Assignment  - Adolescence

Instructions

Part A: Exploration Activity-Barbie Dolls and Body Image

As your textbook authors point out, many adolescent girls struggle with body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and dieting. The causes for this state of affairs are complex and multifaceted. Even though body image issues are normative in western females, males are not immune. For example, young males with body image issues may engage in steroid abuse and exercise addictions. In this activity, you will read about the findings of a team of researchers interested in this issue. This group set out to research the impact of Barbie dolls on the body image of young girls.

Locating the Article at the TRU Library

For Module 1, you located and explored a variety of published articles from an electronic or e- journal. For this final course exploration activity, you will need to locate the following research article from the electronic holdings at TRU library:

Dittmar, H., Halliwell, E., &Ive, S. (2006). Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5- to 8-year-old girls. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 283-292.

If necessary, you can contact a TRU librarian to help you to access this article, but the following set of instructions should enable you to locate this resource on your own:

1. Go to the TRU library web site at http://www.tru.ca/library/.

2. Click Index & Databases.

3. Click PsycARTICLES.

4. Type "Barbie doll" into one of the search boxes and the Dittmar et al. article should appear in the results.

5. To see the full text of the article, click either the HTML or PDF Full Text links.

Pre-reading

Before beginning the exploratory activity, you may find it helpful to re-read "Library Research 101-Doing Research at a Distance" available at http://libguides.tru.ca/c.php?g=193957.

This exploratory activity will give you an opportunity to see how research findings on child development are reported and communicated to other scientists. The Dittmar et al. article is written for a professional audience, and so you can expect that sections of it will be difficult to read and follow. There is neither a requirement nor an expectation that you understand the more complicated sections of the paper, e.g., the statistical analysis of the findings. Instead, aim to understand the paper in terms of the question(s) investigated, the methodology used to study this research question, and the implications of the study findings. You may be surprised at how much of the paper's "Introduction and Discussion" section you can understand and follow.

Reading and Summarizing the Article

Read the Dittmar et al. (2006) article and then write a one-two page summary of it in your own words. Include:

1. An explanation of why the researchers felt it was important to investigate the impact of Barbie dolls. The nature of the three experimental conditions used in the study.

2. The nature of the three experimental conditions used in the study.

3. The size and age of the children who participated in the study.

4. The major finding of the study.

5. Your assessment of whether the study findings provide convincing support for the promotion of more realistically shaped and sized dolls, such as Emme.

Part B: Discussion 4-Reflections on Adolescence

Go to the "Discussions" area on the left-hand navigation menu and complete the discussion posting entitled "Discussion 4: Reflections on Adolescence."

In the reading for this module, you were introduced to the notion that the concept of adolescence was invented. While the biological changes associated with puberty and sexual maturation are quite clear cut, the demarcation between the life periods of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood are more of a social construction and have varied historically as a result of economic conditions, war periods, etc.

In your posting, describe how your memories of your own teen years compare to present day teens and the adolescent experiences of your parents? Grandparents? In your view, what demarcates the passage from childhood to adulthood? Is it separation from the parental household, entry into the job market, completion of education, financial independence, a serious romantic partnership, or a combination of these? Are there other criteria? Explain.

Also comment or respond to a fellow student's input.

Part C: Written Questions

Write a response in your own words to each of the following questions:

1. Parents, usually nervous about their children entering adolescence, anticipate a period of "storm and stress." Discuss to what extent this expectation is valid. (10 marks)

2. Read the following passage from Trenton Lee Stewart's (2007, pp. 56-57) book The Mysterious Benedict Society in which the 11-year-old protagonist Reynie tries to find his way through a house:
"Well," he said aloud, to bolster his courage, "there's no time to waste, so here goes." He plunged through the doorway ahead of him (this ought to be the most direct path to the rear of the house) and, as if by magic, seemed to walk into the very room he has just left.

It was cramped, brightly lit, painted black, and he could see a dark doorway in each wall.

"What in the world!" he said, turning to look behind him, then in confusion turning round again. If he hadn't turned around, he might have kept his bearings, but now he'd lost them. He was in a maze of identical rooms. Everything looked exactly the same in every direction.

His confidence was quickly draining away.

"Now, think," he told himself. "When you enter a room, its light must turn on automatically, and when you leave it, it goes off. But there are light switches by each door. Perhaps if you throw a switch, the light stays on. It might be as simple as that."

With a quick inspection of the nearest doorway, however, the hope vanished. What Reynie supposed were light switches were only decorative wooden panels. He was about to turn away and retrace his steps when it occurred to him that the panels themselves might be important. He took a closer look at one. About the size of a playing card, the panel had four arrows etched into it, pointing in different directions and painted different colors. A blue arrow pointed to the right, a green one to the left, a wiggly-shaped yellow one straight ahead, and a purple one down.

Of course, Reynie thought feeling foolish. The arrows weren't for decoration -they were meant to show the way. But which was he to believe? After going round to every panel he was no better off. Four doorways with four arrows meant sixteen arrows to choose from, and there was no apparent pattern. Reynie racked his brain: Should he follow the green ones? Green arrows on a traffic signal mean "Go." But perhaps that was too obvious. Perhaps the red arrows were the ones to follow-perhaps that was the trick. Yet that hardly seemed fair. What if he'd been color-blind and couldn't even tell the difference.

No sooner had this occurred to him than he knew the secret.

Using the textbook's discussion of cognitive development, show how Reynie's thinking illustrates aspects of both Piaget's theory and information processing theory as they apply to young teens.

3. A group of teenagers is having a party. Describe how adolescent egocentrism, imaginary audience, and personal fable concepts could lead to a party with lots of problems.

4. Describe each of James Marcia's four identity statuses and, for each, provide a brief description of a hypothetical first-year university student who typifies each status.

5. You have now reached the end of your course, having covered child development from conception to adolescence. Reflect on what you have learned and identify one topic or research finding in the course that you found particularly valuable. In your own words, identify and briefly describe the topic/research finding and discuss why it has been significant to you. What question or area of research would you like to learn more about in the future and why?