Potential solutions
An individual’s childhood plays a huge role in how they develop as a person. The ‘early years of life determinant’ exhibits causes of depression gained from someone’s childhood. Depression, and all the determinants related to it, come from a person’s mental and emotional state. The negative feelings a person feels is the root of why depression occurs. To stop someone from gaining any signs of the mental illness, these particular determinants need to either be stopped or changed at an early age.
The four main determinants I discussed were child abuse/neglect, low self-esteem, parental divorce, and low development of social skills. All of these determinants can be associated with the individuals’ parents/caregivers. Child abuse or neglect can be a major factor in poor social development and future low self-esteem. Therefore, if this can be prevented, the risk of depression later in life will be severely reduced. If child abuse is recognised and dealt with in the early stages, further abuse can be prevented and in some cases, anyone who has harmed the child can be helped to become better parents/caregivers; creating a much more positive environment for the child (Queensland Government, 2015).
The main issue in situations of child abuse is the parents. There are many factors that can influence parents to display forms of child abuse such as; having little or no support from friends and family, feeling stressed, having exceedingly high expectations of the child, being uneducated on how to parent their child, having drug/alcohol problems or having experienced an abusive childhood themselves (Queensland Government, 2015). These are the core problems that need to be fixed in order to prevent child abuse. Therefore, parents should ensure they are well educated on how to parent their children and are aware of any supporting groups they can access if necessary.
The parenting issues related to the child experiencing child abuse or neglect is an upstream determinant. Upstream determinants are ones which have a more indirect impact on the primary problem; in this case the depression of the adolescent. The issues of the parents which relate to why the abuse occurs are not easily changed, and cannot be changed once the depression of the individual has already occurred. Therefore, they need to be prevented at a much earlier stage.
‘The Effectiveness of Parent Education and Home Visiting Child Maltreatment Prevention Programs’ study established the positive and negative responses from certain child abuse prevention and parent education programs. For child protection practice, this report showed that there is variation in the degree of effectiveness of parent education and home visiting programs. However, factors found to enhance program success include: targeted recruitment of low socio-economic families, program goals matched to the needs of families requiring the service, the use of a combination of strategies/interventions and intense/lengthy program involvement (Holzer et al., 2006). This particular study showed that both parent education and home visiting programs can improve parent’s knowledge, skills and supports and may be effective in preventing child abuse and neglect.
One aspect that could see these programs having little or no effect on the prevention of child abuse is the parents themselves and whether they actually want to change their parenting styles. Parents who experienced child abuse when they were growing up may not believe they are doing anything wrong and will be unaware of the damages they may cause on their child. Additionally, economic factors may limit the programs that are run to help child abuse prevention. In 2014-15, approximately $4.3 billion was spent on child protection, out of home care services and family support services, which was an increase of 5.8% from 2013-14 (Australian Government, 2016). Although the Australian Government states that child abuse prevention programs are a top priority, it is unknown as to whether state and federal governments will continue to spend increasing amounts of money on these sorts of programs.
There are certainly both limitations and strengths to preventing this particular determinant from impacting the likelihood of depression. However, adolescents would certainly benefit from reducing the severity of parenting issues present during their childhood. A person who has not experienced any form of child abuse or neglect will have better social development and higher self-esteem, consequently, reducing the risk of obtaining depression.
The four main determinants I discussed were child abuse/neglect, low self-esteem, parental divorce, and low development of social skills. All of these determinants can be associated with the individuals’ parents/caregivers. Child abuse or neglect can be a major factor in poor social development and future low self-esteem. Therefore, if this can be prevented, the risk of depression later in life will be severely reduced. If child abuse is recognised and dealt with in the early stages, further abuse can be prevented and in some cases, anyone who has harmed the child can be helped to become better parents/caregivers; creating a much more positive environment for the child (Queensland Government, 2015).
The main issue in situations of child abuse is the parents. There are many factors that can influence parents to display forms of child abuse such as; having little or no support from friends and family, feeling stressed, having exceedingly high expectations of the child, being uneducated on how to parent their child, having drug/alcohol problems or having experienced an abusive childhood themselves (Queensland Government, 2015). These are the core problems that need to be fixed in order to prevent child abuse. Therefore, parents should ensure they are well educated on how to parent their children and are aware of any supporting groups they can access if necessary.
The parenting issues related to the child experiencing child abuse or neglect is an upstream determinant. Upstream determinants are ones which have a more indirect impact on the primary problem; in this case the depression of the adolescent. The issues of the parents which relate to why the abuse occurs are not easily changed, and cannot be changed once the depression of the individual has already occurred. Therefore, they need to be prevented at a much earlier stage.
‘The Effectiveness of Parent Education and Home Visiting Child Maltreatment Prevention Programs’ study established the positive and negative responses from certain child abuse prevention and parent education programs. For child protection practice, this report showed that there is variation in the degree of effectiveness of parent education and home visiting programs. However, factors found to enhance program success include: targeted recruitment of low socio-economic families, program goals matched to the needs of families requiring the service, the use of a combination of strategies/interventions and intense/lengthy program involvement (Holzer et al., 2006). This particular study showed that both parent education and home visiting programs can improve parent’s knowledge, skills and supports and may be effective in preventing child abuse and neglect.
One aspect that could see these programs having little or no effect on the prevention of child abuse is the parents themselves and whether they actually want to change their parenting styles. Parents who experienced child abuse when they were growing up may not believe they are doing anything wrong and will be unaware of the damages they may cause on their child. Additionally, economic factors may limit the programs that are run to help child abuse prevention. In 2014-15, approximately $4.3 billion was spent on child protection, out of home care services and family support services, which was an increase of 5.8% from 2013-14 (Australian Government, 2016). Although the Australian Government states that child abuse prevention programs are a top priority, it is unknown as to whether state and federal governments will continue to spend increasing amounts of money on these sorts of programs.
There are certainly both limitations and strengths to preventing this particular determinant from impacting the likelihood of depression. However, adolescents would certainly benefit from reducing the severity of parenting issues present during their childhood. A person who has not experienced any form of child abuse or neglect will have better social development and higher self-esteem, consequently, reducing the risk of obtaining depression.