CASE STUDY

Soo- Kyung (Sue) is a sixteen-year-old Korean student with a history of self-harm, drug abuse, and theft. She has to go to counseling at her school as a condition of her probation, and to have any chance of having her record expunged when she is an adult.

Sue is usually shabbily dressed, has body odor, is hostile and refuses to open up or discuss anything at length with her counselor. She has been seen around school with one kid and was seen talking to that kid in the hall before she came into your office. You have found some information in her school file that apprises you of some pertinent details of her past experiences: You learn that she has an alcoholic mother, who was in and out of a series of relationships when Sue was a child, resulting in frequent moves and a string of different schools. A period of sexual abuse by one of her mother’s boyfriends at the age of 14 led Sue to attempt suicide. Subsequently, she has frequently inflicted injuries on herself.

She finally moved out of her mother’s home and is living with her aunt, who although she does not have a drug problem, works three jobs to provide for Sue and her five nieces and nephews and is rarely home. Sue loves helping with the kids and likes her aunt. Her aunt comes to her school occasionally for parent-teacher conferences, and will ask for suggestions for help, stating that she is trying to help Sue, but has limited resources in terms of time and money.

In this evaluation, you will ascertain the possible determinates of his or her behavior given what you have learned about the influences on a child such as family, peers, school, and community. You will review what type of role he or she may be playing in the family as well as in the school based on these dynamics. Keep in mind that this is an assessment of an individual in a community and not an introspective psychological type of assessment. Support your answers with information cited from at least two peer-reviewed academic sources and your textbook.

• Choose a case study from the list provided, if you have not done that already.
• Present the case by explaining the child’s behavior in light of your understanding of the ecology of the child. Give special attention to the following:
  • Family and social environment
  • Economic circumstances
  • Health care access
  • Physical environment and safety
  • Behavior
  • Education
  • Health

Apply your knowledge of these indicators to explain possible determinates of various aspects of the stated behaviors in the case study.

• Given your understanding of the ecology of the child, of the family, and of socialization, identify the top three areas that seem to be the most influential in this child’s behavior. Support your answer with professional information from the text and two peer-reviewed research articles.
• Review the role this child plays in his or her family and how that correlates with the expressed behavior.
• Analyze the different theories of macrosystem and microsystem influences including parenting orientation and parenting style and how that impacts children. Then apply the theory that might best fit your selected case study.
• Review the role this child plays in his or her school and peer group and how that correlates with the expressed behavior. Analyze the impact of the school and the peer group as a socializing agent, and identify the key areas of impact of both in this case study.

Write a 6–8-page paper (in aIDition to the title page and references page) in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources, including use of in-text citations and full referen