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 DEVELOPMENT THEORIES AND THEIR APPLICATION TO MY CHILDHOOD

Background

The development of a human child to an adult is a complex process that is a multifactorial web

having various dimensions such as parenting style, attachment pattern, the impact of family and

culture, surroundings, and environment and participation by the individual himself/herself. This

complex process has been described in various ways by different development theories such as

Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, Bowlby-Ainsworth's attachment theory, Maslow’s

theory of hierarchy of needs, and many more. All these theories cover different aspects of human

development with a focus starting from most immediate impacts, broadening to cover the higher

influences such as community and state. Studies of human development in different communities

have considered the thing that children of different communities have different issues which

must be resolved to achieve good human development at a mass level. Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islanders (ATSI) are far behind in development from Nonindigenous people because of

cultural differences, racism, and discrimination in the providence of services. For these

communities, elimination of these deleterious factors is important for them to accomplish good

human development.

Active participation by the individual is as critical as these other factors for a sound and stable

personality. Erikson's psychosocial theory describes that people advance through the stages of

development based on their reaction to the social stresses in life. This verifies that a person's

attributes and attitude towards issues in life help him/her grow through different stages of

development. Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory postulates that the nature and

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surroundings of a person have an essential role in the development of attitudes and intellectual

ability.

This reflective essay highlights my own experiences in childhood given two important theories

of development i.e., Bowlby-Ainsworth's attachment theory and Bronfenbrenner's ecological

systems theory. This specific piece of writing is about the impact of my family and cultural

context on my development as I matured through life and how I can reflect those environments

having an impact on my personality as an adult.

A reflect on my own family and cultural context

Attachment of an infant is related to early interactions with his/her caregivers, and it has a long-

term effect on the infant's personality in later life (Fletcher, Nutton, & Brend, 2015).

As an infant, my caregiver was only my mother as my father had gone abroad for work. I used to

live in a small family that consisted of my mother and an elder sister. My father used to visit us

after a year or so and I always got anxious when he returned.

My mother was caring and responsive to my needs. My mother used to go to work which made

me worried every time while I and my sister were alone at home. We used to play together after

my mother left for work, till the time she started with her school. Afterward, for a year, my

mother used to take me to our neighbor’s house when she went to work. My neighbors were

loving and caring. I used to play with their children. This way I learned to interact with other

people. When I was 4, I was sent to a boarding school which changed everything. Joining a

boarding school makes a child less dependent on others, more disciplined, and overall, a better

person, although it does not always happen (Noll, Noll, Tiggemann, & Custodio, 2020). I was

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reluctant to go as I didn't want to stay away from my mother and sister. My mother counseled me

that it would make me learn a lot and help me get educated in a better way.

Boarding school was a good experience. In the beginning, I used to get homesick and cry every

night. I got disturbed emotionally and psychologically. I used to cry whenever my mother visited

me, and I used to ask her to take me back with her. This was undoubtedly a negative aspect that

worsened my mental growth. Boarding school brings a shift from a home environment to an

institutional environment where interactions with totally unfamiliar people may cause a positive

or negative change in a child's personality (Simpson, Haughton, & Gordon, 2021). But with

passing time, I started exploring the surrounding people. I made some friends and we used to

spend most of our time together. We had a nanny who took care of us. She was our caregiver

there and she was caring. I got attached to her soon and I had realized that my nanny and these

friends are my families here. Nanny taught us to take care of each other as we were responsible

for each other. I can say that responsibility in my personality reflects what I learned at that time.

Boarding school was a great source of getting attributes like confidence, coping up with difficult

situations on my own, socializing with people, and public speaking.

I was born in Hindu culture, and I had learned many of its aspects from my mother already. My

teachers in boarding school also taught me this religion and I started to have trust in God. This

positively shaped my personality as my attitude towards life changed a lot in this context.

My childhood was mostly spent at boarding school which helped me learn many good attributes

like learning how to cope up with difficulties in life and having the ability to make confident

decisions. I was not dependent on anyone as I used to be as a child at home. This thing set a basis

for me to stand up against the challenges of life and a strong belief in my abilities.

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My Childhood Considering Bowlby-Ainsworth's Attachment Theory

Bowlby-Ainsworth's attachment theory describes the significance of the child-caregiver

relationship on the development and personality of the child. Bowlby-Ainsworth's attachment

theory describes four phases of attachment and four different types of attachments between

children and their caregivers which are Secure, Anxious Resistant, Anxious Avoidant, and

Disorganized (Crittenden, 2017).

As for myself, before joining the boarding school, I was attached to my mother. She used to go

to work, and this used to make me anxious. She was responsible towards me and always took

care of me in a good way. Applying this theory, I can say that I had a Secure attachment with my

mother. I had a sister and we used to play together. My mother taught us to take care of each

other and we never fought, we used to share our toys and lived together happily.

After joining boarding school, I experienced Anxious Resistant attachment with my nanny at

boarding school and I used to avoid her and was being resistant towards her. Insecure attachment

increases the susceptibility of a child to have anxiety and other disorders if not corrected by

caregivers and remains persistent for a long time (Morrarty, et al., 2015). Fortunately, the nanny

realized my anxiety and resistant behavior towards her. She started treating me with greater care

and love, over months, changed my attitude towards her and this insecure attachment shifted to

Secure attachment as I used to miss her presence when she was not around.

My teachers at school were friendly and caring. Along with course education, they focused on

building my capacities of communication skills, discipline, self-care, helping each other

importance of sharing and accepting the challenges of life on my own.

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In this regard, I can apply Bowlby-Ainsworth's attachment theory on years of my childhood

which helps me identify that my experience of secure attachment with my mother and nanny as a

child, formulated a base on which I shaped my personality as an adult.

My Childhood Considering Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

The culture, society, and environment that a child lives in provide a set of instructions according

to which the development of a child is occurring both socially and mentally (McLinden, 2017).

These environments are called "Ecological Systems" by Bronfenbrenner.

Bronfenbrenner's theory describes four such ecological systems that affect the development of a

child i.e., microsystem, mesosystem, ecosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem with each

system nested within the other (Soyer, 2019).

Keeping this theory in view, I experienced different microsystems in my life before and after

joining boarding school. Before my life at boarding school, the microsystem around me

consisted of my mother, sister, my playroom, and a few friends. Interactions will all provide

good nourishment for my mental growth. Experiencing mesosystem, we had neighbors whom, I

spent much of my time as my mother used to hand over me to them when she had to go to work.

My Ecosystem experience has been detrimental as my father's occupation always kept him away

from me. The absence of a father has multiple untoward effects on the child such as behavioral,

academic, social, mental, and more importantly attachment problems (Ivana Davies,2020). Thus,

his absence was a great challenge and I experienced behavioral and psychological issues and I

can recognize that what lacked in my development was my father's active participation in

parenting. After joining boarding school, the microsystem surrounding me was my nanny, my

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friends, teachers, and hostel life. Overall, it was a good experience, and I wouldn’t’ve been the

same person if I hadn't learned all those lessons of life there.

Thus, the application of Bronfenbrenner's theory helps me recognize the significance of those

ecological systems on my development when I was a child.

Discussion on the impact of those environments as I matured

After applying these development theories to my childhood, I can well recognize the impact of

attachment and ecological systems on my personality as I matured through life.

Factors like secure attachment and good ecological systems surrounding me shaped my

personality in such a way that I am a confident person, have good communication skills, could

cope up with difficulties of life and, have a stronger mental capacity to cope up with stress.

Although some aspects like the absence of my father in parenting, fear of joining boarding

school, and earlier anxious resistant attachment with my caregiver in boarding school were

negative for my mental growth and personality at that time, other better factors were helpful

enough to fill up the deficiencies in my development and now I can fairly say that I am a person

with a positive attitude towards life and others. I can withstand the stresses of life and manage

things on my own.

Evaluation of my childhood about these theories makes me recognize the importance of

attachment, family, culture, and ecological systems in my development and personality.

Conclusion

My childhood considering Bowlby-Ainsworth's theory and Bronfenbrenner's ecological system

theory clarifies my view of the significance of secure attachment, family, cultural context, and

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positive surrounding environment on good development and an overall sound personality of a

child in later life.

Children with insecure attachment have a higher susceptibility to having disorders like anxiety,

psychological disorders, and other negative attributes in their personalities as adults.

Parent knowledge of parenting styles and attachments is important in bringing up of child and

mass education on parenting is required for improving the development of children on a greater

scale.

As for myself, I have experienced both good and poor aspects in my development as a child and

I do understand the importance of the application of these two theories on child development. I

am now able to say that personality of an adult is highly related to his/her development as a child

which is dependent on his/her attachment pattern, family, culture, and surrounding environment.

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References
Crittenden, P. M. (2017). Gifts from Mary Ainsworth and John Bowlby. Clinical Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 22(3), 436--442.

Fletcher, K., Nutton, J., & Brend, D. (2015). Attachment, a matter of substance: The potential of
attachment theory in the treatment of addictions. Clinical Social Work Journal, 43(1), 109--117.

McLinden, M. (2017). Examining proximal and distal influences on the part-time student experience
through an ecological systems theory. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(3), 373--388.

Morrarty, E. L., Degnan, K. A., Tuscano, A. C., Pine, D. S., Henderson, H. A., & Fox, N. A. (2015). Infant
Attachment Security and Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition Interact to Predict Adolescent
Social Anxiety Symptoms. Child development, 86(2), 598--613.

Noll, M., Noll, P. R., Tiggemann, C. L., & Custodio, D. C. (2020). Health-risk behavior differences between
boarding and non-resident students: Brazilian adolescent National School Health Survey.
Archives of public health, 78(1), 1--9.

Simpson, F., Haughton, M., & Gordon, W. V. (2021). An Identity Process Theory Account of the Impact of
Boarding School on Sense of Self and Mental Health: an Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1--18.

Soyer, G. F. (2019). Urie Bronfenbrenner: the ecology of human development book review. Journal of
Culture and Values in Education, 2(2), 77--80.