Influences That Affect Child and Young Peoples Development Essay

This child observation will draw on a child developmental theory to discuss the activities of the child I have observed. I will comment on the child’s physical growth and development, cognitive abilities, health, social relationships and emotional wellbeing. I will also look at the child’s interaction with other children and adults , in order to appreciate the child’s development and account for differences and similarities as proffered by my chosen theory of Attachment.

Abuse and neglect during childhood can have an impact on an abuse victim’s health and psychology, because a victim’s brain does not properly develop during childhood. Abuse during childhood has been attributed to psychological and behavioral disorders as well as physical ailments. These disorders can stem or bloom in adolescently or adulthood.

Abuse and neglect is , unfortunately, not an unusual occurrence in the lives of young children. The maltreatment that they experience often have harmful long-term effects that depend on many factors. These factors are dependent on the age of the infant/child at the time of the occurrence, the question of whether the abuse was a single event or a ritual norm, and the relationship with and the identity of the abuser, as well as whether or not the child had a nurturing presence in their life. Other factors include the type of abuse , the severity of said abuse, as well as the intervention, if any, and how long the mistreatment took place. These factors all have an influence on the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional development of the infant’s brain. The issues of chronic abuse and neglect on a child can cause major neurological, behavioral, and emotional problems or consequences, such as trauma or PTSD, throughout the child’s life.

Development psychology is concerned with the different stages that an individual must go through throughout their lifetime. During these life stages, individuals are forced to face issues, make decisions, and psychosocially develop. Thomas and Laura are two individuals in different life stages that are facing important issues. There are forced to use their fluid intelligence, go through transitions, and cope with gender schema. As these individuals progression through these various stages they are grow mature and gaining real life experience that will help them through out their life.

It is documented that millions of children are abused every year and that most abuse cases happen in the home. The most common forms of abuse that occur to children are maltreatment and neglect. (Hodgdon, Kinniburgh, Gabowitz, Blaustein, & Spinazzola, 2013). Research shows that abuse causes a negative impact on children who have been mistreated. Some examples of this are the abuse disrupts the biological and psychological development of these children, and the abuse also causes behavior, learning, and emotional problems within the children who have experienced any sort of abuse (Brassard & Rivelis, 2009). Some of the symptoms that children who have been abused experience are depression, PTSD, internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Kjellgren, Svedin, & Nilsson, 2013). Overall, abuse can have a severe negative effect on children and their development, which means that there needs to be an effective treatment to help these children cope and treat their symptoms.

Research Task: A document giving examples, of the kinds of influences that affect children and young persons’ development including:

It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failing to protect a child from physical harm or danger, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs” (as cited in Howe, 2005). This wide definition allows social workers to define when, how, where, by whom a child is being exposed to neglect, for instance when children are malnourished and unkempt, emotionally ignored or neglected, denied access to health and medical care, left alone and unsupervised, without a place and a bed to sleep on, not sent to school or unsupervised school performance, not feeling safe, left frightened by the behaviour, condition and actions of their parents who can be drug or alcohol abusers, criminally active or sexually disinhibited (ibid.). All these factors can have a drastically negative influence on the wellbeing and development of the child. A neglected child is believed to have a feeling of helplessness, unprotectedness, and produces high levels of emotional arousal, which can result in emotional shutdown and isolation (ibid.). Knowing that a neglected child is in danger, it is also important

Neglect and abuse are extremely detrimental to the early stages of development for any child. Essentially, most parents do not realize the types of neglect they can impose on their children. A child’s invalidating experiences can have profound effects in their adulthood. Informing parents and preventing child abuse through programs and guidance can help millions of children around the world escape neglect and multiple types of abuse.

5b Application: Lucia had a mild brain hemorrhage shortly after birth. Using what you know about brain plasticity, explain why her doctors believe her mental development will be normal, or near normal.

This may be viewed in many perspectives as individuals each sibling or family member will be different from the other. Individual’s backgrounds can play a role in being different or the same. In addition to the type of relationship or bond a child may endure from their family. Personalities, characteristic, may share similarities, but be quite different. Structural influence may change the dynamic of experiences for a family depending on rather the support is for or against a member of the family. The life style, financial stability their career and education orientation for growth.

While child abuse can have extreme adverse effect on the developmental stage of a child, its impact can manifest in the long run throughout the adult years. Most often it has been seen that parents who indulge in abusing their children do not react positively to treatments, and once such abusing becomes an established pattern of parenting, things become difficult to control (Geeraert et al., 2004). Child abuse in the forms of physical or sexual abuse, and neglect can be the result of combination of multiple factors that can affect the relationship at the root between the child and its parents, environment and peers. The impact on the child can be long term and its severity depends upon the perpetrator’s gender, intensity of the abuse, and the age of the child at the time of

neglect as the child may be suffering already. If a child is neglected it can suffer from accidents and

Physical development is very important in a child 's early years as it enables them to feed themselves with help from a parent or carer. Physical development also enables children to develop their muscles that they’ll need later in life and learn independant skills.

Vygotsky sociocultural theory of child development has direct application towards the experiences of children in classroom settings (Berk, 2008). Vygotsky’s theory was that all people in a child’s environment were important to a child’s growth, which would apply directly to classroom settings. In 1945, Rene Spitz wrote concerning the high death of infants under one-year-of-age who resided in institutions (Spitz, 1945). Spitz noted that the reason for the high death rate was a lack of stimulation and not disease along with the absence of the mothers. The work of Spitz and other researchers supports Vygotsky’s ideas that a child is not only a product of their cultural environment, but also affects their environment (Berk, 2008).

     Child development is a very important in today’s psychology. That is why it is not surprising that so much research has been developed on that topic. In the article “Transforming the Debate About Child Care and Maternal Employment” the author, Louise B. Silverstein, presents a very interesting point of view on the history as well as the future of psychological research on child care and influence of maternal employment on child development.