Psychology
Courtney Houston
University of South Alabama
Psychology
Alan is a 6 year old boy, who lives in Mobile, Alabama, with his parents. His father is a bank manager and his mother is a home-based tutor. She has earned her Master’s in Mathematics and teaches it to high school students. She used to teach at Mobile County Public School System in Alabama, but after adopting Alan, she left her job and shifted her complete focus and care towards Alan.
Alan's weekday is filled with a lot of healthy activities. He wakes up at 8 am. After finishing his breakfast, he starts preparing for his school. His school bus reaches their home around 8:30 am and drops Alan at school at around 8:50 am. He attends the school from 9:00 am to 2:35 pm and come back home on the same bus. After changing his clothes, he eats his lunch. Then he goes to bed and sleeps for like 1 to 2 hours. After waking up in the evening at around 5:00 pm, he does his homework and then rides his bicycle on the lawn of his house. He continues to play with his toys until dinner. And one hour after dinner, at around 9 pm, he goes to bed.
The weekends of Alan are quite interesting. He wakes up at the same time, and after having breakfast, he goes for a morning walk with his parents in the nearby park. After coming back home, his father asks him about the tasks and activities he performed in the past week in the school and any problems he faced. A very healthy discussion in a nice manner takes place between Alan and his father. His father plays different kinds of games with him and ensures to keep him engaged in healthy activities. After having lunch, Alan takes a nap of about 2-3 hours and plays with his friends in the street till 6 pm. He then comes back home, and his mom baths him and cleans him up. After that, dinner is served, and after a one hour walk in the lawn of their home, Alan goes to his bed.
Alan is a very smart and healthy boy who is very friendly with almost everyone. He loves riding his bicycle and doing sports. According to his teachers at school, his interaction with his classmates is also very good. All of his teachers like him as he is one of the bright students, both academically and in extracurricular activities. He is a confident and optimistic boy who asks questions both in the class and in the home to his teachers and parents regarding everything he experiences in his daily routine.
The strong attachment of Alan with his mother verifies the fact that she took care of him as his true mother. According to his mother, Alan successfully developed good verbal skills in his childhood. His first words were ‘‘Maa’’, who was his mother. He started waking before one. Alan's mother knows him inside out as she spends most of her time with him. His mother continued teaching as a home-based tutor after she left her job, and she teaches the students of primary school. She also teaches Alan along with other kids, and according to her, it has been a wonderful experience to raise a child as a teacher, as well as a mother. This allowed her to interact more deeply with Alan. She cares for him like a mother and teaches him like an inspirational teacher. She loves how fast Alan's thought process and imagination power is growing.
Summary of the Articles
The study conducted by Claudia Piermattei and colleagues have evaluated attachment security and emotional availability in mother-child and father-child association due to late adoptions of child. The study has assessed that neglect and abuse can significantly affect a child's health. The research was conducted on 20 families ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a3sel3gl0h","properties":{"formattedCitation":"{\\rtf (Piermattei, Pace, Tambelli, D\\uc0\\u8217{}Onofrio, & Di Folco, 2017)}","plainCitation":"(Piermattei, Pace, Tambelli, D’Onofrio, & Di Folco, 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":845,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/XJS2QEEI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/XJS2QEEI"],"itemData":{"id":845,"type":"article-journal","title":"Late adoptions: attachment security and emotional availability in mother–child and father–child dyads","container-title":"Journal of Child and Family Studies","page":"2114-2125","volume":"26","issue":"8","author":[{"family":"Piermattei","given":"Claudia"},{"family":"Pace","given":"Cecilia Serena"},{"family":"Tambelli","given":"Renata"},{"family":"D’Onofrio","given":"Ester"},{"family":"Di Folco","given":"Simona"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Piermattei, Pace, Tambelli, D’Onofrio, & Di Folco, 2017). These families have adopted children 12 to 36 months before this study. The age of the children was between 4.5 years old to 8.5 years ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a21g0vvj65q","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Piermattei et al., 2017)","plainCitation":"(Piermattei et al., 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":845,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/XJS2QEEI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/XJS2QEEI"],"itemData":{"id":845,"type":"article-journal","title":"Late adoptions: attachment security and emotional availability in mother–child and father–child dyads","container-title":"Journal of Child and Family Studies","page":"2114-2125","volume":"26","issue":"8","author":[{"family":"Piermattei","given":"Claudia"},{"family":"Pace","given":"Cecilia Serena"},{"family":"Tambelli","given":"Renata"},{"family":"D’Onofrio","given":"Ester"},{"family":"Di Folco","given":"Simona"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Piermattei et al., 2017). The study has evaluated that a child's health and attachment are significantly affected due to adoption. Interviews were conducted from parents and children through Manchester Child Attachment Story Task ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"anihre3r5d","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Piermattei et al., 2017)","plainCitation":"(Piermattei et al., 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":845,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/XJS2QEEI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/XJS2QEEI"],"itemData":{"id":845,"type":"article-journal","title":"Late adoptions: attachment security and emotional availability in mother–child and father–child dyads","container-title":"Journal of Child and Family Studies","page":"2114-2125","volume":"26","issue":"8","author":[{"family":"Piermattei","given":"Claudia"},{"family":"Pace","given":"Cecilia Serena"},{"family":"Tambelli","given":"Renata"},{"family":"D’Onofrio","given":"Ester"},{"family":"Di Folco","given":"Simona"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Piermattei et al., 2017). Evaluation of the study was performed using an emotional availability scale. The level of emotional attachment shown by the mothers and children were below as compared to the control group. Generally, with deference to the association and emotional availability, it needs to be expected that the distribution of sensitive experiences occurs through a process of dyadic attunement of motivational methods.
The study conducted by Leslie D. Leve and the colleagues represented early growth and developmental study through birth to middle childhood. It was a prospective adoption study performed on 561 triads. The purpose of the study was to analyze factors such as peer, family, and contextual elements, and its influence on the adjustment of children after adoption. Study participants were utilized by adoption agencies throughout the United States ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a15tgs59d9i","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Leslie, 2008)","plainCitation":"(Leslie, 2008)"},"citationItems":[{"id":496,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/HD9ZK9T3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/HD9ZK9T3"],"itemData":{"id":496,"type":"article-journal","title":"Youth substance use and abuse: challenges and strategies for identification and intervention","container-title":"Cmaj","page":"145-148","volume":"178","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Leslie","given":"Karen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Leslie, 2008). Assessments were made from 9 months until the child reached the age of 3 years ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2d0jnsj83q","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Leslie, 2008)","plainCitation":"(Leslie, 2008)"},"citationItems":[{"id":496,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/HD9ZK9T3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/HD9ZK9T3"],"itemData":{"id":496,"type":"article-journal","title":"Youth substance use and abuse: challenges and strategies for identification and intervention","container-title":"Cmaj","page":"145-148","volume":"178","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Leslie","given":"Karen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Leslie, 2008). The factors that were assessed include parenting, social behaviors, and mental health. Along with these contextual factors and birth, genetic and school performance was also analyzed ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a9jok1lp3o","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Leslie, 2008)","plainCitation":"(Leslie, 2008)"},"citationItems":[{"id":496,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/HD9ZK9T3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/HD9ZK9T3"],"itemData":{"id":496,"type":"article-journal","title":"Youth substance use and abuse: challenges and strategies for identification and intervention","container-title":"Cmaj","page":"145-148","volume":"178","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Leslie","given":"Karen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Leslie, 2008). Results have shown that parenting efficacy, guidance, and over-reactive parenting have influenced the health of children and resulted in depressive disorders and mental health was affected.
Theory of Child Development
The theory of attachment has been specifically concerned with the developmental psychology of the child. This theory states that the development and growth of children depend significantly on attachment and close relationship. Children are extensively influenced by the elements of social interactions such as the relationship of the father-child and mother-child association ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2iki7ls25m","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Fonagy, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Fonagy, 2018)"},"citationItems":[{"id":851,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/TQU2ZN3H"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/TQU2ZN3H"],"itemData":{"id":851,"type":"book","title":"Attachment theory and psychoanalysis","publisher":"Routledge","ISBN":"0-429-47206-4","author":[{"family":"Fonagy","given":"Peter"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Fonagy, 2018). Physical attachment is associated with the growth of children particularly in schools and homes. The social environment has been associated with the growth of children, for example, children having groups of friends are observed with better psychological health ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2qovvtto56","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Fonagy, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Fonagy, 2018)"},"citationItems":[{"id":851,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/TQU2ZN3H"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/TQU2ZN3H"],"itemData":{"id":851,"type":"book","title":"Attachment theory and psychoanalysis","publisher":"Routledge","ISBN":"0-429-47206-4","author":[{"family":"Fonagy","given":"Peter"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Fonagy, 2018).
The societies and communities that allow the restricted and limited association of children with groups and communities to have slow development emotionally. These children are usually weak in connecting and interacting with other people. As results have shown that guidance, parenting behaviors, and over-reactive parenting have a significant influence on the health of children and resulted in depressive disorders and mental health was affected. Attachment theory has suggested that associations with parents should be strong for the expressive and significant positive growth of children ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a27vq2jasm","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Fonagy, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Fonagy, 2018)"},"citationItems":[{"id":851,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/TQU2ZN3H"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/p8kwKNoG/items/TQU2ZN3H"],"itemData":{"id":851,"type":"book","title":"Attachment theory and psychoanalysis","publisher":"Routledge","ISBN":"0-429-47206-4","author":[{"family":"Fonagy","given":"Peter"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Fonagy, 2018). These associations are significantly important for adopted children
References
Kochanska, G., & Aksan, N. (2004). Development of Mutual Responsiveness Between Parents and Their Young Children. Child Development, 75(6), 1657–1676. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00808.x
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Fonagy, P. (2018). Attachment theory and psychoanalysis. Routledge.
Leslie, K. (2008). Youth substance use and abuse: challenges and strategies for identification and intervention. Cmaj, 178(2), 145–148.
Piermattei, C., Pace, C. S., Tambelli, R., D’Onofrio, E., & Di Folco, S. (2017). Late adoptions: attachment security and emotional availability in mother-child and father-child dyads. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(8), 2114–2125.
