Lindsay+L.


 * Record of Assignments**
 * Name of Student:** Lindsay LaRoche



toc

** Adolescence **

** W : What you want to know (curiosities/inquiry questions) **

 * 1. What effects do video games have on adolescent boy behaviors? **

** Resource #1 **

 * Read:**
 * This article is about the role that violent video games have on an adolescents development. More and more kids are exposed to electronic interactive games now than ever before. Because of this, parents, researchers, policy makers, and others are worried about what kind of effect this will have on youth in terms of aggressive behavior or thoughts, desensitization to violence, and decreased empathy. The article then talks about school shootings and how other factors besides violent media went into why the shooters behaved the way they did. Video games allow adolescents to socialize and experiment with emotions and could even be a safe outlet for aggressive or angry feelings. They conducted a focus group with young adolescent boys where they asked a series of questions about particular games. The boys showed that they could differentiate between real life and things that happen within the game. Video games seemed to have positive benefits in the boy's lives. Other studies done on different ages and in different locations have found similar results.


 * Respond:**
 * I find that most articles are against adolescents playing video games and liked that this one gave a different perspective. I found the survey questions very interesting and plan to use them to ask my brother and his friends for my observation project. One question that was asked that I found particularly interesting was when the boys were asked if there is a game they feel they shouldn't be allowed to play and their answer was The Sims. They feel like they are mature enough for GTA: Vice City but not for The Sims because there is kissing in it. I liked reading about the positive benefits that video games may have on adolescent boys.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Olson, C. K., Kutner, L. A., & Warner, D. E. (2008). The Role of Violent Video Game Content in Adolescent Development. Journal Of Adolescent Research, 23(1), 55-75.


 * Read:**
 * This article mentions how most researchers tend to focus on the negative effects of video games instead of the positives. Organized activities like sports often elicit initiative because they involve three elements: (1) intrinsic motivation, (2) concentration and cognitive effort, and (3) cumulative effort over time to achieve a goal. The article finds that even though video games are unorganized and often unsupervised they may also fit the criteria listed above. Video game addiction and pathological gaming have been examined in over 100 studies, however, only 30 have examined the positive effects. One thought is that video game competitiveness, not violence, had the greatest influence on aggressive behavior. This study interviewed boys and had similar findings as the one sin Resource #1. The boys were able to separate the video game from reality. One study found that video game players reported higher levels of family closeness, activity involvement attachment to school, and positive mental health as opposed to those who don't play video games. The authors feel that more research needs to be done focusing on positive outcomes.


 * Respond:**
 * I chose to read another article about positive outcomes of video games since most seem to be about negative outcomes. I found it interesting that once again, the studies had similar results. This article even mentioned positives that the previous one did not like family closeness. Although I had noticed that there weren't as many studies done about positive effects, I wouldn't have thought it is as low as the number mentioned in this article. It makes sense though because of all the violence there is today like school shootings and wanting to find the reason why it happened. This article did a good job at saying it isn't video games that causes behavior like that.

APA Citation:
 * Adachi, P. C., & Willoughby, T. (2013). Do Video Games Promote Positive Youth Development?. Journal Of Adolescent Research, 28(2), 155-165. doi:10.1177/0743558412464522

** Resource #3 **

 * Read:**
 * This article talks about how problematic video gaming is very prevalent among adolescents in Ontario. Two fundamental issues to this is "no agreed upon definition of problem video game play and no clear boundaries between normal play and excessive play." Some compare it to gambling but others argue that its not scientific to apply the criteria of problem gambling to problem video gaming. It mentions that previous studies have shown that excessive video gamers show similar problems to those described in substance addiction "such as preoccupation, tolerance, loss of control, withdrawal, family or school disruption, lying, disregard for consequences of excessive play, and occasionally, committing illegal acts to continue playing." The term "behavioral addictions" has been given temporarily to escess users of both video games and gambling. It mentions studies that show a link between aggression and video game playing for adolescents in out-patient psychiatric clinics. A scale called the Problem Video Game Playing (PVP) was developed to measure " problems addressing the dimensions of preoccupation, tolerance, loss of control, repetition/relapse, withdrawal, escape, disregard for consequences and disruptions to family and/or school due to gaming." Using this criteria, 9.9% fell into the problematic gaming group, males more commonly than females. The Ontario study was given out in schools to students in grades 7 through 12. They had to fill out a questionnaire which asked questions about substance abuse, mental and physical health, and high risk behaviors. Then, questions about video games were the other half of the questionaire. This study also found that males were more likely to be at risk than females. With 86% of adolescents in Ontario playing video games at least occasionally problematic usage needs to be looked out for.


 * Respond:**
 * I found it interesting how some of the study results in this article differed from ones in the previous articles. It makes me want to look into who was doing the studies and what groups of adolescents were being studied. In this article, one study was done on adolescents in an outpatient psychiatric clinic which makes me think that the adolescents may have other issues in their lives outside of video games. I was glad that the Ontario study asked questions besides just video games in order to get a better understanding of the adolescent's backgrounds along with video game usage. I found the questions asked in this study helpful and plan to combine them with the questions in the other study to use for my observations.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Turner, N., Paglia-Boak, A., Ballon, B., Cheung, J., Adlaf, E., Henderson, J., & ... Mann, R. (2012). Prevalence of Problematic Video Gaming among Ontario Adolescents. International Journal Of Mental Health & Addiction, 10(6), 877-889. doi:10.1007/s11469-012-9382-5

** Resource #4 **

 * Read:**
 * This article talks about how studies have been done to show regional results of whether adolescents are addicted to video games or not but this is the first national study that has been done. It looked at the video-gaming habits as well as parental involvement in the gaming. So they had a study to determine the amount of youth that meet the clinical-style criteria for pathological gaming. They took 1,178 US residents between the ages of 8 and 18 across the nation to be surveyed. They found that 88% play games at least occasionally. Boys spend much more time playing than girls do. About 8% of this sample displayed signs to pathological video game playing. These adolescents spent twice as much time playing and usually had poorer grades in school and more attention problems. Pathological players do poorer in school despite their sex, age, or amount of weekly gameplay. The results show us that pathological gaming can be measured reliably.


 * Respond:**
 * I found it interesting how pathological gaming occurred no despite sex, age, or amount of time the adolescent played the game. I think this further emphasizes my idea of adolescents being influenced by outside influences more than the games themselves. I feel that those who display pathological behaviors in gaming, probably also display them in other areas of their lives as well. I wouldn't automatically say that the video games are the root cause of pathological behaviors.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Gentile, D. (2009). Pathological video-game use among youth ages 8 to 18: A national study. // Psychological Studies //, // 20 // (5), 594-602. Retrieved from http://pss.sagepub.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/content/20/5/594.full.pdf html

** 5. Sexuality Activity **
([])

This article talks about school connectedness for LGBT youth. Feeling like a valued and accepted member of a community is important for adolescents and is related to positive education and psychological outcomes. However, many LGBT students attend schools that are unwelcoming to them. In a national survey, 73.6% of LGBT secondary school students reported hearing homophobic remarks. The majority reported being verbally harassed. The presence of school-based supports like supportive staff and student clubs like GSA can improve the school climate as well as act as a safe haven for youth. The article stresses that LGBT students having access to institutional supports can make a positive difference in their lives.
 * Describe your resource:**

http://www.tpronline.org/article.cfm/School_Connectedness_for_LGBT_Youth
 * Link to your specific resource:**

** A. Site details: **

 * Name of site: I will be observing my 13 year old brother and his friends in different settings.
 * [[image:unnamed.jpeg]]

__ ** B. Describe your setting ** __
While observing my younger brother may seem like it would be very familiar for me, it is not. As a girl who was once the same age, I find it very interesting to watch things happen in the male perspective. My brother and his friends are very different than my friends and I were when we were 13 years old. Also, me being 10 years older than him makes it interesting to see how things like technology and media have changed how adolescents today interact with each other.

Being my 13 year old brother, he often times annoys me quite a bit. However, looking at his behavior from an observers perspective and connecting it to what we have been reading about in the textbook, it makes sense. Him and his friends are at the age where some have already hit puberty, some are in the midsts of it, and others will be there in a couple years. These physical differences seem to effect the way they are around each other. Sometimes they will play violent games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and I can notice how it changes their behavior right afterwards. I will also watch them play baseball together and notice the competitiveness. Another advantage to observing him is that I have access to his social media accounts and can view his behavior towards both his guy friends and girls that he goes to school with. I'm sure other situations will also arise that will allow me to get a lot of insight into the young adolescent male mind.

__** C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting) **__
Today I was home when my brother came home from school. He came into the house, set down his backpack and went straight into his room to play xbox. I wanted to try and observe some of his behavior before getting on the game, but I didn't really have a chance. Instead I observed him while he played. He wears a microphone when he plays so that he can talk to his friends while he is playing. I noticed how confident he is in his exchanges over the microphone. He has never been shy but he was acting in a way that he doesn't act around the family. He laughed a lot. It seemed like the other people he was playing with were talking more so I couldn't really tell what was being said. My brother seemed to focus more on what was being said than the actual game. The game was Call of Duty so it was a shooting game but he didn't seem to be very affected by killing or getting killed.
 * __ 1st visit: __**

I then observed him after he had been playing the game. He seemed to be pretty hyper while he was playing and this transferred to after he got off as well. He started to rough up our dog a little bit just chasing him around the house and playing tug of war with him. This was really annoying for both my mom and me because both my brother and the dog were making a lot of noise. My mom told him to stop multiple times and he would quiet down for a second and then just act back up again. I think I attribut this hyper activity more to talking to his friends than actually playing the game.

Today I sat down with my brother to ask him questions about the games that I got from one of my resources. The first question asked what he likes about video games. He responded by saying that he likes the freedom that they give him in regards to interactive maps, and free roam. He also likes that he can play with all his friends at once, being on the clock to reach objectives, as well as stealing cars (GTA) and customizing guns (COD). When I asked who his favorite character is, he said Franklin from GTA because he is funny and makes jokes. He also likes the dogs in Call of Duty:Ghosts. I asked him what he likes about the gameplay in which he said he likes that its different every time and he has the ability to do different things. When asked if he likes the gore he said that he doesn't like the blood but likes to shoot things because it lets him blow off steam. I asked him if he thinks violent games are harmful to play. He said that as long as the people who play don't have mental issues and can tell the difference between right and wrong, then no. He said it doesn't change his mood negatively and that he is generally happy during and after playing. I asked if he plays by himself or with others in which he responded both, but mainly with others. He likes the focus of playing alone but playing with others gives him the company that he wouldn't normally have. He says he plays with people he doesn't know all the time. He says it helps him socially because he gets to talk to friends that he never gets to talk to a school. The last question I asked was if he had a younger sibling, would he let them play the games he does. He said that he wouldn't let them play GTA because of profanity and bad morals.
 * __2nd visit:__**

The answers he gave to my questions help to prove that he is able to see the difference between the games and real life. From what I see and what he says, the games are more of a social tool for him to chat with his friends. He does think that they could be dangerous if the person playing has any sort of mental issues. His answers were pretty similar to those given in the article I took them from. All of his friends also play video games and don't seem to have any behavioral problems at school. Today they talked about a kid who brought a airsoft gun to school today and got expelled and how dumb he is for doing it. I think that this shows that they know the difference between having gun and shooting them in the game versus having guns in real life.

Today my brother and his friend bought the new Xbox One console. They had my dad pick them up early from school to take them to Gamestop. They waited outside the store for a few hours before they were able to prepay for the console. The boys came home and then had to go back at midnight to pick it up. A couple of their friends had tried to get theirs at Gamestop too but by the time they got there to prepay, Gamestop was out of them so they had to go to BestBuy where they waited outside from 4 until midnight to get the console. I think it was $500 in which my parents offered to pay for part as his Christmas gift and he paid for the rest.
 * __3rd visit:__**

When my brother got home he was so excited and set the console up right away. His friend had come back to the house with him and they were both talking about how excited they were to play. They got it set up but only one person could play at a time. I've noticed this has happened before on the 360 as well. Either they are playing a one player game or in this case, don't have enough controllers. When one plays the other just kind of sits there bored. Because of this I observe that while socialization may be an important part of multiplayer gameplay on the xbox, if multiple people are trying to play on the same console, it isn't good for socialization. They must not mind because it seems like it always happens. Anyway, my brother was so excited about Xbox One that he posted a picture of it on both Facebook and Instagram right away.

Today my brother had been sitting around watching tv when his friend texted him to get on xbox. Of course my brother hopped right up to go play. I followed him and saw that he got on the xbox 360 instead of his brand new xbox one. The reason he did this was because his friends were playing a game only for the 360. I found it interesting how he chose to play on his old system just so he could play with his friends. This is another example of how much the socialization factor of video games means to him.
 * __4th visit:__**

He let me listen in to his mic for a bit. Some of the things that the kids on the other side were saying were outrageous. I heard racial slurs, your mom jokes, foul language, and other derogatory things. Granted these were people my brother didn't know, but still this is stuff he is hearing as he plays these games. It didn't really surprise me though since they are young boys who don't think there are any repercussions to chirping someone they cannot see. I haven't noticed my brother saying anything too bad through the mic. He laughs a lot when he plays so I imagine he is laughing at some of the stuff like I mentioned before.

This day I asked my brother more questions that I found from another research activity. The first question I asked was whether he keeps thinking about the games even when he isn't playing them. He said that he occasionally thinks about them but they aren't always on his mind. The second question was if he spends an increasing amount of time playing video games in which he responded that he plays about the same every day. Third was about whether he tries to control, cut back, or stop playing video games, or play for longer than planned in which he said that he doesn't try to cut back or play longer, he sets times when he wants to get off. Next, I asked if he plays a game again after losing or not getting the results he wanted in order to try to achieve the target. He said that he has done this. The fifth question was whether he gets irritated or restless when he can't play the games in which he said sometimes. Next, does he play more often when he feels bad which he said no. Seventh, I asked if hes ever skipped school, lied, stolen, or argued so he could play a game in which he said he has argued. Last, has he ignored homework, gone to bed late, or spent less time with friends and family because of game playing. He answered this by saying he doesn't play all the time and he still gets what he needs to done.
 * __5th visit:__**

I thought it would be interesting to ask my parents the same questions to see how they feel about my brothers gaming habits. The biggest differences in their answers were that he usually plays longer than he plans to and that he has ignored homework and gone to bed later because of them. I think this shows how someone who may play games too often, or have an addiction, may not realize they are acting a certain way. While my parents think the video games interfere with other aspects of his life, he doesn't. My parents also mentioned the language he uses sometimes and how they always correct him so he knows its not okay to say those things. Its hard to say whether he hears those solely from video games, is hearing them on tv, on the radio, or even at school.

** Physical **
What did you notice about the physical differences between boys and girls (pp. 283-288)? I have noticed how different in size 13 year olds are! My brother has friends who look a lot older than him and some that look younger than him. They vary so much in height. The girls look older and most are taller than the boys. This is the age where many girls are at the height of puberty and many boys are just beginning to start going through it. I don't remember there being as much of a difference when I was 13 so its interesting to look at it from my perspective now.

What did you notice about the adolescent’s mood (p. 289)? The boys seem to be in a good mood all the time. They are always joking around and laughing. The girls seem to be very flirty with the boys and while the boys seem somewhat interested, I can tell that they are still happier hanging out with their same-sex friends than they are with the opposite sex. I observed my neighbor who is also 13 and she seems to be a lot moodier and emotional than the boys I have observed. I have heard that this girl may have self-harm tendencies. The textbook says that girls are more likely to be depressed and moody.

What did you notice about the adolescent’s relationship with adults (p. 289)? My brother is very good with adults. I attribute that to him having older siblings so he has always been around people quite a bit older than he is. His friends that have older siblings are also very good at talking to adults as well as my brother and I. However, he has friends who are the oldest child in their families and they aren't as good at interacting with my parents, brother, and me. I understand this because I am the oldest and was always really shy around people older than me while I was growing up. I imagine the kids who are able to talk to parents easier also have better relationships with their teachers since they seem to talk to adults easier.

What did you notice about the role of body image in adolescent behavior (p. 290)? My brother seems to be conscious of his body but it doesn't seem to bother him that much. Last year he gained some weight and since then he has lost most of it. He will look at old pictures and laugh at how he looked heavier. He told me about a friend of his who is already slim but wants to lose more weight so he can have a 6-pack. This appears to be the influence of the media because it just seems to strange to think about a 13 year old with a 6-pack. The girls he is friends with seem to be very conscious about their bodies just by the way they carry themselves Also, many of their pictures on social media are taken at flattering angles and most of the time, they are wearing makeup. This goes along with what we have learned in that girls seem to be more body conscious than boys.

What did you notice about peer relationships ( pp. 290-291)? Boy friendships are a lot different than girl friendships. The boys don't have very deep conversations. Most of the time they are talking about a game, sports, tv, or some other activity-related subject. They rarely talk about feelings or girls. The girls I have observed seem to have deeper friendships. They talk a lot about boys. This is pretty much what the book said about the difference between boy friendships and girl friendships as well.

What did you notice about eating habits (pp. 291-292)? I noticed that boys eat a lot more than girls do. Boys aren't embarrassed to eat around other people and will load their plates up with food. They also ear really fast and tend to talk while they eat. They often go for seconds. They tended to reach for more junky type foods than healthy ones.

What did you notice about issues around sex (sex education, sexual references, sexual activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) (pp. 293-299) The boys are at the age where they will draw penises on things and think its funny. They also like to watch youtube videos with crude humor and then try to make their own jokes as well. My brother has mentioned how someone he goes to school with has had sex but he doesn't seem to be as interested in it yet. I'm sure that since many of these boys are just going through puberty that they are making light of sex because they don't fully understand it yet, but will probably start getting serious about it in the next couple years.

What did you notice about substance use or substance related references (pp. 299-300)? My brother has tasted a beer before when my parents weren't paying attention and he thought it was really gross. He doesn't seem to be interested in drinking, smoking or doing any drugs at this point. Him and his friends are all athletes and so that keeps them busy and out of trouble. Our parents are very involved with our lives which has kept him on a good path. However, he may go through an experimental phase like the book says happens in high school. Right now the boys are in middle school but next year they will be around older kids and be exposed to more than they are right now.

** Cognitive **
What did you notice about Information Processing in the adolescents observed? (p.303-304) Some of the video games require intense focus. Some are really difficult and pushing the joysticks just a little too much will make you lose. Others make you remember things in order to do something else. While they may seem mindless, I can tell that a lot of thought goes into most of them. They also require adolescents to multi-task talking and playing at the same time.

What did you notice about the adolescent's awareness of an imaginary audience? (p. 303-304) Certain game types in games like Call of Duty are team based but rely on individual players. I think that imaginary audience applies to this because the adolescent can't see the people on the other side of the screen but knows they are watching and they want to perform well. I've observed my brother getting kind of stressed knowing that he is the last one alive in a game and has to carry his team.

What do you notice about decision making? (p. 304-305) One thing that video games seem to be good for, its decision making. Every move a player makes could alter the outcome of the game so playing requires a lot of thinking and decision making. I've heard my brother say out loud after dying in a game "I shouldn't have done that I'm an idiot" and other things of that nature. This shows how adolescents are conscious of what they are doing and the consequences of their actions.

Peer-influences? (p. 307) My brothers friends text him all the time to get online to play with them. Because of this, he plays because his peers are influencing him to. The reason he bought an Xbox One was because most of his friends were. Most of the games he has bought are because his friends have them or because someone he follows on youtube recommended it. This shows how much of an influence that peers have on an adolescents decisions. It is noticeable how much they play into decisions to play video games, it probably plays a part in many other aspects as well.

** Emotional **
One of the emotions I have witness when it comes to video game play is anger. When something doesn't go right in the game, I've heard my brother and his friends yell and curse about it. I have even heard other people yelling in anger through my brothers headphones. It seems like they put such intense focus into the game that when they die all of a sudden they get mad about it. My brother had mentioned that video games were a good way to relieve stress after having a bad day so maybe the anger shown through a video game is a better release than the alternatives. I don't notice the boys to be as sad emotional as I remember being at that age. They also don't get emotional when talking about a girl they might like.

Moral reasoning? (p. 319-324) Video games require a lot of moral reasoning. In playing games where adolescents are blowing things up, killing people and animals, stealing cars, etc, they need to be aware of what it right and what is wrong. An adolescent with good morals would be able to separate the video game from real life, but those without good morals might not be able to separate the two.

** Social **
Gender (p. 324) The boys are at an age where they want to appear super masculine. I think this is probably since they are just now going through puberty they want to be seen as men and not little boys. They all wear sweatpants, sweatshirts, and clothing with team logos on them. My brother will never wear jeans or any colors that are "girly". I also notice that my brother tries to make his voice sound deeper when he talks in an attempt to seem older than he is.

Parent-Child Relationships and Sibling Relationships (p. 325-326) With my brother spending a lot of time playing video games, he doesn't spend as much time with my parents, my other brother, and I. Many times the family will be out watching a movie but my brother won't want to because he is playing a game. Also, my parents have to ask him many times to get off to do homework or go to bed which can cause some tension between them. Sometimes playing the games can help because my two brothers will play together sometimes as a team.

Friendships on the internet (p. 327) When adolescents play online video games, they are interacting with strangers from all over the world. I know that my brother has made friends through xbox that he has never met but plays with all the time. This has the potential to be dangerous because they don't really know who they are talking to online but they need to be aware of that. Adolescents need to know that they can't say too much personal information to strangers. Parents need to know that this is going on an monitor these types of things. My parents have told my brother many times to be careful with what he says to people he plays with.

Cliques and Crowds (p. 328-329) My brother is definitely part of a large crowd that plays games. While he wouldn't necessarily hang out with a lot of the people he plays with outside of school and the game, he is able to play with them on the game and have conversations with them. Most of them are athletes so they bond over that as well. He has a clique that he hangs out with pretty often. The boys in his clique are the ones that normally text him to play or will come over to our house.

** Revisiting Your Curiosities **
[Answer your original questions as best as you can, given the course material and your observations. You must make at least 4 references to the text with page numbers.] I have found that it is hard to generalize the effect that video games have on all adolescent boy behaviors. While video games do have violent subjects and images, so do other forms of media that adolescents are exposed to. I think that it is hard to say that video games are the sole cause of negative behavior in adolescent boys. Studies have shown that most boys are able to separate the video game from real life and use it more as a tool for socialization. However, there will be boys who play that won't be able to differentiate between the two but there are factors outside of the games that play a part in this. In order to prevent negative behaviors as a result of playing violent video games, parents need to be aware and have conversations with their children about what is right and what is wrong. If a parent thinks that an adolescent isn't stable enough to handle a game, they shouldn't let the adolescent play that game.
 * W : What you want to know (inquiry questions) **
 * 1.** ** What effects do video games have on adolescent boy behaviors? **


 * 2.** ** What effects do video games have on adolescent boy behaviors? **

I would be interested in seeing the difference between the behaviors of those adolescents that play video games and those who don't. Movies, tv shows, and even books have violent content as well that I believe could affect an adolescent even if they don't play video games.
 * 4. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?**

Late Adulthood

Describe your Older Adult Project:
 * My grandma and I have always been really close and it makes me sad that I'm not able to see her more often. She turned 79 this year and still thinks she is 30. She is very stubborn and refuses to let people help her with anything. She has 5 children and 9 grandchildren and wants to be able to be there for all of us at all times. She never wants to admit anything is wrong with her and its gotten her into trouble before. One time she had been bit by a Brown Recluse Spider on her leg but refused to go see a doctor. Finally my uncle forced her to go to the emergency room because her leg looked so bad. Upon looking at it, the doctor said that if she would have waited much longer, she probably would have died. I think its great that she is still independent but am worried because she is getting older and cannot do everything she used to be able to.
 * My grandma's first husband, my grandpa, died in 1994. In 2003, she rekindled a friendship with a man she knew in high school and they got married (pg 484 talks about widowhood and how it is rare for elders to remarry). In those 9 years before she got remarried, she had lived alone in the house she had raised her children in. I'm sure she got lonely and thats why she sought companionship in her now husband. Once they got married, she moved into his house where they both still live. Her husband has been in pretty poor health and doesn't take very good care of himself (pg 454. Increased diabetes and other health problems). She is constantly looking after him. She has to watch what he eats because of his diabetes, make his food, clean the house, give him medicine, bring him things he needs, etc. For a 79 year old I am sure this is really tough on her. My cousins who live closer to her tell me stories of her showing her age. One of them was in the car with her on the highway and looked at the speedometer and she was driving over 100 miles per hour. They also said she occasionally runs stop signs as well. This is really dangerous not only for her, but for everyone. She is so stubborn, though, that she doesn't want to admit it has gotten that bad. This just shows how people are affected by old age and sometimes don't want to admit it. It makes me sad to think about my grandma's decline in cognitive and physical abilities but accept that it is a part of life.

Describe your experience (2 paragraph minimum and make 4 references to the textbook):
 * Over Thanksgiving, I was able to spend a few hours with my grandma. I don't see her as often as I'd like so I really appreciate the time I get with her. Before my family arrived at her house, she had been preparing food all day. Her husband hadn't been feeling well and wasn't able to help her with anything so not only was she worrying about Thanksgiving dinner, but also taking care of him. My family got to her house and everything was ready. Dinner was great and it was nice to be able to talk to my grandma. One thing she mentioned was that her and her husband have been attending a lot of funerals of their friends lately. It is sad for me to think about but she mentioned it very nonchalantly because she is used to is by now (pg 515 talks about deaths of loved ones and coping styles.). After dinner, both her and her husband were excited to show their new little cottage they had built in their backyard. He uses it as a woodcarving studio and she uses it to read (pg 492 talks about leisure activities and say its good for better physical and mental health).
 * After eating, my mom, brother, boyfriend, and I decided to go to a park to get some fresh air for a bit. While we were there, we got a call from my cousin who said my grandma had collapsed and that she had called 911. We were all freaking out and raced back to the house. We pulled up at the same time as the ambulance. My mom rode in the ambulance and I drove the rest of us to the hospital where we sat and waited to hear what was wrong. A lot of tests were done but it ended up just being that she was really exhausted and had passed out because of it (pg 453 talks about increased frailty with age). When we got back to her house she kept saying how embarrassed she was and that she was sorry. We reassured her that it was okay and that we were glad she was okay. She was saying how we shouldn't have called the ambulance which continues to show how stubborn she can be,
 * Up until the recent events, I felt that my grandma had aged very sucessfully (pg 492). While I still think she is very strong in the cognitive sense as well as physically (as long as she isn't over exerting herself like she did on Thanksgiving), she is showing signs of age. I know that from here on out, there will continue to be issues but I know she will try to stay strong no matter what is thrown at her.