Life History Narrative and Interpretation Developmental Theory

Narrative and Interpretation
Part 1: Life Course Concepts and Developmental Theory
Describe the life course framework according to Hutchinson
The life course perspective is mainly focused on analyzing people's lives and the changes that happen between different periods. It can be cultural or socials changes, but it is essential to point out the relationships between the two periods. A good example is how one's childhood affects adolescence and how adolescence affects one's adulthood. The life course theory is quickly gaining popularity as a great way to study pathways of different organizations, families, and even social movements (Hutchison, 2018).
2. Define developmental concepts from one developmental theory
Researchers and socials workers who depend on life course theory as their reference point applies the following concepts to explain the growth changes:
· Cohorts,
· Transitions,
· Trajectories,
· Life events, and
· Turning points.
Life-course researchers whose primary focus is the historical context of development prefer using the cohort concept. Life-course scholars define a cohort as a group of people whose birth dates can be traced back to the same historical periods. They should have a shared experience in their lives, and their ages should be the same. The use of population pyramids is the best way to visualize a cohort configuration. Pyramid charts represent a percentage of a population, and it is based on age groups, and therefore it is easier to pick a cohort of interest based on what you get from it. Population pyramids differ from country to country. In countries experiencing rapid growth like Kenya, most of the population is youth, unlike slow-growing countries like the United States, where most people are older. Having a high population of older people attracts young adults to the country to provide workforce (Hutchison, 2018).
Life courses theory views human life as a process that goes through different stages. This is because each person goes through several changes characterized by previous roles and taking up new behaviors. An excellent example of this transition is how a person starts school, graduates in a specific course, begin a career, and finally retires. Other changes, including socials, cultural, or even structural, happen in parallel with this common change. Some of these changes may be difficult to notice since they are gradual, but changes such as citizenship and health status can be easily noticed. Transitions can either have a positive or negative effect.
Changes such as marriages and births are full of joy, but divorces and deaths are full of anger and stress. Up to this point, you may be wondering exactly where course perspective can be applied. Health professionals have benefited a lot from this study, especially when trying to understand role changes in families regarding caring for older adults. Transition concepts have gained popularity when analyzing the process of either migration or immigration. This movement means the families either experience an exit of a family member or a new member join them. This change automatically calls for role changes, which is a transition.
Another example of role change is what happens to college students after graduation. Students take up new roles immediately after graduating, researching, teaching, or being assistants to various departments (Hutchison, 2018). The changes that happen in an individual are discrete, and when they occur, an older chapter of human life closes, and a new one is opened. Not all changes happen in a short period, some transitions happen over time, and a single change may involve a series of transitions. An example is a process that one undergoes before graduating as a social worker. The transitions embedded in this trajectory involves taking a licensing exam, promotions, and even job changes. Trajectories are not straight lines, but looking back on your career path can identify the patterns. This pattern can be used to anticipate a direction or even some continuity (Hutchison, 2018).
Life events such as marriage, death, or a child's birth may cause serious and long-lasting effects in a person's life. To clearly understand this point, it is crucial noting that the main focus here is not the transitions but the happening itself. For example, a spouse's death is a common life event that causes serious effects on the partner left behind. In such unfortunate occurrences, roles change almost immediately to fill the vacuum caused by the loss. To analyze the impact of a lifetime effect, a rating scale is commonly used. A good example is Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe's Schedule of Recent Events, also known as the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Inventories can be used to remind scholars of past life events that caused a change to human behaviors (Hutchison, 2018).
A special life event that causes a lasting shift in a person's life is referred to as a turning point. I many cases, turning points occurs in an individual's life, but it can also happen in organizations, governments, cultures, and even families. For individuals, the turning points transform how one responds to opportunities and risks. Additionally, the relationship between an individual and the environment is also affected. These changes are permanent, and that is why they are termed as being very important. Turning points may destabilize human life, but with time, everything becomes obvious. (Hutchison, 2018).
Part 2: Narrative
This narrative reflects on the life of Ali Mahdi, who has fully transformed after moving to the United States as a refugee. He works for Catholic Social Services in Phoenix as an immigration officer. What makes this interesting is that he offers the service he needed most when he came to the united states in 1992 as a refugee. Mahdi lives with his family in Anglo American neighborhood, making his daughter make friends with Hispanics and Anglo Americans. Mahdi comes from a Muslim family, but he avoids being too much in religion. What is even more strange is they do not go to the mosque. Mahdi's mother wears a veil, but his wife does not, a scenario that Mahdi keeps personal and rarely draws attention to. (Hutchison, 2010).
Mahdi was born in 1947 in Iraq and was raised with two sisters and four brothers. The father, who was a teacher, was the breadwinners, but her mother stayed at home with the seven siblings. A bigger part of Mahdi's life was spent in Baghdad, and here he can narrate a mix of both modern and traditional ways of life. According to him, life was very normal and good until political unrest changed the quality of life in 1974.
Despite all these challenges, Mahdi went to school, and in 1982 he and his wife graduated with a degree in fine arts. He began his professional life as a teacher, but it did not take long before being drafted as a military officer. This how he found himself in a war environment, but the contact was supposed to last for two years only. Mahdi's term of service was extended for extra six years due to the prolonged war period, which continued until 1989. During the eight years, Mahdi witnessed many of his friends being killed, which seriously affected him.
This did not stop him from going back to his teaching career after the end of the war. At this point, Mahdi had two daughters meaning a lot had happened between this period. One of the occurrences was his two brothers had already moved to the United States. Desires to reunite with the brothers began to burn in him, and he started saving for the move. This was to happen in November 1990, but this did not happen due to a new war in August 1990 between Kuwait and Iraq. (Hutchison, 2010).
Mahdi was once again drafted to serve as a military officer, but he refused. Refusal to heed to a draft called for a death punishment and not only death but being shot in front of your house. To run for his life, Mahdi took his family and escaped from Baghdad. The American army on Kuwait and Iraq's border agreed to help him and his family by taking them to Rafha camp in Northern Saudi Arabia.
At this camp, life was very hard for the family, and Mahdi's wife and children were always in agony. The weather was harsh with the wind, storms, and hot sun. What made the matter worse is how Saudi soldiers treated Iraqi refugee Mahdi's family being one of them. They were beaten with sticks like animals, but with no other choice, they remained there. While still in the camp, Mahdi heard plans to evict Iraqi refugees from the camp. This was heart-breaking news, and that is how he requested a man who had visited the camp to help him write a letter to his brother. That is how Mahdi's family was removed from this camp through a brother's help, and they were taken to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh (Hutchison, 2010).
At the U.S. Embassy, Mahdi volunteered for a month before he flew to Arizona through Switzerland with the family. The family was hosted for about two months by the brother before shifting to their apartment. This happened after Mahdi secured a job as a cashier in a convenience store. Mahdi took English class to help his daughters with classwork, and due to his daytime job, he had to do it at night. According to Mahdi, the culture in Arizona was different, but he expected this from what he had learned back in his country from TV programs.
Mahdi worked for one and a half years in the store before starting his own moving company. During this time, he went to school, and he studied math and physics. The company lasted for two years, but unfortunately, the company collapsed. The main reason behind the failure was his origin since many clients were not comfortable with his accent. This challenge pushed Mahdi back to his teaching career.
Lack of respect from the students he taught killed his morale, and he was no longer comfortable in this job. All those desperation and frustration ended with a job as an immigration specialist for Catholic Social Services. He reports that he enjoys helping the refugees, especially since he was one time a refugee. He has assisted refugees from many countries such as Vietnam, Somalia, and the Kosovo region of Yugoslavia. While still working as an immigrant specialist, Mahdi has advanced his education, and he now holds a master's degree in art education. Somedays to come, he might consider getting back to his teaching career. (Hutchison, 2010).
During all this time, Mahdi's memory of losing a father was very clear. From his thinking, frustrations and fear caused by war back in his country were behind the sudden heart attack that claimed the father's life in 1986. The mother remained back at home until 1996 when she moved to Arizona. The mother lives just a mile away from Mahdi's home, and she enjoys the company of the grandchildren. The only challenge that the mother face is a language barrier when interacting with new people since she does not understand English. In 1994 Mahdi and his wife were lucky to get another daughter. It during the same period that Mahdi's mother and father-in-law moved to the United States. The wife was now to remain at home to care for the senior family members and the children. Mahdi was very concerned with the challenges that may come on their way due to the new culture.
Part 3: Theoretical Interpretation
Mahdi's life remains a reference point to multiple generations. Human beings have stories that unfold during their lifetime. Some are success stories, while others are full of suffering and agony. Human behaviors tend to change during all these happenings, and there is a relationship between each event.
Life-course perspective can help in identifying these relationships by reflecting on all transitions that have happened over time. Human life can be traced back to birth, with all events being captured until death. Time is an important factor of consideration, but where a person lives and the environment also play a big part.
How an individual has developed is captured at different times of their life. It can be equated to a path that is followed, but it should be straight. Things change with time, so we expect all sorts of curves representing turns and twists of life. In Ali Mahdi's life, it is clear that things can change very fast, and, in many cases, what happens is unpredictable. The best way to understand a person is by conducting a study on historical events that happened in their lives. An event can be a career change, migration, or even marriage.
In Ali's life, the draft that had him posted as a military officer can be noted as an event. The refusal to go back in the war ground can also be viewed as an event. A relationship of all other occurrences from escaping the camp to starting a company that failed can be traced back to this specific event. From all these examples that are evident in Mahdi's life, we can conclude that events can have long-lasting life changes that can be gradual or abrupt.
Both cultural and social institutions are constantly shaping Mahdi's life. We can see he started his career as a teacher, which followed him almost throughout his life. Even after acquiring a master's degree, he has thought of getting back to teaching. Serving as a military officer also influenced the life course of Mahdi's. Soldiering comes with many expectations, including fighting stress, withstanding the loss of friends, and even living without your family members (Hutchison, 2010).
Mahdi's turning point is when he refused to obey the draft command that was compulsory in Iraq. Here it is evidence that life course trajectories are never predictable. Sudden breaks can happen, and it is at this point where permanent changes occur. The tendency to do things keeps people on a particular flight path, but a turning point reverses everything, and a new life has to start (Hutchison, 2010).
An example of an event that qualifies to be a turning point includes migration to a new country. Moving to a new environment may open up new opportunities, or it may close all the fortunes. Such happening tend to change individuals belief and self-concept (Marshall, 2006). The transitions that happen outside the social expectation or timeframe are referred to as socially Non-normative. An example of this change is forced migration. This change may cause serious impacts on marriage or even employments, and the impact may be long-lasting (Martin et al., 2014).
In Ali Mahdi's life, a lot of this kind of transition is clear to his personal life and family. What Ali went through is a clear indication that these transitions happen to individuals and families. It is also worth noting that a turning point does not have to be dramatic. Sometimes and the individual may feel the time to turn has come depending on the assessment made. (Hutchison, 2010).
The concept of interdependence, which is also a topic in course perspective, is also clear in Mahdi's life. How human beings relate to one another and how to exit or enter a family setting can make a difference. Ali narrates how his father died of a heart attack, which is suspected to be a result of his son's safety, who was in the war. This is a rich example of how parents can get stressed due to the well-being of their children.
Mutual support between children and older adults is also fundamental in any family setting. Historical disruptions such as economic downturns or political instability may change all this and what follows is a life-course transition. (Hutchison, 2010).
Mahdi's story also brings in the decision-making process and how it can become difficult at times. Making a refusal decision to the draft was the starting point to all that followed. Maybe he thought this decision would affect only his immediate family, but even the extended family members were affected.
Choices can completely change a person's life, and it is fundamental when one is trying to achieve some goals. In life course perspectives, a choice to serve humanity is viewed as the most positive. There is a limit to how far you can go because of cultural and historical arrangements that cannot be controlled. In Mahdi's life, making a choice was faced with all forms of limits.
In some cases, making a choice could cost his life. We can see him risking a shot right in from of his house for refusing the draft. At some point in life, the freedom to decide what you want in life is pretty, but sometimes this can be a privilege. Some individuals may also have an opportunity to freely decide while others live under strange laws (Hutchison, 2010).
Life trajectories can vary from one location to another. The global economy can also affect these life paths ways. Different trajectories may also intersect, causing a different effect. A good example is the family and educational lifeline. In Alifs life, we can see him trying to learn English to assist his children in homework. Here the need to learn some new skills is due to what he needs to achieve for the family. Ali was trying to balance his job, education, and family (Hutchison, 2010).
Immigration comes with a tone of challenges. It can be social, political, or even religious. The biggest of all is securing an economic gain. In Mahdi's story, the first job was store clerk with a college education. Remember, back in his country, he was a teacher, but that opportunity was no longer available in the new environment.
Building a new social network was a big challenge, especially due to social status, which had drastically changed. To help each family member to catch up with the new environment, roles had to change. Children were in charge of teaching the older family member the new language. Mahdi's wife was also to remain at home to take care of in-laws who later moved to the United States to reunite with their family. All these occurrences called for a change of behavior, and sometimes the entire role (Hutchison, 2010).


References
Hutchison, E. D. (2018). Dimensions of human behavior: Person and environment. Sage Publications.
Hutchison, E. D. (2010). Dimensions of Human Behavior: Person and Environment. SAGE.
Marshall, V. W. (2006). The life course perspective: an overview in relation to the policy research initiative. In Commissioned plenary panel paper at conference of the Work and Family Consortium, Policy Research Initiative, Social Development Canada, Ottawa, March.
Martin, M. J., Blozis, S. A., Boeninger, D. K., Masarik, A. S., & Conger, R. D. (2014). The timing of entry into adult roles and changes in trajectories of problem behaviors during the transition to adulthood. Developmental psychology, 50(11), 2473.
Edmonston, B. (2013). Lifecourse perspectives on immigration. Canadian Studies in Population, 40(1-2), 1-8