The objective of the interview is to comprehend young adults’ perspectives and experiences on physical activities and social influences over a specific time. The understanding is relevant when it comes to coming up with interventions needed in lifestyle promotions. Parents, guardians, and fellow age mates from different cultures play a significant role in molding and determining adolescents’ thinking patterns and behavior. It is the parents, teachers, and guardians who prepare the children to interact with society at large (Vedder & van Geel, 2017). By learning various socio-cultural rules and policies, taboos and expectations, adolescents tend to move according to what the learning stipulates.
The interviewee is a 17-year-old girl in the high school selected randomly because of her flexibility to open up on this issue and its matters, from Los Angeles and a middle-class family. The interviewee lives in a culture where individuals with a high sense of self-esteem and cultural identity epitomized a lower level of drug abuse. The youths who develop in the interface between their traditional cultural values and ethnic groups, hosting their dominant culture in this place, experience challenges. The interaction with the interviewee was friendly since she opened up very well.
The adolescence stage is the period when young people experience a transition from childhood to adulthood. The changes included are cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social development, and physical (Vedder & van Geel, 2017). The development stages can be divided into three: early adolescents, which is experienced at the age of 10-14 years; middle adolescence experienced at the age of 15-17 years; and lastly, late adolescence from 18-24. The interviewee falls into the middle stage, where most adolescents experience more growth to incorporate abstract thought compared to the other two stages. The individuals at this stage go through a lot of emotional and social changes, including self-involvement and the need for independence.
At this development stage, a person needs a sense of belonging. He or she feels better being in a group of friends. When they are free, they like hanging out in clubs because of the commotion experienced in clubs. Young adults prefer drinking and smoking to ease or forget their problems. This way, they are influenced by their friends, and not family. Their parents, guardians, and people surrounding them can help control them when it comes to drug abuse since they fear being noticed. Most adolescents love school, but they are not happy when some of their issues are not considered by the school.
Like the society or community, the young adults are not happy about how some of the critical issues relating to their stage and future life are frowned upon and ignored. This aspect leaves them green on some relevant matters (Vedder & van Geel, 2017). Generally, they are not entirely enthusiastic about the culture and how some adolescents’ issues are taken care of. Coupled with that, it can also be noted that the young adults dislike being compared to their fellows. Moreover, about sexual matters, some of them only prefer the use of protection for fear of being impregnated or infected by a sexually transmitted disease.
Reference
Vedder, P., & van Geel, M. (2017). Cultural identity development as a developmental resource. In N. J. Cabrera & B. Leyendecker (Eds.), Handbook on positive development of minority children and youth (p. 123–137). Springer Science + Business Media. Web.