Socialization

            Family has had the most influence in my life especially because it has instigated coercive interaction patterns. My family has influenced the way I express my emotions especially because of the family climate and different emotional experiences that have helped me learn how to react and respond to my emotions. For example, my parents are very supportive and are constantly involved in everything I do and this made me become emotionally competent especially while going through adolescence. My parents are warm and have positive expressivity that helped me learn how to regulate my emotions. As a result, I am less aggressive and angry whenever something negative occurs in my life.

            The support that I receive from my family in general has helped me gain a high level of self-worth which has eventually improved my self-esteem. I am more optimistic, I have a positive mind-set, and I think that I am mentally capable of dealing with any situation that I may experience. For instance, my siblings are always aware of anytime that I might feel upset and they always try and give me advice on how I can deal with certain situations and this makes it easier to make decisions and feel confident about life in general. Therefore, the state of family relationships has a definite impact on one’s well-being (Azar et al., 2017). Genie failed to have the sense of family in her life (due to neglect from them) and this had a major impact on how she socialized with other people and she was unable to develop traits like self-worth, self-confidence, and self-reliance which are important aspects in developing a healthy state of well-being.

            Children that have experienced immense trauma through neglect and psychological torture usually suffer from psychiatric difficulties which are evident in adulthood (Camilo et al., 2020). The victims feel shame, despair and anger that is directed inwards and leads to symptoms like anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress and depression. These feelings can also be directed outward as impulsiveness, aggression, substance abuse, hyperactivity, and delinquency (Azar et al., 2017). It is complex to contain such disorders and this means that such children, like Genie, cannot be productive members of society. Genie underwent a series of unstable relationships when she lived with different families and often exhibited self-destructive impulses.

            Oksana Malaya was also a feral child who experienced neglect like Genie. Her parents were alcoholic and neglected her and since she was surrounded by dogs, she began imitating them. She was found when she was seven years old, she could not speak, lacked most basic skills, and had dog-like behaviours (walking using all four limbs, barking and sleeping on the floor). Oksana was found kept in the dog habitat and was never looked after or supervised by the parents. The case is similar to Genie’s in terms of her inability to interact normally as a result of neglect, but, she was somehow raised by dogs and mimicked animal-like behaviours as a result of the isolation she experienced. This child cannot successfully recover from this ordeal and has to suffer from intellectual impairment because of the long duration she stayed with dogs and learned only from their form of interactions. Even though she was taught to speak intelligibly and fluently, her dog-like mannerism was subdued to a specific extent and this affected her ability to act like a productive member of society.

Response to Classmate’s Post: Macey Moser

            In response to an essay written by my classmate, it is possible that a child like Genie can live in society but not as a productive member because I believe that there are serious after effects associated with isolation and prolonged neglect of a child. I also doubt that they could have a positive outlook of life because not only will their experience affect them psychologically, but it will also be difficult to subdue negative feelings associated with their past experience of neglect.  Therefore, while I would like to be optimistic, Genie’s case is extraordinary and under the circumstances, it is almost impossible to look forward to achieving positives.  

References

Azar, S. T., McGuier, D. J., Miller, E. A., Hernandez-Mekonnen, R., & Johnson, D. R. (2017). Child neglect and maternal cross-relational social cognitive and neurocognitive disturbances. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(1), 8.

Camilo, C., Garrido, M. V., & Calheiros, M. M. (2020). The social information processing model in child physical abuse and neglect: a meta-analytic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 108, 104666.

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