Analysis of my Life: Domestic Violence

Introduction

If I could use a song to describe my life. I would probably select the 1971 hit by, Helen Reddy entitled, I Am Woman Hear Me Roar. The chorus goes like this: I am strong, I am invincible, I am a woman. A description through the lyrics of a song of how major events have shaped my perspectives of problem-solving to proceeding to a better way of living. In this case study, I am going analyzed myself. I will provide analysis and a brief discussion of biological, psychological, and social factors that have impacted my life.

Biological Factors

According to Dictionary online, a biological factor is anything which affects the function and behavior of a living organism, and the influences of those roles can be physical, physiological, chemical, neurological or genetic conditions (Dictionary.university, 2018).

The biological factors that I was born as a female with two brown eyes, two ears, my nose which is broader constructed because of the race; however, today I am of a petite built; short and somewhat small. Maintained by my mother remembrance of my birth, she quickly counts ten finger and toes being perfect to her in every sense, and I had so much hair, she makes a comparison of me as a baby having Elvis Presley sideburns and Bozo the Clown.

The fact of being an African American female biologically has impacted me to be of more disadvantaged than other ethnics groups, I have been impacted by the genetic trait of hypertension in my family, and as well as other Vascular diseases, and I have been impacted by the exposure and history of alcohol addiction that plague my family for years. I know now that I am left with the responsibility of informing future generations that because of the history of alcoholism in my family. There is the potential based biological factors that they too could become alcoholics if they are not aware of this history. According to Zastrow, Kirst-Ashman, Hessenauer (2019), “Biological development and theories concern the physical aspects of a person’s life (pg.8). I go from the point of walking to biological development to physical changes, into my psychological characteristic of me.

Psychological Factor

Growing up, I seemed to have all things mentally and physically working fine. I began to walk at nine months old, so my gross motor skills were working fine, and between the ages of 3 or 4, I had an injury to my head requiring stitches to close the wound. At the age of 52, I was diagnosed with ADHD, but long before this happen during my elementary school years around the 7th grade or so I remember going to a special reading class. The teacher was kind in helping and praising my accomplishments, but my self-esteem was low in that I felt I did not measure up to my peers who were not in this special class with me.

It also hurt my feelings when they pick on me for wearing glasses and the size of my lips. My feelings were I could not compete with them, so I became shyer and I only talk to people that were nice and kind to me. After the diagnosis of ADHD, I began to research what are the possible causes and injury to the brain can be a factor as well as genetic factors. My mother grew up in an abusive home, where her father was harsh and both physically and mentally abusive to her mother and her siblings. My mother was an introverted person and she suffered from depression to the point she would ignore my brother and me emotionally, but now I know that she did not have all the tools to do so.

We lived a sheltered life we were not exposed to many of life good experiences; therefore, enabling us to have trust issues with people in general and when someone wrongs us it takes a long time for us to regain trust. I am more of an introvert than an extrovert it is my way I think of being safe from any form of harm. (Zastrow et al., 2019), “Psychological development and theories emphasize individuals’ functioning and cognitive or thought processes. Psychological aspects concern how people think about themselves, others, and the environment around them” (pg.8). I believe that Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive development shapes us into who we become.

Environmental

I do have a spiritual belief in God, even though I was raised in an environment where emotional support and being guided in a way as such as to be able to handle stress in a more conducive way was not displayed I my presence. I saw all around me that my mother had and kept the faith that things would not always be this or that way because of having confidence in that sure substance Jesus Christ. My mother attended church and even though her father was extremely abusive, he caught them to mask their pain by going on as though nothing happens at home. According to Bartleby.com Editors (2018), the causes of a family and or culture can mark their belief which connects to their life experiences, and culture can affect their happiness, morality, mortality, behavior and their overall personality. I was raised in an environment where anger was handle with cussing and sometimes things would escalate to hitting and from this environment to the environment of my marriage it follow me.

I listen to my father ’s loud cursing and hitting my mom growing up and her simply putting up with whatever he dished out. I am now divorced after being married 15 years in a relationship of domestic violence. In an article online Socialization in Infancy and Childhood, being social with others are the tools the children need to learn how or what to value, and how the use of manners are important. “Many agents play a role in the socialization process including family, peers, schools and the media” (Leidy, 2015). Each has a different environmental setting but working “together rather than independently” (Leidy, 2015). However, the strength perspective has allowed me to focus on the positive that has helped me understand my environment. According to Zastrow et al., (2019) in assessing my strengths I would have to incorporate an individual strength, family strength, and group strength play a tremendous part in my recovery after my divorce.

Application of Theory to Case Example

The application of theory to case example would be that Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development I to believe that children do what they see, and hear from their environment. According to Zastrow et al., (2019) Vygotsky’s theory was as such that he proposed a different account than Piaget concerning cognitive development. “Development is an apprenticeship, in which children advance when they collaborate with others who are more skilled” (pg. 123). He too highlights that Vygotsky’s understanding of the way children learn is that “children’s thinking is influenced by the sociocultural context in which children grow up” (Zastrow et al., 2019, pg.123).

Vygotsky’s theory and the ecosystems system seems to have similarity in the principles and the concepts for studying human development and behavior for which I believe too. According to Zastrow et al., (2019) in this reading of information, the ecosystems theory. “Incorporates concepts from both systems theories and the ecological perspectives, which focuses on the environment. One definition of ecosystems theory is system theory used to describe and analyze people and other living systems and their transactions” (pg. 23). Some belief is in Piaget’s theory that we learn based on our ability to learn, to process, to store and retrieve information. Both theories had substantial theoretical studies; however, I learned the best seeing, hearing and touching in my environment.

Relevance to Professional Development

What have I learned about myself from this assignment that might be relevant to my future professional work? I have learned that the ability for people to learn can be from neither theoretical approach, however, based on my analysis we learn first from those in our environment. For example, I work in at a school where the disabilities of students range from moderate to profound and even in some of their eye movement you can pretty much see what they believe based on the environment for which they are in. Build upon their strengths we have them, but going through adversity we fail to notice any strengths we may have picked up along the way.

Can broader professional implications be drawn from some aspect of the subject’s background? Yes, I experienced domestic violence, it is a learned behavior from my environment it goes back 3 generations. My grandmother stayed in a domestic violence relationship until she died. She never attempted to leave even when she had been harshly abused both physically and mentally. My father and my mother did not marry until I was 5 years old he never stayed with us a solid 2 years and mother stayed until trauma struck, and they separated and have never got back together. I could be an informative source in helping domestic violence victims by having empathy for their situation or/and crisis and by helping them understand abuse is a wrongful act it is crime. According to Boxler (2004), domestic violence is a learned the behavior in comparison to Vygotsky theory that people learn based on how language is written and spoken because “power is not always used in the interest of a learner as is the case in battering situations” (Boxler, 2004,pg.60). The meat of it is for the abuser to teach their victims to be battered.

Can broader implications be drawn from the chosen theory? I will draw from Vygotsky’s theory in my future work because I believe that people learn from their environment and being that the information they learn is written or spoken it depends on how it is distributed to be processed.

References

1. Bartleby.com Editors (2018). Family Influences Our Personality, Behavior, Beliefs, and Value. Retrieved from https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Family_Influences_Our_Personality_Behavior_Beliefs _and_FKR6SGSTJ
2. Biological Factor. (n.d.). In Dictionary.university online. Retrieved from https://dictionary.university/Biological%20FACTOR
3. Boxler, H. (2004). Understand the Performance Learning Identity and Domestic Violence. Adult Education Research Conference. Retrieved from https://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2004/papers/11
4. Leidy M.S., Parke R.D., (2015). International Encyclopedia of Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), Socialization in Infancy and Childhood. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/socialization
5. Zastrow H., Kirst-Ashman K.K., Hessenauer S., (2019,2016). Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, Inc.

Cite this page