Positive and Negative Childhood Behaviors - Essay Example

Activity 4 Kristina Nelson Northcentral Activity 2 Psychology-> Early Childhood Development-> Positive and Negative Childhood Behaviors -> Nature or Nurture?-> Nurture to change nature Illogical introduction Early child care is important to early childhood development. According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family (2011): “In 2010, 48 percent of children ages 0–4 with employed mothers were primarily cared for by a relative—their father, grandparent, sibling, other relative, or mother— while she worked.” This means that child care greatly influences early childhood development. Without it, children will not properly develop all faculties needed for normal behavior. Child care consists of parental/caregiver care, plus care from formal class settings, such as day care or pre-school education. This paper argues that bad parenting and genes contribute to bad childhood behaviors. Bad parenting and teaching, in particular, foster bad behaviors of aggression, anti-social attitudes, and depressive symptoms. This research is important, because it will prove that nurture can derail nature. Nurture can change genetic expression, especially when favorable parenting and teaching conditions are encouraged. From a review of several journal articles, a gap in literature has been identified, where there are scant studies on how nurture can be used to diminish and eliminate bad behaviors, while also encouraging positive behaviors. The specific focus is how a certain early child care program on at risk kids can be used to promote positive attitudes and practices. This topic is important because it will help create an effective childcare program that will achieve the objectives that will be determined in this paper. It is worthy of research because it can help society develop positive behaviors at a very young age that will affect adolescent and adult years. My objectives are: 1) To determine if positive behaviors can be nurtured and replace bad behaviors among children 3 to 5 years old, who are at risk, 2) To identify early childhood practices and knowledge that can reduce bad behaviors among young children, and 3) To offer an early childhood program that can directly impact several key positive and negative bad behaviors. For the negative behaviors, the target ones are aggression and anti-social behaviors. Parents will identify if their children have these behaviors and baseline data about these behaviors will be collected. The program will also last for two months with 2 hours classes, five times a week. Data will be gathered from parents and teachers regarding effects of program on negative behaviors. Illogical Introduction Early child care is important to early childhood development. According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family (2011): “In 2010, 48 percent of children ages 0–4 with employed mothers were primarily cared for by a relative—their father, grandparent, sibling, other relative, or mother— while she worked.” This means that child care greatly influences early childhood development. Without proper care, children lose out on the proper footing for good behavior. Forming a foundation of good behavior is a fundamental developmental aspect in early childhood. Child care consists of parental/caregiver care, plus care from formal class settings, such as day care or pre-school education. This paper argues that bad parenting and genes contribute to bad childhood behaviors. Genes have been shown to have a great influence on behavior. The disruptive behavior caused by these genes can, however, be regulated by parental monitoring. This research is important, because it will prove that nurture can derail nature. Nurture can change genetic expression, especially when favorable parenting and teaching conditions are encouraged. From a review of several journal articles, a gap in literature has been identified, where there are scant studies on how nurture can be used to diminish and eliminate bad behaviors, while also encouraging positive behaviors. The specific focus is how a certain early child care program on at risk kids can be used to promote positive attitudes and practices. This topic is important because it will help create an effective childcare program that will achieve the objectives that will be determined in this paper. My objectives are: 1) To determine if positive behaviors can be nurtured and replace bad behaviors among children 3 to 5 years old, who are at risk, 2) To identify early childhood practices and knowledge that can reduce bad behaviors among young children, and 3) To offer an early childhood program that can directly impact several key positive and negative bad behaviors. For the negative behaviors, the target ones are aggression and anti-social behaviors. Parents will identify if their children have these behaviors and baseline data about these behaviors will be collected. The program will also last for two months with 2 hours classes, five times a week. Data will be gathered from parents and teachers regarding effects of program on negative behaviors. Logical introduction Negative behaviors among adolescents can be traced in their early childhood development experiences, as well as their genes (Boutwell et al., 2011). Any type of behavior that would affect the overall development or well being of an adolescent is considered negative and high-risk. Cumulative negative behavior may not only cause physical injury but also cause long terms effects in a child’s life. These negative behaviors pertain to anti-social and psychopathic tendencies, as well as aggression and depression. Some counselors and psychologists already caution parents and caregivers in how they discipline very young children, because genetic risks may be activated and promote aggressive behaviors that can last throughout adolescence (Boutwell et al., 2011). Children who are cared by other caregivers other than their mothers tend to be more vulnerable to this negative behavior. This is because most relatives and other caregivers are likely to give the children less attention than the mothers would do. According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and family (2011): “In 2010, 48 percent of children ages 0–4 with employed mothers, was primarily cared for by a relative—their father, grandparent, sibling, and other relative, or mother— while she worked.” This means that child care greatly influences early childhood development. Recent studies demonstrate that particular negative behaviors have biological markers and some have genetic risks, such as aggression (Chen et al., 2001), psychopathic tendencies (Viding et al., 2010), and depression (Brendgen et al., 2009). Children who are maltreated by their caregivers are more likely to develop conduct problems because of the triggered genetic risks. Studies on positive behaviors, on the contrary, assert the importance of parenting style (Chen et al., 2001) and quality early child care (Ishimine, Wilson, & Evans, 2010; Votruba-Drzal et al., 2010), in developing intelligence and socio-emotional skills. From a review of several journal articles, a gap in literature has been identified, where there are scant studies on how paternal attachment relates to insecurity and aggression in preadolescence. The specific focus will be on how increased paternal participation can be used to reduce aggressive behavior in both children and adolescents as well. This topic is important because it will help identify and evaluate a program where negative behaviors can be reduced, while promoting positive ones. This topic is worth researching for because it can help reduce absentee parenting as well as foster positive and constructive behavior in children. It is important to search for the reasons behind the development of negative behavior in children and relate these to their development environment. According to theory, a child’s developmental environment is determinant to the behavior that they develop, and probably keep for the rest of their lives. The study will focus mainly on the paternal influence on children and adolescents. My objectives are: 1) To find ways that can be used to reduce conduct-related genetic risks in adolescents, 2) To examine factors that facilitate both negative and positive behaviors in children and the implications they have later in life , and 3) To relate paternal influence with the overall conduct of teenagers and their behaviors. For the negative behaviors, the target ones are aggression and anti-social behaviors. For the positive behaviors, the targets are intelligence and socio-emotional skills, such as friendliness, patience, and self-control. Parents will identify if their children have these behaviors and baseline data about these behaviors will be collected. The program will also last for two months with 2 hours classes, five times a week. Data will be gathered from parents and teachers regarding the effects of program on negative behaviors. References: Boutwell, B. B., Franklin, C. A., Barnes, J. C., & Beaver, K. M. (2011). Physical punishment and childhood aggression: The role of gender and gene-environment interplay. Aggressive Behavior, 37(6), 559–568. Brendgen, M., Vitaro, F., Boivin, M., Girard, A., Bukowski, W. M., Dionne, G., Tremblay, R. E., & Pérusse, D. (2009). Gene–environment interplay between peer rejection and depressive behavior in children. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 50(8), 1009–1017. Chen, X., Wu, H., Chen, H., Wang, L., & Cen, G. (2001). Parenting practices and aggressive behavior in Chinese children. Parenting: Science & Practice, 1(3), 159–184. Colbert, J. (2012). Brain Development Research Can Influence Early Childhood Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=245 Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family. (2011). Child care. Retrieved from http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/famsoc3.asp Ishimine, K., Wilson, R., & Evans, D. (2010). Quality of Australian childcare and childrens social skills. International Journal of Early Years Education, 18(2), 159–175. Votruba-Drzal, E., Coley, R. L., Maldonado-Carreño, C., Li-Grining, C. P., & Chase-Lansdale, P. L. (2010). Child care and the development of behavior problems among economically disadvantaged children in middle childhood. Child Development, 81(5), 1460–1474. Read More