Summarize the social context described in the scenario, including the following: •  Maria’s family •  Maria’s community •  Maria’s cultural background

Maria is a 13-year-old biracial student whose mother is Hispanic and father is African-American. Maria’s father transferred towns for work, which uprooted the family midyear from a large city to a small, rural town. Maria’s new school, much like the community, is predominately white and middle class. The move has resulted in her parents fighting a lot, making her home life very stressful.

Additionally, students at her new school dress much differently than students at her old school, which makes Maria stand out. Some of the other students make fun of the way she dresses. She just discovered a social media group called “I Hate Maria” composed of some of her seventh-grade classmates, who have been posting negative comments about her. Recently, students at Maria’s school took cell phone photographs of her buttocks while she was walking in the hall and posted them on the “I Hate Maria” website.

Maria has tried to tell her parents about the bullying at school, but they tell her she is being too sensitive. With all of the stress, Maria is plagued by dark thoughts of killing herself and cannot focus on the lessons being taught in her classes.

 

A.  Summarize the social context described in the scenario, including the following:

•  Maria’s family

•  Maria’s community

•  Maria’s cultural background