Mental Health and Impulse Behaviour

Introduction

Social constructions in our modern society dictate how everything is perceived. Behavioural issues are seen as impediments, according to the Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary, mental disorders and mental illnesses (which can by synonymous with behavioural issues) are “a mental or bodily condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological functioning of the individual” which leaves much to the interpretation of the reader. What is defined as normal? Behavioural issues have become a less and less extraneous topic of discussion in society, and this has allowed for the testing of new theories from a social standpoint, and how these can be aided in our society. A large issue in modern society involves a barrier in the development of self-control in modern society as crime rates and acting against norms are at a rapidly inclining rate. Based on a variety of factors in which this topic is researched and theorized, there are ways in assisting the assurance of proper behaviour in a child’s development prior to adulthood. Studies around social deviance and self-control will be examined in their effect to bettering these pertinent behavioural issues.

Self-Control Development

Implementation of “norms” happened to maintain a level of control over the behaviour of patrons in society. Norms are self-explanatorily what you do to maintain a positive social relationship with society (with equal sanctions if these norms are not met). Self-control, or what helps one perceive these norms, is an innate behaviour that is moulded and solidified from childhood. Children’s environments such as their parental situation, the income they are being raised on, the neighbourhood they grow up in, and many other factors all contribute to their interactiveness with peers and adults, and the way that they respond to discipline from adults. As every child is different, they are raised by different people influenced by different backgrounds and upbringings and this plays into how a child reacts to methods of discipline and care. The effects of learning self-control and control of impulse behaviour must be established from an early age, as development in childhood is difficult to reprimand and alter as you become older which studies later will aim to explain.

Problems in Development

Associating mainly with children of the same age (little adult influence), being raised in an unbalanced household and over extensive care can all factor into a child’s responsiveness to authority and discipline, undermining them. Little adult influence can be seen in households with parents working all the time, or single-parent households, as well as children being raised in orphanages. Over extensive care can have the same damage, as a child has less of a chance from making realizations on their own. Children with these problems in their upbringing are more prone to showing problems in behaviour, which will be noticed quickly in schooling.

The Dunedin Experiments

In a study that hoped to prove the themes discussed in relating the concepts of mental health and predicting the benefits of bettering self-control in children, a random sampling was taken and children were observed from childhood into adulthood. The study allowed for the confirmation of factors such as prosperity in finance, health and criminal behaviour. The self-control of the children was observed, and children with lower self-control had poorer life outcomes in the aforementioned factors, and vice versa for the children showing excellent self-control. In another part of the study, siblings were studied and the same conditions were looked at. The stronger sibling, developing better self-control, ended up the more affluent adult. The outcomes of this study proved the theory that the development of self-control in children can better equip them for the future, reducing impulsive behaviour.

Mental Health and Impulse Behaviour

Mental health is affected by everyday factors, and every individual copes with these pressures and situations differently depending on the skill sets they were given in life, where some can rise to the challenge of competing with their mental state, and some cannot. Forms of therapy to those who are suffering from mental disorders such as generalized anxiety, bipolarity and eating disorders. Most mental health problems can be aided, but the mind is an extremely unpredictable matter. Looking at these problems from adult eyes can be seen as the easier task, as children tend to be unaware of what is happening to them when they are faced with these mental challenges, as problems that seem unimportant to parents can be monumentally harmful to children.

Children suffering from depression are susceptible to behaviour issues that align with self-control and control of impulses. These children lack the development of independent speech control, which often is caused by the factors that contribute to the diseases they possess, such as a disconnect from adults and peers. It is particularly important to raise these children with the skills to lay a foundation of self-control so that they can benefit from the freedom from disease that this control allows.

Depression and Cognitive Deficiencies in Children

Spotting depression disorders in children is often a challenge as it is rarer and the cases are few and far between. Often times, depressed children learn these mannerisms from their parents or mentors who are suffering from the mental illness themselves. It can be behaviourally adopted by the children the mental illness surround, and this happens without awareness on the behalf of either party.The symptoms consist of severe criticism of themselves, a lack of energy and increased irritability, problems in behaviour may arise in schooling, and the children are often left without treatment as it is very easy to go undetected.

The University of Houston Study

Children with non clinical and clinical depression were sampled and observed in a study done by the University of Houston. The purpose of the study was to identify children possessing mental disorders such as separation anxiety, phobic disorders, conduct disorders, attention deficit disorders, generalized anxiety disorders and various forms of hyperactivity in connection to their individual self-control levels. The study concluded that these children already predisposed to cognitive deficiencies with poorer self-control, and the connection between children’s learning styles once they are diagnosed with mental illnesses such as depression. Depressed children and children suffering from similar mental illnesses have a lack of cognitive skills, which can be aided and resolved through the implementation of self-control as a child.

Self-Verbalization Therapy

The cognitive methods behind self-teaching therapy in children has been remarkable in it’s resolving of some of the symptoms of mental illness. Children have been given the opportunity to be taught to speak to themselves as a way of mediating their own behaviour. They learn a series of sentences that aim to assist in seeing them through actions they are told to complete, and this encouragement allows for control and slower completion. The primary idea is that after children reach a certain age, discipline comes from their own voice, rather than the voice of an adult, as a part of growing up and creating a foundation for independence, which is something that is lacking in children with the mental illnesses discussed.

The Solution

There have been numerous tests and experiments using the concepts from self-verbalization therapy, and one in particular used the specific task of matching to decide whether or not teaching oneself (a child) with speech or a person tutoring the child would be more beneficial to reducing the impulsivity of the child. As aforementioned, the importance of a child learning to complete tasks on their own develops certain parts of the brain that are significant in making sure the child grows up with the foundational and learning skills necessary to maintain proper behaviour. The study confirmed that the latency of the problem was lessened in both cases, however, there were less errors in the trials that were self-taught, confirming the need for children learning on their own.

Improvement in Future Learning

As a result of the significant evidence from the experimentation involving children and the effects of learning self-control in early stages of growth, governments have been creating and starting to implement programs in schooling that encourage the techniques found within self-verbalization therapy. Awareness has also been a method in alerting teachers, mentors and parents with children suffering from various mental illnesses that a causal link exists between better self-control and therapeutic results, improving the quality of life of these children particularly once they reach adulthood.

References

Arseneault et. al, 2010. A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth and public safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (7): 2693-2698.

Baumrind, 1966. Effects of Authoritative Parental Control on Child Behavior. Society for Research in Child Development, 37 (4): 887-907.

Goodman and Meichenbaum, 1971. Training Impulsive Children to Talk to Themselves: A Means of Developing Self-Control. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 77 (2): 115-126.

Kaufman and Sawyer, 2004. Primary-Grade Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Attitudes toward Teaching, and Discipline and Teaching Practice Priorities in Relation to the Responsive Classroom Approach. The Elementary School Journal, 104 (4): 321-341.

Kaslow et. al, 1988. Attributional Style and Self-Control Behavior in Depressed and Nondepressed Children and Their Parents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16 (2): 163-175.

Neilans and Israel, 1981. Towards Maintenance and Generalization of Behaviour Change: Teaching Children Self-Regulation and Self-Instructional Skills. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 5 (2): 189-195.

NICHD, 1998. Early Child Care and Self-Control, Compliance, and Problem Behaviour at Twenty-Four and Thirty-SIx Months. The NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 69 (4): 1145-1170.