Super Kikay and Her Flying Pagong Essay Example for Free

Super Kikay and Her Flying Pagong Essay The turtle is a magical and gave Kikay the power to save humankind and the sea creatures. It is her duty to protect the ocean deep from the giant small Octopus and its master disciple from getting the magical pearl that gives life to the ocean deep. As a training, Super Kikay fly around their town and try to solve the problems and difficulties of other people. Some of the problems she solve was to help a stuck jeepney get off the mud. She also rescued a girl that almost fall from the ferries wheel and stop the illegal fishers from destroying the ocean by using dynamites to catch fish. After her training, Dong pagong instructed her to get the magical pearl and bring it to their land to prevent the giant octopus from finding it in the ocean. Kikay transforms into Super K and dive into the ocean to get the magical pearl. She easily found the magical pearl but she was also seen by the giant octopus and followed her into the land. When Super K noticed that the giant octopus followed her, she immediately dug a hole to hide the magical pearl but she forgot to bury it. Super K and the giant octopus fight each other. Super K almost defeated the giant octopus but she was easily beaten because the giant octopus fired a black ink on her face and temporarily blinded her giving the octopus time to escape w/ the magical pearl. Super Ks brother was also kidnapped by the giant octopus while she was temporarily blinded. The next morning, Dong pagong told Kikay that she must get the magical pearl from the giant octopus to prevent the fishes from dying. Kikay transformed into Super K again to find the giant octopus and get the magical pearl and also to rescue her younger brother. Horje (the scientist who created the giant octopus) eliminated the giant octopus because he thinks that the giant octopus may be a barricade on his plans (he plans to sell the magical pearl to foreigners for 100,000 million pesos) Super K heard the gun shot that was fired from Horjes gun. She thought that shot her younger brother but later on found out that Horje killed the giant octopus and not her younger brother. After letting her younger brother escaped, she chased Horje until she cornered him. They fought fiercely until she have beaten Horje and get the magical pearl. Super K go back on their town and returned the magical pearl into the ocean. After the returning the magical pearl, the ocean became clean again and all the fishes were happy and thanking Super K for saving them. Dong pagong did not take back the power that she has given to Kikay because he knows that Kikay will use her powers to help humans.

Research Article Critique: Theories of Helping

Research Article Critique: Theories of Helping Research Article Critique Wong Hiu Tung Research Article Critique Sprecher, S., Fehr, B., Zimmerman, C. (2007). Expectation for mood enhancement as a result of helping: The effect of gender and compassionate love. Sex Roles, 56, 543-549. doi: 10.1007/s11199-007-9192-6 Introductory of summary of the study In this article, Sprecher, Fehr, and Zimmerman (2007) attempted to investigate how gender and the propensity to experience the compassionate love for others are associated with the forecast of the enhancement of positive mood from giving help to others and receiving help from others. They aim to examine whether the several psychological theories of helping, which suggested that people provide help due to receiving benefits, are correct or not. More specifically, the benefit received from helping could be the self-benefit, which is the enhancement of positive mood. As a result, the participants, 47 males and 133 females from U.S. Midwestern public university, were asked to complete the randomly assigned questionnaire, either imagine themselves as the giver or the recipient of the helping acts, during the class. Firstly, participants were asked to rate the degree to which each helping behaviour was a good example of compassionate love. Secondly, they were asked to imagine the eight helping acts, which involved making a special meal, buying a present, expressing empathy and caring, verbal support for a tough decision, providing care when sick, a surprise gift, a call when feeling down, and sticking up for another, occurring with close friend and to assess what degree would they experience an increase in positive emotions as a consequence of each of the helping act. Finally, they completed the Compassionate Love Scale about their compassionate love for others. This study found that all helping behaviours in this research were good examples of compassionate love and were expected to increase the mood of the individual. More specially, females are more likely to have an expectation of enhancing positive mood as a result of both helping and receiving help in a relational context than males. Moreover, individuals who are high in compassionate love for others are more likely to forecast their enhancement of positive emotion from giving and receiving help than those who are lower on compassionate love. Altruism and gender role are the meaning of these results. Critique Research Topic and Question The problem is clearly stated and is researchable by examining how gender and compassionate love are associated with mood enhancement from helping respectively. There are three variable in the research question and most of them are clearly defined. The mood enhancement is clearly defined as the increase of positive emotion, such as happiness, joy, or satisfaction. The compassionate love also had well-defined with the support of forceful psychological literature. Nevertheless, the definition of helping behaviours was ambiguous. The helping behaviours are defined briefly that merely included the eight helping acts, and stated that those helping acts are commonly experienced in the friendships of young adults. Therefore, it may need to provide a clear definition of helping behaviours in order to clarify which behaviour can be involved in the situation of helping within this study. Literature Review The review is relevant to the research questions and design. The researchers cite previous studies of the association between helping and different variables respectively, such as gender, receiving benefit, and the situational and dispositional variables. Moreover, the review included the previous studies which related the design and the research question of the present study and pointed out the limitations of the previous studies in order to justify the contents of their research. However, the review did not include the literature which contradicts to the prediction of the study, for example, the helping behaviours may not be determined by the rewarding. Sampling The participants were similar in term of education level, ethnicity and social class to reduce the intervention of those variable. Lack of the method of selecting the sample is the limitation of this study. It merely described the number of participants and the ratio of the majority and the background of the participants, but have not reported the sampling method. Furthermore, the ratio of the participants’ gender may not appropriate for this research which the number of the female participants was almost triple of the number of male participants. Since the gender is one of the considerable variables in this study, it is hardly to conclude the effects of gender in the expectation for mood enhancement due to the imbalance of the ratio of the participants’ gender. Method Selection The selected method is appropriate to the research question. Since the questionnaire was the most appropriate and convenient method of self-report, it is suitable for examining the expectation of mood enhancement. In addition, the scenario study can relatively be provided adequate answers to the research question. Because the participants can be easier to imagine the several helping acts by the provided scenarios than the non-scenario questions, the participants can more accurately predict the emotional changing after giving or receiving help. The selected helping acts may not be the most proper indicator of helping behaviour as the limitation of the study, especially making a special meal, buying a present and giving a surprise gift. In general, those three helping behaviours in this research cannot be generalized as helping behaviours because these behaviours may occur in other situations rather than the situation of helping, for example, we may buy a present to our friends for their birthday. Moreover, the participants may increase their mood due to the external reward instead of receiving help. For instance, the participants may feel happy, as well as mood enhancement, because of the gift rather than receiving the help. Therefore, the validity of the research is low since the three helping acts are not appropriate as the helping behaviours. Procedure The designed procedure is clearly described regarding the work of the researchers and appropriate to answer the question of the study. First, the pre-test administered to the small group of similar students assessed the effectiveness of the eight helping behaviours. It was appropriated to ensure that the eight helping behaviours are suitable to measure the mood enhancement as a result of those helping acts. Second, the procedure had protected the confidentiality of the research participants due to the anonymous and voluntary questionnaire. One limitation of the study is that the questionnaire was completed during the class time. In general, the time pressure mostly occurred in the lecture because of the pressing courses. Therefore, the participants may complete the questionnaire arbitrarily, as well as answering inaccurately, because of the time pressure. As a result, the questionnaire can be completed in their leisure time in order to reduce the time pressure as an influential facto r. Data Gathering and Analysis There are several strengths in this section. The data are presented clearly and fully that the results are clearly separated into three sections of the research question which base on the sections of the questionnaire: the helping behaviours were good examples of compassionate love, the association between gender and the expectation of mood enhancement as a result of the helping acts, and the association between compassionate love and the expectation of mood enhancement as a result of the helping acts. Also, the appropriate inferential and descriptive statistics are clearly described in text and presented in organized tables. Furthermore, the results are clearly stated which correlations failed to reach the significance for the helping acts in giving and receiving conditions. For example, male and female participants’ ratings of the giving or receiving a surprise gift did not differ significantly in expectation of mood enhancement. Interpretations, Conclusions and Discussion The researchers clearly concluded that the results of the study provide support for the two hypotheses. However, the results may not conclude that the gender is associate with the forecast of a specific self-benefit because the number of male participants are relative extremely smaller than the number of female participants. Therefore, the association between gender and expectation for mood enhancement is not representative. Although the researchers made a clear interpretations of the results in terms of the gender role and altruism, they had not explained the results of failing to reach the significance for the helping acts as the limitation of the study as well. For example, the helping act of giving or receiving a surprise gift was not a significant difference from male and female participants. Therefore, the study would also be explained the contradictory results for providing well-founded interpretations of the data. The limitations of the study are incomplete that the researchers merely considered two limitations of the study, which focus on a context and an emotional consequence of helping behaviours. Some confound is absent to present in the study, such as the cultural differences, age. Moreover, the participants’ mood also be enhanced by the external rewards rather than receiving or giving help, such as receiving a gift or a meal, when the participants imagine the situation. Therefore, the researchers may need to present the other limitations of the study. Finally, the researchers are presented the suggestion for future studies comprehensively. The researcher suggested the future studies can examine how gender and compassionate love associate with the anticipation of negative emotion as the consequence of helping behaviours in other relational context, which based on the limitation of the study. Therefore, it is the contribution of this research.

Causes And Impact Of Global Warming

Causes And Impact Of Global Warming The global warming means that our plants temperature rises which happened as a result of the human activities and industries. Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing the world leaders in order to protect the planet and the future .The earth has warmed by about 1Â °F over the past 100 years. Why it is happened The scientist in the past decades was not sure, but now they know that the most prominent cause being man-made pollution. This pollution happened because of the human activities that produce carbon dioxide or as known greenhouse gas, which traps heat within the atmosphere of the earth and contributes to global warming which is yet another. Large part of the pollution is happened because of burning the fuels in order to power the internal combustion engine vehicles and as we know that the number of the cars , trainers , ships the air planes are increasing day by day without widespread alternative energy sources which actually increase the effects on the global warming . Burning coal to produce electricity as well as use it to move the trains is another meaning of fossil fuels that produce more carbon dioxide. On the other hands, the scientist found that the main cause of global warming is the human. The human attributed in increasing the carbon dioxide by their normal requirements such as breathing process, food, electricity and transport, but these requirements are increasing day by day, by the increasing in the number of the population that live in our planets. The agriculture contributes in global warming because the farmers use many different types of fertilizers and the dung produced by cattle which produce prominent source of methane that affect the atmosphere. The global warming has many complications and has a huge affects in the earth. It threatened the human life the quality of life in the direct and indirect way. Many statistics show that the number of chronic diseases and lung diseases has been increase comparing with the last decades which is associated directly to the global warming. The changing in the food supplies, water and the weather is the indirect way impact on global warming which leads the humans to be uncomfortable and threatened about his essential needs and requirements. Similarly, the global warming has affected the other living things such as animas plants and the increasing in the temperatures cause many animals species to lose their habitat like polar bears and tropical frogs. The animal migration patterns have been irregular and hugely affected by changing in the climate. Animal extinction is the most serious result of global warming , According to the Intergovernmental Panel on (IPCC), an increase in global temperature by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees will make 20 to 30 percent of species vulnerable to extinction, while a rise of about 3.5 degrees will make 40 to 70 percent species vulnerable to extinction. On the other hand, the global warming impact on non living thing. The global cause change on the natural terrain characteristics of the earth such as the sea level to be rise several meters which leads to cause many of the low lying areas to submerge underwater and which could displace millions of people. In Maldives, is already starting to look for a new home because of sea levels rising .Melting huge amount of ice such as whole of the Antarctic ice sheet melts may cause the global sea level is expected to rise by 10.5 meters. Also , The acidic rain and the climate affect the agriculture and the human architecture. The Acidic rain is resulted from combination of carbon dioxide with the rain which cause a massive crop failures over time . Moving the sands and the desert to the living area is another cause of global warming which usually called deforestation especially in the tropical forests for wood, pulp, and farmland. All of these factors has been contributed in 90% chance that 3 billion people worldwide will have to choose between moving their families to milder climes and going hungry due to climate change within 100 years. Because of previous affects of the global warming , many scientists argue about the issue of climate change , some was thinking that it is a very slow process and it need years and years to affect directly the human life and be threatened .Other opinion was a against this opinion and they consider that they forget that the factors which cause global warming are rapidly rising and if we could not control it now at the present time it will be difficult to control it in the future and they expected that these factors will rise at a faster rate in the future. I think that we have already done enough damage to our planets , and we may not live to face the direct consequences of global warming , but it is our duty to protect our planet now and control our activities in order to reduce the global warming or until the scientist find an efficient , working solution for global warming . It is our duty to gift a safty, healthy planet for our grand grand children and to the future generation . Also it is their right to have a healthy safe planet similar to thats belongs to our grand fathers . First: how global warming affects the UAE in particular The global warming has been noted in all the countries in the whole world including the UAE . The global warming affects the UAE in many ways . It cause an increase in the temperature which affect the agriculture and the life under the sea . Recently , the UAE News was warning the people from consuming some type of fish because its already dead by the phenomenon of red tides that attacks the UAE beaches specifically in Dibba Al Fujairah . This phenomena not only kill the fish but it also affect the human overall health because it cause respiratory irritation like coughing, sneezing, and tearing when the red tide organism is present along a coast . The global warming also cause the desertification where more sand move into living areas and affect the movement and transportation of peoples . Desertification may affect the agricultural crops because the tons of sands buried the crops plants . On the other hand , the UAE regions could significantly increase temperatures because of global warming which may affect the tourism in the UAE and influence the economy. In detail , the UAE economy depend mostly in the tourists and tourism , so any change or decrease on the total number of tourist that will cause a decrease in the financial income and economical problems . The UAE life , despite being quite a small population , is contributes produce high amount of carbon dioxide which increase the global warming. The statistics of the UAE show that the increase in CO2 emissions is within the range of 33% and 35% between 1997 2006 and this precentage may increase in the next years (Energy Information Administration. , 2008). The UAE has one of the highest carbon footprints on a per capita tonne basis in the world. In fact, four of the worst offenders are from the GCC Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait. (Global warming could displace millions in the Middle East , 2008) Second : What should we do here what is the role of the UAE What should the UAE do Because of the high percentage carbon dioxide , the UAE governments and people should cooperate together in order to reduce the outcome gases and control its impact on the global warming . Recently , UAE has become a member in the earth hour and encourage people to switch off the electricity for 1 hour in order to reduce carbon dioxide gas which at least will help to reduce the affect on the global warming . UAE do not view the earth hour as only electricity shut down, but they also view it as a chance to educate the people about the global warming and the importance of the cooperation to solve this problem , so as we observe from last couple weeks , many people from different age and gender were worry for the mother earth and they involve in the earth hour . In 27th of January 2009 , the UAE signs statute establishing the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA , the purpose of this agency is to focus in renewable energy is one of the key solutions to the current challenges facing the worlds energy future and the global warming . Many countries are involve in IRENA and they foster the production and use of renewable energy through different approaches. The UAE believe on the importance of energy as a main driver for the economic growth and they trust that renewable energy is crucial to the worlds future safety . The UAE governments launched the Estidama Program and the Pearls green building rating system which would become integrated into the building code and the launch of the Emirates Green Buildings Council . The Estidama Program can be considered as an important step towards low carbon emission buildings in the UAE which buildings plays a key role in protecting the environment, reducing energy consumption and checking on energy efficiency . This would help to improve the energy usage and the water required for cooling properties in the hot summers. Similarly to Estidama program , the UAE government started to develop the worlds greenest city in Abu Dhabi . The government started before several years to find a friendly way to produce the energy with minimum amount of gases , zero waste city, a silicon valley for renewable energy. Masdar city will be the global home of Renewable Energy .This city focuses on the complete value chain of the renewable energy sector and claims once ready , it will be a carbon neutral place to live where no cars will be allowed to enter. Masder is the new clean future for our next generation and it is the model to encourage other cities to follow . Masder support the human right believe in the future generation rights , so it is very unique , modern idea . The government of UAE encourage the renewable energy and believe that it is the future . The solar-hydrogen energy system is one of the newest energy that used in the UAE , in order to reduce the pressure on the oil usage and to find new technology that is friendly to our environment . The government put many precious awards to encourage the people and the companies to use this clean energy source . Zayed Future Energy Prize Awards is one of the biggest energy awards that encourage the clean, alternatives energy use inside our country and the prizes reach up to $1.5 million Dollar. All of this awards are reflect the view of our governments which summarize in few words when HH General Sheikh Mohammed said In commemoration of this humanitarian approach, the award was established to recognize and motivate creative minds and innovators in the field of renewable energy, with the ultimate purpose of maintaining a healthy and clean environment for future generations, The UAE government put many Policies and legislations to reduce the energy demand . For example , the government put many roles to reduce the number of the cars use in the streets by increasing the fuel prices . In Dubai , and recently Abu Dhabi started to put fees in some parking which is usually lied in the middle of the cities . There is something new called Salik which is means in Arabic open or clear , and it is the latest generation technology in tolling, working without battery , it is like the street fees which is mainly purpose to avoid the traffic jam and reduce the number of vehicles , so the amount of the gases will be reduce especially in the main streets . Also , the governments in the UAE try to reduce the burning the fuels by encouraging the population to use the big buses rather than the private cars . In Dubai , for example , the governments try to reduce the number of the cars by building the Metro which connect multiple places in the city , and they are thinking now to connect all the UAE cities together in order to reduce the total number of cars in the country and make the transportation more easy safe . What about us the people role in the UAE is very important in spreading the awareness about the global warming . Understanding and believing of the problem is the first steps . The mother earth give us everything we need for life and its is very important to give her back by protecting her and stop the damage . The people role is to spread the knowledge through the awareness campaigns and Media . We have to teach ourselves and our children how to reduce our carbon foot prints in order to avoid the global warming from being very serious problem . I think what the UAE government does now is very important, because they believe on protecting our planet , but I think it is not enough to make a huge reduction in the bad outcomes gases . UAE government should increase the fees on the public taxies and private cars , so this will encourage the people to use the public buses or the metro . Also , they should be more strict on the laws policies regarding the manufactories because it usually produce high amount of toxics . The recycle process should be a law and not a suggestion and any manufacture do not follow have to pay fees or even close it because the environment and its effect on our health is more important than production items . The people and government should cooperate in order to get the high benefits . Conclusion : Summary support the thesis + opinion . My notes : IT is still not enough , tax for the private car , In the UAE, and as an important oil producer with the fifth largest proven oil reserves in the Middle East, we also believe on the importance of energy as a main driver for our economic growth and sustainable living. UAE trust that renewable energy is crucial to the worlds future prosperity. Abu Dhabis Plan 2030 establishes a clear vision for sustainability as the foundation of any new development occurring in the Emirate and capital city of Abu Dhabi. This commitment is a reflection of the values and ideals of our nation. The tenets of sustainable living in the Middle East is the guiding force behind Estidama. More than just a sustainability program, Estidama is the symbol of an inspired vision for governance and community development.

Racism in in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye Essay -- Bluest Eye Essays

Both Toni Morrison's novel about an African American family in Ohio during the 1930s and 1940s, The Bluest Eye and Louise Erdrich;s novel about the Anishinabe tribe in the 1920s in North Dakota, Tracks are, in part, about seeing. Both novels examine the effects of a kind of seeing that is refracted through the lens of racism by subjects of racism themselves. Erdrich's Pauline Puyat and Morrison's Pecola Breedlove are crazy from their dealings with racism and themselves suffer from an internalized racism that is upheld and maintained by social and cultural structures within which they live. Pauline and Pecola become the embodiment of world sickness, of social pathologies as they become increasingly alienated from their bodies. Pecola, driven to want blue eyes by her observations that is is those with blue who receive and thus "deserve" love, eventually loses her mind after she experiences repeated violence at home, at school, and on the street. These violences are all rooted in racism. Pecola begins to believe the lie of racism: that to be black... Racism in in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye Essay -- Bluest Eye Essays Both Toni Morrison's novel about an African American family in Ohio during the 1930s and 1940s, The Bluest Eye and Louise Erdrich;s novel about the Anishinabe tribe in the 1920s in North Dakota, Tracks are, in part, about seeing. Both novels examine the effects of a kind of seeing that is refracted through the lens of racism by subjects of racism themselves. Erdrich's Pauline Puyat and Morrison's Pecola Breedlove are crazy from their dealings with racism and themselves suffer from an internalized racism that is upheld and maintained by social and cultural structures within which they live. Pauline and Pecola become the embodiment of world sickness, of social pathologies as they become increasingly alienated from their bodies. Pecola, driven to want blue eyes by her observations that is is those with blue who receive and thus "deserve" love, eventually loses her mind after she experiences repeated violence at home, at school, and on the street. These violences are all rooted in racism. Pecola begins to believe the lie of racism: that to be black...

The Unhealthy Diet of College Students Essay -- Expository Research Es

The Unhealthy Diet of College Students People eat food every day without thinking twice about it, because it is a necessity for us to live. How often do you think about what is in the foods that you eat? How many calories does it have? Are there any vitamins and minerals in it? Is it high in fat? For most of us and especially college students who live a busy life on the go, the answer to that question is probably no. Since becoming a recent graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania Academy of Culinary Arts, I have been more interested in food and what people are eating. Also since more young Americans are becoming obese I want to find out what they are eating and where. Going to college and seeing how students have poor eating habits I want to find out why they are eating this way. Is it because they are away from home for the first time? Or is it because that is the only food that is available for them? I also want to find out if students would eat healthier if it was provided for them? My hypothesis is that students eat unhealthy because it is more convenient for them. There is usually no time to cook a homemade meal and most college students are always in a hurry so it is easier to pick up takeout. Also most college students don’t know how to cook. I also believe that most college students don’t care if the food is unhealthy for them, as long as it tastes good. Hopefully, in the following pages I will uncover the wide world of college eating. The research methods that I used for this paper were surveys, interviews and observations. I performed a survey on ten college students in which I asked various yes and no questions and ones with various multiple-choice answers. Do you have a meal ... ...omething to go. I found out that college student’s want foods that are quick, taste good, and cheap. The limitation to my research was that I only passed out ten surveys all at the cafeteria. Perhaps if I did more or passed them out at a different location I might have gotten different results. I also only interviewed two people, and a larger sample might have changed my results. Also only observing my roommates shopping might have limited me to what I always eat, other college students might buy healthier foods when they shop. Take a minute now and think about what you eat in an average day and see if you fall into the categories of eating unhealthy with the majority of college students. Next time you buy something to eat take a second and look what’s in it and think to yourself. Should I be eating this? Or is there something healthier that I could be eating?

Sex, Lies and Conversation: Why is it Difficult to Communicate?

Sex, Lies and Conversation; Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other? Question- Is what Tannen says about men's and women's communication borne out by your experience? Explain. Culture What Tannen says about women and men’s communication is true in some cases, but the way I see it, in my experience, as a kid growing up I tend to see my mother taking to my father but my father is sitting there just watching TV, like what Tannen said in the article â€Å"Men tend to talk more in public then women but they are less talkative when being home, honestly I tend to be like that to, as what Tannen explains the difference between the communication boys and girl is 100% accurate. Back in elementary school girl would go into their group and tell stories and all that girl stuff and the boys would go play with their group. But when you look at its how culture presents the difference between sexes, growing up I believe kids were taught to play in a certain way for example girls play with girls and boys play with boys, growing up with this attached in our brain boy go out and do what boys do and girls to, so in a sense when men and women are trying to communicate there is a gap in the relationship, cause a reason for the wife to complain that the husband isn’t like probably because growing up he didn’t have to have talk things out and express how he feel.

Do Parents Matter

Within today’s society and the way the family is portrayed within the media, the family life has changed considerably. The family setup and how parents now discipline their children and their skills to do so, have come under attack. With the increase of children committing crimes and anti social behaviour orders being handed out like sweets its seems that almost everyone is looking for someone to blame for the up rise in bad behaviour with the children of our country. There has been blame pointed at the lack of discipline given out by the courts, the television and media, how family’s are structured in today’s society’ compared to years ago and the majority of blame lies with the parents. This essay will look at â€Å"Do parents matter† as this is a huge issue and has vast implications I am going to look at the issue of Divorce. I will be looking at the theories of attachment and separation and how children who are involved with divorce cope and if the issue of gender, culture or ethnicity differs ahead to the outcome of â€Å"Do Parents Matter† The government’s reports that roughly 50% of all marriages in today’s society fail, reasons for the failure include poor communication or lack of communication, financial issues and even the circumstances of the marriage all contribute to the ending of what once seemed the perfect relationship. Within these failed marriages are children, confused and unsure of what the future holds for them. Unsure of how to deal with the split, having to choose which parent to leave behind and which parent to stay at residence with, decisions like these can cause trauma within certain children, thus the question is raised â€Å"Do parents matter? † According to John Bowlby, Attachment is a special emotional relationship that involves an exchange of comfort, care, and pleasure. John Bowlby devoted extensive research to the concept of attachment, describing it as a â€Å"lasting psychological connectedness between human beings† Bowlby shared the psychoanalytic view that early experiences in childhood have an important influence on development and behaviour later in life. Our early attachment styles are established in childhood through the infant/caregiver relationship. In addition to this, Bowlby believed that attachment had an evolutionary component, it aids in survival. The propensity to make strong emotional bonds to particular individuals is a basic component of human nature† (Bowlby, 1988) Bowlby believed that there are four distinguishing characteristics of attachment: Proximity Maintenance – The desire to be near the people we are attached to. Safe Haven – Returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of a fear or threat. Secure Base – The attachment figure acts as a base of security from which the child can explore the surrounding environment. Separation Distress – Anxiety that occurs in the absence of the attachment figure. With James Robertson he identified three stages of separation response amongst children, Protest to the mother figure for re-attachment (related to separation anxiety) Despair and pain at the loss of the mother figure despite repeated protests for re-establishment for relationship. (related to grief and mourning), and Detachment or denial of affection to the mother-figure. (related to defence). These phases are universally seen in children who go through separation, either by loss of parent/s due to death, divorce or through boarding school. Bowlby identified that infants need one special relationship for internal development. No variables have more far-reaching effects on personality development than a child's experiences within the family. Starting during his first months in his relation to both parents, he builds up working models of how attachment figures are likely to behave towards him in any of a variety of situations, and on all those models are based all his expectations, and therefore all his plans, for the rest of his life. † (J. Bowlby, Attachment and Loss (1973, p. 369)) Children’s parents, who separate in the younger years of the child, are more likely to suffer under Bowlby’s theory, due to the absent of the early attachment bond. Bowlby in 1951 produced a report which argued that infants form a special relationship with their mother which is different from any relationship which they form with any other kind of person. Attachment is formed with the mother within the first six months of life and if the attachment or bond is broken either by death or separation the child would suffer considerable consequences. Although the attachment to either parent is still a considerable one, Bowlby’s work looks at the mother in particular or a significant caregiver. Bowlby theory of separation has great strengths within the family structure, it explains how early attachment is essential for a stable life span of the child. â€Å"The Nature of the Child’s Tie to His Mother† (1958), â€Å"Separation Anxiety† (1959), and â€Å"Grief and Mourning in Infancy and Early Childhood† (1960) are Bowlby’s first formal statements of attachment theory, building on concepts from ethology and developmental psychology. Bowlby theories of attachment are followed closely by Byng-Hall and Mary Ainsworth. Byng-Hall suggests that the family contributes to attachment by providing a secure family base. He’s definition of secure base is â€Å"a family that provides a reliable and readily available network of attachment relationships, and appropriate caregivers, from which all members of the family are able to feel sufficiently secure to explore their potential†. Byng-Hall suggests that there are two factors associated with a secure family base. First, he suggests that there is a shared awareness that attachment relationships are important and care for others is a priority in the family. Second, he contends that family members should support one another in providing care for each other. The weakness factors that undermine a secure base in families include fear of losing an attachment figure or actual loss of an attachment figure. A child clings to one caregiver and rejects relationships with other caregivers. Byng-Hall refers to this as â€Å"capturing† an attachment figure. Turning to an inappropriate attachment figure (i. e. , if one parent is not supporting the other parent, a child may be used as an attachment figure). Conflict within relationships particularly abusive relationships. Negative self-fulfilling prophecies, there is an expectation that losses from other generations will be repeated. Mary Ainsworth â€Å"Strange Situation Procedure† study confirms the theory of Bowlby and investigates how a child makes an attachment to its mother or main caregiver. Ainsworth's research revealed key individual differences among children, demonstrated by the child's reaction to the mother's return. Ainsworth categorised these responses into three major types. Anxious/avoidant—the child may not be distressed at the mother's departure and may avoid or turn away from her on her return. Securely attached—the child is distressed by the mother's departure and easily soothed by her on her return. Anxious/resistant—the child may stay extremely close to the mother during the first few minutes and become highly distressed at her departure. When she returns, the child will simultaneously seek both comfort and distance from the mother. The child's behaviour will be characterised by crying and reaching to be held and then attempting to leave once picked up. Using the Strange Situation procedure, many researchers have studied the development of child attachment to the mother and significant caregiver. However, the weaknesses show there continues to be much debate about the origins of the child's reaction in the Strange Situation, and about what factors influence the development of an infant's attachment relationships. The attachment and separation theory is apparent when Divorce occurs within the family home. Children involved show emotional upset to a parent that leaves the residential home, thus causing a disturbance to the dynamics of the family structure. Behaviour of children is displayed in a number of formats from acceptance to the extreme of being issued an anti social behaviour order. The development of a child is determined by the nature of the environment and the nurture that has been given. The different stages of attachment are related to the age of the child, thus gender, culture, ethnicity and socio-economic status are not considered, however all of these areas do influence the situation considerably. Children are known to favour one parent more so than another, Divorce within a white European family compared to a black West Indian family can have extreme differences. Due to culture beliefs’ and family pressures. West Indian and Asian family divorce rates are far lower than the European statistics. Ethnicity of a family also influences the up bringing of a child and how the parents are treated and perceived. Bowlby theory states that the mother or main caregiver is needed for a stable upbringing. Younger children in particular have a hard time dealing with the changes that are occurring at this time. A child’s reaction to this depends upon their age and their ability to comprehend what is happening. Consistency is very import to younger children and the trauma of their parents separating is extremely difficult for them to handle. The loss of routine, the change in daily habits and the loss of friend’s school and other familiar patterns is especially difficult. When a father is excluded from the family home, reports show that the majority of crime and anti social behaviour are committed from one parent families, studies of young criminals show that over 70% of juveniles imprisoned come from fatherless homes, once the influence of a strong male character disappears the child reacts in a negative manner, acting up, causing a disturbance are some of the symptoms a child goes through. It appears that father absence may have different effects on boys and girls. Boys tend to experience more academic and social disruption when fathers are not present in the household. Father absence challenges girl’s emotional stability but does not seem to undermine their school performance. A boy who lives alone with his mother does not have a male role model in the home to teach him how to shave or kick a football or ask a girl out for a date, all of these things are extremely important to our social integration. Children who grow up without fathers in the home seem to have more likelihood to experience, drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, lack of opportunity to succeed, sex at an early age, pregnancy, behaviour problems, crime involvement, dropouts from school. These experiences are more likely to occur during adolescence because changes are happening so fast in this age group. Much supervision is needed at this time and is hard to enforce without a dad in the house, especially with teenage boys. As teens enter these years they tend to be closer to the same sex parent and look in that direction for guidance. Girls are stressed and likely to be depressed having no father in the home. â€Å"Stepmothers are found to have more problematic relationship with stepchildren; while children, particularly girls, also experience higher stress when they are living with their stepmothers. (Jacobson, 1987 in Visher ; Visher, 1993). Visher ; Visher (1979) suggested that teenage daughters identify strongly with their mothers and resent any woman who replaces their mother for the father's affection. Teenage daughters also exhibit much competitiveness with their stepmothers for their father's affection. These findings suggested that there are strong situational dynamics at work that create special relationship problems for stepmother families. Difficulty between the children's mother and stepmother has also been mentioned as a possible contribution to the greater stress in stepmother families. (Visher & Visher 1988)† Boys are more likely to act out and become discipline problems which upsets the mother. They try to take over the role of the dominant male in the household. Girls show their longing for a father figure by getting â€Å"boy-crazy† and can tend to end up with men who treat them badly. Girls need a father to demonstrate how a man acts in a family relationship. It seems that girls who have to guess pick the wrong boys and men. † Biblarz and Raftery (1999) show that mother-absence is much more detrimental than father-absence to children's educational and occupational attainment. They find that once parents' socioeconomic status is taken into account, children raised by single mothers are much better off than children raised by single fathers or fathers and stepmothers, and are just as likely to succeed as children raised by both birth parents. Biblarz and Raftery conclude that the pattern of effects across family types and over time is consistent with an evolutionary perspective which emphasizes the importance of the birth mother in the provision of children's resources (Trivers 1972). According to this view, children raised by their birth mothers do better than children raised apart from their birth mothers. Furthermore, being raised by a single birth mother is better than being raised by a birth mother and step-father since step-fathers compete with children for mother's time and lower maternal investment. Dealing with children who suffer from the separation of a loved parent is difficult. Social Services and Social Workers have to treat and understand the child’s needs in relation to its personal case. The Children’s Act 2004 assists with the legal framework and legislation of needs but it is that of a Social Worker and their ability and knowledge that assists with the emotional needs of the children, thus enabling them to deal with the separation to the best of their ability and co-ordinate any addition services that may be required. Behaviour, socialisation skills, and how we treat other people are pronominally learnt through our parents. It is the nurture of a parent that encourages a child to develop into a citizen that society requires and needs. It is fully reported that Divorce causes catastrophic effects on certain children; I believe that this is true due to non communication from the parents involved, what, how and the effects the children experienced are due to how the situation was tackled. Parents have an integral position in children’s lives whether they own biological offspring or offspring obtained via a separation or new relationship. Children from a Divorced separated family background are more likely to experience difficulties later on into adult life, male children having anger related issues, female children having trust and insecurity problems all transpiring from the divorce of the parents. These extremely worrying issues can be overcome with the communication, knowledge and experience of the parents in educating their children and showing a positive influence in their lives, with the theory of Bowlby and Ainsworth, I would like to conclude that in my opinion, yes parents do matter. References http://www.litnotes.co.uk/mass_media.htm http://www.sociology.emory.edu/tdowd/SOC769rsyllabus.htm http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/online/inge_origins.pdf