HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

            From the time a fetus begins developing it undergoes a variety of very new experiences. These experiences continue to expand as the child grows. What does a child remember from these early experiences? What effect do they have on his or her future? There is much controversy in the topic of early childhood memories. The evidence seems to show, however, that memories from the womb and childhood may play an important role in how an individual develops throughout life.

            In the womb is the earliest possible time for an unborn child to experience emotional trauma. Within the womb the fetus can suck its thumb, dream, and do many other significant activities that a healthy born child is able to do. A fetus can hear its mother’s voice, and can recognize it after birth as well. Since the unborn child can experience all of these things it is natural to wonder if the value of the pregnancy to the mother can affect the unborn child in later years.

            Bengt Zacau-Christiansen and Aage Villumsen conducted a study to determine the effects that the mother’s value of pregnancies had on the child in later years. They followed various different types of pregnancies. Unwanted pregnancies, attempted abortions, wanted pregnancies, and adoption after birth were all among the diverse group. There were a little over 7,000 births that were part of this study. These mothers were monitored and the researchers all took note of all the different drugs and antidepressants they took (Ventegodt, 1999).

            These births were reevaluated thirty years later. The findings of this experiment are surprising. The unwanted and attempted abortion births only scored three percent below average compared to the wanted pregnancies. The difference in correlation between these two groups is very small and has almost no effect on these children’s adult lives. This study seems to show that experiences in the womb probably have few or no lasting consequences (Ventegodt, 1999).

            As a child matures its memory also increases. When babies are taken home from the hospital they already have distinct emotions of fear, distress, and surprise. These emotions increase as the child grows older. It was often thought that infants had little to no recollection of anything that happened early on in their life. This is often called infantile amnesia. Lately studies have been conducted that show that children that are around six months of age can remember simple events in their everyday life. For example, if a baby plays with a rattle one day, it can remember the sound it should make the next day (Hoyt, 1999).

            As the child reaches its preschool years it has been shown that children have the ability to remember great details of traumatic events that occur in their lives. Often it takes the preschooler time to get over the initial shock of the event. In an instant such as the killing of a parent it might take the child weeks to tell a trusted family member about their recollection of what happened (Eth & Pynoos, 1994).

            There is a good chance that the preschooler may have extreme misconceptions about what happened and not understand that their slain parent will not be coming back. When they hear a phone ringing they might suggest that it is their mother on the phone, when their mother has been dead for some time, and even if they had just been talking about how their mother will never be at another birthday party moments before. Preschoolers may often make up fantasy stories that retell the traumatic event. Except with this fantasy story the parent that was killed often survives. This shows a denial type syndrome that preschoolers invent (Eth & Pynoos, 1994).

            Traumatic events like these can often lead to regression. Some common episodes that occur to such children are nightmares that relive the horrifying event, fear of strangers, bed wetting, and loss of other skills that had been learned prior to the traumatic event. During this time the child may be more likely to throw tantrums, cry uncontrollably, and whine (Eth & Pynoos, 1994).

            Scientists disagree about the importance of early childhood memories. One group, probably including a majority of those who study the issue, thinks that the period of early childhood is crucial to the formation of the person, and that the experiences children have during these years can shape the direction of their lives. Others, more skeptical, argue that the effects that some researchers attribute to early childhood experiences are more likely due to other causes, and that mechanisms such as infantile amnesia limit the effect such experiences can have on later life. My opinion is that while specific events from childhood may be lost to the memory, the overall impact of one’s environment during early childhood can be very important.

            A number of interesting studies have given support to the idea that childhood experiences have important effects years later. Anne Lewis (2000) compared two longitudinal studies of disadvantaged children placed in quality day care programs. Both studies found that the children placed in the day care programs performed better than the control groups throughout their school years, and were more likely to attend college and get high-paying jobs. Interestingly, the children in the second study did better than the children in the first by age 21. The main difference between the programs is that children in the first entered day care at age 3, while children in the second entered day care during infancy. This seems to show that a difference in a child’s environment during only the first three years of life can make a big difference on the child eighteen years later.

            On the negative side, a survey of teenagers showed that those who had been physically abused or neglected as preschoolers were significantly more likely to become teenage parents (Herrenkohl, Herrenkohl, Egolf, and Russo, 1998). Another study showed that high levels of parental marital conflict during early childhood can cause early puberty in girls, and low emotional closeness with their mothers during early childhood can cause early puberty in boys (Kim & Smith, 1999). These studies provide powerful evidence that experiences during early childhood can have deep long-term consequences.

            Some people are not convinced, however. Critics say that things like early puberty may be caused by genetic or social factors that also contribute to the type of family environment that others think cause the early puberty (Kim & Smith, 1999, p. 137). With many of these studies, it is hard to show that the alleged long-term effects of early childhood experiences are not caused by forces that continue beyond early childhood. Also, it is difficult to see how early childhood experiences can directly affect later life because of infantile amnesia.

            As in every controversial issue it is hard to come to an equilibrium regarding this one. There is no panacea that can clearly solve this argument. My conclusion is that I feel that events that occur in early childhood play an important role to some extent as a child ages. Although some events that happen very early in infancy cannot be remembered later because of infantile amnesia, they still might have important effects sometime in a person’s life. The years of early childhood are important and influential ones, and we must not underestimate their importance to determining what kind of person a child will become.

WORKS CITED

            Eth, S., & Pynoos, R. (1994, November). "Children who witness the homicide of a parent." Psychiatry, 57, 287-311.

            Herrenkohl, E., Herrenkohl, R., Egolf, B., & Russo, M. (1998, June). "The relationship between early maltreatment and teenage parenthood." Journal of Adolescence, 21, 291-303.

            Hoyt, C. (1999, October). "How memory develops." Parenting, 13, 96-102

            Kim, K., & Smith, P. (1999). "Family relations in early childhood and reproductive development." Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 17, 133-148.

            Lewis, A. (2000, January). "Early Childhood." The Education Digest, 65, 69-70.

Ventegodt, S. (1999). "A prospective study on quality of life and traumatic events in early life – 30 year follow up." Child: Care, Health, and Development, 25, 213-221.

            "Basic behavior science research for mental health." American Psychologist, 50, 838-845.