Week 01: Attachment Flashcards
(32 cards)
death system
An interpersonal socio-physical and symbolic network through which our orientation toward mortality is mediated and expressed
the total range of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are directly or indirectly related to death
Why Death Education is Important
- Increased Life Expectancy
- Decreased Exposure to Death
- Changes in Family Structure
- Belief we can override natural forces
- Changing Philosophical, Ethical, and Spiritual Values
Increased Life Expectancy
during the last several decades, life expectancy has increased tremendously
- medical developments improved nutrition and sanitation have seen average life expectancy approach 80 years
Decreased Exposure to Death
- because people are living so long, children can grow up and seldom experience death
- it used to be that children witnessed the deaths of their mothers in childbirth or their siblings deaths due to disease
- in the past, it was more common for people to die at home, rather than in hospitals or retirement homes
Changes in Family Structure
- families are smaller and geographically more distant
- children may rarely see they relatives
- children are often not taken to old age homes, hospitals, visitations or funerals to keep them from becoming upset by knowledge of illness, aging and death
- Children are denied the opportunity to learn about death as a natural part of living
Belief we can override natural forces
advance medical technology leads us to expect and/or demand, that however injured, aged, or ill a person is that life can be preserved
-Death is often regarded as a failure by the medical system
Changing philosophical, ethical, and spiritual values
- At one time the majority of people subscribed to faith, spiritual or religious systems which dealt with the should and it immortality
- people felt assured that after their deaths their should survived in some way
- with the decline of religious training many people are struggling in an existential void
DeSpelder & Strickland: Children’s understanding of death
by age 4 or 5, death enters children’s thought and seen in their play
games - cops and robbers, snakes and ladders
books: good vs evil or themes of life and death
media and television - children witness 8000 murders plus over 100,000 acts of violence by the time they finish elementary school
Carson: Teachable moments
this concept is understood as unanticipated evens in life that offer potential for developing useful learning insights and lessons
opportunities that arise unexpectedly out of ordinary circumstances, e.g. dead insects
Silvermans Theory
Talking to Children About Death
Talking to Children about death (1/5)
give children the vocabulary for what they are feeling and experiencing
Talking to Children about death (2/5)
Teach them how to respond in circumstances involving death
Talking to Children about death (3/5)
encourage them to embrace their need for others at difficult times
talking to children about death (4/5)
help them to learn our values
Talking to Children about death (5/5)
Engaging in such discussions promotes competence, protective factors, problem solving; increases self-esteem
Corr, Nabe and Corr Theory
Four Principles that influence the understanding of death
Four Principles that Influence the Understanding of Death
- Developmental Level - includes cognitive level and maturity
- Life experiences - any experience a child has with death/loss
- individual personality - unique attributes of a child influences how they think and feel
- communication and support - above factors will influence the child’s willingness to discuss death and receive support
A Fifth Principle to Consider
A child’s relationship with their parent/caregiver
- good family experience = advantage
Dr John Bowlby Definition of Attachement
any from of behaviour that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is conceived as better able to cope in the world
Dr. Mary Ainsworth: Secure Attachment
- develops when mother/caregive is available to meet the needs of the child in a responsive and appropriate manner
- child explores freely and engages with strangers while the mother’s present
will be visibly upset when mother leaves
will not engage with strangers if mother is not in the room
most adaptive attachment style, can explore world
Dr. Mary Ainsworth: Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment
- a form of insecure attachment
- develops due to mothering style that is engaged by the child’s needs are met more on the mother’s terms
- child is anxious about exploring and of strangers even with mother present
- child is ambivalent when mother returns
- seeks to remain close to mother but resentful or resistant
child is not confident that the parent will always be there when called upon for help - prone to separation anxiety, clinging, and anxious about exploring
Dr. Mary Ainsworth: Anxious/Avoidant Attachement
Style develops from a disengaged mothering style
- strangers will not be treated differently rom the mother
- shows little emotion when mother departs or returns
child will typically ignore the mother
- child’s needs are frequently not met
- child comes to believe that communication of needs has no influence on the mother
- children are often independent from a young age
Drs Solomon & Main: Disorganized/Disoriented Attachement
- these children are often in terror at the hands of caregivers
- inconsistent behaviours
- often disoriented, confused, may suddenly change, constricted affect, interrupted movements, jittery
- creates a paradox which activates circuits of fear in the brain
these children lack a coherent coping strategy
Parenting Styles
Secure
Anxious Ambivalent
Anxious Avoidant
Disorganized
