Essay on Adolescent Psychology

Submitted By Biancagleigh1
Words: 1650
Pages: 7

Essay by Bianca bryant
Question (4). Explain how undue aggression, high anxiety, and unresolved oppositional behavior, interfere with emotional development in childhood. Can this interference make a difference in adolescence?
There are several factors that can interfere during the early childhood stage in particular a child's emotional development which is a very important part of who a child becomes when they start making a life for themselves as adolescents then onto adulthood, even moving on to have their own family. A parent’s role is to ensure to their capable ability that their child reaches their maximum emotional potential as well as their psychical developmental stages during early childhood.
There are 3 main characteristics that can cause interference with a child's development, and have a major effect on the child there on after. These interferences consist of undue aggression, high anxiety and unresolved oppositional behavior, following are some definitions, to clarify what these are and there qualifiers.
Undue aggression can be any exceeding or violating, hostile or destructive mental attitude or behavior. Its extreme qualifiers would be acts of violence towards others with the intent to harm, such as physical abuse, rape, mental abuse or manipulation. For example a child that has been physically abused by a parent causing severe physical damage to the child's body, The child may then see this as normal behavior and transfer these acts of violence onto other people.
High anxiety is an extreme emotional and sometimes physical state of nervousness, fear, uncertainty and can be known to cause physical and psychological impairment. Some extreme qualifiers of anxiety would be, physical illness (nausea, vomiting) shaking of the body, a sense of confused emotions and feeling of not being in control. An example of this would be a child being intimidated or emotionally abused by a parent and possibly becoming physically ill as a result, this may then cause the parent to act aggressively towards the child and blame the child for being sick.
Another factor of interference with child development is Oppositional behavior this is known as an act of opposing somebody or an idea in a hostile, unfriendly or antagonizing way. A parent may oppose everything a child wants to do, or hold opposing thoughts to the child itself, and children sense these things causing the child severe discomfort and confusion on where they may stand with that parent or in life. This may be obtained by the child and used to create their own personality, causing them to show oppositional behavior towards parents and/ or other people in their lives in which they interact or are involved with.
Abraham Maslow developed a personal needs and development hierarchy, and presuming, one meets all these stages they will reach self-actualization. People who have reached this stage will feel fulfilled, joyful and stronger than they ever have been in their lives. They will be inspired to achieve everything that they strive for. Maslow states that only one in one hundred people actually achieve self-actualization because of the way society is formed and the interferences we have in our lives. Some people just spend their lives going back and forth between levels, due to interferences like life experiences, family break ups, serious injuries and loss of employment.

Here is Maslow’s hierarchy :-
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
(McLeod, 2007).
Now in saying all of this, for many generations