Psychology 274 Fall, 2006
Christopher Jones
All Papers should be 5-7 pages, double spaced, typed in black ink, 12 point font, and 1 inch margins all around. Papers will be due on November 13.
Papers turned in after class on the 13 th will loose 5 points. Papers turned in later than the 13 th will loose 5 additional points for every day after that.
Papers will not be accepted after Friday, November 17 th . Please refer to the course syllabus regarding plagiarism.
For this paper you will chose one of two topics:
1.
Alcohol Paper:
The purpose of this project is to collect information about alcohol use in early adulthood. You will interview five friends who are in early adulthood regarding their history of alcohol use. If you are in early adulthood, you can respond to the questions yourself, as one of the five individuals.
Use the interview questions on the data sheet (next page), record each person's responses, and then write a 5-7 page report describing what you found and how that relates to the information in the text about alcohol use in early adulthood as well as three peer reviewed journal articles (note: these don’t have to be studies, they can be review articles as well). Be sure to answer the questions that follow.
Questions:
 What is the average frequency of drinking in your subjects? What is the range among individuals? Are there large individual differences in frequency of drinking? Are there age or sex differences?
 What is the average age at which your subjects first drank? What is the range among individuals? Are there large individual differences in the age at which they started drinking? Are there age or sex differences?
 On the average, how much do these subjects consume when they drink?
What is the range among individuals? Are there large individual differences in the amount they drink? Are there age or sex differences?
 How often, overall, does this group get drunk? What is the range among individuals? Are there large individual differences in frequency of drunkenness? Are there age or sex differences?
 How do your data compare with data on alcohol use in early adulthood presented in the textbook? Do your data support or refute the text?

Psychology 274 Fall, 2006
Christopher Jones
College Students and the Use of Alcohol
You will want to have five copies of this data sheet (one for each subject).
Person _____
Gender _____
Age _____
Interview Questions:
1. How often do you have a drink?
2. At what age did you first drink?
3. When you do drink, how much do you typically drink?
4. Do you ever get drunk?
5. If you answered “yes” to question 4, how frequently?
6. Do you drink alone?
Have you ever?
7. Do you drink in the morning?
Have you ever?
8. Do you ever drink and drive?
If you answered no, can you think of any reason when you might (i.e., an emergency)?
Please be specific.
9. Is anyone in your family an alcoholic?- Don’t ask this if you think it’s too personal.

Psychology 274 Fall, 2006
Christopher Jones
2.
Parent-teen paper: Parenting teens has always been a challenge, particularly if parents are also grappling with their own developmental issues (e.g., midlife). For this activity, students will either interview parents of teens they know, or join a parenting discussion group on the
Internet. Parenting discussion groups and chat rooms are fairly easy to locate using traditional search engines (go to GOOGLE and type
“parenting teen chat” and you will find several chat rooms for moms and dads). In many ways, the latter method is preferred because you will interact with parents in a more anonymous fashion, come into contact with more parents, and use technology to facilitate learning.
In addition to interview questions that I provide below, you are encouraged to develop interview questions that tap into information relevant to this stage of development. Interview data will then be incorporated into a written report (5 to 7 pages) integrating course material from the textbook as well as 3 relevant peer-reviewed journal articles.
Some suggested questions are listed below:
1) What are the biggest joys, as well as challenges, in parenting teens?
2) What types of disputes do you experience with your teen?
3) What coping mechanisms do you use to deal with these disputes?
4) What are your feelings about your teen getting into steady romantic relationships?
5) What guidelines or rules will you (or have you) established?
6) What are your feelings about your teen and part-time work?
7) What types of changes have you experienced as a result of parenting a teen?
8) What are your feelings about the friends of your teens? Do you have guidelines or expectancies that you share with your teen regarding their friends?
9) Do you feel that your teen respects your decisions? Why or why not?
10) Do you feel that being a teen today is more or less stressful than it was in your own teen experience?
11) What words of advice would you give to an individual just starting to parent a teen?

Psychology 274 Fall, 2006
Christopher Jones
 Before conducting this activity, I strongly suggest you familiarize yourself with the textbook material on adolescence, parenting, and midlife issues.
 Next, you should conduct the interview(s). If you are joining Internet discussion/chat groups, it is important to read the posted guidelines for membership.
 Interview data should be incorporated into the report, along with integration of course material and previous class discussion.
 I strongly encourage you to discuss your interviews with other students and compare what you find. There are a number of possible discussion themes.
For example,
 How well did their interview data and observations dovetail with class material?
 What were the major issues that seem to face parents?
 What comparisons can be drawn between those of you who interviewed parents you knew vs. those that joined Internet discussion groups?
 Why might these data contrast?