Respond to at least one of your colleague's postings in one or more of the following ways:

• Ask a probing question.
• Share an insight gained from having read your colleague's posting.
• Offer and support an opinion.
• Make a suggestion.
• Expand on your colleague's posting.

Colleague Post:

Briefly describe the child or adolescent stress or adjustment issue you selected.

The adolescent stress/ adjustment issue I selected is the parent-marital conflict; research suggests that depressive symptoms experienced by parents place children at high risk of developing depression and place dysfunction in child development (Keller et al., 2009). In addition, when parents are unable to work out differences, children can become distressed about the security of their family and will internalize the depression from their parents' marital discord; children who experience this distress and depression can experience hostility, defensiveness, aggression, insult, threat, avoidance, and withdrawal in interpersonal relations (Keller et al., 2009).

Then, explain how culture, gender, or social factors might influence the manifestation of the stress or adjustment issue and how.

Marital conflict witnessed by children affects their psychosocial well-being and can vary by gender, which gender plays a significant role in the adjustment amongst children (Hosokawa & Kastsura, 2019). Boys are more likely to hide or internalize their emotions but act out in aggression. At the same time, girls are likely to internalize and externalize, with avoidance and stonewalling (shut down), and blame themselves for their parent's issues (Hosokawa & Kastsura, 2019). Divorced mothers often drift closer to their sons for support or give sons a new hierarchy in the home, adding more responsibilities, while daughters receive less attention; this may contribute to the stonewalling of girls and aggressive behaviors of the boy child (Hosokawa & Kastsura, 2019). For example, a mother who is the primary caregiver after divorce may consider her son the man of the house in his father's absence.

Finally, explain which factor or manifestation of the adjustment issue may be the most difficult for you to address and why. Be specific and use examples.

The adjustment issues caused by marital conflict, such as aggression and stonewall, may be challenging. Still, the most difficult is supporting children outside their home environments only for them to return. Stonewall can strain the therapeutic session because children may have trust issues. Also, if parents can resolve their conflict, it leaves children in the middle because they love both parents and are too young to understand (Keller et al., 2009). Children are left blaming themselves for marital conflict and look up to their caretaker; family therapy would be best for children to see their parents in a positive setting. Moreover, they feel safe about their family, somewhat burdened by the depression of their parents, and for parents to understand the strain it places on the child. Children are usually affected socially and emotionally; this includes interactions with peers and academic performance (McCoy et al., 2013).

References

Keller, P. S., Mark Cummings, E., Peterson, K. M., & Davies, P. T. (2009). Marital Conflict in the Context of Parental Depressive Symptoms: Implications for the Development of Children's Adjustment Problems. Social Development, 18(3), 536-555. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00509.xLinks to an external site.

Hosokawa, R. & Kastsura, T. (2019). Exposure to marital conflict: Gender differences in internalizing and externalizing problems among children. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222021Links to an external site.

McCoy, K. P., George, M. R., Cummings, E. M., & Davies, P. T. (2013). Constructive and Destructive Marital Conflict, Parenting, and Children's School and Social Adjustment.Social development (Oxford, England),22(4), 10.1111/sode.12015. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12015