Social and Emotional Milestones in Middle Childhood and Trauma Effects

During middle childhood, children have made great strides in their ability to recognize their emotions and those of others. They are able to control their emotions and communicate them with language and expressively. At this stage, children are also more likely to show increased independence from their family and parents, value their friendships and seek acceptance from peers, which boosts their self-esteem. They develop strong friendships with similar sex members and, increase trust, and show control and understanding of their emotional displays. They may experience embarrassment and guilt, have growing sexual interest and awareness in the opposite gender, have a strong desire to have their opinions respected and sought, and may challenge their family members (Department of Human Services, 2017).

However, trauma-exposed children are likely to experience withdrawal and depression, efforts made to distance themselves from feelings of guilt, shame, humiliation, and lessened capacity to feel emotions. They also tend to have reduced self-esteem or confidence and experience post-trauma-specific fears. Eating disturbances like anorexia tend to develop at this stage (Kurz et al., 2016). Even though normal children tend to experience some emotional and social problems during this stage, those who have undergone trauma have worse experiences that cause major mental health and behavioral problems.

Reducing the Impact of Trauma

To lessen the impact of trauma, it is important to advise parents to seek support for themselves to be able to manage their emotional responses and shock. Family support and understanding is of major importance to children as they can help them develop trust and a sense of security. It is also important to listen to and tolerate the child’s retelling of the traumatic event, respect their fears and give them time to cope. The child also needs to be reassured that behaviors or feelings that feel out of control or babyish, like night wetting, are normal after a traumatic event and that they will overcome it with time. The child also needs to be encouraged to talk about their feelings, worries, and mental review of the traumatic images and provide opportunities for the child to make choices and experience control in their daily activities (DHS, 2017). Constant communication should be maintained with school staff to monitor how the kid is coping with school demands, and the necessary emotional, social and academic help should be offered where necessary. Such steps will help the child through the trauma and provide a path to recovery.

References

American Psychological Behavior. (2021). Trauma. https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma

Department of Human Services (DHS). (2017). Child development and trauma guide. https://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/ChildProtection/ChildAbuseAndNeglect/Documents/ChildDevelopmentAndTraumaGuide.pdf

Ding, H., Han, J., Zhang, M., Wang, K., Gong, J., & Yang, S. (2017). Moderating and mediating effects of resilience between childhood trauma and depressive symptoms in Chinese children. Journal of affective disorders, 211, 130-135.