Young and Middle Adulthood Case Studies

Young and Middle Adulthood Case Studies

Case Study 1: Jackson

Diana G. Resendiz

BSHS/325

September 22, 2014

Corine Charm

        Young and Middle Adulthood Case Studies

        This paper analyses young and middle adulthood case studies. The chosen scenario narrates the story of Jackson, a 25 years old male with destructive habits, cognitive decline, and analytical skills deficit. From life as a young child in a broken home, to his head trauma after the accident, pain killer medication abuse, and inability to commit to relationships.  The purpose of this paper is to describe possible developmental factors and issues that may be affecting his choices and behaviors.

Family, Social, and Intimate Relationships and the Effects of Personal Habits

Family

        Jackson was raised by his mother, and his mother's partner became his father figure. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2010), one-parent families are becoming more common in our society. Poverty affects one-parent families significantly. Moreover, single mothers spend lots of time working outside their home. The fact that society lacks of quality child-care available for single mothers have been questioned. These issues might have been negative influences on Jackson’s development. This was also a factor on top of added pressure of the already difficulties or a young man.

Social

        Lifestyles and habits such as alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking can impact people’s health. Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2010) affirm that “chemically dependent people need to assume responsibility for their behavior” (p 865). In schools tone must also face excessive truancy, drug use, violence, or other illegal or disruptive behavior of peers that can cause one to sway to drug use. Further, users and misusers of pain medication are found to be more likely to also use alcohol and binge drink, use marijuana, and use hard drugs. The drug with the highest prevalence of misuse among teens after cigarettes (nicotine), alcohol, and marijuana, is pain medication, also referred to as “pain killers”. Further, users and misusers of pain medication were found to be more likely to also use alcohol and binge drink, use marijuana, and use hard drugs (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2011). Jackson took a step forward by going to rehab. On the other hand, it is important to note that Jackson became addicted on alcohol and drugs after he sustained a brain injury. Although, he was a good student, and even pursued a higher education, his cognitive functioning started to decline after his accident. Valente and Fisher (2011) state that after a head trauma cognitive difficulties occur with “learning, memory, information processing, organizing, intellectual processing, and communication. Reasoning, problem solving, judgment, attention, thinking, and multitasking may be altered. These problems may disrupt the ability to organize thoughts and ideas” (p. 866).