Childhood stressors

For this assignment I spoke with my close family. I started with my parents and I went through the list of stressors. They said they did not feel they grew up during a time where they experienced any of these. I then went on to ask my grandparents (both maternal and paternal). They responded very similarly. They said they did not feel they grew up during a time of poverty, but they may have been classified as poverty. My maternal grandmother said that she grew up on a farm and even though they were considered to be poor she never went without a meal. They always had just enough. She always had enough food to eat and had clothes on her back (even if they were hand me down clothes). My paternal grandfather said something very similar. He said again that he would not have considered himself poor his parents made enough to put food on the table and provide them with necessities. Both of my grandparents said that they did not feel they had to cope/survive during these times, because family was there for them and they may not have had everything they wanted, but they had everything they needed. It was a time where a neighbor lent a helping hand and family was always there for one another. Therefore, as adults looking back, there were no ramifications for them growing up.

            As I researched poverty for children in a foreign country I came upon a book called Mandela’s Children Growing up in Post-Apartheid South Africa. As I read on I came upon their definition of poverty “the poor are those whose income comes below what is required to meet basic needs such as food and shelter” (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). The book goes on to discuss what the ramifications are for children who grow up in poverty and the ramifications (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). There was a study done on children ages between two and six who suffered from poverty, based on five principal poverty indicators (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). The study was done to see what the effects were of psychosocial development on the children (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). The results of this study were as follows:

·         Age two feeding and speech problems

·         Ages four and five bladder, feeding, speech, and behavioral problems.

·         Age six feeding, motor and speech, behavioral problems, emotional disorders, and social competence

(Barbarin & Richter, 2001).

As a result of this study research is being conducted to figure out what the direct impact is for the specific problems and what can be done to help minimize the above named problems (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). For example the research showed that the feeding problems were associated with material well-being (Barbarin & Richter, 2001). Therefore further research is being done to figure out the direct cause and triggers of poverty that impacts the children’s psychosocial development (Barbarin & Richter, 2001).

References

Barbarin, O. A., & Richter, L. M. (2001). Mandela's Children Growing up in Post-Apartheid South Africa. New York, NY: Routledge.