I noticed and wanted to ask this question because I wondered if both of the Wes Moore's lives would have been different if they both had present fathers during their time growing up. There are indeed many psychological, behavioral, and many other effects of growing up without a father. Some psychological problems may be an increased risk in depression, anxiety, and many other mental health issues. Some behavioral problems may be delinquency, alcohol and drug abuse, and involvement in crime. Some other problems may be early sexual activity such as teen pregnancy. The absence of a father can also persist into the years of adulthood.

Reason: In the novel, both Nikki and Wes have witnessed the domestic violence of their parents. Also, Nikki took her father’s “death worse than any of us,” so I wanted to find out if her exposure to abuse resulted in her grief (Moore 15). 

#1: Impact of Domestic Abuse on Children - KS Courts

https://kscourts.gov/About-the-Courts/Programs/Parenting-Planning/Impact-of-Domestic-Abuse-on-Children

-Children who are present at the moment of domestic violence have a higher risk of being murdered and injured 

-Children who are exposed express emotions of terror, isolation, guilt, helplessness, and grief 

-Children can experience problems with anxiety, depression, and embarrassment

-As children act out what they see, they can have violent actions from their exposure

#2: Effects of Domestic Violence on Children - OASH | Office of Women’s Health

https://womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/domestic-violence/effects-domestic-violence-children

-Children who witness domestic violence between parents are at a greater risk of being violent in their future relationships

-As a child, domestic violence can make them feel guilty about the abuse and blame themselves. This impacts a child’s self-esteem and causes them to get lower grades and not participate in school activities or make friends. 

-Teens may act out by fighting a family member or skipping school. They can also get involved in using drugs and alcohol to relieve their physical or mental health problems. 

-From research, boys are typically more likely to act out physically and become violent, while girls are withdrawn and may experience mental health issues like depression.

Connection: Both Nikki Moore and Wes Moore witnessed domestic violence in their household. Both their mothers were abused by their loved one. However, after the author Moore’s father dies, Nikki struggles to handle her emotions and is more deeply affected than the rest of her family. She doesn’t demonstrate violent behavior thus far, but she seems to have developed some mental problems from his death. On the other hand, after witnessing domestic violence, the incarcerated Moore became violent and broke the law by killing a police officer. He displayed a more violent behavior and attitude that could be rooted from his childhood. 

In chapter 1 of The Other Wes Moore, it explores how your parents and family life affect you, Although it is blurry I noticed that Wes Moore's (Author) parents attended college compared to the other Wes's parents did not, so I questioned if parents education level affected a child's education. There is a strong correlation between students graduating college and their parents education level, around 7% of first generation students attended a private college compared to 23% of those whose parents had a degree.

https://studyinternational.com/news/parents-education-levels-affect-childrens-likelihood-attend-college-study/

In chapter 2 of The Other Wes Moore it is evident how the different communities affect each of the boys, Wes( author) in a somewhat positive way through the basketball courts, and Wes(incarcerated) in a negative way because he was exposed to the drug community through his brother from a young age. I wanted to research more about specific barriers to solidarity in low-income communities. Through my research, I found that "poverty stigma" is very prevalent and a major issue that causes many challenges for low-income families. Poverty stigma, in simple terms, is " not wanting to seek help because of the feeling of embarrassment due to being poor". This can lead to isolation, wearing down of their self esteem, and going to great lengths to hide the fact that they are stuggling. This prevents solidarity because it leaves everyone feeling alone and to stuggle by themselves.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44192-024-00087-0

https://www.lundbeck.com/global

Reason: In chapter 2 of the novel, incarcerated Wes Moore is arrested for threatening to hurt another kid with a knife after he was punched. I was wondering what led Wes to try and punish the other child so severely, or did he simply not understand the concept of his actions? Additionally, Wes’s friend Woody told the police at the scene, “If y’all don’t let him go, I’m gonna have to kill somebody!” (Moore 35). Evidently, both Wes and Woody didn’t understand the severity of their actions and only wanted to act on their enraged emotion. As far as Wes knows, he was just following his brother’s advice. 

#1: Environmental Aesthetic Value Influences the Intention for Moral Behavior: Changes in Behavioral Moral Judgment

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8296289/#:~:text=Different%20environments%20trigger%20individuals%27%20emotions,Emotions%20also%20affect%20moral%20judgment.

-Beautiful environments lead to prosocial behavior

-An experiment was conducted and participants who were exposed to a higher aesthetic value had a lower intention to engage in immoral behavior, compared to those in an environment with a low aesthetic value.

-Moral judgment in different environments may lead to different behavioral intentions

#2: Moral Development | HHS Office of Population Affairs 

https://opa.hhs.gov/adolescent-health/adolescent-development-explained/moral-development#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20cognitive%2C%20emotional%2C%20and,situations%20in%20completely%20different%20ways.

-Though adolescents don’t think like children, they still need time and support to process new ideas and ways of thinking.

-While adolescents vary in how fast they establish and change their moral values, cognitive, emotional, and social development all can have an impact on how adolescents shape their morals and values.

-Family members are often a person’s first teachers of how the world works, setting cultural norms and traditions.

-Adolescents’ values are formed by interactions with parents and other adults, peers, schools, religious groups, the media, the internet, and other institutions.

Connection: Growing up, the incarcerated Wes Moore was exposed to life with absent parents and a brother who encouraged violence because of his engagement in a gang. Moore didn’t have the proper support or environment to grow morals or know what was right and wrong. Instead, he followed his brother’s advice and used violence to resolve his emotional issues. When Moore was dealing with emotional control issues, he didn’t have the comfort or guidance to tell him how to correctly handle his feelings. Just like Wes, Tony also didn’t grow up with the essential guidance that a child and adolescent need to form a moral thought process. Their actions involve violence as the answer and are the result of a parentless childhood and a lack of support from their family. Children learn most from their parents, and without parents present, they have nothing to learn from but the violence and crime that surrounds their neighborhood in Baltimore. 

In the book both Wes Moores live in low income areas and both struggle in school immensely. I wondered if this was due to the school, or due to them. Partially it is both affects on them. From my resource I learned that low income schools have less resources like books computers and teachers. But I also learned that the community a child grows up in also heavily plays a role in their schooling. If children see all the older kids dropping out of school and not doing good in classes they are likely to not try as hard because the bar hasn’t been raised that high. Both Wes Moores struggle in school with Wes( incarcerated) having to repeat a grade, and Wes( the author) skipping school and having poor grades. Through my research I concluded it’s a mixture of a lack of resources and also how the environment around them views school.

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/discipline-and-children

In chapter 5, Wes' (incarcerated) girlfriend Alicia becomes pregnant and in chapter 6 Wes officially drops out of highschool after the child is born. There are a lot of reasons why teenage pregnancy and poverty go hand in hand, this is because only 38% of girls who have a child before 18 recieve a high school diploma, which greatly limits their future jobs and will leave them with low paying jobs in the future. This leaves 78% of children born through a teenage pregnancy living below the poverty line. This cycle of young pregnancies keep reoccuring due to a lack of education revolving around sexual education and also because it was normalized due to the childrens mother also becoming a teenage mother.

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/blogs/racism-and-mental-health  

https://www3.ohrc.on.ca/en/paying-price-human-cost-racial-profiling/effects-racial-profiling

Reason: In chapters 3-4, the author Wes Moore has a difficult time fitting into his private school life and his neighborhood. He wasn’t rich enough to feel comfortable in the private school and felt too privileged to fit into his neighborhood group. I wonder what a sense of belonging would do to Wes’s mindset and if he could have excelled in school if he had found a group to feel comfortable with. Also, does a particular group change who you are or your behavior? If Wes surrounded himself with a positive, productive group, could that have changed how he performed in school and life? 

#1: Groupthink | Verywell Mind 

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-groupthink-2795213#:~:text=Groupthink%20is%20a%20psychological%20phenomenon,Janis.

-Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus within a group. In many cases, people will set aside their own personal beliefs or adopt the opinions of the rest of the group.

-It is often much more difficult to speak out when it seems that everyone else in the group is on the same page.

-Rather than sharing what they know, people remain quiet and assume that the group must know best.

-When no one speaks out or voices an alternative opinion, people believe that the group must be right.

-Those who question the group are often seen as disloyal or traitorous.

Connection: During chapters 3-4, Joy is concerned about Wes’s academics and how he is failing to keep his grades. Though Wes needed to adopt a support system which can be found within a group like family or friends, groups can also backfire and have a negative effect. Being in a group causes you to conform to their ideas and follow the leader or the majority vote. If you’re in a group, people feel less inclined to share their ideas and follow what many believe, they adopt another person’s mindset and ideologies to fit in. Humans want to belong to a group to gain connections with others around them and not isolate themselves. They want to feel like someone wants to know them and who they truly are. However, a group can also ignore another person’s perspective. If Wes were in a group, he could benefit if he spoke about his experiences in life and had a support system that pertains to his needs, ultimately helping him with school and issues in his personal life.

Reason: In chapters 7-8, the author Wes Moore travels to South Africa and explores the culture and how Apartheid has affected their community. He knows of Nelson Mandela, but he is educated more about his message and beliefs. Mandela believes that no matter what wounds a nation has, they should be set aside and forgiven to live together in harmony and have a society with equal opportunities. Mandela respects all human beings and believes that we should stop hating each other over what was in the past - we control our futures, not those who attempt to control us. 

#1: Biography of Nelson Mandela | Nelson Mandela Foundation

https://www.nelsonmandela.org/biography

-Madela dreamed of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.

-In 1952 he was chosen as the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign, which led to him and 19 others being charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months of hard labor, suspended for two years.

-He requested a national convention on a non-racial constitution. 

-He traveled around Africa and visited England to gain support for the armed struggle.

-”I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality, and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived and to all who oppose oppression and deprivation.

Connection: Nelson Mandela’s work and ideologies led Wes Moore to continue his legacy. While Moore received more opportunities than the other Wes Moore, he still advocated for others and believed in equality. No matter where you start in life, you deserve an equal opportunity to succeed. Mandela also never answered racism with racism and continued to live in peace with those around him. To achieve equality, you need to believe in it and see everyone as individuals, yet as one. Moore also lives out Mandela’s legacy by continuing to speak his messages in America and give opportunities to those with less.

In chapters 7-8 of The Other Wes Moore, Wes( incarcerated) realizes that he has been stuck in a community of violence and drugs and wants to escape. He joins the Job Corps and is enthusiastic, but upon his return to his community, he realizes that his issues haven't disappeared and he can't take care of his family with his new passion, so he resorts to dealing drugs and cooks up some more crack. In my research, they said that youth considered drug dealing a "career activity". Many children are exposed to drugs through their family, friends, and community, which normalizes it for them from a young age. A lot of the environmental factors for this are poor neighborhood conditions, poverty, peer group deviance, and limited job opportunities. The drug dealing world hooks young kids by providing a "job" and giving them money, they work their way up and get higher earning positions. Many kids drop out of highschool which further limits job opportunities which leaves a lot of people dealing drugs as it is the only source of stable money due to people being addicted and constantly needing more.