Abstract
The paper focuses on the life of a boy whose father passes away when he is a baby, and who is now raised by less promising mother. It particularly focuses on the relevance of the theories put forward to explain the influence of various factors on the social and psychological development of a child in the early stages of development.
Theories relating to the overall context development, self and identity development, social development as well as moral development are presented in relation to Davy’s case. It further explores the possible strategies that can be adopted to overcome similar challenges.
Introduction
The approach to be used to study the influence of various related and unrelated factors in the development of an individual is a differential approach. Generally, this empirical approach uses research methods to study the variations on behaviors of individuals among a group of people.
The age of 5-12 years is a very significant stage in the development of a person. At this stage, the child learns ‘the fundamental skills that are valued in their culture, whether these are reading, writing and arithmetic or hunting, fishing and weaving’ (Newman & Newman 2008, p276). The experiences that a child acquires at this tender age will generally affect the overall development of the child into a whole being.
Life story: A case study
Davy was born on September 20, 1988, his mother nearly dying after having an operation. This operation was suggested by the doctor who, on earlier examination of the mother, advised that the foetus had been wrongly positioned and normal birth would be dangerous. The same year, an attempt to overthrow the government was witnessed throwing the whole country into a condition of jeopardy that had to last for months.
It was followed by the declaration of a state of emergency, which later give rise intertribal clashes. The condition took longer than bearable as people could go hungry for days following a restriction on the movements of the civilian. The whole nation was under the military control. Davy’s father who was a casual laborer in some sugar cane industry found it hard to support the family now that the majority of the locals of that area were from a different tribe and these were the conflicting tribes.
Just towards the end of the state of emergency, the father of three sons and a daughter sneaked out in the evening to go and buy flour from a shopkeeper who was from the rival tribe but had been a long time friend. The businessperson had been secretly carrying on with his activities despite the harsh prevailing atmosphere and had occasionally escaped gunshots. However, this day they were both unfortunate.
Four consecutive gunshots confirmed to the family that their breadwinner was in danger. Three people were killed in the incidence including the father and the shopkeeper. The state of emergency was later called of and the field supervisor offered to have Davy’s mother replace his father.
The task was challenging for the weak mother whose first borne daughter was barely eight years old. Supporting the family became a nightmare and in several instances, the mother would be heard quarrelling her children over very petty issues. Occasionally, she cautioned her daughter that she would soon be married off to somebody so as to help her (the mother) support the family.
At this time, Davy was two years old and able to understand when her mother’s emotions started rising. During such instances, he would follow his brothers to go and play with other children in the play field. However, he was not as active as others were since he had not received the recommended breast-feeding before being introduced to other hard stuff. This would later affect his education.
One evening, when Davy’s sister, Teresia, was ten years old and in Standard IV, her mother came home hurriedly and told her to put on her best dress, as they were to visit some important person. There was always no room for argument and the little children found themselves in the house without any arrangements. At around ten o’clock, their mother came back not with Teresia, but with a stranger whom she told her sons would be their new father.
They had never seen their mother drink, but there she was vomiting an irritating medium indicating a mixture of different brands of beer. They portrayed a substantial amount of immorality before the children before retiring to bed. Their conversation revealed to the children that their sister had been forced to marry some casual laborer related to this man.
Davy was enrolled in Standard I at the age of eight having taken much time in the preparatory school. He was older than any other pupil in the class was and this would be the topic of discussion whenever they were out for physical education. Nobody dared associate with him despite his attempts to be close to them. Whenever an exercise required two or more pupils, a pupil would only be forced to join Davy by the instructor.
He then lost interest in all the co-curricular activities and tried to compensate for that in academics, which was private. This, he managed successfully and was later able to be on top of the class. He did the final exam and excelled as expected. In addition, his older brothers, who had surrendered to the cruelty of life and were now, working in the sugar cane farm, discouraged him from proceeding with education, stressing on the probable financial difficulties.
They had never received bride price from their brother-in-law who was even needier than they were. The brothers aged seventeen, nineteen were now married with children, and they had successfully graduated into the class of drug addicts. Their parents were no longer carrying on well. Occasionally they broke into a fight that would last for hours. The whole family was in the edge of collapse and was the center of gossip in the community.
Davy’s former teacher offered to secure him a place in a nearby high school. His mother was completely against it but the teacher managed to convince her that he would lend a hand in paying the fee. Life in a boys’ day school was quite welcoming now that most students were mature. Associating with boys alone was not very challenging.
However, hunger knows no bound. When Davy was in his final year of study, his teacher died in a tragic road accident; Davy was greatly shocked and could not concentrate on his revision and yet exams were near. Some of his classmates together with his brothers mocked of being a servant of soft drinks. They argued that physical sciences were not compatible with a sober mind and that joining them would help him overcome the agony as well. He was finally lured into the new denomination.
Davy found it hard to quit the habit, which did not solve his problem as hypothesized. Instead, his performance remarkably deteriorated and on some occasions, he appeared in exam room quite drunk. The final results were no better having failed completely in some subjects. His education could not proceed and there was no job he had the potential of performing. His social life was not spared either. At this age, he had not been seen going out with any person.
He had the desire, but failed in the ability to convince or even approach any woman. There have been occasional reports of rape and abduction in their area. These have been closely associated to Davy and his allies. The entire community now sees him as a threat to the society. He has no well-known source of income and this causes speculations that he is responsible for other crimes in the area.
Significant challenges and issues
During his early life, Davy encountered a variety of challenges that would later affect his life in general. The death of his father led to his mother’s future hostility and therefore Davy did not receive the necessary parental love and care. He was also faced with the problem of malnutrition.
Davy was not properly breast fed since the mother was their new breadwinner and was mostly in the fields. This led to his being weak and emaciated. Financial instability was a problem in this family. Davy could not attend school adequately and had to rely, later, on his teacher for support. This gave birth to other problems including that emerging from the teacher’s death. All these problems combined to give rise to yet another problem, which was inability to associate. This would later influence his moral values as well.
Psychosocial development theories
Psychosocial development refers to the advancement of a person’s mind, reasoning ability, emotions, and maturity usually determined by the environmental and biological factors
The whole concern of psychosocial development in a juvenile is about answering the ‘who-am-I?’ question. The society will already be exerting pressure on the child to be able to give explicitly his abilities, and the gain to the society from him. Basically, psychosocial development refers to the development of an emerging self-capability of an individual to meet the diverse society expectations.
Bronfenbrenner’s theory
Bronfenbrenner’s approach to the study of psychosocial developments emphasizes on the relationships between the various dimensions and asserts that a study on an isolated development may not be very appropriate. It gives a transactional approach to both the developmental and educational psychology.
It reflects the effects of the immediate surrounding of an individual on his psychosocial development relating to three aspects of man namely: mind, body, and spirit. The first level that influences development includes the family, schools, and religious institutions around, peer pressure as well as culture of a particular group of people (Huitt 2009). Theses can negatively affect the development. Other higher-level factors also exist.
In Davy’s case, we observed that the overall development could not be broken into separate entities. Instead, they are all related so that the biological factors affect the bodily growth and development. This in turn interact with the environment and affects Davy’s social life. The interrelation continues to school where we observe the resultant. Environmental and educational psychology are then seen to be in unity. Peer influence is greatly portrayed in luring Davy into drugs.
Erikson’s approach
Every stage is essential in the psychosocial development of an individual. An interesting fact is that the development time is critical in a person’s life and often can transition into the next stage even before a stage is complete. According to Lerner (2002), the development stage of an individual is ‘governed by the predetermined-epigenetic, maturational timetable and as such a person must develop what is supposed to be developed in each stage of development otherwise there will never be another chance (p419).
Erikson’s theory on psychosocial development asserts that there is no second chance in development. If a stage has not been fully completed then it will remain and the aftermath of it all is a resultant alteration in the successive dependent developments. The theory suggests that the whole development process takes place in eight different but inter-related stages.
In Davy’s case, we first observe that he did not breastfeed enough. Biologically, he did not receive the required nutritional needs at right time. Thus, the theory asserts that he has no second chance of lactation and what he missed will remain. He will then be forced to proceed to the next stage prematurely. Secondly, Davy did not receive adequate parental love and care.
A constant quarrel from his and the inhuman treatment given to his sister and brother had an impact on his psychological development. The parental guidance was not provided at the right time and as such, it would not be possible. His physical weakness could not enable him associate with the other children. This could not be corrected later in his life as was reflected in his inability to associate with schoolmates. Attending school at an older age also deprived him of association capabilities.
Kohlberg’s theory and moral development
This theory asserts that at the time of birth, ethical and moral behavior of a person is still unpredictable. The future moral standards greatly depend on the immediate environment of the child, which is the family. This was a similar approach by Piaget (1932) who observed that ‘most of the rules that a child learns to respect he receives from the adults’.
It hypothesizes that the moral behavior of a child is more predictable, responsible, and consistent with the people at a higher level. The levels of development are three with two stages each. Those in the age of 5-12 years are in the first pre-conventional stage. Here they derive their morals values from what they are punished or warned against regardless of how it reflects on others.
According to them, what is moral is what the surrounding adults say. In this case study, Davy is currently seen to have engaged in various immoral activities including rape. This can greatly be attributed to an encounter he had earlier when her mother and new father returned home drunk and were not able to control their behavior and deeds. This could have also added flavor to his current drinking habit.
His early misfortune also reflected negatively on his ability to reason. Cognitive development was thus affected as was evidenced in his being influenced into drinking. Cognitive development reflects on one’s understanding of moral standards. As Oakley (2004) observed, “the development of moral understanding includes not only how children think about such issues but also how they behave in such situations and how they feel about them” (p9).
Some possible strategies
It can then be deduced that development in general depends on the biological, psychological, and social factors. Solutions to the problems are thus connected to these factors. Overcoming the above problems of psychosocial developments involves integration of various activities.
The institutions of learning as well as religious ones should have programs of providing guidance for those that were not privileged to receive good parental care. Medical centers to help solve malnutrition problems should be established. The needy but intelligent children should be provided with support towards education by the governing authority to avoid such psychological tortures.
References
Huitt, W. (2009). A Systems approach to the study of human behavior: Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Web.
Lerner, R.M. (2002). Concepts and Theories of Human Development. Third Edition. NY: Routledge.
Newman, B.M. and Newman, P.R. (2008). Development through Life: A Psychological Approach. Tenth Edition. OH: Cengage Learning.
Oakley, L. (2004). Cognitive development: Routledge modular psychology. NY: Routledge.
Piaget, J. (1930). The Moral Judgment of the Child. The Free Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/index.php