PSY3442 Case Conceptualization

Kerikson is a 17-year-old, African American boy. He was raised and went to school in a low- income neighborhood in an inner city. He was raised by his mother and father, both of whom worked long hours in blue-collar jobs to be able to provide for him and his four siblings. He is the oldest. He excelled in both academics and athletics, and had been scouted by Division I colleges for football in both his sophomore and junior years of high school. His parents spent a lot of money through the years paying his athletic fees and buying the equipment he needed to play football, and they always joked it was their investment for when he made it to the NFL. He spent his summer between junior and senior year of high school living with his cousins, who lived in a suburban area. His aunt and uncle were both faculty at the local university and heavily emphasized education with their children. His uncle got him a job helping out in the social sciences department of the university for the summer. Kerikson greatly enjoyed talking to the undergraduate students about their research and studies, and decided he would enjoy the kind of work his uncle did as a professor with a PhD in social psychology. His uncle told him it would likely be impossible to do what he needed as an undergraduate in college to get into graduate school while also having a college athletic career in football. When Kerikson returned home after his summer away, he felt confused and feared he would let his parents down if he told them he wants to focus on academics rather than football in college.