Category: Child Behavior

This article discusses the correlation between childhood trauma and the negative-long term consequences stemming from early trauma and how it can affect anyone despite age, sex, race, etc. It also includes an accurate definition of trauma and what it entails. Childhood trauma has major affects that can be realized and experienced throughout a lifetime. Changes in the brain and other bodily functions are also affected by adverse childhood experiences. This article examines how early trauma is associated with physical, mental and emotional symptoms that can endure into adulthood. A rebuttal is also included to present an opposing perspective. The long-term outcomes from trauma like substance abuse, psychiatric issues, incarceration are also mentioned. The truth and harsh reality of mental health issues are introduced and how early stress or trauma is at the heart of it.

Are Later Mental Health Issues Related to Childhood Trauma?

When I was about eight years old, I experienced my older brother getting hit by a car. If I hadn’t turned onto the sidewalk when I did, I too would’ve been under that car. Now does this experience still affect me today? Sure, I can still remember the incident like it was yesterday. I just froze in place listening to him scream and my parents running passed me to help him. Luckily, my brother healed up just fine and everything went back to normal after about a month or two. Since then, I’ve grown and learned to cope with it over the years and thankfully it hasn’t negatively impacted my life. But if I were to ask my parents what they would change about that day, they probably would say that they would keep us inside the house to prevent it from happening. Naturally, parents want to protect their children from pain and danger, but the truth is, trauma does not discriminate. It can affect anyone despite their age, race, sex, or belief. It may also have lasting effects that can persist into adulthood.

What is Trauma?

When I hear the word trauma I immediately think of something drastic, something extreme or dramatic that happens. Kind of like my experience with my brother and his accident. Usually it has to do with a life changing experience that is typically unexpected or too extreme for the average person to handle. Trauma can include abuse, violence, maltreatment, neglect, loss, accidents, disasters, war, and other emotionally harmful experiences. (Dye, 2018) According to the American Psychiatric Association, they explain trauma as “…a perceived experience that threatens injury, death, or physical integrity and causes feelings of fear, terror, and helplessness.” (as cited in Dye, 2018) Considering that these emotions usually come from unintended, unfortunate circumstances, people all around the world are experiencing trauma and its repercussions. More than half of Americans between 18 and 55 reported experiencing at least one earlier traumatic life event. (Maschi, Baer, Morrissey, Moreno, 2012) According to another source, about 20% of individuals exposed to a traumatic event will develop psychiatric morbidity and children may be at an even higher risk. (Dar, 2015)

Effects on Later Mental Health

The argument of whether or not there’s a result that follows childhood trauma is pretty straight forward. I’ve already assumed that when a baby or a child experiences something traumatic, the possibility that it may affect that child in one way or another is very high. For example, if a child witnesses the murder of a parent or survives a horrific car accident, scenes and emotions may play back and affect that child for an extended period of time. Dye confirms this when she added, “Exposure to childhood trauma has been linked to childhood and adult psychopathology, including attention deficit and hyperactive disorder (ADHD), depression and anxiety, personality disorders, a profound effect of cognitive, social, and emotional competencies, and an increased risk for chronic disease.” She continues to explain the impact of trauma exposure and how childhood trauma can disrupt multiple aspects of their lives including: life-long medical and psychological deficiencies, developmental process of aging, and can lead to exaggerated emotional distress and helplessness. (Dye., 2018)

Trauma has to have its ramifications; traumatic experiences are way too complicated for children and their immature brains, even adults struggle to comprehend traumatic experiences. Some results from trauma include “continued revictimization, psychiatric disorders, cognitive impairment, maladaptive stress responses, physical disabilities, and even early death.” Mentioned in the same article, its clarified how trauma and its effects depend on the intensity, duration, and chronicity of the event and used war and imprisonment as an example. The longer you’re exposed to war, the likelihood of posttraumatic stress symptoms is prolonged and may extend into advanced years. (Maschi et al., 2012)

How it affects Mental Health

I’ve always thought that people with a troubled childhood would of course participate in bad behavior because, well, that’s what’s expected. Grow up around violence, you may become a violent person. But apparently, there’s a deeper explanation. According to the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, they’ve found that there was a dose-response relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and health outcomes. (as cited in Harris., 2015) ACE includes different types of trauma that we previously mentioned. In Harris’ lecture, she explains how a case study was performed on 17,500 adults and their exposure to ACE, the higher the ACE score was, the worse the health outcomes. Allegedly, 67% of all participants had at least one traumatic experience and 12.6% had four or more traumatic experiences. A person with an ACE score of four or more had a significant higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Hepatitis. Depression was four and a half times more than that of someone with a score of zero. “A person with a score of seven or more had triple the lifetime risk of lung cancer and tree and a half times the risk of ischemic heart disease,” (Harris, 2015) which is the leading killer in the U.S. With these facts in mind, our health administration culture needs to alter and adjust the way we look and care for our mentally sick patients.

Now that we have a pretty good understanding that trauma has a notable consequence, how exactly does it affect mental health? Trauma has shown to alter changes in some brain circuits and hormonal systems that regulate stress. Some of these changes in the brain can affect the nucleus accumbens, (pleasure and reward system) and the HPA axis. (Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal). (Harris. 2015) This basically is the brain and body’s stress response system that governs fight-or-flight response. (Dye, 2018) Let’s say you come face to face with a wolf. Your hypothalamus sends a message to the pituitary, which then forwards that message to your adrenal gland telling it to release stress hormones and adrenaline triggering the fight-or-flight response. Pupils dilate and heart beats faster. You can either stay and fight the wolf or run from it. Now if that wolf were to come home every day, what’s meant to be an adaptive, life-saving mechanism becomes maladaptive and destructive. Children aren’t meant to experience repeated stress activation because they’re still growing and developing. When this occurs, brain structure and function are affected along with the immune system, hormonal system, and even DNA. (Harris, 2015)

There have been many cases and research over the years regarding the correlation between early trauma and later mental health. I’ve come to realize that there really isn’t an opposition on whether childhood trauma leads to mental issues in the future. Dr Ross Collin commented on this exact subject when he stated, “the bulk of mental health problems around the world stem from some sort of early trauma, the whole mental health field.” (as cited in Corina Rachel., 2012) although there hasn’t been many cases of opposition on this matter, it’s believed that many clinics fail to obtain data related to childhood abuse because they simply don’t ask. A fear of offending, stressing, traumatizing and inducing false memories tend to restrict them from asking in the first place. (Dovran et al., 2015) It may seem a bit odd when you think about going contrary to what’s already scientifically proven but there are some people out there who still do. Not getting vaccinated is an example of a modern approach to opposing scientific evidence.

In conclusion, the science is clear, early childhood trauma is closely related to mental health issues that persist into adulthood. The health issues and results of childhood trauma vary anywhere from PTSD, neurological and physical dysfunction, criminal misconduct or behavior, struggling personal relationships and many more. Children are far too sensitive for early trauma and are more susceptible to later health issues if not screened and assisted properly. We’ve learned that the reach of trauma and its consequences are boundless and does not discriminate. We can and we need to do better in treating mental health patients because we now know the underlying issues rather than proclaiming that someone has issues. Once we begin to acknowledge this fact to be a worldwide health issue, our efforts can begin to show a realistic change in catching and preventing further damage caused by early trauma. We all know at least one person who suffered or suffers from some kind of trauma and that’s the truth of it all, that an issue this powerful can touch all of us.

A topic I am interested in is causes of children’s behavior at the dentist and management. This topic has led me to research more about it and has led me to write this paper. I will consider children’s anxiety/behavior in the dental setting and will describe the nature of dental anxiety and its implications for the child patient and the dental team. It will also describe a variety of management strategies. I will also talk about the way in which the child copes with the stressor at the dentist is related to individual experiences, as well as those of the parents parenting especially.

A child’s development and their life experiences all come into play in order to better understand and give the explanation why children react differently to dental treatment. The parents influence is in the fact where in bringing up and growing of their offspring the children learn from and imitate their parents (and also their confrontation patterns and coping skills with stressful situations, including rationalization and relaxation). Dental anxiety is the single most important predictor of children’s behavior in the dental setting and that there are strong associations between dental anxiety and perceived un-cooperative and problem behaviors. The involvement of the child’s parents should also be a key consideration. Parents can learn about helpful and unhelpful approaches for managing their child’s anxious symptoms and behaviors. Strategies can be used to enhance trust, increase feelings of control and develop coping skills in children with dental anxiety. It is clearly imperative that the dental team identifies and works with children who exhibit signs of dental anxiety from an early stage.

The first thing I want to elaborate on is on understanding children’s dental anxiety. Common anxieties among kids include fearing the mysterious and being worried regarding a lack of manage-both of which can happen with dental assessment and treatment. Dental fear represents a normal emotional reaction to a specific threatening external dental stimuli, dental anxiety represents a general state in which the individual experiences a level of apprehension and is prepared for something negative to happen and dental phobia is a severe type of dental anxiety that may result in avoidance or endurance of the dental experience with major discomfort. Of course dental fear can come from past experiences too. For example, the dentist runs a prophylaxis brush over a 8-year-old’s teeth and he has gingivitis, so it bleeds. As the dentist accidentally clips the gum it may be uncomfortable. The child says, “That hurts.” To which the dentist (and sometimes the mother) reply, “Oh, no it doesn’t. It can’t. It’s just an electric toothbrush.” For some children, this can be traumatic.

It implies to them that their experience is wrong/unheard. They are thinking “But I told you it hurts and why don’t you believe me?” This creates no trust between the dentist and child and of course fear. Also, children who had negative experiences, connected with prior hospital visits or medical treatment could be more anxious regarding dental treatment. While taking medical history, it is important to enquire the parents about earlier treatments and the child’s reaction to them. Assessing the nature of a child’s anxiety is extremely important in determining the most appropriate and effective management strategy.

Another factor that comes into play with children at the dentist is assessing behavior management. Behavior management can reduce the patient’s anxiety in the long-term. Strategies can be used to enhance trust, increase feelings of control and develop coping skills in children with dental anxiety. For example, whatever thing that the child finds enjoyable or satisfying can act as an optimistic reinforcer, badges or stickers are frequently used at the end of a successful appointment. Though, most powerful reinforcers are social stimuli, such as verbal praise, positive voice modulation, and facial expression. Praising the child on how good they are doing can reduce their anxiety.

Other behavior management is creating distractions. This is one of the biggest child behavior managements. Distraction intends to move the attention of the patient’s attention away from the treatment procedure. This could be in the form of singing, reading, and watching a video. Dentists also speak to the child while doing treatment so that the patient pays attention to them rather than focusing on the treatment they are actively doing. Other distractions include, pulling on the cheek or lip and chatting to the patient when applying local anesthesia. Pre-appointment preparations such as encouraging children to view audio-visual products and audio-visual distractions are techniques which have also been used to help relax children and reduce their anxiety levels.

Lastly, children’s parent’s parenting. Surprisingly, this impacts the way a child behaves at the dentist. It is well known that parents form their children’s behavior from the moment of

their birth. During preschool development, children learn what kinds of behavior are acceptable and/or forbidden. There is an indirect learning process whereby patients develop effective coping skills by observing other people (parents) for successfully receiving dental treatment. In that said, parents parenting can affect children’s behavior at the dentist. In that upbringing process, there are four types of parenting styles. The division is formed regarding parents demands and the expected responsibilities of their children.

There are four types of parenting styles. The first one is, authoritative parenting. In this parenting style, parents have high demands towards their children, yet in addition demonstrate incredible obligation to them. They set clear benchmarks for their youngsters and have introduced limits. They expect mature and age related conduct from their youngsters. This sort of parenting style produces self-assured kids, who are glad, competent and successful. In the dental office they show ordinary kid conduct.

The second parenting style is, authoritarian parenting. This is characterized with high demands towards their children, without any duty for high responsibility. Parents set elevated expectations and also set rules without much clarification. They only expect the respect and achieving the results from their children. If expectations are not accomplished, parents tend to punish their children as opposed to clarify the explanations behind discipline, or to break down kid conceivable outcomes and requirements. Children of rigorous parents have less self-assurance, since they are utilized to be determined what the correct decision is for them, and how to act. In the dental office they for the most part act like the continued or now and again startled or frightened child.

The third type of parenting style is permissive parenting. This is portrayed with high self-obligation, yet weak demands towards their child. Permissive parents are very included in their children upbringing, they don’t define the limits and satisfy each child’s request. They don’t request situational proper practices, and they let their kids to do everything. Kids have no motivation to figure out how to control their conduct, and they generally hope to get what they need, and furthermore show the issues with specialists. These sort of children act in the dental office in uncontrolled way.

The fourth and last type of parenting style is uninvolved parenting. This style shows low requests towards their kids and low requirement for self-obligation in the child’s upbringing. The parents for the most part would prefer not to include in their kids’ lives and don’t define the limits. They additionally don’t think about their child’s assessments and feeling as significant ones, and they don’t offer any sort of enthusiastic help. These children show absence of self-assurance, poise and capability identified with their friends. They can communicate different types of conduct in the dental office, including startled, pretentious and sustained.

There is a need to explore the extent and exact nature of understanding a child’s dental anxiety. Behavior management is agreed to be a key factor supplying dental care for children. Certainly, if a child’s behavior in the dental office cannot be managed then it is not easy if not unworkable to hold out any dental care that is needed. It is essential that any approach to behavioral management for the dental child patient have to be rooted in compassion and a worry for the well-being of each child. The relationships between child dental anxiety, child temperament (behavioral inhibition), parental dental anxiety and general anxiety, parenting style and intrusive parenting are complex and all come into play with a child’s dental experience.

FAMILY INFLUENCES

The family is the first form of socialization a child receives. A child learns from the family’s relationships and uses that information to form their own relationships. According to Kwalombota Mahalihali (2016), “the kind of care and attention children receive during their early years of life affect their handling of important issues, such as trust versus distrust and autonomy versus disunity”. Not only do the adults in the family influence child behaviors, but siblings do as well. With siblings, the child learns how to share and resolve conflicts with the sibling. When the child begins to go to school, learning those learned behaviors will be beneficial when interacting with the other children.

Children form values, learn to cope, and adjust to life problems based from their family experiences (Mahalihali, 2016). If a child has an inability to cope and adjust, there may be a problem with a family member and could affect the child negatively in the future. For example, if a parent is an alcoholic, which is abusive to themselves, or abuse others, such as physical abuse, the child may grow up to be a victim or abuser themselves. Also, children that went through a parental divorce are at greater risk for marital instability based on Mahalihali’s (2016) research.

Mahalihali conducted a study to find out if previous research on if children are influenced by their family structure still had the same results. Mahalihali surveyed thirty-six subjects and found that the results concurred with previous research stating that children are better off in a two-parent household, and those who grew up in households that deprived them from happy situations often grow up to become aggressive adults.

Parenting Styles

There is a wide variety of parent behaviors which can result in an equally wide variety of behavioral outcomes of the child according to Jordan Mullins (2018). In Mullins’s research, there are four parenting styles based on parental warmth, such as affection shown toward the child, and parental control meaning creating rules for the child to follow. The four parenting styles, according to Mullins, are authoritarian, permissive, uninvolved, and authoritative or democratic.

Authoritarian parents tend to have a higher amount of control and a low amount of warmth. These parents are very strict and are not clear in their explanations to the child. The child behavior outcomes from an authoritarian parent are associated with hostility, delinquency, rebelliousness, antisocial aggression, and anxiety (Mullins, 2018).

Permissive parents are almost the exact opposite of authoritarian parents. They focus more on warmth then control. These are the parents that are more of a friend to their child. They enforce very few rules which results in very little guidance for the child. Mullins, using information from Baumrind (1991), states, “permissive parenting has been linked to bossy, dependent, impulsive behavior in children, with low levels of self-control and achievement and a failure to learn persistence and emotional control”.

Authoritative or democratic parents have high amounts of warmth and control. Mullins, through Baumrind (1991), found that these parents are “reasonable and nurturing, set high expectations, explain disciplinary rules clearly, and engage in frequent communication with their children”. The children tend to show “high levels of moral reasoning” (Mullins, 2018) and this style of parenting is shown to be the most effective parenting style, but the most difficult to pursue as a parent. It requires more energy and time from the parent than any other style.

Uninvolved parents are the opposite of authoritative parents. They have low amounts of warmth and control. They have no structure for rules or discipline for their children. The child is almost entirely free to do whatever they want whenever they want to do it. Mullins, using the research from Ruchkin et al. (1998), Meesters et al. (1995), and Barnow et al. (2002), said, “adolescents who are exposed to uninvolved parenting practices often perceive high levels of rejection and tend to exhibit more externalizing behaviors, aggressive behaviors, delinquent behaviors, hostility, and attention problems”.

During early childhood, children learn things by observing. They always try to imitate those they associate with. Now in this generation, is child behavior worse or better than it was years ago? Have you notice children disrespect for authority figures? The fault lies with the parents or caregivers of the child to be sure. Parents and caregiver are to cater to children emotional ‘needs’ and that corporal punishment is bad for them. But what may affect children’s behavior though? This is an issue of many safety problems. We are not focusing on this major issue, and we should, If you just look around you at any public place, you will see major examples of poor behavior.

Children have lost respect for their elders and don’t know how to talk to people or during school they observe bad behavior from other peers. Mainly the higher issues are the amount of time on their devices (phones, computers, video games etc.) Kids hardly are talking to their parents and mostly spending time texting or something of the sort, so they don’t know what type of respect to develop. Is it the parents fault, many years ago, parent’s priority was to raise their kid to be a kind, respectful and mannerly child. Now parents just want to make money by focusing on their job, or their own social life.

According to, the globe and mail Why kids’ behavior may be worse than ever − and how to fix it by Dave Mcginn talks about “kids are definitely worse now than they have been. It’s impossible to prove 100 per cent why this is the case, but I think there is very compelling evidence.” Children have always been copying their parent’s behavior. I have noticed my children mimicking me or coping my gestures. Children’s development is important because it shows what your behavior identify.

As parents today face even greater challenges of working or going to school. It is not easy to set child needs structure to flourish if they don’t make time too. Parents need to be responsible for children’s aggressive behavior. Be aware of what your child observers. “There’s three factors that really align with the timing of the change in kids. The dramatic decline in play in children today compared with a generation or two ago. Kids are pretty much constantly supervised from the time they are born until they’re maybe 18 when they leave home, so they never learn to manage their own behavior.” (Dave McGinn) As I believe those many factors that affect children’s behavior such as, media, especially TV etc. It is known what children require: constant training, patience and love.

As of today’s, parents are too busy working, going to school or being selfish, to make this kind of investment or understand children structure wellbeing. If children can control and manipulate their parents as in the description above, the parent will be helpless to teach that child anything. Amongst media, television is of a major concern of where children’s behavior has become worse instead of better. The introduction of television to children at any age, forever affected the child’s development. Watching T.V. that would teach good values would impact children in a positive behavior. When watching TV programs, they copy the actions and morals of those programs.Whether it is something criminally sound, children take in everything they watch on TV. For example, my youngest daughter watches QUBO on Cable TV and imitates most of the positive morals and learns. She started to speak at the age of one and has imitated the manners shown from the show. It is an investment I personally decided for my child for her well-being. I have experience by observing with my now older children. How media popular YouTube channels because children be in doubts of who they are. I have raised my children to observe and reflect actions they are influenced by. But now with influence from media children will copying those bad examples and believe they won’t suffer no consequences. I have sat down with them to talk about the consequences that will affect them in the future. Which may be a solution that is missed to support this issues.

Two or three decades ago, children were roaming neighborhoods playing unsupervised or lightly supervised. They could resolve disputes, which they had a strong motivation to because they wanted to keep playing. They also planned their time and managed their games. They had a lot of autonomy, which also feeds self-esteem and mental health. But as now violence on screen is often offered to young population, which family perspective responds in different ways. Today’s violence is teaching children to do what they see that is popular on media not knowing the true consequences. As Cory turner mentions, “It’s the behavior in our homes that keeps us from getting out the door in the morning and keeps us from getting our kids to sleep at night.” Is everything getting completely terrible for children, is there a chance to make things better?

Showing positive role model to guide good choices and encourage children to do their best. Why I chose this field, I believe in supporting family growth, including ways to support children’s behavior. As an Early Childhood Development, major I play a vital role in guiding a child’s behavior. The solution is to model appropriate behavior: demonstrate, show, model and supervise. Teaching and guiding parents and children to learn appropriate behavior. A reflective and honest look on children behavior history, it all just depends on the kids you are looking at. You always can find the bad ones and there are always good ones. But the solution is for caregivers and parent to be willing to take the time and work at being consistent for children benefit.

Work Cite

1. McGinn, Dave. “Why kids’ behaviour may be worse than ever − and how to fix it” 20 April, 2018. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/article-why-kids-behaviour-may-be-worse-than-ever-and-how-to-fix-it/
2. Rettew, David C. “Behavior problems in youth: Are things worse today than in the past?” 27 January, 2016. https://www.mdedge.com/pediatrics/article/106060/mental-health/behavior-problems-youth-are-things-worse-today-past
3. Saner, Emine. “The truth about only children: are they more insular and confident?” The Guardian. 31 May, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/31/truth-about-only-children-insular-confident-worry
4. Turner, Cory. “Why Children Aren’t Behaving, And What You Can Do About It” 02 June, 2018. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/06/02/611082566/why-children-arent-behaving-and-what-you-can-do-about-it
5. White, Michael. “Is life really worse for kids today than it was for previous generations?” The Guardian. 02 Feb 2009 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2009/feb/02/michael-white-children

Abstract

There is lots of contradictions that say that whether a has two parents or one they all tend to achieve the same, behave the same. The purpose of this report was to see the differences between a child’s behavior that was brought up in a nuclear family compared to a child brought up by a single parent. Aggressiveness, assertiveness and submissiveness were the three main behavioral targets from the research that was conducted by the Children action tendency scale in Turkey, 2006. Children behave aggressively, assertively, or submissively for a wide variety of reasons; generally, a combination of factors underlies how a child will behave in any given situation.

“A father can never be a mother, nor a mother can ever be a father”. In my opinion that’s how life works, God has created a man and woman to create a child, so it is the responsibility of both to work together as a couple on raising their child.

A family is a group of people in which two or more people are together with blood tide and marriage (Ozkalp, 2003: 111). A family is defined as a complex structure that has a common history, togetherness, sharing an emotional bond with an individual action plan to meet the needs of the whole family members of a social construct (Nazli, 2003). In addition to these definitions, a family is one of the effective institutions that guide children for their development, integration, and socialization (Yavuzer, 2001).

Due to some reasons like divorce, separation or death; the normal structure of a family breaks apart – this leads to single parenting. A divorce is basically breaking off the union that two people would have built up when they get lawfully wedded. Despite its increasing prevalence, divorce continues to be troubling, difficult, and painful for children of all ages just as it is troubling for most divorcing couples. One reason is that human beings do not break their attachments lightly, even bad attachments (Berman, 1988; Bowlby, 1988). After divorce occurrence, children feel insecure and suffer from feelings of complexity. Most children think that one day, their father and mother will be together, so they occupy themselves to find out a solution that is useless. In order to solve the conflict between parents, some of them prefer living with one of them (Ozkalp, 2003). Young people whose mother and father split up are likely to be three times more aggressive or badly behaved, according to a survey that was conducted by ‘Office of the National Statistics’.

US divorced rate and the rate of women having children without wedlock has drastically increased from 1996 to 2013. Women percentage of getting divorced in 2013 was 82% compared to 50% in 1996. In addition, children who were born out of wedlock has increased to 44% which was only 4% in the past. Studies also show that children that are raised by a single parent are more in number that gets expelled, do theft, have behavioral problems and are also numerously caught by the police.

Effects of children that experience divorce of their parents:

3 to 5-years-old children

• Poor understanding of the family situation
• Feelings: frightened, insecure
• May have nightmares, whining, crying, clinging behavior
• Temper tantrums
• Changes in eating and sleeping
• Regression to more infant like behavior

6 to 8-year-old children

• Trouble separating their own needs from those of their parents
• Feel sad, loss, frightened, uncertain
• Generalized anxiety
• Disorganized and unsettled
• School work problems
• Feelings of abandonment by and miss parent they do not see much
• Anger at perceived rejection
• Lashing out at custodial parent, teachers, other children
• Denial, self-blame, feels alienated

9 to 12-year-old children

• Sense of loss
• Feel rejected, helpless, lonely, ashamed, embarrassed
• Powerless to control parental behavior
• Psychosomatic symptoms
• Anger, withdrawn, overactive
• Blame one parent for the divorce, direct anger
• School work problems
• Struggling with feelings of mixed loyalties, loneliness, depression
• Power struggle with authority
• May seek support from other adults outside of the home (Wallerstein, 2003)

Children raised by single mothers are more likely to far worse on several dimensions, including their school achievement, their social and emotional development, their health and their success in the labor market. They are at greater risk of parental abuse and neglect (especially from live-in boyfriends who are not their biological fathers), more likely to become teen parents and less likely to graduate from high school or college. (McLanahan and Sandefur 2010). However, this not the case for every child raised in a single parent family, it’s just that there is a higher possibility for these scenarios to occur.

One major difference between the upbringing of the children is the income and education, children raised with both parents present are more likely to worry about the income compared to the single parent family. For instance, if a child falls ill, the mother can easily stay at home and take care of the child, yet, when there is only one parent working and the cant gets a holiday from work the child is left alone to take care of its own self. Education is one of the most critical factor of poor parenting. If by chance a mother is uneducated with a child, it is hard for her to get good job position and makes difficulty in raising a child.

Children in mother-only families are more likely to be poor in adulthood than children who live with both parents. They are also more likely to become single parents themselves. Economic deprivation, parental practices, and neighborhood conditions all contribute to lower socioeconomic mobility. (McLanahan & Booth, 1989).

In the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health, conducted by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, parents of 95,677 children aged 17 and under were asked whether their child had ever seen or heard “any parents, guardians, or any other adults in the home slap, hit, kick, punch, or beat each other up.” Among children living with both married biological parents, the rate of exposure to family violence was relatively low: for every 1,000 children in intact families, 19 had witnessed one or more violent struggles between parents or other household members. By comparison, among children living with a divorced or separated mother, the rate of witnessing domestic violence was seven times higher: 144 children per 1,000 had had one or more such experiences. This can also be said as one of the reasons why children raised by single parents are more aggressive and violent compared to children born into a nuclear family.

Behavior

The number of children being raised in a single-parent house is on the rise. It continuously causes negative implications for kids. when kids have both mom and dad, they have a tendency to possess better academic opportunities and financial blessings. Many of us don’t even understand what proportion a child’s behavior is impacted by being raised in a single-parent home.

Majority of the youngers from single-parent households find themselves retreating socially. they have a tendency to dive into a state of depression and loneliness. This typically happens as a result of the one parent is usually busy and has no time for kids. as a result of the kids are typically alone, they tend to feel that they aren’t wanted or that the parent doesn’t care. once the kids enter the state of loneliness, they find themselves turning away from their peers and spend most of their time in their room alone. this could cause variety of issues for kids.

Submissive children are more likely to get bullied since they don’t stand up for themselves, they basically think of other than themselves. They would they to avoid upsetting others or fear that whatever they do might hurt another. For example, if a child of a submissive behavior is getting bullied, he/she would neither fight back or report to their parent nor teacher.

Assertive behavior is the balance between aggressive and submissive behavior, assertive means the ability to speak up for yourself with honesty and respectfulness. For example, if someone is angry at you for not doing some work, the best assertive way to reply would be: “I see that you are angry, I hear you saying that you think I should spent more time doing….However, I disagree with you and here is why.” Assertive behavior describes the middle approach where no one is left feeling badly treated and all parties come out of the encounter feeling full of worth. Assertive behavior makes you feel better at the time and makes it more likely that you will be assertive in the future as it is confidence building (Lee-Davies & Bailey, 2007, 128).

Aggressive behavior can cause physical or emotional harm to others. It may range from verbal abuse to physical abuse. Through studies majority of the aggressive behavior that is formed in a child is due to family stress. A child swearing, hitting or biting anther is an example of aggressive behavior.

Other aggressive and submissive children, however can conceive of assertive alternatives, but choose not to exhibit such behavior because they believe that aggressive or submissive acts will yield grater benefits and/or costs than assertive behaviors (Deluty & Usakli, 2009: 20).

Procedure

CATS (Children action Tendency Scale), which measure aggressiveness, assertiveness and submissiveness in the behavior of children. It calculates the results by setting children into 13 different situations which also involves frustration, provocation, and conflict. Now the experimenter emphasized on the point of being honest to the children, to check how each child would react.

The number of aggressive, assertive and submissive actions were elected by the subject constituted, giving each scenario their respective scores. The results varied, one subject could receive two points of assertiveness, two points of aggression or even two points of submissiveness.

Results

The ANOVA Founding of Mean Assertiveness, Aggressiveness and Submissiveness Points with Regards to Parental Situation

The experiment results were done through MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance). Which is a statistical test procedure for comparing multivariate (population) means of several groups. There are 2 major things within which MANOVA is required. the primary is once there are many correlative dependent variables, overall applied mathematics look at on this set of variables rather than performing multiple individual tests. The second, and in some cases, a lot of necessary purpose is to explore how independent vaiables influence some patterning of response on the dependent variables.

The assertive kid expresses herself or himself openly and directly whereas respecting the rights and feelings of others. For instance, in response to being teased concerning her new hair-cut any kid says sedately, assertively, “Please stop teasing me. You would not prefer it if I made fun of you. I just like the way my hair looks. “If self-assertiveness entails each style and the non-violation of others‟ rights, then self-doubt will take one amongst 2 forms: aggressiveness or obedience. Aggressive kids express their thoughts and feelings openly, but they

do coercively and at other people’s expense. Submissive kids take under consideration the sentiments, power or authority of others, however deny (or do not stand up for) their own rights and feelings. for a few aggressive kids and for some submissive kids, the thought of acting assertively merely never occurs to them. These kids see their choices as restricted to fight or flight.

The results showed that children with single parents were more aggressive but surprisingly where more obedient, giving a contrast in these two behaviors.

Discussion

As a social downside, divorce affects kids negatively. Family, teachers and counselors ought to be aware of the issues that happen to single parent kids and take actions. Single parent kids are more aggressive or submissive compared to assertive behavior. Children should be counselled by counselors who can change their behavioral stance to better.

Loneliness is also one of the things that single parent children face, they also tend to go through depression compared to normal nuclear family children. We should focus more on single parent children and provide them with more attention.

For example, children living in single-parent and/or low-income households are more likely to exhibit problem behaviors and depressive symptoms and are less likely to display social competence than are children who grow up in more fortunate circumstances (Moore, 2006). Most common problems seen in single parent families‟ children are depression, stress, loneliness, aggression, compliance, smoke, alcohol, narcotics (Herwing, 2004; Jackson, 2000).

Numerous studies have found links between the quality of the parents’ relationship and positive outcomes for children and families (Amato, 2005). Children grown up in a nuclear family tend to be more mannered since they see both of their parents as role models and try to follow their footsteps. This however is not a privilege to young single parent children, which results them into being more aggressive.

References

1. Ozkalp, E. (2003). Aile Kurmu (Family Institution). (In E. Ozkalp) Davranis Bilimlerine Giris (Introduction to Behavioral Science), Eskisehir: AOF, 110-126.
2. Nazli, S. (2003). Aile Danışmanlığı (Family Counseling), (2.Baskı), Anakara: Nobel.
3. Yavuzer, H. (2001). Çocuk Psikolojisi (Child Pscyhology), (20. Baskı), Remzi Kitabevi, Istanbul
4. Berman, W. (1988). The role of attachment in the post-divorce experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 496-503.
5. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York: Basic Books.
6. McLanahan and Sandefur, Growing up with a Single Parent; Jane Waldfogel, Terry-Ann Craigie, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. “Fragile families and child wellbeing.”The Future of children (2010), p. 87. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/are-children-raised-with-absent-fathers-worse-off/
7. McLanahan, S. and Booth, K. (1989). Mother-Only families: Problems, Prospects, and Politics. Journal of Marriage & Family, 51, 3 557-580. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/3235650/Children-in-single-parent-families-more-likely-to-suffer-emotional-problems-report-finds.html
8. Wallerstein, J. S. ve Blakeslee, S. (2003). What about the kids? Raising your children before, during, and after divorce. New York: Hyperion.
9. Moore, K.A., Vandivere, S., & Redd, Z. (2006). A sociodemographic risk index. Social Indicators Research, 75, 45-81. http://changingminds.org/techniques/assertiveness/submissive_behavior.htm
10. https://www.healthline.com/health/aggressive-behavior
11. Deluty, R., & Usakli, H. (2009). Saldirgan, atilgan ve cekingen davranma(ma) yollari. Coluk Cocuk, 86 [Transl. from the Turkish: The ways (not) to behave aggressively, impulsively, and timidly. Child and Family, January 2009, 86, 20-21.]
12. Lee-Davies, L. & Bailey, S. (2007). Developing Work And Study Skills, London: Thomson. https://ifstudies.org/blog/children-in-single-parent-families-are-more-likely-to-witness-domestic-violence/
13. Jackson, A.P. (2000). Maternal self-efficacy and children‟s influence on stress and parenting among single black mothers in poverty. Journal of Family Issues, 21, 3-16
14. Herwig, J. E., Wirtz, M., & Bengel, J. (2004). Depression, partnership, social support, and parenting: Interaction of maternal factors with behavioral problems of the child. Journal of Affective Disorders, 80, 199-208. https://www.privatewriting.com/blog/single-parent-children-behavior
15. Amato, P.R. (2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the next generation. Future of Children 15(2), 75-96.

The entertainment has been around for centuries, and many millennials have been raised with cell phones, Wi-Fi, and cellular apps. If you were to enter an elementary school, many students of the upper grade level own a cell phone. When I was in elementary, I had no phone, but I had a coloring book and reading books to fill the void in my hand. In recent events, children own a phone and different social media sites, the most used sites being Snap Chat, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

As the internet developed, people relied on other types of entertainment – making them rely less on one sole source. Several low and high income communities had simple toys and entertainment systems such as playgrounds and radios. Cellular telephones make children to focus on one screen instead of their surroundings like in past years. In the past, numerous children relied on each other and their surroundings to entertainment themselves while their parents will either work, clean, or had time to relax. These children used their imaginations to create new worlds, and they were socializing with others in the same age range. Different games were invented to pass the time, such as hop scotch, Tic-Tac-Toe, and hide-n-seek, while they waited before school and after finishing their school work. When a child socializes with his or her peers and uses their endless imagination, their behavior will improve and develop as they grow in a healthy environment. Even though misbehaving children would exist in the past, the percentages of misbehaving children are increasing as the years progress. Now that children have easier access to the internet, their behavior is are affected and influenced by what they see on smartphones screens.

In the past, the child’s behavior was being influenced by other means before the internet was created. By the 1950’s, television had come out and was part of the main entertainment for both children and adults. At first, it was adults that were entertained with the news that was broadcast from NBC, CBS, and ABC – to name a few. After broadcasters realize that children could be entertained by the television, they created cartoons and small shows that would help gain the child’s attention. The television became huge and was in the majority of households as well as one of the main ways to pass the time. As the years progress, new entertainment systems came through such as the MP3 Player, DVD Player, and VCR Player. The mentioned electronics further became an influence in the child’s behavior in both positive and negative ways. On the positive side of the effects in the child’s behavior, the children will be learning how to respect and behave in certain areas and know when it is appropriate to play. On the negative side of things, the child will not interact with others during their leisure time and will be focused on the television screen.

In a similar fashion, video games became the second phenomenon, and it influenced child behavior. In the beginning, the videogames was a home device that consisted of two sticks on each side of the television screen as a small, white dot moved back and forward between the two. Children were continuing in communicating, but they were passing the time indoors instead of outside. This affected their behavior when videogame companies developed violent genres for older children and teenagers. A few years later, girls and boys were a target in the gaming company’s eyes causing children from all ages to stay inside. As new gaming technology was created and various genres were made, less and less children were outside. While parents during that generation thought it was normal and sociable gatherings, older parents from past generations believed the games were rotting their developing brains. I agree with the older generation’s point of view in that videogames and television are somehow killing children’s imaginations, making their brains develop longer time, and their behavior to change in certain aspects.

Years later, the internet was born and the inventor being Bill Clinton. He created a brand new way to entertain people and caused the era of the internet to begin. Slowly, but surely, the internet developed to different forms and gaining new abilities such as music downloading, typing a research paper, blogging, and searching for information. By then, everyone, both young and old, had the desire to obtain this spectacular invention. With the new techniques being created, almost no one could resist the temptation of the internet. It wasn’t until 2005 when YouTube was created to watch online videos whether it was for humor or for music. During this time, cellular phones were being innovated from flip phones to smartphones. The change created a way for the internet to be incorporated in the smartphone giving it the ability of a computer. Currently, we can take any smartphone with us anywhere we go and enjoy our easy access of entertainment and socialization, but not all new things can have a joyful ending. Smartphones were becoming a dangerous poison to children who were raised around it, and various effects were being discovered. Some of these effects were the habit of always using it, the tendency of imitating the influencers they see, and gain characteristics of their role models.

Currently, parents start to utilize the accessible entertainment systems to substitute as a “babysitter” to take care of their children. By this point, many parents have started to complain about how their child are becoming introverts and not going outside as much as before. While they blame the new technology, it is actually the parent who do not limit the amount of time their children are in front the screen. Both types of parents can blame the new technology, but they are far from the truth. The limitation that a parent provides can actually help the child to develop separate from the movable and addictive technology. If the child were to have no limits what so ever, they are more likely to depend on their phone than themselves and others. Yes, having access to the internet can be helpful at time for both the parent and the child, but it does contain some consequences.

To illustrate, if you were to take a quick look of your surroundings, you will quickly notice how the majority of the people passing by own a smartphone and are consistently utilizing it. Many parents carry a tablet or an extra phone just for their child to use when they start to cry “bother” them. In my personal experience, I have witness this first handedly with my younger siblings. They were raised in a much later generation where Wi-Fi had already been developed and being installed in households around the United States while I was raised during the flip phone era. The difference between us is that my younger siblings depend on the internet as if it were a living necessity rather than a luxury. While I played and socialized outdoors with our neighbors in our small neighborhood, the younger generation stayed indoors and used the available internet. This says a lot about the new generation in the millennial era as time passes I’ve noticed how attached students and children are with our mobile phones and are willing to do anything to gain it back. Their behavior can cause danger in schools, neighborhoods, and communities as they can have quick mood changes that are caused when they feel a threat in the ownerships of the smartphone.

According to a table created by Rong Wang, Suzanne M. Bianchi, and Sara B. Raley, about eighty seven percent of parents living in households use the internet by themselves while sixty eight percent of parents utilize the internet with their child ( et al. 4). The table shows how differently a teenager’s response is from the parent’s response to three different questions that were asked in a survey. This further supports the statement that parents are the ones that are at fault for their child’s development for not putting limits to the daily use of the different entertaining systems. Due to the development of Wi-Fi and Smart Televisions, internet use has increased over the last decade and most of the family members are using it as well. As the parent uses the internet for entertainment, the child will see them and believe that they also have the liberty to use it freely; thus, this creates a habit that will be difficult to break. Since the parent is one of the most important role model in a child’s life, the child will mimic the parent’s mannerism. Be that as it may, if, for whatever reason, the child turns most of his or her attention to the small LED phone screen, they will begin to impersonate the figure in the screen rther than the parent. As everyone knows, monkey see, monkey do.

In a similar fashion, teachers have also complained about child’s behavior throughout the years. In an article written by Rachel A. Karchmer, she interviews various teachers and thirteen had stated that the internet had influenced their behavior in class as well as their work (Karchmer 2). All the teachers and their colleagues had different experience with the internet and how they utilize it in their classroom. Some of them believe that the internet can help them during the class session, but others believe that the technology is a waste of class time and a distraction (Karchmer 2). I do not blame these teachers for having mixed opinions on the internet, for there are some positive consequences of having various entertainment systems. Some of these include playing games with friends, family bonding time at home, and meeting other peers with the same interest of music, movies, or books.

Although many believe the internet is not to blame for the child’s development and behavior, it is still associated with the parenting abilities that older millennials have gained in this period of time. Still few people argue that the internet actually help the child’s behavior by the different online social media that are available. This may be true, but the internet can also corrupt a child’s mind and their mannerism. Influencers that have poor behavior are a pair of brothers named Logan and Jake Paul. They have become powerful YouTube Influencers just gaining their celebrity status four years ago in 2015. Most of their videos on YouTube consists of burning random appliances, doing dangerous stunts, and creating harmful pranks. The brothers’ audience is for all ages due to the variety of music videos and the censorship of inadequate diction. Young and older children watch these brother, who now have separate YouTube accounts, and think that their actions are approvable by everyone that watches them. While children may think it is normal and humorous to do these types of things they see in the brothers’ separate YouTube accounts, it could be dangerous I the child were to try it at home. Furthermore, the stunts that the brothers do have caused chaotic news reports and numerous police arrests. No parent wants their child to become a risky and unpredictable adult all due to the videos that they have seen in the past. The YouTube Company, which is Google, have tried to dilute these types of videos, but more and more are uploaded every day from children and teenagers around the globe.

On the other hand, YouTube also contain useful videos such as facts, documents, and educational movies that teach and entertain children and teenagers. The site can help them with the students’ homework from all the core classes as well as their electives in junior high school, high school, college, and in the university. Teachers also know this for there is a school friendly site named “Teacher Tube” where you can search for educational techniques and lectures. YouTube can also be used to find artist’s music, concerts, and live stream, in which the fans can interact with each other and with the artist.

In a similar fashion, the internet can be used for communicating with distant relatives, close family members, loved ones, and tutors. Malesky and Peters defines “social networking site (SNS)” as a “linked collection of Web pages that allow members to communicate with one another” (Malesky & Peters 2). Different social media sites were created for the sole purpose of socializing and greeting new people for across the globe. This may seem good, but it can also hurt a student of any age. There are numerous of social media sites where any person can communicate with a friend or a stranger. This may sound good and a great innovation for the world, but there are predators lurking in the shadows that prey on the vulnerable. There are some positive of using social media such as to communicate with teachers, instructors, and other students. On the other hand, in SNS, you can never tell who is being truthful and who is misleading the users.

Works Cited

1. Karchmer, Rachel A. “The Journey Ahead: Thirteen Teachers Report How the Internet Influences Literacy and Literacy Instruction in Their K-12 Classrooms.” Reading Research Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 4, 2001, pp. 442–466., doi:10.1598/rrq.36.4.5.
2. Malesky, L. Alvin, and Chris Peters. “Defining Appropriate Professional Behavior for Faculty and University Students on Social Networking Websites.” Higher Education, vol. 63, no. 1, 2011, pp. 135–151., doi:10.1007/s10734-011-9451-x.
3. Wang, Rong, et al. “Teenagers Internet Use and Family Rules: A Research Note.” Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 67, no. 5, 2005, pp. 1249–1258., doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00214.x.

Social media is everywhere around us but are we truly aware of the consequences it may bring when exposed at a young age? Multiple studies have been conducted showing a link between social media usage and teenagers, however with technology becoming so prevalent in our society new studies have been introduced to find a link between social media and its effect on children’s behavior. In recent discussions, a controversial issue has been to what extent social media affects children’s behavior. In a matter of five years, social media usage amongst children and teenagers has increased dramatically. (O’Keeffe et al., 2011). O’Keeffe et al., (2011) states that social media influences outside behavior. As social media becomes more popular, many people express their thoughts and ideas of effects carried with it, from positive outcomes to some negative ones people have discussed in what ways social media influences children’s behavior. In discussions of the impact of social media in children and its correlation with behavior, a controversial issue is whether it has negative or positive effects. While some argue that social media and technology provides positivity and growth, others contend that children exposed to social media at a young age are more prone to suffering from mental health issues as well as behavioral issues. These are all contributing factors to the early onset of mental health issues, therefore affecting children’s behavior in their everyday life.

Children come across social media multiple times a day. To get a quick understanding of what social media means Boyd and Ellison (2007) describes it as:

a web‐based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi‐public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube are just some of the dominating social media platforms in which children are enthusiastic about. In a study conducted from 2001 to 2006, 8,707 children participated, revealing that 47 percent of them spend two or more hours on social media per day (Mazurek et al., 2012). When acknowledging these numbers, it makes you think about how many children are being affected by the negative effects of social media.

With all of these social media platforms, social influencers come with it. Girls are shown unrealistic body expectations at a young age as well as negative behaviors portrayed by these social media stars. It is not uncommon to see young girls comparing themselves to fully developed women that they see on social media. When it comes to young boys, their social media role models are different than those of girls. These role models portray vulgar behaviors such as drinking and smoking. For example the Youtube stars Nelk have a massive fan base, mostly revolving around young boys. This channel consists of disrespectful pranks, consuming alcohol and doing drugs. With children being influenced so easily, it is clear that looking up to social media stars will influence rebellious behaviors in their day to day life activities. Regardless of gender, it is clear that both young boys and young girls are deeply affected by what they see on social media.

Cyberbullying is one of the most mainstream negative factors that the majority of people know about. Children do not know about it until they are personally a victim. O’Keeffe et al. (2011), describes cyberbullying as sharing false, personal and embarrassing information about another person. “Cyberbullying is quite common, can occur to any young person online, and can cause profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and, tragically, suicide” (O’Keeffe, Gween Schurgin et al. 2011). In the introduction to “Social media, screen time, and young people’s mental health,” The Lancet (2019) provided a specific case in which a fourteen year old girl from the United Kingdom took her life, this caused massive outrage to the debate whether social media is to blame. Although some people believe social media had nothing to do with her death, The Lancet insists that social media played a significant role in her death. This is only one case, statistics show that one in three children will fall victim of cyberthreats. The Harbor Country Examiner shows that one in five children will not report these threats to someone of authority. It is proven that bullying causes children to feel isolated, anxious, and withdrawn from the world around them. Not only does this affect their behavior at home, but it also affects their school performance. Children who are cyberbullied report being less attentive at school and even less present at school. Cyberbullying should be taken as a big deal and should be taken proper manner. No matter the country or the language barrier anyone child can be affected by it.

To every negative aspect a positive aspect is analyzed as well. Therefore I also researched about the positive factors that help with children’s behavior. I found a vast majority of sources that analyzed and compared each other. Mazurek et al., 2012 contradict themselves,. On one hand they argue the negative effects such as obesity and poor academic performance as well as loneliness. On the other hand they discuss the positive effects suggesting that it helps build online communication and meeting people with similar ideas. Another factor is that it helps children be more creative since social media contains images and videos of all sorts. O’Keeffe, et al., (2011), also contributes, stating that social media helps children in participating in charity events and other giving foundations. Many researchers and authors have strong beliefs with social media and its negative effect on children but meanwhile they also state that there are many factors that help children.

With the vast challenges that social media brings, the famous social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter have analyzed possible solutions to avoid cyberbullying, sexting and other negative factors that affect children’s behavior. Despite being a sensitive topic, in their recent work Milosevic et al., (2018) report how companies were created to reduce the risks of social media and its effect, creating policies. “Cyberbullying policies” were introduced with the help of TOS or Terms of Service and Global Positioning System to minimize harassment, cyber-bullying and abuse. (Milosevic et al., 2018). Milosevic, et al, (2018) states: “Some of these policies are aimed at intervention , in some cases by allowing users to lock or report someone who they think is bullying them on the platform, or in others by flagging abusive content. The company can then decide if it wants to block such user, remove the abusive content, or take some action.” The essence of these policies are to help with children because at such an innocent time in their lives they are captured rapidly by many things and people’s grotesque words and actions. With the help of artificial intelligence these policies can be identified faster without the need of an employee searching for trigger signs. In America, action has been taken therefore anti-bullying laws were made to reduce the risks and long term negative effects. Furthermore the laws state that schools should talk about cyberbullying and its effects. (Milosevic et al., 2018). Ultimately I believe that with technology evolving, the numbers of risks of cyber bullying and harassment will increase but, I have strong beliefs that they will be easily detected in a matter of seconds even before someone lay eyes on it.

It is clear that children’s behavior is at risk, if all these effects have been going on for years can you imagine what else can happen in the future? Technology and other factors will increase the risks and more problems will affect children and their behavior as time advances. Parents should be more aware of the risks and factors associated with social media use in children and the content that they are exposed to. Gladly, social media platforms have stepped up and have been giving the best in order to minimize the negative effects. Cyberbullying, negative role models are just some of the influences that affect children and their behavior. The older we get, we should be more active, teach children to differentiate between good and bad. As a group we should be good role models in order to avoid more traumatic events from happening.

With television being one of the main sources for entertainment today, prolong exposure to violent TV programming during youth can be associated with aggression. When a child is taught how to ride a bike, that is because someone taught them how to do so. When a child learns how to read, that is also because a parent or teacher taught them how. With many role models to teach a child how to do most things, they also learn from what they see; which is usually from television. Most things seen on TV for children are cartoon or fictional cartoons to make them laugh and to grab their attention, but during the program violence may appear. Though we may think that it is harmless, but from the child’s perspective, hitting or committing a crime, copied from the program, is fun or something they should try.

After reading an article on media violence from the council of communication and media, research has proved that exposure to violence in media; such as television, movies, video games, and music, represent a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents. Evidence has also indicated that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and the fear of being harmed. (Media Violence) For an example school shooting, since around 1950 the medical community has been concerned with the influence of media violence. In 2000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report on school shootings that stated that media violence is a risk factor. (O’Toole) Being that one reason for violence and aggression in children comes from media violence, which children tries to portray.

With media violence as one of the factors for aggression and violence in children, makes you wonder how can we help or change this behavior? How much media violence does a child watch to learn aggression? On an average, children typically spend about two to six hours a day using entertainment media; such as television, video games, music, computers, and the Internet. It seems almost impossible to control the situation with technology growing daily and with children with their own television in their bedrooms. With a child having a television in their bedroom, parents are less able to monitor what is seen, they are less able to have consistent rules for children’s media use, the child will not participate in alternative activities such as playing outside, and may prevent the child to perform poorly in school.

The objective in this study is to investigate, how many hours of media violence do a child need to become aggressive? There would be a sample of children age range three to five into three age groups, using interval as the level of measurement. The limitations would be the child’s IQ, parental control, and previous behavior problems.

In the study, there would be six children, 3 male and 3 females, will be asked to participate in this study on the effects of social media on children’s behavior. The children will be from various cultural backgrounds, economic statuses, and of different races. The parents would have to be present, being that the children are minors. This study will span for two weeks.

Throughout their participation in the study, all attempts will be made to treat the students ethically and respectfully. Participants’ names will be kept anonymous and they will be informed of their roles in the study before beginning. Each participant, as well as their parent or legal guardian, will be asked to sign consent forms after the explanation of their rights and prior to the start of the study. Participants will also be informed of their right to leave the study at any point.

Each participants and parent will be given a logbook, to keep track of their media violence viewing as well as their risk-taking behavior. Their log will be used to keep a record of the number of hours they interact with media violence as well as a journal of their risk-taking behaviors. Participants will be given directions as to how to fill out the log prior to the start of the study. They will be asked to write down the approximate amount of media violence watched daily. They will also be asked to indicate in the log any risk-taking behaviors, which will be explained to them in detail before the start of the study. This information will also be written in the first page of their logbook, so that they can refer back at any time if they have any questions. The notebook will be dated, to keep the participants’ information organized throughout the study.

In this study, we predict a positive correlation between children’s risk-taking behavior and their media violence viewing time. Violence and risk-taking behaviors will be defined as underage tobacco use, underage drinking, the uses of drugs, fighting, theft, vandalism, and trouble at school. We measure the effect of media violence viewing and how it affects the amount of time the participants take part in violence and risk-taking behaviors. We will conduct a longitudinal study over the span of two weeks, which will investigate the correlation between adolescents’ exposure to media violence and risk-taking behaviors. The sample of three males and three females will be asked to fill out questionnaires at the start of the study about the amount of media violence they have been watching in the past month and any risk-taking behaviors during that time (i.e. bullying, underage drinking, vandalism, theft, etc.). Participants will use the information to keep in their logs to input this information since it is difficult to identify such behavior. The parents may ask their children’s teachers to help also to indicate risk-taking behavior among their students as a way of ensuring that the parents are indicating honest answers to the questions on the questionnaire. As an incentive for taking part in the study, the participants will be awarded a pizza party and a gift certificate at the end of the study.

Although the study may yield some interesting results, there may be some factors that would affect our findings. Dishonesty on the part of our participants, the possibility of participants either dropping out of the study or no longer being able to participate, and the fact that the questionnaire may produce invalid results are three of the most factors that may have the ability to confound our research. With the possibility of these factors affecting the research, there are some actions that could be taken if someone decides to try this study.

Dishonesty among the parents who are taking part in the study is a possibility. Since the questionnaire is for a self-report format, there is no way to know if the participants are using false information. Parents may log in the logbook false reports to make themselves seem as if the child is performing less risk-taking behaviors on the regular, or they could indicate more risk-taking behavior then they are doing. Either way, this factor can seriously yield the research. Some parents may also forget to write in their logs and by doing this, they are likely to indicate false information. Another major factor affecting the outcome of the research is the possibility of participants dropping out or no longer being able to take part in the study. The study is conducted over a two-weeks span, so the possibility of something happening to the participants during that time to make them no longer able to participate is high. A participant may move away, become ill, or simply no longer want to be involved in the research. With a small sample size the loss of a few participants may affect the data.

If another researcher were to repeat this study, it would be important to take into consideration the previously defined factors. To gain more accurate information regarding of the participants’ risk-taking and media violence watching behaviors, the best way to get truthful results is to observe the participants doing violent behavior. However, to observe a person in such a manner for two weeks, would be extremely time consuming. It may be difficult to guard against participants dropping out of a study, but to fight this possible factor, increasing the number of participants may help. Lastly, if this research was to be repeated, definitely make sure that the questionnaire is reliable and valid.

Reference

1. Council on Communications. (2009, November 1). Media Violence. Retrieved from https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1495.
2. O’Toole ME. The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective. Quantico, VA: Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice; 2000

Violence on children or kids from a young age can affect them psychologically in the future. Upto 80% of the children that go through abuse or violence in their childhood end up with medical conditions either being therapy or antidepressant pills. Despite using a little violence on children in order to discipline them many cases which usually report child abuse its aminly due to financial stress or unemployment. Most people who go through issues such as financial stress unemployment tend to lean towards alcohol in order to divert their minds from their problems.

When a person has too many drinks the alcohol in their blood reaches a certain level where their brain starts blocking memories which causes blackouts.Mostly after the memories start blacking out the body releases endorphins and all the emotions they are feeling are heightened. The anger the sadness, the confusion all of it piles up and for a person who is not emotionally stable he or she tries to find ways for releasing their emotions and tend to take it out on their children through violence and abuse without realising the harm they would be causing mentally and physically on their child. Over 80 percent of homicide offenders were intoxicated at the time the crime was committed.

There also have been cases where many people also used violence or abuse on their children due to a history of child abuse or negletion in there childhood or if they have a poor parent child relationship. About 35% of people who have been abused tend to be the predators in the future.When a person goes through abuse from a very young age their brains are still developing and then as time passes they think that this is the only way of living. Many people end up getting therapy in order for their own mental well being but for the people who don’t have the privilege to get proper therapy or medication tend to lean towards the same path as their parents.

Many parents also tend to use violence on their kids in order to discipline them but it is possible that if they don’t have a close relationship the violence would be way harsher and way often by what is acceptable by law. Both of these causes go hand in hand as a person would naturally be more likely to take their emotions out on their child if they do not have a good relationship with them or if they think or have the mindset of it being the only and the right way to treat their child due to their childhood experiences,

Again people tend to have different perspectives on this while many are strongly against it and want the law to be very hard on the predator some on the other hand believe that they should be punished but they blame it on the consumption of alcohol or the high level of stress the predator was going through. Unkowingly child abuse causes alot of long term and short term effects. Many short term effects include the child being too fearful of his or her parents. You would notice that they will start talking bad about themselves and will emotionally be more emotionally immature than their peers. There would be a sudden change in their behaviour which would start to affect their social life and academic life. It’s mostly around this time when a child would start to completely isolate themselves which would further lead to many long term issues.

Poor mental development can lead to further issues such as depression, trust issues and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Depression is a mood disorder that is caused by a persistent feeling of sadness. It can grow worse if the patient has no one to talk to and in this scenario it’s most likely to get worse as they have a lot of boundaries and would not easily open up to anyone making their situation way worse.

Apart from depression victims of child abuse can also suffer through PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event which in this case is the abuse/violence. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the abuse. What makes it even worse is that the person due to which all of these issues were caused was someone close to them or someone they trusted which could lead to a lot of trust issues in the future.

The symptoms mostly start within one month of a traumatic event, but sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event. This can affect the relationships they have during the time of abuse or even later in the future due to the impact it has made on them or even due to the recurring nightmares caused due to ptsd. PTSD mainly includes symptoms such as intrusive memories, avoidance, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. They differentiate from person to person depending on the event occured or the impact made.

All of these consequences are not easy to get through even after the child grows out of the physical violence and all the scars on their skin starts to fade away the impact made on them emotionally stays way longer. People tend to forget the mental effects caused by abuses and in many countries it is overlooked if it were to be nothing.

Introduction

Child activity has long been seen as a significant challenge in pediatric dental treatment. The dental assessment is focused on the actions of children and the competence of the doctor to monitor some behavior. Activity control problems are one of the most important causes for transfer to specialist pediatric dentistry.

Prediction of toddler behavior, at the first dental examination, must favor all use of suitable approaches and contribute to the establishment of a trusting environment between the patient as well as the dentist practitioner. A variety of studies have been conducted with the goal of determining the key factors present in uncooperative kids Actions inside a clinic. There seem to be a variety of variables influencing actions. That includes family background, family’s dentist anxiety, prior poor oral history, and stressful medical past. Many considerations include the age of the child, the level of schooling of the family as well as the dental health status of the child. Dentistry has put growing focus on the human component of dentistry as a competent student. Researchers are working to recognize improved infant activity intervention strategies and to minimize harmful reactions Kids at the dental office.(1)

The Child (Patient)

A doctor that treats children must be willing to do this properly.

Evaluate the toddler’s stage of growth, dental behaviors, and temperament to predict the toddler’s response to treatment. This is the answer to oral health needs is nuanced and complex. Dictated by a lot of variables and factors that could lead to non-compliance throughout clinical visit include concerns, common or situational anxiety, as well as previous negative or traumatic dental interaction, discomfort, insufficient planning for a meeting, parenting practices cognitive age, developmental delay, weak communication abilities, general behavioral skills factors, depressive thoughts, ill-adapted behavior, physical/mental deficiency, acute disease or chronic disorder all of these found to be significant for non-compliance during dentistry appointment. Dental behavioral management issues are indeed more severe easily recognized as dental anxiety attributable to connections with common interpersonal criteria or temperamental features, alike. Just a minor of toddlers;

Unresponsive activity includes dental worries, and not even all of them frightened children have issues with dental behavioral instruction. Fears can emerge whenever there is an apparent lack of management or capacity for pain, particularly when the child is aware of it he used to have a tooth issue or had a painful medical experience. If the extent of anxiety is inconsistent with the situations and the individual is unable to regulate urges, destructive behavior it is indeed possible. (2)

Parental influences

Mom and dad affect the toddler’s actions throughout the dental clinic. There are many directions for positive attitudes towards oral care could this refers to the initial growth of a dental house a quick primary prevention contributes to less oral infections, fewer operations requires and less chances for bad experience. Parents who have already had bad dental interaction as a patient. They can transfer their own fear of dental nervousness to the infant. This adversely affects the mood and reaction care. Long lasting economic hardships contribute to tension; these could lead to complications with parental adaptation, including certain depression, anxiety, irritability, drug abuse and aggression. Parental stress can make a substantial difference in parenting, particularly lowered monitoring, caring and discipline for children, this puts the kid at risk for a wide range of transition challenges, including mental and behavioral disorders. (2)

Dental Environment

Non-clinical office workers have a big part to play in guidance on conduct timetable planner or receptionist; that is also the first line of touch with potential patient as well as colleagues, whether it be on the Internet or by phone discussion. The sound of conversation should always be a welcome one. The planner of the schedule or the nurse must consciously inform the patient and family throughout the dedication of their key issues, major complaint, and some special health treatment or the desires of society contact should be given a wariness about client and family discomfort or tension. Workers should be allowed to help set goals also for emergency consultation by including the necessary details and can recommend a referral mostly to pre-appointment office to speak with the physician as well as the team as well as to visit the hospital. This is the non-clinical personnel can check the position of the office, make an offer directions, and see if you have any more questions. Such experiences act as informative instruments that aim to allay anxiety and to help support the family and the patient for the first appointment. Primary interaction of the parent/patient with the dental practice requires all sides to discuss primary oral health of the infant requirements and affirm the suitability of schedules and

It’s an appointment. From a behavioral point of view, a lot of variables They are relevant because the appointment times are decided. The reception staffs were also typically the very first members of the group that the patient meets there at clinic after arrival. The treatment as well as the ensuring how the kid is accepted into work it is necessary during the first and corresponding visits. A toddler waiting area can offer entertainment and warmth to young patients. These early experiences can affect subsequent behaviors. As well as the clinic environment of colors and cartons that the toddler will be distracted with it, as well as if the doctor offer some carton on the screen it will help to calm the patient dawn and keep him distracted. (2)

Team behaviors

The actions of the doctor and the nurse are the employees of the dental team main methods, which used to guide child activity. The doctor’s mood, body language, and behavioral skills are crucial to ensuring a productive clinic visit for the toddler, and also to gaining the trust of the child and the parent. Doctors and nurses would aim to be responsive to their modes of expression during interactions with the Patients and parents. Communication can take place by a variety of methods, however in dental conditions, this is achieved mainly by conversation, speech rhythm, facial expression as well as body language. Contact between the doctor and the infant and Parents are key to good results in the dental clinic. (2)

Conclusion

From the beginning in the reception to the doctor office all have an important roll in having a good appointment, as well as the parent way with the child in the dental clinic and if the toddler were prepared to do the processor. And always trying to distract the attention of the child so he can stay calm and cooperative during the processor. The toddler age and awareness should be in consideration as the way to handle them is different. (1)(2)