Human Behavior in the Social Environment - Term Paper Example

Impact of Issues Related to Human Behavior in the Social Environment Individuals are unique biologically, psychologically, and socio-culturally. I ama woman who has grown to the age of 29 years with every biological feature that could be associated with a woman of my age. Moreover, I have given birth to three children, which is an indication that I am already a mother. I have already adapted to the biological nature of a mother. Unlike some other women in the society, I am currently not in a marriage. Therefore, I have biological challenges that could be associated with women who are not in a marriage. However, I have learned to appreciate the way I am biologically to make myself somehow comfortable with life. Psychologically, I am a stressed-up person. This is because I have very few relationships in my life. I do not have a good relationship with my parents because my mother lived very far and my father is an alcoholic person whose main social event is gambling. Moreover, I have found it difficult to trust people around me because of my experiences. This makes me not to have very good social relationships with both friends and colleagues. However, I have adapted to this psychological state through mainly focusing on the wellbeing of my kids. This has helped me a lot in handling the stress that results from my psychological state. I have been working on full-time basis to support my family. Moreover, I have been studying on full-time basis to improve my academic qualification so that I can be able to acquire a well-paying job. Due to this, I have lacked time to interact with other people in the society. Moreover, I really attend any form of social gathering because of my tight schedule. The only people that I interact with most often are my kinds. However, I cannot share my social issues with this group of people. This makes me feel that I need to do something to improve my socio-cultural life. According to Sigelman & Rider (2008), various phases of life are characterized by a set of specific abilities, motives, emotions, and behaviors. Currently, I am in the early adulthood phase of the life cycle. This phase is characterized with a behavior of wanting to feel appreciated and loved by the people around you. I am lacking this kind of love and appreciation; hence, I become sometimes stress-up. Moreover, the phase is characterized by different abilities. The ability that I am currently enjoying because of being in this phase of life span is the ability to study and work at the same time. In addition, the phase is characterized by several life motives. Currently, the most conspicuous motive that I am enjoying that is associated with the phase I am in is the motive of wanting to improve my future life. This is what has made me to go back to school and advance by education. Being an adult, I have passed several other phases of life span. The first phase was associated with a need of emotional contact of parents. However, I lacked this because my parents were not physically and emotionally available for me. Moreover, it was characterized with abuse from the people around me including my mother. The second phase was the adolescent phase. This phase was characterized by an attempt to connect with people around me other than my parents. In addition, my identity began to come out when in this phase of life cycle. However, I was raped when in this phase of life and my effort to become a social person were frustrated. Moreover, I have passed a phase of life in which I was a married young adult, which had its own vicissitudes. The phases of life cycle that I have passed have had a very great influence on my current phase. Therefore, I expect that my current phase would have a great influence on the future phases of life that I would pass through as an older adult. I am currently undertaking further education to acquire a career. This would greatly improve my future financial status thus eliminating my financial problems. Therefore, I expect to have a better life in the remaining phases of my life span. I have been feeling inferior because of being less educated compared to majority of other people of my age. The education that I am undertaking would make me to feel at par with individuals whom we would be of the same age. This would eliminate the feeling of inferiority that is currently stressing me up. Therefore, I expect to have a less stressful life in the future phases of my life span. Currently I am working and studying on full-time basis. Studying and working are time consuming and demanding. This is what has made me to lack time for socialization. In my future life, I would be able to acquire a less demanding job because of my education. Moreover, would not be undertaking studies on full-time while working at the same time. This would greatly improve my interaction with friends, colleagues, and relatives. Therefore, I expect to have a better social life in my remaining phases of life span. I am also currently undertaking psychological counseling. This is mainly to help me live better without being negatively affected by what I have gone through in the other phases of my life span. In addition, my kids are growing up to become dependable persons. Therefore, I predict that my life in the remaining life span would not be characterized by stress associated with loneliness. According to Lunenburg & Ornstein (2007, p. 62), “a social system refers to activities and interactions of groups of people brought together for a common purpose.” Therefore, my social systems comprise of the individuals I study with, the people I work with, and the people I might collaborate with in supporting my family. The social system of the individual I work with have greatly influenced by personal and professional development throughout my life span. Most of the individuals in this social system are struggling with life. Moreover, they are non-professionals since they have very little education. This has made me to realize that my problems might be solved by developing myself professionally. Moreover, they have helped me to realize the need of personal development both socially and economically. The individuals I study with forms my other crucial social system. They happen to be my main source of motivation as I try to develop myself both professionally and personally. This is because they make me to feel that I am not the only individual in need of development. Moreover, some of them are in worse situations compared to my situation. However, they have adapted and when compared to me, they are more comfortable with life. This has motivated me to develop myself socially so that I can stop being affected negatively by my situation. In addition, this social system makes reveals to me that age is not a barrier to professional development. This is because in this social system, there are individuals who are much older than I am. This has greatly influenced my professional development throughout my current life span. As a woman who was ones married and had three kids, my other social system comprise of my ex-husband. The reason for this is that we could come together for a common goal of raising the kids. This social system has no influence on my professional development in my current life span. This is because I do not consult my ex-husband when making my decisions related to professional development. Moreover, I do not ask him for any form of support in my professional development activities. The social system also has a no effect on my personal development. This is because we neither talk nor communicate with my ex-husband about issues related to my personal development. Environmental events and factors have greatly influenced my personal and professional development. Environmental events and factors are the ones that are related to a person’s human and non-human surroundings (Creek, Lougher, & Bruggen, 2008). These factors have influenced by personal and professional development either socially or economically. One of the environmental events that have influenced my personal and professional development is having special needs children. Two of my three children are autistic. This makes them to require special diets and special medical care. I always find it difficult to provide for their needs using the little wage I get from my job. This has made me to be motivated to develop myself professionally so that I can be able to obtain better employment that could enable me to cater for their needs. An environmental factor that has influenced my personal and professional development is my interaction with people around me. Currently, I lack the ability to form relationships with people around me. Moreover, I have found it difficult to trust other people. This is because of being raped and abused when I was a small kid. As a result, I have become very poor socially thus limiting my personal development. Moreover, this factor has made me unable to interact effectively with my tutors and my fellow students. As a result, my learning process has been greatly affected thus hindering my knowledge acquisition. This has greatly affected my professional development in my current life span. Another environmental factor that has greatly influenced my personal and professional development is lack of a family support system. None of my close family members provides any form of support to me. This is because my father has turned up to be a drunkard and a gambler. In addition, my mother is bipolar and lives very far from me. As a result, I have been suffering from social depression and financial constraints. The social depression has greatly affected my personal development by making me unable to interact effectively with other people in my social systems. Financial constraints have forced me to simultaneously work full-time and study full-time. This has greatly affected my professional development by reducing by effectiveness in both working and studying. United States is a diverse country with individuals of different socio-economic status, ethnicity, and culture. Diversity in this country has had several consequences on my progress through my life span and on the development of personal and professional values. One of the consequences it has had on my progress is that it has enabled the state to assist me in supporting my family. This is what has enabled me to go back to school to develop both my professional and personal values. However, the diversity makes me feel that am being looked down upon because of my low level of education and my little wages. This has made me to feel that I have to go back to school to advance my education so that I can be at par with other individuals of my age thus stopping being discriminated. Well-paying jobs in this country are only for the individuals who have a minimum of college education. This makes the people who have less than college education oppressed through being paid low wages. The only job that I have been able to acquire with my high school education has been waitressing. As a result, I have been a victim of oppression of the less educated. The wages that I have been getting have been very little that it cannot sustain me without state assistance. This has made me to perceive myself as being viewed as a reject thus affecting my personal values as well as my professional values. References Creek, J., Lougher, L., & Bruggen, H. V. (2008). Occupational Therapy and Mental Health. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Ltd. Lunenburg, F. C., & Ornstein, A. C. (2007). Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices, Volume 13. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education Ltd. Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2008). Life-Span Human Development. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning Ltd. Read More