Description Of Ecological And Cultural Contexts

Term Paper Students Name Institutional Affiliation Description of ecological and cultural contexts I am an African American woman living in a culture surrounded by white people. Therefore, this could be having a little impact on the way that I make decisions. African Americans are known to receive some kind of stereotyping and discrimination from the whites. I have experienced a few cases of discrimination as a result of my skin color and ethnicity. As well, given the fact that I only have one actual friend, I believe that my behavior does not have much influence from my social context. According to the Bandura's social learning theory, human behavior is shaped from the various environmental and cognitive influence that they experience in their life (Deaton, 2015). Therefore, this theory has a huge impact in explaining my lonely lifestyle due to the abusive environment that I grew in. A person is expected to be friendly and socializing depending on the people that they interact with. I have grown up in an abusive environment, and hence, this did not encourage me to be friendly to other people. I got little help from the people that were supposed to model my life. The bandura theory points out that through observation of the attitudes and behaviors of other people, an individual is able to model theirs too (Zelazo, Chandler & Crone, 2016). The behavior of the people around me has had a great impact on the kind of behavior that I express today. I am not an outgoing person, and this explains the reason as to why I only have one actual friend. Development in relation to multiple identities My development has been faced with plenty of challenges. I grew up knowing that my grandmother was killed by his husband when I was at the age of five months. This made life to be stressful for my mother, who was a teen mom. She ended up in drugs, and I went to live with my grandfather. His wife was mean to be to the extent that I ran off to be live with my friends until my senior year in high school. Bowlby's attachment theory argues out that a child has an inborn need of attachment to a particular person. When such attachment is broken, then it could have adverse effects on the life of a child during their later development stages in life (Van Rosmalen, Van Der Horst & Van der Veer, 2016). Given the many challenges that I went through during my childhood, then I think it is difficult for me to get attached. Every child requires a loving family to take care of them and teach them the ways of life. This is a kind of relationship that I never had when growing up. However, I have learned how to overcome such struggles by finding a new purpose in life. The only family member that am close with is one of my cousins. I have been working hard to achieve my career goals, and I have so far attained a Bachelor's degree in psychology. Through my career, I would be able to help other people going through challenges that they cannot overcome. In addition, it has been a challenge taking care of one of my autistic kids. The kind of upbringing that I went through encourages me to be the best mother that my kids could have. I would not want them to suffer the attachment issues that I went through. Review of my early years My early childhood years were not one of the best that a child could wish for. My mom gave birth to me while she was still a teenager. In our culture, teenage mums barely get enough support from the community and therefore, as per the stories I get, my mum only had my grandmother to help her through the early pregnancy trauma. Following this was a tragic event that cost the life of my grandmother. I believe that this was the turning point of my life because my mum turned into drugs, hence making it difficult for her to offer me the care that is required of a mother to their child. Probably if my mum gave birth at a later age in life, my grandmother's death could not have caused so much change in my upbringing. I hit my adolescent years, and things never became any better. My grandfather's wife mistreated me, thus making life with them unbearable. I had to run off and live with some of my friends until I finished high school. My mother spent most of her time in and out of prison, and therefore, I could not rely on her to get the guidance that a parent is required to offer their teenage child. Being a teenage girl in society requires extra advice because, during that age, a girl is in the development stage of discovering the world around them. Therefore, they can easily make poor choices that could, in turn, affect their whole life. However, I am glad that I made it through my teenage years without making any choices that I would later regret. I believe the kind of environment that I grew up in has shaped me into the person that I am today. I have a passion for advancing my psychology career so that I can be of help to other people. Despite my lung condition, I have always been a dedicated mum to ensure that I offer my kids as much love and care as possible. The lung condition is a minor challenge as compared to what I have been through since my childhood. I have not done much research as to whether my liver condition has any connection with my conditions of upbringing. When friends become more helping than family members, then I do not see the need to be associated with such family members. This explains the reason as to why I only have contact with one of my cousins. I also met my biological father in 2017, but I am not sure how I feel about them for having abandoned me for all those years. Description of physical, cognitive, moral, social, emotional and spiritual domains Drug addiction among parents has been one of the main reasons as to why children end up in the streets or foster care homes. Having grown up with a mother who was regularly in and out of prison and a drug addict, then I am lucky to be having a decent life. My physical, social, emotional, and social domains can be best described by Erikson's psychological theory of development. The theory points out that the external factors, society, and parents play a substantial role...