The topic I chose to do a research about is happiness in adolescents who are struggling with their sexual preferences. Being in a public high school myself I saw that there were many kids who were homo sexual and had a hard time being accepted in such a harsh world. I personally had a friend who struggled all through high school with accepting himself and being worried about losing his friends or about what others thought about him if he was to be public about his sexual preference. I believe that everybody should have an open mind about homosexuals because they are no different from us and have the same feelings we do. This topic will most likely attract the people who already accept homosexuals but I want the people that don’t accept them as of yet to see how this affects people. How can someone be happy if they are hiding who they really are? They aren’t being true to themselves and to others around them. A lot of adolescents commit suicide and its always on the news about another teenager not wanting to live because they aren’t being accepted by the world. I want to know how they can find happiness knowing all the hate thats going on around them and how do they stand up to what they believe in because not many people can do that.

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/adolescence/identity-formation

This article talks about the ways adolescents feel pressured about telling others who they really are and how it leads to depression, stress, low self esteem, drug abuse, and even having suicidal thoughts. Also how they have identity problems and not having parents who are accepting who should be the first person to have their back in this situation and it also creates conflict with self and being stereotyped in your teenage years is hard because when in that stage of your life you are still finding who you are and having that holding you back even more can be more difficult for yourself as well.

The main topic of this research paper is going to be positive psychology. This topic seems intriguing because of it’s unique views, not many people have even heard of the concept. Positive psychology revolves around the idea that people are often aided to become basically neutral in life, when they should be assisted on becoming happy. It’s a branch in psychology that focuses on the idea of people and the mentally ill being assisted in becoming happy not just “normal”. Often when individuals are diagnosed with depression they are given medication and therapy to get them to a place where they’re okay with life. Not jumping for joy but not in a dark place like they were, but when this concept is brought into play it makes people think, is that any better? If people are being helped to get out of that bad place and emotional state then why leave them half way? Wouldn’t it be more helpful in helping them achieve happiness? This is why this idea is so interesting. The fact that it is believed that these individuals are being helped by just making them feel OK isn’t a service. Feeling neutral isn’t happiness or content, it’s just getting by. People shouldn’t just get by in life, they should experience happiness and live their life to it’s full extent, actually enjoy it. When people seek medical help for their problems or are recommended to get help, their goal or mission isn’t to be mentally OK, it’s to achieve happiness. This idea was often thought of but not too deeply. It could have crossed the minds of people that there is no point in seeking this assistance if it is not doing what it should be, but because it hasn’t been given much attention it became dismissed. This idea of trying to make people happy and not just OK is fascinating especially if you’ve witnessed someone going through depression and also in therapy. It gives you more of an insight on how people are helped to only achieve the bare minimum of happiness. Throughout this research paper, the focus is be on how doctors aren’t putting their all into making their clients happy but more so into just getting them to a “normal” state.

Proulx, Elise. “Three Insights from the Frontiers of Positive Psychology.”Http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/. 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

This was one of the sites that I came across in which speaks on positive psychology and how it is becoming more commonly thought of. The concept is beginning to get more attention than ever and people are starting to explore it more. They also state where people are starting to give it more importance and how. There are also tips on how and why people should themselves explore positive psychology more and it’s benefits. The idea of dwelling is also brought up and how it can do people a lot of harm without even noticing. Since it is common to think back on negative ideas it isn’t thought about how that could hinder you on your future.

When I first starting to think about what my topic was going to be it was difficult to pick something. I started to think about what do people talk about nowadays that makes them happy or unhappy. Then I thought about how age affects ones happiness. I thought of this because lately a lot of people around me have been complaining about their age and the fear of getting old. These people usually say the same thing “I’m getting old” or “Do I look old?” I’m sure a lot of people my age have heard the famous, “I wish I was your age”. So I researched how age affects happiness and kept reading articles with something in common which is The U-bend of life. The U is supposed to represent the ups and downs one goes through with age. It shows how people start out happy then things go downhill in youth to middle age then when one starts to move towards old age they begin to finally achieve happiness.  After reading this article it made me really think about it because although people do fear getting old can ones age really affect their happiness? This topic really is very interesting to me and I look forward to finding out more about it.

http://www.economist.com/node/17722567

This site above explains the U-bend of life with age. I ran into other articles with the same concept but this one I stayed on more than the others and I felt explained what the U-bend of life actually was.

America is the home of many different ethical  minorities. The minorities seem to be growing in America. These minorities include Asian Americans and Hispanics. These 2nd generation immigrants suffer from different barriers that leads them to a lack of financial well-being. The barriers include the lack of education, negative stereotypes, and family dynamics. The lack of education is impacted by procrastination and the drop out of school. Many Hispanics and Asian American miss out in college because the need to work to support their family. These minorities are being racial profiled in jobs interviews and questionnaire. Asian Americans and Hispanics are judge because of the pigment of their skin, or where do they look like they are from. Most of these second generation immigrants are experiencing different family dynamics situations. Situations include living in a single parent family. This paper is to research how and why the financial well-being of Asian America and Hispanic is the definition for their happiness, however due to negative stereotypes, family dynamics, and lack of education, these minorities are limited to achieving financial well-being even in present day America.

Annotated Bibliography:

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2010/01/15/7131/the-state-of-minorities-in-the-economy/

Reidenbach, Luke, and Christian E. Weller. “The State of Minorities in the Economy.” Name. N.p., 15 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

“The State of Minorities in Economy” pointed out statistics and facts about different types of minorities including Asian American, African American, and Hispanics in employments, incomes, etc. The statistic shows that the minorities income and employment rates are decreasing. It also shows that there are a huge gap between the minorities and the White Americans when coming to having financial well-being.  It provides what are the barriers.

The affect that an incarcerated parent has on the well-being of a child’s education interests me. Being that an incarcerated parent has many affects on a child, I’m choosing to focus on their education. An incarcerated parent can have both negative and positive affects on a child. I would like to further explore them all. This is a very sensitive topic for me. While doing my research for this assignment, I’ll be able to make a few assessments about my own children. I was recently incarcerated. All I could do was think about the negative affects it played on my children. When in fact, it went both ways, negative and positive. The loss of a parent, whether it be temporary or not can affect the child. It can affect the child physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. i just can’t help to think about how this all plays a part on a child’s education. If a child develops physical restraints such as bad headaches due to the stress of losing their parent. They won’t be able to focus in school, because their in so much pain. A child may experience mental issues like (PTSD) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That can ultimately lead to an emotional problem such as depression. These problems affect the way the child may think and learn. It affects the child’s ability or motivation to wanting to get a proper education. Those factors even lead to the way the child socializes. The child may be withdrawn and unable to interact in class discussions or group activities in school. Then there are children who are affected in a total opposite way. The incarceration of the parent can actually be what inspires them to do the best with their education. The affect of wanting to be the total opposite of what their parent became. A child might even push hard on obtaining their education to become a lawyer, in hopes of defending their parent with legal issues at hand. So many possibilities with this situation raise my interest in doing this study. I don’t exactly know what resources I will be using, other than the internet.I’d like to collaborate the knowledge that I have already on my children. Such as report cards during my incarceration, and the ones I have now since my release. Tomorrow is actually parent teacher conference, so I’ll have an updated piece to study.There is a substantial amount of evidence there that would help me to draw my conclusion. This proposal wouldn’t even be an argumentative one. It would be an informative one. I want to educate others while educating myself about the affects incarceration has on a child’s education. The fact that if a child’s education is tarnished, there could be room for a repetitive cycle of the child becoming incarcerated in their later years. What are the statistics?! How can we change this?!

http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP08-10-FF.pdf

This is one of the sites that I recently visited. It provides similar studies. They identify the risks particular to the children of incarcerated parents. They use surveys and studies done on the demographic. showing the results of their study, that the children are more likely to face more difficulties overall in life than their counterparts. Listing the barriers and hardships the children face. I can really use the data collected and the statistics shown.