Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

When I was a young child my older sister had a friend who lived in a home where she was physically and sexually abused. My parents reported this to the appropriate authorities and as a result, the girl was removed from the home. In an effort to help the young girl and because she was a friend of my sister’s, my parents offered to foster her until a better placement could be found. At first, she seemed very happy to be in a safe home where she was treated respectfully. It was very new to her and she was unsure of how to react.

After several months in our home, my parents became concerned with some behaviors she was exhibiting. She began to lie, skip classes at school, and stay out past curfew without phoning. When my parents questioned her, she became defensive. They became even more worried and decided to set up an appointment to speak with the girl’s therapist (who was court appointed) to get ideas to help her. In the meeting, my parents and the therapist discovered that the girl had been lying to all of them, telling different stories to each about what she was doing. She was being sexually promiscuous with several boys at school and stealing money from my parents to purchase drugs. My parents were at a loss at how to help her further and became concerned about their biological children. So, they asked her case worker to find another placement for her. It was a very hard decision for them.

This young girl’s psychosocial development was tarnished. She had very low self-esteem and felt that the only way for someone of the opposite sex to like her was to do whatever they wanted, which included drugs and sex. She had also learned to lie about this behavior to people who cared about her which further tarnished her ability to form appropriate healthy relationships. Her biosocial development was stunted by her drug use and her emotional instability. Her cognitive development also suffered because of her behaviors. Her drug use, irresponsible behaviors such as skipping school, and her emotional damage delayed her learning progress. Because of the violence in this young child’s home, all of her developmental domains were affected.

For further insight into stressors that may affect a child’s development in all domains, I decided to look at the Democratic Republic of Congo. Located in central Africa, it is a war torn country known for violence over the gold trade. They are also known for smuggling contraband, physical and sexual abuse as military tactics and as generally accepted practices among civilians (Kalisya et al., 2011), kidnapping and recruiting young children into the military, and brutal torture of children for what they deem “sorcery” practices (Bamford, 2006). Due to the presence and continued predominance of these stressors in young children’s lives, there is a high prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder indicated by a study of some these young children (Mels, Derluyn, Broekaert, & Rosseel, 2009).

All developmental domains of the affected children in the Democratic Republic of Congo will show the consequences of the traumatic events these children experience. It is thought that people who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder have a smaller hippocampus than other typically developed people. This is the part of the brain that makes and stores memories. Therefore, many of these children will suffer from learning and memory problems. It can also affect the formations in the frontal lobe of the brain. This part of the brain is closely linked with the limbic system which is the seat of human emotions. Failure of this part of the brain to form correctly can lead to poor psychosocial development in children by causing them to have improper control of their emotions which can alienate them in society. These two slight brain malformations are also an example of a deficit in biosocial development. Fortunately, there are several nonprofit agencies such as Save The Children, UNICEF, and The Congo Children Trust, whose efforts are making small strides in the country to aide children in need and to form laws that bring offenders to justice. Unfortunately, the number of abused in the Democratic Republic of Congo is so great and there is such chaos in the country that progress towards the goals of their efforts is very slow moving.

References:

Bamford, D. (April 04, 2006). Congo child sorcery abuse on rise. BBC News. Retrieved from http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Africa/4877722.stm

Malemo K. L., Lussy J.P., Kimona, C., Nyavandu, K., Mukekulu, E. K., … Hawkes, M. (January 2011). Sexual violence toward children and youth in war-torn eastern democratic republic of congo. PLoS ONE 6(1), e15911. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015911

Mels, C., Derluyn, I., Broekaert, E., Rosseel, Y. ( June 2009). Screening for traumatic exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms in adolescents in war-affected eastern democratic republic of congo [Abstract]. Archives of Pediatric Medicine, 163(6), 525-530.