Childhood Deprivation And Adversities: Impact On Emotional Development And Behaviour Essay.

Definition of Childhood Deprivation and Adversities

The paper will discuss childhood deprivation and adversities. The paper will discuss at length the effect of the adversities in their lives. Childhood deprivation is defined as the state in which the child is not provided with the active parental care and subsistence equation with parents whose need is described by law. Child deprivation is defined as the state where the child is not provided with emotional health support. Children might not be provided with adequate protection from adversities and exposed to sexual assault and neglect. These factors are associated with elevated risks for the child’s mental and physical health problems. The paper further goes on to explain the impact of parenting styles, temperaments, and attachment on the emotional development and behaviour of the child as a result of their exposure to adversity and deprivation. The paper discusses how the behaviour of the child is associated with childhood deprivation, emotional development, and adversity. Poor early child development can lead to behavioural disorders later, such as poor self-control or mental health challenges like depression. They also show a greater tendency to addiction and interpersonal relationships as according to the theory of Erikson, they will not be able to trust their environment, (Erskine, 2019).

Children are often made to suffer from abuse and deprivation from various special conditions, and this situation makes it all the more challenging for the child as it affects their welfare. The emotions and the feelings of the children are often given very less importance, and thus, they go ignored. Although, these emotions are important to be respected and given importance to. Special considerations are often provided by the care centres to the children and adolescents who have suffered from emotional deprivation at an early age. When a child experiences chronic psychosocial stress as experienced in childhood, they are expected to be suffering from a long-term health risk. A child's exposure to the adversities in early life, adversely affects the pace of their development and the result might be faster aging among them. Children also vary in their susceptibility to environmental stressors, (Nelson, 2017). Childhood adversities are defined as the wide range of circumstances that poses a serious threat to the child’s both psychological wellbeing and physical well-being. Examples of childhood adversity include child abuse and neglect of the child which also at times includes domestic violence and bullying. They might also get exposed to community violence and extreme poverty. There are serious consequences of childhood adversities in the life of the child which include chronic and severe lifelong physical and psychological health problems.

On the contrary, it can also be stated that adversity always does not end in having a negative effect on the mental and physical health of the child. Most children are often able to recover from the adversities of the childhood trauma or adverse situations that they are often exposed to when they are able to receive the right support in the later stage which includes consistent support and warmth from a sensitive caregiver. Adverse childhood experiences of children can also be defined as the experiences that they receive as a child from their mother who treats them violently and mothers who treat them adversely. Children who survive alcohol and drug abuse in childhood from family members might suffer from physical and mental health disorders. Trauma is often the possible outcome of an adverse situation for the child. The World Health Organization stated that childhood trauma and adversities pose potential harm to children, (Pearce, Murray & Larkin, 2019). Thus, it can be concluded that children get most affected by the exposure to early childhood adversities.

Association of Adversities with Mental and Physical Health Problems in Children

There is a strong association between childhood deprivation, adversity and emotional development. The experiences that one has during childhood have an impact on physical and mental health. It also has an impact on the thoughts, feelings and behaviour of the individual as they grow up, (Thapar et al., 2017). The attachment relationship has an impact on the experiences enjoyed by the children and their mental health wellbeing. Attachment refers to the patterns of relationship that exist between the child and their primary caregiver. The attachment style acts as the template that guides the future relationship of the child with the environment. This also explains how one perceives oneself. If a positive relationship is experienced, the child will feel positive about himself; in the absence of this, the child will feel a negative attitude about himself and thus, their behaviour will be impacted negatively. Adversity also marks the emotional development and the childhood experiences and thus it also impacts the behaviour of the child. Adverse childhood experiences are often very stressful for the child to face potentially traumatic experiences. Examples of traumatic and adverse childhood experiences include physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse often result in adverse childhood experiences, (Weis, 2020). They are often also exposed to domestic violence and parents are ignorant of the child’s needs. Similar to the impact of attachment, the children also suffer from physical and mental health problems and challenges. This aspect impacts the healthy attachment relationships in the future as the child grows up.  An increased rate of anxious behaviour can be detected in the child in the future. Owing to their inability to control their emotions or cope with them safely, they often harm others or themselves. The more is the adverse deprivation in childhood experiences; the higher gets the possibility of chances for them to develop risky behaviour and health conditions. Impact also includes substance misuse and suicide.  Children might often suffer from cognitive deprivation and emotional insult, (TenHouten, 2018).

Cognition and emotion work in a complex way and affect their behaviour. They suffer from emotional intensity and are unable to understand their emotions and feelings. In the later stage of their life, they find it difficult to distinguish their feelings. Deprivation at a later stage impacts the development of secondary emotions, (Bernaras, Jaureguizar & Garaigordobil, 2019). Emotions play an important role in hiding an individual in their moral actions. Children who suffer adversities in their childhood may suffer from adverse development of their emotions and thus, they often end up becoming delinquents and transgressors who do not obey laws. The emotional development of children who suffer from adversities is wrapped due to their urge to survive and resist adversities, (Duffy, McLaughlin & Green, 2018). Thus, it can be concluded that adverse early life experiences like exposure to domestic abuse or parental ignorance can negatively impact the emotional development and wellbeing of a child.

The human service professional perspective explains that adverse childhood experiences can be explained by abuse, neglect and household dysfunction. These aspects affect the social functioning and the overall health of the individual. The most demanding job is the human services professionals who work for the children in distress. Human services professionals often make critical decisions that has an impact on the children and their lives negatively. Human services professionals also state that children who suffer from distress and adversities in real life need to be provided with counselling sessions by the human services professionals. The children along with the family often need to be provided with counselling facilities to promote the welfare of the children and control the exercise of authority on them. Children should be given the required care to promote affirmative emotional health and well-being of the child and ensure that the overall welfare of the children is met, (Baglivio et al., 2020). According to the Human Professional perspective, children should be monitored for their overall mental health. They need to be given support so that they can develop a sense of self and their ability to manage the situation if they experience stress or a situation that is emotionally arousing for them. The children are guides by human professionals as to how they can overcome their fear and cope with the situation which might evoke frustration in them or disappointment due to the adverse situations they face in their day-to-day life. The Human Service Professional also suggests that caregivers and the parents should provide children with the essential care and nurturance to ensure their overall development which includes emotional and physical and mental health. These measures will ensure that each child will be able to take care of their emotions and manage coping with their behaviour, (Reardon et al., 2017). The Human services professionals work ahead to ensure the promotion of positive assertions and teach the children to respect and love among them. This, further promotes a sense of security among the children and ensures the avoidance of deprivation and the mental health aspects of the same. The Human services professionals work to promote social abilities among the children and manage their feelings and identify them, the traits which they often fail to develop due to their adverse childhood. Thus, Human services professionals' perspective states among the children, there is a need to promote social competencies that are intricately interwoven with several developmental; areas like that cognitive and emotional development, along with empathy, cooperation and sharing among the children, (Newcomb, Burton & Edwards, 2019).

Impact of Parenting Styles, Temperaments, and Attachment on Emotional Development and Behaviour

Emotional development that takes place within a child is provided with a secure attachment style by parents can affect the child's future success across their adulthood. Through the paper, it will be explained that support by the parents is needed to minimise the risk that children might suffer from depression and anxiety, (Beauchaine & Hinshaw, 2017). They might internalise certain behaviours which are associated with low mood. Attachment processes are another area in human development that has great importance. If the parenting style is very rigid and does not provide emotional support to the children, the children will suffer from poor emotional and social development. The poor attachment might lead to the development of risk factors for the children, (Bizzi et al., 2019). If the children do not enjoy secure attachment with their parents, they have a higher risk of having lower confidence in them to express the world. Such children will tend to spend most of their time taking protective measures to avoid further challenges towards them. This will result in a lack of effective and adequate learning among them. The role of attachment effectively determines the child’s emotional well-being and gives them the moral support to combat emotional difficulties, (Signorini et al., 2017). Insecure attachment and parental style will lead to feelings that can be termed anxiety, fear, and anger among them. When a child is provided insecure-resistant attachment, the child is likely to show clingy behaviour with any caregiver as they do not trust the caregiver if they will be present every time they need them, (Dagan et al., 2021). They avoid exploring the unknown. Children with insecure-avoidant attachment, explore quite readily. They ignore the strangers and lack security with their caregivers. 

Temperament can be defined as the child’s way of doing things that are coloured by the attachment and parenting style provided to them. Children often react differently and express their emotions differently as their emotions and temperament influence them. Temperament influences emotional expression. A child’s development of emotions depends on the infant’s early environment and thus, is affected by their temperament, (Wilson & Wilson, 2014).

Conclusion 

Thus, it can be concluded that emotional development is guided in a child by the type of attachment style or parenting style that one receives. Often, a child does not receive a secure parenting style which leaves the child vulnerable. Thus, in children who suffer from insecure parenting styles, secondary emotions often do not develop effectively—children who suffer from neglect, abuse, and deprivation. Poorer early child development might later lead to depression among the children. The behaviour that such children might often show includes poor self-control of emotions due to which they might harm others or they might harm themselves. On the contrary, it might also be stated that childhood abuse might not affect the long run since the effects fade away with time. Thus, every child needs to be protected from adversities and crises.

Reference:

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