There is this article I read about how children cope with pain in the same ways that their parents cope with pain. They say in the article that the way that the first born child deals with pain can be predicted by the way there parents deal with pain.
This makes a lot of sense to me base on what we have learned in class about attachment. Attachment is the interaction with caregivers early in life that contribute to patterns of how to interact with others. By early we learned that this is about from birth to 24 months of life. So if the child is making patterns for life base on their early caregiver then it stands to reason that the child would pick up on how the parent deals with pain and try to deal with pain in the same ways.
I am a very introverted person, a trait most likely fostered by the fact that my brother and I are 10 months apart so my parents were incredibly stressed during those first instrumental years. My mother is very extroverted and prone to stress while my father is the exact opposite. My mother used to tell me that I would stop crying when I was a baby if I picked up on stress or that my brother was crying as well. I definitely picked up on my dad's way of coping with pain and his attachment style moreso than my mothers.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting given what we know about attachment styles being passed down generationally. If a child is likely to mimick the coping mechanisms for pain used by the parents, they are likely to respond to emtional and physical pain in the same manner of their parents, directly influencing their perception of the risks involved in developing attachments and experiencing that pain. It makes a lot of sense when you break it down. Great post!
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