Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

During an informal interview with a close friend, she mentioned that she had an experience with racism as a young child. As a third grader, she experienced being called a “nigger” by a young white boy in her class. This affected her emotionally and mentally. When this situation happened, she felt helpless. Although others were around, no one came to her defense and no one comforted or consoled her. Though this happened in the Third Grade, she was unable to vocalize how she felt and deal with the issue until her sixth grade year.

Because of this incident, she began to ignore conflict that dealt directly with her. She avoided confrontation and often ran in the other direction. Being called such an inappropriate name at such a young age, left a lasting impression. She began to realize that she was different and she felt as though she had to work harder in life to prove that she was just like or possessed an even better skill set than her counterparts.

As a result of this incident, she developed a dislike for white people, males and females alike. She became less receptive and open to befriending them and often may have made prejudgments about them, based on the color of their skin.

Children all across America will probably feel the sting of racism at some point throughout their lifetime. Racism and it’s crippling effects are felt throughout each race, ethnicity, and culture in the world. Mindsets can often be passed from parents to children to grandchildren without proper acknowledgement.

According to Marilyn Elias, racism has a mental effect on children far beyond their early childhood years. The most common mental health issue related to racism is depression. Hispanics who report racism are more than three times as likely as other children to have symptoms of depression and blacks are more than twice as likely to experience depression.

“It is well established that both Indigenous Australians and Māori have a state of health and wellbeing far below other groups in their respective nations. The estimated half a million Indigenous Australians comprise 2.4 per cent of the Australian population and are the most disadvantaged group in Australian society. They suffer from high rates of unemployment and incarceration, low income, substandard housing, and a high burden of ill health and mortality, including a life expectancy that is seventeen years less than other Australians.”

These disadvantages among the people of Australia are highly attributed to racism. Indigenous Australians are seen as less than by non-indigenous Australians. They believe that they are dependent upon welfare as well as more likely to receive government handouts.  Children are effected in all three aspects of their development: biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial. For more information, click on the link below.

http://www.lowitja.org.au/files/crcah_docs/Racism-Report.pdf

Sources:

USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-05-race-depression_N.htm

http://www.lowitja.org.au/files/crcah_docs/Racism-Report.pdf