PS220 Unit 9 Adolescent Development Paper Example

Reviewed by Romilly Dunmore, MEd Child and Adolescent Psychology Purdue University Global Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

A composite sixteen-year-old's year, a learner's permit, a yellow light run with three friends cheering and new questions about her heritage, illustrates adolescence in this PS220 Unit 9 paper. Steinberg's account of reward systems maturing before control systems and Gardner and Steinberg's driving game explain the risk, and New Mexico's passenger limits for new drivers apply that research. Marcia's statuses track Maya from a foreclosed plan to become a nurse toward exploration, and Phinney's stages describe her questions after interviewing her grandmother. Most teens, the paper notes, avoid severe turmoil. Purdue Global PS 220, Child and Adolescent Psychology, assigns this paper in the BS in Psychology course.

CoursePS220 Child and Adolescent Psychology
UnitUnit 9
Paper typeAdolescent development paper
LengthAbout 520 words, 4 pages double-spaced
FormatAPA 7 student paper
SchoolPurdue University Global
ProgramBS in Psychology
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for PS220 Unit 9

1

Sixteen, a Learner's Permit and a Quinceañera Photograph: A PS220 Unit 9 Adolescent Development Paper

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

PS220: Child and Adolescent Psychology

Unit 9 Adolescent Development Paper

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Maya, her family and the events described are composite; the research cited is real.

What this part is doingPairing each research framework with an event in the teenager's year in the lead shows the paper applies theory to a life.
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Puberty and the Brain

Maya entered puberty at about eleven, with the growth spurt and body changes that come with it. Her brain was also changing. Through adolescence, regions involved in reward and emotion respond strongly, while the frontal circuitry for planning and restraint keeps developing well past high school. Steinberg (2008) describes this as a mismatch between an early-developing socioemotional system that seeks reward, especially in the presence of peers, and a later-developing control system.

Risk With Friends in the Car

At sixteen, Maya earned her learner's permit. Driving alone with her mother, she was careful. Once, driving her cousin and two friends to a football game, she sped through a yellow light while everyone cheered. In a simulated driving study, Gardner and Steinberg (2005) watched teens in a driving game run more yellow lights once friends sat in the room, while adults' risk-taking changed less with an audience. Maya was not ignorant of the danger; she could have described it perfectly at the kitchen table. The presence of her friends changed how the reward of the moment weighed against it.

Maya knew a yellow light means slow down; with three friends in the car, knowing was not enough.

New Mexico's graduated licensing rules, like those in many states, limit young drivers' passengers for a period after licensing, a policy that matches what this research shows.

What this part is doingConnecting the driving study to licensing policy shows the research has practical uses.
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Identity: Marcia's Statuses

For Erikson the teenage task is identity against role confusion, and Marcia (1966) measured identity through two dimensions: exploration and commitment. A teenager in diffusion has neither explored nor committed; in foreclosure, she has committed without exploring, often adopting her parents' plans; in moratorium, she is actively exploring; and in achievement, she has explored and committed. At fourteen, Maya said she would be a nurse like her mother, a foreclosed commitment. At sixteen, after volunteering at an animal shelter and taking a biology elective, she was weighing nursing, veterinary medicine and teaching, a moratorium.

Ethnic Identity

Maya's quinceañera at fifteen was planned by her grandmother, and Maya went along with it. A year later, in a history class assignment, she interviewed her grandmother about growing up in northern New Mexico and began asking what being Hispanic meant to her. Phinney (1989) traced how teens from minority groups go from accepting their heritage without thought, to searching it out, to a settled personal meaning for it. Maya was entering the exploration stage, now looking at the photographs from her quinceañera with questions she had not asked when she was in them.

Adolescence Without Storm

Despite the yellow light, Maya's adolescence was not the storm of popular stereotypes. Most adolescents maintain good relationships with their parents and pass through these years without severe turmoil, and her conflicts with her mother were mostly about curfews and chores.

What this part is doingCorrecting the storm stereotype with the case keeps the paper faithful to the research.
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References

Gardner, M., & Steinberg, L. (2005). Peer influence on risk taking, risk preference, and risky decision making in adolescence and adulthood: An experimental study. Developmental Psychology, 41(4), 625-635. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.4.625

Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3(5), 551-558. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0023281

Phinney, J. S. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity development in minority group adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 9(1-2), 34-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431689091004

Steinberg, L. (2008). A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking. Developmental Review, 28(1), 78-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.002

PS220 Unit 9 instructions, in plain terms

PS220's ninth unit commonly asks how puberty, brain development and identity formation shape adolescence. Describe a teenager's experiences concretely and explain them with research. Cover brain development accurately, including the different timing of reward and control systems, and connect it to a behavior such as risk-taking with peers. Explain identity formation with Erikson and Marcia, placing the teen in a status and showing movement if it occurs. Include ethnic or cultural identity where relevant, with research on how it develops. Address the stereotype of adolescence as universally stormy. Note practical applications, such as policies informed by the research. Cite original studies and theorists in APA style, and keep claims about the teenage brain measured.

How the PS 220 Unit 9 example is put together

The paper opens with puberty and Steinberg's two-system account. The risk section contrasts careful solo driving with the yellow light, explains Gardner and Steinberg's peer finding, under a highlighted line that knowing the rule was not enough with friends present, and notes graduated licensing. The identity section explains Erikson and Marcia's exploration and commitment, then traces Maya from foreclosure at fourteen to moratorium at sixteen. The ethnic identity section describes her quinceañera, the history interview and Phinney's stages. The close corrects the storm stereotype with curfew and chore disputes. Each research idea is introduced only after the event it explains, so the year reads as one teenager's story with the science underneath it, and the sections connect: the same reward sensitivity behind the yellow light also fuels her eager exploration of careers.

PS220 Unit 9 rubric: what earns full points

Credit in adolescent papers depends on accurate neuroscience, careful identity analysis and attention to context. Instructors look for brain development described with appropriate nuance, avoiding the claim that teenagers simply lack a frontal lobe. Linking peer presence to risk with a specific study earns credit. Placing a teen in Marcia's statuses, and showing movement between them, demonstrates understanding. Ethnic identity research applied to a specific teen adds depth. Practical applications, such as licensing policy, show relevance. Correcting stereotypes with evidence reflects current developmental science, and original sources should be cited accurately. Connecting separate adolescent changes, such as risk and exploration, to shared mechanisms is a mark of the strongest papers.

PS220 Unit 9 help: mistakes that cost points

The most common slip says teenagers take risks because their brains are not finished, without explaining the mismatch between reward and control systems or the role of peers. Another treats identity as settled by graduation or applies Marcia's statuses as fixed labels. Students often omit ethnic or cultural identity even when the teen's background makes it central. The storm and stress picture is frequently repeated uncritically. Before submitting, check that your brain section names both systems and their timing, that your teen moves through or is placed in a status with evidence, that culture appears where it matters, and that one claim challenges a common stereotype. Those checks keep the paper accurate and specific.

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Send the case or topic and the instructions with the rubric. A custom paper explains adolescent development with research and an example. It comes back within 24-48h, and the first is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.

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PS220 Unit 9 questions, answered

What are Marcia's identity statuses?

Diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium and achievement, based on exploration and commitment.

Why do adolescents take more risks with friends present?

Research suggests peers heighten reward sensitivity during adolescence.

Where can I find a free PS220 Unit 9 sample paper?

This page holds the complete PS220 Unit 9 paper on a composite sixteen-year-old's risk-taking with friends, career exploration and ethnic identity.

Where is Maya in Marcia's statuses in the PS220 Unit 9 sample?

She moves from foreclosure at fourteen, adopting her mother's nursing plan, to moratorium at sixteen, exploring several careers.

Is adolescence a time of turmoil in the PS220 Unit 9 sample?

Not for most teens; Maya's conflicts with her mother were mostly about curfews and chores, consistent with research rejecting the storm stereotype.