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Community Violence: How can this contribute to child psychopathology? What are current
factors that may contribute to it?
Community violence is recognized as a major public health problem
(WHO, World Report on Violence and Health, 2002) A childs experience with violence has
been connected to many negative outcomes. Particularly social adaptation and educational
success. Every since the early 1980s, researchers working with children have become
aware of the extent to which many children experience or observe violence in their
neighborhoods. Community violence has a big impact on children. Community violence is
discussed widely at home so even if the child does not see community violence first hand,
they create pictures in their minds. Exposure to community violence affects the childs
view of the world and themselves. So their purpose of life, their expectations of their future
self and moral compass are being tampered with. Exposure to violence often interferes with
developmental tasks children need to accomplish in order to become socially acceptable
members of society. Children exposed to community violence often demonstrate a lower
achievement in school and poorer adaption to society(Stuber et al., 2002) Violent exposures
sometimes may lead to disturbances in cognitive functioning, emotional difficulties,
behavior and peer problems. The affects of community violence and violence exposure set
children on a course towards maladaptive outcomes. Although different types of violent
exposures have different effects on children, there are common symptoms among them.
Why are most psychological disorders of childhood more frequent among boys than girls?
Although there is not much study on this particular topic except for the few
which say that boys are more prone to ADHD and Autism is due to hereditary. Decades of
research have shown that males are at greater risk for neurodevelopmental disorders such as
autism than females. Boys, are five times more likely to have autism compared to girls.
What causes this has largely remained unknown. According to a team of researchers in the
U.S and Switzerland, this is due to what is called the female protective model. I feel that
childhood disorders are more frequent among boys because of the social responsibility of
being born male coupled with the persona and stigma of males. Ever since history was
recorded, males have been the one to take charge of the family and male children have been
taught to act a certain way, to carry themselves a certain way and to behave a certain way.
As a child, sometimes this responsibility may take its toll upon the child. Sometimes,
nature versus nurture also is a factor as to why childhood disorder is more common
amongst boys. According to Barbaressi, less educated parents may have less effective
parenting styles and may provide a less structured environment, leasing to ADHD
symptoms. Alternatively, low parental education may be a marker for parental educational
difficulties due to parental symptoms of ADHD, suggesting a genetic component in ADHD
development. This is suggested that girls have a higher tolerance towards harmful genetic
mutations.
Do you think that it is possible to discover a cure for any of the childhood disorders that
are currently included in the DSM-IV? If not, why not? If yes, which ones and why?
Yes, I believe that there will be cures for certain childhood disorders in the
DSM-IV. I believe that there will be a cure of Developmental Coordination
Disorder(CDC) or known as Developmental Dyspraxia. According to the DSM-IV, this
is a chronic neurological disorder beginning in childhood that can affect planning of
movements and co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted
to the body. Developmental coordination disorder is diagnosed in the absence of other
neurological impairments such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy or Parkinsons
disease. It affects 5 to 6 percent of school aged children. It is known that doctors sometimes
prescribe cannabis to aid ADHD and this in turn, helps a child concentrate. So similar
prescriptions can be used to help treat CDC. The second disorder I believe for a cure will
be Tourettes disorders. A child has Tourettes when he displays symptoms such as
overwhelming urge to make movement, jerking of arms and production of repetitive noises
such as clicking, moaning or squealing. Studies have shown that abnormal
neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin serve as a cause of Tourettes Syndrome.
As part of treatment, it is asked that family and friends do not give the child attention
during an attack of tics. If they do, a child may develop more tics. I feel that prescription
drugs can be used to help tics. Slow down the neurotransmitters so the child will not get tic
attacks frequently.
Conclusion
In conclusion for this assignment, I have learnt many things about
developmental psychopathology. How a person from young can grow and their
psychological growth has gone awry. I have also learnt that a child faces many challenges
growing up and are faced with difficulties that may affect them in the long run. Attention
much be given to children so as to reduce these psychological stresses. We as humans, still
have got a long way to research about our mental health as there are still many areas we are
still lacking in information. I hope that as a future psychologist, I will be able to contribute
towards the society in where they lack and improve the well-being of future human beings.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (5th ed.).
Angold, A, Costello, E.J & Erkanli, A. (1999). J Child Psychol Psychiatry. : .
Klein, D.N & Riso, L.P. (1993). Psychiatric disorders: Problems of boundaries and
comorbidity. New York, Guilford: .
Brooks-gunn, J & Duncan, G.J. (1998). How much does childhood poverty affect the life
chances of children? . : .
Duncan, G.J et al. (1998). How much does childhood poverty affect the life chances of
children? American Sociological Review.
World health organization. (2002). World Report on Violence and Health. Brussels,
belgium:
Stuber, J et al. (2002). Determinants of counseling for children in Manhattan after the
September 11 attacks
Patterson, G.R, Debaryshe , B.D & Ramsey, E. (1989). A developmental perspective on
antisocial behavior .
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