Development is a critical step that all manure personal must have gone through at some stage in their lives. Social, cognitive, emotional, and mental development are important in a child’s life. Notably, children different develop and grow in terms of their social, emotional, cognitive, and learning abilities. These differences in children development are attributed to different factors that either negatively impact on their development capacities. This paper, therefore, highlights some of the key factors that affect a child’s development and growth. In particular, this paper explores biological and experience, cultural factors, environmental and active participation, relationships, vulnerability and resilience, and the role of risk and protection balance in a child’s development.

The Impact of Culture on Early Childhood Development

Culture is described as the submission of intangible and tangible attributed and beliefs of a community, nation, or society. Culture and cultural practices and norms influence children’s social, emotional, and psychological development. Intangible cultural attributes include rituals and ceremonies, norms and values, hospitality, and fork-ways. Since culture is not static, changes in the cultural attributes directly affect the emotional and social development of the child.

Moral Differences

Differences in the moral values are an important cultural attribute that affects children’s development. Different cultures emphasizes on different moral values and beliefs that aim at stressing certain goals, skills, and ideas in its followers. According to Berger (2011), family and societal cultures are the primary factors behind a child’s moral development. It is these cultural differences that explain the differences in the moral and social view held by children from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Language

Language is another cultural attribute that affect the cognitive development capacity of a child. According to Shonkoff and Phillips (2001), children exposed to more than language at different stage of their development often learn these languages differently. This affects their social and cognitive development as their interaction with other children would be limited given the language barriers that may exist between these children from different cultures. In terms of cognitive development, delayed language learning results in poor academic success, especially in language classes, until ten years.

Parenting Styles

Parenting style, which entails different approaches applied by families in resolving conflicts between children and parents, differs across different cultures. According to Berger (2011), Western parents use authoritative parenting style that emphasizes the need for open expression and autonomy and setting clear limits, but allowing open communication between the child and the parent. African and Asian cultures also tend to root for authoritarian parenting style; however, their style emphasizes firmness rather than autonomy. Such cultures are, therefore, strict in rule-setting and discipline, hence limiting a child’s social development.

Biological Factors Affecting Childhood Development

The Contribution of Genetics

Shonkoff and Phillips (2001) found that there is a strong link between development and genetics. By comparing children staying with their biological mothers and adopted children, it was established that adopted children only resembled their adoptive parents at their early childhood ages, but were not similar in any way by middle childhood. Instead, children were now increasingly closer to their biological mothers and father both in verbal and cognitive development. Therefore, the study concluded that genetic factors have a fundamental in a child’s development.

Hormones and Their Effects

According to Shonkoff and Phillips (2001), hormones account for the differences in child development and growth during middle childhood. In particular, pituitary glands and endocrine hormones that are responsible for growth and physical changes in children are the main source of difference in physical development and growth in children. Any inherited condition or disorder leading to hormonal deficiency severely impact on a child’s physical development. In addition, the deficiency of thyroxine hormone during birth often suffers from limited brain development, thus causing learning and cognitive challenges (Berger, 2011).

The Impact of Disabilities

Disabilities and disorders are biological factors that are responsible for delayed social, emotional, and cognitive development of children. Some of these disorders include ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), autism spectrum disorders, emotional disorders, and behavioral disorders (Berger, 2011). These disorders only become clear during middle childhood. If not diagnosed, these disorders negatively impact on a child’s social, learning, and emotional development.

Environmental Factors Affecting Social and Emotional Development

Environment plays a significant role in early childhood development by influencing their social-emotional development prospects particularly among children aged five years and below. A finding by the WHO (World Health Organization) on child development singled out environmental factors as key contributors to social-emotional problems affecting a child’s functioning and development (Berger, 2011). Some of the environmental factors responsible for children development include the child’s living environments, intellectual stimulation, and economic struggles.

Overcrowded and Noisy Living Environment

A research by Gary Evens (a development and environmental psychologist) established that overcrowded and loud or noisy living environment negatively impact on the emotional and social development and growth of children. This research established that such environments are characterized by shorter word communication and less communication between parents and children. This reduced interaction often affects the ability of infants and toddlers to connect, socialize, and interact with others. Notably, attachment quality between the parents and the child is forms the barometric requirements for emotional, health, and social development in children. Children cope with crowding and noise by tuning out sounds, withdrawing, hence interfering with their cognitive, emotional, and social development (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2001).

Economic Struggle

WHO identified economic struggle as one of the environmental factors that negatively impact on the emotional and social development of a child through poor nutrition. A rapid brain development and growth is only possible through adequate and balanced nutrition. Improper and inadequate nutrition slows down the growth capacity of the brain, hence delaying cognitive, emotional, and social development of the child (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2001). On the other hand, parents’ response to economic stress and other environmental issues affects child’s emotional and social development. In particular, depressive symptoms responses are more likely to negatively affect child-mother interactions. The ability of the parents to manage or respond to financial and economic pressure, therefore, has a stronger impact on the emotional and social development of the child.

Intellectual Stimulation

According to the WHO, promoting cognitive development through emotional and social development is enhances by an intellectually stimulating conditions. The creation of such environments require safe and clean areas for toddlers and babies to explore by availing baby safe households and interesting toys for adventure (Berger, 2011). Letting children explore on their own and playing with children are fundamental in proper emotional and social development.

How Risk and Protective Factors Affects Child Development

A risk factor is anything like characteristics, trait, event, circumstance, and or relationships that increases the probability value for certain outcome.  Protective factors reduce the probability of such outcome in the presence of risk.

Child Development

What happens in the life a child influences their future development, behavior, health and wellbeing. The psychological problems experience during an adolescence and adulthood are associated with risk and protective factors evident in the child earlier development. For instance, a family history of alcoholism can be considered a risk factor for becoming an alcoholic. While on the other hand, growing up in a family where parents talk and openly with their children about alcohol can be considered protective factors (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2001).

Risk Classification

There are many ways of classifying risks and protective factors and all these have practical implications in the child development. Some factors are dynamic while others are static. Dynamic factors for example certain relationships or behavior of a child can be affected through interventions; however, static factors like ethnicity and gender cannot be affected by interventions (Berger, 2011). There are also proximal (direct) and distal (indirect) factors. The proximal factors are more direct and casually related to the expected outcome they are called externalizing or internalizing problems. The distal factors related to the outcome through their relation to the direct factors. For example, shop lifting by the youths can be seen as assign of peer pressure where the individuals succumb to the pressure.

It is noted that not all protective and risk factors are equal in measures; some are more influential than others. For instance, having friends who drink and smoke can have significant risk effect for the teens to start a bussing drug (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2001). This means that it is much stronger than having such substance available in the society.

The Role of Vulnerability and Resilience in Child Development

Resilience signifies the successful adaption of the society to the natural hazards while vulnerability is the failure or susceptibility to adapt to the societal threats in the environment.

Categories of vulnerability and resilience environment

A child can be exposed to two major vulnerability and resilience factors in the environment. The first one is the vulnerability and resilience of the child to his or her immediate family and the second is the social system in the child development that usually has a significance to the child’s experience for example school and community  (Shonkoff  & Phillips, 2001). The events become more significant as child grow into adulthood.

Social and economic vulnerability and resilience

Occurs when there is unequal exposure to risk that is coupled by unequal access to resources. Poor individuals frequently reside in hazardous regions and hence more vulnerable than the wealthier who reside in safer areas. When a child is brought up in hazardous area they would be vulnerable to the environmental hazards.

Some children can cope with family break up while others are too vulnerable to the situation and always find it hard to survive. Family break ups can negatively affects child development, however, the research show that boy child are more resilience than their counter parts who are more vulnerable in that circumstance (Berger, 2011).

Nutritional vulnerability and resilience

Most of the child especially in the developing countries is vulnerable due to lack of adequate food and this has caused malnutrition in such children. Malnutrition is a risk factor and makes children to be more vulnerable to disease. However, some factors may contribute to some children from the same regions becoming more active and resilience toward malnutrition. Maternal education in poor community has help to reduce child vulnerability, some children also thrive in a risky environment by mining toward their hygiene, and they constantly eat healthy food in cleaner environment (Shonkoff  & Phillips, 2001).

How Relationship Influence Child Development

The types of relationship parents develop with their child influence their development. Children know what they expect from their parents, homes and society as they grow. Being a Supportive and responsible parents and guardians enable a child to grow a responsible person in future.

Social and Emotional Development

Children are like sponges that absorb any information that they come across and parents should be careful in dealing with these children. For example when apparent cuddle, kisses, and hugs the kid, it would be seen by the kid as a sense of closeness and being important in the family while failure to do that can mean rejection and hence poor relationship (Berger, 2011).

Many parents help their child to develop without them noticing. Parents’ facial expressions, words and body language will tell the child how to respond emotionally and this interactions help children learn how to react during troubles and stress and also how to show emotion in healthy relationships

Parents Influence

Parents’ expectation can impede healthy child development. Parents should not impose their expectations onto the child since this will demoralize them and subsequently leads to unhealthy relationships (Shonkoff  & Phillips, 2001). The parents should carefully advice their kids but not impose ideas on them. Parents should development better communication channels to relate instill discipline in their children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Berger, K. S. (2011). The developing person through the life span. (Eighth Edition). Worth Publishers.

Shonkoff, J. & Phillips, D. (Eds.). (2001). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

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