Assessment of Childs Behavior - Case Study Example

Assessment of Child’s Behavior According to Meisels & Shonkoff (2000), ecology is basically the study of the various existing relationships between various organisms and their actual environments. Ecologists attempt to explore and document just how the habitat and individuals contribute towards the shaping of each other’s development. Shankoff & Feisels (2000), point out that it is important for us to realize that the habitats surrounding children greatly affect their development. Children face different developmental risks and opportunities for development largely due to their physical and mental makeup primarily because of the social environments that they happen to inhabit. The role that a child plays in a given family is often informed by the specific ecological factors in that family. This paper will seek to analyze a case study of a child and explain how a number of ecological factors have contributed to how the child behaves. In the case study, Brandon is presented as being an African-American eight year old in the third grade who happens to exhibit a number of concerning behavioral patterns. However, these concerning behavioral patterns can largely be explained by conducting a careful analysis of the impact of Brandon’s ecological factors. According to the case study, Brandon’s father was initially too busy at work and would often get home late and was often extremely tired. This aspect caused him to essentially become an absentee father as he was never at home to meaningfully interact with his children. Children of absentee fathers have repeatedly been noted as having higher levels of behavior problems as compared to those children that are fortunate enough to enjoy living and having meaningful interactions with their fathers on a daily basis. Children that have involved and catering fathers generally tend to have better educational outcomes. According to Meisels & Shonkoff (2000), a number of studies have suggested that fathers involved in nurturing, and playful interaction with their infants generally tend to have children with higher IQ’s in addition to their having better cognitive and linguistic capabilities. Children that have involved fathers have been noted to go on to start school with higher levels of academic readiness. They tend to be more patients and display the ability of being able to successfully handle the frustrations and stresses that are normally associated with schooling as compared to those children with less involved fathers. Brandon’s father is shown to have eventually become depressed due to the pressure of having lost his job and as a result would often spend the whole day in bed without venturing out to try and look for any job opportunity. This might potentially have an impact on the development of children. Incidences of depression among adults have steadily been increasing to almost epidemic levels and this has been linked to reports of more and more children entering school who are seemingly unable to meet some of the basic demands of paying attention, sitting and even just controlling themselves. According to O’Connor (2006), child therapists have for long known that when a child exhibits troubling symptoms, it is often as a result of its parent depression. This is despite the fact that parents at times feel that the child’s behavior is essentially the source of distress. Of critical note is that children frequently react to a parent’s depression. In the case study, it has been citied that Bandon’s mother works part-time at a local gas station. This is an indicator of the family’s rather poor economic condition that seems to be further exuberated by Brandon’s father losing his job. According to research conducted by Brooks-Gunn & Duncan (1997), family income tend to be more strongly related to a child’s achievement and ability than to their emotional outcomes. Children that tend to experience poverty during both their preschool and early school years tend to perform more poorly and have lower rates of school completion as compared to those children and adolescents that happen to experience poverty only in their later years. This factor is seen to explain just why Brandon’s school performance is below par as is evidenced by his claims that he is bored when students have to sit and read. In families that happen to be suffering from a range of dysfunctional issues, children normally tend to take on a role that aids them in their attempts to try and sufficiently cope with the particularly challenging situations that they might happen to be facing. It is of relatively critical importance to identify the role that a child has assumed and is currently playing in the family so as to be able to formulate an effective plan that will be found to be useful in tackling the problem at hand. Of note however is that if not tackled at an early stage, these assumed roles can eventually evolve into what will largely be considered to be an acceptable and fundamentally normal way of living. It then progressively becomes more difficult to successfully break away from these devastating habitual actions and thoughts. If the situation is too severe, it might become important for affected children to obtain some form of professional help that will aid them to important changes affecting codependent behavior. In the case study, Brandon is seen to have adopted the codependent role of being the family Scapegoat. In this role, affected children normally seem hostile, angry and defiant (Rutter, 1994). As in the case of Brandon, children that assume this codependent role are perpetually in trouble at school, in social situations or even at work. Their generally negative behavior seems to be an adaption that is designed to help them in focusing attention from the concerning situations at home which in Brandon’s case happens to be economic hardships, an essentially absentee father who eventually becomes depressed. Brandon’s negative tendencies such as his exasperating behavior at home that has seen him not only steal and at times even break his siblings’ things at home, but also sneak food into his room are all indicators that Brandon has assumed the codependent role of being the family scapegoat. Of particular concern in Brandon’s case is that scapegoats often tend to resort to high risk behaviors as a reflexive means of coping with their issues and an avenue through which they can be able to express their inner feelings of emptiness. Scapegoats have been noted to have a tendency of experimenting with alcohol and drugs and may at times even become sexually active at a relatively early age. They are also prone to get into frequent fights. Although scapegoats like Brandon exhibit the admirable quality of their being clever and frequently emerge as leaders in tier own peer groups, the groups that they however choose to associate with tend to be gangs or the groups that often do not present healthy relationships. It is of critical importance for Brandon’s teacher and his parents to obtain professional help for him to prevent him from sliding further into the dangers of this codependent behavior. Brandon’s parents should also consider engaging themselves in group family counseling to help them in understanding the changes they need to make in Brandon’s surroundings to preventing him from adopting the scapegoat codependent role. At school, Brandon is also noted to have adopted the codependent role of the lost child. Children that adopt this role generally tend to become loners or are very shy (Rutter, 2009). These children tend to feel like outsiders or strangers wherever they are in social situations. Although children such as Brandon in this codependent role often tend to have a rich inner life, they however lack the opportunity of developing crucial communication and social skills that their peer groups and school provide as socializing agents due to their failure to interact with others. Brandon’s adoption of this role is evidenced by the fact that he has been noted to display problem behaviors such as being bored by sit and read like other children. The adoption of this role is also evidenced by his sometimes simply drawing pictures and not paying any attention at all in class. A number of different macrosystem and microsystem theoretical influences as well as parenting styles can be noted as impacting children. According to Bronfenbrenner’s microsystem structure of environment, the microsystem is essentially the layer found to be closes to a child and it typically contains structures that a child happens to have direct contact with. These include school, neighborhood, childcare environment and family. At this level, relationships generally tent two have an impact in two directions, both away from the child as children affect the behavior of their parents, and towards the child as parents affect the behavior of their children. Bronfenbrenner’s macrosystem structure of environment is considered to be the outermost layer in a given child’s development. Although this layer does not consist of a specific framework, it generally comprises of customs, laws and cultural values (Tudge et al, 2009). Other factors such a parenting styles also tend to impact a child’s development. Parenting styles focus on how given parents act and react to their children. This fundamentally includes the beliefs, expectations and values that surround how parents punish and support their children. In the case of Bradon, his macrosystem structure of environment is more suited than his microsystem structure of environment to help him in working through his codependent roles. This structure fundamentally comprises of his family and school (Tudge et al, 2009). Brandon’s parents and especially his father should adopt positive parenting styles. They should be encouraged to adopt authoritative styles that will serve to create a relatively firm framework of rules as well as a supportive and loving environment that will allow for Brandon and his siblings to develop with an appropriate amount of guidance. Conclusion The social ecological environment and the social relationships that a child happens to be exposed to can have an effect on a child’s future achievements; it is important for Brandon’s family and school to take quick action to help Brandon cultivate good social relationships. Children that have good social relationships tend to have a greater self esteem and do not resort to adopting harmful codependent behaviors. If adequate measure are taken in good time, it will be possible to reverse Brandon’s adoption of harmful codependent behaviors and ensure that he gets to enjoy a psychologically healthy childhood. References Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J. (1997). The effects of poverty on children.The future of children, 55-71. Meisels, S. J., & Shonkoff, J. P. (2000). Handbook of early childhood intervention. Cambridge [England] [u.a.: Cambridge University Press. O' Connor, R. (2006). Depressed Parents and the Effects on Their Children. Psych Central. Retrieved on September 24, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/depressed-parents -and-the-effects-on-their-children/000464 Rutter, M. (1994). Family discord and conduct disorder: Cause, consequence, or correlate?. Journal of Family Psychology, 8(2), 170. Tudge, J. R., Mokrova, I., Hatfield, B. E., & Karnik, R. B. (2009). Uses and misuses of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory of human development.Journal of Family Theory & Review, 1(4), 198-210. Read More