Impact on Early Emotional Development

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

 I love learning about child development in other parts of the world. My region of focus was Latin America; I am particularly interested in this part of the world and have some background knowledge of it. Because of this, I chose to look at this region of the world for this week’s blog entry.

According to UNICEF’s Latin American Regional Office, there are many challenges that children in Latin America may face. These include economic disparities, social exclusion, malnutrition, violence, HIV/AIDS, and emergencies (UNICEF, n.d.).  All of these factors play a role in a child’s emotional well-being and can impact his/her development.

One of the biggest challenges that this region faces is that “Latin America and the Caribbean is considered the most unequal region in the world” (UNICEF, n.d.); this means that there are many economic disparities, many children and families living in poverty, and many people unable to access services. Economic disparities are linked to poverty and malnutrition, factors that affect children in all areas of development, physical, cognitive, and social-emotional. Not having enough to eat, young children working to help support their families, and lack of basic necessities all take a toll on a child’s emotional well-being as they add extra stresses to both the family and child. Stress not only negatively impacts a child’s emotional development and can take a toll on their emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being.

Latin America and the Caribbean are very culturally diverse with indigenous people and people of African descent. However, children and families from these groups may face social exclusion, higher rates of poverty, and lack of services (UNICEF, n.d.). As we have been learning, culture is a large part of a young child’s identity. Social exclusion and racism create cultural discontinuity, unequal access to services, and ultimately, negatively impact a child’s emotional well-being and healthy identity development.

The Caribbean has the 2nd highest prevalence of AIDS in the world, after sub-Saharan Africa” (UNICEF, n.d.); which means that many children are more likely have a close family member or parent with HIV/AIDS or may even have it themselves. This would greatly impact a child’s well-being; having a disease with no cure would definitely be a traumatic experience and I would imagine would be very scary to a young child. If a child or family member has HIV/AIDS, they not only may face social exclusion but may not be able to receive adequate medication or treatment. I imagine that this would be very straining to a family and could affect the relationships and stability within the family; again greatly impacting a child’s emotional development.

The high rates of violence in the region can add extra stress to a young child living here as well. Living in fear or witnessing violent acts are traumatic experiences that greatly affect a young child’s emotional development.  Fear and lack of stability make it hard to create the safe and loving environment that helps foster a young child’s healthy development.

Lastly, many natural disasters occur in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. Natural disasters may include hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes and the results can include homelessness, injuries, illnesses, and deaths (UNICEF, n.d.). Again, this can greatly impact a young child’s emotional well-being and development as these are frightening, life-changing, traumatic experiences. Even if the natural disaster is smaller-scale and the child is not displaced or orphaned, schooling or services may be interrupted or may be harder to access.

im in poverty” in this region

Some statistics about this region according to UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin 

-“52 million people do not have access to sufficient food” in this region

-“As one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world, there are 40-50 million indigenous and 150 million Afro-descendants living here, close to half of which are under 18 years of age“

-In Latin America and the Caribbean, “nearly 85,000 children die annually as a result of violence in the home, violence affects over 6 million children and adolescents”

-“Region wide, 83% of children reach the fifth grade…Children from poor families are six times less likely to receive full primary education compared to wealthy families”

(UNICEF, n.d.)

References:

UNICEF. n.d. UNICEF Oficina Regional para América Latina y el Caribe. UNICEF. Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/lac/english_4842.htm