now does most of the talking in group settings. They have been together for about eight
months now and while they do have their fights about assorted topics, since they have been
together Kimberly has been more outspoken and has the courage to be a leader that she has
wanted to be. Her hobbies include watching sitcoms, listening to music, playing the marimba
(big xylophone looking thing for those of us who are not musically intelligent), and playing
Kimberly does have a few medical conditions that have prohibited her from time to time
to miss school and interrupt her learning process. Her medical conditions include: mild gastritis,
which is the inflammation or irritation of the lining of the stomach. The inflammation of the
stomach lining is most frequently caused by a bacterium called H. pylori and can range from
acute to severe. Eczema, which is a condition of the skin where it is extremely itchy and can
cause a mild rash. She has prescribed steroid cream for this condition and it does not affect her
normal day to day activities if she uses the cream per prescription directions.
Physical Development
For every age group, there is a milestone or marker with where they are supposed to be
developmentally. In this case, we will be looking at these markers for the physical development
of a females between the ages of fourteen to seventeen. This age group, according to Snowman,
is age of adolescents or high school. However, modern medicine puts this age group
simultaneously at the same level but extending the starting age to about 10 or 11. The child that
has been observed reaches these milestones. According to Kidshealth.org, girls should begin
puberty between the ages of 9 and 13 including the start of a breast development, menstruation,
body hair, and hormonal changes. However, for some girls these changes can occur later as they
are still not fully developed until the age of about 15.
By the age of 14 or 15 girls should have gotten their first menstruation and should
understand the process fully. For others, this process happens as early as the age of 9. Kimberly,
in this instance, had her first menstruation about the age of 13 but began to see the signs of
puberty around the age of 10 or 11 when she became aware of the development of her breasts
and the need to wear a bra at that time. Along with this age group, there is also a growth spurt.
During the time between the age of 10-14, girls will typically grow approximately 2-4 inches
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more before reaching their adult height according to kidshealth.org, therefore by the age of 14
Kimberly has already reached her maximum height by the time she starts her freshman year of
high school. Compared to boys who continue to grow until the age of 17, girls develop faster
Emotional Development
cope with ones emotions over time (Salkind, 2008). Kimberly can comprehend her own
personal feelings and how to cope with them as well understand the feelings of others.
Influences of these emotions include: family, temperament (fussiness or fearfulness), peers, and
the parent-child interaction (Salkind, 2008). Erik Ericksons stage of Identity versus Role
Confusion says that at this stage is the development of the roles and skills that will prepare
adolescents to take a meaningful place in adult society (Snowman, 2015). Many high school
students during this age group cannot cope with their emotions and often this can lead to
Depression is a common but serious mental illness typically marked by sad or anxious
feelings. Most students occasionally feel sad or anxious, but these emotions usually pass quickly
within a couple of days. Untreated depression lasts for a long time and interferes with your
day-to-day activities. (National Institute of Mental Health, 2017). Depression can often be
linked to teen suicide. Suicide in general means the taking of life. For adolescents of this age, it
can often be the thought that crosses the mind. Kimberly, who is a straight A student often was
bullied for being more developed and more mature than her peers. She started to self-inflict
which means she was causing herself pain. At one point, she began to contemplate this as she
had mentioned in her interview. After she talked to her parents about how she was feeling, she
got the help she was needing and now can cope with her emotions in a healthier way than before.
But for many others, suicide seems like their only way out of an unpleasant situation and they are
unaware of the programs available to them. Substance abuse can include: drugs like smoking,
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Eating disorders in this age group can include: Bulimia nervosa which causes the
uncontrolled rapid eating of copious quantities of food over a brief period, otherwise known as
binge eating, Anorexia nervosa which is the intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted image
of ones body (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Kimberly, who is 16, is comfortable
with the way she looks; however, she still worries about gaining weight even though she binge
eats. So, in a way she falls into both disorder categories although she has not been officially
diagnosed.
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Psychosocial Development
Children, with age, follow the rules of the marble game but the rules are interpreted
differently. This is what Jean Piaget called moral development. Jean Piaget was a clinical
psychologist known for his pioneering work in child development. Children above the ages of
12 regarded rules as necessary, understanding why they are needed, but often formulate their
own variations of the rules to fit a situation. Piaget called this moral relativism.
Lawrence Kohlberg, an American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of
believed that moral reasoning proceeds through a fixed sequence of stages. Please see table 1.1
for detailed information. While Kohlberg always believed in the existence of Stage 6 and had
some nominees for it, he could never get enough subjects to define it, much less observe their
consideration of the cultural context within which those actions take place. A child cannot be
punished for something they deem as right when others see it as wrong because of a cultural
difference.
After reviewing these stages, it was observed that Kimberly has reached Kohlbergs stage
4: Law and Order orientation. To maintain the social order, fixed rules must be established and
obeyed. It is essential to respect authority (Snowman, 2015). Her personality is very sweet and
spontaneous. She doesnt allow other people to walk all over and take advantage of her, but she
Table 1.1
parent or teacher).
others
4 Law and Order one oriented to abiding by the
obligations of duty.
Post-Conventional 5 Social Contract an understanding of social
others
6 Principled respect for universal principle
conscience.
Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development as depicted by Robert Barger, Ph.D.
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Social Development
While most of society places pressure on 16-year-old girls to act, and look a certain way,
Kimberly is not under that pressure. She does however feel the pressure of her family regarding
college and her future. By this age, most girls start to feel pressure from parents and other adults
for long term plans and from their friends/peers who typically influence their speech patterns,
Girls often seem to experience greater anxiety about friendships than boys do (Snowman,
2015). Kimberly has her one best friend who she can talk to about anything and basically, they
do everything together. They have known each other since elementary school and used to live
right next door to each other. Now they live in separate neighborhoods but still go to the same
high school together. However, with a new circle of friends around each of them, it became
harder for them to maintain their current friendship. They are still best friends and still do
everything together, but with some new societal pressures around them they started to argue
During this time, it is typical for an adolescent to have a job after school. Compared to
her older sisters at this age, she has not shown any interest in an after-school job since she wants
to focus on her schoolwork and graduating with honors. According to experts, students who
work more than 20 hours per week are more likely to have lower grades than those who do not
(Snowman 2015). Kimberly is succeeding far more than both of her sisters combined because of
Intellectual Development
adaptation, the process of creating a good fit or match between ones conception of reality and
the real-life experiences one encounters is accomplished by two sub processes: assimilation and
Kimberly, on an intellectual level has adapted her schemes to best fit the sub process of
the experience. Being in marching band, she developed a certain skill set of memorizing musical
notes and being able to play those notes into a full ensemble without the use of sheet music in
front of a crowd. However, when she performs in concert band, that same memorization of a
musical scale comes into play and she effortlessly can perform what is otherwise a complicated
series of notes on her music sheet. She can accommodate for this change because she has
experience on how to read musical notes and sheet music from marching band. Piaget believed
this to be a process called equilibration. Kimberly can solve problems systematically, form
hypotheses, and engage in mental manipulations (Snowman, 2015). This is referred to as the
sociocultural theory because it maintains that how we think is a function of both social and
cultural forces (Snowman, 2015). Meaning that instead of accommodating or assimilating are
experiences to best fit the environment, we group assorted items together in some cases based on
our environment that we are in. For example, I gave Kimberly a list of words: running, apple,
spoon, jumping, talking, pear, fork, soup. She then grouped these words into categories such as
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actions, food you eat, and utensils. She grouped them together in that way because in her
sociocultural norm she knows that apples are something you eat, but in another context, it could
Recommendations
in the following areas: Physical, Emotional, Social, Philosophical, and Intellectual developments.
Physically she struggles with body image and it is partially due to her older sisters and how they
view themselves. She needs a positive role model for this issue as it can affect her later on and
eventually create feelings of self-loathing and hatred for her body. Having that positive role
model who can show her how she can accept her body changes.
Emotionally, Kimberly has reached the typical norm for girls her age and I have found
nothing in need of immediate attention. She is a very sweet girl with a wonderful personality
and it is my belief that if she and her family maintain a constant connection, the chances of her
I have no recommendations to make for the intellectual development as she is at the right
She would benefit socially by interacting with more of her non-immediate family and her
teachers as they would help her can more perspective into her future. Her friends and immediate
family members have more influence on her decisions and what she does on a day to day basis.
By interacting with non-immediate family members and teachers may help her to broaden her
horizons and help her to figure out what she wants without the direct influence of friends and
family.
Philosophical (moral) development is already attained and she does not need any further
recommendations for this stage. She has a good foundation of principles, respects peers and
adults, and understands the concept of why there are rules in place.
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Graph
60
50
40
Average Development Column1 30
Percentage of Adolescents who reach average developmental milestones
20
10
Developmental stage
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References
Singer, D. G., & Reverson, T. A. (Eds.). (1978i). Piaget Primer: How a Child Thinks.
SAGE. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412963848
Snowman, J., & McCown, R. (2015). Pyschology Applied to Teaching . Stamford, CT:
Cengage Learning .
M. J., C. J., S. S., P. S., W. K., F. J., . . . V. B. (2012). Depression and High School.
%20National%20Institute%20of%20Mental%20Health/NIMH%20depression-high-school-
students.pdf
Barger, R., Ph.D. (2000). Kohlberg's theory of moral development. Retrieved May
C. (2017, January 3). Child Development. Retrieved April 05, 2017, from
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescene2.html
Growth and Your 13-to18-year-old. (1995-2017). Retrieved April 05, 2017, from
http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/growth-13-to-18.html?WT.ac=p-ra
Kids Health