Essay Sample: Interview on a Personality's Lifespan Development

Lifespan development is a subject that affects everyone around the world considering that every individual needs to go through the various developmental stages (Peterson, 2013). I had the opportunity of conducting an interview with two people concerning their development and mainly the area of lifespan development these individuals belong to. The first individual was female, seventeen years old, in her adolescence years and of the Mexican origin. The second individual was male, twenty-five years old, in the early adulthood stage and of the African American origin.

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There are some questions the participants responded to during the interview. The first individual identified that she is in the adolescence stage. The interviewee described that she feels that she belongs to his stage due to her age and the various changes she was experiencing biologically. She explained that she identified some characteristics of her developmental stage in school. One of those is that, during this juncture, she is in the process of forming an identity and discovering who she is. She also explained that she learned that it is the stage where individuals start associating and forming romantic relationships with people of the opposite sex. The second person also identified that he is in his early adulthood and he feels that he is at this stage due to his age. He identified that individuals at this level are often from twenty years to thirty and because he is twenty-five he believes he is in the early adulthood stage.

I then explained to each of them what takes place during the stages to and the expected changes and adjustments. During the adolescence stage, an individual goes through various physical changes especially changes in the body makeup (Shaffer, & Kipp, 2013). The participant was female and she would she would expect unique sexual changes compared to other girls and the male counterparts. It would also be a stage where peer influence and peer groups are dominant because she is trying to create an identity and discover who she is (Arnett, 2014). The other participant was in the early adulthood stage, and a characteristic of this stage is that a person commits to a romantic relationship while developing his or her career (Baltes & Schaie, 2013). Both individuals identified with these features and the adolescent agreed that she had a group of friend who she felt that she fitted in with them. The young adult also confirmed to being in a romantic relationship and that he and his partner had been dating for a while and they were going marriage.

Both participants explained that they often experience some challenges which are unique to their developmental stage. The adolescent explained that she often felt that her parents were controlling her life and she needed some form of freedom. She expressed that they often monitored her every move and that made her angry with them. She described that sometimes she would stay out late without approval from her parents to get away from their constant watch. The young adult also gave an account of the various challenges he was experiencing. He explained that there are many areas of his life including career, relationships, and education which he needed to focus on and develop. All these responsibilities often made him feel overwhelmed and tired sometimes. They, however, had some advice for individuals who were in developmental stages similar to theirs. He adolescent wanted other teenagers to be happy with whom they are and love themselves despite what others say. The young adult wanted other individuals in his developmental level to develop all aspects of their lives and not just focus on one leaving the rest unattended.

The interview process brought a unique experience for me. I was initially anxious about how the process would turn out because I had not done it before. However, it presented a brilliant learning opportunity because I had the chance of getting information touching on lifespan development firsthand. The participants were cooperative, and they shared various issues concerning their stage. I also got the opportunity to pass knowledge to these individuals where I would explain more to them concerning their developmental stage. I also got the chance to carry out an interview and identify how it goes for similar exercises in the future.

I learned a lot from the exercise. I only had characteristics of individuals at these stages from my academic work. The interview, however, presented the opportunity for me to get experiences that surrounded the various features submitted by persons at this stage. I also identified some real life issues that individuals in these stages go through and how they cope with these matters. In my opinion, psychologists have been accurate in the classification of the different lifespan stages. Though the participants did not mention all the characteristics concerning the stages as presented in psychology literature, what they presented was accurate. All the features they mentioned were similar to those that psychologists have identified and continue to identify. They often carry out research studies to come up with these characteristics and their presentations need to be valid and reliable. It is also another reason why their classification is accurate.

References

Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2013). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence. Cengage Learning.

Arnett, J. J. (2014). Adolescence and emerging adulthood. Pearson Education Limited.

Baltes, P. B., & Schaie, K. W. (Eds.). (2013). Life-span developmental psychology: Personality and socialization. Elsevier.

Peterson, C. C. (2013). Looking forward through the lifespan: developmental psychology. Pearson Higher Education AU.