Reformulation of Childhood: Exploring Key Psychosocial Issues in Child Counselling
Hector Chiboola*
Professor, Principal Lecturer, Kabwe University, Zambia
Submission:December 04, 2019; Published:January 17, 2020
*Corresponding author:Hector Chiboola, Professor, Principal Lecturer, Kabwe University, Zambia
How to cite this article:Hector Chiboola. Reformulation of Childhood: Exploring Key Psychosocial Issues in Child Counselling. Glob J Arch & Anthropol . 2020; 11(2): 555807. DOI: 10.19080/GJAA.2019.11.555807
Abstract
This article was developed based on the qualitative literature research and descriptive design. The primary intention was to reformulate the stages of childhood to enhance understanding of the key psychosocial issues in child counselling. The term childhood has varying definitions; and the age bands occasionally cause some confusion that is hard to reconcile when counselling children. When viewed from an African cultural context, it is apparent that childhood is a period spanning from conception to fifteen years of a child’s life. Counselling children is a growing area of special interest in contemporary society, especially amongst members of the counselling profession. Without an informed knowledge and understanding about the key concepts and issues of child development, the context of child counselling is likely to be shrouded in mystery and misapplication. The research question was: How could reformulation of the stages of childhood enhance understanding of the key psychosocial issues in child counselling? The reformulation of childhood from an African cultural context is likely to enhance knowledge and understanding about the key psychosocial issues in child counselling. Therefore, the study of child development is paramount for all the professionals specializing in child counselling and therapy.
Keywords: Childhood; Psychosocial Stages; Human Development; Counselling; Cultural Context; Traditional Customs; Collective Beliefs
Introduction
The purpose of the qualitative literature research was to reformulate the stages of childhood to enhance understanding of the key psychosocial issues in child counselling. It also sought to clarify the main concepts in child development that are cardinal to informing the practice of child counselling. From an African cultural context, the development of people over the lifespan can be segmented into four distinct cohorts: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and elderhood. Childhood encompasses the age range from conception to approximately fifteen years of a child’s life; adolescence (young adults) covers the period from sixteen to twenty-four years; adulthood covers the period from twenty-five to seventy-four years; and elderhood extends from the end of adulthood till death. It is apparent that childhood has ways of seeing, thinking, feeling, behaving and experiencing peculiar to itself, distinct from the other three cohorts of human development. This view underscores the importance of children as clients in counselling and psychotherapy. For counsellors and psychotherapists to facilitate orderly and resourceful interactions with children in a therapeutic relationship, they need a clearer understanding and appreciation of the complex processes that govern the child’s physical, emotional, intellectual and moral development. Without this understanding, effective counselling interventions cannot be provided or achieved.
There are many theories and concepts used to describe child development, which will not be considered in this article due to its limited nature. The focus is on four cardinal aspects related to child development from a psychosocial perspective: stages of childhood, attachment theory, cognitive theory, and moral theory. These four aspects have a conceptual bearing on human behaviour and conduct, as well as a strong influence on interpersonal relationships and communication patterns [1]. There are other equally important aspects that underpin child development but are excluded on account of space and need for special emphasis in the study area. The gist of counselling is communication for behaviour and attitude change, improvement of interpersonal relationships, and remediation of problem situations [2]. It is necessary that the counsellors or psychotherapists are knowledgeable about some key issues and concepts related to the development of children as distinct persons, different from adolescents and adults, and the importance of such knowledge in the practice of child counselling.
The psychosocial development of people involves many facets from conception until death. It refers to the maturation of a person’s personality and his response to various groups such as family, school, community, and environment [3]. The theory accounts for the patterns of human development, represents as a product of the interaction between personal needs and societal expectations, and offers an organizational framework for considering developmental issues within the all-encompassing perspective of psychosocial evolution [4]. The term psychosocial evolution refers to those personal abilities that allow people to gather knowledge, social norms and practices, from past ancestors and transmit them to the next descendants or passed on from one successive generation to another [5]. These include aspects such as maturation rites, child-rearing practices, traditional norms and customs, culture, informal education, and communication patterns. The abilities of a person are partly influenced by the demands of society, opportunities of the environment, and personal initiative. People also learn how to develop new information, new ways of thinking, and new ways of communicating the discoveries to others, thereby expanding on their existing repertoire of social knowledge, skills and competences. These are essential elements in child development in that they not only help to shape the behaviour and personality of children during their transition to maturity and adulthood, but also to act as barometers for understanding their social behaviour and conduct in adulthood, as mature members of the local community [6].
Five Stages of Childhood
The concept of staging is usually applied in explaining the developmental stages from conception to old age that all people pass through. A stage of development is a period of life that is characterized by a specific underlying organization, and every stage has some characteristics that differentiate it from preceding and succeeding stages. Stage theories propose a specific direction for development, with each stage incorporating the gains and failures made during earlier stages. From a human development perspective, each stage has a characteristic psychosocial issue; and the way people resolve these issues at that stage influences their behaviour and experience at later stages in the lifespan [7]. The stages are complex and different from each other. They constitute a framework for analysis and understanding of the developmental tasks, including the identification and clarification of common concepts appropriate for each stage [4]. It is necessary that counsellors and psychotherapists know and understand the basic psychosocial issues and developmental tasks at each stage, and how these factors interface with presenting concerns of child clients in their everyday living, including during the counselling interaction.
There are various categorizations or models to explain human development, with some theories postulating five stages, and others eight or more. In most instances, each basic cohort integrates several sub-stages. Such descriptions are intended to elaborate the conceptual framework more clearly, and to provide tangible explanations to aid understanding. Viewed from the reformulation context espoused in this article, the childhood cohort postulates five stages of a child’s life: prenatal hood, infanthood, early childhood, middle childhood, and late childhood (Table 1). This reformulation is very important as it helps clarify some key concepts, issues and concerns common at each stage of child development. It is apparent that life is a continuous process, the age bands only serve to provide a logical framework to aid understanding of the key issues at each stage and their interrelationships across the lifespan. The five stages of childhood are briefly elaborated hereunder.
Prenatalhood (0-9 months)
In most scholarly writings on stage theory, the prenatalhood stage is usually excluded primarily because life begins at birth from a legal perspective. However, it is argued that life begins at conception from a biological perspective. The social interpretation of life integrates the two perspectives. It is manifest that the care needs of a child in his mother’s womb are equally as important as those for the child outside. Integration of prenatalhood to describe the stages of a child’s life is the basic step in the reformulation of childhood from an African cultural context. Almost all African cultures and societies value the sanctity of a child’s life right from conception. It is based on this understanding that abortion is abhorred in most African cultures and societies. This view is strengthened even more when reality shows that the development of a person starts right from conception, in all endeavours, such as biologically, physiologically, physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially. At birth, the infant is a marvelous object to watch, touch and curdle he already knows how to breathe, cry, suckle, empty his bowels, glare at objects, move his body parts, and sleep, among the many developmental tasks at play. All these developmental tasks describe a healthy infant; whereas an unhealthy infant lack or fails to display some of these tasks. It is now acknowledged that some deformities at birth are a result of genetic mutations and malfunction, or physical illness transmitted from the mother to her child, or neurological deficiency [8]. Thus, prenatalhood is a very important stage in child development.
In order to promote a healthy development of the unborn child, the expectant mother needs to attend antenatal clinics for the duration of her pregnancy. The health professionals make regular checks to ensure that the child is developing properly, and they provide accurate advice as appropriate. Since the child in the womb depends on his mother for survival, her nutritional needs ought to be well-balanced and adequate to cater for the unborn child to enable him to develop and grow healthily. Equally, the expectant mother needs adequate rest and exercise, emotional support and nurturance, and a conducive living environment. In the event of any physical illness, she needs to seek early medical attention and treatment. This protects the unborn child in the womb because, some illnesses such as syphilis and malaria, may adversely affect the growth of a baby in the womb if they remain untreated for too long, which might induce premature birth, complications of delivery, and maternal death [9]. The expectant mother anticipates love and care devoid of gender-based violence and deprivation, be it in a marriage relationship or outside.
The psychosocial context of prenatalhood is that an expectant mother must have confidence about the well-being of the child developing in her womb and garner enough faith of delivering a healthy baby. This expectation works to the contrary when the expectant mother is infected, such as with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or suffering from a chronic illness such as hypertension or diabetes mellitus. She displays a lot of fear and despair, constantly wondering whether the child will be born free of infection, deformity or prematurely. When the expectant mother is HIV-infected, she must seek early medical attention to protect the unborn baby from acquiring HIV infection through the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) intervention. A child born with a physical illness, deformity, or neurological disorder generates psychological distress in the mother, family and friends [10]. It is apparent that the unborn child is entitled to the same rights and parental care as those of a born one. The role of counsellors and psychotherapists is to provide adequate information to the expectant mothers, about their health and nutritional needs, as well as preventive counselling on environmental hazards and communicable diseases that may adversely affect both their health, and that of the unborn children.
Infanthood (1-3 years): When a child is born, he is almost a helpless person whose survival entirely depends upon his mother (or primary caregiver if orphaned at birth). His needs for food, warmth and protection, including hygiene and sanitation are met through the mother who is revered as the provider and protector. The quality of care, emotional love, presence and support helps to generate trust in the infant. The infant’s sense of trust in the outside world depends on his relationship with the mother, the nature of communication and interaction he receives, and the surrounding environment in which he lives [6]. Trust is considered one of the most important characteristics in personality development; and many children acquire it without any problem [11]. The positive product is hope or optimism. When the quality of emotional love and support is inadequate or poor, the child develops mistrust which has a bearing on his behaviour and personality in the later years of life [12]. For instance, a mistrustful personality is prone to lying, deception and mischief - traits that become prominent as the child grows older. Besides, mistrust can also be linked to egocentrism, ambivalence, and fault-finding – traits that manifest in adulthood and they have a negative bearing on interpersonal communication with other people.
Further, the quality of care and support is linked to the child’s environment. A secure and supportive environment helps the infant to explore the outside world with vigour [13]. A stable family tends to greatly contribute to the infant’s development of trust, that is, his ability to freely interact and communicate with the parents, other people and the environment; whereas an unstable family has the potential to trigger mistrust, that is, the infant feels distrustful and loses hope in his dealings with the parents, other people, and the environment [14]. These issues do not only affect the infant at this stage, but also in later stages of his life. The other issues that may adversely affect the infant’s psychosocial development and his prospects for the future at this stage include: early orphanhood (where one or both parents die); marital disruption (through separation or divorce); misplaced parenting (the father fails to render financial and material support to the child because it was born outside wedlock); foster parenting (in which the infant is cared and supported by nonbiological parents); and physical illness (such as malnutrition, retroviral disease and malaria).
Some infants develop physical illness soon after birth, such as high fever, jaundice, vomiting, and diarrhea that render them hospitalized for several days during the earliest days of their life outside their mothers’ womb. Frequent physical illness adversely affects some infants; and they fail responding to the normal milestone graph of child development. For instance, they delay crawling, standing, walking and talking beyond prescribed timeframes. Under normal circumstances, some of the developmental tasks that children in this age band will have successfully accomplished by age three years include: eating solid food, walking, talking, toilet control, appreciating gender differences and sexual modesty, forming concepts and learning language to describe social and physical reality, and distinguishing right and wrong [6]. Some children born with hereditary deformities or HIV-infection may have difficulty achieving some of these developmental tasks. Adverse encounters usually cause a lot of worry, anxiety and emotional distress not only to the child, but to the mother and other family members as well. Children in this age band can access child counselling services through their parent or guardian; and the focus of interaction should be on the parent or guardian on behalf of the child client.
Early childhood (4-7 years): During this stage of a child’s development, his needs expand appreciably. He can talk and demand for things he wants, he is able to feed himself and, with proper toilet training, he can use a toilet without difficulty. The psychosocial issue is autonomy versus shame. When the child is given greater leverage and freedom to explore, express and discover his environment, the chances of developing autonomy are enhanced. Autonomy is the prime driver to success; it promotes the will and motivation to achieve one’s life goals, including the exercise of self-control. This is true for both children and adults. It is desirable to allow a child work through difficult problems himself so that he develops a sense of individuation, autonomy, and willpower to achieve desired outcomes [11]. If parents or guardians are overly critical, the child may begin to doubt his own adequacy and competence. Shame is an inhibiting factor to the development of initiative: it prohibits free exploration, limits the capacity for problem solving, and it can be a recipe for frustration and guilty feelings. These factors could permeate through adulthood and adversely affect interpersonal relationships with other people.
During the early childhood stage, the major influences in the child’s life are parental guidance and preschool interaction; and the major activity is playing. The child has developed a relatively sound command of the local language used in the home, where he stays, or the school, where he interacts with other children. He knows his local community and neighborhood, and he has formed friendships with other children within the locality, or at school. Even in the absence of friends, most children engage in play with imitative or imaginary friends, wherein they mimic going to the market for shopping, driving to work, carrying a baby on their back, preparing and serving food, telephone conversation, sweeping the house, bathing a baby, shepherding animals, talking like a teacher, and so on. In most urban or township communities in Zambia, for instance, children are enrolled into preschool as early as four years for most families (or a little earlier for a few others); whereas in most rural communities, this facility is not readily available and affordable. This creates a disparity in the educational development of children between urban and rural communities, including the type of playing.
The amount and type of toys given to a child partly helps to shape the scope of playing, but in a majority of cases, children determine and develop the scope of playing instinctively when given ample authority and leverage to do so by their parents or guardians. At community level, social peers help direct the scope and type of playing by girls’ or boys’ groups; and at school, the preschool teacher determines much of the playing based on the school curriculum. It is important to note that freedom of parental authority and control increases the child’s level of initiative, that is, the child freely explores many types and avenues of playing, including when and how to play. The reverse is true when there is too much parental authority and control, which might result in guilt feelings on the part of a child. This inhibits his psychosocial development. How the parents react to a child’s individuality will affect the degree to which he feels free to express himself. If initiative or innovation is condemned, the child will suffer guilt; and if encouraged, the child will gain a sense of purpose [11]. Guilty feelings predispose the inferiority complex and negativity in most children. It is based on this understanding that parents, teachers, counsellors and psychotherapists bear a responsibility to ensuring that the child client is not inhibited from playing, or condemned for his initiative at playing, including when and how he plays. Children in this age band can access child counselling services in the presence of their parent, guardian or older sibling; and the focus of interaction should be on the child client.
Middle childhood (8-11 years)
During this stage of a child’s life, much of his time is spent at school. The important influences in his life are parents, the school and neighborhood. Almost all the children in this age band will have learned how to control their bowels (avoid inappropriate soiling) and bladders (avoid inappropriate urinating), both at home and school. Most children, unless disturbed by some family or classroom crisis, are likely to be freed of these physical anxieties by school-age. Failure to achieve effective control of the bowels and bladder causes anxiety, worry, and lessened concentration in the classroom, thereby inhibiting the child’s academic progress, or resulting in poor school attendance and class performance [15,16]. Some of the psychosocial issues school children experience include: first, separation anxiety (that is, fear of leaving or lack of parental presence) can result in school phobia [17]. In more rural communities of most African countries, school phobia could also be triggered by long distance and lack of parental guidance. Besides, school phobia may be precipitated by the child’s fear of poor or weak performance, criticism or punishment by the teacher, bullying by older boys, and onset of antisocial conduct.
Second, lack of trust at home can lead to lack of trust in the teacher as well, or even friends. This poses a social challenge or creates a social distance from the child’s peers. In some situations, a lack of trust can lead to wholesome acceptance of what a parent, teacher or friend says without digesting or questioning it. Third, rebellion against parents can lead to rebellion against teachers as well. Some children are predisposed to rebellion for several factors such as excessive parental authority and control, inadequate support and care, inappropriate criticism, unwarranted prohibitions, social peer pressure, cruelty by parents or guardians, and misplaced or erroneous judgement. A latent explanation of why some children rebel against their parents is more a conflict of interest, whereby the parent is seen as pressurizing the child into school against his wish; while others just harbour a negative attitude towards schooling. In other positive instances, some children want to please their parents and teachers by working hard in class as an end, rather than a means to an end. There are variations and differences, and it is important to appreciate these dynamics and their degree of influence on the child’s behaviour and conduct.
Fourth, transfer of some emotions from parents to teachers - such as wish to please, to give, to copy or imitate, to achieve – which strengthens the learning process. Cooperation becomes a catalyst to learning, whereas negativism works the opposite. Another equally important factor is healthy competition, that is, children compare their learning and achievement against each other [16]. Success becomes a desirable educational goal, and fear of failure by comparison, becomes a social challenge [18]. The extent to which a child achieves his educational goals is referred to as industry, that is, the potential and capacity to use his intellect judiciously and productively. Inferiority is the opposite, often associated with failure and drop out in productive activities. Failure enhances anxiety and depressive mood, which interferes with the child’s emotional stability.
And lastly, mimicry displayed during early childhood (4-7 years) is transformed into reality as part of social skills development. During this stage, most children learn household chores (such as drawing water, cooking and preparing food, sweeping the house and surroundings, washing and ironing clothes, and bathing younger siblings); and farm chores (such as herding cattle and goats, ploughing, weeding, gardening and harvesting). In most African traditions and cultures, household chores are predominantly activities for girls and farm chores are activities for boys; and in homesteads where the majority children are either girls or boys, these chores cut across gender. Besides, both girls and boys are usually involved in economic activities such as selling assorted merchandise on the streets, at the market or in shops, to supplement the family income. Furthermore, children in this age band develop fundamental skills in reading, writing, calculating, and problem-solving; conscience, morality and a scale for values; and attitudes toward social groups and institutions, including achieving personal independence. In practical terms, the concept of industry aptly relates to the extent that children learn (amount of knowledge gained) and apply the social skills (degree of competence) in their daily living. Failure to achieve industry results into inferiority complex, that is, a psychological web of inadequacy and incompetence. Issues of jealousy and envy are partly influenced by the inferiority complex.
During the middle childhood stage, children try to find out how things work, why they work, and how these factors affect their social life. If they succeed, they are likely to become more industrious and gain a sense of social competence. If they do not, they may consider themselves inferior. Inferiority complex breeds guilty feelings and role confusion. Children who feel intellectually inferior or socially incompetent may become loners and develop their physical capacities to compensate for these negative feelings, such as becoming good footballers or athletes [15]. This psychological process can have direct value, and it can also be an attempt by the child to say, ‘don’t see the ways in which I am inferior, but see me in my accomplishments’, kind of compensatory behaviour. The polarity presentation of the psychosocial issues does not imply that some children will develop only the positive polar and others the negative polar, during their child development journey [7]. Rather, they are conceptual explanations that aid understanding the social behaviors of children at the various stages of their development. The same child can be good in some respects, and not so in others. Equally, there are marked differences in the capabilities of children of the same age specifically, or age band generally. Children in this age band can access child counselling services in the presence of their parent, guardian or older sibling; and the focus of interaction should be on the child client.
Late childhood (12-15 years): This stage concludes typical childhood and introduces adolescence. Thus, it is an overlapping age band between two transitional periods; and it represents part reformulation of childhood advanced in this article. At both its beginning and end, late childhood is marked by conditions that profoundly affect a child’s personal and social adjustment. For instance, in Zambia, the young girls and boys in this age band are actively in school, either at primary level in grades six and seven, or at junior secondary level in grades eight and nine. Some of them may not be in school, especially in rural communities, due to poverty, limited opportunities and facilities, or drop out because of poor performance, early or forced marriage, and accidental pregnancy. From an African cultural context, this stage of a child’s life is truly a transitional period between typical childhood (1- 11 years) and presumed adulthood (16 years and above), a turning point of no return with its own ambiguities, complexities, and vicissitudes. In most rural communities of contemporary African countries, 16 years of age is regarded as the lower limit of adulthood whereby marriage or bearing children is socially acceptable and permissible. This is the social interpretation of early marriage in African cultures and societies.
Late childhood marks the onset of puberty; it is the pubescence period with marked characteristics. It is the time for visible physical and personal development that segments girls from boys; a period of sexual identity reformulation; and the time for reworking typical childhood themes with realism [19]. The sexual organs and physical body develop and advance to maturity. The physiological development is marked by menarche in girls and nocturnal emissions in boys. The cosmorphysical features change from typical childlike to adult like; and these changes are remarkable in both girls and boys. The child tends to have shade off the childlike appearance and clad in the new adulthood coat. The rapidity at which this transition takes place evokes emotional turbulence in most of the girls and boys. For some it generates pride and control, others shame and despair, and yet others, fear and anxiety. Children in the late childhood age band would have their comprehension of issues, decision making, and moral reasoning matured appreciably, but not completely. Besides,they are able to facilitate interaction with other people freely, meaningfully, and intelligibly.
Symbolically, the issue of menstruation in girls transforms them into women while the issue of masturbation in boys transforms them into men. This realization drives some girls and boys into sexual experimentation (self-indulgence) or subjects them to sexual abuse (seduction by teachers, parents or guardians, and relatives); and sexual fantasy (wish to be wife or husband, mother or father). Children in this age band naturally try to make sense of their world, including physical and social phenomena [20] and they consistently create and test theories to explain the world they observe [21]. This is one of the social challenges of late childhood. The other challenges revolve around child marriage, accidental pregnancy, infant abandonment, childparenting, exploitation, drug/alcohol abuse, complications in labour or abortion, and physical illness such as retroviral disease and sexually transmitted diseases. Whatever the tale, these social vices negatively impact the children’s behaviour and conduct. It is the role of counsellors and psychotherapists to address these vices when they present in counselling; and to provide appropriate guidance with extreme objectivity, sensitivity and impartiality. Children in this age band can access child counselling services either individually or with parental consent; and the focus of interaction must be the child client.
Attachment Theory
The social attachment of a baby to his mother is an important event in child development; and it involves many different factors. Attachment is an innate bond that develops due to the necessity for survival and mother love, the gratification of needs, and the infant’s cognitive and physical development [22]. The attachment process starts from conception and permeates throughout all the stages of childhood. A fetus relies entirely on its mother for survival, protection and safety, including nutriment supply. At birth, an infant relies for protection on his mother, as well as the pleasure of gratifying needs and social bonding. Communication is one of the primary ingredients in the development of attachment between the infant and mother, including the act of carrying the infant on his mother’s back, a common feature in most African cultures and societies. Equally important aspects to the concept of attachment are the psychological, emotional and physiological needs of both infant and mother. Infants do not necessarily become attached solely to their mothers, but they also develop attachments to other people who interact with them socially regardless of any care-giving functions, or roles, such as the father or older siblings. In families where both mother and father work, infants find solace in guardians, older siblings, nannies and neighbours. This is core to the concept of social attachment.
As children mature, their social world expands from only their parents to friends, school, religion, nationality, ethnicity, and society. Since people take long to mature in comparison to other living organisms, the relationship formed or the social attachment between infant and mother in the first three years of a child’s life, has a special quality and significance [23]. The social bonding enhances the psychosocial development of children that lasts a lifetime. Based on some studies and personal observation for instance, a young infant at three months of his life can tell the difference between the mother and other people through his eyes that show a consistent glare at her more than anyone else, he smiles more enthusiastically at her, and he expresses a feeling of happiness and safety in her presence [24]. At the age of six months, infants smile at people almost indiscriminately; they can be comforted by almost anyone, even a stranger. However, by the age of nine months most infants have a strong social attachment to their mothers and often cry when approached by any stranger. When frightened, the infant goes to her mother, clings to her leg, or demands to be picked by crying or lifting his arms up. If the mother is near, an infant feels secure, protected, safe and free to explore the surrounding environment (i.e. through crawling) and communicate to non-observable objects, including imitation chat through his murmurings or coos.
From the age of one year, infants learn the concept of object permanence, that is, the presence of the mother or guardian is always assured, and they often show extreme distress when she leaves. This distress is known as separation anxiety. When the mother returns, the infant will often cling to her desperately and intensely. The infant cannot be comforted by just anyone; only the mother or guardian brings relief. This social bonding and early attachment serve to keep the helpless infant close to the mother or guardian, where it can be protected against undesirable intrusions, and real or imaginary harm. As infants develop separation anxiety, they also become afraid of strangers, a fear that is called stranger anxiety. In this situation, the infant is likely to scream and cry if a stranger approach him, especially if they are in a strange place, or if his mother is not around. Most children at age two-three years resist being picked or comforted by strangers. In extreme cases for instance, some strangers, even within the family, are abhorred and regarded as perpetual enemies, such that nothing can be done to reconcile the situation from a child’s perspective. When the strange person approaches or attempts to pick him, he cries or runs away, thereby completely avoiding direct contact with that stranger. The child in this situation feels vulnerable to danger that is likely to be occasioned by the stranger.
Separation from an attachment, such as the mother-child bond, has three effects. First, the initial effect of separation generates anxiety, disbelief, and searching for the lost object. Depending on the nature of separation, children usually find alternative attachments where they place hope for survival, comfort, and protection. The searching for a lost attachment may make a child cry often, look miserable, and lose appetite. His health may be adversely affected as well. Second, separation may cause psychosocial effects of depression, withdrawal and isolation. The child feels lost and uncared for which accentuates his mistrust of strangers, and the environment. Withdrawn children create a desperate situation in both their care and management. And third, a child learns to live and cope with the loss. Depending on the nature of separation, and with passage of time, a child gradually recovers from the loss or grief, if the new guardian is emotionally supportive and the environment is protective. The child accepts the new situation and lives a normal life once again. This is critical to understanding loss and grief experienced by children: they feel the same agitation, the same arousal, and the same feelings of disbelief as adults. These effects are similar to the physiological arousal of the fight-or-flight response. Further, there are health consequences of losing a loved one, such that the immune system and emotional balance of the child may become adversely affected [25].
Securely attached infants appear to be very happy around their mothers. They use their mothers as a security base for exploration and protection. When the mother is not around, the infant shows varying amounts of distress, but always greet her happily when she returns. Securely attached children are more advanced in cognitive and social skills at the age of two years, and they play more intensely and enjoyably than infants who are either unattached or insecurely attached; and they walk, talk and explore their environment with sustained curiosity and enthusiasm [19]. By the age of three years, securely attached children play well with others and tend to be leaders. There are variations on what children say, what they do, how they play, and how they think. For instance, secure children are more adept at problem solving and they approach problems with enthusiasm, interest and pleasure; whereas insecure children exhibit the opposite [21]. Thus, secure attachments are advantageous in the early stages of a child’s life.
Unattached infants show little or no interest in either their mothers or the strangers; and they seldom cry when the mother or guardian is not around. If they cry, strangers could easily comfort them. Unattached and insecure children are easily frustrated and quickly give up on problems; they seldom ask for help; and simply cling to their mothers [24]. Insecurely attached infants explore less and stay close to their mothers; they show great distress when the mother leaves, and they resist her efforts to comfort them upon return; and they tend to be more anxious, withdrawn, and less curious [4]. The quality of attachment in the first three years of a child’s life leads to competence and social adjustment for a few years afterward. Better adjustment in later years of life may not only be due to social attachment in the first three years of a child’s development, but also to a continuing good relationship with his parents, other people and the environment, as well as the quality of care and support anticipated from both the family and society. Parents tend to support children that are securely attached and adjusted than those that are insecure and maladjusted. This is a societal expectation too. It is important that counsellors and psychotherapists be consciously aware of these dynamic interrelationships between the quality of social attachment and the presenting psychosocial concerns by child clients.
Cognitive Theory
Cognitive development in children is presumably slow, but very systematic and progressive. The cognitive theory in relation to child development constitutes a total of the scientific study of mental processes such as perception, thinking, reasoning, understanding, learning, memory, problem-solving and decision making. These mental processes are very complex, and often hidden from view, but substantially immature in children. They usually involve activity that is distributed throughout a few different areas of the brain. The localized function and brain activity work together. Just like in adults, a child’s brain is not concerned in dealing with cognitive processes separately, but rather with the interaction between the processes that occur as children relate with their mothers and the social environment [1]. The universal norm suggests that cognitive processes can be inferred from behavioural and physiological responses. This has been the locus of the scientific study of cognitive development in childhood.
Much of the work in the study of cognitive development in childhood was pioneered by scholars such as Jean Piaget and LS Vygotsky, among many others. Their main focus was to isolate descriptive symbolisms to test childhood intelligence. In essence, LS Vygotsky was a contemporary psychologist to Jean Piaget, whose main contribution was the universal norm depicting that all speech was social in nature, that is, it is about human communication, interaction and relationship in society [26]. Children learn the language of their parents as a medium of communication during their initial three years of life. The socialization process initially starts at the family level: children learn many things, such as ability to think and reason, capacity to interact and communicate with other people, and the scope of interrelationships from the parents, neighborhoods, and school. The principle of internalization refers to the internal reconstruction of an external operation: children observe those around them acting in certain ways, and they internalize their actions so that they become part of their own. This suggests a convergence of many factors to yield an optimum result, either positively or negatively.
Language may be defined as a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables people to express their feelings, thoughts, beliefs, ideas and experiences. The main feature of language is communication. Language operates on a structure that is hierarchical and governed by rules; and it has universal application. The study of cognitive development in childhood focuses on language acquisition, comprehension, production and reading. Psycholinguistics involves encoding and lexical access of words, sentence parsing, and representation of concepts, inference, and semantic assumptions. Children learn language at different paces, and in accordance to their age band. The coos and incomprehensible language expressions during infanthood, get perfected progressively through all the stages until late childhood. Therefore, language and intuitive thinking are inseparable because human thought is dependent upon expressed language. Cognitive development is a progressive process. According to Jean Piaget, the four stages of cognitive development in childhood are: sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete-operational, and formal operational. The developmental stages and characteristics are categorized according to specific age bands in a child’s life as reflected in (Table 2) and these are briefly discussed below.
Sensorimotor Stage
This is the first stage of cognitive development which is expressed by children aged 1-3 years, through sensory expressions (e.g. seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching), and motor expressions (e.g. sucking, biting, pulling, grasping, crawling, standing, walking). Infants are predisposed to acting upon or perceiving objects, a developmental characteristic referred to as object permanence. For instance, during the first four months, infants have no problem grasping their mother’s breast or a feeding bottle; whereas they have problems when these objects are moved from their sight. Their initial difficulty is to understand the concepts of location and movement. The other equally important developmental characteristic is the aspect of symbolic function, whose manifestation is language and thinking. Symbols (mental images) and signs (visual images) are representations of the cognitive development process which occur when infants are aged 2-3 years. At this level, the child moves away from acting upon and perceiving objects and starts to express them in his mother’s language. For instance, during the first year and a half, infants demand for food by crying; whereas when they are two and half years and have learnt a symbolic language, they would say, ‘I want food’, or ‘am hungry’. When they think or visualize that the mother is likely to go away, they would ask, ‘mummy where are you going?’ or demand, ‘am going also’, or request ‘bring me sweet’. Generally, their language comprises short sentences with specific metaphors and symbols.
Pre-Operational Stage: This is the second stage in the cognitive development process. Children in this age band (4-7 years), continue to progressively make significant improvements in the development of language, internal symbols, visual signs, and perception, which enhances their sense of self-awareness and individuation. Children in this age band are influenced by how things look like rather than by logical principles. The developmental characteristic of pre-conceptual suggests that children in this age band have a tendency to view things in absolute terms, that is, they have a difficulty to understand relational differences such as ‘tall’, ‘taller’, ‘tallest’ or ‘long’, ‘longer’, ‘longest’. For instance, in comparing the height of one child against others, they would say, ‘am tall than you’. Children in this age band usually classify things based on a single attribute at a time. This is referred to as transductive reasoning.
The developmental characteristic of intuitive reasoning, although progressive, is limited. This implies that the child’s logical thinking and connection has not expanded appreciably, it is still dominated by the perceptual appearance of things. A central theme during this stage is egocentrism. This is a tendency exhibited by most children, to perceive the world from their standpoint. Because they are self-centered and immature, they fail to understand or appreciate that other people can think differently. It is perhaps, more fruitful, to view the tasks presented to children in this age band, as being a crucial factor that influences their thinking and performance. Equally important is the usage of words (children attach different meanings to some words such as ‘more than’, ‘less’, ‘same’, ‘different from’, and so on), and sentence construction. Conservation is another developmental characteristic which revolves around the children’s inability to understand that things remain constant (the same) despite changes in how they look (appearance). As the cognitive abilities develop, children soon learn the aspects of identity, compensation, reversibility, number, quantity or substance, weight, and volume. As the intuitive reasoning develops, egocentrism diminishes. Children start to understand and appreciate themselves better, and that their world is different to that of adulthood.
Concrete Operational Stage: This stage is characterized by the development of the mental structure called an operation, which is, essentially an action, performed mentally, comprising compensation, reversibility, and identity. During this age band (8-11 years), children could view real objects and manipulate them, to generate new understanding. There are variations in the development process of the various abilities, with some children mastering all types of classification but not all types of construction, or any useful combination thereof. At this stage, children can understand the relationship between the superand sub-ordinate classes, the ‘part-whole’ relationship, forms of reversibility (e.g. addition, subtraction, division), and sorting objects on the basis of two or more attributes. Further, there is a significant decline in egocentrism and a growing individuation in most children at this stage of cognitive development.
Formal Operational Stage: This is the last stage in which the operations of the mental structure reach relative maturity. For most children, cognitive development reaches maturity by age fifteen years; and for the late developers or special cases, it is attained during middle adolescence by age nineteen years. This implies that full maturity of cognitive development starts in late childhood (12-15 years) and concludes its process in middle adolescence (18-21 years). This understanding cuts across all other developmental processes: children are not fully matured by the end of late childhood, but rather, full maturity is concluded during adolescence. It is partly for this reason why the United Nations Convention on Children defines childhood end-band at 18 years. The cognitive developmental characteristics include transitivity, manipulation and hypothetical reasoning. Formal refers to the child’s ability to follow the form of an argument without reference to its content [26]. Children in this age band can manipulate ideas or propositions and can reason solely because of verbal statements. They can draw logical conclusions (i.e. transitivity problems), and to think hypothetically, that is, to think about new situations and things never experienced before, and to imagine what has never been encountered before.
Further, they are adept at experimentation, in search of discovering their own worldviews and personal experiences, including the meaning and function of social structures [20]. Their comprehension, understanding and perception of things is adequately developed and transcends practical actualities and routine possibilities. This development enhances their knowledge and problem-solving skills. Several factors are instrumental in facilitating a sound cognitive development process in children, such as family stability, supportive environment, psychological wellness, emotional stability, socialization, education and training.
Moral Theory
The concept of moral development refers to the staging of moral decision making, value clarification, conscientiousness and intuition [4]. The development of acceptable moral values, virtues and belief system enhances interpersonal interaction and communication not only in childhood, but in adolescence and adulthood as well. The process starts at infancy and permeates throughout adulthood. The development of a child’s morals depends on the stage of thought and cognitive abilities. In adulthood, there is sufficient evidence indicating that individuals at high levels of moral development appear to behave more morally than those at lower levels, and they tend to be more honest and altruistic [27].
According to the moral development theory espoused by Kohlberg, there are three distinct levels of moral development: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Each of these levels is divided in two stages, that is, a total of six stages. In this article, the emphasis is placed on the pre-conventional and conventional levels of moral development (i.e. stages 1-4), that are cardinal to child development (Table 3). Generally, the various levels of moral development inform the operationalization of moral reasoning and judgement in children, adolescents, adults and elders. This theory helps the counsellors and psychotherapists to appreciate people’s reasons for doing right or wrong, understand the dynamics of moral decisions and judgement, and the limitations to sustainable behavior change and personal growth. It also helps to enhance understanding and appreciation about the child’s behavioral disposition and conduct.
Pre-conventional level: The first stage in moral development and decision making is called heteronomous morality. The concept of heteronomy is the opposite of autonomy, and it refers to the individual’s ability to appreciate different perceptions according to same situations or occurrences by different individuals. Children up to the age of eleven years do not adequately appreciate and integrate different perceptions; and they interpret social issues from an individualistic context. The consequences of preconventional moral decision-making are partly determined by the individual’s perception, and partly by other people’s views. This is what differentiates between moral decisions of children and those of adults. In practical terms, antisocial behaviour, criminality, exploitation, and abuse, are associated with pre-conventional level moral decisions that are devoid of an empathic consideration for other people’s feelings, and the consequences of their actions. Egocentrism is linked to and associated with pre-conventional moral judgement and infantile or childlike tendencies in adulthood [11]. Such behaviour adversely affects interpersonal communication and breeds resentment by other people.
The individual operating at pre-conventional level of moral judgement recognizes labels of good and bad, right and wrong, but fails to interpret these labels in terms of social conventions or standards. He only adheres to prescribed rules to avoid punishment not because of respect or moral support for the rule. Two aspects stand out at this level: first, the egocentric view which prescribes the desire to do something in order to satisfy one’s own needs irrespective of all the punishment consequences; and second, the individualistic perspective which generates a conscious awareness that right or wrong is relative to individual perception and interpretation. In many cases, children in the early childhood stage exhibit an egocentric view. They place their needs and desires central to whatever they do; they take punishment as part of the game of life; repeated mistakes become habitual; and they do not adequately consider the interests of other people.
As children grow older, during middle childhood stage particularly, their moral judgement becomes predominantly individualistic, that is, they follow social rules only when it is to their interests, needs or advantage. Besides, they perceive punishment as unfair and not right because other people have their own interests and needs; and they appreciate that interests and needs conflict between them and those applying the punishment or sanction. When there is conflict of interest, children in the middle childhood stage would rather go it their way, regardless of the anticipated punishment or sanction. This partly explains why some children repeatedly commit the same omissions despite the punishment or sanctions applied. This understanding is paramount: counsellors and psychotherapists must be conscious to these factors when interacting with parents or guardians in the context of child counselling.
Conventional level moral judgement is based on anticipated expectations such as in the family, social peer group, society and environment. Stages three and four of moral development prescribes that conformity with social rules and obligations becomes a norm; and good behaviour is that which pleases, helps or earns the approval of other people generally. Apparently, maintaining conventional expectation has a value, and it does not only benefit the individual, but also other people and society. The prime driving force in the social context is the individual’s ability to differentiate his needs or aspirations from those of other individuals, and the society in general [26]. There is greater awareness of the interrelationships amongst individuals in society which is integral to the socialization and harmonious co-existence process. Empathic understanding and appreciation of other people’s points of view is paramount just like the recognition of one’s role and the governing rules of the system in society [27]. Actions are judged by motive. For instance, being good is important and it means having good conduct, showing concern for others, and keeping mutual relationships such as trust, loyalty, respect, gratitude and positive regard. It is a common truism that, good motives lead to good acts, bad motives lead to bad acts, and yet, an individual’s conduct is partly judged by the type of his companions, by what he does, and how other people perceive his actions. This implies that an individual’s social behavior is influenced by various factors.
Conformity to stereotypes of what is good and what pleases other people contribute greatly to moral judgement. In other words, conventional moral judgement shows a loyalty to conformity as well as identification with persons or groups who maintain the social order. It is in the context of this understanding that children in the late childhood stage, are expected to conform to social pressure and live up to what their colleagues do as a fashionable undertaking and peer requirement. They share fantasies, expectancies and experiences during their social interaction; they plan things in consultation with each other; and they encourage one another to try out what the other has done for personal satisfaction, or gaining experience, or being like the other colleagues. This partly explains the social interpretation of bad company. Children in the late childhood stage are prone to indulge in bad behaviour depending on their associates and context of association, including their experiences in the family and the environment. They may show understanding of some social issues, but their level of comprehending the consequences is limited. For instance, children in the late childhood stage may engage in sexual experimentation without appreciating the consequences of accidental pregnancy and contracting sexually transmitted diseases. It is only after the incident happens, that moral judgement dawns. Contextually, good behaviour includes doing one’s duty, respecting the parents and authority, maintaining the social order, and achieving personal life goals; whereas bad behaviour is precisely the opposite of the good-behaviour traits. As indicated elsewhere in this article, these are important issues that ought to be well understood and appreciated by counsellors and psychotherapists who practice child counselling.
Conclusion
This article argues that the reformulation of childhood from an African cultural context is cardinal to enhancing knowledge and understanding about the key psychosocial issues in child counselling. It has been demonstrated that child counselling interactions must be facilitated according to the children’s age band; and that each age band has significant psychosocial issues which can inform the practice of child counselling. Depending on the specific age band, the children’s psychosocial, cognitive and moral development would not have reached full maturity by age fifteen years. Because of this, the children’s faculties for moral reasoning, decision-making, and comprehension are equally limited; and children can only access counselling services based on a triadic therapeutic relationship. Children have their own needs, aspirations, and desires which should be addressed in the context of their occurrence; and they have preferences on how to behave, interact and respond peculiar to themselves, with other people, and their environment. Counsellors and psychotherapists must exhibit a deeper understanding and appreciation about the key psychosocial issues and developmental tasks that affect children during their transitional journey to adolescence. Therefore, the study of child development is paramount for all the professionals specializing in child counselling and therapy.
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