Anxiety Across Cultures

After doing some research I found that anxiety seems to be common in Latino children. One article I read described the story of a 14-year-old girl  who witnessed a lot of domestic violence during her early childhood. She was referred by her school-based counselor for further evaluation. She had been placed in state custody for excessive truancy and shoplifting. As a child she had a hard time separating from her mother and also began having nightmares and to complaining of  physiological symptoms such as sore throats and nausea. 


During this time she had also just started kindergarten where she cried most days,and needed extra attention from the teachers. These behaviors continued into the first grade. However, after some school exposure she began to function at grade level during her elementary school years. Later she began to become bullied throughout later school years.  The experiences and traumas from early life are what directly influenced the appearance of anxiety.


The article states, “Cultures have their own theories of what basic emotions and emotion-producing situations are important, how these are expressed, and what the appropriate social response is to them" Sine culture has an influence on children's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors it is crucial to understand the origin of children when treating stressors such as anxiety. Accurately diagnosing and treating disorders depends upon an understanding of the culture of the patient and family.




Hamilton, J. M. (2008). Culture Bound Anxiety Disorder in Adolescence: A Case Study. Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 21(3), 186-190. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6171.2008.00150.x

Childhood Stressors

As a child one stressor that affected me was chaos. To this day chaos is still a stressor that affects me.  For me chaos causes a lot of anxiety. Anxiety is an emotion that as a child would affect my prosocial behavior, feelings and actions that are helpful and kind but are of no obvious benefit to oneself, and at times cause me to engage in antisocial behavior, feelings and actions that are deliberately hurtful or destructive to another person (Berger, 2009).  I don't feel that I ever intentionally tried to hurt anyone but when i would become anxious I would completely shut down and become void of any feelings or emotions. As I have grown older i have learned many different ways of dealing with anxiety such as talking about my feelings when I am upset or anxious about a situation. I have found that communication has been the key to helping with my anxiety and promoting prosocial behavior.

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Child Development and Public Health

The public Health topic I choose for this week was nutrition/malnutrition. The reason I choose this topic was because after working in a Head Start program I came across many dietary issues with my children and their families. For example, some of my children were not being feed appropriate foods to foster healthy growth and development. I would have children come in on mornings drinking a soda and eating a cupcake as their breakfast. The one thing I admire about the Head Start program was that we provided 2 nutritious meals a day along with a snack to our children, This way even though they were not always getting the healthiest food at home we were able to give it to them when they were in school.

I chose to explore the topic of nutrition and malnutrition in the children of Ghana. I found an article entitled, Associations Among Provery and Children's Nutritional Halth Status and Schholing in Ghana. This article explored how the poverty in Ghana has an impact on nutrition, health, and education of children (Ashiabi, 2007). The article found that all three of these topics are intertwined with each other. Poverty has an impact on parents and caregiver’s ability to provide suitable health care and nutrition to children. This is when malnutrition of children comes into play. Under nourished children's health is affected which affects their academic performance. When academic performance is affected it then can affect later areas on life. For example, it hinders children’s ability to be successful in school and set them on the path towards higher education.

This information is very helpful yet upsetting. Its difficult knowing there are nations that just don’t have the resources to properly nourish their children. This information makes me realize even more Just how important it is to promote a healthy life style and healthy dietary choices to children and parents. It is important for parents to know the negative impacts poor nutrition can have on their children in the future.

Resources

 ASHIABI, G. S. (2007). Associations Among Poverty and Children's Nutritional Health Status and Schooling in Ghana. Western Journal of Black Studies, 31(2), 11-21. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Orthodox Jewish Births

I choose to write about birth and birthing rituals in Israel relating to Orthodox Jews because working at a Jewish preschool for many years I have learned a lot about Jewish rituals and find them all to be extremely interesting.

A woman in labor enters into the status of one "Whose life is in danger" from the time she enters labor. During this time any laws for example, the rules of Sabbath Observance, may be set aside for her to be cared for because saving a life supersedes anything else. The woman will remain in this state for 3 days after childbirth and is exempt from a lot of obligations. Women are also cut off from the physical contact and comfort of their husbands. It is traditional for men to stay outside the room where their wives are in labor, but now many will attend the birth. An orthodox Jewish woman often asks for the help of another supporter like her mother, a sister, or friend as well as her husband, since he is not allowed to do any hands-on jobs.  Many orthodox Jewish women place a prayer book under the pillow during labor because it is believed to reduce pain and danger of childbirth. An orthodox woman will also try to keep her head and body covered as much as possible during labor.

One the first Sabbath (Saturday) after a Jewish child is born, the child's father goes to the synagogue to recite the aliyah and wish for the health of both the mother and child. If the child is a girl, she is named at this time. Boys get named on the eighth day after their birth, as part of the rite of circumcision.

Jewish children living outside of Israel are traditionally given a Hebrew name for use in religious rituals and a nonreligious name for daily use.

My Birthing Experience

Since I have no children of my own, and I have never been involved in a birthing experience I decided to call my mom to learn a little bit more about my birth. My mom began the story by telling me that one the way to the hospital the car broke down and my dad had to try and fix the water pump on the side of the road. After arriving to the hospital my mom said she spent 18 painful hours in labor which during she had a panic attack and needed an epidural to help ease the pain and calm her down. When I was finally born apparently I became stuck in the birth canal and was extremely jaundice when I was born and had to stay in the hospital for for an extra week under a bili light. I was my mother's first born so she said it was very hard to leave the hospital without me. Twenty five years later my mom says she still remembers the day of my birth like it was yesterday.