Stress on Children’s Development

Stressors in Childhood

Someone I am very close to grew up in a household full of violence and abuse.  He was the child of a single mother who had to rely on her abusive father to take her and her family in.  This person dealt with physical and emotional abuse on a daily basis and would try to avoid his grandfather as much as possible.  His other family members turned their attention to his sister and protected her at all costs.  He was the target of his grandfather’s frustrations and rage.  He suffered his entire childhood from elementary school through high school.

In order to cope, he tried to avoid his grandfather, helping his mother outside or spending time at friends’ homes.  When he reached his early teenage years, his uncle took him all summer long, which gave him an out from the abuse and violence.  He became an angry teenager who got himself into fights and into alcohol.  When he became old enough, he started physically fighting back against his grandfather.  Once he was 17, he moved out with some older friends who had their own house.  He continued living a reckless party lifestyle. 

This story however, has a happy ending.  When he was older, he obtained counseling services to help him deal with the emotional stress he had lived with for so long.  He went to college, graduate, and law school, traveled the world and overcame the adversity he faced growing up.  He is currently married and has a daughter and has single handedly rebuilt the relationships in his family, including the one with his grandfather. 

Stressors in Afghanistan

I was interested in the country of Afghanistan after reading Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, I was made aware of the devastation the country and its people faced after the intrusion of the Taliban.

People in this country are faced with war, poverty, and hunger.  After years of war, Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to live.  According to ActionAidUSA, Afghanistan is faced with high infant and child mortality rates, low immunizations, severe nutritional deficiencies, low school enrollment and low literacy levels.  In Kandahar City, over 32,000 school aged children are living and working on the streets.  Of these children, over 75% of them are out of school (www.actionaiduse.org).  Many of these children have lost their parents because of the conflict and scavenge for their food or become involved in dangerous or illegal activities.  Girls are often unable to even attend school because their parents do not see the benefit of education.  Also, children are needed to help earn money for the family.  Food is scarce in the country as well because of draughts.  25,000 kids died of hunger last year. 

Aid is being provided by countries, like the USA, but it’s not enough.  The infrastructure of the country needs to be invested in but, not enough is going into rebuilding schools, hospitals, and airports.  Families who are able, move to other areas in order to try to improve their lives.  The country is still working to rebuild, but the process is slow.        

Source:

http://www.actionaidusa.org/

     

Immunization

Immunizations protect children and adults from a variety of contagious diseases and other serious complications through the use of a vaccine.  Being a mother, I faced the same dilemma as most parents in regards to immunizing my child.  I heard about many of the concerns regarding the side effects of vaccinations, such as the possibility of developing autism.  My husband also had similar concerns regarding immunizing my daughter for the flu, because he believed that people need to develop their own immunities to the flu virus.  Because the benefits to immunizations are greater than the risks that come with not immunizing a child, I had my daughter receive all of the recommended vaccines. 

In many other areas of the world, having your child immunized is not as easy as here in the United States.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website, in the country of India, many areas do not have good vaccination programs.  Because of this, India accounts for 40% of the world’s children who are not fully vaccinated (www.cdc.gov).  In slum areas, children are exposed to poor hygiene and sanitation facilities, which increase the risk of transmission of polio, a disease rarely ever heard of here in the US.  Unfortunately, some families are resistant to immunizing their children; many times, they are unaware of vaccines or may not know the long-term positive benefits from vaccinating their children.  Programs such as Polio Partnership work to explain the value of vaccinating children (www.unicef.org).  Polio Partnership’s goal is to make sure every child under five is immunized with the oral polio vaccine.  Another website I visited, www.youthkiawaaz.com, mentioned that there is a Universal Immunization Program, whose objective is to immunize all infants universally.  While this is a wonderful concept, they face several problems. 

1.      Inadequate coverage: In many areas in India, there is no record of newborns and many infants are only partially immunized.

2.      Lack of training:  Lack of data storage, safe injection and disposal of vaccines.

3.      Lack of cold storage facilities for the vaccines

It is important to make parents aware of the benefits and risks associated with immunizing and not immunizing children.  Luckily, vaccinations are easily accessible here in the United States.  Contagious diseases that are controllable through the use of a vaccine should not be affecting children in other areas around the world.  It’s wonderful that programs are available to try to increase immunization awareness in all areas. 

Childbirth Experiences

My daughter was born on December 22, 2006 at 8:31 am.  I had a difficult time convincing the doctor to allow me to come into the hospital around 11:00 pm the night before.  She continued to tell me that I was having pre labor contractions and I should remain at home.  After several telephone calls, I was given the “okay” to come in.  Upon arriving I was registered and wheel chaired to a delivery room where I changed into a gown and was examined.  I was not far enough along and the doctor considered sending me back home.  My contractions intensified, but never showed the active labor pattern.  They decided to keep me overnight and gave me a shot of morphine in my thigh to relieve some of the pain.  It didn’t help.  The contractions kept me from sleeping, but thankfully around 3 am, I was given an epidural for the pain and was able to sleep until around 7:30 am.  At that time, I was fully dilated and able to start delivery.  The room had several nurses who helped with the delivery instructions.  After about 45 minutes of pushing, I delivered a healthy 7 lb. ½ oz baby girl, with the help of my obstetrician.  Luckily the entire delivery process went extremely smooth and we had no problems whatsoever.  Later that day, we were moved to a post delivery room and remained until the afternoon of December 24^th, just in time for Christmas!

I chose this example because it is the only birthing experience I have.  I consider myself very lucky because several friends and family members had a lot of difficulties with the birth or the after effects of the birth.  Birthing complications could have a significant impact on child development.  A friend’s baby had a difficult time passing through the birthing canal and swallowed a large amount of meconium.  At one year old, he continues to have breathing difficulties and has to use a breathing treatment.  He also needed to wear a helmet because one side of his head was not shaped correctly.  While he is developmentally on track with other one year olds, he has had to face several challenges already in life and he will continue to live with breathing difficulties.  Having adequate care and support from the hospital staff allowed him to have minimal effects from the difficult birth.

My grandmother was born in the Philippines, so I decided to find out about births in the Philippines.  The Philippines have a very high infant and mother mortality rate.  A child born in the Philippines is almost fourteen times more likely to die during the first month of life and about half of the Filipino children’s deaths (under age 5) happen in the first 28 days of life.  One out of every 140 pregnant women dies during childbirth of conditions that are preventable or treatable, such as hemorrhage, sepsis, or hypertension.  One of the reasons for this is because it is common Filipino practice to perform deliveries outside of a health facility.  8 out of 10 births in rural areas occur at home without the help of medical professionals.  Instead, mothers will use a home based attendant, or “hilot” to help with the delivery.  These attendants are not prepared to deal with emergency situations.  Many women living in these rural areas are poor and unable to access medical care during pregnancy therefore having a higher risk of complications during childbirth. 

Unlike the United States, where nearly 100% of all births take place in a clinical facility, only 60% of the births in the Philippines are even supervised by a skilled birth attendant.  There are hospitals, doctors, nurses, and midwives in the cities.  Many mothers are kept in the maternity ward in these hospitals, all sharing a single, large room.  During my daughter’s birth, I had a private delivery and recovery room.  In the hospitals, Filipino mothers are attended by many staff members, similar to the amount of support we receive here in the US.  Babies are often kept together in a single bed, similar to the nurseries in the American hospitals. 

The birthing experience in the rural areas of the Philippines would have a huge impact on the development of the child.  Generally, these mothers are poor, uneducated, and unable to access medical care during their pregnancy.  The babies being carried by these women have a much higher risk of complications and possibly death, which will greatly impact their development. 

Resources

Delfin, Claire (2009).  Childbirth, still a grim reality for many Filipino mothers and babies. Retrieved July 2, 2011 from www.gmanews.tv