B6 - Major Life Events that Affect Development Flashcards
Key terms and introduction
Predictable events = Events that are expected to happen at a particular time. While expected they may have a positive or negative effect on a person’s health and wellbeing.
Unpredictable events = Events that happen unexpectedly and which may have serious physical and psychological effects on the individual. These effects can be positive or negative.
As an individual travels through the lifespan, they will experience a number of events that change their life to some degree. Some events are predictable and may be chosen/a part of the natural course of life. Other events may be unpredictable events that happen when they are least expected. Categorising predictable and unpredictable life events is not straightforward and depends on an individual’s circumstances. For some people, issues such as divorce or redundancy may be predictable but others may be shocked to go through a marriage breakdown/divorce or deal with redundancy.
Predictable events
Predictable life events are those events that are expected to happen to an individual at a particular time. Some of these are shown later. For example, starting nursery school may be the first major life event a young child experiences. Many people can recall their first day at nursery school in detail. There will be positive learning experiences for the child as they meet other children and develop social skills and friendships. Experience of nursery school provides opportunities to learn to share toys and take turns in games. Children will develop communication skills as they talk and listen to other children and adults. However, the young child may feel unsupported, stress and on safe as their parents/carers are not there. This can lead to becoming withdrawn and isolating themselves from other children. Although predictable life events often involve positive learning, there is also a risk of stress involved.
Some examples of predictable events and the positive learning(+)/risk of stress (-) that comes with them (influences of predictable life events on development):
~ Starting school/nursery
+ Learning to make new friends and cope with change.
- Feeling unsafe – withdrawing from others. Loss of support from parents.
~ Beginning and changing employment
+ Choosing your work role and having an income from employment.
- Feeling pressured by new demands on time and mental energy. Finding difficulty in adapting. Lots of past lifestyle.
~ Leaving home/leaving care
+ Achieving independence – controlling personal environment.
- Feeling unable to cope in a new situation. Feeling pressured by all the new tasks. Loss of family/care support.
~ Leaving prison
+ Coping with freedom and choice.
- Loss of routine, loss of a structured environment, possible lack of support with finding an income and housing. Coping with possible discrimination.
~ Marriage
+ Making emotional attachments and experiencing intimacy.
- Feeling threatened by intimacy and sharing possessions. Possible loss of independence.
Parenthood
+ Attachment to infant. Learning parenting skills.
- Disruption of previous lifestyle, loss of free time. No demands on time and energy. Feeling tired due to loss of sleep.
~ Retirement
+ Controlling own life – disengaging from work.
- Loss of previous work roles. Loss of contact with work colleagues. Difficulty establishing a new lifestyle.
Unpredictable events
Unpredictable life events happen unexpectedly and can be a shock. This can impact on an individual’s physical and psychological wellbeing. When a sudden life event occurs, there is always a risk that an individual will feel out of control, which can cause stress and anxiety. Although people may die at any stage of their lifespan, unexpected death, for example as a result of an accident or unexpected illness, can be a huge shock. The sense of loss and grief can be extremely difficult to deal with. The bereavement period is a time for adjusting to the loss as well as dealing with the emotional upheaval that this entails. Although many older people expect the death of spouses and friends, the death of an adult child can have a devastating effect on the physical and emotional wellbeing. They may find adjustment and adaptation extremely difficult.
Some examples of unpredictable events and the positive learning (+)/risk of stress (-) that comes with them (influences of some unpredictable life events on development):
~ Birth of a sibling
+ Learning to make new emotional attachments.
- Jealousy and rivalry – emotional tension because role within the family has changed. Older child/children may lose attention from parents.
~ Redundancy
+ Learning to adapt to changes in income and lifestyle.
- Refusal to except change. Anger or depression. Failure to cope with the loss of income and lifestyle.
~ Illness/serious injury
+ Learning to adapt to physical change.
- Grief at the loss of good health. Anger or depression and failure to adapt to disability.
~ Divorce
+ Learning to cope with the new lifestyle.
- Resentment or depression. Grief at the loss of the relationship. Failure to adapt to a new lifestyle. Possible financial hardship.
~ Bereavement
+ Learning to cope with the loss and a new lifestyle.
- Grief at the loss of the relationship. Failure to adapt to unwanted lifestyle.
The effects of life events on health
Major life changes made interact with all aspects of growth and development. For example, retirement, redundancy, divorce, bereavement or serious injury might all result in a loss of income or having to live on a low income. Leaving home, marriage or parenthood might all involve changes in your home or in your community and friendship networks. Major life events will change your social, emotional and economic circumstances. Life events may involve feelings of loss and grief and involve lifestyle changes. Being seriously injured or being divorced requires an individual to change and adapt to a new lifestyle, which can have physical, psychological and financial implications. Even predictable and welcome changes can involve learning new things and coping with a range of losses. For example, leaving primary school to start secondary school requires adapting to new rules/routines and getting used to a new environment.
Holmes-Rahe Social readjustment rating scale
Psychologists have looked to find ways to rate and measure total stress scores in a way that will help individuals cope with difficult events. Homes & Rahe (1967) developed a questionnaire called the social readjustment rating scale (SRRS), which identifies 43 major stressful life events each with a different score for a stress level. They asked individuals to score how the events they had experienced affected their stress levels. They discovered that the higher the score and the importance of each event identified, the more likely an individual was to become unwell.
However, each individual is unique and deals with stress factors in different ways. Homes & Rahe assumed that each stressor would affect people in the same way. Critics of their theory stress that this is not necessarily true. For some people the breakdown of a relationship/getting divorced can be an extremely stressful time, yet for others, it can almost be a relief, especially if the arrangements for divorce have been amicable. For most people, major life events are not experienced very frequently but they can still experience stresses and strains in everyday life, for example losing keys, traffic jams, physical appearance or weight - referred to as ‘daily hassles’.
Stress levels
Stress is an automatic response to dealing with challenging situations/life events. When an individual is stressed their body is flooded with hormones that race heart rate, increase blood pressure, boost energy and prepare them to deal with the problem: this is known as the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism. If prolonged or out of context, stress responses may interfere with day-to-day life and become a serious psychological and physical problem, making the individual unwell.
It is difficult to define stress. Psychologist Lazarus provided a useful definition, “stress is experienced when a person perceives that the demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilise”.
Effects of stress and individuals ability to cope with the demands of stressful events, depend on how threatened and vulnerable they feel rather than an on the stressful event itself. There is a focus on stress and stressful events in contemporary society and the word stress is used to describe many situations. Examples range from feeling overloaded with college work, constant demands via social media, to the breakup of a relationship or death of a loved one. Stress can be short term, and may be a positive motivational force, e.g. waiting to take an exam or performing in a school play. Or it may be longer term, with negative effects on an individual‘s health, e.g. someone experiencing chronic health problems, the break up of a long-term relationship or financial difficulties.
Health
Stress can cause an individual to become irritable, fatigued, have headaches, lack motivation and be unable to concentrate. This can lead to over/under eating, smoking or drinking too much alcohol to cope. Chronic stress can lead to anxiety attacks, depression and cardiovascular problems (caused by high levels of stress hormones). Once an individual is experiencing chronic stress and depression it becomes harder to recover, especially if they have low levels of social support. The individual may be irritable, depressed and apathetic which may alienate family and friends who could offer support.
Hi levels of stress hormones over a long period of time can affect many of the bodies systems for the variety of health problems, for example:
~ Immune system - Susceptibility to infections and colds, especially if unhealthy behaviours such as excessive alcohol consumption are used to deal with the stress.
~ Cardiovascular problems - High blood pressure, heart attacks, arrhythmias and sudden death.
~ Respiratory system - Breathlessness, asthma.
~ Digestive system - Loss of appetite, gastric ulcers, duodenal ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome.
~ Musculoskeletal system - Tension headaches, taut muscles, muscular twitches.
~ Endocrine system - Diabetes, loss of sex drive, absence of menstruation.
People who are stressed can be indecisive, haven’t had judgement, muddled thinking and make errors. This can sometimes be through their inability to sleep and feeling fatigued. They may also be more accident prone. Stress can affect an individual’s emotions, especially self-esteem and self-image.
