Child Development and Public Health

The topic that I chose to research is family mental health. The reason I chose this topic is because I thought it would be interesting as a preschool teacher and just in general to find out what the link is with families and mental health. The article that I researched is called Resilience and Culture/Ethnicity, Examples From Sudan, Namibia, and Armenia written by Edith H. Grotberg, Ph.D.

This article talks about how confident one feels about themselves, particularly in the area of resilience. it is critical to a child's feelings of confidence, hope, trust, and love, and an ability to seek help and solve problems that are perceived as experiences of adversity.  Three sources of resilience are the following I have, I am, I can. I have is the external supports that cultural/ethnic identity of a child that reflects the supports, values, role models, and limits determined by a cultural/ethnic group. I am is the mental health of a child to that reflects the extent to which a culture fosters identity, self-esteem, empathy, autonomy, altruism, responsibility, and hope. I can is the interpersonal and problem solving skills that children acquire that reflects the extent to which a culture encourages mastery of skills, in communication, problem solving, and management of behavior.

Two methods were used to identify cultural/ethnic similarities and differences in the area of resilience among children. The study showed that families in Namibia and Armenia were traditional, some rich, some poor and the child rearing practices reflected the outcomes of the resilience among the children. The study gave a situation where a nine year old girl named Rita walks to school every day and passes a place where a group of older children stands around. When she passes them the call to her, make fun of her and sometimes push her. She has become so frightened she refuses to go to school any more and tells her mother she is sick. her mother knows she is healthy...
Most frequently used parents' responses that promote resilience:
Sudan: helping the child resolve the problem, encouraging them to resolve the problem by themselves, being a role model in how to resolve the problem
Namibia: calming the girl; talk about what is going on; showing empathy; expressing love; pointing out that school attendance is her responsibility; helping her to solve the problem
Armenia: talks to her mother and shares feelings of fear; mother helps girl solve problem with help; shows child how to deal with situation; helps the child feel safe; encourages child to gradually solve the problem herself, but with support; mother feels the child's pain; calms child and assures her that everything will be alright; showing the girl how much she is loved
Most frequently used parents' responses that prevent the development of resilience:
Sudan: forcing the truth; punishing the girl for lying; leaving her alone to solve her own problem; expecting the girl to hate school, not attend school, or become ill; displaying little emotion of caring or empathy to the girl
Namibia: hitting the girl for lying; forcing the truth; feeling sad and afraid for the girl, but not helping; forcing the girl to go to school
Armenia: mother forces attendance; girl continues to feel fearful; parent does nothing but feels she should intercede; thinks girl believes she is bad, but does nothing to help; girl would learn her lesson and tell the truth after this

The major responses from the three countries that concern mental health and mastery of resilience are:
Mental Health:
Sudan: autonomy, confidence
Namibia: empathy, expressions of love, feeling lovable
Armenia: empathy, expressions of love, self-esteem, feeling lovable, confidence
Mastery:
Sudan: role models, communication, problem solving, seek friends
Namibia: communication, problem solving
Armenia: sharing feelings, share process of problem solving, seek friends

The study concluded that the things that prevented promotion of resilience were:
Sudan: indifference, punishment for lying, withdrawal and illness, wandering streets, sad, angry, and afraid children.
Namibia: parents concerned about their own feelings, punishment, forced attention, no resolution, lose friends.
Armenia: forced attention, no resolution, sees self as bad, must tell truth, punishment, fearful, helpless.

The comparison among the three sites concluded that parents and children differ in terms of communication, discipline, and love. The Sudanese encourage a sense of autonomy and confidence. In Namibia parents express love, and make the child feel lovable, and express the need to be responsible. Armenian parents provide a loving, trusting relationship and encourage autonomy but with support, they show empathy and build confidence. Each site focused on communication skills and problem solving. Armenian parents were the best at communicating with each other to resolve problems.