The Human Growth And Development Assignment

The Human Growth And Development As supportmentThe bring on of this essay is to use knowledge of human harvest-home and learning to critically discuss the theories a kind worker might employ to prize a family and better understand their doings. A family profile will be provided and twain family members selected for further discussion and the application of appropriate theories. These theories will be critiqued in terms of how they might assist affable workers in qualification in phaseed sagacitys, as good as where the theories argon limited in their application.Family ProfileThe family in spite of appearance this case study comprises five members, all of whom blistering unneurotic in Elsies target. Table 1 presents the name, get along, family position, and nationality of each family member.Sylvie and Greg met when they were 19-years of bestride. They had been together for 5-years when their young woman molly was born. They split up when mollie was 1-years previo us(a), nevertheless got back together 6-years by and by when mollie was 7-years of age. Greg state that they split up because he was ineffectual to handle Sylvies total wishing of trust in him. This ca utilize huge arguments amidst them, with Sylvie constantly questioning where he was and his commitment to his family. Sylvie said that she was devastated when Greg left, but knew that it was vogue out to happen. During their metre a dismantle Sylvie turned to alcohol and drugs, but sought steering and abide for this and the issues in her past. As a result, she has been drug and alcohol bighearted for over 4-years.Greg always maintained a good relationship with molly during the 6-year separation and she lived with him and her paternal Grandparents at different points when Sylvie was non coping. mollie said that she was happy that her parents got back together. mason was planned and both Sylvie and Greg felt they had resolve historic issues and were committed as a family un it to having another child. st iodinmason was born with Global Developmental Delay, which is a condition that occurs between take to 18-years of age and is usually char accomplishmenterised by lower intellectual functioning and world-shattering limit points in communication and other developmental skills. Sylvie blames herself for Masons condition, believing that it must somehow be linked to her wild years of drinking and drug binges. disdain being reassured to the contrary by medical professionals and a societal worker, she body low in mood and feels that she has let e really single down. Sylvie has base stick to with Mason difficult and she feels frustrated by him not meeting his developmental milestones. Mason is in nappies, he is not yet talking, he is very unsteady on his feet and he lacks co-ordination. As a result, he even-tempered requires feeding at mealtimes and has not begun to develop independent skills. Sylvie has said that she feels the likes of sending him s omewhere. Greg, on the other hand, feels very attached and protective towards Mason and Sylvie feels that he lets him get away with anything. Conflict has developed between Sylvie and Greg, resulting in Greg staying at work longer and meeting up with his friends to a greater extent in an drift to avoid the arguments and focus at home.Elsie, mother to Greg, owns the large family home in which they all live. Sylvie and Greg decided that they would move in with her shortly by and by they got back together, as Gregs father died very unexpectedly. The plan was that they would all support one another financially, practically and emotionally. Elsie is very involve with the children as both parents work. However, recently Elsie has been forgetting things, such as collecting Mason from the specialist childminder and this has caused tension between the adults.There have been some difficulties with Molly at give instruction. Sylvie was called in to Mollys school last week as a result of M olly using racist language towards another student. The school state that Molly is very close to being excluded, as a result of her idle and disruptive behaviour. Sylvie broke down upon hearing this and explained or so her low mood, feelings of discouragement and worries about Gregs mum. Sylvie housenot understand the change in Mollys behaviour and said that she and Greg take up help.Applying Human Growth and Development to Social WorkAs part of this essay, there will be a focus on cardinal members of this family Molly and Elsie. The two theories of human growth and development to be utilize to Molly are bond scheme and Life Course conjecture. The two theories of human growth and development to be utilise to Elsie are bionomic Theory and detachment Theory.Anti-oppressive practice will underlie the critique and has been delimit as a form of friendly work practice which addresses brotherly divisions and structural inequalities in the work that is done with clients (use rs) and workers (Dominelli, 1993, p. 24). Anti-oppressive practice is a mortal-centred greet path synonymous with Carl Rogers (1980) philosophy of person-centred practice. It is designed to empower oneness(a)s by reducing the forbid effects of hierarchy, with the emphasis being on a holistic approach to assessment. Practising in an anti-oppressive way requires valuing differences lifestyles and personal identities. This goes once against common soul experience favorableisation which portrays differences as inferior or pathological and which excludes indivi ternarys from the kind world and denies them their rights.MOLLYAttachment TheoryAttachment Theory is a psychological guess take in on the premise that young children require an chemical bond relationship with at least one consistent caregiver at bottom their lives for normal brotherly and emotional development (Bowlby, 1958). Attachment is an emotional bond between an indivi bivalent and an hamper figure, usually the person who cares for them. Psychologically, concomitant provides a child with security. Biologically, it provides a child with survival. Ainsworth et al. (1978) formulated four types of attachment that provide a marionette for hearty workers to assess and understand childrens emotional experiences and psychosocial functioning secure insecure, unsure insecure, avoiding and disorganised.Molly appears demonstrates insecure, ambivalent attachments, where parental care is inconsistent and unpredictable. This type of attachment is characterised by parents who fail to empathise with their childrens moods, needs and feelings. Indeed, Sylvie cannot understand the change in Mollys behaviour, indicating an inability to empathise with Molly.Children with insecure and ambivalent attachments practically be conform to progressively confused and frustrated. They can make out demanding, attention seeking, angry and needful, creating trouble in swan to keep other citizenry involved and i nterested. Feelings are acted out, as Molly has been doing at school. This is because insensitive and inconsistent care is interpreted by the child to mean that they are unworthy of love and unlovable. Such monstrous feelings undermine self-esteem and self-confidence and an perceptiveness of this can ensure that social workers resist stereotypes of the moody, anti-social teenager, and instead explore the underlying reasons for changes in mood.For Molly, the development of an attachment figure was likely to have been compromised during her early developmental years. In particular, when Molly was between the ages of 1 and 7-years old, her mother was addicted to drugs and alcohol and and then was emotionally and physically unavailable. Despite living with her father and paternal grandparents for a outcome of time, the overall insecurity inside her family unit is likely to have squeeze her ability to attach to others. If Molly did develop an attachment figure it is well-nigh likel y to have been with her father or maternal grandparents, who were not unavailable overdue to drug or alcohol guy during this vital developmental phase of Mollys childhood.Taking this into consideration, there are a number of epoch-making changes that have occurred in Mollys life and that involve potential attachment figures who have provided Molly with practically-needed security and safety. For example, Mollys father, whom Molly has remained close to throughout drama inside the family, is no longer at home as much in an effort to avoid arguments with Sylvie. When he is at home, the tension is likely to repair the duration and quality of time spent with Molly. Indeed, marital divergence has been found to influence adolescents attachment security by reducing the responsiveness and authorization of parenting (Markiewicz, Doyle, and Brendgen, 2001). Strained marital relationships can likewise lead to increased marginalization of the father who can become distanced from their c hildren, as has been the case within this family (Markiewicz, Doyle, and Brendgen, 2001).In addition, Molly has recently lost her grandfather, which her grandmother is also trying to come to terms with. Not exclusively has Molly lost her grandfather, but her grandmothers behaviour is likely to have changed as she comes to terms with her own loss. All of the get a line attachment figures in Mollys life are either emotionally or physically unavailable at present. It is important to consider this within the consideration of Mollys current developmental stage, which is that of adolescence.Attachments to peers tend to emerge in adolescence, but the component of parents remains vital in teenagers successfully achieving attachments outside of the home. It is a time when parents are required to be available if needed, darn the teenager makes their prototypic independent steps into the outside world (Allen and Land, 1999). Mollys recent problems at school could be the result of this lac k of availability from adults in her life. She might also be anxious about losing her father again, creating anticipation and fear about separation from an attachment figures. The offense she expresses at school could be transfer of training of the anger and fear created by her unstable circumstances at home. The accompaniment that she has become racially abusive might suggest that her anger lies with her mother, who is of dual nationality.The main critique of Attachment Theory has been in the guise of the nature versus nurture debate, the former being genetic factors and the latter being the way a child is parented. Harris (1998) argues that parents do not shape their childs personality or character, but that a childs peers have more influence on them than their parents. She cites that children are more influenced by their peers because they are eager to fit in. This argument is back up by twin studies showing that identical agree reared apart often develop the same hobbies, habits, and character traits the same has been found with fraternal twins reared together (Loehlin et al., 1985 Tellegen et al., 1988 Jang et al., 1998). It is likely that nurture plays a greater role in the younger years, when parents and caregivers are the childs primary point of contact. On the other hand, when a child enters adolescents and engages with guild more, nature might take over.Another limitation in Attachment Theory is the fact that model attachment is establish on behaviours that occur during stressful separations rather than during non-stressful situations. Field (1996) astutely argues that a broader reason of attachment requires observation of how the caregiver and child interact during natural, non-stressful situations. It is hold that behaviours directed towards the attachment figure during separation and reunion cannot be the only factors used to define attachment.Despite these limitations, the theory does provide valuable entropy regarding relationship dyna mics and bonds, which social workers can use to better understanding the individual being assessed. It is, however, important to remember that what is seen as wellnessy attachment will vary culturally. Consideration of this is crucial to anti-oppressive practice.Life Course TheoryLife Course Theory has been defined as a while of socially defined events and roles that the individual enacts over time (Giele and Elder, 1998, p. 22). Within this theory, the family is perceived as a micro social group within a macro social context (Bengston and Allen, 1993). According to Eriksons 8 stages of human development, Molly is in stage five, which is characterised by a conflict between individualism versus role confusion. Being of dual hereditary pattern might cause issues within this stage and within Mollys search for identity. Evidence within the literature has shown that adolescents of dual heritage report more ethnic exploration, discrimination, and behavioural problems than those of sin gle heritage (Ward, 2005). Indeed, this could explain why Molly is being racially abusive, in an effort to determine her own thoughts and feelings on ethnicity and the confusion it can cause. The racial abuse directed at other children might even be congressman of her own anger at being of dual heritage.Adolescence is difficult to define, but it is traditionally assumed to be between 12-18 years of age and characterised by puberty (i.e. the transformation from a child to a young person). During this time, hormones powerfully influence mood swings and extremes of emotion, which might explain Mollys difficulty controlling her anger at school. Adolescence is also when an individual starts to develop socially, increasing their independence and seemly more influenced by peers. During this time, according to Piagets (1964) theory of cognitive development, an individual enters the stiff operational stage and starts to understand abstract concepts, develop moral philosophies, establish a nd maintain satisfying personal relationships, and gain a greater sense of personal identity and purpose (Santrock, 2008). Risks to social and cognitive development admit poor parental supervision and discipline, as well as family conflict (Beinart et al., 2002), showing this to be an important time to intervene with Molly.It is these biological and social changes during adolescents that can create the stereotype of the moody, anti-social teenager. It is important that social workers do not allow negative stereotypes to influence their expectations of Molly. Instead, they need to take a holistic approach and examine where she is on the life course as well as what the character and quality of Mollys behaviours and relationships tell them about her internal workings model, defensive inclinations, emotional states and personality. This ant-oppressive approach will also allow social workers to identify links between past and present relationship experiences.ELSIE ecologic TheoryBronfe nbrenners (1977) bionomical Model of human development posits that in order to understand human development, an individuals ecologic system needs to be taken into consideration. According to the theory, an individuals bionomic system comprises five social subsystemsMicro-system comprising activities and social roles within the immediate environment.Mesosystem processes taking place between two or more different social settings.Exosystem processes taking place between two or more different social systems, at least one of which does not involve the individual but indirectly affects them.Macrosystem includes ideology, attitudes, customs, traditions, values and culture.Chronosystem change or consistency over time in individual characteristics and environmental characteristics. bionomical Theory is, overall, a model of how the social environment affects the individual, with these five systems interacting and thus influencing human growth and development.Elsies ecological system h as been continually changing for some years. At one point she was living with her husband, son, and her granddaughter. This was followed by living completely with her husband. On losing her husband, Elsies son moved in with his wife and two children, one of whom has a disability. There has been very little environmental stability within Elsies life, at least over the last 7-years or more. It is perhaps comprehensible that her health has started to deteriorate. She has recently lost her husband, experienced continually fluctuating environmental conditions, and is now living in a tense atmosphere due to issues within her sons marriage. It is also important to note that, childrens behaviour and personality can also affect the behaviour of adults Elsies behaviour might be negatively affected by her granddaughters struggle through adolescence and her grandsons disability. Taking into consideration Elsies ecological system highlights the importance of not making assumptions that Elsies increased forgetting is a sign of dementia her symptoms may be the result of stress within her ecological system.Despite the relevance of this theory to understanding Elsies situation, the critique does highlight limitations in its operationalisation (Wakefield, 1996). In particular, since past experiences and future anticipations can impact an individuals current well-being, lack of inclusion of this element of human growth and development within the Ecological Model is a serious limitation. In addition, the emphasis of the model is on adaptation and thus it has been argued that the theory can be abused and used to encourage individuals to accept oppressive circumstances (Coady and Lehman, 2008). Social workers using this theory in their assessments ideally need to be aware that oppression and detriment are part of the environment that needs to be considered in an ecological analysis. With this consideration, the theory offers social workers a way of thinking about and assessing the relatedness of individuals and their environments the person is assessed holistically and within the context of their social circumstances.Disengagement TheoryDisengagement has been exposit by Cumming and Henry (1961) as an inevitable mutual withdrawal . . . resulting in decreased interaction between the ageing person and others in the social systems he belongs to (p. 227). Within their theory, they argue that former(a) people do not contribute to society with the same efficiency as the younger universe and thus become a societal burden. In order to function, therefore, society requires a process for disengaging ripened people. By internalising the norms of society, older people become socialised and take disengage from society due to a sense of obligation. The theory further purports that the extent to which an individual disengages determines how well they adjust to older age. In other words, continued withdrawal from society in later life has been deemed the hallmark of su ccessful and happy ageing.Applying this theory to Elsies situation, it could be that the problems meet her forgetfulness in collecting her grandson from school is a step towards social disengagement. Furthermore, it could be theorised that this disengagement was prompted by her husband taking the most extreme form of disengagement, which is death.There has, however, been much critique of this theory, including the fact that many older people do not conform to this image and remain actively involved in life and in society. Hochschild (1976) has criticised the theory with what has been termed the omnibus variable. Hochschild points out that while an older person might experience disengagement from certain social activities, such as retiring from work, they are likely to replace this with something else that is socially engaging such as being more involved in the community or becoming more family-oriented. Indeed, Hochschilds biggest challenge to Disengagement Theory was the presentat ion of evidence from Cumming and Henrys own data showing that many older people do not withdraw from society.Disengagement Theory creates a picture of older people as lacking freedom to act on their own, thus ignoring individual ageing experiences and describing the ageing process in a purely social context (Gouldner, 1970). Indeed, Estes et al. (1982) argues that disengagement is often labored upon older people, which supports the notion that old age is just as much a social construction as it is a biological process. of age(p) people are, in many ways, socialised into acting old. Thus, older age is strongly related to Labelling Theory (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968). For example, making assumptions about old age and having low expectations of older people can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. This again raises the importance of not assuming that Elsies forgetting is a sign of dementia scorn being seen as a natural consequence of ageing, only a minority of people develop dementi a (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006).In many ways, Disengagement Theory serves to legitimise the marginalisation of older people and is, it could be argued, ageist and discriminative. agism is the application of negative stereotypes and includes actions such as categorising older people one at a time from adults. This has created immense debate within social work practice, with it being believed by some that distinguishing older people from adults is oppressive and can exacerbate social isolation. Tackling social isolation is being encouraged in efforts to prevent deteriorating health in older age, suggesting that disengagement is far from the ideology purported by e. e. cummings and Henry (DH, 2010). The introduction of the Equality Act 2010, which replaces the existing duties on the human race sector to promote race, disability and gender equality, now comprises a single duty to promote equality across eight protected characteristics, one of which is age. The Act also includes provisions allowing the government to make age discrimination in service planning and delivery unlawful. This is likely to be implemented in 2012 and thus it is crucial that social workers make anti-oppressive practice in the form of tackling ageism a priority. There needs to be a move away from viewing older people as an consistent group characterised by passivity, failing health, and dependency, as highlighted within exercise Theory.Activity Theory (Leontev, 1978) is a direct challenge to Disengagement Theory in that it suggests that life satisfaction is related to social interaction and level of activity. Nevertheless, as with all theories discussed within this essay, Disengagement Theory can be applied to understanding Elsies situation without being oppressive and without taking the extreme position that originally inspired the theory. More modern approaches to human growth and development clearly show the benefits of social engagement versus disengagement however, disengagement remains a key factor to consider due to ageist attitudes and the socialisation of old age.ConclusionThis essay has utilised theory and knowledge of human growth and development to demonstrate how social workers can make an informed assessment of a complex family situation. The strengths and limitations of these theories have been discussed, drawing in particular on their application within anti-oppressive practice. All theories offer a better understanding of human growth and development, with some requiring specific adaptation to encompass the heart values of social work practice. Such adaptation is not inevitably a disadvantage if the key strengths of each theory are utilised alongside the knowledge and expertise of the social worker.