Abstract
The adolescence is one of the most important stages of development that comes with a number of challenges and personal needs. This research focused on analysing the needs of a 14-year old girl who is a younger sister to the researcher. Physical, intellectual, psychological, social, and emotional needs were analysed by observing her behaviour at home and in school. A direct interview with the young adolescent, the parents and her teachers was also conducted to help validate the observable characteristics. Moral and ethical characteristics of these needs were also analysed.
Introduction
The adolescents have a number of needs that should be understood by the parents and teachers in order to help them pass this developmental stage successfully. According to Rose (2007), early adolescents are always unaware of how to deal with the physical and psychological changes that take place within their bodies. The adolescent boys start developing deep voices that they are not comfortable with. Girls start the menstrual cycle that forces them to take the responsibility of managing it. Both girls and boys at this stage start experiencing other developmental changes in the body that may be confusing.
The aim of this research is to determine some of the needs of the early adolescent girls and how they can be met. The context of the study was defined in order to create a clear understanding of how the data was gathered (Balen, 2004). The research was focused on a 14-year old girl who is a family member of the researcher.
It was easier to conduct a research on her than other adolescents outside the family because the researcher could easily gather some of the information about her without necessarily asking her questions. The guiding question that was used in the research was to determine some of the needs that are unique to the early adolescents from various perspectives. The researcher also used the secondary sources of information in order to support the findings made from the primary data.
Context
According to Balen (2004), defining the context of a research is very important in a case study because it enables the readers to develop a picture of what is being investigated. The researcher based the study on three main settings. The first setting was at home where this girl spends most of her time after school, especially in the evenings, holidays, or weekends (Blake, 2008).
The school was the second setting where the girl spends most of her days, while the community was the third setting. The community included the friends that the girl interacted with outside school or home setting. This was necessary to ensure that all the factors that affect the adolescents are captured. Choosing a 14-year old adolescent was perfect because it is at this stage that they start experiencing drastic physical and psychological changes that may redefine their needs in life.
Literature Review
Adolescence is one of the most important stages of development that has attracted attention of many scholars. One of the areas that have received attention from the researchers is the needs of the adolescents. According to Booth (2012), adolescence is one of the stages of development where a child is subjected to a series of changes in the body and mind. It is a stage where a child gets transformed into adulthood.
The early adolescents face the challenge of dealing with the sudden changes in their bodies that they were not used to in their lives as children. For example, an adolescent girl will start experiencing menses. In some of the cases, this may shock her, especially if she had not been informed of such a possibility by her teachers, parents or other elder members of the society. According to Blake (2008), when these physical changes occur, the adolescents will become very conscious about their bodies. These changes will introduce a number of needs that will be discussed in this study.
Theories have been developed to help explain some of the needs that early adolescents may have during this stage of life. According to Rose (2007), Biogenetic Psychology of Adolescents by Stanley Hall is one of the earliest theories that tried to investigate the developmental changes of the adolescents and how it defined their needs. According to this theory, adolescence is a period of storm and stress. It is at this stage that one develops strong a sense of passion, personal feeling, and stress.
An individual becomes aware of the immediate environment and how they relate to one another. As Welty (2008) observes, it is common for an individual to develop a sense of belonging and the desire to be accepted in the society, especially among the peers. This theory also explains that children at this stage may become rebellious as they try to become relevant within their families, at school or in the community.
The rebellion among the adolescents is also emphasised by Anna Freud’s Theory of Adolescent Defence Mechanism (Ellerbrock & Kiefer, 2013). This theory critically analyses puberty as a stage in the development and how ego, superego, and id plays off within the mind of adolescents to define their morals. Depending on the environment within which an adolescent is subjected, the needs and ethics may vary. The puberty conflict and the fight within the mind of an adolescent to achieve equilibrium of the new forces of life will determine some of the needs that would be developed.
Otto Rank’s Theory of the Adolescent Need for Independence has been popularly used to describe the behavioural patterns of the adolescents. According to Blake (2008), changes that take place in the early adolescents may motivate them to engage in activities that the society considers irresponsible or undesirable. For this reason, they would develop a need to be independent in order to avoid the punishment that may be subjected to them by their elders. The need for independence is basically meant to create for them an environment where they can experiment on various issues without getting a reprimand or punishment from their parents or elders.
This theory closely relates to the Theory of Identity Development by Erik Erikson (Blake, 2008). This theory focuses on the identity crisis that adolescents experience during this developmental stage. They always struggle to understand their environment based on what they learn, and the changes that take place within their bodies. They try to interpret some of the factors that directly affect their lives. They also try to determine factors that define their personality. The theory holds that at this stage, the adolescents will acquire ego-identity (Weisz & Kazdin, 2010).
They develop a feeling that they are the best among their peers. They feel that they have some capacity within themselves that is not tapped. They try to identify themselves with heroes in the society. For the adolescent girls, they tend to identify with supermodels in order to be considered attractive. This is meant to make them acceptable and admired by the peers (Neinstein & Neinstein, 2008). For adolescent boys, they will try to identify with super fighters or top musicians. This means that adolescents of different genders will develop different needs.
Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory and Adolescence is another popular theory that is commonly used in research to explain the behaviour of the adolescents and their needs. The theory talks about the dynamism of behaviour and social needs of the adolescents as they move from one stage to another (Welty, 2008). According to Lewin, adolescents always find themselves in a strange situation as they struggle to find their position in the society. At this stage, they are no longer children, and this means that the society expects them to behave differently from the younger members of the society.
On the other side, Ellerbrock and Kiefer (2013) say that they are not adults and some of the activities done by the adults may remain prohibited to them. This creates numerous challenges for members of this group as they struggle to find ways of gaining acceptance in the society. In order to critically analyse the needs of the adolescents, it is necessary to classify them as physical, intellectual, psychological, social, and emotional needs. These needs are critically analysed in the next section of this paper.
Methodology
When conducting research, Balen (2004) says that it is important to define the methodology that will be used in data collection and analysis. This helps to guide the entire research process in order to arrive at a valid conclusion. The study used two main sources of data. The primary data was collected from a 14-year old student. According to Neinstein and Neinstein (2008), any piece of scholarly research always seeks to expand knowledge on a given topic. For this reason, it would use the existing body of knowledge as the background information in order to expand knowledge in the area or create a new body of language.
This means that the researcher will need to appreciate that some existing literatures were used in order to form a basis for the research. The study included existing literatures on this topic, and discussed in the section above. The secondary sources of data were collected from books, journals, and other relevant websites. The researcher was keen to identify literatures that were specifically focused on the topic of the research or closely related to it.
The primary data was collected from the 14-year old girl who is a sister to the researcher. According to Neinstein and Neinstein (2008), it is always important to select participants of a research with utmost care in order to eliminate any biases that may affect the quality of the primary data that will be collected. Most researchers recommend the use of simple random or stratified sampling as a way of selecting the sample population.
However, the scope research did not allow the researcher to use these sampling strategies (Rose, 2007). Only one participant was needed in this research. This meant that the researcher had to identify the participants who would be most suitable for the research. The choice was made out of a conscious selection other than random sampling techniques. The selection of the participants was made after deliberating on various issues of convenience.
The participant was a sister to the researcher, which means that part of the information could be observed directly without having to interrogate her. The choice was very convenient for the researcher. Welty (2008) warns that sometimes it may be difficult to investigate people who are close to us because some their unique characteristics tend to become normal to us as we interact with them on a regular basis. The researcher was aware of this, and knew that if care is not taken, it could affect the overall quality of the work.
For this reason, it was necessary to identify some of the specific issues to identify when collecting the primary data. To help improve this process, the researcher analysed existing literatures in order to identify some of the factors they considered unique among the adolescent girls. This made it easy to identify these characteristics in the participants. The researcher observed moral and ethical concerns by informing and requesting for the permission to conduct the research from the student, her parents, and the teachers.
The researcher was able to observe the participant in different situations. The home setting provided a perfect environment to observe the participant. She would make various demands to the parents. She was also visited frequently by her peers, making it easy to listen to their discussion in its natural environment to determine these needs. The main challenge in collecting data from this student was that her school was different from that of the researcher.
This forced the researcher to use another participant, a younger sister, who goes to the same school with the participant to collect part of the primary data. After the observations, I conducted an interview to further validate the findings of the report. The participant was interviewed in order to identify their physical, intellectual, psychological, social, and emotional needs. The researcher also interviewed the parents, teachers, her colleagues, and other siblings in the family. The collected data was analysed and the findings presented in the section below.
Findings
The data collected from the field was analysed in order come up with the findings on this report. It was observed that most of the needs of this adolescent were arising from the physical and psychological changes which were taking place within her body. The following is an excerpt of the interview showing some of the important needs of the adolescent.
What are some of the important needs you have at this stage?
I have a number of needs, some of which were recently unnecessary to me. For example, I must have sanitary towels on a regular basis because of the menses. I need new dresses for school and casual wear.
What are some of the social needs you find important at this stage?
I need to be accepted by my peers and other members of the society. I need to have a sense of belonging. I need friendship. I also need entertainment.
Do you have intellectual needs?
Yes, I need knowledge that is gained through education to enable me become successful in life as my parents.
Are these needs met satisfactorily by different people in the society?
Some of them are met while others are ignored. Sometimes my parents think I am rebellious. Some teachers may become too slow to address to my demands. However, I am pleased that most of these needs have been met.
From the above except of an interview, it is clear that adolescents may have serious needs that may fall in any of the five categories identified below.
Physical needs
From the interview and observations, it is clear that young adolescents have physical needs that would help them manage their physical developments. They need clothing as they outgrow those that they have been using as children. At this stage, they become more active physically, and this increases their need for food. The 14-year old girl stated that she needed sanitary towels to help her manager her menses.
Such items as handkerchiefs and wet tissue become a necessity as they become conscious of their physical appearance. The student stated that a lot of effort needs to be put to ensure that physical attraction is achieved. This is important as they try to define their real identity in the society.
Intellectual needs
According to the response obtained from the student, her parents, and her teachers, it was clear that at this stage, adolescents struggle with the need for intellectual development. At this stage, they develop abstract thinking to help them explain some of the environmental issues which may not be adequately explained using concrete thinking. They develop the feeling that they need to learn more about their environment and about other people in order to explain issues like diversity and religion in the society. This need also arises from the constant reminder from the parents and teachers that success in life can only be realised if one becomes successful intellectually.
Psychological needs
The student stated that sometimes she develops a need for autonomy in some issues in her life. She develops a feeling that she has become of age, and should be allowed to make her own choices in life. She feels that the close monitoring and control by the parents is no longer necessary.
Social needs
The student stated that social needs were very important to her at this stage. This was confirmed by the parents and teachers. As a young adolescent, she needs to be accepted by peers, and be seen as an attractive girl that people can socialise with easily. She needs a sense of belonging.
Emotional needs
Adolescents may develop emotional needs as they start experiencing things that were not common before. At this stage, they become easily irritable, as some of the teachers and parents stated. The student also noted that at times she develops an unexplainable anxiety or frustrations, and this makes her need some skills of managing these emotions. They also need attention of the parents to help them address these issues.
Conclusions
Early adolescent is a very delicate developmental stage that comes with a series of needs. At this stage, adolescents are no longer children, and this means that the society expects them to behave differently from the younger members of the society. On the other side, they are not adults and some of the activities done by the adults may remain prohibited to them.
This creates numerous challenges for members of this group as they struggle to find ways of gaining acceptance in the society. They struggle to avoid behaving like children, while at the same time they are not allowed to behave as adults. Sometimes members of the society treat them as children, while in other cases they are treated as adults. This confusing scenario is one of the reasons why a child may become rebellious to their elders. These needs may be classified as physical, intellectual, psychological, social, and emotional needs.
References
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Blake, P. (2008). Child and adolescent psychotherapy. London: Karnac.
Booth, M. (2012). This They Believe: Young Adolescents Reveal Their Needs in School. Middle School Journal, Vol. 42(3), 16-23.
Ellerbrock, C. & Kiefer, S. (2013). The Interplay Between Adolescent Needs and Secondary School Structures: Fostering Developmentally Responsive Middle and High School Environments Across the Transition. The High School Journal, 96(3), 170-194.
Neinstein, L. S., & Neinstein, L. S. (2008). Adolescent health care: A practical guide. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Rose, J. (2007). You and your mid-adolescent: The hour of the stranger. London: Karnac.
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Weisz, J. R., & Kazdin, A. E. (2010). Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press.
Welty, S. S. (2008). Psychometric properties of the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths, Parent Version. New York: Cengage.