PSYC 222: Adolescent Psychology
Research Paper (50 points)
The goal of this project is to expose students to various topics in adolescent psychology within various contexts. This project is worth 50 points. You will need to upload your paper to the associated drop box in D2L.
Below is a list of suggested research questions for you to explore for your research paper. If you don’t like any of these questions you may propose your own question to the instructor. If you want to propose your own question, keep in mind that you’ll need to do it in time to be sure you have enough time to complete your project before the deadline.
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· What are the various ways adolescents develop and use problem-solving skills?
· What is the effect on an adolescent if they don’t learn problem-solving skills during childhood?
· How are social skills and attitudes shaped during adolescence?
· Which mental disorders are likely to be diagnosed during adolesence and what are the effects of mental illness during adolesence?
· What are the effects of solitary confinement on adolescents?
· What are the developmental effects of homelessness on adolescents?
· What are the effects of postpartum depression on an adolescent mother and her child?
· What is the role of environment on adolescent development?
· What is the difference between the effects of eating disorders on the growth and development of adolescent males and females?
Other topics from which to choose include (but are not limited to):
Theories of human growth and development – Select a specific theory discussed in your textbook and provide an in-depth analysis of the theory. Be sure to include background information on the theory (who constructed the theory, how did they do it, the time period in which the theory was devised, etc.) as well as any criticisms of the theory. You may also choose to compare two theories and report how they are similar and how they differ. If you select this option, you should be prepared to discuss your own thoughts about the theory and what you agree or disagree with based on what you learned in class about adolescent psychology. Some psychologists/theorists that you may be able to find a lot of information on include (but are not limited to) Erikson (psychodynamic), Bronfenbrenner (human ecological systems), Piaget (cognitive), Kohlberg (moral), Gilligan (moral), Skinner (learning), Bandura (social cognitive), and Bowlby (attachment).
Physical and psychological disorders – Select a physical or psychological disorder (a partial list is below) and discuss how this particular disorder affects the normal course of adolescent development. Be sure to include background information on the disorder (i.e., how the disease is transmitted or developed, symptoms, previous research on the disease, statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), etc.), the population(s) most vulnerable to the disorder, treatments and cures, and psychological and physical effects of the disease on humans.
Adrenal gland disorders
Alzheimer’s disease
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Birth defects
Cerebral palsy
Diabetes
Down Syndrome
Fibromyalgia
High-risk pregnancy
HIV and AIDS
Infertility
Klinefelter Syndrome
Learning disorders
Miscarriage
Muscular dystrophy
Obesity
Prader-Willi Syndrome
STDs and STIs
Sleep disorders
Substance abuse and dependence
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Stroke
Traumatic brain injury
Zika virus
The following information is required to be part of your research project and you must include all of the following information in order to earn credit for this assignment.
Keep in mind that APA format is required for all written work. If you are unfamiliar with APA format, you should access the resources included in this document.
The format of your paper should be as follows:
Introduction. Explain what you want to know, why someone would be interested in your research, etc. In other words, what is the overall contribution that you hope to make to the field of psychology with your experiment?
(5 points)
Background information. You will need to research the subject that you are planning to study to get background information. Find out what has been studied previously in this area. This is an important part of the whole project, so make sure to do a good job! Also remember, when quoting or paraphrasing information on your slides that you found in either your textbook, the instructor’s PowerPoints, or articles found in psychology journals, you *must* cite this information in APA format. Points will be deducted if APA format is not followed. This is required!
(25 points)
Discussion. Wrap up your paper or presentation with a discussion of your findings and how this relates to your research question.
Make sure you include a substantial amount of discussion in your paper or project. This should be in YOUR voice, so keep quotations from references to a minimum here.
(10 points)
Conclusion. Discuss any additional research that should be done in this area, policies that should be created, ineffective strategies currently being used to deal with this issue, etc. Be sure this is in YOUR voice.
(5 points)
References. You are required to use a minimum of three (3) references for this project, and your textbook
Note: Grammar and spelling must be of college-level quality. We all have spell check and grammar check…be sure to use these tools. Points *will* be deducted for more than five grammatical or spelling errors in this project. There will be *no* exceptions to this, so be sure to have someone proofread your PowerPoint before turning it in!
A note about grading: You will be evaluated on the clarity of your writing, the depth of information provided, and your understanding of research design as it pertains to what we have learned in this class. So while you are not expected to create dissertation-level work, you do need to demonstrate a basic understanding of this material in order to earn a good grade on this project. Remember that this is a college class, and you are expected to produce college-level work. Poorly written information, inaccurate information, or inappropriate word choices are things that do not demonstrate college-level work. You should connect your work on this project to what you’ve learned in class.
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APA Format Information
If you don’t have the latest and greatest APA manual, don’t worry. There are a lot of websites dedicated to helping students learn APA format. I recommend using the following website:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. This website was created and is maintained by the
Online Writing lab at Purdue University. There is a lot of great information here, so I highly suggest you take a look.
For the purpose of this project, you will need to know how to format in-text citations and reference list entries for your textbook as well as journal articles. This website has all of the information you need on this. If you are confused, however, you should contact the instructor for assistance. One of the most common mistakes students make in this class regarding APA format is using MLA instead of APA format, especially for the reference page (the title of a reference page in APA format is
References, not Works Cited). Don’t do this! Writing in the social sciences is required to be in APA format, so if you use MLA format points will be deducted from your overall score.
For in-text citations (you’ll need to use these in your background information):
and
For references (you’ll need to use these on your last slide):
and
*If you find that you still need assistance after reading over this information please contact the instructor.*
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Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Journals
You have access to online journals through the LCC library at
as well as other online tools such as Google Scholar (
https://scholar.google.com). You can also register for an account with the MSU library; you may need to go to the library in order to do this but it is well worth it. If you find an article title but cannot gain access to the entire article either online or through the LCC library database, please contact your instructor for assistance.
Please note that
Wikipedia,
Psychology Today, or other magazines or blogs are not suitable references for this project. If you use these sources, they will not count as part of your three (3) required sources.
You can find a list of journals published by or affiliated with the
American Psychological Association here:
Developmental Psychology Journals:
Open access (free) journals (scroll down for psychology journals):
PsychOpen (open access journals):
You can also search online for “open access peer reviewed psychology journals” and see what you can find. As always, please let your instructor know if you need assistance.
