Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 1
Developmental Analysis Part 1
Liberty University
Personal Introduction of Childhood – Adolescence
Although I was raised, along with my two older sisters, by both my mother and father,
my childhood was filled with a lot of disorder. In my early years of childhood, I remember being
DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 2
a happy child, however, my parents did not spend a lot of time with me. My sisters, of course,
had no interest in what I was interested in, so I was usually left to entertain myself, and learn
things on my own. I was a quiet, shy child, and did not make many friends in my neighborhood
or at school. In my first 10 years, my family moved seven times, so it was even more difficult for
me to develop friendships. My father was an alcoholic from the time I was born until I was about
15-years-old, when he finally stopped drinking, and remained in recovery. I was introduced to
the church by my mother originally, who made it mandatory that I dress up and attend Sunday
School each week. However, my faith development was mostly from the encouragement of my
grandmother. I used to visit my grandmother for weeks at a time, in the summer and during
Christmas break. My grandfather died right after I was born, and my grandmother did not have
any children other than my father, so she really enjoyed spending time with me. I have a lot of
good memories and she taught me quite a bit that helped me with my development. I loved my
parents and sisters, and I do have some good memories from my childhood experiences with
them, however, my fondest memories are with my grandmother. My grandmother became very
ill, and was eventually placed in a nursing home, when I was about 12-years-old. Not long after
that, I began to have problems in school, and was often unhappy, even mildly depressed at times.
My sisters were more resilient than me, and they seem to function normally with an alcoholic
father and a mother who was not available much. However, I have a completely different
personality than them, and I still carry some of the traits of shyness, and insecurity in my adult
life.
Theoretical Perspectives of Development
Stage of Development According to Freud
According to Broderick and Blewitt (2015), Freud believed that children start having
vague sexual desires at about 3-years-old, and that this manifests differently in boys than it does
girls. The Oedipus complex, according to Freud, was when boys begin to develop unconscious
DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 3
sexual desires for their mothers, while the Electra complex in a similar way affects female
children as they relate to their fathers. Although Freud had some interesting and provocative
concepts, attempts to substantiate them have failed for the most part.
In my childhood, the closet I came to exhibiting this complex was the fact that I adored
my grandmother, however, I do not ever remember having any desires for her. I greatly admired
my mother, and I as I got older into adolescence, I realized how much she had to go through with
my father’s drinking, which gave me more appreciation for her. Both of these females in my life
were very important to my development as a person during those years of childhood and
adolescence.
Stage of Development According to Erikson
As Crocetti, Branje, Rubini, Koot, and Meeus (2017) explain, Erik Erikson believed that
identity was the most important part of adolescence development. This is when children become
free-thinkers and begin to develop their own way of making choices that will affect their own
lives. A child will become closer and connected to their own families or will begin to drift away
and become more isolated from others in the family, in this stage of development. Their own
identities become clear to them, or they will be confused and regresses, with no real sense of
purpose.
In this stage of development, the role confusion is often guided in the family context, and
the parent-child relationship. This is another critical moment when parents have an opportunity
to shape their own children’s development.
Also, in this stage, sibling relationships are often changed significantly, with a closer
feeling of connection, or a more distant level of relating to each other (Crocetti et. al, 2017). The
latter happened in my adolescent years. I never spent much time with my older sisters. I was very
distant from my them, especially my older sister, who is four years older. I believe that this
distancing permanently affected our relationships, and I never really kept in contact with them
after I finished school. Later in life, when we were all in our 30’s, we became closer, and do keep
DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 4
in contact on birthdays and at Christmas. However, I never really felt like I had a close
relationship with my sisters.
Stage of Development According to Piaget
According to Lourenco (2016), Piaget’s developmental stages theory has been very
controversial over the years. Piaget believed that childhood development went though four
cognitive stages: the sensorimotor stage, from birth to 2 years, the preoperational stage, from 2
through 7, the concrete stage, from 7 through 11, and the formal operational stage, ages 11 and
up. Much od the controversy surrounding Piaget’s theory revolves around individual differences
and how they would affect each of these stages.
In my own childhood and adolescence, I can remember things that support Piaget’s
theory, especially in middle and older childhood. I remember when I started thinking more
concrete in middle childhood and began to become more curious about life and its many
complexities. In these early years of school, I did really well and made high grades. However, as
I got into middle school, and high school, I kept my own thinking to myself, and did not focus on
school work much.
Nature versus Nurture
As explained in Broderick and Blewitt (2015), the foundation of a child’s social
functioning is provided by nature and nurture. When children grow up in an isolated
environment, they often find it difficult to make friends. Nature and nurture affect a child’s
ability to understand friendship and what it involves, as well as affecting behavior skills and
friendship values.
I was definitely brought up in an isolated environment. My father was constantly
drinking, and never really spent much time with me with things such as playing ball, or helping
me to learn other skills. My mother was too busy working and enabling my father’s addictions to
spend much time with me, and my sisters were older and had no interest in spending any time
with me. I was too shy and insecure to make many friends. In some of the places we lived, I had
DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 5
one or two friends, however, I did not understand the true point of friendship, and I never
developed any friend making skills.
Bowlby’s Attachment
Children who fail to form secure attachments to caregivers, are at a greater risk of
developing anxiety as they grow older, according to Kerns and Brumariu (2014). A main precept
of attachment theory suggests that a strong and secure parent/child attachment prepares a child
for social challenges as he/she grows older. Bowlby believed that a weak attachment was the
main contributor to a child’s troubled behavior (Kerns & Brumariu, 2014). It is easy to see how a
child could develop problems with anxiety, without a secure attachment to his/her parents in
early years.
I can recall feelings of anxiety when I was a child. I used to worry quite often about my
family. I frequently worried and experience anxiety over my father’s drinking. I used to sit up
late art night wondering if he was going to come home. I would also constantly worry about my
mother, as I could see the toll that my father’s drinking was taking on her. My anxiety continued
into adolescence and beyond, and it is something that I still deal with today.
Faith Development
When I was a young child, my mother always made me dress up on Sunday morning and
go to Sunday school. I do have some good memories of those days, and I can recall some of the
fun things that we did, however, it did not leave much of an impression on me, other than
eventually dreading having to dress up. My grandmother, on the other hand, when I was able to
visit her, would not only take me to church, but she would also read the Bible to me, and say
prayers with me when I went to bed at night. She left a very deep impression of Christianity on
me as a young child.
However, as I got older, and she became unwell, I strayed away from any thought s of
Christianity. I am a devoted Christian now, and I am very content with my walk with Christ,
although I do strive harder to make it better. However, in the crucial years of adolescence and
DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 6
older teen years, I was very lost and made a mess of my life. My own life showed me how
important faith development was in my own children, and I encouraged them to a strong
relationship with Christ, as my grandmother did with me. Praise God that my children are still
growing in their faith as young adults today.
Challenges and Success
The people that had the most influence on my development as a child and into
adolescence were definitely my own family. I do not blame my parents or my sisters for what I
missed out on as a child. People do the best they can do, and all of us fall short of perfection. I
thank God for my grandmother, for without her, I think my life would have been much worse. I
believe that she gave me the foundation to build a strong relationship with Christ that has helped
me through all of my struggles in life, and I will always be grateful for that. My growth and
development in Christ is still in progress, and I will always take with me what I got from my
family with me as I continue to this walk.
References
Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2015). The life span: Human development for helping
professionals. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS 7
Crocetti, E., Branje, S., Rubini, M., Koot, H. M., & Meeus, W. (2017). Identity processes and
parent–child and sibling relationships in adolescence: A five‐wave multi‐informant
longitudinal study. Child Development, 88(1), 210-228. doi:10.1111/cdev.12547
Kerns, K. A. and Brumariu, L. E. (2014). Is insecure parent–child attachment a risk factor for the
development of anxiety in childhood or adolescence?. Child Development Perspectives,
8(1), 12-17. doi:10.1111/cdep.12054
Lourenco, O. M. (2016). Developmental stages, Piagetian stages in particular: A critical review.
New Ideas in Psychology, 40(B), 123-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych
.2015.08.002
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
