Early Childhood Abuse Affects Emotional Development Paper

Early childhood abuse affects Emotional development paper Child Psychology utilizing American Psychological Association (APA) format writing Articles research scholarly journal articles references include textbook research articles. Early childhood abuse and the effects on emotional development The present research is aimed at providing an account of early childhood abuse and its effects on further emotional development.

A first focus falls on outlining the psychological stages of emotional development and the notion of emotional response, followed by a thorough analysis of the child abuse spectrum together with effects, both early and belated, of general and most notably socio-emotional nature. Firstly, the meaning of emotional regulation and Erik Erikson's theory of eight stages of development are depicted, with special emphasis on early childhood. This is done for the purpose of underlining the importance of regular emotional development as opposed to one impaired by abuse.

Secondly, stress falls on describing and classifying child abuse and its prevalence in children under six years of age. After a brief outline of the areas in which a victim is challenged, focus shifts onward to specific emotional and social drawbacks that ensue. A more in-depth account of this matter follows, enlisting Alan Schore's right-brain correlations, an analysis based on the phenomenon of dissociation, and other probable prospects for the victim. The conclusions venture a realistic overview on the aspect of early childhood abuse and its outcomes.

Development of a person throughout his or her whole lifetime can be seen either as a continuous process or as a final status to be attained. Psychologists agree that emotional development across a lifespan is built around the particularities of cognition related to social behavior. In the scope of psychosocial development of human personality, an important approach was initiated by Erik Erikson in his chronological eight stages theory.

He claimed that each of the conflict-based stages defined have an impact on ego identity, which is defined as a perpetually mutating, inconstant awareness of one's self as a result of social experience. Successful completion of a stage is synonymous with acquiring a new quality as a result of struggle. It brings forth motivation, confidence and a secure sense of self, whereas failure results in a sense of self-doubt and inadequacy. In sequence, the eight stages are as follows: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs.

guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation and integrity vs. despair. The second stage of autonomy vs. shame and doubt specifically corresponds to early childhood years and involves the acquirement of an amplified sense of control, the challenge encompassing control of body functions, choice of toys, food and clothing (Berger 2005). The capacity of emotional regulation is fundamental for a child's emotional development.

The notion is defined as adapting one's state or behavior in any certain situation by means of affective response (feelings), cognitive reactions (thoughts), emotionally triggered bodily responses (blood pressure or breathing rate), and emotionally triggered behavior (gestures or expressions). In early childhood, this modulation is almost entirely extrinsically, controlled by caretakers. A young child will, however, form his own internal emotional regulation at the expense of what he observes in parental patterns, the feedback he gets on his emotions and the general climate at home.

In regard to child abuse, Harrenkohl decries in the Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect "any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm" (Harrenkohl 2005). Following this portrayal, abuse falls into four specific categories (physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, and neglect) and has severe consequences on an individual's development.

The youngest seem to suffer most from child mistreatment. In 2002, "around 1100 child fatalities were attributed to child maltreatment. The large majority of these cases (86.1%) involved children under age six. Almost half (42.6%) involved infants under one year" (Chalk 2002). Occurred repeatedly at such an early stage, toxic stress can lead to potentially definitive alterations in learning (linguistic, cognitive, and socio-emotional abilities), behavior (capacity to adapt to new situations), and physiology (an over powerful or chronically activated stress reaction).

As a result of traumatic experiences in the first five years of life, more than one scenario ensues. To begin with, abused children fail to learn the set of behaviors which comprise attachment, and form an entirely different spectrum of behaviors in their interactions with adults. They start by shutting off, avoiding traumatic source (abusing adult caregivers) and would rather open to unfamiliar adults or fend for themselves. Early trauma destroys the child's sense of security, bringing forth as later effect a debilitating lack of trust in later interpersonal relationships.

In this sense, the formerly abused adult may prove resilient, antisocial, shallow or emotionally aloof when interacting with other people (Golden 2009). Alan Schore suggests in his article, The effects of relational trauma on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health, that continuous toxic stress in early childhood augments the flux of glucocorticoids in the right brain, which selectively induces neuronal cell death in affective centers that are located in the limbic system.

Abnormal limbic circuitry effects a definitive functional impairment in the process of the directing emotion into adaptive channels. Furthermore, Schore underlines that attachment involves the right brain-placed limbic imprinting, and so early trauma will coincide with the critical period organization of the limbic system, compromising an individual's ability to maintain interpersonal relationships, cope with stressful stimuli and regulate affect. Loss of the ability to modulate intensity of feelings is, in fact, the most far-reaching effect of early trauma and neglect.

This severe right-brain attachment pathology also "plays a major part in the etiologies of a high risk for both posttraumatic stress disorder and a predisposition to relational violence"(Schore 2001). Yet another mechanism that ensues as a response to early trauma is dissociation, a process clinically defined as submission and acceptance in the face of inevitable, overwhelming, even psychically paralyzing danger accompanied by flight. The victim hereby disengages from stimuli in the external world, and withdraws instead.

His dissociation in the midst of fearful moments is manifested in numbing, avoidance, compliance, and restricted affect. Eventually, the individual takes refuge in an inner world, becomes inhibited in social interactions, and goes to great lengths in order to avoid any attention. A distinct socio-emotional outcome of early childhood abuse is the possibility that the victim will, later in life, mimic their abusers' conduct, by means of an outright antisocial attitude, displays of aggressive behavior or self-directed destructive behavior. Statistics.