1

HD 320 Interview Paper

HD 320 1P Contemporary Urban Adolescent

Interview Paper

Pacific Oaks College

Vera Enekwechi

Pacific Oaks College

Tyreed Boyd-Bates

February19, 2016
 2
HD 320 Interview Paper

Interviewer Name: Vera Enekwechi

Interviewee: Jenifer

Age: 21 years Sex: Female

Date: 2/14/16

Time Begin: 4:30 Time Ended: 5:30 pm.

Brief Description of the Interviewee: Jenifer is an African American, young, female and

undergraduate, student, of University of California Los Angeles. She is 21 years old with long

curly brown hair, fair in complexion, brown eyes, oval face, dense eye lashes, straight nose, thick

lips, broad waist with curves and big breasts. She is about 5ft, 8 inches in height and about 150

lbs in weight. She is clean in appearance.

Interview setting: Home (indoor environment) incident

Q: What do you think about puberty?

A: Well, I think puberty is the time, in life when a boy or a girl becomes sexually mature. I mean

the time our body begins to develop and change as we move, from kid to adulthood.

Q: At what age did you first notice changes in your body?

A: I think the first time I noticed that my body was changing was when I was 13 years old. The

experience I had about puberty from 13years to 15 years of age was very scary, weird and

embarrassing. Ms Vera.

Q: Can you tell me more about the changes you experienced?

A: For me, the very first sign I experienced about puberty was that my breast started to develop

and I felt some soreness under and around my nipples. I noticed that I increased in height,

gained weight, and my hips widened. Hairs started to grow, where it did not grow before, such
 3
HD 320 Interview Paper

as pubic hairs, and even, in my armpit. The hairs were very thick and dark in color.

Again, acne (pimples) started showing up, on my face and my upper back. I also noticed that I

started developing body odor. I had to see our family doctor for that problem, who

recommended deodorant to help to eliminate the odor, and a cream, for the acne. Although,

the doctor told me not to worry so much about the acne and the odor that they would go as I

grew older. It was so embarrassing. The last experience I had about puberty was the menstrual

period, which I had at the age of 14. Menstrual period was another monster because of the

blood, the pain, cramp and the odor involved.

Q: How did puberty affect your emotions, moods and thoughts?

A: My emotion during puberty became stronger and more intense in the sense that, one minute

I would feel very happy, the next minute, I would feel so bad. I started having sexual thoughts

and urges and I also, felt sexually attracted to boys. However, I usually wait, for the feelings to

pass. In any case, I never had sexual intercourse with anybody at that time.

Q: Which changes were the most difficult, for you to deal with and why?

A: The most difficult change, for me to deal with was the menstrual period, because of the pain,

cramp and the odor involved. I also had to deal with the acne, which invaded my face.

Although, the acne later disappeared as I got older.

Vera: Jenifer, Thank you so much, for sharing your experience of puberty with me

Jenifer: Youre welcome.

Interviewer: Vera Enekwechi

Interviewee: Chuck

Age: 18 years Sex: Male

 4
HD 320 Interview Paper

Date: 2/15/16

Time Begin: 4:00 PM Time Ended: 5:00 PM

Brief Description of the Interviewee: Chuck is an African American, young, male and

undergraduate student of University of Southern California. He is 18 years old, about 5ft.

9inches in height, and about 165 lbs, in weight. Chuck has shaved hair, oval face, thick lips,

straight nose, a perfect skin and light in complexion. He has small hips, broad shoulders, and he

is clean in appearance.

Interview Setting: Home (indoor environment) incident

Q: What do you think about puberty?

A: Well, I think it refers to the physiological and psychological changes that affect boys and girls.

However, boys and girls do not experience puberty the same way.

Q: At what age did you first notice changes in your body?

A: I first started experiencing changes in my body when I was 15 years old.

Q: Can you tell me more about the changes you experienced?

A: The very first thing I noticed was that my testicle and my penis started getting bigger and

bigger. Then I noticed hair growing in my pubic area and my armpit: I also started being

muscular, and my voice deepened. Moreover, I started developing facial hair as well as acne.

The most embarrassing thing was that I started having erection when I think of sex and

sometimes, for no reason. I also experienced erection and ejaculation while I was asleep.

Although, it stopped as I got older.

Q: How did puberty affect your emotions, moods, and thoughts?

 5
HD 320 Interview Paper

A: The experience is really very hard to explain because I did not really understand what was

going, on with me. This was because sometimes I felt happy, sometimes I felt really sad. I

started having more sexual thoughts and urges and also being romantically attracted to girls,

but I was shy to talk to any of them.

Q: Which changes were the most difficult, for you to deal with and why?

A: The changes that were difficult, for me to deal with were the size of my penis and the ability

of my penis to become erected at the most unwanted times. The erection caused me much

embarrassment when I was young. One day, in math class when I was 15 years old, it

unpredictably raised its head when I was called upon by my teacher to solve a problem, on the

blackboard. I felt so embarrassed by that; and to this day, I shy away, from writing, on the

blackboard. I also shy away from any team work as a result of not knowing what my penis would

do next.

Vera: Chuck, thank you for sharing your experience of puberty with me.

Chuck: Youre welcome

Compare and Contrast the Interviewees Attitude:

Jenifer was bashful when I asked her to tell me what she thought about puberty initially. After

pausing, for about 3 seconds she opened up and answered my questions. Similarly, Chuck was

embarrassed when I asked him to tell me what he thought about puberty. I tried to convince

him that, whatever he would tell me, would be a secret between him and I. Based on that, he

opened up and answered my questions. Jenifer is a girl and chuck is a boy both of them

experienced puberty, but not exactly the same way. Caron (1994) stated, Although, the
 6
HD 320 Interview Paper

Girls unconventional stands may hurt and worry a mother, in her heart and understand, where

her daughter is coming from, her son however, is different (p.17).

The aspect of pubertal transition Jenifer focused, on when she explained her experiences

were physiological changes, cognitive changes, social and emotional changes. On the same

token, the aspect of pubertal transition Chuck focused, on were also physiological changes

cognitive changes, social and emotional changes. Adolescent is defined, As characterized by

three primary changes in the individual: the biological change associated with puberty, the

potential, for cognitive change and a redefinition of social roles, (Grotevant, 1998).

Moreover, Adolescence is based on biological changes the accompanying change and

meaning are dependent on cultural community. For example, a 15 year old is physically able to

reproduce, but in mainstream American culture, teen-aged child bearing is not accepted as the

norm, (Grotevant, 1998).

Furthermore, These experiences are carried with the young person into the next phase of

development and shape their future possibilities, (Grotevant, 1998).

Were there gender differences or age differences in responses?

There were gender and age differences in the responses of the interviewees. For instance

Jenifer responded that she was 13 years old when she had the experiences of puberty. Her signs

of puberty were breast development, curves, broad waist, menstrual periods and others. These

characteristics are peculiar to female adolescents, which can be looked upon as gender

differences. Conversely, Chuck said that he was 15 years old when he experienced changes in his

body. He also said that the changes he experienced were penis and testicle enlargement, voice

deepening, ejaculation, facial hair and others. These characteristics are peculiar to male
 7
HD 320 Interview Paper

adolescents. The first level of ecological context begins with the personal characteristics of

adolescent. This includes factors such as young person, gender, race, ethnicity and sexual

orientation, (Grotevant, 1998). Based on the responses of the two individuals, there were both

gender and age differences in their responses.

Describe the Questions you asked:

The questions I asked the interviewees were open-ended questions such as What How

Why and a phrase such as Can you tell me about. Open-ended questions lead the

interviewees to think analytically and critically. Finally, a good open-ended question should

encourage discussion, spark enthusiasm and energy in any individual being interviewed.
 8
HD 320 Interview Paper

References:

Caron, A. F. (1994). Strong mothers strong sons. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Grotevant, H. D. (1998). Adolescent development in family context: Social, emotional, and

personality development. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.