Abstract
Parents play a significant role in the growth and development of a child. Maternal relationship is the first social interaction a baby forms after birth. However, in some instances, this relationship may be withdrawn from a child attributing to various consequences. Parental rejection occurs when a mother, father or guardian is absent from a child’s life. Parental rejection could be physical, psychological or emotional. According to a study conducted by Janetsian et al. (2018), maternal rejection in children affect recognition memory (RM) development with inhibited COMT and GAD67 expressions. Also, Gee et al. (2013) note that maternal support is critical in the maturity of prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in connection to amygdala. However, maternal withdrawal leads to cognitive, psychological, and neurodevelopmental disorders. In most instances, the effects of maternal rejection prolong to adulthood and can slowly be overcome through counselling. This paper notes various forms of parental rejection and their effects to children and adults.
Introduction
People who suffer parental rejection as children develop consequential attributes into their adulthood. Human beings are born with the need to love and be loved as a tactic for survival (Bernet et al., 2019). A parental bond is the first relationship that children form immediately after their birth. However, some parents become absent from their children’s lives leading to the children having a feeling of rejection. Mohsene (2019) argues that parental rejection can be in the form of physical, psychological, and emotional abandonment of a child by a parent. Parental rejection can either be from a mother, a father, or a guardian. However, rejection from a mother seems to have more severe consequences of the three categories (Fischer and Cardea, 1982). Babies tend to form stronger bonds with their mothers than other people in their social circle. Thus, maternal deprivation especially at an early age would result in brain or neurodevelopmental disorders among other effects.
Forms of Parental Rejection
Some parents leave their children in foster care, with their partners, in children’s homes, or with their grandparents leading to physical separation. Separationeither at birth, early stages of childhood, or during teenage years, has diverse effects on children. When physically separated, a parent also abandons the child psychologically and emotionally (Association for Psychological Science (APS), 2018). Parents may leave their children behind for various causes such as unpreparedness for parenthood, financial constraint, and mental health issues among other factors. Firestone (2018) notes that physical separation is the most common form of parental rejection. Although the death of a parent inevitably separates a parent from a child, it also leads to the feeling of rejection by a child resulting in consequences of parental neglect.
A parent does not have to pack their bags and go leaving their child behind to be psychologically separated. Psychological rejection occurs when a parent lacks time and interest in interacting with their child (Chrysanthou, 2017). They treat the child with coldness and apathy, which, at times, might be unintentional. The neglect may result from mental health issues, past traumas, childhood issues, or other psychological factors.
Additionally, during emotional rejection, a parent ignores the emotions of their child and his psychological state. Emotional abandonment is closely related to psychological abandonment. Naturally, children need affection and a safe ground to express their emotions (Furneaux, 2018). They need to share their happiness, disappointments, or challenges with a parent in every stage of their development. However, rejecting parents surpass their child’s emotions by being cold to them or ignoring their emotional responsibility to the child.
Effects of Parental Rejection
Maternal deprivation has cognitive, behavioural, and psychological effects on a child that prolongs to adulthood. According to Wyden (2018), maternal deprivation at an early age negatively impacts brain development. The author argues that human beings are born with an immature brain whereby the prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is not fully connected to amygdala. The connection between the two is expected to fully develop as the child transits to adolescence. However, in a study conducted by Gee et al. (2013) involving two groups of children; children with proper maternal support and children deprived from maternal care. The results of the study showed that children withdrawn from maternal care had mature mPFC- amygdala connections revealing a negative coupling. Gee et al. (2013) also noted that neglected children were less anxious than their peers. Certainly, maternal support is significant in the mPFC-amygdala connection in children.
Additionally, maternal care play a critical role in brain growth and development in children. According to Dr Preet (2020), withdrawal from maternal care, malnutrition, and infections at an early age would result in brain development disorders. Janetsian et al. (2018) notes that maternal rejection would affect recognition memory (RM) development with inhibited COMT and GAD67 expressions. Maternal care plays a significant role in neuro-circuit development; its withdrawal would result in neuro-development disorder.
In extreme cases, parental neglect of children leads to high mortality rates. Firestone (2018) believes that infants need optimal care and affection from their parents, especially their mother, immediately after birth. Infants bond to their mothers when in the womb by recognizing their scent and voice. The bonding process continues even after birth where infants recognize their mother’s face and voices (Adcox, 2021). Withdrawal of maternal support at an early age could lead to complications in health that lead to an infant’s death.
Children that are physically separated from their parents at a tender age exhibit emotional disturbances, which are challenging to their caregivers. Wood (2018) notes some of the emotional stress which include excessive crying, aggressiveness, negativism, and shyness, attention-seeking behaviors, selfishness, and stubbornness (Furneaux, 2018). They also have portrayed behavioral difficulties and have difficulties relating to their caregivers. These children have high indiscipline cases even in schools and other social places.
Parents play a significant role in establishing and developing a child’s self-worth and self-esteem. However, University of Huddersfield (2021) believes that if parents abandon their children during their developmental stages, they are likely to develop low self-esteem. Children need constant assurance about their self-worth from a third person, usually a parent (APS, 2018). Parents who abandon their child emotionally and psychologically utter cold words that suppress the child’s esteem. Victims of parental rejection carry low-esteem to adulthood, which leads them to mental issues such as anxiety, depression, stress, or loneliness.
Wood (2018) acknowledges that victims of parental rejection exhibit internalizing behaviors such as low self-esteem, trust issues, avoidance of intimate relationships, and social problems. Other problems include physical and developmental problems such as speech development, enuresis, and eating difficulties (Association for Psychological Science (APS), 2018). A significant number of the victims carry the effects from their childhood into adulthood, resulting in the permanency of the consequences. However, psychologists can offer counselling help to overcome parental rejection.
Additionally, children separated from their parents have difficulty in socializing with other members of their society as they fear being further rejected. According to Furneaux (2018), once a child is rejected, they feel as if they are not “good enough” to deserve a position in the life of other people. As a result, they are always looking for signs of rejection in a relationship. Wyden (2018) believes that other members may unintentionally hurt a rejection victim in their normal interactions. However, the rejection victim may wrongly interpret the gesture leading them to cut off the social relationship (Bernet et al., 2019). Members of society should understand such people and embracing them by constantly reassuring them of their love and support.
Consequently, children who have suffered parental abandonment try to avoid intimate relationships in their adulthood. On the other hand, some may portray promiscuity in search of love, affection, and a sense of euphoria. In addition, Chrysanthou (2017) insinuates that parent rejection victims find it hard to accept that their partners love them genuinely. Instead, they feel as if everyone is out to take advantage of their affection. They have challenges in finding the right spouse or marriage partner.
Conclusion
Conclusively, human beings are born with the need to connect socially. The first relationship formed by a baby is the parent-child relationship. Hence, a parent-child relationship is most significant as it forms the basis for other social interactions. Depriving a child of the care and support of a parent could have severe effects even after the child has developed to adulthood. Although a father’s and guardian’s rejection has consequences on a child, a mother’s neglect is most severe.
Parental rejection could either be physical, emotional, or psychological. Physical rejection involves the parent being completely absent in a child’s life. Conversely, in emotional and psychological abandonment, the parent is physically present but has cold treatment on the child. Children who suffer parental rejection exhibit cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dysfunctions. Adults who suffered parental abandonment also have difficulty relating to other members of society due to trust issues, low self-esteem, and avoiding intimate relationships. They could also suffer anxiety, loneliness, stress, and depreciation.
References
Adcox S., (2021). What is family estrangement?Very Well Family. Web.
Association for Psychological Science (APS), (2018). How Mother-child separation causes neurobiological vulnerability into adulthood. Web.
Bernet, Harman, J. J., W., & Harman, J. (2019). Parental alienation: The blossoming of a field of study. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(2), 212-217. Web.
Chrysanthou A. (2017). The negative effects of extramarital relationships on children. Web.
Dr Preet P. S. (2020). Psychological effects of growing up without a mother. Women Junction. Web.
Firestone L., (2018). The dangers of separating children from parents. Psychology Today. Web.
Fischer J. L., & Cardea J.M. (1982). Mother-child relationships of mothers living apart from their children. Springer Link. Web.
Furneaux R., (2018). Forcibly separating children from their mothers doesn’t just hurt the Kids. Mother Jones. Web.
Gee, D., Gabard-Durnam, L., Flannery, J., Goff, B., Humphreys, K., & Telzer, E. et al. (2013). Early developmental emergence of human amygdala-prefrontal connectivity after maternal deprivation. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, 110(39), 15638-15643. Web.
Janetsian-Fritz, S., Timme, N., Timm, M., McCane, A., Baucum II, A., O’Donnell, B., & Lapish, C. (2018). Maternal deprivation induces alterations in cognitive and cortical function in adulthood. Translational Psychiatry, 8(1). Web.
Mohsene l., (2019). The emotional impact of absent parents on children. P.S. I Love You. Web.
University of Huddersfield (2014). In our hearts- stories and wisdom of mothers living apart from their children. Phys Org. Web.
Wood, L. C. (2018). Impact of punitive immigration policies, parent-child separation, and child detention on the mental health and development of children. BMJ Pediatrics Open, 2(1). Web.
Wyden G. V., (2018). Mother abandonment & the effects on the child. Our Everyday Life. Web.