Case Study: Terrence Presenting Situation. Terrence, a 15 year old African-American male, is now at a detention center following his recent arrest for robbery and assault with a weapon. He and two other youth were arrested as they confronted and threatened an adult couple waiting for a bus. Terrence was especially belligerent during the incident waving a knife he held toward victims, but never cutting the victim. History and Clinical Interview. Terrence's home is with his 10 year old sister, Tamara and their mother in a two bedroom apartment. The apartment is small, but well kept. Terrence sleeps on the couch which folds out into a bed. Terrence's mother, Tanya, works two jobs cleaning offices from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00a.m. and working as a hairstylist during the day. When Tanya's mother is interviewed by the social worker, she is forthcoming and cooperative but reports that she doesn't know what to do to help her son. During the biopsychosocial Tanya says that she did drink "more than I should have" when she was pregnant with Terrence and "I was still smoking cigarettes then and I think that was why he was only four pounds when he was born. I didn't smoke when I was pregnant with his sister." When asked about Terrence's developmental milestones, Tanya said that he seemed to start out "on the wrong foot and never listened when spoken to as if he had something more important to think about" and this would really irritate her. Tanya worries that she and her ex-husband were young and immature when Terrence was a young child and they did not know a lot about being parents. When asked about bonding and attachment, Tanya stated that she is not sure how well she bonded with Terrence because she was so young and he was such a difficult infant. She remembers being very frustrated because he was such an agitated infant who did not eat or sleep well. He was a late talker but was walking by 14 months. He was difficult to potty train and he "wouldn't do what he was told", according to Tanya's recollection. She and her husband used physical discipline when Terrence did not listen and Tanya reports that Terrence never seemed to pay attention to us. He was always getting into trouble because he would lose "everything" and never follow directions even as he got older. She stated that Terrence's father used to be very harsh with Terrence when he would find his room a mess or when Terrence would not finish a chore that he had been given. This happened often and Terrence never seemed to learn from past mistakes. By six or seven, he seemed to stop reacting to physical discipline and Tanya felt that her ex- husband became more and more physical with Terrence, but it seemed to do no good. He would just act out more and get into more trouble. Tanya said she thinks it upset Terrence's father more than her because he was just like Terrence. When you ask what she means, she replies, "Oh Terrence's father was always losing things, having accidents because he was careless, not seeming to remember details or directions. That's why he lost his job after we divorced." She and her husband divorced when Tamara was five years old and Terrence was 10. They do not see their father often, but for the first two years after the divorce he did provide child support payments and Tanya was able to support the family with her day job. However, once he lost his job, Tanya has had to support the family alone. That is when she started working at night and Terrence was supposed to be watching Tamara. Tanya found out recently that even when Terrence was only 12 and Tamara 7, Terrence would sometimes leave Tamara and would not come home until 3 or 4 a.m. Tamara finally told her that she couldn't tell her mom that she was alone because Terrence threatened to "beat her real bad" if she told. When Tanya confronted Terrence about this last year, he just said, "I can't believe she snitched. She is going to be sorry." Tanya does not leave Tamara alone with Terrence anymore. Tanya reports that she knows that Terrence is smoking marijuana "all the time" and she just doesn't know what to do. Tanya reported that Terrence never seemed to be able to do well in school either. The teachers often complained that he would not pay attention for more than a few seconds when he was really young and by grade three, he stopped even trying to do any work, saying that he hated school. By 5th grade when Terrence was about nine, Tanya was getting reports of repeated truancy. By 9th grade, Terrence had many school violations, including truancy, starting multiple fights in school, threatening teachers and, being caught smoking both cigarettes and marijuana when at school. He received several suspensions and the school has not seen Terrence in the last two months. When Terrence was interviewed at the detention center, he seemed almost proud of being arrested. He stated that he and his friends had been walking around and were really bored. They decided if they had some money, they could buy the X-box-One and some games and hook it up at one of their houses. They went downtown to "where the rich people live" and "this rich white couple looked at me and my friends like we was garbage so I pulled out my knife and grabbed the bitch's arm real hard. I told her to give me all her money and jewelry or I would cut her. My friends grabbed the man and he looked real scared." Man, we didn't even get the X-box 'cause we got caught right after that. Terrence starts to laugh and then asks, "how long am I gonna be locked up?"

• How important is biology in Terrence's own life story? You can speculate (based on Vaughn et al., 2014).
• In what ways is it important and/or not important?
• Consider and describe the relationship between Terrence's body and other aspects of his external environment?