Running Head: Aspects of Development 1

The Aspects of Childhood

Development: Maya Angelou
Natasha Roberts
The Pennsylvania State University

Psychology 212H
Dr. Blandon
May 2, 2015
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The Aspects of Child Development: Maya Angelou

Starting from birth, humans undergo many monumental changes. Human

development is influenced by numerous factors and a common debate that has been

discussed for numerous years is whether nature, ones biological makeup, or nurture, their

environment and experiences, influences the child more. But after countless studies it has

been determined that nature and nurture both affect the child over time. The key aspects of

development are physical, cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional. Theses aspects are

intertwined into all of lifes experiences in which affects an individual in some way. In

addition, ones childhood is an extension of their childhood; it influences ones academic

achievements, romantic and non-romantic relationships, mental health and more (Singh,

2014). This means that aspects like the home environment, parenting and peer relationships

should not be overlooked.

The focus of this paper is to dissect the childhood of Maya Angelou and go into

depth about some key aspects of her childhood that influenced her development with a

focus on the environmental influences rather than her genetic make up. The two main

aspects of development that will be focused on are cognitive and social-emotional, in

which include topics like her sociocultural sense of self, her ethnicity, the environment she

grew up in, and her family relationships. In which has all shaped her to be the woman that

she was and the decisions she made throughout her adolescence and adulthood.

Social-Emotional Development
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Social-emotional development focuses on how in individual develops relationships,

their self-confidence and sense of importance and value to those around them. Social-

emotional development influences all of the other aspects of development as well. There

are many factors that affect ones self-confidence and self worth including ones ethnicity

and their relationships with their family and peers. The rest of this section will discuss the

situations and instances in which Mayas social-emotional development was influenced.

Culture

Being Black in America during the 1920s meant that the individual was at the

bottom of the social ladder regardless of their socioeconomic status. Angelou did not grow

up in complete poverty since her grandmother was fortunate enough to own her own shop,

yet her family was still seen as inferior to the low class white families due to her ethnicity

which greatly impacted Mayas outlook on the world and the way she viewed herself.

Maya had witnessed her Uncle Willie hide in a crate full of onions in fear of being

murdered since he fit the description of a man who sexually abused a white woman. She

saw her fellow neighbors working long hours picking cotton and barely making ends meet

and she encountered a large amount of racism and discrimination. Her sense of self worth

was lowered since her kind of people were not wanted in her society since they were not

seen as equals.

Disidentification is a strategy used by individuals to cope with the impacts of

stereotypes on ones ethnic group or when their racial identity is a threat. But differs from

low identification, which is a weak association of a social group (Yip, 2015 pg. 4-6). The

beginning of the book describes Mayas desires as a young child. She wanted to have long

blonde hair, light blue eyes, no Southern accent because she was [actually] white and a
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cruel fairy stepmother had turned [her] into a too-big Negro girl, with nappy hair, broad

feet and a space between her teeth (Angelou, 1969 pg.4-6). Researcher Yip states that

people will disidentify themselves when they feel that their self-esteem is at risk which is

what Maya demonstrates in this example. He hypothesized that disidentification is

associated with a negative mood but his studies concluded that negative mood and

disidentification occurs when stereotypes target ones core identity (Yip, 2015). This was

her way of coping with being black, which is a major part of her identity, during a time

period with high racial segregation. But her denial of being black and lack of embracing

her true identity hinders her emotional personal growth.

Relationships

A childs first relationship is with his/her parent(s) or legal guardian(s) and it is

crucial to his/her development. Based on the amount of attention or care the parent

provides during infancy, the child either forms a secure or insecure attachment with its

parent. A study was conducted to test how a childs behavior is affected due to the type of

attachment the infant has with its parents. The researchers studied infants that came from a

two-parent household and made sure to participants represented a broad demographic

range. Child parent assessments were conducted when the child was 15 months and the

child was tested again around age 8. The researchers obtained the childrens self reports as

well as the parent and teacher reports on each childs behavior. The results concluded that

children that had insecure attachments as infants with both parents showed higher levels of

behavioral problems around age eight. Having a secure attachment with at least one parent

offset the risk of having mental health issues. Teachers reported that the children who were

insecure with both parents experienced a lot of total problems but more specifically
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externalizing problems, cursing, fighting and more (Kochanska, 2013, pp. 283-287). This

first attachment then influences the types of attachment the child will form during

adolescence and adulthood, which is a component of ones social-emotional development.

Although the book does not describe Mayas infancy, it is unsure what parenting

techniques were used therefore it is difficult to say the exact type of parental attachment

Maya had during infancy. But it can be inferred that it was an insecure attachment. The

reason being is that Mayas parents decided to put an end to their calamitous marriage

(Angelou, 1969 pg.6) her brother, Bailey, were young. Meaning a lot of their parents

attention and energy may have been put into what was left of their marriage rather than

reaching the demands of the children. Their mother left the two children with their father.

Research has shown that paternal interaction and support is just as important as maternal

and Maya states that she has yet to find that paternal figure. A study focused on the

parenting after a divorce and its effect on the child. The result showed that there is a

positive correlation between supportive parents, especially fathers, and the childs self

esteem. The presence of the father also affects the childs overall well-being and not just

their self esteem, children need the support system from their father. (Bastaits , 2012

pg.1653). The evidence gathered from this study states that a childs relationship with their

father is just as important as their relationship with their mother. Mayas father could have

helped her grow and flourish but instead chose to send the children to Stamps, Arkansas to

live with their grandmother when Maya was 3 and Bailey was 4 with a To Who It May

Concern label. But what is certain is that Maya and Bailey did not get the chance to form

a close bond with their parents since they were essentially abandoned. This negatively

affected young Maya, since she felt unwanted which helped to lower her self-esteem and
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was not able for form a sense of security with an adult. Later in her childhood, she saw her

parents as strangers, rather than loving caretakers and sought comfort and safety in Bailey.

Maya idolized Bailey and thought of him in a much higher regard than herself.

Through reading the descriptions about him, Bailey is not only her brother but also her role

model, hero and her safety net. As stated above, Bailey is a year older then Maya and he

has been with her from day one and has experienced every obstacle right by her side. The

divorce also helped to build the close bond between her and her brother since he was all

she had to rely on. Siblings are not guaranteed to get along with each other or form as close

of a bond such as Bailey and Maya had. But the fact that they only had each other

throughout the divorce and the journey to their grandmothers house helps to explain one

reason as to why they are so close. Studies on sibling subgroups have been done on

reconnecting families in which the children either lost a parent or had to adjust into a

different family setting. Siblings look to each other for guidance, control and appraisal and

for them to fulfill their need for a protective shield that should have been provided by a

parent. In the case studies that were observed it was found that the development of a

mutually supportive system is important for physical and emotional survival (Rosenberg,

1980 pg.144-146). Bailey positive affected Mayas social-emotional development by

providing that protective shield for Maya and because of that it helped her adjust to her

family situation. He gave her a sense of self worth and belonging and she learned how to

trust people because of him since she knew that he always had her back, all things that she

can use and bring forth in her future relationships.

Mayas other main source of support had been her grandmother, also known as

Momma. Momma, with the help of Uncle Willie, provided the emotional support and love
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that the children needed as well as the resources to survive. The effects of children raised

by their grandparents were studied on 511 children between the ages of 2 and 16. Through

home observations and self reports it was found that 21.3% and 32.6% had an elevated

range for internalizing, directing negative energy towards oneself, and externalizing

behavioral problems and these finding are consistent with those of foster children. The

children who experience a disruption in attachments with their birth parents are prone to

emotional distress. In addition, it was found that those children who had siblings were

better able to adjust from their previous negative home environment and help to ease some

of the stress in difficult family situations. Also, grandparents that cared for fewer children

were more likely to report the childs internalizing behaviors and seek help for the child

since their attention is not being split between many children (Kelley, 2011, pp. 2140-

2145). Bailey enabled Maya to feel more comfortable with the situation since he had been

her safety net from the start and Momma provided that unconditional love that Maya

desperately needed in order to advance emotionally and learn to love herself. According to

Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs, in order to reach self-actualization, the best version

of oneself, one must first fulfill their needs in this order: physiological, safety, belongings

and love, esteem and then self-actualization (Huitt, 2007). If Maya didnt have Momma to

take her in a care for her the first three needs would not have been met. A 3 year old cant

provide food for themself and Bailey and Momma helped to fulfill that safety need and

over time she is one of the reasons why her need for love and belonging were fulfilled,

moving her closer to self-actualization and positively influencing her social-emotional

development.

Abuse
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Physical and sexual abuse has a large impact on an individuals psychological

development. There is a lot of evidence on the implications of sexual abuse after a

traumatic incident. The common side effects of rape and assault are posttraumatic stress

disorder (PTSD), which is flashbacks, nightmares and anxiety, depression and

disassociation, when someone checks out of reality and cant focus (Singh, 2014). Others

tend to self-harm or partake in substance abuse, the mental affects of rape and sexual

assault are broad and extensive since everyone responds differently and the recovery time

differs for everyone or the effects may be permanent.

When Maya went to go live with her mother she was sexually abused by her

mothers boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, at age 5. He took advantage of her vulnerability and

included her in his masturbation. (Angelou, 1969 pg 71). She was then raped at age 8 by

Mr. Freeman and ended up needing medical assistance. Mr. Freeman threatened to kill her

brother if she spoke about the incident so she was unable to reach out for help and comfort.

Incidents like this one plays a great toll on ones mental health. After Maya was raped, Mr.

Freeman was convicted, released then murdered; she became mute for about a year and

blamed herself for his death since she spoke the truth. Out of fear she decided not to talk in

order to ensure the safety of others. (Angelou, 1969 pg. 82). This shows one of the short-

term behavioral effects of the abuse that Maya experienced. Mayas behavior negatively

shifted. She closed herself off from society and limited herself to only interacting with

Bailey, therefore engaging in selective mutism. By not fully engaging with her peers she

was unable to develop the necessary social skills between her peers and expand her

communication skills. Maya stated that she felt her senses dulling and her sanity leaving

(Angelou, pg. 101).

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The abuse Maya encountered during her adolescence impacted her social-emotional

development since she trusted in Mr. Freeman and he betrayed that trust and hurt her and

then threatened to hurt her family. She then blamed herself for the consequences and

closed herself off from the rest of the world. Her self-esteem decreased since she felt that

of she spoke and expressed her feelings another person would get hurt because of her.

Cognitive Development

Cognitive development is the increase in intelligence, thought processing and

problem solving and is influenced by many factors in society such as race, socioeconomic

class and more. During the 1920s, white men and women had superiority over all of the

minority groups and dictated and distributed the tasks of each social group. Because of

this, the majority of the ethnic groups were placed on the bottom of the social ladder and

had a lower economic status. Having a low economic status not only emotionally affects

the individual and/or group but also physically and mentally. By having a low income, the

family isnt able to provide the same high quality, nutritious foods that the white families

are eating and are not given the same type of opportunities. It has also been proven that

those who grow up with a low economic status, score on average 6 points lower than those

of a higher economic status on IQ tests and triples by the age of 16 (Von Stumm, 2014).

Low economic status children normally grow up in a more troubled household and are not

given the same opportunities, which hinders their cognitive development.

In order for Maya to not contribute to this statistic, she did not left her ethnicity or

socioeconomic rankings define her intelligence. Maya practiced her times tables frequently

and turned to reading as her past time. By repeating her times tables frequently she is
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encoding the information and working on her problem solving skills as well as expanding

her vocabulary. Her language comprehension is expanding and well as her ability to

decode the language (Singh, 2014)

Although only two main aspects of development were discussed there are many

more that affect the development of an individual. It is important to note that children are

at a vulnerable stage during adolescence and are molded by their childhood experiences

just as Maya Angelou was.

References

Angelou, M. (1969). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (pp.1-281). Clinton Massachusetts:

Colonial Press

Bastaits, K., Ponnet, K., & Mortelmans, D. (2012). Parenting of Divorced Fathers and the

Association with Children's Self Esteem. J Youth Adolescence, (41), 1643-1656.

Effects of Sexual Assault and Rape. (n.d.). Retrieved May 3, 2015, from

http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/learn/sexual-assault-rape/effects-sexual-

assault-and-rape

Huitt, W. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Educational Psychology Interactive.

Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date]
from,http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/regsys/maslow.html
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Kelley, S., Whitley, D., & Campos, P. (2011). Behavior problems in children raised by

grandmothers: The role of caregiver distress, family resources, and the home

environment. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 2138-2145.

Kochanska, G., & Kim, S. (2013). Early Attachment Organization With Both Parents and

Future Behavior Problems: From Infancy to Middle Childhood. Child Development, 84(1),

283296-283296.

Palmer, S. (1996). Placement stability and inclusive practice in foster care: An empirical

study. Children and Youth Services Review, 18(7), 589601-589601.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0190740996000254#

Rosenberg, Elinor B.; (1980). "Therapy with siblings in reorganizing families."

International Journal of Family Therapy 2(3): 139-150.

Singh, M. (2014, December 19). Some Early Childhood Experiences Shape Adult Life,

But Which Ones? Retrieved May 5, 2015, from

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/12/19/371679655/some-early-childhood-

experiences-shape-adult-life-but-which

Von Stumm, S., & Plomin, R. (2014). Socioeconomic status and the growth of intelligence

from infancy through adolescence. Intelligence, 48, 30-36.

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Yip, T. (2015, April 20). To Be or Not to Be: How Ethnic/Racial Stereotypes Influence

Ethnic/Racial Disindetification and Psychological Mood. Cultural Diversity and

Ethnic Minority Psychology.