Childhood and Socialization Pt 2: Childhood Adversity

What’s the most influential factor in any child’s development? What do you think? Could it be… parents? Schooling? Individual personality? 

In fact, the most influential factor in any child’s development is the cultural community into which they are born. Culture will impact every major aspect of a growing child’s life, from the very first moments of its life.

In “Part 1: Situating Childhood” we’ll learn how material conditions, caretaking responsibilities, and cultural expectations shape the process of child development.

In “Part 2: Childhood Adversity,” we’ll take a closer look at what children need to thrive, no matter their culture. We’ll see what happens when kids grow up under unfavorable circumstances and discuss contemporary global changes affecting children around the world.

Watch the full episode:

Resources:

Worthman, C. (2014) “Child Well-Being: Anthropological Perspectives” in Handbook of Child Well Being

Richter, L (2014) “Global Perspectives on the Well Being of Children” in Worthman C. (ed.) Formative Experiences: The Interaction of Caregiving, Culture and Developmental Psychobiology. London, Cambridge Press

Korbin, J. (2003) “Children, Childhoods, and Violence” Ann. Rev. Anthropol. 32:431–46

Scheper-Hughes, N. (1987). Culture, Scarcity, and Maternal Thinking: Mother Love and Child Death in Northeast Brazil. In: Scheper-Hughes, N. (eds) Child Survival. Culture, Illness and Healing, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht.

Films:

Revisited: How former Maoist child soldiers became engineers of Nepal's democracy

How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime by Nadine Burke Harris