Nature Vs Nurture Case Studies

In Australia, a group of scientists conducted a large-scale longitudinal study analyzing children and their developmental processes. Shine, a subject of this examination, derives from an extended family suffering from financial anguish. Alain, her father, becomes unemployed five months after the birth of his daughter. Consequently, the turn of events triggers a crushing blow for the family of seven, acquiring compounding stresses for both Alain and his wife Michelle. Ordinarily, “Poor children are more likely than other children to have emotional or behavioral problems” (Papalia, pg. 8). For Shine, maturing in a low-socioeconomic and highly stressed environment can have an everlasting effect on her mental and physical well-being. Modern living styles may be too extreme for children indicating links between stress and mental health problems. Through studies, correlation has shown one-year-old children are prone to high levels of stress based on the amount of stress their parents undergo. In Shine’s case, the chronic stress of her
“From conception on, throughout life, a combination of constitutional factors and social, economic, and cultural factors help shape development” (Papalia, pg. 63). Based on my findings from watching Life at 1: Stress and Its Impact and Life at 3: Fighting Fat, I concluded nurture to be more impactful on Shine’s development. Furthermore, in a case like Shine, environmental surroundings, socioeconomic status, and parental influences seemed to be crucial in her development over genetic predispositions and heredity. To clarify, Shine’s upbringing in a highly stressful, low-income environment, along with undernourishment will have an everlasting effect on her development based on the likelihood of negative outcomes such as contracting mental health problems and becoming