Comparative Essay – Causative Factors of Emotional/Behavioral Disorders
Behavioral/emotional disorders (EBD) are individuals’ inability to interact appropriately with the environment. It is almost impossible to establish one cause of emotional/behavioral disorders. Thus, most research focuses on causative features that increase a child’s chances of exhibiting this condition. Therefore, this paper discusses the four causative factors of EBD: biological, family, school, and cultural factors, as exhibited in the book “A Child Called It.” Do you need any help for completing your assignment ? Contact us at eminencepapers.com. We endeavor to provide you with excellent service.
The first causative factor of EBD includes biological factors. Biological factors are genetically passed down from parents to children. These factors include malnutrition, temperament from parents, use of substances, and brain trauma (Yell et al., 2013). The book “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer narrates Dave’s experiences of physical abuse from his mother, Catherine, noting that he lacked basic child needs like safety, shelter, food, and love because of his mother’s mental illness (Pelzer, 1995). There was also the use of substances, especially alcohol, that triggered mistreatment and abuse. Pelzer narrates how he experienced physical abuse from his mother. For example, he states that he lacked safety, love, shelter, and food due to his mother’s mental illness.
Pelzer confirms being deprived of clothing, food, and safety and would sometimes be rained on. This shows that his mother abused and mistreated him due to alcohol abuse. After all, at the beginning of the story, Dave’s mother was a typical mother who would do everything entirely for her child’s well-being. However, as the story unfolds, Catherine Pelzer, Dave’s mother, is portrayed as a mentally ill female struggling with alcoholism, and the more she sinks into alcoholism, the more her abusive behavior worsens. Therefore, this story typically shows that genetics and substance abuse are causative factors for EBD. Mostly, genetics play a vital role in people acquiring mental illness (Yell et al., 2013). Hence, Dave’s mother’s mental illness was seemingly passed to her genetically.
Family relationships are another causative factor in EBD. These are family bonds that diversely affect a single family member. Family factors include abuse, family definition, family interaction, and pressure from the family (Yell et al., 2013). Abuse is evident in Pelzer’s story as his mother abused him. There were also minimal family interactions as Catherine’s family did not want to be stigmatized since Catherine was mentally ill and an alcoholic. Catherine’s family abandoned her and did not want to be part of her. They knew their child was sinking into alcoholism, and they did nothing because they feared stigmatization. Pelzer experienced the same because he was isolated from his siblings and lacked basic needs. He was physically abused, and nobody noticed, including his teachers, close family members, and classmates. As a result, nobody helped him either at home or at school. For example, when his mother’s mental illness worsened, she stopped calling Dave by his name and referred to him as “the boy” or “it” (Pelzer, 1995). As depicted by the title of this novel, Dave struggled because the abuse was a direct attack on the child’s self-identity. Surprisingly, his mother never killed his spirit. He instead managed to survive these traumatic experiences after the police rescued him. He later becomes a good man and father. This shows that Dave defied his pathological family relations regardless of the challenges.
The third causative aspect of emotional/behavioral disorders is school factors. Some school factors include inappropriate teacher expectations, achievement, intelligence, social skills, and other students’ insensitivity. Initially, Pelzer was a performer before his mother began abusing him, and over time, Pelzer’s performance began deteriorating because of her mother’s mental health, and nobody was concerned. Teachers and students also exhibited insensitivity toward Pelzer because they could not save him from his abusive mother, even with his observable bruises. The teacher went ahead to make Pelszer part of a competition in his abused state. Also, when Pelzer shared his problems with his classmates, they bullied and mocked him. One student even told him to jump over a bridge and kill himself. All these show a high level of insensitivity from teachers and students to Pelzer. Normally, a school is a safe place for learners and where students can confide in teachers when they face challenges, but in Dave’s case, the school environment was so harsh for Dave. Dave was already experiencing abuse at home. He even got worse abuse at school, which likely contributed to emotional and behavioral disorders, making him lose faith in God and even hoping his mother would kill him.
The last causative factor of emotional/behavioral disorders is cultural influences. These causative factors include conflicting cultural values, mass media, peer groups, neighborhoods, social class, and poverty. Conflicting cultural values affected Pelzer because his mother’s family was ashamed of Catherine’s mental problems due to societal stigmatization and feared the community would isolate them if they sought medical attention. Society would brand them the “family of crazy people” (Pelzer, 1995). The same is reflected in Pelzer, who was discriminated against and bullied at school when he narrated his story about his predicaments to his peers. Consequently, Pelzer lost faith in God. Suppose Catherine’s family sought early treatment for their daughter. In that case, they would have managed her condition and alcoholism. After all, from the start, Catherine was a good mother, and alcoholism was the main contributing factor to her abusive nature. Instead, the family decided to conform to the societal and cultural standards of safeguarding their dignity and family name from segregation and stereotyping. As a result, abandoning Catherine only worsened her mental illness and Pelzer’s physical abuse as his mother continued to sink into alcoholism.
In conclusion, behavioral and emotional disorders can be noticed quickly by observing one’s behavior. Nevertheless, it is vital to seek medical attention for a proper diagnosis. Pelzer’s story identifies several causative elements of EBD, including biological factors, school experiences, family relations, and cultural factors. The story also depicts how substance abuse or alcoholism plays a vital part in the manifestations of EBD.
References
Pelzer, D. (1995). A child called it. One Child’s Courage to Survive (Vol. 1). Health Communications, Inc.
Yell, M. L., Meadows, N. B., Drasgow, E., & Shriner, J. G. (2013). Evidence-Based Practices for Educating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Pearson.
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question 
Causative Factors of Emotional/Behavioral Disorders
Here is a website about comparative essay writing. I hope you have been reading the book, “A Child Called It.” Your assignment is to write a comparative essay comparing the causative factors of EBD that you see in the book by Dave Pelzer. The causative factors you will use are the biological factors, the family factors, the school factors, and the cultural factors. You may use your book and the internet to read about the factors that influence the development of EBD.
https://www.aresearchguide.com/write-comparative-essay.html