Running Head: ADOLESCENCE PAPER

Adolescence Paper
Judith M. Brusseau
Wayne State University

Running Head: ADOLESCENCE PAPER

Introduction
Ihadanamazingchildhood.IwasbroughtupinawonderfulneighborhoodandIhad
lotsoffriends.Atthetime,Iwastooyoungtoseethedysfunctionsofmyfamilyandsawmy

childhoodasaperfectone.Iwouldgotoschool,dothingsaroundthehouseandgoouttoplay
withmyfriends.IwenttochurchonSundayandjoinedprayergroupsatthelocalchurch.Idid
notgetintoanytroubleuntilmyfamilymovedoutofthisneighborhoodaroundthesametime
thatIwasenteringpuberty.Idontknowhowmylifewouldhaveplayedoutifwehadnot
moved.WhatIdoknowisthatthemovetoanewneighborhoodbroughtupissuesthatIbelieve
changedmylifeanddirectedmetowardapathofselfdestruction.Myadolescentyearswere
fullofbeingselfcritical,insecureandinaverybadplacewithmyfamily.Igotbadgradesin
school,hungaroundthewronggroupofpeopleandgotintothingsthatIshouldnothave.
IttookmanyyearsformetohealfromtheissuesthatIfacedasateenandearlyadult.Istilldeal
withdepressionandsevereanxiety.Eventoday,IhavetopaycloseattentiontowhatIam
feelingsothatIcanswitchmythinkingtoapositiveplacesothatIdonotfallbackintothe
darkerplacethatIheldasateen.

Running Head: ADOLESCENCE PAPER

Biological Dimensions
The best way to describe my family would be nuclear. It consisted of a father, mother,
brother and sister. Most of my interactions with my family would have been with my mother.
My older brother and I fought and my father came home from work, had his cocktails, ate dinner
while watching the television and fell asleep on the couch. The only interaction that I had with
my father was to get lectured, yelled at and hit by him. In order to gain attention from my father,
I would get into trouble so that he would have to address me in one way or another. I was the
black sheep of the family and my self-esteem was very low. My father told my mother to take
me to a therapist, who in his eyes would fix me. That did not happen. My incorrigible behavior
lasted until my late adolescent years.
I began to pull away from my parents when my family moved from Warren, MI to Troy,
MI. I was about 13 years old and my father had been making a lot of money because of a
successful business. and one day it was decided that we were moving. My brother and I had no
warning whatsoever. It came as a big surprise. I did not understand why the move had to be a
secret, why they did not share with me that they were even thinking about moving. When I lived
in Warren, I hung around a really nice group of people. So, when we moved, I had just assumed
that I would be hanging with the same type of kids. I made several attempts to be around the
trouble-free kids only to be met with bullying type behavior. I was told to meet them at a certain
place for a party and I would show up and no one would be there. They treated me horribly. So
the only kids who would accept me into their group would be the burnouts and that who I spent
the remainder of my adolescence with. Moving from one neighborhood to another was my first
noted experience with how diverse different neighborhoods could be. I had always thought that
everyone was the same, wherever you were.

Running Head: ADOLESCENCE PAPER

Had Murray Bowens Family Systems Theory been utilized, there may have been hope for
me. The reason is that this system does not blame one person for troubled issues. Looking back,
it appeared to me that my family was using me as the focus for problems instead of looking at
the whole family unit as an issue. Bowens circular approach focuses on the inter-relations of the
people involved AND the persons family as the system of interactions where the focus is on
what is happening rather than why it is occurring. Family dynamics have a strong influence on
how an adolescent sees himself or herself.
Psychological Dimensions
When I was in my adolescence I though that I was fat. My girlfriends and I would go on a
competitive diet. That meant that we would both eat lettuce only for a period of time, usually a
week or two and who ever lost the most weight would be the better person. Even when I did lose
weight, I still did not like my appearance. I would spend two hours in front of the mirror in the
morning before school and when I had to leave for the bus I still was not happy with what I saw.
I could pick out every single imperfection that I had. I saw no beauty in myself. It was a very
bad time for me. I would lie in bed at night and as I tried to fall asleep I would start from my
head all of the way to my toes and pick apart every single imperfection on my face and body.
My self-consciousness was at its worst when I was fourteen years old. If
somebody looked at me wrong, I would feel myself turning beet red. I was
the type of teen that was very quiet, unless I was around my close friends.
My concern about whether or not I was normal dominated my thoughts. I
was not the type of person to show-off; I was the opposite. I would have
been happiest if I just crawled under a rock. My being self-critical was at its
peak. My attitude changed slightly when I got my first boyfriend. I was at

Running Head: ADOLESCENCE PAPER

my happiest when we were walking down the halls at school, holding hands.
I was very proud to have someone who liked me. I was in love for the first
time. That happiness did not last long because one day he played a dirty
trick on me and it crushed my heart. I got very sick and very depressed.
The depression became clinical and that is something that I am still dealing
with today.
David Elkinds study found that children in their early teens develop an imaginary
audience. Teens develop a belief that everyone around them is going to focus on every
imperfection that they themselves see. I now can understand that this was perfectly normal. It
was that I was developing powerful feelings about myself and the newness of it made it difficult
for me to figure out where my thoughts ended and other peoples began. As I grew older, I was
able to figure out that people really did not care about my appearance as much as I did. It was
just a part of my development of my own self-consciousness.
Social Dimensions
Eric Eriksons psychosocial development theory explains eight stages of a persons
development. Ego identity vs. role confusion explains that young adults are meant to go through
psychosocial moratorium that explores puberty and genitality around the ages of 12 and 18. This
is when a teen is discovering who they are. It directs an adolescent toward the focus of peers,
groups and influences. It also observes resolution of identity and becoming a grown-up. This
stage reflects on how an adolescent is newly concerned with their appearance and how others
view it. This is a stage that forms a teen into who they become and that they then progress to
another stage that further develops their personality.

Running Head: ADOLESCENCE PAPER

Since my self-esteem was so low, it is no surprise that I turned to drugs. My first time was trying
marijuana. My brother was the person who introduced marijuana to me. It seemed that
everybody I hung out with was smoking cigarettes, drinking and doing weed. I did not want to
feel uncool when my brother was standing there with a few of his friends so I went ahead and
decided to try it. It did help me to feel better but only for a period of time. In order to keep the
happy feeling going, I had to get a job. My first job was as a waitress at an A&W restaurant. I
made great money with my tips and I had to laugh at my brother because he was working at a
carwash and I was able to obtain a lot more marijuana than he could. This extra money allowed
me to be a little more creative with my weed and I was able to ingest it in other ways to make my
buzz last longer. My friends and I also turned to alcohol as a way to escape our boredom. We
would go to local party stores and stand around and wait for someone to pull into the parking lot.
As they entered the store, we would ask them to buy some alcohol for us. Once we found
someone to buy it we would go and drink. In hindsight, I see that the only reason that I drank
was because they were drinking and the reason I started on weed was the same. It all boils down
to whom you pick as your friends.
Summation and Conclusion
I understand that my adolescence is a reflection on which I have become today. Today, it
help me, as a parent, to try to direct my children in a route that is different than the one I chose as
a teen. The most direct approach that I took in relation to this was that I made certain that my
children did not move out of a neighborhood and school district during this crucial period. This
was difficult to achieve because my children were in Ericksons 5th stage of development when I
was divorcing and I fought long and hard so that my children did not have to experience a move
during that time. Do I know if that will change who they are today and who they will become? I

Running Head: ADOLESCENCE PAPER

dont know. But I will do my best as a parent to see that they go through this stage in life as
smoothly as possible.

References:
Elkind, David. The Child's Reality: Three Developmental Themes. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, 1978. Print.
"Erikson's Psychosocial Stages Summary Chart." Psychology - Student Resources Psychology
Articles. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
Retrieved from: http://psychology.about.com/library/bl_psychosocial_summary.html.
"Murray Bowen Family Theory." Murray Bowen Family Theory. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
Retrieved from: http://zipdf.com/murray_bowen_family_theory>.
Doorey, Marie. "Elkind, David (1931- ) | Encyclopedia of Psychology | Find Articles at BNET."
Find Articles at BNET | News Articles, Magazine Back Issues & Reference Articles on All
Topics. BNET, n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.