Adolescent Case Study Essay, Research Paper

ADOLESCENT CASE STUDY

I. Identification

A. Kathy Johnson is a 14 year old female, a freshman at Parkway High

School, and resides at 789 Parkview Way, Bossier City, LA 70000.

II. History of Family

A. The subject lives with her biological mother and stepfather. The child’s

biological father resides in Bossier City as well, but he has not maintained a

relationship with the child since he divorced her mother in 1981. The child

also has a brother who lives out of state and has no relationship or contact

with him either.

B. The subject comes from an upper middle class family. Her stepfather is a high

school graduate and owns his own construction business. Her mother is a

homemaker and quit school during her sophomore year.

C.The subject and her family live in Southern Gardens, a small subdivision

in Bossier City. The family, for the most part, keeps to themselves and does

not have any close, personal associations. The few associates they have are

business colleagues and people from their church groups.

D.The stepfather is a relatively healthy male, approximately 6′1″ tall, dark brown

hair, brown eyes, weighs around 200 pounds and has no known physical

illness. The mother is 5′4″ tall, blonde hair, brown eyes and has noticeable

symptoms of depression and a significant drinking problem. Presently she

is in good overall physical health.

E.Most of the family’s interest revolves around the subject’s athletic activities

such as baseball and church related activities such as Sunday services and

youth centered groups.

F.The family attends a full gospel, nondenominational church on a regular basis.

Their political views are primarily democratic.

G.The family is of Italian descent and somewhat antisocial. They rarely see

anyone on a personal basis and have no close personal friends.

III. History of the Case

A.The subject is approximately 5′5″ tall, long dark brown hair, brown eyes and is

somewhat overweight, weighing in at 165 pounds. However, she is very

athletic and is routinely involved in softball and basketball. She plays softball

during the summer for her church league and has won numerous trophies.

During the school year, she also plays basketball for her church basketball

team. She diligently attends every practice and never misses a game in either

sport. Although her physician states that she is in good general health, she

regularly complains of stomach pain and lethargy.

B.Due to the subject’s physical complaints, her school attendance is relatively

poor; however, her grades are above average in the A to B range. In the past,

her attendance in school was better, but her grades were not as high. They

usually remained in the B to C range.

C.The subject receives an allowance of $25 per week for doing household chores

such as cleaning her room, vacuuming, and cooking dinner. Most often, she

spends her allowance on name brand clothing and shoes. Fitting in with the

“Preppy” crowd seems to be very important to her, hence the expenditures on

only name brand clothing, shoes, etc.

D.Although she wants to fit in, she seems to lack the social skills required in

order to get along with her peers. She tends to be somewhat aggressive

which often results in confrontations and arguments with peers her own age.

Therefore, she only has one close friend and is not part of any clique or group.

According to her, the other adolescents describe her as being overbearing and

bossy, so ultimately she stays to herself and does not get along well with her

peers.

E.The subject’s recreational habits consist of playing softball and basketball and

attending youth oriented activities at church such as youth camp and bible

studies. She is a very outgoing and aggressive teenager who often tends to try

and force her opinions on her peers. Which in turn, has the opposite effect and

more often causes her peers to become distant and antisocial with her.

F.Her personal philosophy and ideology is based mainly on her religious beliefs.

She believes in the teachings of the bible and that there is one God who

controls and oversees the world in which she lives. Therefore, she is against

premarital sex, drug and alcohol use, and abortion. When asked her political

views, for example who she would vote for, her reply was “Bill Clinton, simply

because he is a democrat.” She seems to be heavily influenced by her families

political views, in that, she doesn’t know much about politics, but she would

vote for a democrat because her family belongs to the Democratic Party.

IV. Summary

After interviewing and observing the subject, my findings relative to her

current status are the following:

Her stepfather is physically and verbally abusive toward her mother often forcing the

subject to call the police. Her mother appears to suffer from prolonged bouts of

depression and ongoing alcohol use. Therefore, the subject is required to more or

less handle the everyday household obligations such as cooking and cleaning. She

also has a deep resentment for her stepfather and feels the need to protect and take

care of her mother.

In my opinion, the subject is suffering from physical and emotional neglect

from her parents resulting in depression, low self esteem, aggressive tendencies, and

bouts of hypochondria.

V. Recommendations

My recommendations would be to remove the subject from the abusive

situation by placing her in a temporary foster home and to require her parents to undergo

a full psychiatric evaluation. She should remain in the foster home until her mother

undergoes and successfully completes an alcohol rehabilitation program and receives

counseling for the physical and emotional abuse which she has endured. The stepfather

should be required to stay away from the subject and her mother until he undergoes

counseling and no longer exhibits signs of aggressive and abusive behavior. Other

recommendations for the subject would be to prescribe antidepressants combined with

group support with other adolescents suffering similar situations and problems. Her

aggressive tendencies and low self esteem need to be addressed by placing her in a loving

and emotionally stable and supportive household where she would be allowed to

experience some freedom from the emotional burden of having to run a household

virtually by herself.