Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

As an African America child growing up in the Deep South, there were very many stressors to deal with.  There was definitely racism, poverty, hunger, and violence.  I mostly grew up in a broken home on a small farm located in a very rural area outside of town with a single mother.  My mother had eight children and not very much support from my father.  We had to live with my father for one summer due to my mothers inability to properly support us.  We were unfortunate to not have proper conveniences that others had.  We had no automobile, no electric stove, no running water, limited bedding, a fireplace and only two rooms available to sleep.       

As a coping mechanism we were not aware that we had a choice or that life was much better than our experiences in that state.  We wore the same clothing; eat limited portions of food, shared water from a neighbor, food, telephone, and automobile, shared child caring and caregiving. We mainly shared resources.       

The region of the country that I chose is the country of Israel.  Israel has experienced or has been forced to fight many wars. War is a constant for this nation as they are fighting everyone that they must.  Fortunately, their fighting spirit and resilience have always afforded them a victorious outcome. Israel is known for a place where Jesus Christ once lived walked and preached the gospel.  Jerusalem is the capital and is often mentioned in movies, books, article and other sources of information.  

Unfortunately, this has been a war zone many times.  War and terror attacks or violence in Israel has caused the quality of family life to fall very low in this historic religious nation.  Children have to leave tier homes for an uncertain amount of time and live in fear of terrorist attacks.  Economic and physical uncertainty has a great impact on their stress levels. Their hope for the future is threatened and poverty is increasing, child indoctrination occurs, abuse by militants as human shields, and detained by militants, on one side of the war.  The impact of war causes them not to sleep well, hunger sets in as well as a poor education, a lack of food, and posttraumatic stress on all ages.  

In addition, children handle stress better than adults and despite their experiences many are able to show positive growth in the aftermath. With a richer spiritual relationship with Christ,    changed priorities, interpersonal relationships, things can turn around.  (Kimhi et al. 2010)

Some peace projects that were implemented in Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Health professionals from each city have worked together through the Canadian International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO).  The projects goal sis to promote peacebuilding through addressing mother-child health, nutrition, youth health, disease and youth health (Skinner et al.2005).