Socio-Cultural Development the Impact of Social Pressures

¶ … Socio-Cultural Development

The impact of social pressures and cultural influences on human development are not fully know. Only pieces of information are available for us to understand as there is much to be learned and gathered from this subject. The purpose of this essay is to examine two distinct articles directly related to socio-cultural influences on the development of the human species. This essay will first review and summarize each article on its own merits before offering new conclusions about the feasibility, practicality and overall usefulness of these two arguments presented.

Bakermans-Kranenburg et al. (2004) article about attachment security and minority children helped to expose some important information about the ways culture has a direct and sometimes profound impact on human development. Through statistical analysis gathered from qualitative means, certain patterns of relationships were identified through this study. The study eventually found that there are significant differences in the way that black and white children develop within their own unique cultures.

The article is premised on the idea that there are already large differences between African-American and white children in various domains of development (p.2). The article wishes to take the next step in this assumption and deliver a stronger correlation to more specific facets of human development. Ultimately the article hypothesized whether white and children differ in attachment security, and if so what is to blame, ethnicity or socio-economic circumstances?

In order to test this hypothesis, the researchers sought out data from various parts of the United States. They developed certain standards of behavior for allowing some to participate. For instance, children with mothers who gave birth under the age of 18 were disallowed. The article claimed that the sample taken was not to be a clear representation of the U.S.A., but representative of people living in the same "U.S. census tract."

The article clears up some questions by offering solid definitions on key terms used in their study. "Attachment security," "sensitivity" and "maternal and family characteristics" are all given firm boundaries on which the analysis of the data may rest upon. When the results are presented, Tables 1 and 2 within the article lays out the results in an orderly and clear fashion highlighting important facts that denote statistical relationships. Multiple sensitivity regression techniques were applied to the data to further check for correlation and clarity.

As a result of the researcher's statistical manipulation of the data they arrived at some interesting conclusions about their question originally posed. The researchers ultimately conclude that attachment security does not rest within the white culture alone, that this anxiety does fit into other ethnic and social classes. The study also does make some correlation to contextual influences within a culture and the development of attachment. Another discovery within this study also suggested that there was a strong correlation between low income mothers and sensitivity to cultural issues, in other words, the poorer the child, the less attached that child may become to their race.

Article 2

The second article relating to socio-economic and human development was published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders. Varela et al. (2009) wanted to investigate the relationship between developmental anxiety and Latino cultural effects. Several populations were examined to make this investigation. European-American, Mexican, and Latin-American populations were all examined to help form these relationships. The article's main hypothesis suggested that Latin-Americans living in the United States and Mexicans would share similar parenting strategies and cultural schemas. Also, as a result of the examination, they would find that Mexican and Latin American parenting strategies were more controlling dominating than European-Americans.

In order to find these relationships the research team compiled 217 children aged 6-17 with at least one caregiver who could accompany them. 99 of these children were Mexican, 72 were Latin American living in the U.S. And 46 European-American and 11 Mexican-Americans. These families were recruited in private and public schools by mail and questionnaire. Each family was paid $30 for their assistance in this study. The testing occurred in laboratories in both Mexico and the United States within federally approved educational institutions.

To help explain the study key terms are described and defined. These important terms include; anxiety, socioeconomic status, parenting, collectivism and assimilation. Table 1 contained within the article gives a simple, yet informative layout of these terms and how the three population samples related to their classifications. Clear regression charts and analyses are also presented in this article to help explain mathematically and statistically how their arguments were developed and put into correlation.

The article proclaimed many results and findings within this study. This article's main finding suggested that culture affects the way that humans express anxious emotions and emotions in general. Other connections were drawn in this study that suggested that father control was associated with anxiety more strongly with white children than for Latin American children. The researches claimed that this lined up with their hypothesis that parental control is related more to culture than to individual circumstance.

The authors themselves interjected about the limited nature of this study. They claimed that any cross-sectional design such as their study was not prone to illuminating clear causality. Rather, this study is more analytical than suggestive. The authors also claimed that their data was limited by the fact that immigration was not taken into consideration. In other words, Latin-American children have been exposed to both kinds of culture which may significantly distort and confuse some of the inquiries into a specific culture.

Conclusions

The influence of culture within human development is very important as it appears to have some sort of significant impact on society. It is obvious that people in America from different cultures act and do things in different ways and for different reasons. Such inquiries into these matters can help researchers draw larger conclusions about human nature in general to help guide humanity on a wise and noble course.

For the aforementioned reasons, these two articles were chosen to make an attempt at drawing real, scientific conclusions about socio-cultural circumstance and the development of children who are exposed to these conditions. These two articles are beneficial for limited reasons. Both articles help explore some extreme details about statistical relationships between certain qualitative data. The inquiry itself is useful even though the results leave much to be desired.

Instead of concentrating on causality both articles appear to radiate uncertainty about the effects on culture and development. Both studies used negative lenses to view this problem through, one attachment theory, the other, anxiety. This negatively focused approach looks to further dissect cultures instead of seeking similarities between them. The impossibility of qualifying the human mind also contributes to the limitations of these articles. There appears to be too large of a subjective gap between the two article's key definitions to begin comparing them without translating one of them into the other's language.