Impact of Childhood Experience on Mental and Psychological Health

This essay reflects upon a childhood experience that impacted the mental and psychological health of the author and influenced their growth as an adolescent. The author shares their experience of being sent to a hostel at a young age, facing ridicule and challenges, and the lack of communication with their parents. Despite the difficulties, the experience helped the author grow and gain perspective.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
Name of the University:
Name of the Student:
Author Note:

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Psychology
Growing up is an inevitable course of life, and this includes both, mental and physical
growth. One of the most important aspect of growing up is a sound and healthy mental
growth of the children. Proper attention, care and guidance are essential for the growing up of
a child and a lack in this can lead a child to indulge in deviant behaviors (Ashiabi and
O’Neal. 2015). In the following essay I wish to reflect upon a part of childhood and the way,
it affected or impacted me and influenced my growth as an adolescent.
The experience I wish to share will be focusing upon my mental and psychological
health, when I was only 13 years old. We are two sisters, me being the younger one of
parents who were both working. On my promotion to seventh grade, I was sent to a Hostel, as
my parents believed that it will be helpful for my growth and development. I, however was
extremely scared of the thought of losing friends and staying away from home, but none of
this could stop me from moving to the residential school. Within some months my joining in
the new school, I came to know that my father had lost his job and that my family is going
through an extremely crisis period., but the most important part of the story is that, I came to
know about this incident through the dean of our school, as my parents did not have the
capability to visit me and this was the situation for almost two years.
This situation had changed me in many ways. Firstly, I was amongst a group of
strangers, coming from different families, backgrounds and culture, therefore, having
different orientations, and me being a new joiner, after two years, I was often ridiculed and
goaded, and later on, as the entire school got to know about my family, situations got even
worse, and I had no one to go to or no one to guide me or help me to go through the situation
(Cross et al. 2015). However, though, initially these had affected me, but in gradually, it
made me strong and gave me perspective and soon I found myself to get stern and fight back.
I also generated trust issues as I was made fool, a lot of times.

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Psychology
The most important thing that affected me was the broken and extremely less
communication system with my parents. There were times when I used ton talk to them once
a month, and I remember not seeing them that year at the time of Christmas, although they
used to call up at my school ton check on me. It was this phase when I confided into myself
and learnt to carry on alone. Once I got back home, I found that there was an increased
distance between me and my family, and found that they knew my sister in a way they could
never know me (Rosa and Tudge. 2013).
This scenario, continued for two consecutive years, and gradually with my father’s
new job things got better. Then they would ask me to come home for every occasion, but
there was this distance that never let me. However, I went home every year after seventh
grade. With the end of my high school, I took up my college in a different state, as I found
that it was not possible for mem to remain at home anymore (Cabrera. 2014).
My childhood was a difficult one, and I cannot blame anyone because it was the
circumstances that made it happen. However, I am really happy, with whatever had happened
with me, as it helped me to grow and gain perspective and also gave me some practical
experiences. Though I am more skeptical about people now, and have some serious stress and
anxiety issues, but those days had made me the person I have become.

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Psychology
References:
Ashiabi, G.S. and O’Neal, K.K., 2015. Child social development in context: An examination
of some propositions in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory. Sage Open, 5(2),
p.2158244015590840.
Cabrera, N.J., Fitzgerald, H.E., Bradley, R.H. and Roggman, L., 2014. The ecology of father‐
child relationships: An expanded model. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 6(4), pp.336-
354.
Cross, D., Barnes, A., Papageorgiou, A., Hadwen, K., Hearn, L. and Lester, L., 2015. A
social–ecological framework for understanding and reducing cyberbullying
behaviours. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 23, pp.109-117.
Rosa, E.M. and Tudge, J., 2013. Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of human development: Its
evolution from ecology to bioecology. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5(4), pp.243-258.