Kyle+Idoine

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 * Record of Assignments**
 * Name of Student:** Kyle Idoine

** Adolescence **

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

 * 2. In a single parent home, What are the effects of having a motherless household and a fatherless household in terms of developmental qualities in young women? **

** Resource #1 **

 * Read:**
 * Article: The Secret Life of Teenage Girls
 * By: Brooke Lea Foster


 * Respond:**
 * This article took a look into what really goes on in the life of a young woman as she goes through high school and how their peer interactions and parental interactions helped their development. The first topic that was covered was the idea that women are always in competition in one another. In high school relationships, girls often look at themselves as inferior if their friends are dating when they are not. As a result, there are many relationships that get pushed to the side burner. Since girls are less likely to be physical, they resort to what the author calls "mental warfare" Effectively, girls try to belittle other girls to their peers to put themselves on top. The next idea that was covered is the amount of pressure the is being put on young women by the feminist movement that has become very prominent in modern society. Society is telling young girls that they can do anything they want. According the the author, this is putting way too much pressure on the women in the world because they feel like the have to be good at everything. The final idea that is covered is the idea that parents put a lot of pressure on their children, either on purpose or unintentionally. She talks about how parents can either put very concrete expectations on their children, giving them even more stress to meet those expectations. On the other hand, if a parent is standoffish, the child can interpret that as the parent being upset with what they are accomplishing, and that puts stress on the child.


 * APA Citation:**

Foster, B (07/12/2011). "The Secret Life of Teenage Girls." Retrieved October 9, 2013


 * Read:**
 * In this study, the experimenters tried to determine whether there was a physiological difference between children who were raised in single-parent homes in comparison to homes that have the parental unit intact. 152 adolescence were selected at random, and slip into two groups, experimental and control. The students were then given an offer Self-conscience Questionnaire. Through the experimentations, it was found that there was absolutely no statistical difference between the physiological development in adolescence who were raised in a single parent home and a home where both parents are present. The conclusion that the experimenters developed was that the difference that manifests itself between these two kinds of people, is one strictly of moral sense; but there is no way that people are any different from a physiological developmental point.


 * Respond:**
 * This has some fascinating implications to my inquiry question. Let's take a step back and think about this. What does this mean to teaching as a whole. What this is saying is that there is no difference between children of any background biologically. All that is missing is the fact that they don't have a male, or female, role model. This issue is ten times easier to try to compensate for then there being an underlying biological deficiency in these kids. If there was something physiologically "wrong" with how these kids developed, then there would be no hope in trying to help them. They would be the people they are, period. Since this is not the case, there is some hope to help these kids. Programs need to be put into place to get these kids in with good, adult male and female role models. Right now there are a few that try, but none of them have the outreach necessary to get to every child. Schools do not try hard enough to get these kids help. Knowing what this study shows, we should take the necessary steps to try and get the kids the role models that they need to become functional and sociable adults.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Vecek A (09/01/2009). "Biological aspects of the development and self-concept in adolescents living in single-parent families.". Collegium antropologicum (0350-6134), 33(3), p. 873.

** Resource #3 **

 * Read:**
 * In this article, people who were doing the experiment was trying to determine a link between students who smoked cigarettes and depression. The interesting thing about the kids used in the study is that they were all from single-parent homes. 123 boys and 83 girls were selected at random for this experiment. Each student was given a questionnaire that was designed to be short and concise. The questionnaire was no longer than a page, front and back, and the experimenters tried to design the test to make sure that there were no sensitive subjects addressed, such as GPA and illegal drugs usage. From the results of this experiment, the experimenters found that there was a strong, positive correlation with the number of cigarettes smoked and depression. What this means is that the more cigarettes kids smoked, the more likely they were to be depressed.


 * Respond:**
 * I find this article interesting when it comes to dealing with the mindset of students who come from single-parent households. The correlation between number of cigarettes consumed in a day and depression could mean a couple of things. The idea that depression is correlated with the number of cigarettes does not necessarily equal causation. I would like to see a study that tries to find a correlation between smoking and depression in students from homes where the parental unit is intact. If I had to make a hypothesis, I would say that the depression rates would probably be the same. Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is a stimulant, and binds with the acetylcholine receptors in the brain. When this happens, people tend to feel more relaxed in stressful situations. I do not necessarily think that the cigarettes are what is causing the depression. I do however see how there are probably more students from single parent homes that do smoke. Since smoking is usually used as a coping agent, it would make sense that students who lack parental support would be more likely to turn to them to deal with stress. This study opens the door to a lot of other questions about the brain chemistry of an adolescent.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Mendle, J., Harden, K., Turkheimer, E., Van Hulle, C. A., D’Onofrio, B. M., Brooks-Gunn, J., & ... Lahey, B. B. (2009). Associations Between Father Absence and Age of First Sexual Intercourse. Child Development, 80(5), 1463-1480. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01345.x

** Resource #4 **

 * Read:**
 * This article took a look at whether there was an increase in sexual activity among kids who are growing up in single parent homes as apposed to homes where both parents are present. This article states that there has not been a lot of research done into whether or not there is a strong correlation between increase in sexual activity and adolescents and the present of both parents in the home. During this study, data was collected from approximately 1,253 inner city students as well as their parents. What was found was that there was a significant increase in the odds that an adolescent would engage in sexual activity if they came from a home that had only one parent. All other factors were accounted for, such as hygiene, nutrition and safety. What this means is that sexual activity was the only thing that differentiated between the kids who took the test and who did not. This eliminated as many extraneous variables as possible, making the study as little more reliable.


 * Respond:**
 * I think this is a very eye opening article. The fact the the mere absence of a parent can so drastically effect whether or not an adolescent pursues a sexual relationship is mind blowing to me. It really makes me wonder what we can do to even help these kids. It doesn't seem like mere education is enough to get them on the right path. They have probably been told by a countless number of people to not have sex, and the negative consequences of having sex, but they still choose to make the decision to pursue it. I also want to know if there is a different in the sexual promiscuity of kids who come from motherless homes and fatherless homes. Or does it not even matter which parent is missing? I think that this a call to arms to try and find a way to get through to these kids. So many of them are having sex and going down the same roads that their parents did, creating more single parent homes. How do we get through to them? Seems like all the brightest minds have contemplated this question but still we have no legitimate answer.


 * APA Citation:**
 * Oman, R. F., Vesely, S. K., & Aspy, C. B. (2005). Youth Assets and Sexual Risk Behavior: The Importance Of Assets for Youth Residing in One-Parent Households. Perspectives On Sexual & Reproductive Health, 37(1), 25-31.

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

This resource is used to try to raise awareness to LGBT issues as well as try to provide teachers with ideas as to how to apply what the ideas into a classroom setting. This webpage provides the reader with a variety of interviews for people all across the spectrum in the fight for LGBT. Each persons' interview transcript can be read and printed out for classroom participation. The website also provides a lesson plan for each interview, giving the teacher ideas of how to incorporate the interview into classroom. The interview I read was about a man who came out of the closet in college. This man was a boy scout growing up, but when he came out, he received a letter from the Boy Scouts of America saying that they do not associate themselves with gay men. He then goes on to talk about how the boy scouts was one of the only places, as a gay child, that he felt safe and accepted. In the classroom plan, there are questions that can be asked to generate a deeper dialogue with the students apart from just reading the interview
 * Describe your resource:**

http://glsen.org/unheardvoices.html
 * Link to your specific resource:**

**Observation Site Information**
[you must confirm with site it is okay to observe with your location, then delete instructions in brackets]

** A. Site details: **

 * Name of site: Kings Island
 * Link to site: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/
 * Contact person: N/A



__ ** B. Describe your setting ** __
For my research I chose to look at two different settings where I thought I could see kids interact without the presence of adults. The first place I chose to go was Kings Island. Kings Island is an amusement park in Cincinnati that draws a large crowd, especially during the month of October because of their Halloween themed park. This was the time that I went to observe. When you walked into the park, you could not see more than two feet in front of your face because of all the fog the park made to create the sinister mood for Fright Fest. The employees then dressed up in costumes and paraded around, trying to scare all the visitors to the best of their abilities. They did a really good job most of the time, as I saw a young girl run away crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. Mixed in with the usual rides, were some haunted houses that were only around for this time of the year. These houses were a huge attraction for many of the adolescence in the park. As a result of that, the line to get into the haunted houses were often times over an hour long, which was perfect, because I could observe adolescent interact during a time of "boredom".

The second place that I chose to observe at was Kenwood Mall. Kenwood Mall up near Blue Ash, Ohio and is a fairly big mall. There are all types of stores in there ranging from Hot Topic to the Apple store. I knew that when I was little, parents would often times drop their children off a the mall, leaving them there without any parental supervision; perfect for my research. There are two levels of the mall. The upper part of the mall is mostly clothing stores with a few tech stores, such as Apple and F.Y.I., sprinkled in there. The bottom level is where all the food is as well as some more clothing shops and "specialty" shops such as GameStop and Spencer's. This is where I chose to spend the majority of my time. Watching the adolescence interact in the food court was really amazing and contributed some valuable data towards my research.

__** C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting) **__
The first line that I stood in was for a corn field themed haunted house. The line for this ride was over an hour and a half so i really had a good amount of time to stand and observe what the adolescents around me were doing. In this line, I did not see a single group that was being escorted by a parental guardian, and I would say that their behavior showed as such. Both boys and girls were acting aggressive. That is really the only way I could explain it. The boys would grab the girls butts, hug them so they couldn't get away, and even make inappropriate sexual jesters to women walking by that they obviously had no contact with before that very moment. The amount of bravery that these boys displayed was really shocking to me. When I was a kid, I don't think I would have had it in me to yell at a girl across the line, trying my very best to get her attention.
 * __ 1st visit: __**

The girls were no better. The girls would jump on the boys backs, asking them to carry them the rest of the way because they were tired. They would leans against the boys and, for lack of a better term, grind on them in line. I witnessed one young lady turn around, grab, who I can only assume to be her boyfriend, by his male reproductive organs and start kissing him in line. The girls did a lot of punching and hitting of the guys they were with. Almost what could be described as playground flirting that we did when we were in grade school. I could not believe how physical these kids were being. It wasn't like they were alone with a couple friends just hanging out. No they were all over each other in line for a ride, in a very public setting, and it did not seem to bother them in the slightest.

The second place that I did my observations was in the food court. This area was heated, so a lot of students came there to warm up before going out to hit more of the rides. The best part about this place was the fact that there were adolescents with parents and without. The kids that were with their parents put on a whole different persona than the ones who were without their parents. The monitored kids would just sit at the table and eat their meals. I did not see anyone try to get up and make a scene or act out. There was no physical touching of the opposite sex. I even saw one of the families sit down at the table and say a prayer before eating their food. It seemed like the kids were on a leash. You could tell they wanted to go and hang out with the other kids who were not monitored, but the fact their parents were there made them hesitate and conform to what their parents wanted them to do, or deemed to be appropriate.
 * __2nd visit:__**

The kids who were unmonitored were just as bad as they were when I was observing them in line. Once again the boys were channeling their inner Hue Hefner, flirting and touching any girl that they could. The touching was not always sexual, but it was a little over the top. The girls were no better. In one group every single girl was sitting on a guys lap. As I walked past this group, I made eye contact with one of the guys who had a girl sitting on his lap. As soon as he saw me, his grip around the young lady that was sitting on his lap immediately tightened and he gave me the coldest death glare I had ever experienced. I honestly believe that he felt threatened that I would try to take his girl away from him. I found it fascinating how quickly he became possessive of the girl that was sitting on his lap. I wonder why that was his immediate reaction?

Here is where I started my Kenwood Mall observations, but truthfully my observations came before I even arrived at the mall. I took the young girl that I mentor, along with three of her friends to the mall with me. Two of these girls came from homes that did not have a father present in the household. during the drive to the mall, these girls were already bringing their A game. For most of the ride, we talked about going to homecoming, since their dance was coming up the following weekend. The girl that I mentor was all distraught because she hadn't been asked to the dance yet. She was physically crying because it meant so much to her to go to the dance. Not even that, she just wanted to get asked to go. She didn't actually care about the dance itself. The thing that was interesting was that one of the girls who did have a father in the home hadn't been asked yet, but she showed no concerns about being asked. She was actually completely content in not going to the dance.
 * __3rd visit:__**

The conversation quickly shifted from going to the dance and what boys they would like to ask them, to the sexual encounters these young girls had experienced. This was really eyes opening for me. I did not think that girls who were fourteen years old were so sexually active. Both of the girls who did not have a father figure had both had sex and were discussing what else they wanted to try the next time they had sex. One of the girls who did have a father figure in the household had sex, but she said that she regretted it and was in no rush to have sex again. The other girl was quiet and seemed almost uncomfortable with what was being said. She had never had sex before and she had never even considered it. This was very interesting to me. The girls who came from fatherless homes seemed to be significantly more sexually active than the girls who came from nuclear families.

The next hour was spent at the food court. Here i saw some of the most interesting interactions between the girls that I was with and the young men who were also at the mall. The two girls who did not have a father at home walked up to every guy, of their age, that was there and started talking to them. I did not hear what they said at this point, because I chose to give the girls their space as to not be over bearing. They were incredibly flirtatious and the guys ate it up. On the other side of the equation, the girls who were there that had a father in their home were not nearly as flirtatious. They sat at the table and quietly ate their meals. They did not once show interest in anything that was going on with the guys. They seemed almost disgusted at how the other girls were acting.
 * __4th visit:__**

When I confronted the girls about what I had just seen, they were incredibly open with me about what they were doing. They said that they were just "hollerin' at some hotties". Again the other girls sat there quietly and did not contribute to any of the conversation. Feeling a little bit bad that the other girls looked like they were having such a bad time and/or were extremely annoyed, so i pulled on of the girls to the side and asked her what she was thinking. She said that she didn't care about what the guys thought about her. She said that the other girls were just trying to get attention because they needed the attention from boys to make them feel pretty. This gave me a really interesting insight as to how girls who grow up without fathers think. I am starting to see a pattern that these girls crave the attention of other men. Could this possibly be because they don't get it at home? Or is there something else that I am over looking that is making these girls act like this.

During the last hour that i spent with the girls at the mall I was put in one of the most awkward moments that I have ever been a part of in my life. While we were going into Forever 21, one of the girls who grew up in a fatherless home started yelling at a young man across the mall. She was yelling at this young man to "get his sexy ass over here so she could get a better look". Being very uncomfortable with the situation I took a step back. In retrospect I probably should have stepped in, but this was perfect for what I wanted to see. On the other side the girls who had grown up in homes that had fathers did not seem interested in the guys and in fact ignored their friends calls completely. Instead, they simply went into Forever 21 and started trying on different clothes.
 * __5th visit:__**

After she was done yelling at her boys, the young lady finally joined the rest of us in the store, but her antics did not stop there. When we were in the store she kept talking about all the sexual things that she had done with men. Now this girl is 14 years old, and I had not even considered doing half of the stuff that I heard her talk about, and I am 21 years old. Once she got started on all of her wild stories, her friend, also the other girl who did not have a dad, jumped in on the fun. In the matter of minutes I had two 14 year old girls giving me intimate details about everything that they had ever done. I had to put a stop to it because I became so uncomfortable listing to what they were saying. It was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. I was almost embarrassed to be in the store with them because I knew that other people had heard what they were saying; but it did give me a huge insight as to what the mind of a young woman is when i pertains to men.

** Physical **
It was very apparent to me that the young men that were at the mall and at Kings Island did not look as old as the young girls that were with them. There were a couple guys who looked like they had gone through puberty, but for the most part it was a guessing game as to how old they were since they all looked like they could be anywhere from 10 to 17 years old. The girls on the other hand pretty much all looked older, in their late teens.
 * What did you notice about the physical differences between boys and girls (pp. 283-288)?**

Physically it is hard to say what I noticed about their mood. Since I did not spend much time with young men, I did not get a real good read on how they were working emotionally, but with the young women I was with it was very easy to tell when the girls were upset through their mannerisms. I could visibly see them start to slouch when they got upset, and crossed their arms.
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s mood (p. 289)?**

At Kings Island, when the kids were with their parents, I could see that the kids were a lot more restrained. They did not run around and jump all over the place like the kids who were unsupervised did. I noticed when they had the chance, it seemed like the kids were trying to avoid interaction with adults as much as humanly possible
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s relationship with adults (p. 289)?**

This was a huge part of what I observed with the young girls that I was with. When I came to pick them up, it took each of the girls an additional 20 mins to get ready to go out. They were so overwhelmed with what they looked like that it seemed to be consuming their entire thought process. They came out in little, tight dresses, trying to show off every curve that they had, and these girls were only 14
 * What did you notice about the role of body image in adolescent behavior (p. 290)?**

I noticed that the peer relationships were much stronger than the relationships between the kids and the adults. The kids were much more energized when they were with their friends than they were with their parents. They seemed to invest a great deal of self worth in what their friends thought of what they were doing. It seemed like they were always trying to impress someone.
 * What did you notice about peer relationships ( pp. 290-291)?**

I really did not noticed any eating habits. Even though I was in the cafeteria at Kings Island, I was not paying attention to what they were eating or how they were eating. At the mall each of the girls got Chipotle, but didn't seem to care to much about what they were eating. They just wolfed down their burritos like you would expect a teenage boy to do.
 * What did you notice about eating habits (pp. 291-292)?**

When the girls started talking about all the sexual experiences that they had had over the course of their short lives, their body posture seemed to straighten up, as if they were incredibly proud with what they had done. They seemed to take pride in the fact that they were able to seduce boys and get them to sleep with them.
 * What did you notice about issues around sex (sex education, sexual references, sexual activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) (pp. 293-299)**

Over the course of the entire time that I was at Kings Island and when I was with the girls, I did not once hear anything about drug use. The girls did not even bring it up in conversation.
 * What did you notice about substance use or substance related references (pp. 299-300)?**

** Cognitive **
I noticed that the girls that i saw at the park, and the young girls that i was with at the mall seemed to be much more manipulative than the boys. What I mean by this is that the girls seemed to be much more flirty, trying to get the boys to do what they wanted. Often times this meant piggy back rides or kissing while waiting in line for a ride at the park.
 * What did you notice about the physical differences between boys and girls (pp. 283-288)?**

Most of the times that the girls that I was with got wound up, they did not even realize that they were doing it. The girls would start raising their voices, clapping their hands, and talking in what I like to call "ghetto talk" (a language that I could not comprehend what they were saying). When they started doing this I stopped them and I asked them what was wrong, and many times they said that they did not even know why they were upset.
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s mood (p. 289)?**

I noticed that when they had to the kids that were with their adult counterparts seemed to be silent and shut down. When they were not with adults they were loud and seemed to be sharing everything that was on their minds.
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s relationship with adults (p. 289)?**

I know that the girls I was with at the mall focus a huge about on what they looked like. They would constantly take breaks to the restrooms with each other to make sure that they were still looking alright, or what they thought looked alright. I also noticed that they made fun of other people who they thought did not dress how they deemed to be attractive.
 * What did you notice about the role of body image in adolescent behavior (p. 290)?**

Peer relationships played a huge role in how the girls saw themselves. Their self worth was judged based on how their peers saw them and what they thought of themselves. I noticed that when one of the girls was insulted by another one of her friends, she immediately shut down. She seemed to not want to talk anymore, as if she thought that her opinion did not matter.
 * What did you notice about peer relationships ( pp. 290-291)?**

Again I did not really notice any eating habits of the kids that i was with. It was not the part of the adolescent condition that I was focusing on. All I saw was the girls eating their food very quickly.
 * What did you notice about eating habits (pp. 291-292)?**

It seemed that sex was all the girls thought about. They were constantly talking about it, almost bragging about it. I don't know if they were purposely trying to make me uncomfortable, but they were completely open and content with all of the sexual exploits that they have had over the course of their lives. Pregnancy was never brought up and when I asked about it, the girls quickly shook off the question.
 * What did you notice about issues around sex (sex education, sexual references, sexual activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) (pp. 293-299)**

Over the course of the entire time that I was at Kings Island and when I was with the girls, I did not once hear anything about drug use. The girls did not even bring it up in conversation.
 * What did you notice about substance use or substance related references (pp. 299-300)?**

** Emotional **
Again I didn't really get a looking into the emotional different between boys and girls because I did not spend that much time one-on-one with the young men that I observed, but I did notice that the girls were quick to get upset over very petty things, such as another girl telling them that their hair was "nappy". Their body mannerisms were very easy to read once they got upset.
 * What did you notice about the physical differences between boys and girls (pp. 283-288)?**

The adolescent's moods were incredibly quick to change. They seemed to wear their hearts on their sleeves. There was nothing that they would keep to themselves. Their moods very easily effected how the girls held themselves.
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s mood (p. 289)?**

There was absolutely no emotional interaction between the kids that I observed and the adults that they were with. The kids tried to avoid conversation with the results at all costs. In fact, they seemed almost embarrassed to be with the adults. I think that they thought that the other kids were judging them based on the fact that they were with their parents.
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s relationship with adults (p. 289)?**

The role of body image probably had by far the biggest emotional effect of the girls than anything else that I observed. If the girls had anyone compliment them on how they looked, they were, for lack of a better term, glowing. They would walk around the mall with a huge smile one their face, talking about how a boy thought they looked good. On the other hand, if someone told them that they looked bad, the girls were immediately down. It seemed like they based their entire self worth on how they looked and what others thought of them.
 * What did you notice about the role of body image in adolescent behavior (p. 290)?**

Peer relationships could make or break the emotional moods of the girls that I was with. I saw two of the girls get in a fight at the mall, and it took them two hours to talk to each other again. The girls cared more about what their friends thought about them then how they looked to other people at the mall. Which is why they yelled across the mall at the young boys. They did not care about anything besides impressing their friends.
 * What did you notice about peer relationships ( pp. 290-291)?**

Again, I really did not have the chance to observe any eating habits of the adolescents because I was not focused on what they were eating, how they were eating, or why they were eating
 * What did you notice about eating habits (pp. 291-292)?**

Sex seemed to be a trophy to these girls. They knew that they should not have been having it or have been so sexually active, but they did not care because they craved the attention that it got them from other guys. They tried to act like it had no emotional connection involved, but it was quite easy to see that there was a deep emotional connection with all of these buys that the girls were refusing to show.
 * What did you notice about issues around sex (sex education, sexual references, sexual activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) (pp. 293-299)**

Over the course of the entire time that I was at Kings Island and when I was with the girls, I did not once hear anything about drug use. The girls did not even bring it up in conversation.
 * What did you notice about substance use or substance related references (pp. 299-300)?**

** Social **
I noticed that there was a huge difference between the social interactions of boys and girls. I saw that the girls were much more hands on than than the boys. The boys were more likely to sit back and do their own thing in terms of the social aspect, whereas the girls were more likely to go up to someone and instigate a conversation.
 * What did you notice about the physical differences between boys and girls (pp. 283-288)?**

I noticed that, when in a social setting, the mood of the adolescents seemed to vastly improve. They were much more care free and they were much more active. They seemed to be running around and having much more fun when they were in a group of their friends as opposed to when they were stuck in a group with adults.
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s mood (p. 289)?**

As I said earlier, the kids seemed to almost be in pain when they were with the adults. They did not nearly have the energy that they had when they were running around with their friends. You could also see by the expressions on their faces that they were not too happy about the fact that they were stuck with their parents. They seemed to be in a metaphorical cage.
 * What did you notice about the adolescent’s relationship with adults (p. 289)?**

I could tell that the girls body image had a huge effect on their social behavior. If the girls felt like they did not look their best, you could see them become stand offish and they basically shut down socially. One the other hand, if the girls thought they looked good, then they were much louder and more sociable than if they looked bad
 * What did you notice about the role of body image in adolescent behavior (p. 290)?**

Peer relationship were at the focal point of everything over the course of my observation. When the kids were with their peers they were much happier and full of life. Peers helped determine the mood of the girls as they held their friends opinions higher than their own.
 * What did you notice about peer relationships ( pp. 290-291)?**

I did not notice anything about their eating habits.
 * What did you notice about eating habits (pp. 291-292)?**

I saw that sex was more so a social tool than it was anything. I saw that the girls were much more focused on weather or not their friends were impressed with their sexual exploits than they were with the actual act of sex itself. It was the center of conversation for the majority of the time that I was with the young girls at the mall.
 * What did you notice about issues around sex (sex education, sexual references, sexual activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) (pp. 293-299)**

Over the course of the entire time that I was at Kings Island and when I was with the girls, I did not once hear anything about drug use. The girls did not even bring it up in conversation.
 * What did you notice about substance use or substance related references (pp. 299-300)?**

** 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.]
 * W : What you want to know (inquiry questions) **
 * 1.**
 * In a single parent home, What are the effects of having a motherless household and a fatherless household in terms of developmental qualities in young women?**

From my Kings Island experimentation I concluded one major thing. When there was no male, adult around, the young girls were much more physical. In almost every group I saw, young girls with a male, adult the kids, both male and female, were very calm and relaxed. There were outliers who would be running around in the fog and trying to scare the other kids, but for the most part they were well behaved, and nobody was touching one another. At one point, I saw a little try to give another little boy a kiss and the father stepped in very quickly, putting a stop to the behavior immediately. On the other hand, if no man was around, the girls were all over the boys; hugging them, kissing them, teasing them, the girls were having a field day. Though I do not know whether or not these kids came from fatherless homes, I found it interesting how quickly their behavior changed when a male figure was present as apposed to the absence of one. When I was at the mall I was able to gain a little more insight. The girls who came from fatherless homes were quick to “holler” at young boys. What this meant was if they saw someone they found attractive, they were not shy to yell across the mall, in broken English, and try to get the attention of the young man. The two other girls who came from nuclear homes did not once participate in trying to get the attention of other boys at the mall. The other thing that I found extremely disturbing was how quickly the young girls, who did not have a father figure, were to talk about what they wanted to do to the young boys in their life sexually, as well as other delinquent behaviors. These young girls were 14 years old, and they were talking about having sex with these boys in their lives. The other girls chimed in with their opinion of the subject every once in a while, but it seemed more to gain peer acceptance, rather than interest in the topic. It seemed that the young girls who did not have a father focused much more on getting the attention of young men than the other girls who grew up with fathers in the home.


 * 2. Implications of a Fatherless Home for Girls**



How can we help these girls so they do not feel the need to give themselves to men to get their affection? What is the best way to get these girls good male role models? Is there some other extraneous variables that is effecting the mind set that the girls have?
 * 3. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?**

Late Adulthood

Describe your Older Adult Project:
 * For my older adult project, I ended up calling my grandmother on Thanksgiving. I know that we were supposed to try to to it in person, but I was not able to make it home for the holiday and I really wanted to talk to my grandmother about everything that was going on in her life. I did not have the easiest childhood in the world. I grew up in a home with an abusive father and a distant mother. My mom did her best, but she was very submissive to my dad when he was having his issues. It does not bother me as much anymore because my dad got help and things have gotten a lot better since then; but when I was a kid I was terrified on a daily basis. I used to run away to my grandparents house, which just happened to be a few blocks down the road. That was where I felt safe. My grandparents in essence became my second set of parents. My grandma would always make me grilled cheese whenever I came over and played with my legos with me. She is a huge reason that I have become the person I am today. When I moved off for college I lost a lot of the contact that I had with my grandmother and it really was something that I have always hated. So I took this lesson as a opportunity to call my grandmother and catch up on all the years that I have not been able to see her due to my busy schedule.


 * I tried to talk to her about everything. My grandma is still working. She is 81 years old and still the top real estate agent in Northeast Ohio. My grandma is the hardest worker I have ever known. We talked about her childhood. How she grew up in the ghetto of Cleveland, Ohio and had to work in a meat market when she was 10 years old to try to put food on the table for her family. Her job was to cut off the heads of the chickens before they got sent to get plucked. I could not imagine doing that when I was 10 years old. Today my grandma and my grandpa are incredibly wealthy. On top of my grandma being such a high profile house saleswoman, my grandfather also helped to invent the very first PC. I always get letters from my grandma while I am at school with huge checks in them. I have never really asked her as to why she felt the need to send me so much money, so I did during this phone call. She said that she was not going to be around for much longer, and she wanted to make my life as comfortable as possible so she could see the happiness that she can bring to my life. She said that she never really believed in leaving money. She said it was too impersonal. She wanted to be a part of my life in as many small ways as she could, and sending me money was her way of making sure i was taken care of. This conversation was incredibly hard for me to have with her. I had never thought of my grandma not being around. Even through the course of this class I never thought my grandma would be close to leaving this earth. The conversation went on for about an hour and a half, and I learned so much about my grandmothers background that I had never even dreamed to ask about. She was just an open book. I think she took the opportunity to talk as much as possible since she knows I don't have a lot of time to call and talk. It was a great way to end my Thanksgiving.

Describe your experience (2 paragraph minimum and make 4 references to the textbook):
 * I really enjoyed talking to my grandmother, but at times it was very difficult to talk about some of the stuff that came up. For example, the book talks about how older adults get depressed because they start watching all of their friends die. When I was talking to my grandma, the subject came up that she had been to four different funerals over the past month. That is literally averaging one death a week. I could not imagine what it would be like to lose so many close friends in such a short amount of time, but my grandma seemed unfazed. Her belief in God and in an afterlife made her view on death much "nicer" than I think others would see it. She kept saying that she would see them all again one day. Another topic that came up, as i mentioned earlier, was the essence of my grandparents' will. My grandma has a philosophy that she does not want to leave us any money when she passes. She wants to give us what she can when she is alive so she can see our lives improve. We did talk about who gets the boat and the house when they pass, but for the most part I tried to avoid the subject because it made me very uncomfortable to think about.


 * The book also speaks on the different ailments that befall you when you are an older adult. Another very difficult thing to talk about was the health of my grandparents. My grandma started talking to me about how my grandfather was going continually for his cancer treatments and that he was trying to not let it get to his lifestyle, but he was really struggling. She asked if I could come shovel all the snow when I get home because my grandpa keeps trying to do it, but he doesn't have the strength anymore. For my grandma, she is starting to deal with a little bit of memory loss, so it is hard for her and she gets embarrassed when she repeats herself. The final connection I made to the book is when the book talks about older adults trying to reach out an make the relationships that they have stronger, particularly with family. I have an uncle that lives in Virginia that we never see. He is rarely at family events and doesn't ever seem to really communicate with the family in any way. As I was talking to my grandma, I found out that she had planned multiple trips to go out and spend weeks at a time with him and his family. She said that they were her grandbabies too and that she wanted to know them just like she knows us.

Seeing as how I had to talk to her on the phone, I was unable to take a legit picture, but here is a picture of my grandma with me, my brothers, and my cousin when we were much much younger.