Effect of Adversity Experiences on Relationship Formation
Adversity is a problematic or unfavorable circumstance a person experiences in their surroundings. It can occur to a child during early development when they face difficulties in their environment, such as poverty, abuse, or neglect. These circumstances can lead to adverse outcomes in a child’s life, such as poor health, educational problems, and behavioral issues. For instance, neglect can lead to a child feeling isolated and alone. Leon, the childhood abuse and neglect victim in the book “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog,” was ignored by his parents and had few friends. He has often left home alone, and when interacting with others, he is often rejected (Horst & Hazel, 2008). This kind of treatment made it difficult for him to make meaningful relations.
Poor Social Skills
Childhood experiences with adversity can lead inability to empathize with others. Also, abuse can teach a child to distrust others, which is not a good cue for a person wishing to develop friendships. Leon lacked trust with most of the people around him because of his poor treatment while young. When the psychiatrist first visited Leon, she found that he was constantly studying her, to establish whether she was there to harm or help her. Establishing a relationship between the psychiatrist and Leon was uneasy because life had not taught him to trust people as a child (Horst & Hazel, 2008).
Aggressiveness and Bitter Characters
Leon’s mother would often take his firstborn son, Frank, and take walks in the park to avoid the crying baby Leon. He barely cuddled, played with, talked to, or congratulated his small achievements as a child. Thus, Leon became defensive, which grew into his later life. The child was unable to react normally to others when questioned about something. This made it harder for him to associate with others. A person mishandled as a child can see no need to own other people’s wishes, fail to find joy making others happy, and show no care for others even when hurting (Horst & Hazel, 2008). It is almost impossible to create meaningful relationships with such characteristics.
Effects of Neglect on a Child’s Behaviors
Non-Responsiveness
Neglect can cause a child to become non-responsive to parental and teacher guidance. After being left alone in the crib without no one to calm him down, Leon learned to stop crying as no one cared. This experience made him not react when chastened by parents or teachers for unruly behavior or show appreciation when given a positive compliment. This is abnormal behavior for children, as many like being complimented and adhering to correction. Thus, neglect can drive a child to reflect expected emotions in various circumstances poorly.
Criminal-like Traits
Furthermore, negligence can result in aggressiveness, impulsive traits, and criminal behaviors. Leon was one of the few children noted with negative traits at a tender age. He was reported for bullying, abusing others, and taking things he wanted forcefully since kindergarten (Horst & Hazel, 2008). Leon was imprisoned after murdering two girls because he failed to receive what he needed from them. This kind of criminal trait can be traced back to Leon’s young life, when he has deprived of the chance to learn how to love, care, and show remorse in relevant situations (Horst & Hazel, 2008). Therefore, there is a high correlation between teenagers’ crime-like behaviors and childhood neglect (Marsh et al., 2020). Positive and expected behaviors are fostered by adequate parental care and attention to a child, especially early.
Poor Social Relations
The social interactions of a neglected child tend to be poor. For example, a person’s responses to an ignored child might be abnormal from what is expected. Leon, for instance, responded by saying he would have hidden the boots if given a chance to perform things differently on the night he murdered the two victims (Horst & Hazel, 2008). The psychiatrist had expected a remorseful response, like he would have walked out when things seemed to get out of hand or tried to calm down.
Impact of Stressful Surroundings on Child Development
Impairment of Brain and its Abilities
The brain is an essential part of the body that develops a lot during childhood. Growing up in a chaotic environment negatively affects brain development. A child is born with a “blank brain” ready to be filled with the wonders of life (Marsh et al., 2020). The Cortex, for instance, stores all experiences a child receives first and uses them to develop reactions to similar future instances (Zeanah et al., 2018). Thus, the cognitive development of a child highly depends on how they are treated while young (Horst & Hazel, 2008). For example, due to neglect, Leon’s brain learned to appreciate the negative behaviors, and failed to comprehend the need to understand the positive ones.
Defective Theory of Mind
Chaotic childhood surroundings can contribute to poor development of the theory of mind, where a child learns to perceive other people’s uniqueness by their different interests and views about crucial aspects of life. As a result, some children have poor social development as they cannot relate appropriately with others (Zeanah et al., 2018). The medial frontal Cortex of the brain formulates the theory of mind and might mature defectively if a child is overly exposed to a stressful childhood (Horst & Hazel, 2008). A person might never learn to genuinely experience love and make a human connection when their brain is defective after childhood abuse.
References
Horst, R., & Hazel, A. (2008). The boy who was raised as a dog and other stories from a child psychiatrist’s notebook. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(9), 107–135. Web.
Marsh, S., Dobson, R., & Maddison, R. (2020). The relationship between household chaos and child, parent, and family outcomes: A systematic scoping review. BMC Public Health, 20(1). Web.
Zeanah, P., Burstein, K., & Cartier, J. (2018). Addressing adverse childhood experiences: It’s all about relationships. Societies, 8(4), 115. Web.