ANALYTICAL ESSAY
This is required for doctoral applications only.
The Analytical Essay should identify key arguments on a current educational or social
issue pertinent to your field. Include your analysis and conclusions. Cite references that
inform your understanding. This essay may be a new piece of work or a previously
written essay. There is no specific length requirement for this essay. Submissions
average about 10 pages.
Nigeria has the largest population in Africa.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/nigeria-population
and the seventh most populous country in the world with a population of
over 190,000,000 (The World Fact Book [TWFB] 2017). Over 60% of the
Nigerian population are 24 years old or younger and the life expectancy in
this country is just 52 years (TWFB 2017). Rates of substance use in
adolescent populations are the highest in 10 years, with the majority of
cigarette and alcohol users beginning at 13 years old (Famuyiwa et al. 2011).
These statistics provide an urgent rationale for research that informs the
development of interventions addressing risky behaviors in Nigerian young
adults.
Data source
The 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) provided the
data for this study. The NDHS is a nationally representative survey that
collects information on men, women, and children. Data is collected on
various topics, including adolescent pregnancy [20, 21]. The NDHS collects
data from 36 administrative units and the Federal Capital Territory using a
two-stage sampling process. The primary sampling unit for the survey
consisted of samples chosen at random from clusters. A total of 9448
teenagers were considered for this investigation, based on data from the
women’s recode file. The National Population Commission (NPC) and the
International Center for Migration (ICF) have published the detailed
methodology of the 2018 NDHS [21]. We followed the guidelines for
enhancing the reporting of observational studies in Epidemiology when
producing this publication [22]. The dataset can be downloaded
from https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa Having grown up in Nigeria, a country of over
200 million people, with 250 ethnic groups, and a thriving youth population, some of whom I
have been working with for two decades, According to the Census Bureau of the United
States, the population of Nigeria will surpass that of the United States in less than three
decades, when the population of Nigeria will nearly double. With those numbers, Nigeria will
become the third most populated country in the world. Young people all over the world
across diverse cultures and ethnicities face similar challenges in their developmental changes.
I am interested in learning about how multiple relationships in youths’ systems and webs of
support can affect their development. Specifically, I would like to learn the degree to which
an anchor in a youth core can positively help them thrive and am curious how results from
such findings can be applied to youth across Africa and contribute in policy making in
education programs.
This claim is supported by theories of childhood and adolescent
development by Piaget, from sensorimotor stage in early childhood to
formal operational stage in adolescence. Vygotsky ‘s says infants develop
new social skills and cognitive skills through interactions with older
individuals. In the same vein adolescents patterns are similar though the
contexts may be different. The youth has been described as adolescent
development used to to be about 5 years long (puberty at age 12/13 to the assumption of adult roles at
age 18) adolescence has become longer, about 15 years, with puberty occurring as early as age 7 for
some children, and ending with the assumption of adult roles in the mid-twenties (after college, grad
school etc.)hormonal changes during puberty are associated with stronger emotions and emotional
reactivity (“dopamine squirt”)the brain is more sensitive to stress during adolescence (average onset
of mental illness at 14)the prefrontal cortex (associated with planning, self-regulation and impulse
control) continues to develop until the mid-twenties the period of risk (high emotionality coupled with
still limited self-control) has become longer Steinberg’s argument
brain development does not stop in childhood increase of grey matter in childhood, peaks in late
childhood (increase of myelin, increase in number of axons, thickening of individual axons), decline
of grey matter during adolescence (as a result of synaptic pruning) white matter volume increases
until 30s and 40s, then drops off prefrontal cortex changes rapidly in adolescence (decision-making,
planning inhibition of inappropriate behavior, social interactions) medial prefrontal cortex more active
in adolescence; activity declines from adolescence to adulthood ability to take into account others’
social perspective still develops from mid-adolescence to adulthood limbic system hypersensitive to
the rewards of risk-taking in adolescence (esp. when with peers) Sarah-Jayne Blakemore