The
development is a complex and complicated lifelong process which integrates
multidimensional enhancement of the person. Though there is a systemic trend
and direction of human growth and development, yet there are substantial variations in pattern of
development. During interaction with different groups, following developmental
associated problems and their factors have been noticed.
Developmental problems
associated with childhood:
Child
is helpless and completely dependent on others even for survival. Love,
affection, warmth and care, sense of belongingness and opportunities to learn
new things and skills are essential for healthy development of a child. During
this period parents play an important role for socialization of children and
development of their potentialities.
Some
children born with certain deformities like intellectual, physical or sensory
challenging conditions, cleft palate, facial problems, premature birth,
unattractiveness, abnormally rapid or slow growth, speech problems include
stuttering and stammering and diseases etc which may be hereditary,
psychological, congenital or acquired due to accident or infections could
result in many developmental problems.
Physical, social, emotional, intellectual as well as moral
development of children depends on their childhood experience in their
families. Encouragement and reinforcement leads to positive regard for oneself
and adequate attitude towards others. The emotional deprivation leads to
extreme damage to emotional wellbeing of the child. Too much affection and
emotional concentration on child leads to false ideas about self-worth, wrong
notion, irrational fears, jealousies, and anger etc.
Personal and social adjustment mainly depends on child’s
relationship with others. General appearance and material availability decides
acceptance and popularity one enjoys. Unpopular child feels lonely, insecure
and inferior. If the child becomes unpopular, he is deprived of opportunities
to learn socially acceptable behaviour. If there is strong
pressure to behave in appropriate way, the individual will overact and this may
further leads to unpopularity among the group. Behavioural changes noticed
among children include temper tantrums i.e. extreme emotional expression like
banging heads against wall, disobedience, aggression, stubborn behavior,
fighting with siblings & peers , destroying / breaking things, stealing,
using vulgar and obscene language, disturbing, teasing and bullying others and
neglecting responsibilities etc.
Insecurity and anxiety
emerges due to faulty parent – child relations, lack of warmth, inconsistent
discipline at home. Children of permissive parents become selfish and disregard
rights of others and face problem while interacting with larger society and
they become unsocial and aggressive. The children subjected to strict
authoritarian training are overtly obedient only in the presence of adult and
feel that they are being treated unfairly. Unwanted and negative experience
like child abuse in terms of physical punishment, child labour and family
friction leads to negative effects. Parent’s attitude and child rearing
practices may lead to some crucial problems in child’s development.
Developmental problems
associated with adolescents:
Adolescence
is the period of storm and stress. On one hand adolescents want freedom from
control and on the other they want assurance that someone will help them as and
when necessary. During the interactions with adolescents some common problems
as noticed are as follows:-
Adolescents never feel free
to discuss their personal problems like concerns about sexual impulses,
confusion about career options, emotional ups and downs, academic problems etc.
which lead to negative attitude towards self and parents. Undue comparison
among siblings and with friends results in resentment and maladjustment.
Any
variation from normal physiological growth like physical size ,strength and
attractiveness leads to problems related to emotional adjustment and social
interactions. There are emotional problems related to self identity like an
increased desire for isolation, experience of boredom, social antagonism,
heightened emotionality, loss of self confidence and anxiety about whether
their body parts are developing properly or otherwise.
Most
of the adolescents face impulse control problems particularly how to control
sexual impulse. They are not comfortable to discuss it with anyone else other
than very close friends. The friends also have partial and incomplete
information that may mislead them and resulted in increased bad habits.
Excessive
use of ego defense mechanism especially regression to win favour and
recognition is observed in their behavior. Self rejection and anti-social behaviour
is common if the environment is not conducive to support very high and even
unrealistic aspirations.
The
adolescents also face confusion regarding their role status and related demands
and interpersonal relations. The peers have greater influence on their
attitudes, interests, values and behaviour in general than that of family
members.
The
girls are generally neglected by their families in terms of nutrition, health,
education, personality and use of potentials. The problems related to their
puberty changes and gynaecological difficulties etc are not discussed. Undue
attention to physical attractiveness of girls also affects their self concepts
and their aspirations. Growing girls are treated with more restrictions and sex
role becomes extremely important for them which resulted to child abuse and
sexual harassment.
Development
takes place partly due to unfolding of the genetic potential and partly due to
learning taking place in the environment. The genetic ability decides the time
of maturation and maturation provides the basic raw material which makes
learning possible that finally leads to development e.g. a child cannot walk
without maturation of physical capabilities. After attaining maturation, the
extent of expertise attends (development) depends on the external stimulation.
The
physical changes are predominately caused by heredity and nutritional factors.
But the high level motor skills and cognitive capabilities like thinking and
information processing etc. develop due to interaction between heredity,
environment, processes of maturation and experience. Interaction with other individuals and
exposure to social situation facilitate the development.
The
maturation of physical capacities depends on the heredity, nutrition and caring
environment available to the person. Some stimulatory factors which accelerate
development are healthy environment, freedom from disease, love and care,
interaction with adults and early detection of developmental problems etc. help
in attaining maximum maturation and expression of hereditary capabilities.
Factors affecting the
development: All the factors which affect the development process of the child
belong to two broad groups.
(i)
Internal factors
(ii)
External factors
Internal factors: Internal factors are
hereditary and include physiological and genetical characteristics, colour of
eyes & hairs ,temperament ,sensitivity , motor coordination, musculature,
vitality, speech and hearing mechanism, nervous system etc. The rate at which
development is taking place across life span called pace of development varies
from individual to individual not only in terms of rate but also on pattern of
development. Some develop slowly in early childhood on some aspects like motor coordination,
abstract thinking, language development aesthetic sensitivity, emotional
development etc.
The hereditary characters
are controlled by genetic makeup of an individual constitute the genotype and
the expression of characters i.e. individual’s genotype is referred to as
phenotype which include physical and psychological characteristics.
External factors: Te external factors are present in the
environment and play a very vital role in the development of the children. The
environmental factors include holistic nutrition, parental care, family
environment, peer influence, community influence, interaction with adults,
language spoken and exposure to technology and media etc. Stimulating
environment promotes the development particularly when individual has acquired
maturation and is psychologically ready. e.g. Children who live with adults or
to whom parents talk frequently ,learn to talk sooner. Likewise when children
are stimulated by evoking their interest in reading, they are likely to learn
to read sooner than children who are not exposed to such programmes.
Nutritional influence: Proper nutrition and
balanced diet fulfills all the nutrients requirements that lead to better
physical and mental growth. The quality of food may also affect size, height
and weight of the child. E.g Children fed with non vegetarian food have been
found to show remarkable gain in height and weight during development. Well
nourished girl child attain puberty and sexual maturity at an early age.
Family influence: Family is the most
important institution in the development of the child. Family is the primary
social unit that laid the foundation of socialization of the child. The basic
needs of the child like food, safety, care etc are fulfilled in the family. The
socio-economic status of family sets the limits to the quality of care and
support and help in building a sense of security and self esteem in the child.
The child learns to interact in the family beginning with parents, brothers,
sisters and others. The parental style of warmth, love acceptance, rejections
etc. affect the development of the child. Warm and accepting parents inculcate
healthy socio-emotional development and negligence leads to hostility, anger,
apathy and passivity in child. The overall emotional climate of the family i.e.
interpersonal relationship among family members lay the foundation of
development.
School influence: School as an important
social unit occupies a central place and affects the development of children as
they spend good part of their working hours. During the interactions with the teachers,
classmates and others the children use their skills and develop ideas about
socially acceptable behaviours through experience. School and classroom
climate, teacher’s attitude and behavior disciplinary practices, curriculum
content and peer interactions are important factors which affect the
development of child.
Peer influence: peer group greatly
influence development by changing social attitude and behavior patterns, peer
pressure supplements the development and helps in the learning socially
approved behavior. Peer group also creates more challenges and potential threats
to adjustment. If the relationship with peers is pleasant, an individual enjoys
social contacts while unpleasant contacts avoid them and make them maladjusted.
Often peer come to replace family influence as a socialization factors for
teenagers.
Community factors: The availability of common
spaces like playground, parks, shopping complex, recreation centres etc. and
interaction among neighbourhood of different socio-economic group and attitude
play an important role in facilitating development.
Technology and mass media: Many electronic gadgets like personal
computer, radio television and internet etc. poses strong influence on
individual. A lot of time of individual is being consumed every day. Many times
what is depicted in media differs considerably from reality that may cause
adverse impact on children. The television viewing is the most passive
entertainment method which affects efficiency of cognitive process and leads to
psychological and physiological problems, emotional and social problems as
noticed among children are inefficiency of brain, decrease inefficiency of
eyes, lack of proper sleep, lethargy and obesity etc. Readymade messages are
detrimental to development of higher order cognitive functions like creativity.
General behaviour, dress fashion and mannerism, values and ideals all are
related to contents of television programmes rather than reality of the
society. Substantially increased aggression and violence has been noticed among
heavy television viewing children. The whole personality of heavy television
viewing children becomes gratification oriented and want that their every
desire to be fulfilled immediately.
Strategies for Counsellor
to help in faster adjustment and development:
Development
is fully integrated into shaping of young person’s capacity for achievement. Therefore
the counselor or teachers should use certain strategies for helping the
individuals in faster adjustment and development.
Provide ample opportunities
to use all the senses like seeing, smelling and hearing etc. at the same time
we should ensure the sufficiently safe environment in which exploration does
not meet any accident. In such environment the
child automatically develops a trust in the adults and grow up better. Trusting
adults automatically facilitate adjustment and future development. Adults need to be clear
about their expectations from the child and of promises made. Setting
appropriate and clear limits and behavior guidelines enable the child to
realize what can be tried. We should encourage the
children to take initiatives at personal and group level, as it will help them
learn concepts and have an idea of things around them. It is essential to learn to
live together and parents need to be encouraged to stay calm and emotionally
balanced. Development of autonomy is
an important developmental task to be achieved by every child. Since many tasks are
difficult to be accomplished, children often experience dissatisfaction and
frustration on failure that leads to doubt about their own capacities and lack
of trust. A caring and comforting atmosphere coupled with nurturing
relationship will help in facilitating the developmental task.