Developmental Psychology: Puberty, Conflict, Relationships and Traits

This essay delves into various aspects of developmental psychology, beginning with an examination of puberty, including the genetic and environmental factors influencing its timing. It addresses the common conflicts between teenagers and parents, highlighting hormonal changes and the teen's push for independence as key contributors. The essay reflects on the qualities essential for successful romantic relationships, such as mutual respect, acceptance, and trust, drawing from personal experiences and observations. Furthermore, it analyzes the author's personality based on the Big Five personality traits, providing insights into their openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Finally, the essay touches on the author's personal and professional aspirations, including achieving financial independence and navigating the transition to adulthood. This student-contributed assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide array of study resources for students.

Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Answer to question 1:
Puberty refers to the intricate series of physical transitions that has an influence of the
psychosocial factors as well. The timing however, differs in boys and girls. While girls hit
puberty between the ages of eight and thirteen, in boys it starts at the age of 10 mostly and ends
around the ages of fifteen or sixteen.
It is nonetheless difficult to predict the sources that predict the timing of puberty in both
girls and boys. Several forces work together to forecast when the individuals hit puberty. Some
of these forces are – environmental and genetic (Ong, 2015).
Studies have found that puberty is happening at an alarmingly younger age in individuals.
Environmental exposures have been found to be the most worrisome. It has raised concern
regarding the child’s environment during the timing of puberty. Fisher and Eugster (2014)
suggest that many aspects of an individual’s environment contribute collectively to puberty
timing. Obesity is one of the prime factors that result in early puberty especially amongst girls.
Genetics of an individual also predict her or his timing of puberty. Apart from predicting
the timing, genetics also predict the pace of progression. Hankin et al. (2015) researched on
genetic factors as sources of predicting puberty timing and found, “50% to 80% of the variation
in pubertal timing is determined by genetic factors”. Genetic background contributes
significantly towards predicting puberty timing.
Answer to question 2:
Conflict between the teen and parent is a matter faced in almost every household and this
makes it critical to understand what causes this conflict. Teenage is a phase in human life that is

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confusing for the parent and the teen. The reason is that this is the phase when the child is no
longer a child and yet not an adult as well. The push to separate from parents is mostly initiated
by the teen, although the initiative is often taken under extreme anger and frustration. The
conflict reaches the highest level in the later stages of adolescence when the teen prepares, for
the first time, to leave home.
Other reasons for the conflict reaching peak is the hormonal changes that the teen
experiences. These stages cause the conflict to reach its peak because parents are not ready to
accept that their child has attained some maturity. Further, the teen does not achieve complete
maturity to understand the dilemma of her or his parents. Whenever the parents instruct or order
the teens what they should do, they feel humiliated and suppressed. This causes the conflict most
of the times. Gender also plays a role in the push to separate. As Chaplin, and Aldao (2013),
find, girls demonstrate more positive and internalizing emotions like sympathy, anxiety, sadness
and so on than boys do.
Answer to question 3:
My parents fell in love at around the same age that I am in now and since then, they have
only grown stronger. In their relationship, the most important thing they say is that they have
mutual admiration and respect for each other. I had a relationship as well when in high school.
She was very pretty and smart at the same time, which made me attracted to her. During our
relationship, I learnt a lot about her and myself as well. Although our relationship ended, I think
we had many qualities as couples that are required for successful love.

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In order to make a relationship work, one has to accept both the weaknesses and strengths
of the partner. Acceptance improves the patience and other qualities of people involved in a
romantic relationship.
As I have mentioned above, my parents had mutual admiration and respect for each other,
which is another quality that helps love succeed. It is important that the partners make each other
feel valued each day to make the relationship last.
Trust is one quality that must be present in any relationship. We lacked this quality and hence,
we had to part our ways. If one does not trust one’s partner, it shows the weakness of their
relationship.
Answer to question 4:
The Big Five personality traits include:
Openness – It tells us about our tendency to reflect in ways that are abstract and complex.
I have scored a score of 85 in this trait, which means that I am very creative, intellectual and
adventurous (See Appendix). I am someone who likes to explore unusual and intricate forms of
expressing myself.
Conscientiousness – With a score of 52 in this trait, I am neither self-disciplined nor
impulsive or should I say, I am both self-disciplined and impulsive (See Appendix). It depicts
that at times I could be highly organized and has the ability to give up immediate fulfillment for
the sake of long-term accomplishment.

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Extraversion – I am definitely an introvert as evident from the scores that I received in
this trait, which are 25 (See Appendix).. I do not seek attention of other people neither do I find it
necessary to work hard to earn admiration, power and friendship.
Agreeableness – The score of 69 in this trait indicates that I am a kind of person who
tends to put the need of others ahead than my own and cooperate with others rather than compete
(See Appendix). I enjoy helping and caring for others and do not keep grudges as well.
Neuroticism – I am a person who is a little pessimistic about the world and I often have
negative thoughts about situations and people around. The score of 65 on this trait confirms these
features about my personality (See Appendix).
When I was in my teens, I was more positive about life and would have score high on the
neuroticism trait as well.
Answer to question 5:
I am a student now studying in the university, which is bore by my parents mostly
although I work as a freelancer. I plan to become financially independent when I complete my
course and pass out of the university. I have planned to arrange for that prior to leaving
university and that is why I am into freelancing. The thought of leaving the ‘nest’, that is, my
parents’ home scares me sometimes but I know I will have to stand on my own feet. At one point
in life, I felt was going backwards in life as I was into smoking and too much partying but I
managed to compose myself. That feeling though was pathetic and I would not want to feel like
that again. In terms of my social-work priorities, marriage comes much later in the list. I first
want to make a successful career.

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References:
Chaplin, T. M., & Aldao, A. (2013). Gender differences in emotion expression in children: A
meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin, 139(4), 735.
Fisher, M. M., & Eugster, E. A. (2014). What is in our environment that effects
puberty?. Reproductive Toxicology, 44, 7-14.
Hankin, B. L., Young, J. F., Abela, J. R., Smolen, A., Jenness, J. L., Gulley, L. D., ... &
Oppenheimer, C. W. (2015). Depression from childhood into late adolescence: Influence
of gender, development, genetic susceptibility, and peer stress. Journal of abnormal
psychology, 124(4), 803.
Ong, K. K. (2015). DOHAD and early pubertal timing. International journal of pediatric
endocrinology, 2015(1), O12.

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Appendix: