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Jaime Sundahl Child Development 110-1228 April 29, 2023
Interview – Adolescence Now and Then Compare and Contrast
Interview 1 KS Age: 22 Female
Me: Did you attend high school? KS: yes
Me: Did you want to? KS: yes. I always liked school and I wanted to be a teacher, so I really actually kinda liked going.
Me: Describe the kinds of subjects you were required to take. KS: I took a lot of AP classes, but I think the only required ones were Language Arts, Math, History and Science. Oh, and PE.
Me: Describe the kinds of homework you had. KS: Ummmm. Math was a lot of worksheet work, and my AP English was more reading and long essays. History I don’t really remember having that much homework, it was probably just mostly reading. Science was usually worksheets or lab reports.
Me: Did most of the adolescents in your neighborhood go to high school? KS: Most of them were home-schooled, but yes they did high school equivalent work. They didn’t go to like a real campus or anything, but they were doing the same stuff I had to do.
Me: Did you work as a teenager? If so, how many hours per week did you work (not including school-related work)? KS: I didn’t work. I was really busy with my AP classes, and I was in choir, and I had to take care of my little sister so there really wasn’t any time for a job.
Me: Did you contribute to the family income? KS: I didn’t contribute with any money, but I did a lot of chores and helped with my sister.
Me: Did you want to go to work? Why or why not? KS: Ummmm. I mean, if I didn’t already have so much on my plate maybe, but I don’t know…. Probably not. I would have probably spent more time enjoying high school and my friends.
Me: Describe your relationship with your parents as a teenager. KS: I had a pretty normal relationship with my parents. My mom was more of my emotional support, and my dad…. Well… you know, he’s the dad so he was still supportive but not like in an emotional way.
Me: Describe the kinds of restrictions or rules your parents placed on your behavior. KS: There weren’t really any restrictions. Sometimes I think they should have maybe had more rules. I mean, I had a curfew but if I was going to be late I just had to let them know and they were fine with it. I guess the only big rule was about my phone. I had a bad habit of not turning it on when I left school, and I would get in trouble because the phone was for communication, not just for fun. Other than that there weren’t really any rules, but I wasn’t a trouble maker anyway. My friends were choir kids…. We weren’t really out causing trouble. *laughs*
Me: Describe the riskiest behavior you or one of your friends took during your teen- age years. KS: Riskiest behavior? Ummmm…. I can’t really think of anything that I did that would be risky behavior. Wait! It says it can be a friend that did the risky behavior right? Me: *laughs* yes KS: Ok, well I don’t know if this is really risky… I mean it’s scary so I guess that counts. I had a friend that used to flirt with boys on Xbox chats, and then she would meet up with them. We all told her that it wasn’t a good idea to meet some stranger from a chat room, but she didn’t listen to us. Nothing bad ever happened, thank God, but ya… that wasn’t good. I mean she knows now what a stupid idea that was, but back then she thought she knew better than anyone.
Me: Describe the kinds of clothes you wore for school; dates; outings. KS: I wore mostly darker clothes to school, like never any bright colors. Ummmm… In the colder months I would wear oversized sweatshirts and jeans, and then when it got warmer I would switch to tank tops and shorts. If I was out with my friends I would be more comfortable and wear more colors, just at school I didn’t want to stand out. I never went on any dates, so I don’t know… I think I probably would have worn whatever I normally wore, nothing fancy.
Me: Were you concerned about fashion? KS: Do you mean like, was I trying to be trendy? No. I didn’t really care to wear what a lot of the girls were wearing. I just wanted to be comfortable, not a sloppy hot mess….just comfortable, ya know?
Me: You already kind of answered this question, but at what age did your parents allow you to date? KS: Ya, I didn’t date anyone. My parents would have been ok with me dating at probably 15 or 16, but I just really wasn’t into dating anyone. A lot of my friends were dating and breaking up, and it just seemed like a lot of drama and I really didn’t want any part of that… I had enough going on.
Me: Describe the dating activities that were common for teenagers in your time. KS: I can only speak of what I know my friends were doing, which was basically heading over to the beach to the pier, or like going to the OC Fair during the summer, or dinner and Starbucks. I guess Knott’s Berry Farm too. A lot of my friends had passes, so they would go there too.
Me: Describe how you and your friends would spend your free time. KS: We were usually at each other’s houses most of the time. We’d do friend dinners where we would meet up once or twice a month at a restaurant, or we’d go to the Cerritos Mall to the food court and then go to the movies. Pretty boring, huh? *laughs* Me: That actually sounds fun. Not boring at all. I’d do anything to have those moments again. *laughs*
Me: Describe your most nagging problem as a teenager. KS: I don’t really understand that question. Like, a constant problem as a teenager? Me: That’s what I’m thinking. A problem that really bothered you as a teenager. KS: I guess it would probably just be my case load. I was taking really hard classes, and I had a lot of responsibilities around the house. My parents had me really young, and they were both working. My younger sister and I are 11 years apart, so I became like her second mom when I got into high school. I had my own schoolwork to do, I had to help her with all of hers, and keep the house straightened up, help with dinner, then I had my responsibilities with choir. It was a lot, sometimes maybe too much. I wish I could have been a kid a little more maybe.
Me: Describe what you see as the main difference between the teenagers of today and teen-agers in the past. KS: You know it’s funny… when I look at pictures of my mom in high school she looks so much more mature than we did in high school, but not in a bad way. She looks like a mature adult, but then the teenagers today look like kids acting like adults. Does that make sense? Me: That makes complete sense. KS: ok good, I feel like that came out wrong. I just mean it looks like when my mom was a teenager, and even her friends, they looked like they really were responsible grown adults. Now, with like tik tok and facebook and everything, it just looks like they are trying to be older than they really are, but they are really so much more immature. It just seems fake.
Me: What do you think of today’s teenagers? KS: I know I just sounded totally negative about teenagers nowadays, like I’m some wise old grandma, but I really don’t have anything negative to say about them. *laugh* I actually think it’s cool to see how different they are then how it was like when I was a teenager. My little sister is a teenager now, and the things she talks about are so different from what me and my friends talked about. I think it’s cool. I’m sure my parents were weirded out about some of the stuff we talked about too. *laughs*. I guess every generation is different.
Me: What advice would you give teen-agers today? KS: What advice would I give? Ummmm… let’s see…. Enjoy it. Enjoy all of it. You never get that time back. Don’t spend this time trying to impress everyone, just be yourself because pretty soon you look back and wish you would have slowed down and took it all in. Now, you have to work and pay bills and it will never be that easy again.
Interview 2 CT Age: 64 Female
Me: Did you attend high school? CT: yes
Me: Did you want to? CT: Does anyone really want to? Yes, I guess.
Me: Why did you want to go to school? CT: Because it was a fun place to hang out, with your friends.
Me: Describe the kinds of subjects you were required to take. CT: We had Algebra, we had Career guidance, we had Economics, Biology and Home Ec.
Me: Describe the kinds of homework you had. CT: To be honest with you, I don’t remember ever having homework. Me: Really? You don’t remember having any homework? CT: In high school? No. Well either that, or I didn’t ever do it.
Me: Did most of the adolescents in your neighborhood go to high school? CT: Yes. We all pretty much went to the same school.
Me: Did you work as a teenager? If so, how many hours per week did you work (not including school-related work)? CT: In high school, yes. I worked at Fosters Freeze about 20 to 24 hours a week.
Me: Did you contribute to the family income? CT: Yes, I paid the utility bills. Phone and electric. Me: In high school you had to pay the utilities? CT: Yep, I also had to give my dad 10% of my paycheck every week so it could go into a savings account that I couldn’t touch.
Me: Did you want to go to work? Why or why not? CT: Yes. I wanted my own money to buy my own stuff. It wasn’t the same back then. Parents weren’t buying their kids all the stuff they do now. If you wanted something you had to earn it yourself.
Me: Describe your relationship with your parents as a teenager. CT: It was ok. I mean, they were strict. More so on me than my brothers. Me: They were stricter with you? Why do you think that was? CT: Because I was a girl, and my dad was very old fashioned, and I don’t know… it was just different for girls than it was for boys.
Me: Describe the kinds of restrictions or rules your parents placed on your behavior. CT: I was grounded most of my life so…. I had curfews. Before I dated anybody they had to meet my dad and ask for permission. I wasn’t allowed to go to R rated movies.
Me: Describe the riskiest behavior your or one of your friends took during your teen-age years. CT: You really want to know? *laughs* Me: Yes, your name isn’t going to be on this. *laughs* CT: I told my parents I was going… I don’t remember where I told my parents I was going…. but ****** and I drove to San Pedro, to meet this guy named ******* that I really liked. He looked like Sylvester Stalone in his younger years. So anyway, ya, we went there… I won’t tell you what trouble we got into while we were there, but after leaving there we got lost and ended up in Compton in the middle of the night. And got…so we pulled over so we could call ******’s dad because he was cool, and I couldn’t call my parents. And that’s when we had phone booths, and she was in the phone booth and I was in my car, and this pimp, is it still ok to say pimp? This pimp with a real feather in his purple hat started harassing ****** in the phone booth. I’m sitting in the car telling her to hurry up or I was leaving her. There were bars on the windows of the stores, it really wasn’t a good area. We wound up in another city like Wilmington or something. So anyway *****’s dad told us how to get home, and I ended up getting grounded for 2 weeks.
Me: Describe the kinds of clothes you wore for school; dates; outings. CT: This is getting deep. High school was different than high school. We wore bell bottoms and platform shoes. I don’t really remember ever dressing up, because nobody ever took me anywhere that I needed to be dressed up. I wore mostly pants and tops.
Me: Were you concerned about fashion? CT: Uhhhhh ya I would have liked to have better clothes, but my dad was a tight-wad.
Me: At what age were you allowed to date?
CT: I went out on my first date with ****** to his junior prom. He was a junior and I was in 9th grade, so I was probably 15.
Me: Describe the dating activities that were common for teenagers in your time. CT: Drive-In movies, miniature golf, dinner, roller skating….that’s pretty much it.
Me: Describe how you and your friends would spend your free time. CT: I plead the fifth. *laughs* Uhhhhh….
Me: Where did you guys hang out? What’d you guys do? CT: Well, we’d hang out at ******’s house, make out, make spoon rings, and
Me: Spoon rings? What are spoon rings? CT: Ya, you take a spoon and cut the end off and bend ‘em and make rings out of ‘em, and we drank, and we….. did other stuff. *laughs*
Me: No wonder you were grounded all the time. *laughs* CT: *laughs* ya!
Me: Describe your most nagging problem as a teenager. CT: Being grounded all the time. Out of the 4 years in high school, I was probably grounded for a total of 3 years. Like I said, I was grounded the majority of my life.
Me: Describe what you see as the main difference between the teenagers of today and teen-agers in the past. CT: Hmmmm…less discipline. They get a lot more stuff than we ever did. All the cars and phones, and laptops and iPads, and the latest and greatest of everything. They didn’t have to earn any of it.
Me: What do you think of today’s teenagers? CT: It depends on which teenagers? There are some that are hoodlums, and then there are some that are good kids. So…. It just depends on how they were raised. If they’re raised with parents that actually discipline, it shows.
Me: What advice would you give teen-agers today? CT: Don’t do drugs. Don’t drink. Choose your friends wisely. Stay in school and develop a good work ethic. Listen to your parents, they know what they’re talking about.
Compare and Contrast
1. How did you follow the ethical policies as required? I created a script that I read to each interviewee: “As you know, I am taking a Child Development course, and I would like to ask for your participation in completing my assignment. I have been tasked with interviewing 2 individuals in regards to their teenage years and time in high school. All answers to these questions will be kept confidential, and your full name will not be disclosed, nor will your location. Only your initials and age will be recorded, for comparing and contrasting purposes. If at any time, you no longer want to participate in the interview we will stop and I will erase all of your responses. I will show you the questions that I will be asking, so that you are prepared, and if there is anything you are not comfortable with answering we can skip those questions. After we’re done with the interview I will show you the typed document, so you can see what I will be submitting, and if there are any errors in my note taking. I will try to keep it as verbatim as possible. If you would like a copy for your own records I can give you one as well.” After reading the script I handed them a copy of the questions that I had typed out, for them to review, and asked if I had their permission to begin the interview. I interviewed each party on separate days and in different locations. Both parties agreed to participate in the interview, but neither requested a copy of the finished interview even though it was offered to them.
2. Describe what adolescence was like in the past and what changes seemed to have occurred?
It seems like parents were stricter in the past, which led to kids sneaking out and getting into trouble. With the younger generation, the parents are more relaxed and less strict, so there isn’t much need to sneak out. That doesn’t mean that one generation was any more or less of trouble makers, just that the parenting styles seem to be different and causing a different reaction out of the teenagers. Teenagers in the past had more responsibilities, and had to work for what they wanted, which helped them to learn respect. Compared to the younger generation, that has everything given to them, and not learning pride in ownership.
3. Describe how your interviewees’ adolescence is different from what you experienced as an adolescent.
I would say I’m somewhere in the middle of them both. Realistically and figuratively. My parents were more strict that KS’ parents, but less strict than CS’ parents. I had all the responsibilities with school and sports and chores, but I had to get a job in order to earn the privilege of driving or any “extras” that I wanted. However, I didn’t have to contribute to the family income. My friends and I did some of the same things as both interviewees. We hung out at the movies or the mall, and Starbucks on Wednesday nights, but I was also involved in my church youth group and did a lot of activities with them. I never really got in trouble, I had great friends and I had a boyfriend. So right in the middle of the two interviewees. For reference there is a 20 year age difference
between myself and interviewee #1 and a 22 year age difference between myself and interviewee #2. I find it interesting to see the full spectrum and the progression, and wonder if I went back even farther and interviewed someone in their 70’s or 80’s if I’d see even more of a difference.
4. What did you learn about adolescence in our readings that might explain the struggles many young people are dealing with? Did either of your interviewees experience these struggles? What theories might apply to explain these issues?
I realized they both reacted different to peer pressure. CT was more apt to follow the bad influences of her friends, while KS had a moral compass that was fine tuned to what was not ok. These two individuals were raised by parents with completely different parenting skills. I happen to know both of these individuals very well, and know their parents very well. In our text I read, “Authoritative parenting facilitates children’s moral growth better than other parenting styles and one of the most influential things a parent can do is to encourage the right kind of peer relations. While parents may find this process of moral development difficult or challenging, it is important to remember that this developmental step is essential to their children’s well-being and ultimate success in life.” (Valadez, 7.4.4.) It would seem that there is a fine line between authoritative parenting and control. CT had very strict parents, with very high expectations and controlled her by keeping her home the majority of the time. While KS has more relaxed parents that built trust with her, while still having some rules and expectations. It seems as though CT rebelled more than KS and also found herself in more trouble with her peers, than KS did. So where is that line? When is it too much authority, and when do you allow a little room for earning trust?
5. What is your advice for the next generation of teenagers? What have you learned from our readings that support this advice?
Both of these individuals had really great advice for teenagers. I would agree with choosing your friends wisely. I would also agree with being yourself, and enjoying this time. KS is right, you don’t get this time back, and you should enjoy being young while you can before the responsibilities of being an adult set in. I would say that your actions today, could influence your future tomorrow. Keep that in mind before you post on social media, or do something you know you shouldn’t be doing. Think before you act, basically. “The behavioral decision-making theory proposes that adolescents and adults both weigh the potential rewards and consequences of an action. However, research has shown that adolescents seem to give more weight to rewards, particularly social rewards, than do adults. Adolescents value social warmth and friendship, and their hormones and brains are more attuned to those values than to long-term consequences.” (Crone & Dahl, 2012)
6. What is your advice for parents of today’s adolescents? What have you learned from our readings that support that advice?
I would caution parents not to be too overbearing and controlling, because I feel like that will only push their kids farther away and into the arms of the exact people they are trying to protect them from. I know parents mean well, and they only the want the best for their kids, but controlling every aspect of their lives is not the way to go. I would definitely set boundaries and expectations, along with consequences, but I would also advise having open communication between them and their kids. Be open to hearing about what’s going in their life. Don’t be so quick to jump in, or jump on them. Listen, really listen to your kids. Make the time, to take the time. Get involved in their school, learn about their favorite hobby, do whatever you have to do to get on their level and build that trust. Don’t be the parent they’re afraid to call if they mess up, because they will mess up. Remember that you were that age too, and while you’re not the same person, be the grace you wish you had at that age.
7. What are your two favorite citations from the textbook regarding adolescence? Why are these citations appropriate to your discoveries?
I am raising an adolescent right now, so this section below really stood out to me. As a single mom, I walk a fine line of “Authoritative Mom” and “Friend/Confidant”. I’m always conscious of my own actions, so that I’m modeling the behavior I expect of her. I’ve also taken the time to get to know her friends, to the point that they call me mom and probably talk to me more than their own parents. But, I also have to be cautious to not get too comfortable so she knows that I’m still the adult and mom.
“Adolescents are receptive to their culture, to the models they see at home, in school and in the mass media. These observations influence moral reasoning and moral behavior. When children are younger, their family, culture, and religion greatly influence their moral decision-making. During the early adolescent period, peers have a much greater influence. Peer pressure can exert a powerful influence because friends play a more significant role in teens’ lives. Furthermore, the new ability to think abstractly enables youth to recognize that rules are simply created by other people. As a result, teens begin to question the absolute authority of parents, schools, government, and other traditional institutions (Vera-Estay, Dooley, & Beauchamp, 2014) By late adolescence, most teens are less rebellious as they have begun to establish their own identity, their own belief system, and their own place in the world.” (Valadez, 7.4.4)
I also found the section (7.2.3.) very interesting as it pertains to intuitive and analytical thinking. I put so much emphasis on my children’s academics, because I believe they are extremely important, that I tend to forget that experience is just as important. I need to make more time to allow for that part of their development as well.
“As discussed in the adolescent brain development section earlier in this module, the discrepancy between the maturation of the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex, may make teens more prone to emotional intuitive thinking than adults. As adolescents develop, they gain in logic/analytic thinking ability and sometimes regress, with social context, education, and experiences becoming major influences. Simply put, being “smarter” as measured by an intelligence test does not advance cognition as much as having more experience, in school and in life.” (Klaczynski & Felmban, 2014)