September 1999 Volume 80 Number 9
"serving the protectors"
| September 1999 Volume 80 Number 9 "serving the protectors" |
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| Straight to the Point | |
| By
Trevor Haskell PASA Executive Committee
Member |
The role of parenting is always challenging. At the Welfare Office we often talk with parents who are worried about aspects of their children’s behaviour. There are now excellent parent courses and reading material available.
Some years ago I was given some reading on the issue of children. I’ve always found it to be very useful for helping me refocus when my kids are driving me crazy. It can be useful to understand the development phases of child development. Some of the scientific research in the article produced below helps to assimilate some of the research.
This article may not appear politically correct as it is a few years old, but I think it’s worth a read by all parents, would-be parents and grandparents.
Jordan W. Smoller
University of Pennsylvania
Childhood is a syndrome which has only recently begun to receive serious attention from clinicians. The syndrome itself, however, is not at all recent. As early as the 8th century, the Persian historian Kidnom made reference to ‘short, noisy creatures,’ who may well have been what we now call ‘children’. The treatment of children, however, was unknown until this century, when so-called ‘child psychologists’ and ‘child psychiatrists’ became common. Despite this history of clinical neglect, it has been estimated that well over half of all Americans alive today have experienced childhood directly (Suess, 1983). In fact, the actual numbers are probably much higher, since these data are based on self reports which may be subject to social desirability biases and retrospective distortion.
The growing acceptance of childhood as a distinct phenomenon is reflected in the proposed inclusion of the syndrome in the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders, 4th Edition. or DSM-1V, of the American Psychiatric Association (1985). Clinicians are still in disagreement about the significant clinical features of childhood, but the proposed DSM-1V will almost certainly include the following core features:
- Congenital onset.
- Dwarfism.
- Emotional lability and immaturity.
- Knowledge deficits.
- Legume anorexia.
Although the focus of this paper is on the efficacy of conventional treatment of childhood, the five clinical markers mentioned above merit further discussion for those unfamiliar with this patient population.
In one of the few existing literature reviews on childhood, Temple-Black (1982) has noted that childhood is almost always present at birth, although it may go undetected for years or even remain subclinical indefinitely. This observation has lead some investigators to speculate on a biological contribution to childhood. As one psychologist has put it ‘we may soon be in a position to distinguish organic childhood from functional childhood’ (Rogers, 1979).
This is certainly the most familiar clinical marker of childhood. It is widely known that children are physically short relative to the population at large. Indeed, common clinical wisdom suggests that the treatment of so-called ‘small child’ (or tot) is particularly difficult. These children are known to exhibit infantile behaviour and display a startling lack of insight (Tom and Jerry, 1967).
This aspect of childhood is often the only basis for a clinician’s diagnosis. As a result, many otherwise normal adults are misdiagnosed as children and must suffer the unnecessary social stigma of being labelled a ‘child’ by professionals and friends alike.
While many children have IQs within or even above the norm, almost all will manifest knowledge deficits. Anyone who has known a real child has experienced the frustration of trying to discuss any topic that requires some general knowledge. Children seem to have little knowledge about the world they live in. Politics, art and science - children are largely ignorant of these. Perhaps it is because of this ignorance, but the sad fact is that most children have few friends who are not, themselves, children.
This last identifying feature is perhaps the most unexpected. Folk wisdom is supported by empirical observation - children will rarely eat their vegetables (see Popeye, 1957).
Now that we know what it is, what can we say about the causes of childhood? Recent years have seen a flurry of theory and speculation from a number of perspectives. Some of the most prominent are review below.
Emile Durkind was perhaps the first to speculate about sociological causes of childhood. He points out two key observations about children: 1) the vast majority of children are unemployed, and 2) children represent one of the least educated segments of our society. In Fact, it has been estimated that less than 20% of children have had more than a fourth grade education.
Clearly, children are an ‘out-group’. Because of their intellectual handicap, children are even denied the right to vote. From the sociologist’s perspective, treatment should be aimed at helping assimilate children into mainstream society. Unfortunately, some victims are so incapacitated by their childhood that they are simply not competent to work. One promising rehabilitation program (Spanky & Alfalfa. 1978) has trained victims of severe childhood to sell lemonade.
The observation that childhood is usually present from birth has led some to speculate on a biological contribution. An early investigation by Flintstone and Jetson (1939) indicated that childhood runs in families. Their survey of over 8,000 American families revealed that over half contained more than one child. Further investigation revealed that even most non-child family members had experienced childhood at some point. Cross cultural studies (e.g. Mowgli & Din, 1950) indicate that familial childhood is even more prevalent in the Far East. For example, in Indian and Chinese families, as many as three out of four family members may have childhood.
Impressive evidence of a genetic component of childhood comes from a large scale twin study by Brady and Partridge (1972). These authors studies over 106 pairs of twins, looking at concordance rates for childhood. Among identical or monozygotic twins, concordance was unusually high (.92), i.e., when one twin was diagnosed with childhood, the other twin was almost always a child as well.
A considerable number of psychologically based theories of the development of childhood exist. They are too numerous to review here. Among the more familiar models are Seligman’s ‘learned childishness’ model. According to this model, individuals who are treated like children eventually give up and become children. As a counter point to such theories, some experts have claimed that childhood does not really exist. Szasz (1980) has called ‘childhood’ an expedient label. In seeking conformity, we handicap those whom we find unruly or too short to deal with by labelling them ‘children’.
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