How Behavior Changes as Children Grow (Essay Sample)

How Behavior Changes as Children Grow First and Last Name Department and Academic Institution Course Name and Number Instructor Due Date How Behavior Changes as Children Grow From birth through adolescence, children develop mentally as their brains mature. Much of the brain’s most dramatic growth takes place before the age of six. This means that future behavior will depend in large part on healthy brain development during this period. Neurodevelopment is a strong predictor of behavior, and early-stage growth or lack thereof can have a profound impact on behavior. Children are born with brains that have developed neural pathways in the womb, and so some of their behaviors are preset before birth. But from this point on, there are a number of developmental windows that occur within development. Within these windows, the behavior of parents, environmental factors and early-life experiences can all play a role in influencing future behaviors. That said, there is no single event or environmental factor which will always dictate a particular outcome. Brains are remarkably adaptable and what is true for large groups is not always true of the individual. From the moment a child is born, their brains are already wired for a number of behaviors. The limbic system is fully formed at birth, allowing the child to display a range of emotions that will help it bond with and understand others. A healthy limbic system is crucial for emotional regulation. While already formed, the limbic system will be profoundly influenced by early-life experiences. The child will bond strongly the mother, their primary protector. The child shows a low level of inhibition at this stage as the fear response to unfamiliar stimuli is dampened for the sake of bonding with the mother. A caregiver might be aloof or abusive, but the child feels a powerful need to bond anyway. This may be because even an inadequate caregiver is better than none at all (Rosenberg, Casey & Holmes, 2018, para. 10). In ideal conditions, the caregiver helps the child to develop normally and flourish. In less-than-ideal conditions, the child will bond with a neglectful parent, an adaption that is meant to help it survive the early trials of their first few years. A neglectful childhood leads to a developmental disadvantage, since children who form bonds with unreliable parents will have difficulty forming close connections with others and will be plagued by anxiety later in life (Keverne, 2004, 1350). The need for an infant to form a trusting relationship with its mother is a developmental milestone that must take place within a given window of time. If the child does not form a strong maternal bond, and instead has to contend with a weak one, it will be too late to do so by age three (Bruer, 1999, 11). If the important developmental milestones are not met, the brain of the young child will adapt. It will continue to be shaped by its experiences. As children are introduced to new stimuli, their brains will change to take in new information. But the particular responses in the brain will be different in a brain that has met important developmental milestones from one that has missed them. Unfamiliar situations will trigger the production of stress hormones in the brains of children primed to expect danger. While this is true of all children, children who have been nurtured from infancy until the age of three with lots of maternal attention will be more resilient in the face of unfamiliar circumstances. This in turn will prime them for success later in life. If the child has been deprived of maternal caring, however, they will be more likely to behave fearfully around adults they do not know well. A series of studies in rats suggest that these children are also more likely to experience drug dependency problems later in life (Keverne, 2004, 1350). Stressors such as abandonment, abuse, or neglect are stressors that are strong predictors of anxiety disorders later in life (Rosenberg, Casey & Holmes, 2018, para. 10). Once these patterns are set, whether the response to new stimuli is an anxious or secure one, there is robust evidence that these patterns will continue to play a role in behavior. While the first three years of life are filled with developmental milestones that will continue to influence behavior throughout life, it is easy to overstate the importance of this period of development and the impact that it can have. Other environmental can just as much or more impact on the behavior of the individual in the future. Concerned with this period in particular, neuroscientist J.T. Bruer has pointed out that a myth has formed around the years between birth and age three, that this period is the most important for predicting future behavior. It is clear that the brain is developing rapidly at this stage, and that developmental delays can cause irreversible damage. For instance, Dr. Patricia Kuhl has pointed out that a child’s visual field develops during this period, and if something impedes the child’s ability to see, then the visual field will not develop optimally (Bruer, 1999, 6). However, it is not clear from this example that future success is dictated by this period alone. Bruer has pushed back against non-experts in the media proposing that the period from birth until age three is the most important developmental period. Children who are better nurtured during this period of life are not more likely to have increased IQs over those who have not received the same special attention, for instance (Bruer, 1999, 6). The first three years matter a great deal, of course. And what happens during this period matters a great deal in the development of the brain which will influence future behavior. But it is easy to overemphasize the importance of this period and to neglect the important reality that brain development continues over the course of adolescence and that behavior is shaped in every developmental period, not only the first one after birth. Preschool, from roughly age three until six or seven years of age is another important developmental milestone worth examining. By age six, the brain has quadrupled from its weight at birth (Brown & Jernigan, 2012, para. 4). Glial cells, cells which can be used to carry out specific tasks, grow and migrate as the brain makes connections. This process continues through adulthood, but the most robust period is during the preschool period (Brown & Jernigan, 2012, para. 4-6). This means that the brain is forming new connections based on new stimuli, and that the stimuli is rewiring the brain’s responses. This is in turn translated into behaviors. There is a strong connection between neurodevelopment and behavior, and this continues to be the case throughout childhood. Just as with the period from birth to age three, stressors brought on by poverty or neglect from the primary caregiver will have an impact on preschool age children as well (Luby et al., 2019, para. 5). If a child experiences stress from their environment because of poverty, the development of the limbic system will be affected (Luby et al., 2019, para. 2). As mentioned above, the child is born with a fully-formed limbic system, but this part of the brain, which regulates emotion, can be altered by stressors. Children who experience heavy stress at this stage demonstrate more withdrawn behavior and avoidance strategies for establishing intimate bonds with strangers as children, but these same behaviors are often continued into adulthood. Greater feelings of general anxiousness later in life abound if the limbic system becomes primed to anticipation danger during the preschool years in much the same way explored above in regards to the first three years of life. Brain scans from 112 children revealed that stressors during preschool were significant for the development of the amygdala, hippocampus, and insula as well. All of these parts of the brain were underdeveloped in children who experienced significant stress from adverse environments. Scans of school-aged children as a control group demonstrate that it is in the preschool period in particular where underdevelopment can cause emotional and behavioral problems (Luby et al., 2019, para. 21). However, caregiver intervention can play an important role. Even a child who grows up in adverse conditions can avoid some of the most detrimental impacts on their underdevelopment with careful attention form a parent or other protector. The evidence is robust that brain development early in life has an impact on future behavior. Though, of course, the brain is always changing and evolving. Babies need strong bonds with parents, especially mothers up to age three. Preschool children need nurturing and supportive environments to grow up in. As these children leave school age and enter adolescence, behaviors manifest that are reflective of early brain development. Teenagers who experienced trauma when they were infants or young children are likely to have avoidant personalities and to experience ambient anxiety. The limbic system which regulates emotion is more attuned to threat and more likely to view unfamiliar situations and experiences with dread. Teens who had nurturing early life experiences and were furnished with safe, predictable environments are more emotionally resilient and are less likely to experience the same emotional issues as members of their cohort without these same advantages. Teens also experience cues that trigger anxiety differently than preschoolers. A teen will not experience fear in the presence of an environmental cue that would have terrified as a preschooler (Rosenberg, Casey & Holmes 2018, para. 7). Teens are generally more open to new experiences, including risky ones, and both children who have developed without any early-stage ...