Adolescence: Contemporary Issues & Resources

Adolescence: Contemporary Issues & Resources

Click here to ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT: Adolescence: Contemporary Issues & Resources.  

Adolescence: Contemporary Issues & Resources.

Adolescence: Contemporary Issues & Resources.

Research the range of contemporary issues teenagers face today. In a 500-750-word paper, choose one issue (besides teen pregnancy) and discuss its effect on adolescent behavior and overall well-being. Include the following in your submission:

1. Describe the contemporary issue and explain what external stressors are associated with this issue.

2. Outline assessment strategies to screen for this issue and external stressors during an assessment for an adolescent patient. Describe what additional assessment questions you would need to ask and define the ethical parameters regarding what you can and cannot share with the parent or guardian.

3. Discuss support options for adolescents encountering external stressors. Include specific support options for the contemporary issue you presented.

Use as reference:  https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs434vn/health-assessment-foundations-for-effective-practice/v1.1/#/chapter/3

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Click here to ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT: Adolescence: Contemporary Issues & Resources. 

Adolescence is a very challenging stage of life during which intellectual, psychological, physical, and emotional changes occur. In as much as adolescence is considered a relatively healthy stage in life, individuals in this age group start making important life choices and establishing behaviors that impact both their current and future overall health. Adolescents tend to exhibit several serious social, safety, and health issues such as violence, substance use, bullying, delinquency, depression, suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, and teenage pregnancy, which can negatively impact their health and well-being (Rougemont-Bücking, et al., 2017). The paper will however focus on substance use and abuse as the main contemporary issue affecting adolescents in the current world.

Substance Use and Associated External Stressors

            Substance use and abuse is a major concern among several countries across the globe. Studies show that more than a quarter of individuals between the age of 15 to 19 years are current alcoholics, amounting to approximately 155 million adolescents. The most commonly abused drug by adolescents in the United States is cannabis, with a prevalence of 4.7% according to data collected in 2018 by the WHO (Thorpe, Hamidullah, Jenkins, & Khokhar, 2020). Studies have also associated the recent increase in substance use and abuse among adolescents to several external stressors such as peer pressure, divorce, lack of parental guidance, and physical or sexual assault among others. Substance use and abuse among adolescents can lead to reduced self-control and increased risky behaviors such as unsafe sex and violence, which may cause physical injuries and mental disorders compromising the patient’s health.

 

 

Assessment Strategies to Screen for Substance Use and External Stressors

            Routine screening for substance use among adolescents is quite crucial for early detection of associated health complications and to indicate the degree of severity of the disorder for appropriate intervention. During routine adolescent examination, the clinician needs to incorporate assessment of substance use when taking the patient’s history (Eisenberg et al., 2020). The assessment will entail the administration of several screening tools for substance use. For instance, for general alcohol and drug screening, tools such as the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) among others.

During the assessment, the clinician is required to ask several questions to understand the background of the adolescent, substance use history, and mental health problems. For background information, the adolescent must report on the history of domestic violence, trauma, financial situation, family status, housing status, family strengths, and education. For information regarding substance use, the clinician will ask questions such as whether the adolescent has been using any drug of abuse, what drug they have been using, the age of the first use, the driving force of using the drug, and family history of substance use problems (Kennedy et al., 2019). A mental health examination will be necessary if the patient reports any associated mental or behavioral symptoms.

Despite adolescents being minors and their parents and guardians taking responsibility for their health, legal and ethical requirements however state that adolescents are entitled to the right of confidentiality and autonomy (Fortuna, Porche, & Padilla, 2018). As such, the parents can only be informed about the overall health status of the adolescent, with additional information regarding any concerning sign and symptoms, that require their intervention, such as substance use disorder, suicidal ideation, and potential harm to self or other. However, the minor details disclosed by the adolescent must remain private to enhance trust and a healthy relationship with the patient.

Support Options for Adolescents Encountering External Stressors

Several interventions have been identified through EBP to provide support for adolescents encountering external stressors that can compromise their quality of life. For starters, the clinician must engage in conversation with the adolescent encouraging them to make healthy choices to avoid, reduce or prevent risk behaviors despite the magnitude of the stressor. Consequently, the use of motivation-enhancing principles should be encouraged for both the clinician and the adolescent’s parents or guardians, to help them open up and seek help in case the external stressors for substance use have started impacting their lives negatively (Eisenberg et al., 2020). Positive reinforcement and increased patient education on substance use and associated health complications might also be necessary.

Conclusion

            Adolescents are faced with several challenges as a result of both internal and external stressors, which compromise their quality of life. One of the most common challenges is substance use and abuse (Kennedy et al., 2019). However, with appropriate screening and intervention, adolescents can prevent or reduce the impact of external stressors on their quality of life.

 

 

References

Rougemont-Bücking, A., Grazioli, V. S., Daeppen, J. B., Gmel, G., & Studer, J. (2017). Family-related stress versus external stressors: Differential impacts on alcohol and illicit drug use in young men. European addiction research, 23(6), 284-297. https://doi.org/10.1159/000485031

Kennedy, B., Chen, R., Fang, F., Valdimarsdottir, U., Montgomery, S., Larsson, H., & Fall, K. (2019). Low-stress resilience in late adolescence and risk of smoking, high alcohol consumption, and drug use later in life. J Epidemiol Community Health, 73(6), 496-501. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2018-211815

Eisenberg, M. E., Erickson, D. J., Gower, A. L., Kne, L., Watson, R. J., Corliss, H. L., & Saewyc, E. M. (2020). Supportive community resources are associated with lower risk of substance use among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning adolescents in Minnesota. Journal of youth and adolescence, 49(4), 836-848. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01100-4

Fortuna, L. R., Porche, M. V., & Padilla, A. (2018). A treatment development study of a cognitive and mindfulness‐based therapy for adolescents with co‐occurring post‐traumatic stress and substance use disorder. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 91(1), 42-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12143

Thorpe, H. H., Hamidullah, S., Jenkins, B. W., & Khokhar, J. Y. (2020). Adolescent neurodevelopment and substance use: receptor expression and behavioral consequences. Pharmacology & therapeutics, 206, 107431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2019.107431

Adolescence: Contemporary Issues and Resources – Rubric

COLLAPSE ALL ADOLESCENCE: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND RESOURCES – RUBRICCOLLAPSE ALL

Contemporary Issue and Associated External Stressors

27.5 POINTS

Assessment Strategies to Screen for the Issue and External Stressors

33 POINTS

Support Options for Adolescents Encountering External Stressors

27.5 POINTS

Thesis Development and Purpose

5.5 POINTS

Argument Logic and Construction

5.5 POINTS

Mechanics of Writing (includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, language use)

5.5 POINTS

Paper Format (use of appropriate style for the major and assignment)

2.2 POINTS

Documentation of Sources

3.3 POINTS