An Issue That One of Your Clients Has Discussed with You in the Past - Research Paper Example

Individual Assignment- Discusses a Personal Issue or an Issue That One of Your Has Discussed With You in the Past Introduction Childhood bullying is regarded as a grave concern that poses a significant threat to responsive development of a child. Bullying is primarily demarcated as “conscious, repeated acts of physical, verbal (eg, name-calling), or relational (eg, social exclusion, spreading rumors) aggression that causes injury or discomfort to the target between children of differing physical size and strength” (Bauer et al., 2006). Victims of bullying are likely to undergo differentiated psychological, school and peer-pressures. In case of such situation, suicidal attempts also increase associated with the victims being bullied. The emergence of bullying behavior usually starts at the earlier stages of elementary school and as time passes by it takes a serious picture of entertainment by mocking and bullying. Observations have revealed that bullies are likely to endure an experience i.e. ‘inconsistent authoritarian parenting style’. It has been ascertained that the identification of the base factors responsible for the bullying behavior can be done in the home and the surrounding environment that can lead to timely monitoring of the concerned emotional behavior (Bauer et al., 2006). Concerning bullying as an emotional factor, one major risk associated with it is considered as partner violence. It has been observed from various studies and experiences that the children experiencing negative environment back at their homes are likely to develop negative relationship configurations. This study is aiming to discuss a personal issue i.e. being bullied in the childhood. It further entails to discussion about the life stage of development considering a psychological Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development. Problem Discussion School for any children can be a place of enjoyment or it might get transferred into a hell. I have also faced such horrified situations that have emotionally challenged my psychology and mental steadiness. The narration of my own personal experience will provide a clear picture of emotional degradation that is associated with childhood bullying. During my school days, I used to be the target of my peers unkind bullying behavior. They used to push me of the staircase and at times also slam the door on my hand among others grave acts. The physical pain of mine was an enjoyment for them. I am a kind of person, who is quite shy by nature and intelligent. I like to keep to myself and consequently childhood implications have made me even more introvert. During my high-school days, bullying behavior turned out to be more intense. Bully usually resembles an artful way to compel someone to feel miserable. Correspondingly, it has been revealed that a victim’s weaknesses are aggressively attacked during the bullying activities (McGraw Hill, n.d.). During those days, I always used to feel low in the midst of others and usually remained emotionally disturbed. I was caught by a feeling that everyone surrounding used to make fun of me. As the days passed by, my belief became intense, I thought of speaking it out with the concerned persons. This action of mine proved to be the best remedy for overcoming the emotional degradation occurred from the childhood bullying. Childhood bullying is practiced largely worldwide but China is famous for being racially and also ethnically uniform society that gives a way to the practice of bullying in a more intense form (Kim & Kim, n.d.). This facet laid down a major implication on my childhood days incidents related bullying as I came from a Chinese background. The multicultural components are considered to be amongst the effective constituents, which plays a major role in the development of bullying behavior. The various multicultural components if applied within the school curriculum might be a help in the lessening of bullying behavior. The differentiated multicultural components are associated with education, marriage, environment and understanding among others (Kim & Kim, n.d.). In case of multicultural education, it has increased within the curriculum due to the acceleration of foreign immigrants and globalization. Besides, it can be ascertained that multicultural marriages can also be a key in mitigating the development of bullying behavior. The ever-changing societal structure reflects a mass that includes diversified people with different cultures. This ensures the growth of multicultural environment that enables the development of the young children in the midst of different cultures and thus reduces the bullying behavior among them. Life-Stage Development Processes Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory relates with personality traits. According to his belief, a personality of an individual usually matures in various stages. Erikson’s theory mainly reflects the impact of the societal experiences over the entire lifespan. Erikson’s psychosocial developmental stage relates with ego-identity. Ego-identity within an individual keeps on changing due to the occurrence of new experiences. The first stage in Erikson’s psychosocial development theory represents ‘Trust vs. Mistrust’. This stage of development takes place between the birth and one year period i.e. the infant stage. Infant remains entirely dependent on others and trust is mainly developed regarding dependencies along with quality related to child’s caregivers. In this stage, the child develops trust and feels secure within the external world. The next stage of the psychosocial development is ‘Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt’. This stage reflects the early childhood days of an individual and focuses on children’s development of sense related to personal control. The third stage ‘Initiative vs. Guilt’ reflects an individual’s pre-school years. In this particular stage, an individual controls along with powers over others by initiating social interaction (McGraw Hill, n.d.). Following the third stage, the subsequent stage is ‘Industry vs. Inferiority’ which mainly depicts the early school years of an individual. Extensive social interactions are greatly built up during these years. These accelerated social interactions help the children to endure a sense related to pride associated with achievements and accomplishments. The next stage reflects ‘Identity vs. Confusion’ that resembles the adolescent period of an individual. In this stage, individuals develop a sense of independence. In accordance with the sixth stage, it reflects ‘Intimacy vs. Isolation’. This stage reflects the adulthood, where an individual greatly explores personal relationship. Following this stage is the ‘Generativity vs. Stagnation’, which refers to the focus of an individual in career and family. And, the last stage i.e. ‘Integrity vs. Despair’ reflects the old age that brings in memoirs from the past experiences of an individual (McGraw Hill, n.d.). Considering the aforementioned eight stages revealed by Erikson, I faced bullying behavior during the fourth and the fifth stage. These were the early schooling and high school years. During my early schooling years, when it is regarded as the best possible time for the development of one’s own mind and psychology by accomplishing goals and deriving encouragement from the surrounding persons, I got emotionally degraded due to bullying behavior by my peers. I was usually bullied because of being introvert and shy by nature. This bullying activity over me was also continued during the high school period (Rathus & Longmuir, 2012). Relevant Behavioral Theories Cognitive behavioral therapy is an approach, whereby it mainly addresses the dysfunctional emotions of an individual. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps in treating the personality behavior disorder. Biological perspective represents the study pertaining to psychology that involves comparative, genetic and physiological methods that explore the human behavior effectively. In accordance with the behavioral perspective, it reflects stimuli and the occurrence of events in response to the concerned stimuli. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are the results of the behavioral perspective. Ecological perspective depicts the relationship amid environment and human beings. It is basically linked with the ecological thinking. The issue related to bullying mainly relates with the cognitive perspective that reflects the behavior of an individual. Cognitive perspective psychology can be implemented in order to reduce childhood bullying (Rathus & Longmuir, 2012). In the context of Canada, it has been ranked at the 9th position related to the grave concern associated with childhood bullying. It has been ascertained that the victims usually lose their interest in the school activities. Absenteeism, low grades, dropping classes and degrading quality among others are few results of bullying activities. Further observations have revealed that around 47% of the parents in Canada have been found to have reported complaints regarding bullying faced by their child. These statistics reflect the grave concern associated with the childhood bullying in Canada (Canadian Red Cross, 2013). Conclusion The aforesaid study has revealed the emotional disturbances being faced by the victims of childhood bullying. It has been observed that childhood bullying has been regarded as a serious problem that greatly threatens the development of children’s psychology. The study further has ascertained that childhood bullying usually starts at the elementary school level and continues in the later periods as well. The effects of bullying have been explained by citing my own personal experience. I have faced an emotional challenge associated with the aftermath of bullying activity during my school years. This childhood bullying relates with the Erikson’s fourth and fifth developmental stage. This ensures the application of psychosocial development stage given by Erikson. Besides, it has been discussed that four different perspectives i.e. biological, cognitive, behavior and ecological lay an impact on human behavior and also help in the reduction of bullying activities. This issue is of major concern and can be mitigated by incorporating various multicultural components. References Bauer, N. S., Herrenkohl, T. I., Lozano, P., Rivara, F. P., Hill, K. G., & Hawkins, J. D. (2006). Childhood Bullying Involvement and Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence. Pediatrics, 118(2), 235-242. Canadian Red Cross. (2013). Facts on bullying and harassment. Bullying and Harassment Prevention. Kim, S. K., & Kim, L. H. R. (n.d.). The need for multicultural education in South Korea. Academia.edu, 243-251. McGraw Hill. (n.d.). Theories of development. Chapter 2, 35-62. Rathus, S. A., & Longmuir, S. (2012). HDEV. Toronto: Nelson Education Ltd. Read More