Sunday, February 19, 2012

Stress Affecting Growth

I have a lot to say personally about Chapter 6, about the importance of stress on growth factors. I completely agree with all the research that has been found on this topic. When children are young,they need the optimal care they can get and not just material objects, they need love, comfort, care, touching, interaction, something to grasp onto. I have learned about the Harry Harlow monkey experiments in countless psychology classes. The theme of his research seems to be over arching in childhood development. It is related to that of a rat or a monkey because when put under stressful situations like only having a wire mother who feels tough and cold to hang onto and feed from makes the monkeys scared and not want to be placed in social situation so this inhibits their development. I feel that every stressor that life presents you can make the growth system in the body slow down. This holds true later in life as well, especially around the times of puberty. For example, young girls who have societal pressures to be thin at such a young age due to what they are seeing in the media, the perfect image. They try to replicate this image by becoming bulimic or anorexic at a really young age, like in their pre teens and then they are late to get their periods or don't get them for a couple years. This can cause detrimental effects on growth because girls need that estrogen to grow and develop. 
 
Additionally, a divorce between the parents of a family can cause great stress on the children whether they are at a young age or in their teenage years. It is like a bond is being broken in the family and everything is splitting up. The world they once knew is totally and completely different, never to be reversed again. Dealing with this kind of pain takes a long time and even if the children might not outwardly show it, there are signs of their emotional detriments in their everyday activities at school and with their friends. They will always seem down or they might put on a completely different image or mask to make it seem like it has not been affecting them. Even if they find an outlet of release for their pain, the stress will always follow with them because family is such a huge part of a child's life. When this kind of event happens during puberty it can have altering affects on the child's growth patterns and everything.  There are a million and one things that can cause stress to a child during the development period its just a matter of when the stressful event occurs and how it is dealt with. 

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