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Case Study 1: Monica
Faith A. Sola
Liberty University
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Question #1
According to Susman and Dorn (2010), the absence of a father-figure, stressful family
environments, divorce, childhood obesity, and lower socioeconomic status are indicators for
advanced maturity in girls. An authoritarian single parent raised Monica; they lived in an urban
community with moderate crime rates and suffered financial disabilities. This setting is what
promoted her mother’s “strict disciplinarian” attitude; an attitude that transformed favorably once
she remarried. Also, consistently linked to early maturation in girls are adverse outcomes such as
depressive symptoms, behavior problems, substance use, stress, earlier sexual debut,
participation in risky behaviors, and increased risk for sexual encounters (Susman & Dorn,
2009). Monica's psychological history states that she dealt with depression, a low body image,
and test anxiety all correlative outcomes with early maturation. Moreover, early maturing girls
tend to exhibit more behavior problems and adjustment difficulties than their on-time or later
maturing peers. In Monica’s case, she enjoyed performing new and provocative behaviors with
her friends, although the behavior itself, was not beneficial for her health as it was her social
domain.
Ample investigation has pertained to the reasons why adolescents are more likely to
express "storm and stress" (i.e., risky behaviors, defiance towards parents, mood swings) than
any other phase of life (Arnett, 1999). Fortunately, the articles of Galvin (2010) and Van
Duijivencoorde and Crone (2010) provide significant data for the reward-seeking behavior of
adolescents. Neurologically, research has identified a dopamine-rich region of the brain called
the striatum which is correlated to reward sensitivity. The striatum is hyper-responsive to
dopamine, suggesting that there is more of an appetite for rewarding behavior (Galvan, 2010).
Likewise, the timing of the development of brain areas is quintessential for identifying the
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protagonists of decision making: the early developing limbic system (rewards, emotional stimuli)
and the succeeding frontal-parietal region (regulation of emotions, behavioral control) (Galvan,
2010; Susman & Dorn, 2009). Research also indicated that there is a developmental decrease in
choosing risky decisions with age (Duijvenvoorde & Crone, 2013). In this mind-frame, as
Monica matures in age, she has also matured biologically, promoting decisions based on risk
aversion instead of risky behavior. She also wants to abstain from behavior that could disappoint
her mother and youth pastor showing increased regulation of emotions and behavioral control.
Question #2
Influenced by Piaget's theory of moral development, Lawrence Kohlberg expanded the
theory into three distinct stages of moral reasoning each with two sub-levels; overall named the
Moral Reasoning theory (Moshman, 2011c). The first stage, pre-conventional morality, includes
sub-levels one and two: obedience and punishment orientation and individualism, instrumental
purpose and exchange, respectively. The second stage, conventional morality, includes sub-levels
three and four: mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and intrapersonal conformity
and social system morality, respectively. The third and final stage, post-conventional morality,
includes sub-levels five and six: social utility or contract and individual rights and universal
ethical principles, respectively. Since the second stage of morality is the most common and
apparent in adolescents, Monica's moral reasoning sub-level would either be three or four. Due
to her social history, placing Monica into sub-level three of Kohlberg's theory seems like a good
fit. In her social history, Monica mentions the fact that she wants to be a "good person" and tries
to live up to the standards that require her to be that way (i.e., no longer hanging out with her old
friends; has not smoked in 10 months). Although her mother does warn her about discrimination
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and trusting others because of her minority status, Monica has not become aware of these
broader rules of society (which would input her into sub-level four).
Furthermore, according to Eisenberg and colleagues (2009), lower levels of moral
reasoning reap poor outcomes while higher levels of moral reasoning reap positive outcomes.
Parental, peer, and dispositional influences of moral reasoning are essential to demonstrate the
complexities of moral reasoning in adolescents. Parental influences include authoritative
parenting, emphasis on prosocial behavior goals, parental morality, and family cohesion
(Eisenberg, Morris, McDaniel, & Spinard, 2009). Peer influences include honest discussions, a
moderate degree of conflict, peer acceptance, and being seen as a leader. Finally, dispositional
influences include self-regulation, social competence, self-esteem, motivation, and less
delinquency and anger (Eisenberg et al., 2009). All these influences can be correlated back to
Monica's social, psychological, and behavioral domains: psychologically, Monica depicted
feeling depressed when younger and now at sixteen feeling more confident. Behaviorally, she
has felt the motivation to perform better in school and increase her grade. Socially, she has felt
more social competence, peer acceptance, and seen as a leader when attending her church's youth
ministry and volunteering at the nursery.
Question #3
The most active period for identity formation is during adolescence and early adulthood.
Identity formation is an explicit theory of self, such that it is known to the person (explicit), is
organized, coherent, and explanatory (theory), and reflects “self” as a person engaging in agency,
rationality, singularity, and continuity (Moshman, 2011b). Moreover, James Marcia concluded
that identity formation transpires through various forms, i.e., identity achieved (ended the
exploration for commitments), moratorium (actively seeking new commitments), identity
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diffused (no strong commitments and not searching for any), and identity foreclosed (committed
and inactively exploring for other commitments) (Moshman, 2011b, 2011a). These forms of
identity can be accepted as a direct representation of “self” in diverse domains of life such as
familial, social, and academic- as exemplified in Monica’s life history. Overall, Monica's identity
formation is currently identity achieved in familial and social domains (ex. being content and
focused on school and her relationship with God), but in moratorium in academics (ex. her
reservations about her authoritarian mother's academic choices for her and is exploring
alternative). Beforehand, Monica's identity would have been foreclosed in academics (ex. mother
wants her to be a doctor) and familial (ex. raised by a single parent; is an only child), but in
moratorium socially (ex. smoking marijuana with her friends).
Monica grew up in a non-religious/non-spiritual household; therefore, there was no
religious/spiritual development (RSD) across either an institutional or personal ideology. It is
important to note the differences between religiosity and spirituality and their subfields
institutional and personal ideologies. Religion is, "an organized system of beliefs, practices,
rituals, and symbols that serve to facilitate an individual's closeness to the sacred" (King &
Roeser, 2010). On the other hand, spirituality is the quest of understanding life's ultimate
questions, meaning of life, and about the relationship with the sacred or transcendent.
Institutional spirituality/religiosity refers to the involvement in religious activities (i.e., attending
church services, attendance in other activities, and enjoyment of activities); while personal
spirituality/religiosity refers to a connection with sacred or higher power (i.e., wondering about
spiritual issues and frequency of prayers) (Good & Willoughby, 2014).
Sole influences on RSD include familial, peer, and religious institutional interactions.
With the quality of parental-child interactions improving, other aspects will improve and vice
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versa. According to King and Roaser (2009) and Good and Willoughby (2014), the outcomes of
RSD through personal and institutional attainment include a healthier lifestyle, life satisfaction,
improved self-esteem and sense of meaning and purpose, increased community service and
altruism, decreased depression, suicide rates, substance use, sexual activity, and violence. With
her mother remarried, Monica began attending a Christian church and became active in the youth
ministry. Assuredly, attending church has improved her social, psychological, and behavior
outcomes. Monica is interacting more with her church friends and deems a relationship with God
as essential and fundamental (social). Also, her mood has improved after suffering from low self-
esteem and depression and believes that her life is finally "coming together" (psychological).
Finally, Monica wants to be a "good" person and has overturned her reckless behavior (i.e.,
smoking) for attitudes that her mother and youth pastor would support (psychological and
behavioral).
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References
Arnett, J. J. (1999). Adolescent storm and stress reconsidered. American Psychological
Association, 54(5), 317–326.
Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K. Van, & Crone, E. A. (2013). The teenage brain: A neuroeconomic
approach to adolescent decision making. Current Directions in Psychological Science,
22(2), 108–113.
Eisenberg, N., Morris, A. S., McDaniel, B., & Spinard, T. (2009). Responding in adolescence. In
Handbook of Adolescent Psychology (pp. 229–265).
Galvan, A. (2010). Adolescent development of the reward system. Frontiers in Human
Neuroscience, 4(6), 1–9.
Good, M., & Willoughby, T. (2014). Institutional and personal spirituality/religiosity and
psychosocial adjustment in adolescence: concurrent and longitudinal associations. Journal
of Youth and Adolescence, 43(5), 757–774.
King, P. E., & Roeser, R. W. (2010). Religion and spirituality in adolescent development.
Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, 435–478.
Moshman, D. (2011a). Erikson’s theory of identity formation. In Adolescent Rationality and
Development: Cognition, Morality, and Identity (3rd ed., pp. 117–128). Psychology Press.
Moshman, D. (2011b). Identity as a theory of oneself. In Adolescent Rationality and
Development: Cognition, Morality, and Identity (3rd ed., pp. 129–138). Psychology Press.
Moshman, D. (2011c). Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. In Adolescent Rationality and
Development: Cognition, Morality, and Identity (pp. 63–76). Psychology Press.
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Susman, E. J., & Dorn, L. D. (2009). Puberty: Its role in development. In Handbook of
Adolescent Psychology (pp. 116–151).
