Category: Childhood Experience

Adverse childhood experiences are so prevalent today, that a quick search in the research database Academic Search Ultimate produced over 10 million peer-reviewed articles on the topic. The title of the article I chose is, “Childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction and the risk of illicit drug use: The adverse childhood experience study. The authors of the article are Shanta R. Dube, Vincent J. Felitti, Maxia Dong, Daniel P. Chapman, Wayne H. Giles, and Robert F. Anda. The article was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics on March 1st, 2003.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study was conducted in Southern California between August of 1995 and October of 1997 by Kaiser Health, consisting of two survey waves that involved 26,824 people (Dube et al., 2003). The survey was administered as a self-reporting questionnaire related to childhood abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction which comprised the ACE scale (Dube et al., 2003) The scale is made up of adverse experiences that took place before the age of 18 and included abuse (physical, emotional, or sexual) or household dysfunction (parental divorce, crime, substance abuse, and mental illness), with each experience out of 10, adding to the scale by one (Dube et al., 2003). The study examined the association of each ACE and the beginning of illicit drug use for 3 age categories, 14 or younger, 15-18, and over 18 (Dube et al., 2003).

According to the study there is a strong relationship between adverse childhood experiences and substance abuse or addiction later in life, with each ACE increasing the likelihood of substance use by two to four times in all three age categories (Dube et al., 2003). The correlation was strongest for individuals beginning to use drugs before the age of 14 and having multiple ACEs (Dube et al., 2003). When comparing individuals with 0 ACEs to people with 5 or more ACEs, individuals with 5 or more ACEs are 7 to 10 times more likely to have problems with substance use and addiction (Dube et al., 2003). Furthermore, individuals with 5+ ACEs are more likely to engage in that use in a riskier way (e.g. intravenous use), which as harmful consequences to overall public health (Dube et al., 2003). Lastly, there was a strong correlation between the ACE score and lifetime drug use (Dube et al., 2003).

According to the study, the result that the relationship was strongest for adolescents is not shocking; children who are exposed to these types of experiences have feelings of powerlessness and may use drugs as a means of avoiding pain (Dube et al., 2003). The biological impact on children who are exposed to ACEs can disturb early development, which can lead to problems later in life such as drug use (Dube et al., 2003). The influence of ACEs increasing the likelihood of illicit drug use is greater than the influence due to the availability of drugs or social attitudes towards using illicit drugs (Dube et al., 2003). Making progress on decreasing drug use will require attention to these types of experiences by medical professionals (Dube et al., 2003).

The findings of this article are evidence of my own life. Being a man in recovery, I decided to take the ACEs questionnaire and I scored a 5, which is in line with the findings of this study. I have always thought I started using drugs because of social influence and because I was just being a kid. I did not consider that my adverse childhood experiences could be responsible for my addiction. Reading this article and working at an addiction treatment center made me reflect on how we treat addiction. With ACEs being so prevalent more resources need to be applied to avoiding adverse childhood experiences as a way of treating addiction rather than waiting until an individual is already addicted.

When reading this article, I was surprised by how large the sample size was (26,824), but I was not surprised by the statistical increase that each ACE had on substance abuse (+2-4%). If you look at how prevalent addiction is across the world, the increase in likelihood of each ACE contributing to problems with addiction makes sense. After some self-analyzation on my childhood and my experience with addiction, after reading this article I now have no doubt that ACEs played a role in my addiction.

Research Question:

What is the relationship between substance use disorder and childhood experience with violence among youth? Does it vary by race?

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between substance use disorder and childhood experience with violence among youth. Additionally, we would like to analyze if this association varies by race.

The theory that we will be using for our study is the stress and coping theory. Stress and coping is the most popular cognitive-behavioral theories of the addictive process.1-2 From this perspective, substance use is viewed as a coping response to life stress that can function to reduce negative affect or increase positive affect. Stress refers to the problems or strains that people encounter throughout life, and coping refers to the behavioral or cognitive responses that people use to manage stress.2-3 In comparison to other potential coping strategies, coping via substance use generally is regarded to be limited in effectiveness, as repeated use of substances is detrimental to physical and psychosocial well-being.1-2 A reasonably large literature has accumulated examining the relation between stress-coping and substance use. As noted above, stress-coping skills are relevant for coping with general life stress, and the goal of stress-coping is to maintain physical and psychosocial well-being.4

It is public health’s responsibility to ensure children who experience violence are receiving treatment and healthy coping actions for their trauma. Studies have found experiencing childhood violence to be linked to high risk behaviors such as engaging in unprotected sexual activity, suicidal ideations, violent behaviors, and substance use.5-7 In fact, two-thirds of intravenous drug users reported experiencing various types of childhood trauma and two-thirds of children (ages 17 and younger) also reported being a witness to violence in 2014.7-8 In 2017 alone, 12.6% of youth ages 15-24 died of drug overdoses.9 Racial, cultural and religious backgrounds also play a part on how youth view substances, which may alter the exposure and outcome relationship.

Child abuse and other adverse experiences have been repeatedly shown to impact mental health/substance use disorders and contribute to the development of social problems, such as crime.9-11 Childhood traumas, or adverse childhood experiences, comprise of abuse, neglect, and household deprivation.12 Decades of research have documented the causal link between adverse childhood experiences and mental health/substance use disorders.12 Past research has also largely measured the impact of individual types of adverse experiences or used an additive measure of experiences.13 Also, given that adverse experiences vary by individual characteristics, such as gender, race, and ethnicity, more sensitive analyses of adverse experiences are needed.13

To conduct this study, several variables are needed. For substance use disorder, we need the variables SUBABUSE (substance use disorder) and SUBABUSE_CURR (substance abuse disorder currently).14 For childhood experience with violence, we need the variables ACE6 (Child Experienced ‐ Adults Slap, Hit, Kick, Punch Others), ACE7 (Child Experience – Victim of Violence), BULLIED_R (Bullied, picked on, or excluded by others), and BULLY (bullies others, picks on them, or excludes them).14 Lastly, we need the variable SC_RACE_R (race of selected child, detailed) in order to determine if the association varies between races.14

References

1. T.A. Wills, A.E. Hirky. Coping and substance abuse: A theoretical model and review of the evidence. Handbook of coping: Theory research, and applications. 1996: 279-302.
2. T.A. Wills, S. Shiffman. Coping and substance use: A conceptual framework. Coping and substance use. Academic Press. 1985; 3-24.
3. Wagner EF, Myers MG, McIninch JL. Stress-coping and temptation-coping as predictors of adolescent substance use. Addictive Behaviors. 1999;24(6):769-779. doi:10.1016/S0306-4603(99)00058-1.
4. R.S. Lazarus, S. Folkman. Stress, appraisal, and coping Springer Publishing Company. 1984.
5. Berenson AB, Wiemann CM, McCombs S. Exposure to Violence and Associated Health-Risk Behaviors Among Adolescent Girls. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001;155(11):1238–1242. doi:10.1001/archpedi.155.11.1238.
6. Zinzow HM, Ruggiero KJ, Hanson RF, Smith DW, Saunders BE, Kilpatrick DG. Witnessed community and parental violence in relation to substance use and delinquency in a national sample of adolescents. J Trauma Stress. 2009;22(6):525–533. doi:10.1002/jts.20469
7. McMahon D, Kelly J, Kenny J. When Trauma Slips into Addiction. The Chronicle of Social Change. https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/child-trauma-2/when-trauma-slips-into-addiction/32462. Published December 17, 2018. Accessed February 4, 2020.
8. Children’s Exposure to Violence. Children’s Exposure to Violence. https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/childrens-exposure-to-violence. Published 2016. Accessed February 4, 2020.
9. V. Felitti, R. Anda, D. Nordenberg, D. Williamson, A. Spitz, V. Edwards, J. Marks. Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 1998; 14 (4):245-258.
10. K. Hughes, M.A. Bellis, K.A. Hardcastle, D. Sethi, A. Butchart, C. Mikton, M.P. Dunne. The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Public Health. 2017; 2 (8) : 356-e366, 10.1016/s2468-2667(17)30118-4.
11. H. Jung, T.I. Herrenkohl, J.B. Klika, J.O. Lee, E.C. Brown. Does child maltreatment predict adult crime? Reexamining the question in a prospective study of gender differences, education, and marital status. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2015; 30 (13): 2238-2257.
12. Henry BF. Typologies of adversity in childhood & adulthood as determinants of mental health & substance use disorders of adults incarcerated in US prisons. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2020; 99. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104251.
13. K. Scott-Storey. Cumulative abuse: Do things add up? An evaluation of the conceptualization, operationalization, and methodological approaches in the study of the phenomenon of cumulative abuse. Trauma, Violence & Abuse. 2011; 12 (3) : 135-150.
14. 2018 National Survey of Children’s Health: Topical Variable List. U.S. Department of Commerce. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nsch/technical-documentation/codebook/2018-NSCH-Topical-Variable-List.pdf. Published 2019. Accessed February 4, 2020.

Introduction

Students entering today’s high schools bring with them a variety of experiences – from family interactions to school activities, and sports participation to community involvement. As the definition and dynamics of these institutions change over time, so too are the experiences of the students. Looking specifically at changes within families; some result in negative impacts on student’s experiences and lives. What is the impact of negative family experiences on a child/student? How many negative experiences can they withstand? And what can our schools do to support the students affected?

In today’s environment, it is no longer sufficient for the educational system to relegate itself to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead, to adequately support the development of students, education must reach beyond mere academics. One area of additional support would be students’ mental health and wellness. Too often deficiencies in mental health and wellness support results in silent suffering, which can bubble over to today’s headlines of abuse, bullying, suicide, and even mass shootings.

Each year a new class of students enters high school. How can Education assess the relative mental health and wellness of each class? How can it assess the wellness of an individual student? What trending information is available to reflect changing health demographics of the student body? Most important, how can education help to repair the mental health and wellness of the students?

This paper will analyze the results of an Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) test. This mental health and wellness tool, as leveraged through Data Analytics, can describe, predict, and prescribe Education toward a targeted response leading to the overall benefit and wellbeing of their students.

Related Work

The Adverse Childhood Experience [ACE] test came to fruition in the 1990s as a result of sustained high dropout rates of 50% among participants enrolled successfully in a weight loss program under the San Diego clinic. Vincent Felitti, head of Kaiser Permanente’s Department of Preventive Medicine in San Diego (Felitti et al., 2019), interviewed 286 people who had left the program and realized a majority had experienced some form of childhood sexual abuse. Thus, the ACE test was designed with the goal to measure an individual’s mental health and wellness and study the impact on later-life health and well-being.

Developed by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ACE test asks ten “Yes/No” questions involving life events. These include their experiences involving alcoholism, verbal and physical abuse, household stability, etc. Specifically, the ten questions asked at the 2018 Mental Health Fair were as follows:

1. Q1: Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you? or act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?
2. Q2: Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? or ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
3. Q3: Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever… Touch or fondle you or have you touch their body in a sexual way? or attempt to actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you?
4. Q4: Did you often or very often feel that… No one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special? or your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?
5. Q5: Did you often or very often feel that… You didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, and had no one to protect you? or your parent were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?
6. Q6: Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
7. Q7: Was your mother or stepmother: Often or very often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? or sometimes, often, or very often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard? or ever repeatedly hit over at least a few minutes or threatened with a gun or knife?
8. Q8: Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs?
9. Q9: Was a household member depressed or mentally ill, or did a household member attempt suicide?
10. Q10: Did a household member go to prison?

Ideally, an individual would respond “No” to each of the 10 questions. Each “Yes” response corresponds to an increased Adverse Childhood Experience. Research shows that an increasing number of “Yes” responses has a negative impact on an individual’s mental health, resulting in a greater likelihood of suicide and a decreased life expectancy, (Storrs, 2009).

Data Screening and Sanitization

The data was compiled during a 2018 Mental Health Fair at a Central Pennsylvania high school. Among the many stations at the Fair was one that invited students to take the ACE Test. The ACE Test station had a brief description as to the nature of the questions and was administered by two students from the 12th grade class. Due to its personal and serious nature, students were given the option of stopping their test at any time; and guidance counselors were prepared to talk with any students who became upset.

Besides a time-stamp of participation, there was intentionally no record of student identification. Respondents were advised that results were totally confidential. Along with the ten “Yes/No” ACE question responses, students were asked for their Gender and Grade. ACE Test results were compiled electronically. Below is a screenshot of the summary of the raw dataset for all independent variables. From original dataset of 457 students, 407 student’s data records made it to the final analysis. Detailed analysis is mentioned below.[image: ]The initial raw data had 457 students who participated in the ACE Test. Data screening involved examination of test results with inaccurate data or missing data. The gender portion of the test provided choices for male, female, and other. Twenty-seven test results were removed because of unreliable responses to the “other” option of the gender question. Another 18 tests were removed because not all ten questions were answered. It is the responses from these resulting 407 students that comprise the data from this paper.

Technical Details of the Analysis

Student Body Analysis

The ACE Test score by student is shown in the table below.

Among all ACE Test scores, 189 respondents scored 0, while 59 scored 1. This is not surprising, as we would hope and expect that most students do not have any Adverse Childhood Experiences with a majority of ACE Test scores at zero or one. The distribution of the data’s total ACE Test score has a positive skew.

The distribution of the data’s total ACE Test score has a positive skew. It would be surprising if any school’s ACE Test distribution did not have a right skew.

The usefulness of this data is at two levels. First, the quantifiable amount of skewness can be used to estimate the relative mental health and wellness of the student body. This can be interpreted as a trend within the high school itself, or compared against other high schools for relative mental health and wellness. Second, individual student results show that two answered “Yes” to each of the ten ACE questions, while another eight responded “Yes” to nine questions. Research suggests that a score of six on the ACE test reduces life expectancy by 20 years, (Storrs, 2009). Thirty-four of the 407 respondents, or 8%, reached this threshold. There is an opportunity for Education to uses results of the ACE Test to initiate targeted intervention for their most as-risk population.

Gender Analysis

229 of the 407 respondents [56%] were female, while 178 [44%] were male. The mean female ACE Test score was 1.9 “Yes” responses, while mean male score was 1.5 “Yes” responses. This higher mean is partially explained by the higher percentage of females who met or exceeded the at-risk threshold of 4 or more affirmative responses. 48 of 229 females [21%] met or exceeded the at-risk threshold of 4 or more “Yes” responses, while 29 of 178 males [16%] met or exceeded the threshold.

A summary of response by Gender, by Question, is shown in the table below:

The most frequent affirmative responses are Q1 [verbal intimidation], Q4 [lack of loving affiliation], and Q9 [family history of mental health, depression, or suicide]. The frequency of affirmative responses by females is greater among these three questions than males, and especially within Q4 by a two-to-one ratio.

Grade Analysis

There was more participation from 9th and 11th grade students, 32% and 35% respectively. There does not appear to be any trending from one class to the next, although results differ by class. [For future study, the high school could correlate disciplinary incidents by grade with that class’s relative skewness.] A summary of response by Class, by Question is shown in the table below:

A summary of percent at-risk students by class is shown in the table below.

There is no discernable trending of at-risk percentage by class; however, it is very revealing to note that the highest percentage of at-risk students came from the two classes with the least voluntary participation in the ACE Test. Recall that this was a voluntary station at a high school’s Mental Health Fair. Would a student with many Adverse Childhood Experiences be more likely to volunteer to participate in this kind of test? Their participation could be tantamount to a cry for help. On the other hand, a student might avoid this kind of test either to avoid detection or to not have to re-live painful memories. This issue suggests that there should be discussion about making participation mandatory. Which leads to the conclusion that the ACE Test should not be administered by students, but rather an appropriate high school professional, such as the School Nurse.

Mediation Effect Test

Based on initial analysis, we observed that female students have a higher mean of ACE Score compared to male students. The graph on the right indicates the spread of ACE SCORES for male and female students across the different grades. The size of bubble indicates the # of responses. This analysis confirms our earlier analysis i.e., a female student is more likely to have an affirmative response compared to the male counterpart. However, it also shows that the male students are highly concentrated towards the higher ACE scores.

Based on the spread, we wanted to answer the question – “Does Grade have an indirect effect on the ACE Scores? Is gender a good enough predictor for ACE Scores?

In order to test above thesis, we consider three variables –

1. Predictor Variable (X) – Gender
2. Mediator Variable(M) – Grades
3. Outcome Variable(Y) – ACE Score

We also assume Male =’1’ and Female = ‘0’ for this analysis.

Scenario 1 (X ->Y): Controlling for Grades, we observe that Gender negatively impacts ACE Score (path = -0.41). We can conclude that between a female and a male student from same grade, the female student is more likely to have a higher ACE score. This is keeping in mind the assumption that Males are labeled as ‘1’ and Female are considered ‘0’ for this analysis.

Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)

(Intercept) 1.9083 0.1517 12.582 M): Gender has a positive effect on Grades (path = 0.03)

Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)

(Intercept) 1.33216 1.14299 1.165 0.245

Grade 0.03852 0.11087 0.347 0.728

Scenario 3(X+M->Y): Factoring in both Grades and Gender, the overall effect is still negative on ACE Score. The value changes from -0.4139 to -0.41225. Since the effect is minor, it shows that the indirect impact of Grade is minimal in this model.

Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)

(Intercept) 1.56064 1.14696 1.361 0.1744

Mgen -0.41225 0.22967 -1.795 0.0734 .

Grade 0.03382 0.11060 0.306 0.7599

Therefore, we can conclude that no mediation has occurred. Also, it is not necessary to run further tests such as Sobel test.

Question by Question Correlation Analysis

Mental health services in the U.S. are insufficient and limited options and waiting lines are usual norms. (Source: National Council for Behavioral Health). Additionally, Mental Health America (MHA) research says that over 70% of the youth with major depression are still in needed of the treatment. This clearly calls for a need to match effective, accessible and engaging student mental care with available resources. Finding the likelihood of how one affirmative response may be influenced by other, we can focus on core reasons that might be leading to depression and anxiety, and other mental health problems among the students.

This analysis aims to answer a simple question: What is the likelihood that an affirmative response to one question leads to an affirmative response to another? In order to understand the effect of one question response on another, we ran a simple correlation test to understand questions that showed significant correlation.

From the figures below, one can observe significant correlation between the following questions-

· Q1 and Q2 (0.53), Q1 and Q4 (0.52), and Q2 and Q7 (0.56)

There was also significant correlation observed between the following question responses

· Q8 and Q10 (0.46)

Based on the questions whose responses saw a significant correlation, our interpretation could be vetted out with a chi-squared analysis of response by question. For Chi-Square tests, we set the hypothesis as following:

H0 (Null Hypothesis): The responses to questions are independent

H1 (Alternative Hypothesis): The responses to questions are dependent one each other

Test #1: Q1 and Q2 data: ace_data$Q1 and ace_data$Q2

X-squared = 109.81, df = 1, p-value < 2.2e-16

Since the chi-square value is 109.81 and p-value is less than the significance level of 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis and can conclude that the variables are in fact dependent.

We can conclude that before 18th birthday if a student was insulted or humiliated by their parents, there is a high probability that the same student is also subjected to physical harm by parents.

Test #2: data: ace_data$Q4 and ace_data$Q1

X-squared = 106.95, df = 1, p-value < 2.2e-16

Since the chi-square value is 106.95 and p-value is less than the significance level of 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis and can conclude that the variables are in fact dependent.

We can conclude that if a student felt a lack of love and support for themselves and within their family, there is a high probability that such environment led to the student feeling humiliated or insulted and subsequently afraid that they might get physically hurt.

Test #3: data: ace_data$Q2 and ace_data$Q7

X-squared = 121.51, df = 1, p-value < 2.2e-16

Since the chi-square value is 121.51 and p-value is less than the significance level of 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis and can conclude that the variables are in fact dependent.

We can conclude that is a student has faced any sort of physical harm or abuse at home, there is a very high probability that their mother or stepmother were a victim of domestic violence as well.

Test #4: data: ace_data$Q8 and ace_data$Q10

X-squared = 82.486, df = 1, p-value < 2.2e-16

Since the chi-square value is 82.486 and p-value is less than the significance level of 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis and can conclude that the variables are in fact dependent.

We can conclude that is a student has lived with anyone who has a drinking problem, or has used street drugs, there is fair probability that some member of the household has been to prison.

From the chi-square tests, it is easy to conclude that there are a few common themes that are contributing to the ACE scores irrespective of the grade or gender. In order to

The outcome of this analysis might reveal various demographics among high-scoring ACE Test respondents.

Conclusions and Direction

Trends in society suggest that in order to help students be successful, the education system must reach beyond academics in order to manage and care for all aspects of development. Currently, there are plenty of tools available to measure a student’s academic progress; however, in order to measure the more wholistic well-being of students, schools must also develop tests to measure mental health and wellness. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Test could be one such measurement device. Based on ACE test results, there is a clear need for student mental health services to be more proactive, expeditious, and preventive in nature. In terms of determining risk factors, the services should target sub-groups that have students who lack support or love from parents or have families with a record of domestic violence. The teachers and school can be proactive in noticing any trends that indicate such behavior through interaction with parents and students. Another key thing that we noticed was depression trajectory among male and female students. We can conclude that pre-adolescence, the ACE Scores were observed to be higher in male students. However, post-adolescence it seemed that higher ACE Scores were observed more within the female students when compared to male students from similar age groups or grade (Grade range from 11 to 12).

The transition of students from childhood to adolescence to university represents a critical opportunity for testing tools such as ACE, researchers, clinicians, and schools to effectively screen students suffering from mental illness. We are confident that our research outcomes can help achieve a more evidence-based model for effective screening of mental health cases.

References

1. About the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study. (2019, April 2). In Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved September 25, 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/about.html
2. Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., … & Marks, J. S. (2019). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American journal of preventive medicine, 56(6), 774-786.
3. Storrs, Carina (2009). Is Life Expectancy Reduced by a Traumatic Childhood? Scientific American. Retrieved October 11, 2019, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/childhood-adverse-event-life-expectancy-abuse-mortality/

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that negative early life experiences have a profound impact on the growing brain. Changes in the brain that take place in response to early life stress can lead to lifelong trauma. Children who are exposed to sexual or physical abuse or the loss of a mom or dad are at higher threat for development of depressive and anxiety issues later in life. Clearly, exposure to early life stressors leads to changes in the brain that enlarge the threat of trauma in both kids and adults. In psychology, schema is when you learn one idea and continue thinking that idea is true even when substantial evidence is provided to show that the idea is incorrect.

Many youth go through all of their childhood with few major upsets. But an unlucky variety face the opposite fate, struggling with repeated and regularly serious traumas everything from abuse and neglect to continual community violence to caregivers impaired through illness, alcohol or depression. No one knows how many kids are affected, however one way of telling is the number of children reported yearly to child protection services for abuse and neglect. About 3 million each year 1 million of those cases are substantiated (ACF 2014).

Early childhood trauma typically refers to the hectic experiences that happen to kids aged zero and five. Because babies and young kid’s reactions can also be different from older children’s, and due to the fact they might also not be able to verbalize their reactions to threatening or scary events, many people depend on that young age protecting children from the affect of stressful experience which is now not true. A developing physique of research has set up that younger kids may also additionally be affected via things to do that threaten their security or the safety of their dad and mom or caregivers, and their behavior have been closely studied. These traumas can be the result of intentional violence such as a childs physical or sexual abuse, or domestic violence or the end result of natural disaster, accidents, or war. Younger kids also might also experience trauma because of the sudden loss of a parent or close family member (Perez, 2019).

Every kid deserves the opportunity to succeed, and the first 5 years are a vital time in their development. This is the time when children’s brains and their bodies develop rapidly, and the senses, language, and different fundamental cognitive competencies develop. Smart investments assist adolescents attain their full potential through getting rid of barriers. Every kid wants to have love and care that keeps them healthful and offers them a strong beginning to life. Young children can get a strong start by making sure families have access to clothes, doctors, healthy food, educational stimulation, physical activity, etc. all of which will help kids grow up healthy and strong. Without this children will be affected for the rest of their life. Many neglected kids never understand necessary fundamentals of healthy, trusting, and loving relationships, growing the possibility that they will battle with relationships of all types later in life. However, children who have suffered neglect in childhood can recover. Individual or group therapy can help them learn how their character has adapted and compensated for the neglect they experienced in childhood. With help, it is feasible for adults and teenagers to strengthen healthful relationships and successful lives regardless of past traumas (Perez, 2019).

Parenting is no longer a part-time job. Children require continual encouragement and support. Parents are the leaders who supply hope and optimism for the future. Parents understand that disciplining a their children is not easy. Although it’s not often appreciated, it’s frequently in the child’s great interest. Parents understand that it takes a village to raise a child, however they do not outsource responsibility for constructing a proper foundation for their kids. They additionally teach their kids to accept duty for their actions and choices. When children grow up, they hear their parent’s voice in their subconscious. Make sure the words they hear offer nice messages. Parents recognize their behavior will be emulated. Therefore, they can instill appropriate personal values and a sturdy work ethic through serving as exemplary role models. Furthermore, they understand that friends and family, teachers, celebrities, video games, movies, and music affect behavior. Family offers a kid with roots, much-needed structure, and unconditional love. Families also supply their kids with a joyful home a area where a infant is constantly safe and welcome (Mastering the World of Psychology, 2018).

Picture a tree with roots. The roots symbolize the prenatal stage of growth, the place the tree touches the ground is birth, the trunk is infancy and early childhood, lower branches are childhood, and up to maturity at the top branches. If trauma happens at any stage, the rest of the tree’s growth, past that point is negatively affected. The older you are, the greater life experiences and know how you have to cope with how much less actively the brain is developing (Perez, 2019) (Mastering the World of Psychology, 2018).

Traumatic events have a profound sensory influence on young children. Their experience of security might also be shattered through scary visual stimuli, loud noises, violent movements, and other sensations related with an unpredictable, scary event. The scary pictures have a tendency to recur in the form of nightmares, new fears, and actions or play that reenact the event. Lacking an correct understanding of the relationship between motive and effect, young children trust that their thoughts, wishes, and fears have the power to grow to be real and can make matters happen. Young adolescents are much less able to anticipate threat or to be aware of how to keep themselves safe, and so are specifically susceptible to the effects of exposure to trauma. A 2-year-old who witnesses a hectic match like his mom being battered can also interpret it much differently from the way a 5 year old or an 11 year old would. Children may additionally blame themselves or their dad and mom for not stopping a scary tournament or for no longer being capable to change its outcome. These misconceptions of reality compound the bad influence of stressful outcomes on kid’s development. As with older children, young kids experience each behavioral and physiological signs and symptoms related with trauma. Unlike older children, younger kids can’t specific in words whether they feel afraid, overwhelmed, or helpless. Young kids suffering from traumatic stress symptoms normally have difficulty regulating their behaviors and emotions. They may be clingy and apprehensive of new situations, easily frightened, tough to console, and/or aggressive and impulsive. They might additionally have issues sleeping, lose recently obtained developmental skills, and exhibit regression in functioning and behavior (HBO, 1990).

A schema is a concept that helps organize and interpret information. Schemas can be beneficial due to the fact they permit us to take shortcuts in deciphering the massive amount of data that is reachable in our environment. However, these intellectual frameworks additionally cause us to exclude pertinent information to focal point rather only on things that verify our preexisting beliefs and ideas. Schemas can make contributions to stereotypes and make it hard to keep new facts that does not conform to our established thoughts about the world (Perez, 2019).

We structure schemas primarily based on our experiences in life. Once they are formed, however, schemas have a tendency to stay unchanged even in the face of contradictory information. In other words, your brain creates an automatic model of how it thinks the world should work, and occasionally you keep using it even when it’s no longer proper or helpful. For example, in someones life they have been raised with certain ideas and beliefs so that person normally will develop stereotypes of different people and cultures due to the fact schemas have a tendency to continue to be unchanged even even though they are not true. This is important due to the fact schemas no longer only impact the memories you have about the outside world, but also the things you trust about yourself (Perez, 2019).

As children, many people go through at least one of the various forms of trauma, affecting not only their development, but also their adult life. Childhood trauma is extremely common in this era as many children have the misfortune of being raised without sufficient love and attention or grow up exposed to things they should not be.

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (2015), abuse is one of the most common form of childhood trauma. This may include physical abuse, verbal abuse, and mental abuse. Physical abuse can be categorized into two; sexual abuse, and non-sexual physical abuse. The World Health Organization (2016), has stated that one in four adults have been abused as children. Sexual abuse is known as any sexual act between an adult and a child including penetration, incest, rape, oral sex, sodomy, fondling, sexual exploitation of the child, exposure to sexual content, and invading the privacy of a child’s body. Non-sexual physical abuse is an injury purposely inflicted upon a child with physical aggression. Verbal abuse, on the other hand, is the use of words to insult or degrade a child. Lastly, mental abuse is behaving a certain way or giving off attitude that affects a child’s mental health and social development (insulting or belittling a child with not only words but by actions, which deteriorate a child’s emotional health).

First and foremost, trauma would typically have immediate effect on a child’s behavior, causing it to be disruptive. The child may become more disobedient, difficult, and out of control in general. This kind of behavior does not necessarily root from childhood trauma; however, it is a common reaction towards it. Such conduct often messes up the social settings they are in, causing chaos around them. At home, the child would attempt to steal the spotlight from siblings, if any, making it harder for parents to attend to the needs of their other children or work (Faraone, 2003). Besides this, trauma can affect a child’s mood too. As humans, it is only normal for us to experience wide ranges of emotions on a daily basis. Going through trauma, especially before reaching emotional maturity can cause children to reach irrational extremes of emotions like sadness, anger, jealousy, and so on. Unlike disruptive behavior, moodiness is harder to detect as children may not necessarily display how they feel at all times. Next, seeing as childhood trauma sticks with children for extended periods of time, fear and anxiety that said trauma may occur again would definitely be present. Some cry, get sick, or hyperventilate due to fear. Parents may take this as stubbornness, when in reality, the child is simply terrified. As stated by Faraone (2003), “Sometimes the child who refuses to go to bed on time is afraid of the dark, not disobedient” (p. 31). Another effect is impaired learning. Children never stop learning; however, when traumatic experiences occur as they develop, it becomes more difficult. Trauma disrupts their ability to focus, plan, analyze, and perform executive functions. Lastly, traumatized children may have abnormalities of development. This occurs when the usual sequence of growth in mental, emotional, social, and physical skills fail, causing the child to mature far slower than their peers.

In contrast, said experiences can also bring out effects that last well beyond childhood. In terms of mental and emotional reactions, trauma can affect the way an individual perceives his or herself, as well as the world around them. It could seem like nothing is as one thought it was, including themselves. Besides that, feelings of constant fear and helplessness may be induced as those who have endured repeated trauma would continue living in fear that it may happen again, and there is nothing they can do to stop it. Similar to that in immediate effects of childhood trauma, changes in behavior occur in the long-term too. Victims tend to become more distant and withdraw themselves from others. This avoidance could be due to trust issues but cannot be said for sure as it is very subjective.

Once, I was a boy and my dad used to tell me that one day I would be a Kikuyu man and walk in his footsteps. Raise a family and assume manhood responsibilities. To provide for, protect, and guide my family the way he did, because that’s what a Kikuyu man, a Kikuyu warrior is supposed to do (History, H, 2018). He always told me to enjoy boyhood as much as I could because it passes by as fast as fading smoke. I never used to pay attention to his remarks because my boyish and childish mind couldn’t comprehend the importance of all of that. Now that I’m an adult and have become the man, my dad, once told me I would, the right of passage to become this man was a painful, joyful, and exciting tribal experience that I went through to earn the right to be called a man and no longer a boy.

In my meager years, I was told that I used to be a very playful kid who used to play “The Man” of the House with my little kid friends as we played “mom and Dad.” As I grew older, I used to lead the other boys when we went to graze the cows and goats that belonged to our parents. I would run around ordering them on what to do and when to go round up the herd. My childhood and or boyhood was filled with many a time that I played the man’s man as my older siblings used to tell me, and on the other hand, my dad always talked about when I would become a man. These prompt remarks from my dad somewhat made me want to become a man so badly that I ended up trying to act like a man by bossing my childhood friends around and calling them around, which made me feel as if I were a man in my little world.

This eagerness to one day become a man pushed me to ask a lot of questions to anyone I considered a man and most of them used to tell me I was just a boy until I went through the right of passage to become a man. One sunny and hot Saturday afternoon, my dad and big brother were sitting under the ‘mugumo’ tree that sprawled its leafy branches across the compound to provide a nice shed. They were drinking the traditionally brewed corn beer that I was never allowed to even taste because I was only a boy and it was meant for men. I remember that day I went and stood in front of them and asked if I could join them under the shed and drink with them. My dad and brother started laughing so hard with their half-drunk waves of laughter and my brother said these words which I remember until this day, ‘You can not join us because you are just a boy and we are men.’ To my surprise, I expected my dad to at least protect me from the harsh remarks from my brother but instead, he asked me to sit down on the ground and not on the chairs beside theirs if I wanted to be in their company, and not to say a word. I sat there watching these two “men” drink their “busaa” that was in a big brown pot and get as drunk as they could get and listen to the stammer illogical stories.

Years passed by and I became sixteen. I was ready to be circumcised and pass from boyhood to manhood where my penile foreskin was going to be cut (Kodhiambo, 2019). Specifically, In my Kenyan Kikuyu tribe, one becomes a man after the age of sixteen and after he has to pass through the three grueling weeks of mental, physical, and emotional trials that are marked by a painful and no anesthesia bloody circumcision in the waking cold and before sunrise morning hours by the ‘Chalabi’ river. Stripped naked and covered with wet river mad all over the body except for the pelvic area, the eyes, and the nose. This is done on a secluded hill far away from the village, and this hill happens to be in the middle of a forest that nobody knew, only the ‘mushes’ the circumcisers, and the people who take you to and from the forest blindfolded, at the back of a vehicle. They wore traditional masks that depicted the gods of circumcision, the ‘Ngai’ ‘Mumbi’ and the ‘Agikuyu’ when I first saw them beside the river when I was getting ready to get circumcised and become a man.

The D-day was coming faster than I anticipated, my uncles came to visit and gave me insights on what I should do to successfully pass the right of passage to become a man. My mother used to cry many times in the kitchen by herself and whenever I found her, she used to tell me she feared for me and all the pain and torture that I would undergo through the right of passage. This made me fear the experience but more eager to finish it and become a man and earn the respect of all men in my village including my father and older brother. A day before the ‘mushes’ came for me, my dad took me outside and promised me it would be okay that he loved me and that they would make a man out of the boy I was. He gave me a blanket and that night I slept outside at the gate waiting to be taken in the middle of the night by the ‘mukhebis.’ It was like a dream, they ripped the blanket off my body dragged my half-asleep head to the back of a truck blindfolded me, and drove first for hours. When I arrived, the first week I was inside a hut all by myself and was not allowed to see the sun or go outside. My hut was dark inside and I remember all the windows were covered so that the sun did not penetrate its rays inside. Men that I never knew used to bring me food and hit my ankle with a stick gave me insights into how to become a man. I was escorted to the toiles only at night and if I had to go during the day, I was blindfolded so I didn’t see the sun.

The second week I was introduced to the other sixteen-year-old peers who were also brought to the right of passage. We were all put in a big grass thatched roof and mud house and allowed to talk to each other, still, the routine of bringing us food and teaching us to be men continued, and hitting our ankles with sticks continued, not forgetting getting escorted to go use the toilet. The only major addition was every night, we were sent out to the forest to collect any animal’s head by killing it and beheading it and bringing the head back to the compound where we lived to be evaluated by the musubis. We were each given a spear and a machete. In my five nights, I killed a baby antelope, a rabbit, a baby hyena, a snake, and a fully grown and mature warthog. Each time I had to behead them and bring their respective heads back.

The third and last week was the most grueling and most painful and what we did was different rituals that made us men. The first ritual on a Monday morning was to run 3 miles naked and jump in the river Khalaba roll in the mud pluck a specific rare type of grass and run back 3 miles to our hut and show the grass to the mukhebi. This had to all be before sunrise. The second day which was a Tuesday night we had to wrestle each other for hours without stopping until we were too tired to wrestle anymore. The third night they tied a rope around our waist with a piece of meat hanging on the rope on the back side and released a hungry laughing hyena to chess us. The rule was to never remove one’s piece of meat and run to the finish line and they would stop the hyena themselves and feed it. I remember I ran so first than I have ever run in my entire life. The fourth night was preparation for the fifth and last day of the three weeks. We danced traditional Kikuyu dances around a fire and worshipped our man-god as the Kikuyu tradition recommends on the night before the circumcision (Finke, 2019). We were then sent to sleep only to be woken up by the mukhebis who stripped us naked and took us to the river. They pushed us one after the other into the cold river water that was rather stagnant. My turn came and a masked man who asked me if I was ready to become a man pushed me into the river, and I said yes. He pushed me into the water and after I came back, three other masked men started throwing mud all over my wet body, they did it so hard that it was painful until I was fully covered except for my eyes, pelvic area, and nose. I was given a long spear to hold on top of my shoulders and the masked mukhebi came in front of me and asked me to stand still, spread my legs apart and not move a muscle not even blink (1, K. C., 2014). Before I knew it, he had already pulled my foreskin and cut so fast and splashed all my pelvic area with warm sand that was meant to stop my bleeding. I didn’t feel the pain instantly because it was happening so fast, but after a few seconds; I started feeling a throbbing pain all over my pelvic area. The mukhebi who circumcised me stood in front of me and shouted, “Let’s see how long you can take the pain.” In my circumcision culture, one cow rewards every passing second you stand there after you have been circumcised (CitizenTV, 2008). The mukhebi was the one suppose to count the seconds and was counting mine as I stood there. Most of the other boys had already sat down because the pain was too much. It was only myself and a few others who were still standing. Within a few seconds, I realized I was the only one still standing up and all I could think about was all the people who didn’t give me respect because I was only a boy. I wanted to prove to them that I was a man than all of them and I would stand there until I drip out all the blood in me and get a full herd of cows. After all, was said and done, I was told I stood there for thirty-four seconds, the longest they have ever witnessed, most boys never go beyond fifteen seconds and the average number of cows they get is ten or fewer. I managed to get thirty-four seconds and therefore thirty-four cows. I made my family super proud and the whole village respected me so much as the man who broke a record nobody had hit before.

The above is an ordeal that I had to undergo because my great grandfathers went through it, my grandfather went through it and my father and older brother went through it too to become men. Today, even if you are a man and you have a wife and kids and you didn’t undergo this right of passage, you went to the hospital to get circumcised after the age of sixteen. You will always be considered a boy in my tribe. This is a tradition that my Kikuyu tribe has held on to for centuries as they say and if a boy does not go through it he is considered an outcast among men in my tribal society. Today, I’m very respected whenever I go back home to my village where I grew up and some consider me a warrior because until this day no boy has ever reached thirty-four seconds of pain. As much as this is a right of passage, and it gives one the manly respect among kinsmen and a herd of cows and women chasing after you, and not forgetting the fact that it marked a whole clan proud of you, it’s something that I will never let my son’s pass through. In my own opinion, it ripped the fun out of my childhood and all I wanted was to be a man. I never took the time to fully embrace and enjoy my childhood and the pressure to become a man was put on my shoulders by my father who never fully interacted with me because I was only a boy and he spent too much time with my older brother who had gone through the ritual. Yes, he became closer to me after I became a man and we hung out a lot, but what about those lonely years when I needed him and he turned his back on me because I was only a boy? My analysis of this ritual is that I think it’s first of all traumatizing for a sixteen-year-old for the sake of becoming a ‘man.’ Now that I immigrated to the United States and traveled in many countries around the world, I have become a global citizen and have gained insights that make me re-examine this ‘right of passage’ three-week ritual that is so idolized by my tribe. I have come to detest the practice because of all the negative things it comes with, I feel like there was no positive because as bad as I wanted to become a man which I did according to my tribe’s standards, I did not find any fulfillment in the new ways people were looking at me, with respect and admiration. I feel like I should be treated with respect and admiration by my kinsmen, family, and the whole society at large even without passing through this ordeal.

Finally, my stand is that there is more bad than good in this right-of-passage ritual (Herzog, 1973) that I underwent and I will never allow my sons (when I have them) to go through such a traumatizing experience, an experience that is meaningless and does more psychological harm than good to a child (Mbito & Malia, 2009). I’m so glad that I will raise them in America where none of those traditions matter. I will only teach them our Kikuyu language and all the good side of our traditions minus the circumcision part. Just like in the class text when the authors asserted that some people chose to totally separate or partially separate from their original culture and or cultural practices (Martin & Nakayama, 2018).

References

1. Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2018). Intercultural communication in contexts. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
2. Mbito, M. N., & Malia, J. A. (2009). Transfer of the Kenyan Kikuyu male circumcision ritual to future generations living in the United States. Journal of Adolescence, 32(1), 39-53. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.12.004
3. Kodhiambo, A. K. (2019). Male Circumcision. Complications in Male Circumcision, 11-15. doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-68127-8.00002-8
4. Finke, J. (n.d.). Kikuyu circumcision – Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya. Retrieved from http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/kikuyu/circumcision.htm
5. History, H. (2018, November 07). Retrieved July 03, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bagekO3mwDc
6. 1, K. C. (2014, August 12). Retrieved July 03, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZU24xdP9Bc
7. Herzog, J. D. (1973). Initiation and High School in the Development of Kikuyu Youths Self-Concept. Ethos, 1(4), 478-489. doi:10.1525/eth.1973.1.4.02a00090
8. CitizenTV, K. (2008, August 17). Retrieved July 03, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Z59bpLMU0

 

I am a student of SSWD 120 at Northern Lights College. I have written this paper for self assessment which is a part of my SSWD 120 course. In this assessment, I have written the incidents that happened in my life and how they affected me socially and psychologically. I have used the criteria (Kenyon, P (1999) What Do You Do? An Ethical Case Workbook for Human Service Professionals pp 23-27): given in the syllabus.

Life is what you make out of it – the more you indulge the more it gives, the more you reflect inner the more you grow. It is all about living and enjoying every second of your life and letting others do the same.

I was born in an upper-middle-class rural Sikh family in a small village in Punjab (The northern part of India). I grew up in a nuclear family with my parents and younger brother. I enjoyed a lot in childhood like other kids would have. My childhood was funny and gloomy at the same time because I lacked my parent’s attention and time My father, a farmer, and my mother a housewife both were busy with their daily chores in my growing age, but I used to enjoy myself with my younger brother. He was my best friend and partner in all the crimes during that golden period of my life. We used to spend all day together playing in the streets of my village. We had our own invented games like playing with the plant leaves of our garden. After school, we used to spend most of our evening time making paper origami ships, planes, and pistols. We had plans for using these crafted things. For example, on the next rainy day, we are going to play with hand-crafted paper ships, on windy day we will become pilots of our paper-crafted planes, and on usual days we will play police thief drama. Our favorite pastime was the bicycle race. We shared a good bond of trust, and love till a tender age, but as he grew up he became more of an independent guy and that fun faded off with time. The brother-sister relationship is beautiful anyway.

As I was born into a rural family, I was expected to behave like a typical female who would be extremely quiet, and recessive and would easily abide by society’s rules. The Indian culture does differentiate between values for boys and girls, but my parents never forced me to act according to what people say. My family taught me to feel independent and to give freedom to my thoughts, my preferences, and my choices. Which made me a strong independent girl who knows her limits in terms of behavior, values, and morality.

I firmly believe in the presence of God and his justice, and this value was inculcated in me by my mother. As I belong to a Sikh (Religious family- integrity is my core value; it runs in my genes. We as Sikhs believe in standing up for the truth and basic rights of humans regardless of any religion, caste, or race. Our Tenth saint- “Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji” taught us not to hurt anyone, to stay humble and down to earth follow the true path in life, and to fight for our rights and victory of truth.

Life is not a bed of roses; I learned it at a young age, because of some family issues I witnessed a phase of sadness, loneliness, and depression, which could not break me. I emerged as a stronger person approaching the adolescent phase who was more aware of her emotions and circumstances. I believe that I was emotionally stronger than my peers.

I had a large friend circle when I was a teenager. During school life, I indulged in several sports and activities I played basketball at the state level and our team won second position, but this position was not my dream. My ambitions were higher than that. I wanted to participate in the National games. I started practicing Taekwondo (a martial arts game) in 2009. Those memories are still fresh in my mind. My day would start with exercising for my game, practicing on the field, then going to school, again practicing after school hours, and returning late evening home. Even if my schedule was busy I never compromised with my studies. I was good at academics too. I completed my secondary education in 2010 with a “B+” grade. After that, I devoted two years to my studies. In 2011, I pursued the medical field 10+1 and 10+2. I completed my course in March 2012 with overall good grades and one distinction in Biology subject.

My dream to participate in National-level games was about to come true in 2013 when I struck my first gold at the state level. Who knows you can defeat your opponent but not your luck. Just one week before the competition I got a knee ligament injury and I could not participate. I learned patience, I learned to accept failures and face them with a positive attitude.

Failure is not the end it is the first step towards the final victory. As Swami Vivekanand says “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is achieved”. This is what I believe and started working hard again after I recovered from injury.

I believe that life is all about growing and improving yourself, Looking forward to learning something new and better. I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Physiotherapy in May 2014. During college life, I met a lot of new people. Some were good, and some were bad which I realized very late. I had a lot of sweet and sour memories from my college life. I started dating a guy, but this relationship could not run for long because of some issues. I have seen a lot of ups and downs in friendship and love relationships during my college life because of which I suffered a lot but stand tall again. As there is a saying that bad choices teach you the most amazing lessons in your life. I learned from these mistakes and lessons. These incidents helped me to improve myself mentally and emotionally.

Time, either good or bad is temporary. Like day follows night and night follows day. In every life, bad times follow good times. 2018 was the best time of my life. I survived failures, fake people, and heartbroken relationships. I became a graduate Physiotherapist in September 2018 setting the topper position in the final year of graduation. In the same year, I won a national gold medal and got a chance to be a referee in national games. I respect and love my game “Taekwondo” and my profession “Physiotherapy” because it teaches me teamwork, leadership, and management.

Now, I see myself as a strong, confident, proud, happy, and grown-up girl. I am the one who loves to learn new and good things to make myself better for the upcoming life and struggle. I believe, that if we can not make someone happy, at least we can try not to hurt anyone. I am the one who believes in spreading love and smiles. I always try to make someone smile every day. This makes my day. I do this for my peace. I always try not to hurt anyone. At the end of the day, I lay down in bed with a peaceful mind.

My friend circle always consisted of both males and females. Luckily, I never had any apprehensions in dealing with any gender. It’s because right from my childhood I have been dealing with both genders at various game programs. As a professional, I believe in equality – not because it’s a topic selling hotcakes in media – gender equality; but because I believe in this. There is no accomplishment a woman cannot achieve. I believe, that nowadays, women are doing great jobs in all sectors. People say that women are weak emotionally, mentally, and physically, but I have seen the real strong ladies, so I can not believe this statement. Women are good in business and games as well. People who talk about physically weak women should see army ladies and sportswomen as those who do equally physically hard jobs as men. When I was in sports, I used to do all the set of exercises and that was common for males and females. I think everything has two faces. If there are weak women, there are weak men too. I respect both genders and believe in gender equality.

As a fundamental right of humans; my sexuality is my right, my decision and nobody has the right to interfere in that. I am the kind of person who believes in love. I feel blessed to be in a country that has equal rights for people of all types of sexual orientations.

My Future goal is to become a successful Physiotherapist and a businesswoman. On top of that, I want to live a peaceful life with my family. I want to face struggles and failures, but I don’t want to give up on them. I am happy and satisfied with my life today. I want to feel the same on the last day of my life too.

Reference

1. Kenyon, P (1999) What Do You Do? An Ethical Case Workbook for Human Service Professionals pp 23-27

 

The subject of the case study is me, 19 years old and an undergraduate student. I spent the first 6 years of my life in Sri Lanka and then moved to the United Kingdom. By unraveling my childhood and the youth period of my life course I will be able to analyze my experiences. Gender, place, culture, and ethnicity will be explored to see if they contributed to my experiences of childhood and my youth now. Both childhood and youth of individuals born in the same era differ depending on where and when they traveled through these life stages. Childhood is the period where you are free from any worries or anxieties, but when you transit into youth responsibilities are set upon you.

Childhood is the first stage of life. I believe that childhood is the best period in an individual’s life as they have the purest heart and their only expectation is love and affection. The beginning of my childhood was spent in Sri Lanka near the coastline. My memories of childhood included playing in the never-ending white sand with my friends and picking mangos from my garden. Even though in the 21st century children had an increased attraction to technology, growing up in Sri Lanka I was always connected with nature. When I was 5 years old in 2004 the Indian Ocean tsunami occurred. It had destroyed our home, the place where I was content and happy, the place where I made memories. At this critical time, I sensed unity, everyone was aiding each other. But I also realized the destructive power of nature.

Sociologists recognize childhood as being socially constructed (created and defined by society). It is argued that childhood and the status of children in society are not fixed but determined by place, time, and culture. Phillippe Aries (1962) states that ‘the idea of childhood did not exist’ in pre-industrial society. In medieval society, children were portrayed as ‘little adults’ who would take on adult responsibilities as young as 7 or 8 as life was very ‘hand to mouth’ (Aries, 1962). Figure 1 shows that child labor is continuing, 19.3% of the children in the world are in employment. Most of these children are from less economically developed countries (LEDC) where the children have to work to provide and support their families. Morden notion of childhood is described as being different from adulthood (Pilcher, 1995). Childhood is seen as a separate, distinct life stage and Pilcher (1995) emphasizes this through laws that regulate what children are allowed and forbidden to do. Childhood is portrayed as a ‘golden age’ of happiness and innocence. Innocence makes children vulnerable therefore they require protection from adults forcing them to live within the surroundings of family and education.

When moving to England I thought I was going on a day trip, but only when I landed in the UK, did I realize that this move was permanent. I was devasted, England was not home. It was also the first time I met my dad, it felt odd, I was only used to my mum being my protector and disciplinarian, but now there is my dad too. But as time went on, more than a father-daughter relationship, and still have a special friendship. As I didn’t know English at the time, I was pushed to learn English fast. School was difficult at the start; pupils would tease me for my pronunciation of words and the accent I had at that time. Childhood is the period where the child attempts to recognize the world around them. I had to stop exploring Sri Lanka and begin a new exploring journey in England, where the food, people, language, and surroundings are different.

The place where I lived was important in shaping my childhood. In Sri Lanka I was living in a carefree environment where I had no responsibilities, it involved eating, playing, and being happy. However, after my move to England, my childhood had changed. I had to become more sensible and my priorities changed from playing to education. Coming from an Asian community there was always competition between each child in everything and it is always set in your mind that the only option is to be the best. The pressure to achieve high progressively increased each year.

The transition from childhood to youth is when the child matures and becomes independent from dependent. Youth is described as the ‘life stages between childhood and adulthood’ (Kehily, 2007). Different sources define youth by age differently for example the UN defines ‘youth’ as those between the ages of 15 and 24 years (Unesco.org, 2019). It is the stage in the life course that brings you out of childhood and prepares you for adulthood. My shift from childhood to youth began in year 7 when I started secondary school. This was the period where I had to wake up on my own, make my lunch, travel to school on my own, do homework by myself, and make decisions independently. I realized here that responsibilities and expectations are going to rise. From primary school to secondary school I was the only Sri Lankan in the year group, so my way of thinking and approaching things mimicked my peers. As a result, I became very open-minded about situations as everyone was different whereas if I were to be educated in Sri Lanka, I feel like my approach to situations and conditions would have been narrow.

Being a female in Sri Lanka you are expected to complete your education and marry. This is not the case all the time in some regions there is the occurrence of child marriages. However, my parents treat my brother and me equally they do not expect any less from me. Going to an all-girls school and having talks about inequalities between men and women as well as learning about the need for more women in various careers has urged me to succeed in my education and reach a highly valued, respectable position in the medical field. As a youth, the emotional memories of any events during this period make a huge impact on their life as they can remember and store them. This can shape how the rest of their youth will span out as some events may have negative impacts while others may have positive impacts.

In conclusion, the ideas about childhood and the experiences of childhood can be easily changed and it varies as factors such as culture, ethnicity, religion, and gender construct an individual’s life stage. It cannot be argued that their experience of childhood is entirely shaped by social construction, however, the structure created by society exhibits the expectations of what is accepted. The experiences during my childhood and my youth now have modeled my character and personality, as the experiences allowed me to improve and change myself. Furthermore, the concepts of childhood and youth will not remain it will continue to change.  

Humans are born with the ability to identify five types of tastes sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami (Romm, 2016). But each person in this world has unique taste buds, therefore, every human being has a different taste preference based upon the daily foods we eat. We develop these taste buds that could differ based on genetics, culture, and variety of food. However, we are born with a sweet taste, and after 4 months salty taste emerges and after some time other tastes develop too (Weiten & McCann, 2006). For example, my family and I have sweet teeth based on our genes and I love eating sweet taste food, like chocolates, candies, sweet dishes, and many more. Hence, constant exposure to sweet tastes in my childhood developed my sweet taste buds and I started liking sweet flavor foods, as a psychologist named Robert Zajonc mentioned, the more times you are exposed to a particular taste, the it will likely become your favorite (Vanderbilt, 2013). On the other hand, I disliked spicy, salty, sour, bitter, and umami taste foods. Even though I am an adult, I don’t like to eat most of the seafood and red meat like crabs, lobsters, and cow meat. I also absolutely do not like to taste or eat insects ever even though they are a great source of protein, fatty acids, water, minerals, vitamins, and iron (Yanes, 2018).

Firstly, I don’t like to eat red meat, insects, and seafood including shrimp, oysters, crabs, octopus, and lobsters. However, I do like to eat fish in seafood after growing older because I have been exposed to its taste since I was young and my mother cooks it every week. But I have never tasted an oyster, lobster, or octopus in my life. Additionally, I only eaten a crab once in my life which didn’t taste impressive or different, and I eat shrimp occasionally because seafood is not as popular in our culture as it is in many Asian countries (Weiten & McCann, 2006). Secondly, I do not like to eat red meat because it tastes different even though I eat meat almost every day, in my childhood, my mother would cook meat three times a week because red meat is expensive in Pakistan, Karachi. Plus, most of my family did not eat beef during my childhood because it is hard to digest for my father. Therefore, based on Robert Zajonc’s effect of “mere exposure”, I still do not like to eat red meat but on the other hand, my youngest brother and my cousins like to eat mutton and beef, who were introduced to it more than me and my sister (Vanderbilt, 2013). Based upon observational learning, social learning that happens through observing other’s behavior, and classical learning, which is a learning process in which an unconditional stimulus is associated with a neutral stimulus, I would pair my father’s suffering of his not being able to digest the beef and after observing is sufferings, I assumed that it was dangerous to eat red meat for me too as mutton and beef meat looks the same (Weiten & McCann, 2006). Furthermore, during my childhood, I did not like to eat red meat and any seafood because it looked ugly due to its appearance and different and strong smell (Gholipour, 2016). Similarly, I feel unpleasant even by seeing other people eat insects because I have never been present with a meal that had cooked insects, as it is not in our South Asian culture. Moreover, after seeing other people in my culture feeling disgusted about eating insects, I quickly assumed that is unpleasant to eat them overall (Weiten & McCann, 2006).

In conclusion, my dislikes of eating red meat, insects, or seafood are influenced greatly by the people around me and my genes. Therefore, it will always be hard to eat or experience new tastes and foods in my life as now I am an adult. 

This assessment will explore the impact early Adverse Childhood Experiences can have on the development and educational progression of children and young people who are looked after in Scotland. In order to understand the impact that Adverse Childhood Experiences can have on the behaviour of children in the classroom and attainment, first a definition of “looked after” and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) must be determined. This assignment will also, with reference to literature discuss what support and interventions that are available for these children and young people in order to overcome the barriers and challenges they face.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), article 20 states that if a young person’s needs cannot be met by their immediate family then the government, within the guidance of their laws, must provide suitable alternative arrangements (United Nations, 1989). Alternative care arrangements can take the form of foster placements, kinship care, adoptions, and secure and residential care. Within the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, section 17.6, the term ‘looked after’ is defined as a child who is being accommodated by a local authority (Scottish Government, 2013). This is commonly known as corporate parenting, where partnerships between services and agencies are made in order to take responsibility for meeting the needs of these individuals (Scottish Executive, 2007). In Scotland, there are two categories that being looked after are determined by a compulsory supervision order and a permanence order. A compulsory supervision order (CSO) is arranged by the Children’s Hearing System after a referral from the Children’s Reporter (Welch, 2016). Welch (2016) highlighted that under this order the child can be looked after at home with the parents where there is no condition of residence, or away from home in foster care, kinship care, a residential unit, or a secure unit. Outlined in the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, a permanence order is granted by the court to the local authority to fully or partly remove the parental rights and responsibilities of the child from the parents and place them permanently in the care of a specified other, which can also be in the forms of foster care, kinship care, a residential unit, or a secure unit (Scottish Government, 2007).

There are several reasons, both voluntary and compulsory, why a child may find themselves being looked after or on the child protection register: voluntary reasons may include a disability that requires additional care, the child being out of control or regularly being involved with the justice system or sudden illness or death of a parent. Whereas compulsory reasons may consist of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse, or living in a household with a known offender, or neglect (Scottish Government, 2020). According to the Care Profiling Study, 72% of the parents involved within the care proceedings had experienced: poor mental illness, drug or alcohol misuse, have learning difficulties, experience domestic violence, or live chaotic lifestyles, which are all factors which can contribute to a child experiencing neglect or abuse (Masson, Pearce, & Bader. 2008). According to the Scottish Government’s most recent statistics from the year 2018–2019, there were 16,068 children in total looked after or on the child protection register in Scotland, of that 14,015 children were confirmed looked after, 2,599 were on the child protection register and only 84 children were in a secure unit accommodation. As a result, 2018–2019 is the seventh consecutive year to have a decrease in the number of looked after children, and a 5% decrease in the number of children registered as looked after compared to 2017–2018 (Scottish Government, 2020).

For many children, the reasons they become a part of the looked after category can be identified as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Originally the term Adverse Childhood Experience was created during Permente’s study in the 1990s in America, which concluded that there was a correlation between traumatic experiences at an early age and health complications later on in life (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). Boullie and Blair (2018) define Adverse Childhood Experiences as traumatic events that have occurred in a young person’s life which have the potential to lead into long-term negative consequences on their development, health and well-being, education, and life opportunities. Boullie and Blair explained further that ACEs can be separated into three categories, neglect, abuse, and household dysfunction. Neglect entails both physical and emotional trauma, abuse includes physical, emotional, and sexual trauma and household dysfunction includes a variety of events such as mental illness within the household, witness to domestic abuse, a breakup in family relations such as divorce, exposed to substance misuse and a parent spending time in prison.

In 2015 NHS Wales conducted a study based on 2000 participants aged eighteen to seventy, in order to analyse the impact Adverse Childhood Experiences would have on an individual long term. Of the 2000 participants 52% reported having experienced no ACEs, 20% reported experiencing one ACE, 13% identified experiencing up to 3 ACEs, and only 14% reported having experienced more than four ACEs. As a result of experiencing more than four ACEs, these individuals were at higher risk of experiencing death at an earlier age, with more health conditions relating to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. It was also reported that a bigger percentage of individuals who experience more than four ACEs suffered from poor mental health and riskier behaviour such as unprotected sexual intercourse, resulting in more underage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (NHS Wales and Public Health Wales, 2015). Larkin and park (2012) also concluded from their study of the relation between ACEs and long-term effects, that individuals who experience four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences are at a higher risk of engaging in risky behaviour. 27.9% of participants reported drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, 65% of people reported cannabis misuse and 20.3% admitted to using heroin. As well as being at a higher risk of developing illnesses such as heart and liver disease, diabetes and having mental health problems (Larkin & Park, 2012).