Critical Analysis of an Online Article on Child Development

Introduction

Parenting has been found to have an impact on the offspring in adulthood. This claim is consistent with previous research in psychology which showed that environmental factors have a significant impact on the behavior of a childhood which may last to adulthood. For example, it has been found that children who receive supportive parenting are more likely to exhibit positive outcomes in their adulthood. One study claimed that children who receive positive parenting are more likely to display few health risk behaviors during their adulthood. Similar studies conducted elsewhere may not produce the same results since there may be other factors that may have an impact on one's life during childhood. There are several studies where the findings are based on certain claims. This paper is going to review an online article critically.

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In the online article, the author made two claims. The first claim is that the development of a child's brain is enhanced by childhood communication. The second claim is that a child is more protected from harmful behaviors if its brain development has been enhanced by communication during childhood (Elsevier, 2018). In the research study, it is claimed that children who experience greater communication from their parents during their adolescence period are less likely to engage in the harmful use of alcohol. Additionally, there is a claim that the same children that were exposed to enhanced communication with their parents during their early adolescence are less likely to become emotional while eating during their young adulthood. These assumptions are based on a previous study on rural African Americans which found that robust communication between parents and children helps protect the children from certain behaviors such as overconsumption of alcohol, drugs, and food (Holmes, 2018).

The researchers made assumptions that robust communication between the parents and the children during childhood leads to reduced risk of indulgence in risky behaviors such as overconsumption of drugs, alcohol, and food. While the parents may have truly engaged in robust communication with the children, could it be that robust communication is the only factor that contributes to reduced risky consumption habits in the future? What about if the children were brought in an environment where the parents were engaged in overconsumption of alcohol, food, and drugs. Since it has been found that environment plays a significant role in influencing the behavior of a child, robust communication may not be the only factor. Even if robust communication is a factor, it may not be a major factor that influences behaviors later in adulthood. The findings are based on a study carried out among rural African Americans. What will be the outcome of results carried out in a sample of other ethnic population? What could be the result of a study carried out among other minority groups or the whites? The study was also based on a study carried out in a population who were at the stage of adolescence. Robust communication with the parents may not have stopped after the adolescent stage. Additionally, the parents may have been involved in robust communication since early chan childhood and continued until adulthood.

The study was carried out among the rural African population. The assumptions are based on these rural population. The author assumed that the rural population engage in alcohol and drug consumption. There is also another assumption that the source of information on the harmful impacts of overconsumption of food, drugs, and alcohol. What if the children got information from school or religious organizations? There is also an assumption that the findings can be generalized to all African Americans. What about the African Americans who are not living in rural areas? Similarly, what are the findings of a similar study among the rural communities other than the African Americans? The findings of the research suggest that children who have frequently been communicating with their parents and arguing are less likely to be involved in the unhealthy lifestyle. Does this imply that those children whose parents did not communicate frequently contributed to negative behaviors during adulthood? Rural African Americans may be poor, and they cannot afford a lot of food and alcohol. Further, the supply of drugs on the rural areas may be scarce. The children may have been less exposed to such food and drugs as they grew up. The authors also employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brains of the 25-year-old young adults. Is fMRI the best tool to carry out the measurements? What if the equipment is erroneous? What about if the equipment was used to measure young adults who were not necessarily Africans? The authors also assumed that the parents of all the participants were communicating similar content to all the adolescents. What if the robust communication were of different content? The assumptions are based on the sample of rural African Americans. The rural environment is not the same for everyone. Some families have higher income while some have lower income. However, the study suggested that the population came from the same economic background. There is a weakness in this assumption since the family's income may have an impact on behaviors such as drug abuse.

Conclusion

The study can be further modified by carrying out the study in different ethnic populations. It should be carried out also in not only urban but also rural areas. Besides using fMRI, other equipment needs to be used to ensure that there is a minimum error. Instead of studying adolescents, other studies should consider parenting right from childhood. While the study covered only up to 25 years, what happens after young adulthood? At 25, most youth may not have jobs or steady income. Some of them may be still in school. Therefore, they may not have the disposable income to buy drugs, food, and alcohol. Future studies should focus on behaviors beyond young adulthood. Further, investigations should be carried out on the significance of communication as compared with other factors that influence adolescence behavior.

References

Elsevier. (2018). Childhood communication enhances brain development, protecting against harmful behaviors. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180503101651.htm.

Holmes, C. J., Barton, A. W., MacKillop, J., Galvan, A., Owens, M. M., McCormick, M. J., Yu, T., Beach, S.R.H., Bridy, G.H., & Sweet, L. H. (2018). Parenting and Salience Network Connectivity Among African Americans: A Protective Pathway for Health-Risk Behaviors. Biological psychiatry. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.03.003