Childhood Education And Social Inequalities Essay Research

Paper Early Childhood Development and Social Inequalities By All families should have the same opportunities to live a descent life. But due to the backgrounds of some families, and children, they may not have a chance for this. There are certain risk factors that have a bearing on social inequalities in health, and particularly those that are prone to preventative intervention. There are many that I could talk about, but I have picked out four of these factors to talk about. They are biological factors, family and social factors, parenting factors, and attachment. Even these I feel that I will not be able to cover completely, because there is only a certain part we see, and then there is the that is kept hidden from all. There are many factors that influence the development and social inequalities in a child?s life. These include biological, family and social factors, parenting factors, attachment, and the way non-maternal care is influenced. All of these are risk factors that are likely to have a bearing on the child?s social inequalities on their health. The biological factors include premature birth, low birth weight, and a serious medical illness. The significantly influence and infants growth. ?Low birth weight, less than 2500 grams, has a prevalence of 6 percent in white middle-class U.S. women, and 15 percent in ethnic minority teenagers. These teenagers tend to be single mothers.? At the Infant Health and Development Project, they found that in a large amount of premature infants, that their IQ was less than 85 at three years of age. Race was the greatest factor in predicting outcome, that was followed by maternal education, and then medical complications. The infants of poorly educated African American mothers (90%) who had medical complications were severely compromised, while only nine percent of white infants with well-educated parents fell into this category, regardless of birth complications. There are other biological variables that seem to be independent of psycho-social factors. In one study, it was shown that if the mother smoked during her pregnancy, there appeared to be a high risk for conduct disorder and male children. This study suggested that are maybe a direct effect on the still developing fetus. ?The influences of genetics are seen as an impact on social inequalities. The MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study provided researchers with important information related to genetic factors in behavioral inhibition.? Behavioral inhibition is unstable between ages of 14 to 24 months, and that this change is due to genetics rather then environmental factors. It suggests that genes may turn off and on at different ages, and that genes are ?context dependent.? In example of the Twin Study, comparisons between the identical and fraternal twins show that there was a continual genetic influence showing responses on cognitive, emotional, and behavior arousal in response to distress of another, at the ages of 24 and 36 months. Social influences that were shared by the twins with their interactions with parents and others were a major influence with the mothers, but not the testers. So genetic influences showed up more readily. Genetic influences were ever present are not environmentally controlled. Maybe the social background of a child with a low SES (socioeconomic status) could inhibit or caused the trigger effect (turn on or off) of genetic propensities. Our next topic is the family and social factors. Two of the biggest are social class and poverty. These have been found very often to predict the developmental outcomes of childhood. There are suggestions that infants and young children who grow up in poverty are more likely to suffer health problems., cognitive delays and behavioral problems as compared to children who do not grow up in poverty. These poor children ?more likely to experience medical problems such as lead poisoning, failure to thrive, otitis media, iron deficiency, anemia, and to score lower on developmental and cognitive scales.? There are many variables that effect relationships indirectly, these include nutrition, housing, medical care, lifestyles, neighborhood quality, accidents, and exposure to toxic substances. Also a social and emotional qualities in which the child develops: parenting skills, maltreatment, maternal disharmony, and quality of care. Young children who have a low SES are assigned the term ?doubled jeopardy,? because they are not only exposed to risk factors more frequently, but they also experience more serious consequences from these risks. People from a low SES background are vulnerable to negative events in their lives such as single parenting, social isolation, and unemployment. The fate of the child raised in poverty is further jeopardized by more exposure to power-assertive discipline and physical punishment without the parenting support they need. Evidence of poor abusive families who live in poverty is likely to be associated with an increase in the severity of maltreatment. ?The effect of low SES on social development and delinquency is particularly strong when experienced in early childhood.? Poverty severely affects the child?s home environment. There are other features of poverty that are also linked to social class. There is a study done in 1991 that showed adolescent mothers who had a two-month old infant, that there was more role-reversal in low SES subjects. Infants and toddlers who live in poor families showed that their level of stimulation is likely to be lower than in more affluent households. This lower-level of stimulation, in the support which is found in the homes of low SES children is frequently pointed out as the most important detriment of a poor developmental outcome. There many specific family risk factors that are important to social inequality, the three that stand out the most are maternal quality, adolescent parenting, and family violence. There are many studies that link maternal quality to infant functioning. ?Conflict predicts abnormal infant behavior and conduct problems in toddlers.? In some studies the comparison of the effect of family instability such as losing a parent through divorce or death. Maternal conflict has always had an impact on children?s behavioral problems, and has caused a greater negative influence. The risk to children is associated to overt expressions of inter-parental anger, expression of physical hostility, child-rearing disagreements, and the lack of resolving conflicts. In families were there is only a mother, their children have injury rates that are twice that of two parent families. These injuries are statistically explained by the development of social inequalities such as poverty, poor housing, and social isolation. When the parent is an adolescent is well-established that there is a greater risk factor in the development of infants. Parenting behavior of these adolescent mothers is deficient in many important areas. They are more passive in one-on-one interactions, stimulate the infant less, smile and talk less, fewer positive physical or eye contacts, given more commands and authorative statements, more restrictive, physically intrusive and punitive, they make fewer elaborative and descriptive responses, and are less committed and satisfied with being a mother. The parents who show this usually have children who speak less, have poorer cognitive and linguistic outcomes, are impulsive, aggressive, have social withdrawal, insecure attachments, and poor peer relationships. Maltreatment of children is another big risk-factor with significant bearing on the social class. Maltreatment is associated with aggression, and ?four times as many(about 20%) of maltreated children go on to become delinquent.? The causes can be associated with biological psychological, and social bearings. There is no doubt that early maltreatment of children can affect their neurodevelopment as well as their behavior. If the parents have access to community resources, and the support those resources provide are increased, then the possibility of maltreatment is diminished. Disorganized attachment may be linked to maltreatment. Mothers with toddlers who reported an abundance of partner violence were more likely to show disorganized attachment relationships, even if there was no evidence of the children themselves having been maltreated. ?Maltreated youngsters show many other social and emotional problems including indiscriminate sociability, poor affect regulation, heightened levels of aggression, social withdrawal, inconsistent and unpredictable signals. Perhaps most critically, there appear to be major dysfunctions of self development.? It is suggested that if a child is maltreated early, then that may undermine the relationship between the infant and the care-giver. This limits the way they interact with their care-givers and other children. It focuses them to use action instead of words to influence the behavior of others, and the way themselves act. One of the most influential impacts on child development is child-rearing, or parenting. When we look at parenting this way social inequalities are most relevant. The mothers who are from low SES groups are apt to provide less learning and academic stimulation, they offer less variety in social and cultural experiences, less warmth and affection, and more punitive care- giving such as yelling, scolding, hitting and spanking. These behaviors have shown to be associated with poor results including a lower IQ, and emotional and behavioral problems. ?A recent report from the multi-site Infant Health and Development Program showed that harsh parental discipline in the context of low maternal warmth, was associated with IQ scores for girls at three years of age 12 points lower than the IQ scores of girls who received low punishment and high warmth.? Young mothers who have great stress in their mother-child relationship have found it more difficult to make use of job opportunity and basic skills programs. In regards of their strength in the relationship between quality of parenting, and socioeconomic status is moderate. When parenting is based on the assertion of power instead of supportive guidance, it breeds the development of behavioral disorders. In a study conducted by NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, the ratings of mothers? sensitivity – positive regard, non-intrusiveness, sensitivity to non-distress expression, based on videotaped observations of mother-child interaction at 6-15months showed non-complaint behavior in the laboratory, as well as in the home at two and three years. When parents make ?do demands? such as ?come and eat,? ?sit down,? and ?get dressed? to two and three year olds, instead of ?don?t demands? ?don?t get lost,? ?don?t stay up too late,? as well as using positive affects, the children?s level of compliance is enhanced. Another psychiatric problem that can be connected with social inequalities in early childhood development is substance abuse. Evidence shows that there is no simple relationship between prenatal drug exposure and specific developmental outcomes. But the combination of biological and psycho-social risk factors that are related with drug abuse. It has been shown that there are serious effects on development. A drug using life style could be tied to inadequate nutrition and poor prenatal care, which compromises fetal growth. ?Drug exposure is likely to affect CNS development as a function of timing, dose, and duration.? These factors are impossible to control, and their impact can be moderated by other factors that are not related to the nature of the exposure. By assessing this information, I think that maybe we should look at the existing health visitation program offered by the state. If we make some changes I feel that the health visitation may be more effective. We could have them working more with mothers before the birth of their child, giving them information on what to expect. Also have them work in a structured program of proven proficiency, one that has shown good results. Priority should also be given to mothers who, in the past have had a history of childhood maltreatment, give special training in child management techniques, all of these should lead up to good childhood care. There could also be experimental trials conducted for early parent-training, who are at high risk. These could include focusing on child behavior management, having the parent take classes on how to manage different behaviors. Enlist the aide of the community in parent- training, this could be offered in groups instead of individuals, this does away with the singling out of people who are more at risk than others. There should also be a much wider voluntary program for mothers at risk, and this could be started in the child?s first six months. A specialized trainer could conduct this program, maybe a mother who has already gone through the program. In the pre-school curriculum problems of behavior may be addressed. Schools could have specially trained pre-school teachers aimed at reducing the risk of behavior disorders, and conduct problems. For children and parents who are going through the loss of a parent, by divorce or death, a program could be set up. This program would help the parents to manage the conflict of divorce, in order to reduce the child from feeling like they are the problem. It would also help the child to stay in touch with both parents after the divorce. This program could be integrated into the school system, with school based counseling services for these children. Bibliography ?Bibliography Easterbrooks, M. A., & Emde, R. N. ?Marriage and Infant: Different Systems’ Linkages for Mothers and Infants.? (1986) Paper presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Beverly Hills, CA. Elder, G. H., & Rockwell, R. C.. Research in Community and Mental Health 1(1979) Korner, A. F., Stevenson, D. K., Kraemer, H. C., Spiker, D., & et al. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 14 (1993) Lewis, D. O., Mallouh, C., & Webb, V Child Maltreatment: Theory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect . (1989) Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Parker, S., Greer, S., & Zuckerman, B. Double Jeopardy: The Impact of Poverty on Early Child Development. Pediatric Clinics of North America (1988) Robinson, J. L., Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Corley, R..Developmental Psychology (1992) Schneider-Rosen, K., & Cicchetti, D. Developmental Psychology 27 (1991) Smith, J. R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 151 (1997)