Category: Adolescence

People frequently ask these questions: can one teach or stimulate creativity in an individual? Can one manifest creativity in an individual who had never manifested it? A mortal who had been an out of the box thinker at a given time, but presently not exhibiting any creativity, can be assisted? How can teachers assist students or children to be more creative or groundbreaking in their path towards solving any problem? Where and how should one use these creativity-enhancing techniques? How relevant are techniques such as brainstorming or creative dramatics for stimulating individual creativity? What should one do to help them?

These are a few questions that arise whenever one deals with the people who want to enhance their creativity level or their relative creativity level (Stein, 1974). In answering these questions, various practical, evaluative and theoretical studies have been conducted, which have shown the development of numerous techniques; the process is often called ‘implements for creative thinking’.

Among these techniques or strategies, few are effective ones, which should be focused or followed for becoming more innovative in daily life. These techniques play a crucial role in the individual’s mental development, as using the same an individual learns problem-solving ability and learns how to push himself out of his limit. Applications of these techniques probably inculcate attitudes or habits in mind that facilitate creativity: self-determination in the verdict, eagerness to explore various options, and perseverance beyond the first idea. There is no correct answer to the question of why or what condition gives rise to creativity. One of the techniques that assist creativity might be imitating or stimulating the cognitive processes in the brain (Lewis, 2009).

Educators and counsellors should recognize, appreciate, and promote different styles of creativity to enhance the productivity of their students or clients. According to Stein (1974), there are three underlying assumptions which every educator or counsellor should keep in his mind: First, we should understand the concept of creativity so that we know what we want to stimulate or develop. Second, everyone who has shown his or her creativity generally agrees on one idea that novelty is achieved through the process of creativity. Third, the process of creation takes its own time. There is no shortcut or easy for developing creativity, it requires sincerer efforts.

Creativity can be enhanced by the combination of conscious thinking and the unconscious thinking that occurs during the period of incubation. Incubation is one of the stages or periods of the creative thinking process, which includes taking a break from all practical situations. During this period, only new creative ideas take place. The present research deals with teaching creative thinking skills, which play a prominent role to mould the knowledge seekers who are the solely responsible individuals in creating a better place for the present and future generation.

Creativity – meaning

Creativity is a cognitive process, a significant, sophisticated human capacity to produce novel ideas, generate new solutions for any problem, and uniquely express oneself, a mental activity that is an insight of an individual. It is a novel idea, which has been produced by an individual for solving any problem (Lubart & Georgsdottir, 2004). According to Stein (1975), Creativity is a process that leads to novel work, which is accepted as useful, tenable, or satisfying by a significant group of people at some point in time. As a process, creativity consists of overlapping stages- hypothesis formation, hypothesis testing and communication of the results- all of these follow a preparatory or an educational stage, which is not always, a part of the creative process. Interpersonal or intrapersonal factors affect all these stages. The relationship between the individual and his environment affects all these factors.

Based on environmental conditions, there are four P’s of creativity, i.e. Person, Process, Press, and Product (Rhode, 1961). In order to combine these four approaches, Rhode defined the word creativity as ‘a noun naming the phenomena in which a person communicates a new concept (which is the product)’. He explains mental activity (or mental process) in terms of the implicit function that no one could conceive of a person living or operating in a vacuum, even the term press is also implicit. His definition explains these points.

1. Newness as a creativity
2. Creativity is not conformity
3. Truth, generalization, and surprises are the three basic requirements for creative thought.
4. Particular focus on the process towards the development of creative thought.
5. Mental abilities of the individual to produce creative thought
6. Level of creativity in an individual

Through this definition, Rhode cleared that in the process of being creative, there are many things to be kept in mind.

According to Haefele (1962), creativity is defined as an ability to formulate new combinations from two or more concepts already in mind, ‘Creativity is the ability to make the new combination’, and creativity process stands for the process of making it.

In 1988, Perkins defined creativity as:

• a) “ Original and appropriate are the results of a creative thinking task,
• b) a creative person is a person who fairly, routinely produces creativity results”.

Perkins’ approach attaches both the concepts of creative people and creative activities in a neat, practical package. The most probable characteristics in this proposition are novelty and originality being a prominent part of creativity. The literature work that emulates from previous references or scientific discoveries, a rework of earlier works, is seldom considered creative. In order to be creative, thought, or creation must be novel and purely new.

Some of the definitions focus on characteristics of the individual whose work is identified to be creative (What is a creative person like?), whereas others focus on the work itself (What makes this creative?). Either of these cases, most definitions have two primary criteria for judging creativity: novelty and appropriateness (Parkhurst, 1999; Sternberg, 1988; 1999).

For the process of an innovative idea, numerous techniques have been designed, which can give birth to creative thinking in an individual. Although astounding works in the area of art or life-changing scientific exploration are the customary associations that are readily elicited whenever we consider the concept of creativity, our capacity to be creative is manifest in relation to all the aspects of human life which connects choice and decision making, language and communication, and even planning and organization (Runco & Pritzker 2011; Sawyer, 2012). While the potential to be creative exists within each, there are considerable individual differences in both the type and amount of creative output that can be produced by an individual over a lifetime.

Sternberg (2006), in his book ‘the international handbook of creativity’ has drawn out some generalized issues related to creativity.

• a. Creativity focuses on the production of ideas which are relatively novel and applicable by nature.
• b. Creativity consists of both domain-specific and domain-general elements.
• c. To some degree, creativity can be measured.
• d. To some degree, creativity can be developed.
• e. Creativity is not rewarded in practice, as it counts to be more logical process by its essential nature.

The most crucial fact about creativity research is that to date, very less work has been done in this area (Sternberg, 2006). In every country, there is a scarcity of research work done related to creativity as compared to another topic, and whatever research work has been done is relatively poorly systematized. The answer to the question ‘why it is so?’ might have the following reasons (Sternberg, 2006).

• a. The Government wants its people to be more creative, but there is no action ever taken to achieve it.
• b. The concept of creativity is tough to understand.
• c. Research in creativity is marginal.
• d. Selection process or mechanisms does not favour creative people.
• e. There is an impact of popularization.

Despite all these difficulties, the concept of creativity can formulate its theories, research, assessment, and has developed around the world.

The studies used for this systematic review primarily captivated the negative aspects of alcohol use and sought to either diminish or inhibit adolescent alcohol use. The methods for this research involved a combination of longitudinal studies, quantitative studies, qualitative studies, systematic reviews, and cross-sectional studies. Profound data from articles gathered through NUSS, ECBO host, and various other databases were utilized. Among numerous articles, 25 were chosen and consistently exhibited underage drinking is a true public health concern. The population of interest for this literature review was school-age adolescents, primarily within the United States.

The literature review encompassed articles and databases that pertained to peer pressure and alcohol use among adolescents. Topics of interest discussed included adolescent, adolescent onset, alcoholism, underage drinking, peer influence, parental influence and social influence. The main purpose of this study was to determine whether there is any correlation between peer influence and alcoholism among adolescents. As such, the peer-reviewed journal articles for this systematic review reflect that peer effects are important determinants of drinking behavior even after controlling for potential biases. Each adolescent alcohol related influence discussed further substantiates the need for additional research.

The studies also implicate that adolescents interpret alcohol use as an appealing, reputation building activity, and that relationships encourages adolescents to seek chances to underage drink. The literature provided supports the necessity to understand how peer pressure correlates to drinking behaviors among adolescents and the need for adolescent alcohol treatment. This systematic review defined adolescence as a transitional period leading to adulthood, in which physical, cognitive, emotional, social, morals and values are developed. There was also the consideration of society and culture as influencing elements.

The rudiments of alcoholism and the introduction of underage drinking in early life were consistent among the articles reviewed. As previously uncovered, alcohol dependence increased when onset was combined with genetics, personality, rate of maturation and development, risk level, social factors and environmental factors (Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2011; NIAAA, 2017). Researchers, Donovan and Molina (2008), suggested that sipping and tasting alcohol builds curiosity leading to initiation. Further analysis recognized the reciprocation of parental and peer behavior. In addition to parenting, peer delinquency was associated as increased risks, as well as, the four-factor model of vulnerability (Trucco et al., 2014; Nair et al., 2016).

This proposes that alcoholism and alcohol use onset carry a multitude of factors that adolescents should comprehend in order to deviate from unhealthy behaviors. Peer influences were highly recognized as having a substantiating role. Research suggests that peer influence is the leading cause of social drinking with alcoholism following, which feeds into the generalization that adolescents often make behavior choices based on what they perceive as the social norm (Pandina, 2010). Typically, adolescents who have observed their peers’ drinking will have a higher chance to partake in drinking than adolescents who have not been exposed. This type of peer socialization correlates as a pathway of manipulation towards alcohol use onset.

Subsequently, affiliating with deviant peers and poor selection of friends motivates adolescent decision-making (Trucco, Colder, & Wieczorek, 2011; Osgood et al., 2013). Researchers proposed measures to delay or inhibit underage drinking, such as education on how to respond to peer pressure with proper social skills and refusal strategies. This suggests that peer influences can also be redirected by increased self-esteem and self-efficacy. Additionally, research on social learning theory did not help parents moderate peer-influenced behavior based on perceived peer approval (Trucco, Colder, & Wieczorek, 2011). Parents are typically the number one role model in their child’s life; thus, this portion of the literature review was necessary and divulging.

The literature showed that parental influence has a great impact on adolescent alcohol use and their future alcohol intake. Often, adolescents in this transitional period want to be treated as adults and this is a critical time to discuss alcohol usage. It is important for parents to set a positive example, be truthful with them about expectations, and establish healthy behaviors. This literature review revealed that parents do not always have a positive impact dependent upon their own childhood, their philosophy about alcohol, and their consumption of alcohol. One study identified that parents often provide alcohol as a way to regulate usage.

Another study delved into lack of parent involvement as an element to alcoholism. A comparison review of parenting strategies within the United States and the United Kingdom suggested that parenting variables could diminish early alcohol use. Parental modelling, limited alcohol availability, parent monitoring, positive relationship, involvement and open communication were among the strategies associated achieving positive outcomes (Ryan et al., 2010). Alcohol specific socialization practices such as having clear rules and consequences for drinking alcohol, and the quality of the parent-child relationship may be more germane to adolescent alcohol use than general parenting practices (Kerr et al., 2010; Strandberg & Bodin, 2011). This implicates that parenting factors can minimize and prevent initiation.

Social influences on alcohol use by means of social media and social networks served as a forceful stimulus in this systematic review. Social media has the ability to reach a large target audience and by doing so underage drinking is often seen a social norm. Adolescents can be vulnerable to both the perception and misperception that underage drinking is normal behavior therefore, limiting alcohol advertisement to adolescents is ideal. A multivariate structural model suggested that explaining drinking behaviors, peer selection, and peer influence could purge potential biases (Ali & Dwyer, 2010). Additionally, Alcohol permissive messages, negative alcohol messages, and parental messages disclosed better alcohol use outcomes (Reimuller et al., 2011).

The consistency of findings across numerous observational studies, the temporality of exposure and drinking behaviors observed conclude that advertising increases perceptibility of adolescent alcohol use (Anderson et al., 2009). This systematic review implicates that advertising using social media and social network increases the chances of underage drinking. Overall, this systematic analysis allowed for increased understanding of early adolescent behaviors as they relate to alcohol use patterns, how personality changes may escalate alcohol use, and a reciprocating correlation between adolescent behavior and alcohol consumption.

This systematic review had several limitations. A limitation of this systematic review is that is limited to the subject matter: adolescents, alcoholism, and influences. Since the studies of this systematic review were primarily conducted in the United States, a limitation could be selection bias. Additionally, the participants used in most of the studies reviewed were put in a generalized group using adolescents, alcohol initiation, and influences with limited parameters. Another limitation of the review is that the population was restricted to adolescents and not the entire population, which could have swayed the results a certain way.

It may have also been beneficial, to identify the differences in alcohol drinking behavior based on gender. The strengths of this systematic reviewed are the use of peer-reviewed journal articles and the use of trustworthy government sources that focused on the adolescent age group. This study provided an important insight into the impact of peer, parental, and social influences on underage drinking. It also presented explanations for drinking outcomes, as a result, of the different forms of adolescent influence. The systematic review further allowed for examination and enhanced knowledge of influences associated with adolescent alcoholism and onset.

Conclusion

The research questions posed from this literature review were; is alcoholism among adolescents connected to peer pressure and is there a significant association between alcohol use and alcoholism based on initiation. Different types of peer pressure were linked as motivators between adolescent alcohol onset and alcoholism in this systematic review. The findings of this study also demonstrated the relation of an array of modifiable psychosocial risk factors assessed in middle childhood to early-onset drinking. Adolescents with friends who assert overt peer pressure are more likely to drink more often. The influence of peer pressure was mediated by subjects’ self-efficacy to resist pressures toward alcohol use.

Hence, one main takeaway is that adolescents are often motivated to think and partake in behaviors due to the influence of their peers. Social reinforcement by peers is notable for its influence among adolescents, but it is not the only factor associated with underage drinking. A second takeaway is that an adolescent’s social environment greatly amplifies alcohol onset when considering peer influences, parental influences, social influences, and perceived social norms. The literature review has consistent evidence to link social influence with the interest of alcohol among non-drinking adolescents and heightened consumption among their drinking peers. The role that each of these influences has on adolescents should be studied more in depth.

Often, risky behaviors identified during adolescents can be seen as indicators leading to unhealthy behaviors in young adulthood. Conversely, it is noted that people from different cultures may not have experience in dealing with these types of influences. Results from the studies conducted have underscored the importance of peer influence, parental influence, social influence and students’ cognitive defense in alcohol consumption. The implication of this study further relays the need to understand behaviors leading to adolescent alcohol use. Researchers and government officials need to develop ways to increase alcohol education and develop intervention strategies to reduce alcohol use among adolescents. In conclusion, additional longitudinal, qualitative and quantitative studies are needed to expand on this public health concern.

References

1. Ali, M. M., & Dwyer, D. S. (2010). Social Network Effects in Alcohol Consumption Among Adolescents. Addictive Behaviors, 35(4), 337-342. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2009.12.002.
2. Anderson, P., Bruijn, A., Angus, K., Gordon, R., & Hastings, G. (2009). Impact of Alcohol Advertising and Media Exposure on Adolescent Alcohol Use: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 44(3), 229-243. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agn115.
3. Donovan, J. E., & Molina, B. S. (2008). Children’s Introduction to Alcohol Use: Sips and Tastes. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 32(1), 108-119. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00565.x.
4. IOM (Institute of Medicince) and NRC (National Research Council). (2011). The Science of Adolescent Risk-Taking: Workshop Report. Committee on the Science of Adolescence. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
5. Kerr, M., Stattin, H., & Burk, W. J. (2010). A Reinterpretation of Parental Monitoring in Longitudinal Perspective. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 20(1), 39-64. doi: 10.111/j.1532-7795.2009.00623.x.
6. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2017). Underage Drinking. Retrieved from https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/underage-drinking
7. Osgood, D. W., Ragan, D. T., Wallace, L., Gest, S. D., Feinberg, M. E., & Moody, J. (2013). Peers and the Emergence of Alcohol Use: Influence and Selection Processes in Adolescent Friendship Networks. Journal of Research on Adolescence : The Official Journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence, 23(3), 500-512. doi: 10.1111/jora.12059.
8. Pandina, R. J., Johnson, V. L., & White, H. R. (2010). Peer Influences on Substance Use During Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
9. Reimuller, A., Hussong, A., & Ennett, S. T. (2011). The Influence of Alcohol-Specific Communication on Adolescent Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Consequences. Prevention Science : The Official Journal of the Society for Prevention Research, 12(4). doi: 10.1007/s11121-011-0227-4.
10. Ryan, S. M., Jorm, A. F., & Lubman, D. I. (2010). Parenting Factors Associated with Reduced Adolescent Alcohol Use: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 44(9), 774-783.
11. Strandberg, A. K., & Bodin, M. C. (2011). Alcohol-Specific Parenting Within a Cluster-Randomized Effectiveness Trial of a Swedish Primary Prevention Program. Health Education, 111(2), 92-102. doi: 10.1108/09654281111108526.
12. Trucco, E. M., Colder, C. R., & Wieczxorek, W. F. (2011). Vulnerability to Peer Influence: A Moderated Mediation Study of Early Adolescent Alcohol Use Initiation. Addictive Behaviors, 36(7), 729-736. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.02.008.
13. Trucco, E. M., Colder, C. R., Wieczorek, W. F., Lengua, L. J., & Hawk, L. W. (2014). Early Adolescent Alcohol Use in Context: How Neighborhoods, Parents and Peers Impact Youth. Development and Psychopathology, 26(2), 425-436. doi: 10.1017/S0954579414000042.

Adolescence, this critical period, roughly from ages 10 to the early twenties, is characterized by physical, psychological, and social developments that profoundly shape an individual’s identity. Adolescence presents unique challenges and opportunities in the United States, catalyzing complex experiences that mold our young into future adults. As such, understanding adolescence – its characteristics, problems, and potential solutions – is crucial to fostering the well-being of young people and enabling their successful transition into adulthood. This essay delves into the intricate dynamics of adolescence in the American context.

What is Adolescence?

Adolescence is a transformative phase in human development that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. This period is typically characterized by dramatic changes in multiple physical, psychological, and social domains that contribute to shaping an individual’s identity and future life trajectory.

Physically, pubescence commences with the onset of puberty, an organic process regulated by hormonal changes that lead to growth spurts, the development of secondary sexual characteristics, the onset of menstruation in girls and the capacity for sperm production in boys. This physical metamorphosis is conspicuous and often causes confusion and discomfort as adolescents grapple with their changing bodies and societal expectations regarding physical appearance.

Psychologically, adolescence is a period of significant cognitive development. As adolescents’ brains mature, they begin to think more abstractly and critically, question long-held beliefs, and develop their worldviews. This cognitive evolution is coupled with heightened emotional intensity and fluctuation as teenagers begin to explore and express a range of previously unfamiliar or suppressed feelings. The quest for identity becomes paramount during this stage as teens strive to understand their unique place in the world. They often experiment with different roles, ideologies, and relationships to consolidate their identities.

Socially, pubescence is marked by a shift from family-centered to peer-oriented relationships. As teenagers strive for autonomy and independence, they spend more time with friends and less with family, seeking peer acceptance and validation. They grapple with societal and peer pressures, confront challenges like bullying and romantic relationships, and navigate the complexities of social hierarchies. In the United States, these social shifts are further complicated by the advent of social media and digital communication, which have significantly transformed the nature and dynamics of youth relationships.

In the American context, adolescence also entails significant changes in educational settings. As teenagers transition from elementary to middle to high school, they face academic pressures, cope with changing teacher-student relationships, and make pivotal decisions about future education and career paths. For many, adolescence is also the time when they undertake part-time jobs or volunteer work, gaining initial exposure to the world of work and learning valuable skills.

It is important to note that adolescence is not a homogeneous experience but varies widely across individuals. Factors like gender, socio-economic status, culture, and individual temperament significantly influence the course and experiences of adolescence. Despite these variations, pubescence universally represents a period of immense potential and growth—a time of exploration, discovery, and formation of one’s selfhood. Recognizing and appreciating the nuances of this developmental stage is the first step towards addressing the challenges youth face and facilitating their smooth transition into adulthood.

Problems of Adolescence

Navigating adolescence is not without challenges. The various problems encountered during this period can be classified into physical, psychological, and social categories.

Physically, teens undergo rapid changes as puberty progresses. Growth spurts, development of secondary sexual characteristics, and hormone fluctuations can cause discomfort and confusion. Added to this is the societal pressure of physical appearance, often leading to body image issues and eating disorders.

Psychological problems are equally prevalent. Adolescence is marked by a quest for identity, which often results in confusion and feeling misunderstood. They also experience heightened emotional intensity and sensitivity. These challenges may sometimes escalate into severe mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

On the social front, pubescence is fraught with the struggle for acceptance and belonging and the pressure to conform to societal and peer norms. The rise of social media and digital communication in the U.S. has amplified these pressures, leading to cyberbullying, social isolation, and low self-esteem in many adolescents.

An additional challenge that adolescents often grapple with is academic pressure. As they advance in their educational journey, teens are expected to perform at higher levels academically, balancing a more challenging curriculum with extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, and social commitments. This pressure is particularly pronounced in the United States due to a highly competitive educational environment.

How Can These Problems Be Solved?

Addressing the problems of adolescence necessitates a multidimensional approach that involves families, schools, communities, and the adolescents themselves.

Family plays an integral role in supporting adolescents during this turbulent phase. Open and honest communication can help teens express their feelings and cope with changes. Parents and guardians should be well-informed about adolescents’ physical and emotional changes, allowing them to provide appropriate guidance and support.

Schools can also significantly contribute to easing the struggles of adolescence. Implementing comprehensive sex education, mental health programs, and anti-bullying policies can provide adolescents with essential knowledge and skills to navigate this phase effectively. Additionally, providing academic guidance and career counselling can help teens align their interests and capabilities, reducing stress and confusion.

Communities, too, have a role to play. Creating safe recreational spaces, offering mentorship programs, and fostering a culture of acceptance and inclusivity can help teenagers feel valued and understood.

Lastly, adolescents themselves can take steps to manage their challenges. Emphasizing self-care, seeking help when needed, and engaging in positive social activities can enhance resilience and mental well-being.

Conclusion

Adolescence is a complex and pivotal stage in a person’s life, characterized by significant changes and challenges. While the struggles associated with this period are considerable, they can be mitigated through supportive family environments, conducive school programs, and inclusive community initiatives.

Moreover, adolescents themselves can play a significant role in managing their problems by actively seeking help and practicing self-care. Despite the difficulties, pubescence represents a stage of immense potential and growth. With the right support and guidance, adolescents can navigate this period successfully, ultimately transitioning into well-rounded, resilient adults.

As society continues to evolve, so do the challenges faced by adolescents. Therefore, it is crucial for all stakeholders to remain vigilant, adaptable, and proactive in addressing these issues. Doing so can ensure that the future generation has the knowledge, skills, and resilience to take on the world.

In the end, understanding adolescence is not merely about recognizing the problems encountered during this period. Still, more importantly, it is about embracing this unique stage of life, nurturing it, and guiding it towards successful adulthood.

Nationalism is a very complex ideology, that is misrepresented in the media today. If teens rediscover nationalism, it will revolutionize society and improve themselves. Nationalism provides a solid foundation for a sustainable society, but it does have minor issues. But if we use the positive elements of Nationalism and do not let it get to an extreme extent; it will benefit our teens on a personal, social and an economic level.

First we must get over the stereotypes of Nationalism. When you say that someone is a Nationalist, most people think that a Nationalist supports the Nazis or supports the Klu Klux Klan. The Nazi’s are fascist and the KKK are white Nationalists. Fascism, White Nationalism and Nationalism are different. Just because someone is a Nationalist does not mean that they support right wing extremists. The definition of Fascism according to the Merriam webster dictionary is “A political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition”.(webster) The definition of White Nationalism from the Merriam webster dictionary is; “A group of militant whites who espouse white supremacy and advocate enforced racial segregation”(Webster). And finally, we have the definition of Nationalism from Britanica is “[An] ideology based on the premise that the individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests”(Britanica). Now that we have gone over the terms, Nationalism, Fascism and White Nationalism, we can see that the media sometimes uses these terms interchangeably and incorrectly uses the terms. These misuses can be that they do not know the meaning of the terms or they are for malicious purposes.

With the conflicting perception of Nationalism we can see how different people and countries see Nationalism. In figure 1 of the next page, we can see how the different British cities feel about nationalism. This graph tells us much about the British people. We can see the Cities that want to leave the European Union also want to preserve British culture by regulating Immigration to the country. Alternatively many big British cities want to stay in the European Union and think that the British culture is enhanced via immigration. There is one anomaly in the graph; Inner London is extremely xenophilic and is a serious outlier even when compared to outer London. This graph depicts two groups of people, it shows us the laboring class of Britain concerned about their culture and value more Nationalist economic policies, while the bigger cities value more Liberal immigration policies and Security in the European Union.

The United States is one of the best countries in the world, although we have our issues; we have many redeeming qualities. Some of our best redeeming qualities are our hard work and determination, in addition to our innovation and pride in ourselves. Recently as a nation we have been losing our national pride. There are statements like “You want to view your nation as superior to others to increase your own self-esteem. (Example: the classic ‘U! S! A!’ chant)”(The atlantic), these statements are coming from many news sources and political groups and just individuals who view national pride as inherently bad. In addition to believing that Nationalist view themselves as superior people hold the belief that “Mr. Trump, Mr. Gauland and Ms. Le Pen would never admit to being white nationalists, but they are more than happy to dog-whistle to them and accept their support.”(The New York times), and that “ I don’t mean to suggest that Trump’s nationalism is impervious to politics. It is not invincible. Its earlier iterations have been defeated before, and can be defeated now.”(The atlantic). Some of these claims are quite ridiculous, and I find it heartbreaking that the media is influencing politics like this, people’s lives are being destroyed because of having the “wrong” beliefs and Nationalism happens to be one of them. Hopefully the perception of Nationalism will change in the future.

One thing that I am guilty of is not supporting my country enough. There is a quote from John F. Kennedy “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. I have not recently lived by that quote. I have not recited the pledge of allegiance or helped to support my local community. I have a lot to improve on to support my local community and my nation, but I am proud of my nation and I see that it could use a little work, and I want to be the one to polish out all of the rough edges.

Nationalism is not about hate. It is about love. It is the love of your country and its values. There are those who will tell you nationalism is about hate, but know that it is about love for your country and community. One good simplified example of nationalism would be “You love your spouse because she or he is yours, not because you think your spouse is superior to all others.”(The American interest). Through the love that you give your country it will love you back. “Nationalists feel a bond with their country, and they believe that this bond imposes moral obligations both ways: Citizens have a duty to love and serve their country, and governments are duty bound to protect their own people. Governments should place their citizens interests above the interests of people in other countries.”(The American interest). With this focus on americans we can further develop our country and Iron out all of our issues and ascend to a greater society.

Our nation will benefit from our Ironing out all of the rough details, some will come sooner than others and there will be some conflict as to how to complete all of the projects we will undertake, but it will be well worth the short term pain and hardship to create a better America for our developing teens and their eventual children, because I know that I already want the best for my children even though I do not have any yet and I assume the American people want the same. If teens uncover the positive aspects of nationalism they will be rewarded with greater educational opportunities. “81 percent of graduate students in U.S. electrical engineering programs are from other countries, along with 79 percent of those in computer science programs, 75 percent of industrial engineering students and 62 percent of those studying mechanical engineering.”(The US news). If we would give these educational opportunities to underprivileged americans it would increase the number of post secondary educated americans. I am not advocating for the removal of all foreign students, I am suggesting that we prioritise Americans who could use the education to get themselves and their family out of poverty, and than offer the remaining positions out to foreign students. These are only a few short term benefits there are more long term benefits.

“National pride means caring for what is yours. When there is a strong sense of nationalism, then there are programs in place to care for roads, bridges, and other needed infrastructure items. This also means good-paying jobs are generally created to build these needed items.”(The vision). This is one of many long term benefits because bridges and roads can not be constructed over night and it will provide thousands of Americans jobs. One group of americans who were shafted during globalization was the working class “globalization has raised prosperity all over the world, with the striking exception of the working classes in Western societies. These less educated members of the richest countries lost access to well-paid but relatively low-skilled jobs, which were shipped overseas or given to immigrants willing to work for less”(The American interest). This just shows a small economic boost for the working class and their lives will get better and teens in the working class will receive better wages than they do now. There will be long term benefits to Nationalism across the board such as “ lower crime rates, lower transaction costs for businesses, higher levels of prosperity, and a propensity toward generosity, among others.”(The American interest). Although there will be benefits to all of the policies that will be enacted there will be push back and some negative outcomes.

There will be push back claiming that the policies are racist or discriminatory and that is untrue. This happened in England when “ in 2007, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a speech that included the phrase, “British jobs for British workers.” The phrase provoked anger and scorn from many of Brown’s colleagues in the Labour party”(The american interest). This quote is not very controversial but the backlash that came from it was dumbfounding. “Goodhart quotes George Monbiot, a leading figure of the British Left: Internationalism…tells us that someone living in Kinshasa is of no less worth than someone living in Kensington…. Patriotism, if it means anything, tells us we should favour the interests of British people [before the Congolese]. How do you reconcile this choice with liberalism? How…do you distinguish it from racism?”(The American Interest). This coming from a member of the British parliament is shocking, I fail to see how reserving British jobs for british citizens racist. This is only a small portion of the unintelligent push back that Nationalist might receive, but there is some intelligent concerns that must be addressed. One of the major concerns is that globally “research and development spending climbed to an all-time high last year, but could swing lower if nationalist and isolationist waves continue around the globe”(Us news). This is a valid concern, but I do not believe that global research and development will go down, because nations will not just stop cooperating with each other because they focus on themselves, there will still be a global market, granted it will be smaller as more nations decide to focus on themselves. One other point is made against nationalism is, it breads hate for others. That is false. “ Nationalists see patriotism as a virtue; they think their country and its culture are unique and worth preserving. This is a real moral commitment, not a pose to cover up racist bigotry. Some nationalists do believe that their country is better than all others, and some nationalisms are plainly illiberal and overtly racist.”(The american interest). For this argument people assume nationalist hate foreigners and they value white supremacy, but they are looking at a few bad apples and saying that they represent the whole and that is unfair to Nationalist like me, because I love my girlfriend very much and she is neither from America or white. So just looking at me you can see that Nationalist don’t hate foreigners or support white supremacy.

Looking at all of the aspects of nationalism we can see how it can be very positive when controlled but it can turn sour when it turns to an us versus the world mentality, and that is not predestined to happen there have just been a few bad instincts in history like everything else, nationalism is a tool that can be used wrong. “It is not “white supremacism” when people with self-respect display, love and admiration for their background and history, wish to defend it, and are proud of it. It is normal and healthy.” (the spector).

Based on a study conducted by Anu Meshioye on March 2016, body image is the way an individual perceives himself or herself based on their size, and if they see themselves as attractive based on that perspective. In addition to that, according to the article ‘Social Media and Body Dissatisfaction: Investigating the Attenuating Role of Positive Parent–Adolescent Relationships’ by de Vries, Vossen, and Van der Kolk-van der Boom, body image is an individual’s judgment of their physical appearance. Moreover, in the aforementioned study by Anu Meshioye, negative body image is defined as a kind of body image that is mostly affected by media. This type of body image is defined as a situation wherein an individual does not like how his or her body is, and this can manifest through body hatred or body dissatisfaction. In Liz Frost’s book entitled ‘Young Women and the Body: A Feminist Sociology’, Frost defined the concept of body hatred through an article written in the American Journal of Psychiatry in the year 1984, wherein they claimed to have identified a mental disorder that manifests symptoms that are clearly similar to what a typical adolescent goes through these days. Frost goes on to state that body hatred could be examined using 3 categories namely, eating disorders, self-harming, and body dysmorphic disorder, which is a condition caused by a presumed make-believe defect one sees in their own body.

According to Meshioye’s study, humans have the natural desire to emulate the characteristics of those around them, and this causes people to feel unsatisfied with how they are. Social comparison, which was also brought up in the aforementioned study, is the phenomenon wherein one assesses his or her self-worth in relation to his or her surroundings and how the people around him or her perceive them. In relation to that, a study conducted by Lewallen and Behm-Morawitz, entitled ‘Pinterest or Thinterest?: Social Comparison and Body Image on Social Media’, also used the concept mentioned earlier; the article mentioned that it has been agreed upon by feminist scholars and social science researchers that social media does indeed have the capacity to influence people and make them compare themselves to others and thus try to make themselves similar to what they see in these platforms (in the study’s case, fitness boards on Pinterest were used) in different aspects such as beauty, body, etc. Additionally, based on the interview with Mrs. Angee Aspi, who is a graduate of BS Psychology in Manila Doctors College Philippines and took up an MA in Counseling at the De La Salle University and is currently a guidance counselor at Miriam College High School, media greatly affects adolescents. It influences them to prioritize it (social media) rather than school or work. Moreover, it can cause them to become sleep deprived or refrain from doing physical activities. In addition to that, social media is used by adolescents as a medium to express themselves either anonymously or through their actual identities. When other people who disagree with them start to comment offensive things, it could lead to various negative effects, and this occurrence is connected to the phenomenon that is cyberbullying.

Although, it is not only through negative comments from other people online that an individual could feel badly about themselves. Another contributor to this would be the unrealistic standards being set by the media. They hire models and celebrities and use various editing software to produce the ‘ideal’ appearance of a person. In relation to this, according to Meshioye’s study, the media shows actors and actresses in such an idealized view and they are portrayed as unrealistic standards of beauty. A work that was mentioned in Meshioye’s research was a meta-analysis that was conducted by Grabe, Hyde, and Ward, entitled ‘The Role of the Media in Body Image Concerns Among Women: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental and Correlational Studies’, which concluded that there is a definite correlation between women’s negative perspective on their bodies and their use of media. According to the study by Grabe, Hyde, and Ward, women started to devote more of their time to making themselves look ‘good’ and there was an increased rate of eating disorders. Still, the idea is that media is a primary contributor to the negative feelings people have toward their bodies. Frost mentions in her book that capitalism exploits the insecurities of consumers for them to buy their products. In fact, around $53.3 billion is earned by the dietary, cosmetics, and esthetic surgery industries together because of this (Wolf, 1991; Frost, 2001). Furthermore, television, a form of media, becomes a medium for individuals to see different people, which, as mentioned previously, humans have a natural tendency to emulate characteristics of those they see, this therefore greatly affects the ideas of a developing child. It is also mentioned that advertisements present an unrealistic promise of luxury or comfort. Moreover, in relation to the idea that media uses advertisements to present unrealistic promises, due to advancements in technology, corporations have to ability to specifically advertise to their target market and use different platforms such as social media to their advantage. Therefore, based on these facts from studies, surveys, and books from professionals in their respective fields, it is acceptable to say that media negatively affects the body image of adolescents through the portrayal of unrealistic standards for aesthetics.

With all the concepts presented, it is important to take note that one should keep in mind why the issue is relevant. Adolescents from different cultures, countries, backgrounds, and ages are affected by this occurrence. A few examples of this phenomenon happening in real life could be seen in three different videos from three channels from the social media platform YouTube. The first video is from a channel called ‘Allure’, wherein they interviewed 18 different girls whose ages ranged from 6-18. The video showed that they all experience having insecurities about themselves and their bodies. The second video is from a channel called ‘Teen Vogue’, they interviewed 5 boys and asked them what their insecurities about their bodies were. The video showed that not only women but also men are affected by the unrealistic standards set by the media and this results in them having negative body images of themselves. The third video is from a channel called TEDx Talks, it was a ted talk by Su-Mei Thompson, CEO of Media Trust and former CEO of Women’s Foundation Hong Kong, and she talked about how her daughter struggled with her body image, and she presented different statistics that showed how media is affecting the body image of women in Hong Kong and other countries. It is an interesting video because it shows not only the problem at hand but also presented some solutions people or institutions have done to address the problem, and Thompson also gave solutions that could help solve the problem. It is important to note that in all of the three videos, a certain idea kept repeating. In the video from Allure, the girls interviewed said that they felt insecure because of the things they see on their social media and from their peers, and they mentioned that they felt jealous of their other friends that fit the idea of what is considered ‘beautiful’. Furthermore, in the video from Teen Vogue, the same ideas were brought up by the guys who were interviewed. The boys said that they felt pressured to fit the idea of what is attractive in a man. They also mentioned that they felt insecure because they do not feel like they fulfilled the concept that society expects them to look and act. Lastly, the TED talk of Su-Mei Thompson mentioned that the media presents unrealistic beauty standards through their advertisements and such. Thompson said that she feels like models that are being hired are setting unrealistic beauty standards, and this is amplified by the use of Photoshop and other editing programs to further increase the standards set by these individuals.

To address the issue of how social media is affecting the body image of adolescents, a policy should be legislated by the government. According to Su-Mei Thompson, governments of countries like France, Jerusalem, etc. have banned the hiring of ‘ultra-thin’ models. Like this policy, a regulation should be passed that further pushes for schools to ensure that teachers teach students the nature of social media or media in general to students, as well as teach them the proper way to use social media. Moreover, schools should implement the policy and work hand in hand with the parents to help in ensuring that the students apply the lessons, even when they are not in class. Lastly, parents should guide their children in what they see online and educate them about the true nature of media while nurturing better relationships with their children. In addition, the students should be taught to become critical about the things they see online to avoid the negative effects these biased promotions and posts could cause, which was proven through the results of a study which showed that college students who took part in an exercise that focused on media analysis were less likely to engage in social comparison. Based on a study conducted by de Vries, Vossen, and van der Kolk-van der Boom, showed results that positive relationships with their mothers lessened the effect of social media on the body image of the participants who were adolescents aged 12 to 19 years old. Moreover, according to an article written by Charlotte Markey, Ph.D., ‘Psychology Today’, the FACE method is effective in helping prevent this phenomenon. The FACE method stands for filtering what they see, also called ‘protective filtering’, which is the act of removing harmful content from what they see. Avoiding means having them refrain from using social media for a certain period and encouraging them to engage in physical activities or any activity outside. Careful of comparisons means having them focus on the good qualities they have and their potential. The parent should also remind the child not to feel upset because they don’t fulfill the standards set by the media and have them see that they are mostly unrealistic. Evaluate means to have them evaluate what they see and to help them understand that what they see isn’t always the entire picture, nor is it the real or actual picture since most of those are edited to fit an ‘idealized representation’.

In conclusion, several research from different experts in their own fields show the same conclusion – media does in fact have the ability to manipulate our ideas of what is attractive, and this, in turn, makes us feel unsatisfied with how we look if we don’t fit the said idea. To be able to lessen its effects on adolescents, the government should legislate a policy that teaches students the true nature of media and how to critically analyze and interpret the things they see online and even offline (television, billboards, magazines, etc.). As for the schools, they should diligently implement the policy of the government and use their ICT classes to ensure that students learn about the ideas mentioned earlier. Moreover, the school should work hand in hand with the parents of the child to ensure that the student is applying what they learn in school, even if they aren’t in school. Lastly, the parents have the most vital role in ensuring that their son or daughter is viewing things appropriately and beneficial for them. Furthermore, they are in charge of helping their child use and interpret the different forms of media around him or her critically and rationally, and while doing this, they would be able to nurture their relationship with their child which is also beneficial for them. Bottomline, we should understand that the main reason why adolescents are negatively influenced by what they see is that they aren’t aware of the true nature of these platforms, the government, their school, and their parents must educate them.

Social media directly links addiction which leads to a myriad of mental health issues among young people. If you’ve ever misplaced your phone, you may have experienced a mild state of panic until it’s been found. About 73% of people claim to experience this unique flavor of anxiety, which makes sense when you consider that adolescents typically spend an average of 2-4 hours per day tapping, typing, and swiping on their social media accounts—that adds up to over 2,600 daily touches.

Dopamine is a chemical produced by our brains that plays a major role in motivating behavior. It gets released when we take a bite of delicious food, after we exercise, and, importantly, when we have successful social interactions. In an evolutionary context, it rewards us for beneficial behaviors and motivates us to repeat them. Social media has provided adolescents with a virtually unlimited supply of social stimuli, both positive and negative. Every notification, whether it’s a text message, a ‘like’ on Instagram, or a Facebook notification, has the potential to be a positive social stimulus and dopamine influx, inevitably leading to addiction.

This addiction to social media causes a sea of mental health issues that debilitate adolescents’ ability to act diligently and safely, impacting their decision-making skills and ability to control their emotions.

This also links with a decrease in attention span. A decrease in attention span due to social media, also known as the goldfish effect, has reduced the average human attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013 (just one second below that of a goldfish). And why has this happened? We live in a world where masses of information is readily available at our fingertips. Daily news comes in handy with seven-second infographics, and friends are never more than an instant message away. And this poses an important problem: information technology is now eroding the minds of our youth.

Since the turn of the millennium, many studies have indicated an increase in the incidence of attention deficit disorders. Furthermore, recent research has directly linked this increase to social media usage. 1 study found that primary to secondary school children diagnosed with ‘social media addiction’ scored highly on a scale rating ADHD-like symptoms, while children already diagnosed with ADHD scored highly on measures of Internet and social media addiction. Brain development, in a world of fast and transient action, might accustom to operating over short timescales with excessive social media use. Then, in response to tasks with greater longevity – for example, book reading or paying attention in classes – attention is in relative deficit. This causes attention disorders which are one of the mental health disorders that are increasingly on the rise.

Therefore, social media has driven young people to a point of irreversible addiction leading to attention span disorders, inability to control their emotions, and decision-making skills. In short, social media has made them as incapacitated as drug addicts, the type of people we would never want to end up as.

The argument about the existence of a sexual double standard among adolescent teens, both sexually permissive and not, is a widely studied topic in psychology. First, on the side supporting the existence of a double standard, their study used both ethnographic research and survey methods. Using a sample group of teens across the nation, they measured sexual behavior and its consequences on social status quantitatively. Research suggests that popularity in social situations is correlated positively with certain characteristics and prosocial behaviors. Prosocial behavior is something discussed in the lecture, it is behavior that is based on helping people and usually involves volunteering. Girls are more likely than boys to partake in prosocial behavior, possibly giving them an edge in the popular and highly regarded groups in their social settings.

However, an exception to this could be sexual behavior. By engaging in some behaviors, men are often praised or congratulated for sexual conquests. Women are regarded as loose, having a worse reputation for engaging in the same acts as their male counterparts. With the current changes in sexual standards, a single sexual norm could be created that applies equally to both genders. It has been argued that females can avoid negative regard if they are in a committed relationship when they partake in sexual activities.

Regarding social status and peer acceptance, both have a positive correlation with athletics. For males, this could also provide more opportunities for sexual encounters. A possible confound for this measure could be early maturation and relative attractiveness. This study found that girls who have one or more sexual partners/experiences have lower friendship numbers than girls with none. This result supports their hypothesis that peer acceptance rates increase based on the number of sexual partners.

The main interest of this study was to test the possibility of a sexual double standard; how well it was or was not represented in a national sample. Their results suggested that in current adolescent society, gender and perception of sex behavior are prominent. Friendship nominations showed no correlation with non-romantic partnerships. An explanation for this could be the contradiction between males and females in revealing sexual information. Girls are afraid of making their sexual relations public and do not admit to having sex in a non-romantic manner. Boys disclose this information voluntarily because they know it will give them positive peer attributions. The girls who participate in the most sexual activities have lower nominations because their behavior is public. Having more sex behaviors raises the possibility that they will become public knowledge, this could explain why girls with higher numbers of sex partners have the fewest nominations.

Opposing the supporting side is the side that argues against a double standard. In their study, they looked at whether girls report low popularity, deficits in the number of friends, and low self-esteem were correlated to their amount of sexual relations. Their study showed that sexual behavior was a consequence, not a cause, of lower popularity. The researchers also assessed possible variability due to peer norms, based upon the idea that some friends might provide encouragement or support for sexual behaviors. Girls with more sexual relationships might have close friends that share a more liberal view. So, they may report a lower popularity standing but they still have peers that support them.

Results showed that the number of sexual relations was not correlated to the idea of a ‘flirty identity’. Also, self-esteem was not related to how many sexual partners the girls had had. The sample of teens displayed no association between low levels of peer respect and amount of sexual partners. If an association did exist, it would support the double standard because girls who are more liberal in their sexual relations should experience some form of social deficit due to their behavior.

The women in their study judged other women more harshly if they did not know them well or at all. Their qualitative data presented that their sample acknowledged the existence of a double standard. However, it was seen as a well-known reality or dynamic that takes place in the environment at large, less than on a small scale in friendships. In summary, their findings did not support the idea that girls suffer in the number of friends, popularity, or self-esteem due to a higher number of sexual partners.

In my personal experience, boys and girls that were well known to my friend group were not considered ‘sluts’ or ‘whores’ because of a high number of sexual partners while in high school. There was public knowledge about many people who had had multiple sexual partners, but this did not affect their peer status. People lower in popularity were looked down upon if they had had multiple sexual partners, but those in the ‘popular group’ were looked up to because of their sexual conquests. In my high school, the ‘popular group’ girls and boys were regarded equally as having higher standards because of their sexual relations. Boys that were not popular but had many sex partners were not talked about, and girls that were not popular but had many sex partners were seen as sluts and had a bad reputation. A double standard did exist in our school. This could be seen because popular students were praised for having high numbers of sexual partners. It was easy for them to have high numbers because they all slept with each other. Students who were not popular but were known to have had many sexual partners were considered to have a bad reputation. Even though these non-popular students had sexual relations in committed relationships that had gone on for longer than a year. The popular students had one-night stands or hookups with each other. While by other standards that would give them a bad reputation because of having sexual relations in non-committed relationships, my school praised them. These popular students were those who were gifted in athletics or had a large presence in the school. Our school was known for playing the name game, if you had the right last name, you got all the perks and special treatment. Students who were not popular might have been on the same sports team but had the wrong last name, they were not starters, or they participated in different extracurricular activities.

I understand why the double standard exists, but I do not endorse it because it is an arbitrary standard that does not make any difference once we are out of high school.

The developmental stages of adolescence, which include physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development, are divided into early, middle, and late adolescence. The goal of adolescent development is to move toward a more mature sense of self and purpose. Adolescent learns how to establish and maintain healthy relationships, share intimacy comfortably to understand abstract ideas and develop their own moral viewpoints. Adolescence is a very sensitive stage; they experience puberty changes that are many physical changes in their body; adolescents start to grow body hair and gain height and weight rapidly. Breast and hip development and menstruation begin in girls, and boys experience a deepening of voice. These physical changes tend to make adolescent feel more emotional, and self-conscious about their body. Adolescent self-esteem plays a big role in this stage of life. Adolescents struggle with wanting to be accepted and with trying to fit in with their peers.

Imagine an adolescent suffering from bullying. Bullying is described as an aggressive behavior, in which an individual or a group of individuals repeatedly attacks, humiliates, and/or excludes a powerless person who cannot defend him/herself. Bullying between students at school can seriously affect their social, physical, and psychological well-being as well as their academic achievement. Students who are bullied, compared to those who are not, tend to experience poorer health, more somatic complaints and greater risk of injury (Gini & Pozzoli, 2009; Strabstein & Piazza, 2008; Williams, Chambers, Logan, & Robinson, 1996; Wolke, Woods, Bloomfield, & Karstadt, 2001); poorer self-esteem (Jankauskiene, Kardelis, Sukys, & Kardeliene, 2008; Salmivalli, Kaukiainen, Kaistaniemi, & Lagerspetz, 1999); more interpersonal difficulties (Kumpulainen et al., 1998); higher levels of loneliness (Forero, McLellan, Rissel, & Bauman, 1999; Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1996b; Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, & Ruan, 2001); depression (Fekkes, Pijpers, Fredriks, Vogels, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2006; Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003; Roland, 2002); increased anxiety (Juvonen et al., 2003; Kumpulainen, 2008); and score higher on measures of suicidal ideation (Kaltiala-Heino et al., 1999; Roland, 2002; Van der Wal, de Wit, & Hirasing, 2003). As such, they are also more likely to both dislike (Forero et al., 1999) and want to avoid school (Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1996a; Rigby, 1997a), as well as suffer from impaired concentration in class,(Boulton, Trueman, & Murray, 2008). Subsequently, their level of school attendance and academic competence tends to be lower (Beran & Lupart, 2009; Fonagy, Twemlow, Vernberg, Sacco, & Little, 2005; Glew, Fan, Katon, Rivara, & Kernic, 2005; Smith, Talamelli, Cowie, Naylor, & Chauhan, 2004c; Strabstein & Piazza, 2008). Similarly, students who bully others regularly are at risk of a wide range of health, safety, and educational problems, including injury requiring hospitalization, weapon carrying, setting fires, and runaway episodes (Strabstein & Piazza, 2008). Students who bully others have a higher incidence of mental health problems (Craig, 1998; Kaltiala-Heino et al., 1999; Kumpulainen, 2008) than those students who do not bully (Zubrick et al., 1997). These students are also more likely to have low academic competence (Strabstein & Piazza, 2008), are often more unhappy at school (Zubrick et al., 1997), and demonstrate an increased likelihood of engaging in delinquent behavior (Kumpulainen & Rasanen, 2000; Van der Wal et al., 2003), smoking, drinking alcohol and substance use (Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Rantanen, & Rimpela, 2000; Nansel et al., 2001; Strabstein & Piazza, 2008.

The majority of studies on the topic have been conducted in schools, focusing on bullying among children and youth (Boulton & Smith, 1994; Olweus, 1978; Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Österman, & Kaukiainen, 1996; Veenstra et al., 2005) since the majority of time bullying happens at school. Fuller Middle School spoke with the school counselor and social worker about bullying and its impact on adolescents, When bullying happens to an adolescent they oftentimes think If I come forward would I have retaliation, is it really going to end? Will I have retaliation if they come forward?

You see a group of children, maybe around 12, taunting another child. You hear the group calling names, and you watch in horror as one of the children in the group shoves the other child to the ground. The others laugh and mock the teenager as he lies on the ground. What do you do? Teenagers can be so cruel to each other.

Bullying is a wicked and serious problem facing teenagers around the country. 83% of girls and 79% of boys report experiencing harassment. Reviews of school-based bullying programs suggest single-level programs are unlikely to provide an effective solution due to the systemic and complex nature of bullying (Smith, Schneider, Smith, & Ananiadou, 2004; Vreeman & Carroll, 2007). Rather, evidence suggests that multidisciplinary whole-school interventions are the most effective, non-stigmatizing means to prevent and manage bullying behavior (Cross et al., 2011; Rigby & Slee, 2008; Smith, Ananiadou, & Cowie, 2003; Stevens, Bourdeaudhuij, & Van Oost, 2001; Vreeman & Carroll, 2007). Consistent with an ecological framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1977), a whole-school approach to reducing bullying usually targets the school level (policy, classroom, and school climate, behavior support, peer support, schoolyard improvements); the classroom level (curriculum); the home level (engaging and involving parents) and the individual level (working with higher risk students; Cross et al., 2011). A universal intervention has the potential to reach those who are bullied, those who bully others, and bystanders to the bullying, and over time promotes, policy, practice, and a positive ethos at a whole-school level that fosters sustainability (Michaud, 2009).

The outcomes of a recent comprehensive meta-analysis of school-based bullying programs concluded that whole-school programs are effective in reducing bullying and being bullied and have achieved a reduction in rates of bullying on average by 20% to 23%, and being bullied by 17% to 20% (Ttofi & Farrington, 2011). However, other recent reviews of antibullying interventions (Baldry & Farrington, 2007; Ferguson, Miguel, Kilburn, & Sanchez, 2007; Merrell & Isava, 2008; Rigby, 2002; Rigby & Slee, 2008; Smith et al., 2004; Vreeman & Carroll, 2007) have revealed mixed results. One review concluded that whole-school bullying interventions were modestly successful at most (Rigby & Slee, 2008). Two reviews by Vreeman and Carroll (2007) and Baldry and Farrington (2007) found in their assessment of 26 and 16 school-based bullying interventions respectively, that approximately half of the studies had positive outcomes with the remaining half showing mixed, small, or undesirable effects. Vreeman and Carroll (2007) divided their examination between classroom curriculum studies, whole-school interventions, and targeted social and behavioral skills training with the most promising results reported for whole-school interventions. School-wide rules and consequences for bullying, teacher training, conflict resolution strategies, and classroom curriculum were found to be more effective than classroom curriculum and social skills training alone. A quantitative evaluation of anti-bullying interventions conducted by Smith et al. (2004) transformed original scores from 14 whole-school programs into effect sizes revealing that 93% of the outcomes for victimization and bullying in both controlled and uncontrolled studies were negligible or even negative. While an abundance of programs to reduce bullying are developed, many are not formally evaluated (Smokowski & Kopasz, 2005). Of those programs that have been evaluated, many are not sufficiently detailed to enable re-analyses of data making it difficult to disentangle the effects of individual components of the multicomponent whole-school approach (Baldry & Farrington, 2007). Only one meta-analysis (Ttofi & Farrington, 2011) correlated program strategies with the effect sizes for being bullied and bullying others and found that the most effective program components for reducing the prevalence of being bullied were the use of videos, disciplinary methods, parent training/meetings and cooperative group work between professionals. The most effective program components associated with a decrease in bullying were: parent training/meetings, teacher training, improved playground supervision, disciplinary methods, cooperative group work between professionals, school assemblies, information for parents, classroom rules and classroom management, as well as a whole-school anti-bullying policy. Despite the varying success of a whole-school approach, the results from evaluations support the continued development and implementation of school-based bullying programs, at least until further evaluations are conducted to suggest otherwise (Baldry & Farrington, 2007; Smith et al., 2004). This highlights, however, the need for future research to provide a more in-depth evaluation of the effectiveness of whole-school strategies to reduce bullying.

The 2004 Validated Guidelines for School-Based Bullying Prevention and Management 2004 ‘Validated Guidelines for School-Based Bullying Prevention and Management’ (Cross, Pintabona, Hall, Hamilton, & Erceg, 2004) were developed by Natasha Pearce, Donna Cross, Helen Monks, Stacey Waters, and Sarah Falconer based on a year-long formative study that identified, reviewed and validated evidence-based strategies to reduce bullying behaviors in schools. This study comprised three major stages: a comprehensive literature review of available empirical evidence; 81 case studies of quality bullying prevention practice in schools that matched the collated evidence; and a Delphi Technique process involving 20 international experts to assess the content and validity of the proposed guidelines for accuracy, completeness and appropriateness (Cross et al., 2004). The guidelines were organized within six broad domains based on the health-promoting schools model (World Health Organization, 1996) including policy and practice, classroom management and curriculum, school ethos, physical environment, school–home–community links, and student services.

These guidelines were later operationalized into a whole-school program called Friendly Schools and tested as part of a three-year randomized group controlled intervention trial (2000–2002) with 1,968 students from 29 schools. The results indicated that intervention students were significantly less likely to observe bullying at 12, 24, and 36 months and be bullied after 12 and 36 months, and significantly more likely to tell if bullied after 12 months than comparison students (Cross et al., 2011). The findings suggest that the Friendly Schools program which targeted students at the whole-school, classroom, and home levels, has the potential to reduce children’s experiences of bullying behavior and increase their likelihood of telling someone if they are bullied (Cross et al., 2011). Following the success of the Friendly Schools study, the guidelines were again tested (2002–2004) as part of a second randomized controlled trial in primary schools called Friendly Schools Friendly Families with positive results (Cross et al., 2008), and then again (2005–2007) in a secondary school environment (Cross et al., 2008). During the secondary study, called Supportive Schools, it became evident that schools were beginning to experience difficulty with student cyberbullying behavior, not addressed in the 2004 guidelines.

Because cyberbullying is a relatively new form of bullying, there is limited research to identify its specific correlates, causes, and effects, and as such it is difficult to determine specific interventions to address this behavior. However, lessons learned from effective face-to-face bullying interventions are an important first step to meet the urgent demand from policymakers and practitioners to respond to this challenging behavior. This article describes a summary of the current empirical evidence used to review the original guidelines, particularly as it relates to emerging forms of bullying, such as cyberbullying, and details the updated ‘Evidence to Practice: Whole-School Indicators to Reduce Bullying’, to enable schools to put this evidence into informed practice.

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I ran my hands through my hair brushing it back as I reached to open the door to my dorm. I quickly rushed myself inside and shut the door behind me.

“The bloody cold,” I muttered to myself, walking into the room. “Where the hell is everybody? It’s like a goddamn morgue out here.” I glanced over to where Caulfield was arched back in my chair, he didn’t bother to answer or even look. The kid loathed me, I could tell. Probably jealous about taking his dream girl Jane Gallagher out on a date. She was a sweet, innocent gal with long brown hair and a pretty little face. Jane had the hots for me. All the girls in our grade did. Who could blame me, I was the sexiest goddamn guy in the district. No wonder the kid was bloody mad.

I started to get undressed, removing my coat and unbuttoning my dress shirt.

“Thanks for the tooth kid,” I nodded to Caulfield, the least I could do was thank him for lending me his hound’s tooth. I loosened my tie and asked if Holden had written my English composition yet. I asked him to make a few grammar mistakes here and there, I wasn’t as smart as the kid when it came to English. He held the paper out and I snatched it from his hand. I read over it and stroked the back of my neck. What the hell had this kid done? I was furious, all I had done was ask him to complete a small, simple task. It was him who was better in the subject anyways, he had always done assignments for me, since he had moved to Pencey Prep. It wasn’t my fault he was getting expelled, the poor kid had flunked all his classes. I had always seen him as an odd fella, Caulfield, he was always isolating himself from social groups and the school crowd. I had always questioned why he was so weird out and about with his red hat he would always wear. I hassled him about the paper, I honestly couldn’t understand this kid.

“For Chrissake Holden. This is about a goddamn baseball glove.”

“So what?” he shrugged.

“God damn it,” I shuffled around in circles, tightly gripping the papers in my hands. What the hell was that kid’s problem, writing about a freaking baseball glove. Abruptly, he snatched it out of my hand, tearing it into pieces and threw it into the wastebasket without a word. How could he do something so juvenile? He had always agitated me, and I agitated him. We were silent for a while before he lit a cigarette and lay on his bed. The kid loved to annoy me by smoking, it wasn’t allowed in the dorms and it made me feel a little uneasy. I told him to go to the can and get the hell out, but he only sighed creating a trail of smoke that hung in the air around him. I was clipping my toenails when he asked me about Jane. Why did he care? I had taken Jane out earlier in the evening, we went out to a little corner cafe in the middle of town where we ordered black coffee. She was a nice girl, she had the looks and the smarts. I could see why Holden seemed so shaken about me taking her out.

“Did you give her my regards?” I replied with a nod. He asked me all these stupid questions about her, about where we went and what we did. Then he asked me if I gave her the time in my coach Ed Banky’s Hudson convertible. What did he think? I replied with sarcasm to piss him off. In a blink, he had gotten up and trudged towards me, and swinging his fist at my head. Old Caulfield couldn’t even throw a damn punch.

I stroked the side of my head. Damn kid made my blood boil, honestly. I stood up from my chair and pushed him forcefully onto the floor and pinned his shoulders, spitting in his face.

“What the hell’s the matter with you Caulfield?” I could feel the blood rush to my head, my face turning red. He gripped my wrists tightly, writhing from underneath me. He kept calling me a sonuvabitch and all. “Just shut up Holden. Now.” he continued to resist and yelled until he was all blue in the face. “You don’t even know if her name is Jane or Jean do you, you goddamn moron!” he yelled at me. What was he to ask me such a thing. For all he cared, I actually cared about Jane. She was different from most girls out Pencey.

“I warned you, Caulfield.” The kid wouldn’t shut up about his damn girlfriend, so I threw another blow knocking him out cold for a few minutes.

I stood up wiping my forehead with the back of my arm. A tiny part of me felt bad for the kid, but he was so goddamn restless. He didn’t know how to let go, to just drop it. I stood over him until he woke up, raising his hand to his blood-covered nose and face. The kid scared me, thought I hurt him bad, the frail boy. I nervously paced around the dorm, biting my nails. Had I actually hurt him badly? Getting into trouble had always made me nervous, my father had warned me the last time I got into a mess.

“Why the hell don’tchya shut up when I tell ya? You asked for it goddamn it.” He didn’t even get up, he just laid there, glaring at me calling me all the names under the sun.

“Go wash your face kid, you hear me?” He was silent, he looked pale and shaken. I walked towards the door to leave, glancing back at him once more. He kind of laid there lifeless, blood smeared all over his face and hands, his eyes hazily glaring at the ceiling. I faced the door, pausing for a moment, looked at my feet, and then left.

Writing Question: Analytical

The Catcher in the Rye was written in 1951 but is still relevant within the lives of teenagers today. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Compose a response that evaluates this statement, making reference to the role of the narrator, language and themes used within the text.

Despite being written in 1951, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye remains relevant within the lives of young adults today. Originally written for adult audiences, the book has also gained significance in its relation with modern-day adolescents. J.D. Salinger explores themes of inauthenticity, loss and suffering, depression and a sense of belonging that remains present in our society. The protagonist, Holden Caulfield is introduced to the audience as a convoluted character with a negative outlook on society. Throughout the novel, Holden dissects the “phony” aspects of society, and all the fakes themselves. The Catcher in the Rye tackles the subjects of loss and suffering and the sense of belonging, which are issues that are faced by a large majority of adolescents around the world today.

In modern-day society, adolescents and young adults constantly feel isolated and alienated from the people they are surrounded by on a daily basis. A strong sense of belonging is a human need, just like the need for food and shelter. Belonging is a primary theme explored in the novel as Salinger communicates Holden’s heightened sense of alienation and isolation from others. Throughout the novel, Holden communicates that he feels trapped in a world where he doesn’t belong. His strong feeling about society affects his ability to gain a sense of belonging, and this causes him pain and his desperate need for human contact and love. In the quote “my hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway” J.D Salinger utilises a motif of Holden’s hunting hat. Holden first bought the hat to appear unique and separate himself from society, and that the hat “protected” him in some ways but he still got “soaked”. This leads to Holden’s realisation that no one can exist entirely separate from society. Healthy relationships and a strong sense of belonging are essential for our happiness and give us purpose. Many teenagers and young adults experience issues similar to those of Holden’s feelings of isolation and lack of a sense of belonging.

Loss of loved ones and grief are situations that everyone must face at a point in their lives. One of the central causes of Holden’s breakdown at the end of the novel is his feelings of social isolation and dislocation. Throughout the novel, Holden communicates his loneliness to the audience, and attempts to counteract his loneliness by befriending other people, however he is constantly confronted by his own awkwardness when doing so. Holden is caught in a paradoxical cycle of wanting to be known which always finding safety from rejection in his own solitude. The theme of loss and goodbyes recurs throughout the novel and each occurrence reinforces Holden’s negative attitude towards change. When Holden reflects back on his childhood and his regular school visits to the Natural History Museum, he finds comfort in the static and unchanging displays in the museum and the continuity he finds there. In the quote “The best thing, though, in that the museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move.” It is significant that in the final sentence Holden uses the second-person pronoun “you” instead of the first-person “me”. It is an attempt to distance himself from the inevitable process of change. Significant changes in one’s life can create a large impact as change is not dealt with well with a majority of people.

It is evident that despite being written for adult audiences in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye remains relevant within the lives of young adults and teenagers today. Loss of loved ones and a lost sense of belonging are issues that a majority of young adults face on a daily basis.

Writing Question: Discursive

Using The Catcher in the Rye as your focus, compose a discursive piece of writing commenting on the role of literature in shaping your life.

When The Catcher in the Rye was first assigned as our novel study, I had no prior knowledge of the book or what it was about. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed as I was hoping we were going to study The Great Gatsby, as I had watched the 2013 film and was interested in reading the original book. As I began to read the first few chapters, I continuously questioned the protagonist’s thoughts and actions. The novel told a story of a complex teenager Holden Caulfield, who had just been expelled from his fourth school. Throughout, Holden dissects the ‘phony’ aspects of society, and the ‘phonies’ themselves, and communicates his negative outlook on society. The book tackles society, love, loss and expectations. I kept reading, desperate to connect with or even understand an aspect of convoluted character and his thoughts. As the holidays approached, I set the book down, disinterested to complete it. I contemplated reading a summary instead. When we returned to school, I noticed that the chapters dragged on, which I disliked. It wasn’t until I decided to finish the novel that I came across the chapter that revealed the story behind its name. I had finally discovered the metaphor; that Holden wanted to become a “catcher in the rye”, to try to catch all of the youth before they fell off a cliff and into the “fake” society. The book had finally brought some meaning and now I could understand it at a deeper and contextual level, and I began to enjoy reading it.

From a young age, I was consistently pushed to read books by my parents and books played a significant role in my life. I was always reminded by my mother and father how much literature would develop my comprehension skills and knowledge. My mother would encourage me to read for an hour everyday. Reading and literature was once a pleasure and not a chore. I used to love visiting the library and being presented with a whole variety of genres to choose from and would bring home a whole pile of books to spend my time reading. During Years 6 and 7, one of my favourite series was My Story, and is a historical-fiction novel series retelling stories based on young adults from different periods and locations in history. I loved the historical-fiction genre, and reading the My Story books transported me into their world, it felt like I was there experiencing famous historical events myself. However, this passion I once had began to die down.

As I approached Years 9 and 10, my interest in books began to came back, and I experimented with different types and genres by renowned authors including Charles Dickens, George Orwell and Ernest Hemmingway. Throughout high school, reading has become an obligation rather than for enjoyment. We are constantly hassled to read during every roll call period and are told off when we don’t bring in a book. In English, we are assigned random books and texts that have no relation to us and don’t provoke a response. For this reason, English began to fall down the list of my favourite subjects. I lost my motivation to read books and only read ones that were needed to complete an assessment task or assignment. Books no longer interested me the way they used to.

Although literature doesn’t directly have an impact in my life, I believe literature is a significant aspect in young adults lives today. The Catcher in the Rye explores themes of inauthenticity, depression, loss and belonging. These issues still remain relevant in the lives of teenagers and young adults, and the novel portrays the protagonist Holden Caulfield as a person many teenagers today can relate to. To conclude, I believe that literature is underappreciated by modern-day society adolescents and students, and that they, and will continue to play a significant role in my life.

Reflection

For my writing portfolio assessment task, I have submitted my imaginative piece for formal marking. I have not had much time in class to explore and develop my skills in writing creative pieces. I chose this piece as it is one of my weaker ones of the three, and would like to receive feedback that will assist me in the following years to come. To write this creative piece, I first read over chapter six in a more thorough manner, making annotations on character’s actions and feelings. I then recounted the events of the chapter in order, from Stradler’s perspective. I handed in my creative draft and received feedback asking to “voice” Stradler’s inner thoughts, instead of focusing on Holden’s actions. I found this to be the hardest part of the task, as the The Catcher in the Rye is in the first person and focuses on recounting Holden’s events and thoughts. I was unsure of how to make Stradler feel about his fight with Holden and shone his arrogant tone but still made him sensitive towards Holden’s feelings. I found this assessment task interesting as I got the opportunity to attempt writing a discursive piece, and it was a new and challenging experience. Overall, I enjoyed this task as it challenged me but would have preferred if all the pieces were marked rather than only one and a reflection, as I believe it would have motivated me to hand in drafts for all tasks rather than only one.

First of all, Holden and Esther share the common obstacle of being unable to conform to the standards and expectations formed by society. Holden and Esther are both adolescents in a 1950s United-States, a less progressive time where you had almost no choice but to follow the path set out by society as you enter the adult world. However, neither of them can seem to conform to these standards.

Firstly, Esther is torn over the expectation for her to marry when she is young and become a mother, and her passion for writing poetry. Everyone expects Esther to marry Buddy Willard, her boyfriend, is it deemed that this is what society wants. However, her poetry has won her prizes and scholarships, and it could lead to a wonderful and fulfilling career. Buddy, who is used throughout the book as a certain voice of society clearly outlines the expectation for Esther to be nothing more than a mother and wife. Buddy said in “a sinister, knowing way that after [Esther] had children [she] would feel differently, [Esther] wouldn’t want to write poems anymore. So [she] began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed.”

Buddy tries to convince Esther that her poetry is just a hobby that she will effortlessly abandon once she decides to follow the path of conformity, marrying and having children. Yet, Esther will seemingly never be available to be the person society, or Buddy wants her to be. Just as well, Holden Caulfield must confront the challenge of being unable to adapt to society’s standards. Conformity is a theme that dominates The Catcher in the Rye, Holden labels everyone that conforms as phonies. Holden, on the contrary, is kicked out of multiple schools, he doesn’t want to make an effort for his work and life and has no plans for his future. Holden talks about stopping conformity by catching “everybody if they start to go over the cliff-[he] means if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going [he will] have to come out from somewhere and catch them.

That’s all [he’d] do all day. [Holden would] just be the catcher in the rye” Holden directly contradicts the expectations set out for him as he navigates into adulthood and attempts to stop others from taking from conforming as the catcher in the rye. Esther and Holden are anomalies in society, they are incapable of conforming to the standards that are set for adolescents entering adulthood and attempt to follow their own paths.