Human Growth and Development PDF

‘John Sudbery’s book takes the reader on an engaging journey of discovery of the knowledge needed to understand human growth and development. The book locates relevant theory and up-to-date research at the heart of contemporary lived experiences. This is done through the inclusion of several biographies and the encouragement to imaginatively apply and see the interplay of knowledge within the context of relationships. The book skilfully instructs and interacts with the reader. It presents information in a way that will appeal to learners at different stages offering both introductory and in-depth levels of knowledge. These unique features make this book an indispensable text for student social workers in learning and practice environments.’ Nora Duckett, London Metropolitan University ‘John Sudbery has provided a Human Growth and Development textbook full of interest. Written specifically for social work, readers will be able to engage with it at various levels – from the personal impact of narratives, case studies and reflective questions, to the more in depth academic content in outlines of key theoretical issues. It takes a total life-span approach whilst exploring the complexities of individual life courses and covers traditional, fundamental theories in a contemporary context drawing on up to date research. Although designed as an introduction to the topic for social work students, practitioners will find it a useful reference. It has excellent suggestions for further reading.’ Ruben Martin, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Kent ‘John Sudbery’s book on human growth and development is a very welcome addition to the field for those of us who teach this subject on qualifying and post qualifying social work courses at undergraduate and master’s levels. John’s interest in psychosocial perspectives and his rich experience as practitioner, manager and academic social worker/researcher ensure the quality and rigor of this text. John conveys the relevance of a huge array of theoretical approaches. His application to the contemporary practice of social work is compelling. His voice is clear and present throughout the text. This ensures a well integrated book which may be taken as a whole to guide a course of study. The book may also be used according to the need for a particular chapter, as each is dedicated to one specific phase in the life course. The case examples are moving and familiar to the reader. The additional references and appendices are generous and absorbing and the format is interesting and illustrative. John has a sound political perspective that underpins the work. His psychodynamic sensibility and firm social work identity set this work apart from the more run of the mill texts on life course development. At a time when social workers are thirsty for sources of nourishment in their complex and conflicted work roles this book has much to offer.’ Clare Parkinson, Senior Lecturer, University of East London ‘This is a much welcome book providing an engaging, informative and accessible introduction to Human Growth and Development for Social Workers. The author’s unique approach facilitates reflection, learning and understanding of human growth and development knowledge. The writing style is very engaging, enhanced by the use of relevant case examples to make the link between theory and social work practice. Informed by a stimulating range of theories and research, and anchored into practice issues and debates, the text cannot fail to encourage thinking critically about human growth and development. The book will undoubtedly be invaluable reading for social work students, a learning companion during social work training and an interesting and enjoyable read for those already in practice.’ Dr Gabriela Misca, Lecturer, Keele University Human Growth and Development Social workers work with people at all stages of life, tackling a multitude of personal, social, health, welfare, legal and educational issues. As a result, all social work students need to understand human growth and development throughout the lifespan. This introductory text provides a knowledge base about human development from conception to death. It is designed to encourage understanding of a wide range of experiences: from the developmental trajectories of children in care, to adult mental distress and the experiences of people with dementia, to bereavement. Using engaging narratives to illustrate each topic, the author clearly introduces and analyses different theoretical approaches, and links them to real-life situations faced by social workers. Packed with case studies, this student-friendly book includes overviews, summaries, questions and further reading in each chapter, as well as a ‘Taking it further’ section providing greater depth on key theoretical issues. A reference section contains a glossary and overviews of the principal theories discussed throughout the book. It is an essential read for all social work students. John Sudbery is Senior Research Fellow in Social Work at the University of Salford, UK. He has been teaching Human Growth and Development for the past ten years and is on the editorial board of The Journal of Social Work Practice. Student Social Work This exciting new textbook series is ideal for all students studying to be qualified social workers, whether at undergraduate or masters level. Covering key elements of the social work curriculum, the books are accessible, interactive and thought-provoking. New titles Mental Health Social Work in Context Nick Gould Social Work and Social Policy An introduction Jonathan Dickens Social Work Placements Mark Doel Forthcoming titles Integrating Social Work Theory and Practice Pam Green Lister Social Work A reader Vivienne E. Cree Building Relationships and Communicating with Young Children A practical guide Karen Winter Human Growth and Development An introduction for social workers John Sudbery First published 2010 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2010 John Sudbery All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sudbery, John. Human growth and development / John Sudbery. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Developmental psychobiology. 2. Life cycle, Human. 3. Human growth. 4. Social service. I. Title. BF713.S83 2010 305.2—dc22 2009007749 ISBN 0-203-87194-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–43994–9 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–43995–7 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–87194–4 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–43994–7 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–43995–4 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–87194–2 (ebk) This book is dedicated to Steve and Beadie Sudbery Contents List of illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 Beginnings 7 2 A secure base 33 3 The developing child 65 4 Transitions and adolescence 99 5 Living independently 127 6 Sex, love, work and children 157 7 Maturity and some of its hazards 193 8 Adulthood and ageing 229 9 Dying, grief and mourning 253 10 Fitting the pieces together 279 Essential background 291 1 The principles of heredity 292 2 Attachment theory 296 ix Contents 3 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model 301 4 Psychoanalytic theories 305 5 Piaget’s theory of cognitive development 310 6 Erikson’s psychosocial theory of personality 314 7 The humanistic models of Maslow and Rogers 317 8 Learning and behavioural models 323 9 Models of ageing: social disengagement theory, activity theory, feminist perspectives and political economy theory 326 10 Three approaches to loss and grief 329 Glossary 331 Bibliography 339 Index 359 x Illustrations Figures 1.1 An example lifeline 17 1.2 Generational transmission of genes 20 1.3 The increasingly complex nature of gene-environment correlations 25 2.1 Erikson’s psychosocial stages 44 2.2 Fahlberg’s arousal–relaxation cycle 57 3.1 Scheme used in cognitive behavioural therapy 76 3.2 Risk: the overlap represents a different percentage of the right- and left-hand areas 85 4.1 Hopson’s model of transitions 116 5.1 Microsystems 146 5.2 Bronfenbrenner’s nested ecological model of development 147 6.1 Experience of family events before the age of 25: comparison of different generations 170 7.1 Infant mortality and social class 199 7.2 Characteristics of positive social systems and services for people with learning disability 224 9.1 Dual Process model of response to bereavement 269 E3.1 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model 302 E7.1 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 318 E7.2 Rogers’ self-structure 320 Tables 3.1 Percentage of pupils achieving 5 A*–C in GCSE 80 E5.1 Stages of cognitive development, after Piaget 310 E6.1 Stages in Erikson’s psychosocial model 315 E10.1 Kubler-Ross’ model: stages of grief 329 xi Acknowledgments I am grateful to the British Association for Adoption and Fostering for permission to reproduce the diagram on page 57, and to Age Concern for permission to reproduce the information on pages 257–258. Many people have contributed to the completion of his book. The support and commitment of Grace McInnes and George Russell at Routledge were essential, together with others involved in the editing and production processes. My thanks are due to the anonymous academic reviewers for their time and care. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to the late Colin Woodmansey, and to Joan Meredith, from whom I learnt so much of what I have tried to communicate in this book. The text would not have been possible without the wide-ranging theoretical and practical knowledge which Jeff Edwards, a colleague at the University of Salford, shared with me. Finally, thanks must go to the parents and children to whom I provided a service, to the staff I supervised, and students, all of whom over the years have taught me about human development. xiii Introduction This book is an introduction to human growth and development for social workers. Although designed for a first-year undergraduate course, it contains sufficient depth to be a resource which remains useful afterwards. For the student It is written so as to capture the interest which you will inevitably find in your work with people. You will become involved in their lives and development, and at times will have a significant responsibility as to the direction this takes. The subject is endlessly fascinating, as much for experienced and expert workers as for the new student. By making this human and professional interest the focus of the text, it has been possible to create a textbook for all students – suitable for readers who have already studied some psychology and sociology and for those who are tackling these academic subjects for the first time. For the student who has already studied some child development, psychology or sociology, the book uses this academic knowledge, as well as additional descriptive research material, to help you to see how varied human life is, to see the world imaginatively through other people’s eyes, and to think about the impact of ‘welfare’ interventions on people’s lives and development. It will prompt you to think more deeply about whether you understand the theories and whether they describe life adequately. Information you need about the theories is summarised in the chapters, and provided at more length in the technical reference section. Because this is much more of an applied practical study, you may find that the perspective and emphasis given to theories in this book is different from that you acquired in previous purely academic study. In this course, you are learning to study life, using different theories as appropriate, which may be a subtle contrast to academic study which equips you with knowledge about research findings and theories. 1 Introduction For the student who has not studied ‘social sciences’ before, the chapters are designed to provide you with understanding, knowledge and theories about human development. The main chapter text takes you on an imaginative journey into the experience of life, its variety, complexity and its challenges, and shows how different theories and research help us to understand the world. To include the detail of the theories or research would make the chapters too long and complex, and you will need to study also the ‘Essential background’ sections, which I think you will find as interesting as the main chapters, so that you are properly informed. Areas considered in greater depth. Textbooks at this level always give an overview of the basics required by students. By remaining at this introductory level, however, many texts fail to reflect the different levels at which even first-year students in this subject must operate. Each student has (and is required to demonstrate) areas in which they make use of more complete knowledge. These areas are different for every student – about pregnancy for one, attachment theory for another, learning disability, older age, and so on. They may arise from placement work, previous experience, special interest, or academic choices made during a study course. In such a broad field, the options for more detailed study are endless. In this book, six chapters end with a section which examines an aspect of growth and development in more depth. They provide examples of how basic knowledge is taken further and can be written about in more detail. When you have finished the book, if you return and re-read it, you will probably understand the text very differently. Casual references which you glossed over on first reading actually hint at a host of additional understanding which will be evident by the end of the book. This is how it is in real life too – your experience of someone else’s life (or your own) changes when you have had cause to reflect and explore some of the complexities of the life cycle. This is also true in this book because you will know far more about the people in the examples after you have read the book – just like in real life and in social work practice, an incident at a point in time will have a different significance after you have had a chance to understand more about the person and their life. How to use this book There are three different sorts of learning material in this book: Main text of each chapter Intended to deepen insight into human life and its processes of change and development. Puts lived experience in the foreground – theoretical approaches and factual research evidence are presented as tools for exploration. The language is not technical, but makes demands on the reader to use imagination and empathy as well as intellect. Within this, the coverage of key theoretical ideas should be appropriate for both students already familiar with the theories and those 2 Introduction for whom they are new. For the former it recapitulates the ideas as a preliminary to showing how they integrate (or not) with each another and how they illuminate developmental experience; for the latter, key ideas are introduced without going into technical detail or specific evidence. The aim of the text is to equip the student both to see life more clearly from the inside, and to become confident in examining it as a subject of study. Essential background Concise accounts of commonly used developmental theories. They focus on ‘understanding theories’ as distinct from ‘understanding life’, but I hope students will nevertheless find them stimulating and thought provoking. They give a picture of each theory covered, largely from within that theory’s point of view. They give space to evidence and conceptual framework. Obviously, they are relevant to imaginatively understanding life and development, but they are written as reference material. By clearly presenting them as introductory summaries, it is hoped that they forestall inappropriate attempts to use elementary presentations as a basis for critical evaluation. They are written in standard language accessible to first-year university students. Taking it further These sections explore a selected topic in greater depth. In general, these are more demanding intellectually, and I do not expect every student will read them all. They are written in the appropriate academic style for the subject – more detached when they are more scientifically oriented, but more flexible in language when considering emotions and personal explorations. Some give a flavour of current research knowledge (the interaction between genes and environment, for example); some explore a theory in more detail (attachment theory, or Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model) and others pick a facet of life to explore (guilt and conscience). For the teacher In this subject, a student is challenged to: assimilate a range of factual information, often research findings whose validity can only be understood in conjunction with an appraisal of the research methods which generated them. understand various theories and models of development which attempt to unify a range of observations and give them a coherent narrative, often supporting a particular paradigm about the processes that occur. engage emotionally and socially with the material, integrating this with their cognitive efforts. 3 Introduction The module materials, from lectures to discussions and textbooks, therefore provide information, offer an explanation of theories and models, and nurture the ability to enter imaginatively into someone else’s life. In relation to the latter, the course equips students to be open to the diversity of life, to avoid ignorant prejudgements, to refrain from interpreting life through the filter of theory, and yet to be equipped with the categories, concepts, attitudes and empathy which form the basis of accurate rapport and critical thinking. In this book, the chapter text (including ‘Taking it further’) is essentially about exploration – exploring life, its development, and its complexities. It helps with the student’s task of exploring the value of different theories and approaches, attempting to integrate their implications and application. Although the ten technical resources include discussion, I regard their purpose as primarily informational. First-year social work students need a general overview of human growth and development as well as knowledge beyond the elementary in some areas (not least because within the year they will be ‘practising’ on real people with complex and urgent needs). In this subject and at this level, students appropriately will choose some areas which they explore in more depth than others, perhaps linked to previous work experience, elective seminar presentations, or special topics for course work and assessment. In addition, realistically, some complete their programme with a much more sophisticated grasp of the subject than others. I am conscious that not all teachers may welcome a book which states from the outset that not all students will master all the material. Nevertheless, if we are to meet the legitimate learning needs of the students, we must be aware that some will study material which others avoid. To include both a basic survey and all the necessary advanced material would require a far larger book than this and one not well suited to first-year students. On the other hand, keeping all the material at a basic level results in the typical problems of first-year social work textbooks in this subject – a ‘middle of the road’ or introductory approach which lacks depth and gives no real guidance to the student about where their studies should take them. In this textbook I have tried to create a resource which avoids the dangers of superficiality and blandness. As scholars, practitioners and educators we find our own solutions to this conundrum in the lecture room, in the seminar room and in the structures we create for student research and learning. The text is intended to provide a written resource to match the creativity we put into this task. In physics, as with plumbing, more basic concepts and procedures are practised first and the more complex knowledge builds on these foundations. In our subject, students (whether they recognise it or not) are already operating at an extremely sophisticated level in their own lives, and the basics of analysis have to be learnt simultaneously with the refinement of already complex skills. The book does not include any formal introduction to research methods or critical appraisal. However, it is simply not possible for professional workers in training to acquire all the information they need from a single textbook and classroom learning, and I have assumed throughout that seminar and assessed written work require the student to integrate these sources with additional material from their own investigations. 4 Introduction Other learning features Other features additional to the main chapter text are: Glossary The glossary explains the meaning of terms which may be unfamiliar. Most are technical terms whose use is explained when the word is first used. The first time they occur within a chapter, glossary words are printed in bold. This not done for every occurrence because the use of bold distorts the rhythm and visual emphasis of a sentence. Reflective questions These are interactive sections which use open-ended activities to direct the readers’ attention to themselves and their development. Their purpose is varied – sometimes to bring home the particular aspect of development which has been described more academically, sometimes to provide an alternative learning experience to reading; sometimes as a small contribution to helping students avoid the trap of treating ‘clients’, ‘service users’, as if they were a different category to themselves; and sometimes to underscore that in social work, self-understanding is essential. Questions to the student Sometimes as a variant to continuous prose, questions are asked, to in the text prompt an active engagement with the academic material. Sometimes they highlight that a suggested research approach in the text is not the only one possible; sometimes they check understanding or illustrate how an apparently simple statement may have complex ramifications. ‘Links’ The digital book hasn’t arrived yet! There are a limited number of marked ‘links’, directing the reader’s attention to a different part of the book where a related topic is covered. Further reading At the end of each chapter, indications are given for sources of further information and discussion. Several of these include further reading appropriate also for the use of service users (for example, information designed for children in care, information about mental health issues provided by the charity Mind). ‘For you to research’ From the numerous further avenues of exploration, a few topics related to the subject matter of each chapter are singled out as suggestions for independent research by the student. These may well be worked on by small groups of students collaboratively for seminar presentation or portfolio work. In my experience, students produce excellent work from these investigations, and remember the material well. 5 Introduction The chapters follow a roughly chronological sequence. Pauses along the route to consider particular theories or perspectives do not have an entirely logical place in this scheme – the influence of genes and environment, for example, or poverty, are relevant to all stages of life. A compromise has to be made to keep the chapters to a manageable size. The narratives and examples A measure of continuity is provided by a number of narratives. Although the stories are coherent and reflect changing social, economic and cultural factors on development over the last eighty years, chapters and examples are always self-contained and do not require knowledge of the earlier narrative. For those who do follow the narratives there are occasional questions or discussion points which encourage thought about the differences made by knowing an individual’s personal or social history. The majority of additional vignettes are based on real-life accounts. Except where published references are provided, names and some details have been changed. I am grateful to those represented here for the permission they gave for me to quote from their lives. Finally, a reiteration to the student that, frustrating though it may possibly seem, in this subject a textbook does not replace the need for other exploratory reading and research, attention to television programmes and discussion. I hope the technical summaries in particular are useful when you need an instant summary (for an assignment, perhaps) but the subject requires you to read more in depth, to assemble, collate and critically compare your own resources. The website which accompanies the book gives links to an extensive range of additional material – more detailed information, original research reports and relevant policy and guidance. The subject is endlessly fascinating, but as explained in Chapter 10, does require creative intellectual and emotional engagement. 6 In this chapter you will find: 1 Beginnings Introductory reading Making sense of development requires biological, psychological and sociological knowledge Bio-psycho-social knowledge: an overview of the approaches which will be used in the book Genes, environment and behaviour: a section written in a more formal academic style Introductory reading ‘I’m pregnant,’ she said, ‘I’ve not told anyone else yet.’ These words point to the different ways in which a social worker needs to be able to understand human development. In the first three months after conception the baby can be said to be ‘taking shape’ – developing the basic plan of a human body, including a head, arms, legs, hands and feet. In the next three months, the organs and limbs will be developing in size, complexity and functionality; the mother can feel her baby moving, and the baby responds to stimuli. Continuing to simplify this finely tuned and intricate process, in the next three months each interlinked part of the tiny body will continue to grow in size, efficiency and complexity until birth, and the baby in this period becomes increasingly able to survive outside the womb. In keeping with this simplified account, if drugs interfere with the process in the first three months, parts of the baby may be malformed or missing; and malnutrition is more likely to cause small size if it occurs in the final three months rather than in the earlier phases. We have no words that can accurately describe the unborn baby’s experience. At some point, the baby becomes conscious of colour (colour vision is present, albeit still developing, at birth – Atkinson and Braddick, 1982). We know that it hears sound, as after birth it will respond differently to pieces of music which have been played repeatedly during pregnancy – presumably most of these sounds are the internal noises of its mother’s body and the muffled penetration of her voice, talking, singing, shouting. In a fascinating series of observations, Piontelli (2002) found that at the age of 5, twins were still using routines for mutual comforting which had been observed by ultrasound when they were in the womb. And then at some point it will be gripped harder than it is ever likely to be gripped again, so hard that the bones of its skull fold over each other. Over a period between seven and fourteen hours on average, it will be propelled in repeated shoves down a narrow tube until it bursts into a noisy, bright, colourful environment totally different from the world it has experienced previously. This shocking experience will usually have the effect you might predict – having been massively stimulated the baby will be awake for an initial period and then fall into a deep exhausted sleep. You will be able to find many sources of further information about pregnancy, including websites which you can locate for yourself. Detail appropriate to this level of study can be found in Chapter 3 of Bee and Boyd (2007: 47–83). We could tell a related story for the mother’s own bodily development during pregnancy, but instead, let us think about a different perspective: the developmental meaning of the pregnancy in a woman’s life, its significance and implications, which are different for every mother. 9 Beginnings Nicola Perhaps the young woman is Nicola, pregnant with her second child, anticipating that she will leave paid work for at least the next five or six years. She is 26 years old, and has made a good start to her career. She and her husband have planned – to the degree that these things can be planned – that his income and some state benefit will support the family until she goes back to work when both children are at school. She is not very clothes-conscious, but usually looks smart in her business suit and short black hair when she goes to work. She’s very busy day-to-day with her first child – let us say a boy – but her husband, a neighbour with whom she’s close, her mother whom she sees once or twice a week and some friends who had babies at the same time as her, are all involved in the planning for when she has her new baby. During her first pregnancy, she had many thoughts and daydreams about how the life of her child would turn out; she has similar thoughts now, but when asked about the future she says, ‘Oh, I just hope everything’s going to be OK, I’m really quite stretched this time, what with work, Mathew, Steve’s job and the pregnancy as well. I just hope the baby will be healthy, have ten fingers and ten toes, and we’ll get everything sorted in time’. What she says, of course, depends on whom she is talking to; she has a friend at work with whom she particularly chats about her toddler and the pregnancy. Naoko But every pregnancy, every woman, is different. Maybe the young woman is Naoko and this is her first baby. She was born and brought up 6,000 miles away in Japan, and is now living in the UK with Paul, whom she met as a student. She sees her mother only once a year. Her partner’s parents are supportive, but although they are geographically closer, their routines, expectations, standards of health care, religious beliefs and daily language are all a second culture for her. English people find her rather quiet and reserved, and she still occasionally struggles to find the word she wants. She is sometimes surprised by the behaviour of boys and girls and by the attitudes of women where she lives. Sharon And a social worker must be prepared to understand a myriad of different developmental stages. The mother-to-be may be Sharon, aged 16 and having just left a children’s home. She’s talking on the phone to Emma, the only person she trusts. Emma’s 17 and also in care. ‘Number 24’ has been Sharon’s third placement in two years, before which she lived in six foster homes. Her ‘independent living’ keyworker sometimes listens, alarmed, as she jabs her finger into her belly and says, ‘I hate it,’ deliberately emphasising the word ‘it’, and continuing, ‘I hope it’s gone when I wake up.’ She doesn’t say much at all to this worker, whom she has known for only four months, since she left ‘number 24’, but she does speak about the time she thinks she got pregnant, which was when she stayed out all night at a friend’s squat, and felt pressurised, almost without caring what she did, into sex. The significance of the pregnancy in her life? Her ferocious displays of independence and wilfulness had always been partly a reaction to her pervasive sense of helplessness before fate; defiant strivings to 10 Beginnings carve out some control for herself in the midst of major events which usually seemed just to happen to her. The pregnancy was little different. She is defiantly independent, proclaiming her competence to do whatever is required; she also has the sneaking hope, daydream, that the baby might be the one person in the world who will really love her, who will be hers; sometimes she is terrified of the responsibility and tasks that she hardly dares think about. At the same time, a young woman with a ferocious temper, a short fuse, intolerance born of frustration, she is bitterly angry towards the latest interference in her life; and underlying this is the overwhelming sense of helplessness and lack of control over events. As earlier in her life, she feels that things are done to her, they happen without her permission, and her attempts at effective influence repeatedly seem to dissolve into a position of impotence. Social support One feature common to each story is that however independent and competent each pregnant woman is (and all have demonstrated great strength and resourcefulness in their lives to date), each needs emotional and practical support, and this will have particular significance at the birth and afterwards. This support may come from many different directions – a husband or other partner; a circle of female friends; the woman’s mother; a religious grouping; various official, medical or social staff, for example. As a social worker, you could potentially be involved in any of these situations, and it would be a routine part of your professional assessment to understand the nature of the woman’s needs, how what you have to offer fits in with all the other sources of support available (or missing) and the potential outcome of offering support. Toddlers to grandparents There are of course other people involved in this scenario, each at a different stage of life. It is typical of social work that these all have to be kept in mind. Unlike doctors, psychologists, counsellors or many other human service professionals, as a social worker dealing with social situations, it is usual for you to have professional responsibility for several different life stages at the same time. For Mathew, Nicola’s first child, this pregnancy, and more importantly the birth, may represent a big milestone. Until now, he has been the sole focus of parental attention, love, annoyance and preoccupation. In this attention, the adults who keep him safe are concerned about his welfare, ensure they are there for him, focus all their parental love solely on him. His experience is that they are captivated by him when he offers a single smile or takes a first few tottering steps. One utterance that sounds as if it might be a word evokes doting admiration. This is shortly to change forever, a dramatic change as he is supplanted by a rival for his mother’s love and attention – ‘Can’t we just put her in the bin?’ as one boy said of his young sister. It may be, too, that that the husband is facing some of the most stressful periods in his life as he juggles new responsibilities at work, financial responsibilities at home – and he too may have troubles 11 Beginnings about the direction of Nicola’s affections, the time she has for him, changes in her sexual impulses – he turns over choices, perhaps dilemmas, as to how to satisfy his sexual needs; with her he will be finding his way, managing and relating to an increasingly independent toddler, and later a schoolchild. Then there are Nicola’s parents, in whose development grandchildren are likely to be extremely significant. They were older than many – 64 when Nicola became pregnant again – and they are a major part of their grandchildren’s lives. Nicola’s first child has experienced much of his daytime care at their house. On the other hand, think of the world from the point of view of Naoko’s parents. They see their daughter and grandchild for only one week in the year. They will perhaps have questions, worries, about the starkly contrasting gender attitudes and child-rearing practices from those they have believed to be ‘correct’ and ‘necessary’ in the provincial Japanese village which is their home. The mother of 16- year-old Sharon – perhaps she hasn’t seen her daughter for twelve years. If she is like many mothers in such a situation, she will describe the loss of her daughter into care as ‘like a death, only worse’. Birth parents of adopted children say that long after the event, they still think of their lost child ‘every day, or two or three times a week’; decades later, they describe themselves as ‘still screaming’. Her sense of loneliness, hurt and loss may be intensified if she hears by a circuitous route that her daughter has had a baby. Or perhaps Sharon’s mother is still in touch with her, and alongside her fury with social workers for what they did in the past, desperately hopes they will be able to help her daughter so her grandchild is competently cared for. From time to time in the coming chapters, you will read more of the world through the eyes of Nicola, Sharon, Naoko and their friends and families. We can’t simply describe their babies’ lives through to old age and death – if we did, we’d have to start in the early 1920s, at the time when ‘Sharon’ might be a girl in a workhouse and might have been locked up for the rest of her life in a mental asylum because she was pregnant; and in a number of occupations Nicola’s employment would have been ended because she married. We want to start from pregnancies in circumstances you can relate to. But the book does emphasise the whole sweep of a life, how you have to understand earlier incidents in order to understand the person before you. So in order to understand the development of Sharon’s grandfather Bob, who dies before the book is finished, you will read snippets about his infancy and earlier adulthood, how he got on with Sharon’s mother Bella, and how a social worker became involved just before his death. Making sense of development and change As we go through life, we all have to make sense of our development – women perhaps more than men are forced to understand their body and its changes; we try to make sense of how we form and manage relationships, our behaviour towards others, and what we may call ‘phases’ in life. This book is about making a rigorous study of this – study that can be used reliably, not just so we can go about our own private lives, but so we can responsibly be involved in crucial decisions about the lives of others. 12 Beginnings Generalising from the introductory snapshots at the beginning of the chapter, you can see the areas about which you need to become knowledgeable: Biological knowledge about the body, its development, and its influences on emotion and behaviour. Psychological knowledge about feelings, behaviour and relationships. Social knowledge about how societies and cultures function and influence the individual. And, most importantly, the overlap areas between each of these. However, there is a further complication to which we will return: you will need to understand the view that the word ‘knowledge’ in the above information box (we could have used the word ‘understanding’) has to be viewed with caution. It seems to indicate something absolute, to point to ‘facts’ which exist independently of the researchers who discover or codify them, independent of the language they use and where they publish their findings. But social constructionists argue that ‘facts’ presented by social research are always shaped politically by the cultures of the researchers and the reader. They always represent a ‘point of view’ and would be different if understood from a different perspective. The categories used are always social creations, and taking them for granted significantly conceals some of what is going on in the activity and publication of such research. Bio-psychosocial knowledge One of the most straightforward descriptions of social work is that it is a psychosocial activity (Woods and Hollis, 1968/2000; Howe, 2008), concerned with the ‘person-in-the-situation’: not just the person on their own, nor just the social arrangements around them, but the two together. In providing a knowledge base about individual development, this book draws attention to biological factors as well as the psychological and sociological – a bio-psychosocial perspective. Bodies and health Social workers acquire much of their specific information about the body and brain not in their initial training courses but in particular social work contexts. For example, a social worker working with autistic children will acquire specific information as they work – because of particular children and parents, through continuing professional training, and because of specific multidisciplinary discussions. The same will be true (about very different knowledge) of social workers in a hospice, or social workers in a team that meets the needs of people with dementia and their carers. 13 Beginnings This book provides frameworks and examples to prepare you for seeking such specific expertise. This chapter concludes with a discussion about the nature of genetic influence – an introduction to aspects of the nature/nurture debate. Other chapters contain brief Chapters 2, 4, 6, 8, sections about: the influence of emotional relationships on brain development in infants EB1 (Chapter 2), physical changes in adolescence (Chapter 4), organic dimensions to mental health problems (Chapter 6), physical aspects of the stress response (Chapter 6) and the ageing process (Chapter 8). There are also shorter references such as that about prenatal development at the beginning of this chapter. ‘Essential background’, section 1 provides a summary of what is meant by ‘genetics’. Psychological understanding The core purpose of this book is to promote your understanding of development in people’s feelings, behaviour and relationships. Different researchers and practitioners have created different schemes for making sense of these subjects. Sometimes, these different perspectives illuminate different aspects of life, but researchers also sometimes claim that their findings show that another theory is simply mistaken. This book will discuss many of these disagreements. Using the examples earlier in the chapter for reference, here is a summary of some of the theories which will be used in the course of the book: Stage theories of development, particularly Erikson’s psychosocial model – in which it is claimed that life can be understood as a series of stages (including infancy, adolescence, older age, for example). Introduced in Chapter 2 and summarised in ‘Essential background’, section 6. What ‘stage(s)’ of life would you say 16-year-old Sharon is in? What about Nicola’s mother and father? This question highlights some of the ambiguity of thinking about universal ‘stages’. Sharon is an adolescent, a first-time mother, a young adult living in her first independent home. Some would regard becoming a grandparent as the start of a new stage in life – perhaps part of old age; some grandparents would definitely not think so! Different stages can be present at the same time, and different people may follow them in a different sequence. Dividing life into ‘stages’ can cause as much confusion as clarity. Attachment theory, which interprets observational studies as showing that infants are born with a drive to form attachments and parents are programmed to respond with care and protection. The ‘attachment style’ of an individual develops throughout life in response to external relationships and events, but early attachments are very influential in shaping later attitudes and behaviour. Introduced in Chapter 2 and summarised in ‘Essential background’, section 2. 14 Beginnings Psychodynamic theories, which take for granted the existence of conflicting motivations and interests, and view some of them as being unconscious. Also introduced in Chapter 2, and summarised in ‘Essential background’, section 4. Speculate: what might be some of the conflicting impulses which motivate Nicola’s husband Steve? What about her son Mathew, or Nicola herself? What influences how they resolve these conflicts? Humanistic models, such as Rogers’, which points out that people from childhood onwards have a drive to achieve something in life, and also a need for unconditional acceptance; it examines achievements and difficulties in life in the light of this. Introduced in Chapter 4 and summarised in ‘Essential background’, section 7. Learning theories, including cognitive behavioural and ‘social learning’ perspectives, which emphasise that behaviour is shaped by rewards and punishments that have been applied in the past, and also by the perception of what is thought to be advantageous or problematic. Introduced in Chapter 3 and summarised in ‘Essential background’, section 8. Think about Mathew at 20 months old. In simplified, cognitive-behavioural terms, what accounts for how Mathew’s behaviour is developing? How might that perspective account for the difference between what Naoko’s parents think are good qualities in a woman and what Nicola thinks? The answer in each case is that the behaviour shown depends what behaviour has been rewarded and encouraged in the past, and which behaviours punished or discouraged. Models of the experience of ‘spoiled identities’ – growth to positive self-identity in the face of widespread social attitudes indicating the individual is part of a ‘problem group’. Examples are black people brought up in a society with racist attitudes, gay and lesbian people brought up in a society in which their orientation is seen as unnatural or immoral, or disabled people facing attitudes which confuse speech difficulty with cognitive impairment. Discussed in a number of chapters, but particularly in relation to adolescence in Chapter 5, and adulthood in Chapter 7. Theories of ageing, including the ‘social disengagement’ model, ‘activity theory’, and ‘political economy theory’. The first of these, for example, builds on research findings to theorise that there is a mutual advantage for the individual and for society if the older generation gradually withdraws from social interaction and responsibility. Chapter 8 and ‘Essential background’, section 9. After the main chapters, the ‘Essential background’ contains a ready reference summary of these and other theories, as well as an outline of the criticisms which have been directed at them. 15 Beginnings Sociological thinking The life course of mother and baby will be profoundly affected by social factors. If the mother were from a Gypsy family, the Department of Health’s report suggests that the baby is more than twelve times as likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome, and ten times as likely to die from all causes before the age of 2; a third will die before reaching the age of 25 and more than seven out of ten will die before reaching the age of 59 (Parry et al., 2004, explaining they used statistics from Ireland – see McKittrick, 2007). The life course of Naoko’s mother in rural Japan may have been profoundly different from that of a woman of comparable age brought up in the UK. A child growing up as part of a group which is seen as ‘problematic’ or ‘immoral’ by wide sections of the population faces distinctive developmental issues. Whatever genetic differences are at work, there are differences in the experience and expectations of males and females throughout the course of life which are massively influenced by societal attitudes and expectations. In general, this book will not focus on sociological theory and debate. It will, however, refer frequently to ways in which social factors and perspectives are areas to explore in relation to individual change and development. It assumes a ‘cosmopolitan’ view of society – in brief, that people’s inner worlds (their identity, values, fears, memories, pleasures) may or may not be primarily embedded in the geographical area in which they live. One account which sets out systematically the different interpersonal and sociological influences on development is Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. This is presented in Chapter 5 and summarised in ‘Essential background’, section 3. The ‘life course’ approach to development emphasises that there is no universal ‘natural cycle’ of life. Lives are always located in specific historical, geographical and cultural contexts, and the search for ‘normal development’ or universal stages may do violence to the diversity of human experience. Objectivity and subjectivity: facts, theories and viewpoints This chapter has offered some snapshots, and then referred to the range of ways it is possible to analyse individual development and change. There is no single developmental framework which cap- tures what is happening in life, and if, as a worker in training (and subsequently as a practitioner), you are competent, you will find that you understand development differently as you go through life. Your views about relationships, aggression, culture, people’s needs, infantile experience and sexuality are understood differently when you are 15, 20, 35, or 55. As a professional person, this change will be influenced by events in your own life, by what you learn from people to whom you provide service, by scientific research and by informed discussion about challenging situations in which you will be asked to intervene. 16 Beginnings About yourself As you follow a course about human growth and development, it is likely that it sets off many thoughts and feelings about yourself. For reasons that are touched on particularly in Chapter 10, self-understanding is important in social work. This book contains a series of activities that allow you to look at aspects of yourself, your attitudes and your development. The activities can be taken at different levels of sensitivity, but all can touch on painful aspects of life. Ideally, perhaps, they are activities you would undertake with a person whom you know to be kind, competent and understanding in taking care of your feelings. There are no right or wrong answers. For this first activity, draw a lifeline to represent your life to where you are now (see Figure 1.1 below). Mark some important milestones or transitions you have experienced – for example, being born; birth of siblings; parents’ relationship – separation, divorce, remarriage; Chapter 10 starting school; getting a job; friendships; marriage, and so on. There are many different ways this could prompt reflection about your development. For example, the section of this chapter ‘Making sense of development and change’ stated that you need biological, psychological and sociological knowledge. Discuss how this applies to one of the periods you have identified – why were biological, psychological and sociological factors all involved in the development that was taking place? Stayed with nana Birth Start school Moved to Keen swimmer England – won prizes Mum and Dad separate Rocky patch Intended path Job at Primark Met Chris Started university Figure 1.1 An example lifeline 17 Beginnings Using this book This is an introductory chapter. It has an explicit and an implicit message. The explicit message is to introduce the range of material that will be covered in the book, to set you thinking about its scope and what knowledge will be involved. The implicit message is that to understand human growth and development, you have to engage your social and emotional imagination and to think clearly. In the type of material presented you must be prepared to enter imaginatively into someone else’s world even when you have few of the actual details of their lives. As you enter their world, you need to be prepared to find features that are common to everyone, and features that have arisen only because of specific experiences. And you should sometimes be puzzled by which is which. Furthermore, you only understand an individual’s development when you understand the development of other people which is interlocked with it – the baby’s experience is interlocked with the mother’s, which in turn is interlocked with (for example) the father’s and the mother’s mother. As a competent social worker, you have in nearly all situations to understand the developmental experience of several people (usually of different ages) at once. If you just wish to scan for intellectual content I have tried to set this out so it is readily available. The ‘Essential background’ sections should do this efficiently at the basic level, and the ‘Taking it further’ essays offer more depth. The main chapter text requires a different kind of attention – a more reflective, personal engagement. The narratives may prompt questions such as, ‘I wonder how they got to this stage in their life?’ or, ‘How easy is it for me to understand their experiences?’ In the words of David Howe (2008), it’s important that you develop as an ‘emotionally intelligent social worker’. You might think about whether you’d be interested to meet them, and what your feelings would be in their company – would you know how to set them at ease and so on. In the healthiest possible way, social work is founded on a curiosity about people and a wish that things should be well for them, and this sometimes requires a slower pace of thought as you reflect on an imaginary encounter. 18 Beginnings Genetics and environment Each chapter in this book concludes with a more formal essay, sometimes with more detail, sometimes with greater complexity. In this particular chapter, the theme of the essay is taken from thoughts that will go through many minds as they think about the life that lies ahead of each baby in the womb. As they reflect on this, and naturally consider the differences between a mother in a secure environment living in the suburbs, a temperamental 16-year-old care leaver who is pregnant, and the personality and achievements of a young musician living 6,000 miles away from where she was brought up, they are prompted to wonder whether differences are caused by inherited differences or differences in upbringing and environment. Everyone is different, and all the theories that are used to make sense of the differing paths to people’s lives acknowledge that both genetic makeup and different environments play their part in shaping the course of a person’s life. There are many areas in which social workers will hear assertions about the relative influences of ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’. They may hear questions asking whether men are by nature more aggressive, or more promiscuous, than women, for example. They will hear psychologists refer to the hereditable nature of intelligence, or the supposed identification of a genetic basis for schizophrenia. In every case, the context may be a discussion about whether the converse is true – that these features are a result of environment – family history, culture, peer influences and so on. On later occasions, this book will refer to some of these topics. This section presents some considerations which are necessary to make sense of particular instances of the ‘nature–nurture debate’. To prepare for this essay, you must check that you understand the information in the ‘Essential background’, section 1. Key ideas that are used in the following ‘Taking it further’ section are: Chapter EB1 The ‘instruction set’ that tells your body how to build itself – your eye colour, whether you are male or female, your brain’s ability to learn languages, whether you are going to be big boned or delicately built, whether you are likely to develop breast cancer – is contained in biological structures called genes. There is a complete set of genes in every tiny component cell of your body. It is important to understand that, by and large, you are a conduit for this instruction set and it is passed on faithfully through the generations – you do not change it by becoming a champion weightlifter or a highly qualified academic or a brutal dictator, or by eating well or poorly. When a new baby is started, it contains one set of genes from the mother and one from the father. When this baby grows up and has a baby, it may pass on either of these genes. For example, a girl, Sharon (whose own eggs were formed inside her when she was in her mother’s womb) will have genes from both her father and her mother and may pass either of these on in a particular egg her body releases each month after puberty, as shown in Figure 1.2. So Sharon may pass on characteristics (say, straight or curly hair) from her mother or her father. And similarly, her partner’s sperm may be passing on details from his mother or his father. For each parent, this selection occurs randomly and more or less independently for every gene in their ‘instruction set’. 19 Beginnings Gene version Gene Mother’s egg + Father’s sperm A version B A and B Child, Sharon Sharon’s egg released in January: A A different egg, released in February B Figure 1.2 Generational transmission of genes Figure 1.2 illustrates another feature of genetic reproduction. All the cells in the body contain two sets of genes, one from each parent, except the male sperm and the female egg which only contain one set each. When the egg and the sperm combine to form the start of a new person, the fertilised egg now contains the usual double set. The (30,000 or so) genes are grouped together into structures called chromosomes. The chromosomes come in pairs, one containing the instructions from the father and one from the mother. Although the detail of what they code for may be different (one for blue eyes, one for brown eyes), the genes on each of a matched pair are for the same function (eye colour in this case). The pair of chromosomes determining sex are different from this general pattern. They come in two different forms, called because of their shape X and Y. If the fertilised egg has the pair X-Y, the child will be a boy. If the pair is X-X, the child will be a girl. Additional basic resources are given on the website which accompanies this book. 20 Beginnings ? Lead-up questions A man has a gene (call it G1) on his Y chromosome. Will that gene ever have been operating in a female? Answer: No, because women never have a Y chromosome in their body – they are X-X. A woman has a gene (call it G2) on her X chromosome. Has this ever been operating in a male? Answer: Yes, because female bodies have X-X and men have X-Y. A daughter will always have one X chromosome from her father. Of all the Y chromosomes in the population (say, a country), how many are in male bodies? Answer: All of them. Of all the X chromosomes in a population, how many are in female bodies at any given time? Answer: Two out of three. Women have X-X and men have X-Y chromosomes. What else affects your development and who you are other than your genes? Answer: Well, I hope you found the answer to that fairly obvious! – How you’re brought up, whether you have always eaten well, what illnesses you have suffered, your choices about which school to go to and what career to follow.... The list is endless. The essay is particularly concerned with the question: What are some of the factors that affect how genes and environment interact? Some other words and phrases used in the essay: discrete category: a grouping which contains items which definitely don’t belong in a contrasting group – there’s a yes/no answer to whether they belong – for example, someone is pregnant or they are not. continuous variable: a quality which doesn’t fall into discrete categories, but varies by infinit- esimally small progressions, progressions so small that whenever you choose two items which differ, you can always specify a third item which is in between (such as height). constitutional: this is used in the essay as an ‘ordinary language’ description, not a technical term. It describes how someone’s body seems to be in itself, often implying that it’s without special treat- ment or training. Someone might be described as having a ‘strong constitution’ because they seldom become ill and usually resist infections, or they might be constitutionally suited to being a weightlifter because they have a powerful, compact body. 21 Beginnings pathways: a term used to describe the route by which someone’s personal qualities come into existence. The pathway to having blue eyes is a genetic makeup which sets off certain chemical and biological processes. The pathway to becoming a good social worker is...? correlations: some factors which have an effect on an outcome can be changed separately from each other. To find what layout of magazine the readers prefer, a publisher can vary the size of print and the colour of print separately, and find whether one has more effect than the other, and what colour, size, and combination of colour and size have a good effect. If for some reason the factors are interlinked, so that changing one changes the other – they are correlated in some way; if changing the size would for some strange reason change the colour, then it’s a different question to disentangle the effects. When the publishers thought they had measured the effect of size, they might without realising it be measuring the effect of colour. I have chosen this example because it will seem strange. The essay explains that genes and environment have often been understood to vary independently, but in fact there may be complicated ways in which they are linked. TAKING IT FURTHER Genes, environment and behaviour: correlations and interactions Presentations of ‘the nature–nurture debate’ usually conclude by emphasising that both are involved in human behaviour (for an introductory account, see Eysenck, 2000 – more detail is given in Ridley, 1999; Rutter, 2006). Further analysis explores the particular mechanisms and routes which operate for specific outcomes. These are usually infinitely complicated. Geneticists (Sudbery and Sudbery, 2009; Bateson, 2001) point out that a very large number of genes are required to cooperate to produce behaviour, and the same version of a gene can produce different results in a different ‘team’ of genes or in different environments. A multitude of environmental differences are relevant in different episodes of development. Given this introduction, the elements highlighted here are: ‘Biological variation’ is not the same as ‘genetic variation’. Genes can conflict. The distinction between behaviours that form a separate category and those that are continuous with the behavioural range in the general population. There can be different pathways to the same behavioural characteristics. The interdependence of genes and environment – environments are not always independent of genes, and genetic effects are affected by environment. The reasons for variability between individuals (the relative importance of heredity and environment) might be different from the reasons for variability between average scores of groups of people. Running through this are various issues about the meaning and operation of ‘cause’ in this context. The discussion is illustrated by reference to children’s behaviour, gender and mental health issues. 22 Beginnings Biological variation is not genetic variation ‘Constitutional’ conditions may be biological but not necessarily genetic in origin. Even when present at birth, they may be caused by nutrition, prenatal environment in the womb, viruses or complex interactions between genetic factors and environment. For example, Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition in which people constantly mix little verbal explosions, sometimes swear words, into their speech (National Institutes of Health, 2005). One suggested cause of Tourette’s syndrome is that it is manifest after an individual with a particular genetic makeup is exposed to a particular balance of hormones in the womb (Eapen et al., 1997). There are physiological signs that high-achieving athletes often received higher than average amounts of testosterone in the womb (Paul et al., 2006). If so, this would be a factor which is constitutional, but not in itself genetic. Genes can be in conflict Darwin’s formulation of evolution was based on the realisation that each individual varies from its parents; and that just as farmers, racehorse owners and pigeon fanciers selectively breed for particular qualities – thereby producing dogs, from dachshunds to great danes; horses, from Shetland ponies to thoroughbred racers – so over much greater periods of time will there be selection and shaping in nature according to which changes survive better and breed more. This does not, however, imply that the changes that take place in evolution are best for the survival of all the species. For example (see Ridley, 1999: 107–121), some genes are carried only by men, so, in theory, variants which occur are differentially selected if they assist the male body, even if they have indirect consequences harmful to women (as long as these aren’t sufficiently harmful to impair breeding success). These are rare, as the genes specific to men are comparatively small in number. They are on a relatively small grouping of genes described because of its shape as the Y- chromosome, and only carried by men. Women, on the other hand, have the chromosome pair X–X. This means that on average over the generations X-chromosomes spend more time (two-thirds of their existence) in females. Variations which make their continuance more likely will preferentially survive. Since they are more often in a female body, these variations are on average those which make the female more likely to survive, even if the consequences are unfortunate for the male of the species (as long as these unpleasant consequences don’t lessen breeding success for the female). The conflicts in this example are of course primarily about biological processes in the body, brain and reproductive systems – not in the first instance about psychosocial behaviour. Separate categories or continuous variables? A mother may wonder whether her son’s aggressiveness (or intellectual level) is a result of his genes or how he was brought up. In an example earlier in this chapter, carers of a teenager in local authority care may wonder whether her seeming lack of maternal feeling towards her unborn baby is because of genes or experience. Social workers, if only to give educated replies to their service users and colleagues, have an interest in the relative importance of genes and environment in ‘psychosocial’ qualities such as aggression, intelligence and mental confusion. Rutter (2006: 24) points out that research into behavioural genetics requires clarity (and can create clarity) about whether the quality (or behaviour) forms a separate category from the behaviour 23 Beginnings of the general population or represents a particularly low (or high) value of something that varies throughout the population. For example, schizophrenia is listed, with its symptoms, in the authoritative diagnostic manuals of psychiatry (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) as a classification – the individual ‘has’ it or not. But the nature of the increasing evidence of its hereditability indicates that it varies continuously through the population – like intelligence, say – and the ‘categorisation’ must be understood as a convention, an agreed cut-off point. The reference to intelligence highlights how clarity about this may be important for an accurate understanding. Intelligence varies continuously throughout the population, with increasingly smaller numbers at either extreme – very high or very low. This will have one set of environment–gene interactions. But the most common forms of mild learning difficulties are not part of this continuous variation. They arise from specific conditions such as Down’s syndrome. This is a category diagnosis (yes/no) and is caused by a specific genetic condition – the person has an extra chromosome 21. Obviously, people in the lower third of ability (that is, scoring below two-thirds of the population on measures of intelligence) may be thus because of the normal variation of multifactorial determinants of intelligence, or because they come into the category of Down syndrome, having the additional copy of chromosome 21. Multiple pathways This illustrates another feature of gene–environment antecedents of behaviour. In many cases, the same psychosocial behavioural outcome can arise from different gene–environment pathways. For example (Rutter, 2006: 29), depression in adulthood may be caused by a genetic predisposition combined with early negative upbringing (including sexual abuse). But it may also be the outcome for people without the negative upbringing but with particular current social stressors. It is likely that some genetic component is implicated in a propensity to antisocial aggressive behaviour in boys or in men. But some boys with this genetic makeup will not commit antisocial acts, and others without the propensity will do so in particular social circumstances. Gene–environment correlations The simplicity of the question as to whether genes or environment are responsible for a particular trait (such as musicality, sportiness or physical aggressiveness) becomes complicated initially by recognising that both are always involved. This is shown in line 1 of Figure 1.3 below, which shows diagrammatically how a person’s qualities in the present are the product of a particular genetic makeup and experiences in life. This diagram, which is an analysis by Scarr and McCartney (1983), goes on to show the ways in which genes and environment do not vary independently. As explained in the following paragraphs, the environment is affected by a person’s genes, so environmental effects may also be a result of genes. Line 2 in Figure 1.3 draws attention to correlations in which the child is passive: important features of the child’s environment are shaped by the actions of parents, but since biological parents are formed by the same genes as the child, a sporty, musical, or violent environment may itself be part of a genetic influence. Next (line 3), Scarr and McCartney suggest that differences in environments may be evoked by the genetic makeup of the children. Active, muscular babies evoke active, playful 24 Beginnings interactive responses and entertainment choices from those around them; children with a disposition to musicality may lead their carers into providing musical environments. Finally (line 4), they point out that children shape environmental characteristics for themselves – choosing those that are compatible with their genetic predisposition. In this, the child is active in selecting environments, and they call this active gene influences or niche picking. This links with Eysenck’s view (1968) that because their nervous system is underaroused, extroverts seek out stimulation. So in summary, even studies (say, about aggressiveness) which identify genuine environmental influences may be also be picking up intertwined genetic influences – the two are constantly interlinked. Child’s genes 1 Child’s phenotype* Child’s environment Child’s genes 2 Parents’ Child’s genes phenotype* Child’s environment Child’s genes 3 Parents’ Child’s genes phenotype* Child’s environment Child’s genes 4 Parents’ Child’s genes phenotype* Child’s environment *Phenotype: the observed characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of genes and environment Figure 1.3 The increasingly complex nature of gene-environment correlations as analysed by Scarr and McCartney (1983) 25 Beginnings Evocative gene influences – children’s genetic makeup evokes particular environments from adults. When the Olympic champion Lynford Christie explored the origins of his athletic ability in a television programme, the interviewer suggested he telephone his friends who were also cham- pions and ask for their birth dates. Over three-quarters of them had birthdays between October and March, and Christie revealed that his birthday also fell in this range. Why is this? This is an effect known as the ‘relative age effect’, which is discussed later also in relation to academic attainment. Adults do choose children for football teams and special coaching based on ‘natural’ ability, but in school this often reflects the more advanced development – greater height, weight, motor development – of children whose birthdays make them up to a year older than other children in the class. This is an environmental effect (special coaching and attention) which is an evocative gene effect, modified itself by a ‘random’ environmental effect of when the school year begins. Gene–environment influences Conversely, the way the genotype (the information in the genes) is expressed is itself shaped by the environment – often through what are now called epigenetic effects. Epigenetics examines the way in which genetic material controls which genes are switched on or off (resulting for example in the same instruction set producing brain cells in one place and blood cells in another, or determining the changes in function at puberty or old age). The appalling circumstances of Dutch pregnant women under German occupation in the famine of 1942 affected genetically determined factors in their granddaughters’ lives (Ceci and Williams, 1999: 13).The genetic information itself was unchanged – there had been no mutation or miscopying of genes – but the eggs within the Dutchwomen’s unborn daughters contained instructions for expression that took account of the conditions of scarcity. When these eggs were fertilised decades later in the mature daughters, they grew into offspring (grandchildren of the starved women) with particular characteristics following the epigenetic instructions laid down at the time of their creation (which took account of shortage of nutrition). They were genetically more resistant to diabetes and heart attack. Equivalent effects had been discovered independently for males, in a study of Swedish family records. In this case, the relevant period in the grandfathers’ lives was just before puberty, producing seed that reflected the food conditions obtaining at that time (Kaati et al., 2002). The genes were unchanged, but genetic vulnerability to particular illnesses was changed by the environments affecting the grandparents. This comparatively new branch of study (earlier research concentrated on genetic effects which are irreversible) has according to Rutter (2006: 147) produced few findings specific to psychiatric disorder. Nevertheless, it is recognised as a major set of mechanisms for understanding any genetically transmitted effects, and Schore’s work (Schore, 1994, 2003) on the continuing construction of the infant brain after birth has drawn attention to the way this genetic process is affected by emotional interaction (see also Corr, 2006: 60). Gerhardt (2004) provides an eminently readable account suitable for people with responsibilities for parents and children, but relevant to all workers concerned with troubled emotions and relationships. 26 Beginnings Causal factors, risk and protective processes ‘Causation’ is a notoriously slippery concept in relation to human behaviour (Ridley, 1999: 98–125). Using the examples quoted earlier in the chapter, this is evident in thinking about the many answers that could be given to the questions: ‘What caused the young woman in care to become pregnant at the age of 16?’; or, ‘What caused a young woman to settle and start a family 6,000 miles away from where she was brought up?’ Plausible answers have to include an account of consciousness and intentionality, but here we are concerned with the complexity of the gene– environment pathways involved. Rutter (quoting Rothman and Greenland) uses the analogy of a light switch. The flick of the switch appears to ‘cause’ the light to come on, but this is also depen- dent on the wiring being intact, the power supply working, a bulb being in the socket and so on. There are various ‘causes’ of different types, and a failure of illumination may be traced to any of these. Furthermore, in relation to genetic/environmental effects, what is known about the causality gives us probabilities, not categorical knowledge. This, as Rutter analyses (2006: 18–39) and illustrates in relation to a range of problems, has relevance to risk and protection factors. Some protective factors may be understood as simply a reduction in the risk factor (consuming less cholesterol reduces the risk of heart disease; caring parenting is a protective factor for antisocial behaviour). In other situations, it makes no sense to refer to this symmetry: ‘Adoption is a protective factor for a number of adverse outcomes of abuse and neglect, but it makes no sense to talk of “not being an adopted child” as a risk factor.’ Problems with genetic origins may be entirely remedied by ‘environmental’ interventions. The learning disability caused by phenylketonurea (PKU – a genetic condition which leaves the child unable to absorb a particular amino acid) will simply not occur if the diagnosis is made at birth and the baby is fed the correct diet. Rutter uses examples of adult depression and antisocial behaviour to summarise how genetic makeup, earlier environment and contemporary situation may interact as risk and protective factors. Group and individual differences Statistical investigations into the amount of variation caused respectively by heredity and environment apply only to the group in which the measurement is made. A thought experiment will make this clear. If the environment is optimal and uniform, none of the variation in that study is caused by the environment, so if environment and genes are the two variables under study, the differences in the population (say in respect of IQ score) will be totally attributable to heredity. On the other hand, if relevant features of the environment vary enormously, most of the variation may be caused by the environment. In a population in which people smoke, the influence of heredity relative to environment in causing cancer will be different from that in a population in which no one smokes. Furthermore, the amount of difference that environment may cause in highly hereditable traits can be much larger than intuitively may be expected. Ceci and Williams (1999: 3–5) provide both a qualitative explanation and a mathematically worked example. In this example, a group of adopted children have average IQ measures of 107 in a population with high hereditability. Even if the average IQ of their mothers is 85, a full 22 points lower, this is still consistent with intelligence (as measured by the IQ scores) being 70 per cent hereditable. 27 Beginnings This draws attention to a final important point: for groups who typically are subject to different environmental variables (say, European Americans and African Americans), differences in average scores between the two groups will not arise from the same allocation of genetic/environmental influence as do individual differences. The differences in height among a group of friends may be highly genetic in origin, but the differences between their average height and that of another group (say, their parents) may be largely environmental – as a result of changes in nutrition and healthcare. Conclusion Social workers sometimes need to understand references to the relative influence of heredity and environment in troublesome aspects of human development. This section has been written with the non-specialist reader in mind, but it builds on rather than explains some of the basics of gene– environment interactions. The basic account concludes that both genes and environment are involved in the creation of a person’s psychosocial qualities – her character, the age at which she will have a baby, her behaviour, intelligence, emotional characteristics, vulnerability to illness, and so on. This essay has analysed some factors to be borne in mind when considering this subject: biological features are not necessarily hereditary features; continuously varying features should be distinguished from ‘categorical’ conditions; the same behavioural outcome can arise from different gene–environment interactions; genes and environment are not two separate independent variables (an environmental effect may be the effect of genes, and a genetic effect may be the result of environmental conditions); the relative contribution of genes and environment to different population averages may not be the same as that applying to differences between individuals. Social workers are not specialists and should not claim to have technical expertise in this field; nevertheless, they will encounter the issue – from antenatal work with people who have had genetic counselling, to questions from parents about the origins of difficult behaviour or emotional difficulties. Historically, social workers were involved both for and against the social manage- ment of individuals within eugenics philosophies (Payne, 2005: 130; Kennedy, 2008), and with approaches to mental health which underestimated the contribution of genetic factors. It is important for them as laypeople in this field to be sufficiently well-informed so as to avoid oversimplification. Selected reading for taking it further Ceci, S. and Williams, W. (1999) The Nature–Nurture Debate. Oxford: Blackwell. Eysenck, M. (2000) Psychology: A Student’s Handbook. New York and London: Psychology Press. Gerhardt, S. (2004) Why Love Matters. London: Routledge. Ridley, M. (1999) Genome. London: Fourth Estate. Rutter, M. (2005) Genes and Behaviour: Nature Nurture Interplay Explained. Oxford: Blackwell. Schore, A. (1994) Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 28 Beginnings Summary This is an introductory chapter, starting with narratives which involved pregnancy. These highlighted some of the ways in which individual development can be considered. Biological knowledge, psychological understanding and social perspectives are all relevant to social work. Often social workers need to understand the overlap between these aspects, and the mutual influence of body, mind, emotions and society. Social constructionists emphasise that knowledge is not absolute – it is created in specific language, and in specific social contexts. To promote understanding of feelings, behaviour and relationships, this book will make reference to theories which are summarised in the ‘Essential background’ section. These include stage theories of development such as Erikson’s, psychodynamic theories, attachment theory, humanistic models, learning theories, and various theories of ageing. A number of the perspectives used (such as Bronfenbrenner’s and the lifespan perspective) make particular reference to social and historical features. The chapter concluded with a section written in a more formal academic style. It requires further reading of ‘Essential background’, Section 1, and presented six general factors to bear in mind when studying the relative effects of genes and environment on any specific dimension of behaviour. These include: ‘biological variation’ is not the same as ‘genetic variation’; there can be different gene–environment pathways to the same behavioural characteristic; genes and environment are not independent of each other; and the gene–environment contribution causing population differences (averages) may be different from that at work in individual variations. Further reading Further resources are provided on the website which accompanies this book. They include pictures and diagrams, health guidance, a glossary of terms and a summary of research about sensory experience before birth. About the classic psychosocial formulation of social work: Cooper, A. (2000) ‘Psychosocial perspectives’. One-page summary in Davies, M., Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Work. About the experience of pregnancy: Rayner et al. (2005) Human Development: An Introduction to the Psychodynamics of Growth, Maturity and Ageing. London and New York: Routledge. Chapter 2, ‘Being pregnant’, written by Angela Joyce, is an excellent amplification of the early parts of this chapter, about the experience of pregnancy. Raphael-Leff, J. (2005) Psychological Processes of Childbearing. London: Anna Freud Centre. Although a psychology (psychodynamic) account, this is written for people who work with parents and parents-to-be, and makes excellent further reading. 29 Beginnings Prenatal development: Boyd, D. and Bee, H. (2006) Lifespan Development. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, pp. 53–78. A readable and engaging textbook set out to take the general student systematically through the subjects. Reading about each of the theoretical approaches mentioned in the chapter will be given as the topics are covered in more detail. Typical textbooks giving overviews or easy summaries: Boyd, D. and Bee, H. (2006) Lifespan Development. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon; for example pp. 3–45. Eysenck, M. (2000) Psychology: A Student’s Handbook. New York and London: Psychology Press. Chapters 14 to 18 in particular present findings from developmental psychology. Giddens, A. (2009) Sociology, 6th edn. Cambridge: Polity Press. Various chapters present the sociologist’s view of the impact of society on the individual. An overview of the life course from a sociological point of view (both available online at www.esrc.ac.uk – use the search facility to find either document): Stewart, S. and Vaitilingam, R. (eds) (2004) Seven Ages of Man and Woman. London: ESRC. Iacovou, M. (2004a) Life Chances: The Impact of Family Origins and Early Childhood Experiences on Adult Outcomes. Includes two-page summary, with references. Genetics: Further introductory material is available through the website which accompanies this book. Resources for parents About health and illnesses of all kinds, for children, adults, parents and grandparents: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Pages/bodymap.aspx. About pregnancy: Smith, N. C. (2005) Understanding Pregnancy. One of the series of ‘Family Doctor’ books published by the British Medical Association – for a complete list, see www.familydoctor.co.uk/readbooks. html. Complete copies of some of the books are available free online. ? Questions 1 Choose a situation in which social work/social care have some responsibilities to illustrate how effective practice may require knowledge of biology, psychology and social factors. 2 What theory of human development considers that human infants are born not only with innate instincts to feed, etc., but also with a drive to form attachments? 3 How many Y-chromosomes does a man normally have? What do you think the genetic conditions ‘XYY syndrome’ or ‘triple X syndrome’ may be? Use a reference source to check your answer. 30 Beginnings For you to research Prepare a poster or a short report about one of the following: The nine months’ development from conception to birth The experience of being a grandparent, and the place of grandparents in family life Miscarriage – does society understand? Three approaches to human psychology 31 In this chapter you will find: 2 A secure base Development in early childhood How early brain development is shaped by affection and attachment Three models about the relationships between childh

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