According to The Impact of Early Adversity on Children's Development (n.d.), stress during sensitive periods of times in early childhood can have a negative impact on the development of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health. Stress changes the architecture of the brain and puts individuals at a higher risk for depression, drug and alcohol use and cardio-vascular disease.
In a study on how adolescents in seven European countries cope with everyday stressors, the researches defined 3 general coping styles: Active Coping, or actively dealing with the problem and solving it; Internal Coping-, or thinking about the problem and reflecting on the possible solutions; and Withdrawal or withdrawing from the problem and trying to find a distraction. The study revealed that adolescents used more functional coping strategies, such as internal and active coping. Active coping was more favorable among early adolescents; internal coping more favorable among late adolescents; and withdrawal was highest during mid adolescence. The most interesting parts of this study was that, across all 7 nations, there was no cultural variations; "all adolescents shared similar preferences for particular coping strategies (Gelhaar, 2007)".
When I was younger, around my later middle school years, I had gained a lot of weight and was constantly teased. I had maybe... 5 or 6 friends total that I would actually go hang out with, other than that, I didn't interact with others unless it was necessary.
I was very introverted and self-conscious.
By my early high school years, there were a lot of times where I would isolate myself from my friends and family- let's call these Random Acts of Isolation. Periodically, when I was feeling down and out about my life, I would lock myself in my room and blast music... and yes... write on my online blog. I would leave the cryptic, lyrical "away messages" on my AIM, in hopes that my friends would seek me out and ask me what was wrong. After reading the article, I realized that I my actions were a mix of withdrawal and internal coping.
I did not like confrontation, so it makes sense that I didn't actively pursue the issues and try to solve them- instead, I isolated myself and wrote about it. Music, poetry, creative expression- those were my outlets. It was how I internalized and reflected on my issues.
I've come a long way since then- a complete 180... or would it be 360...? Either way- I am no where close to the person I was back then. Yea- I have some insecurities, as most women do, but I can handle them now. If there's an issue, I solve it. And I actively look for new friends- I mean- let's face it, if I were anything like I was when I was younger, yet alone 5 years ago, I wouldn't have packed up ALL my stuff and moved 3000+ miles away from everything, and everyone I know. And no- it's not isolation, or withdrawal- it's self discovery. I have to figure out if I can really make it in this life on my own. I'll keep you posted! :)
References
Gelhaar, T. t., Seiffge-Krenke, I., Borge, A., Cicognani, E., Cunha, M., Loncaric, D., & ... Metzke, C. W. (2007). Adolescent coping with everyday stressors: A seven-nation study of youth from central, eastern, southern, and northern Europe. European Journal Of Developmental Psychology, 4(2), 129-156. doi:10.1080/17405620600831564
Center on the Developing Child–Harvard University. (n.d.). InBrief: The impact of early adversity on children's development. [Video file]. Retireved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/resources/multimedia/videos/inbrief_series/inbrief_impact_of_adversity/
Amy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for being so open in this week's post. It is crazy how hard we can be on ourselves. I have shared many of the same insecurities. It is so interesting that different ages across the board deal with these stressors in similar ways. It is also interesting that music is universally used as an outlet for escape and resolution. I love music and my family can tell my mood immediately with whatever I am playing. Thanks again for sharing.
-Allison Giles
Thank you for sharing and being honest about some of the trials and tribulations some people go through during their childhood and adolescent years. I myself was a chubby girl until I hit puberty, I had an unhealthy eating habits and was not as active as most of my friends until I was enrolled into dancing which help with losing weight and writing in my diary also helped me cope with my body insecurities. Interesting to see how many children cope the same way around the world.
ReplyDeletePaola
As I was reading the text this week I kept saying that there are several adults who seem to not have reached the milestones that it says children ages 2-6 are capable of in reference to emotion control. That could be an explanation as to why so many children are diagnosed with behavioral problems where it may be that in their homes impulse and emotion control is not modeled.
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