IntroductionIt is believed that humans, like newborn birds and mammals in general, have the natural capacity to bond with their mothers. This natural capacity has since been called “imprinting,” the instinctual behavior of an infant where the child establishes a pattern based on the environment. The solemn responsibility of being parents to a child is grave, and the consequences are immense should they fail in any of the areas of parenthood.
On the contrary, when it comes to deliberately hurting a child, or causing damage to their psyche’ as a person, the term “failure” would not be adequate or appropriate to describe its effects. Whether abusing or neglecting a small person, studies reveal that the results are almost the same: the destructive effects are colossal and prevailing for almost all of the rest of the child’s life.Infants, in their earliest stage learn from the environment provided to them and respond/bond accordingly. This theory was taken from ethologist Konrad Lorenz and then expanded on by John Bowlby, a British research scientist who is considered to be the founder of attachment theory (Reebye et al, at www.
attachmentacrosscultures.org). The relationship between the infant and the caregiver is particularly important and critical to the healthy emotional development of the child (http://articles.syl.
com/attachmentparentinggroupsisthissomethingnew.html).This paper takes a slightly different approach for an essay. It will provide a précis on what attachment is but will present “pictures” of situations or scenarios with which possible dire results for the lack of the fulfillment of the need during the early stages will lead. Illustrations of real life situations paint theories and their implications better, hence the use of articles that show the importance of this study by Bowlby. This is through cases or researches such as when mothers become disordered or when children or adolescents become menaces to society and where basic attachment or bonding needs were deprived during their foundational growing up years.
DiscussionA. Background study: Parenting Style and AttachmentAs soon as infancy stage, babies want to relate and therefore need someone to relate to them. Because a mother is the first in the order of relationships in the life of an infant, it is important that this first relationship is secured for the child. Almost anything in the child’s future will be determined by the quality of the relationship the infant has had with the mother.What are these different parenting styles? Since around the 1920s developmental psychologists were already keen on how development of children’s behavior evolved. The parenting styles were pointed out as influential to these behaviors.
Basically, there were four types: Indulgent Parents, Authoritarian Parents, Authoritative Parents, And Uninvolved Parents (Darling, 1999).The primary characteristics involved in categorizing were the parents’ “parental demandingness and responsiveness.” However, upon examination, these styles include details such as parental values, their practices and other behaviors.- Indulgent parenting style is commonly identified as permissive or non-directive type. This type is characterized mainly a more responsive attitude rather than a demanding one.
Parents like these tend to be lenient and non-confrontative. Children are likely to become immature and irresponsible under parents with this style (Darling, 1999).- Authoritarian parenting style on the other hand, lack responsive and tend to be more demanding. Children are raised in an atmosphere of “command and obey” cycle or one that is well-ordered and structured (Darling, 1999).- Authoritative parenting style is characterized by both the “demanding and responsive” polarities.
This means that not only do parents with this style of approach provide structure and order, they also are responsive; which means that they make sure that the system or manner of discipline imposed does not punish the children but encourages them, establishing good conduct as a result. The parents are usually assertive, though non-restrictive (Darling, 1999).- Uninvolved parenting style offers both a non-demanding and less responsive environment. With this style, they create an atmosphere of “neglect and rejection.” As Darling says based on the Baumrind study, “because parenting style is a typology, rather than a linear combination of responsiveness and demandingness, each parenting style is more than and different from the sum of its parts” (Darling, 1999 in Baumrind 1991).
The effects of parenting styles on attachment relationship of children and their parentsThe aforementioned styles are built on and support the attachment theory of Bowlby. Each parenting style affects the future of children. Studies confirm these conclusions, thereby showing a predictive pattern that parenting styles influence the children’s prospective adult life (Ainsworth and Berkeley studies in Reebye et al review at www.attachmentacrosscultures.org).
Hence, it is safe to say that parenting styles and attachment are synonymous and both are predictors of child well-being especially on social competence, academic performance, psychosocial development and problem behavior.B. Illustration: A case of Reactive Attachment DisorderThe article by Hanson and Spratt (2000) gives in-depth information on the issue of Reactive Attachment Disorder where the heart of the maladaptive behavior is the maltreatment of children. It attempts to give a very balanced look on the etiology of the disorder, the many sides that are considered to be legitimate in the scientific community which are constantly updating on cases with RAD. The article is certainly very adequate in its presentation; it does not attempt to simplify the problems that are commonly found among children severely abused especially by their own parents and caregivers.
Rather it tries to argue on several issues that might provide a greater possible rationale why this disorder arises among children. The authors point out that evidence shows that “pathogenic care” accounts for most of the cases of the development of RAD.I would like to point out important items that are mentioned in the article. These are the factors that are important considerations that concern the disorder. These are under the etiology of RAD. Aside from pathogenic care which, obviously, is one of the primary factors; “parental risk factors” is an eye-opener.
Why an eye-opener? Not only when the parents have severely neglected or abused the child is the latter at high risk not only for physical harm but mental and emotional/ psychological harm, there is more to the care that is the issue. Social health factors – the fact that parents may be very young and at the adolescent stage in particular, or if the parents (or maybe one of them) are drug dependents and the children are solemn witnesses to the goings on; all are critical to the molding of the child’s mental and emotional aspects. One’s heart would just break imagining kids (as pointed out in the paper) who have increased possibility of developing “disorganized attachment” because they were reared by parents with DV (domestic violence) as a prevailing occurrence in the household.In addition, developmental issue, such as whether infants were maltreated or when maltreatment had occurred in the later childhood phase matter a lot to the consequent effects of disorder. This is food for thought especially to mothers who think they can make it up in the latter years when they feel okay.What is more startling is that another factor, the “biological factors” emphasized the impact of trauma (not just to mention the physical one) on the changes that a child undergoes in the neurobiological level.
Absorbing the detailed description of the studies made mention by the author on what they call as “pruning of specific neurologic pathways” and that which specifically influence the affect or emotional bearing of the child. No wonder some children never can overcome these effects especially when they reach adulthood when stresses compound and those ‘pathways” may no longer be able to bear up the crisis that had arrived into their lives.Neglectful parents who semi-abandon their children in the streets or to the care of people who just don’t care or may abuse them think that they have never hurt their children. Others think of their kids as properties or objects meant to be thrown, poked at, or do just about anything to them. Only proper insights to cases like RAD (and its many nuances) can any practitioner effectively give or apply interventions. A comprehensive and wide knowledge on developmental issues among children, having the proper theoretical perspectives, a balanced ideation on many of these concepts, as well as a mature appreciation of family systems is a must in this kind of work.
Conclusions and ImplicationsIn many of the studies made children raised in an uninvolved parenting style, perform poorly in mostly all of the domains mentioned above (i.e. social competence etc.). The degree of attachment can best be seen in the result of either a poor or good performance in these specific areas.
