...Middle Childhood and Adolescence Paper PSY/280 April 17, 2013 Rosita Rodriguez Middle Childhood and Adolescence Paper Childhood years can be one of the most wonderful times in life. These years can be full of fun. At this age of innocence a child is most impressionable by learning from their surrounding environment. The beginning of a child’s life can be broken down into different stages leading into an adult. In this paper the focus will be on the middle childhood and adolescence. The research will focus on evaluating the effect of functional and dysfunctional family dynamics on development such as family structure, function, and shared and non-shared environments. Examination of additional pressures that are faced in adolescence versus middle childhood, also the research will help to determine the positive and negative impact of peers and changes in peer relations from middle childhood to adolescence. The research will then discuss the development of moral values from middle childhood and adolescence. “It is human to have a long childhood; it is civilized to have an even longer childhood. Long childhood makes a technical and mental virtuoso out of man, but it also leaves a life-long residue of emotional immaturity in him.” — Erik Homburger Erikson (1902-1994) Erik Erikson a theorist believes that our temperament traits are inborn. Other characteristics such as competency or inferiority can be learned according to the challenges or support an individual receives...
Words: 1432 - Pages: 6
...Middle Childhood and Adolescence Louis Gibbs PSY/280 05/18/2012 Michael Johnson The introduction of middle childhood and adolescence, a crucial period of development, for the child and parent can become a time of uncertainty. The parenting styles of the parent makes a difference in the out-come of the child. All children need parents that care about them. The different parenting styles include; authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. In the best interest of the child’s development, parents have to make an evaluation of the parenting methods that work well with the personality of the child. During these years the child’s temperament also begins to have an effect in their lives. “A child’s temperament matters (Kagan & Fox, 2006). If they do not consider the personality of the child, authoritarian parents might terrorize children who are innately fearful or anxious, or permissive parents might watch their impulsive children flail out of control.”(Berger, 2010). Environmental circumstances also have a role in children’s development for example: a parent gaining or loosing employment. There will be many changes that take place for middle childhood and adolescent children. Middle Childhood For many people puberty is a time in their life that will not be forgotten. The ages from 7 to 11 are sometimes called the school years. “The...
Words: 1071 - Pages: 5
...Middle Childhood and Adolescence Kierra Williams PSY/280 October 30, 2012 Mara Husband Middle Childhood and Adolescence Middle childhood is the period of life that occurs between the ages 7 and 11. During these times of children lives they are in school and are making many different friends, and their cognitive and physical skills are enhancing. On the other hand, middle childhood period normally introduce individuals into new sets of challenges; not only for the child but for the parents as well. After middle childhood comes the adolescence stage, this period of life children face drastic changes. This stage can range from as early as 8 years old to 18. This essay will describe changes that occur during middle childhood and adolescence concerning family and peer relationships, and how they might influence future development. Established and caring families are central components throughout middle childhood and adolescence developmental stage. The way a family works and cares for its member is called family function. The most vital family function is to provide a place of protection for each family member. Individuals of different age ranges have particular needs from their relatives. Berger’s (2010) study found the following: Children thrive if families function for them in five ways: 1. Provide basic necessities. Children aged 6 to 11 can eat, dress, wash, and sleep without help, but someone must provide food, clothing, and shelter. 2. Encourage learning. School-age...
Words: 1042 - Pages: 5
...During the physical developmental stages there are significant milestones that these school age children experience. By the beginning of middle childhood, children typically have acquired a leaner, more athletic appearance ("Cliff Notes", 2000-2012). All through the middle childhood weight gain and height is at a steady increase. During this developmental stage an individual will lose his or her baby teeth and their permanent teeth will come through. Depending on the individual a child can begin the early stages of puberty during this time. Physical development (early adolescence) The physical development of a child in the early adolescence stages can be a drastic change for an individual. The hormones of the early adolescence are at a rapid growth and are better developed throughout the years. As the level of hormones increase this causes acne to form as well as his or her height and weight will increase. Emotional Development (middle childhood) As children develop in age each individual child will react to various situations differently. During the middle childhood stage an individual’s emotional development goes through some drastic changes. To give an example of the transitions that he or she will face is the start of school that will allow them to come into contact with new teachers and also the opportunity to build friendships with other children. During this stage a child will gain a sense of responsibility as well as the feeling of being more independent...
Words: 969 - Pages: 4
...Middle Childhood and Adolescence University of Phoenix Human Growth and Development Jeanette Merchant August 17, 2010 Middle Childhood and Adolescence Stable and supportive families are crucial during middle childhood and adolescence development stage. Supportive family members and friends improve social development. The major change that occurs from middle childhood to adolescence is emotional maturation. During middle childhood stage, children develop more independence from parents and family. They understand more and can differentiate between right and wrong. Children at this age give more attention to friendship and teamwork, but continue to be strongly influence by their parents’ judgment. Their also yearn for love and acceptation from family and friends. They have ability to experience and describe feelings and thoughts with parents and friends. Middle childhood is a time when children develop social relationships. The social skills learned through family and peers give them ability to participate in meaningful communication that later provide foundation for challenges as adolescence. This improves their relationship and encourages them to be successful in future. As children enter adolescence stage, they begin to spend more unsupervised time with friends and other peers than they had before. They spend less time with their parents and family members. Their distance themselves emotionally from parents. Adolescents are exploring different ideas...
Words: 722 - Pages: 3
...Middle Childhood and Adolescence Development Group Paper - Middle Childhood and Adolescence Development Social and moral growth fosters peer interaction in a positive climate. A child’s interaction and acceptance with peers rises during middle childhood. During middle age friendship is an important development. Friendship also fulfills needs of middle childhood such as communal, intimacy, companionship, and acceptance. Adolescent egocentrism is an adolescent thinking intensely about him or herself while wondering what others think about them (Berger, 2008). An adolescent will practice new thinking skills on his or herself, which helps with detachment. The adolescent child worries about how other’s perceive them, and thinks about their conflicting interests in school, close friends, family, and about their own future. All of this thinking of self, refection of experiences, and self-awareness is a distinct to adolescence and egocentrism. These changes for the young adolescent often bring rebellion, low motivation, drugs, alcohol, pregnancies, rocky emotions, and peer pressure. Life for the adolescent can be a conflicting demand of tug of war, filling the adolescent life with demands, mixed messages, and forcing a path of reliance on others and independence while creating stress and depression for the inexperienced adolescent to handle. Relationships in middle childhood and adolescence Peer relations are important aspect of human development. During middle childhood, children...
Words: 1584 - Pages: 7
...step of development begins during infancy in which the development cycle will continue through his or her childhood, adolescence, adulthood along into his or her elderly stage of life. This assignment will discuss the similarities and differences in adolescent development on both males and females. The adolescent stage is when a human reaches the age of 12 to 19 years of age. Males as well as females will go through different stages of life that will stay with each gender throughout his or her lifespan. Is the experience of being an adolescent the same for males and females? Both male Both genders are unique; For example, various personalities along with life experiences. An adolescent can be influenced by a number of factors which include but are not limited to physical development, cognitive development, emotional development and social development. Both genders will go through all four stages of development in his or her own way. When a girl goes through the age of eight to eleven, they tend to be androgynous. A girl in this age group will view themselves as strong and confident as well as not afraid to express her feelings on what she may think about specific issues. Once she cross over into adolescence, she will begin to experience more pressure toward rigid conceptions of her gender role of development. According to the text, once a girl hit adolescence she will become more concerned how woman should behave as well as her physical and sexual attractiveness...
Words: 961 - Pages: 4
...Practice Essays: Exam 3 What are the four identity statuses in Marcia’s theory? Define each of the four statuses using the component of crisis and commitment. * Identity achievement Having already explored alternatives, identity-achieved individuals are committed to a clearly formulated set of self chosen values and goals. They feel a sense of psychological well-being, of sameness through time, and of knowing where they are going. When asked how willing she would be to give up going into her chosen occupation if something better came along, Darla responded, “Well, I might, but I doubt it. I’ve thought long and hard about law as a career. I’m pretty certain it’s for me.” * Identity moratorium Moratorium means “delay or holding pattern.” These individuals have not yet made definite commitments. They are in the process of exploring—gathering information and trying out activities, with the desire to find values and goals to guide their lives. When asked whether he had ever had doubts about his religious beliefs, Ramón said, “Yes, I guess I’m going through that right now. I just don’t see how there can be a God and yet so much evil in the world.” * Identity foreclosure Identity-foreclosed individuals have committed themselves to values and goals without exploring alternatives. They accept a ready-made identity chosen for them by authority figures—usually parents but sometimes teachers, religious leaders, or romantic partners. When asked if she had ever reconsidered...
Words: 2215 - Pages: 9
...Risky Business: Executive Function, Personality, and Reckless Behavior During Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood Henry Pharo, Clark Sim, Mikala Graham, Julien Gross, and Harlene Hayne University of Otago Adolescence is a risky business. Despite outstanding physical health, the risk of injury or death during adolescence is 2–3 times that of childhood. The primary cause of this increase in morbidity and mortality is heightened risky behavior including drinking, driving, drug-taking, smoking, and unprotected sex. Why is it that some adolescents take big risks, while others do not? One potential source of individual differences in risk-taking behavior may lie in individual differences in executive function including judgment, impulse control, self-monitoring, and planning. Researchers have hypothesized that limited brain system integration and efficiency, particularly in the prefrontal cortex and related structures, may be involved in the range and degree of risky behavior commonly exhibited by teens. In the present study, we examined the relation between risky behavior, personality factors, and performance on neuropsychological tests of executive function. The community sample of 136 adolescents aged 13- to 17-yearsold and 57 emerging adults aged 18- to 22-years-old exhibited marked individual differences in risk-taking behavior; participants’ scores on a alcohol, smoking, drugs, sex, driving, and antisocial behavior questionnaire ranged from 0 to near the maximum...
Words: 1229 - Pages: 5
...Adolescents Discovering Their Identity through Physical, Cognitive, Emotional, and Social Development The Changing Years Even though children go through physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes during their adolescence years not all react the same way to these changes. Throughout these years adolescences ask “Who am I?”(Vander Zanden, 2000, p. 360). Biological changes occurring during this period of life affects children’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. These changes cause the children’s way of thinking to change in relationship to others as well as to themselves (Vander Zanden, 2000). Physical Development The onset of puberty occurs in this time of life. Puberty is the beginning stage into adulthood but children must go through many changes through the journey. Adolescences oftentimes find this stage of development dramatic. Females may find this time more dramatic than males. “Girls who have been advanced in physical maturity since the prenatal period, reach puberty, on average, two years earlier than boys” (Berk, 2010, p. 363). Both male and female adolescences experience growth spurts through this time frame, which is the first outward sign of the onset of puberty. Hormone levels increase in both males and females. Female begin to develop breast and pubic hair begins to grow. This is the time females normally start their menstruation cycle. Males develop pubic and facial hair at this time. Male’s penis and testes begin...
Words: 1555 - Pages: 7
...Rite of Passage April 16, 2011 BHSH 342 Rite of Passage In middle childhood and adolescence there are many transitions that a child faces. A child changes from early childhood; venturing into public school systems and finding friendships outside of their family. Children in middle childhood are confronted with peer, academic, and sport groups. For the first time they have the opportunity to form relationships with individuals who may challenge their family’s morals and values. The child whose main focus was family will mature into an adolescent, who is more comfortable around peers than their mother and father. These common changes in a child’s life are transitions just like the biological and social transformations the body will experience. Rites of Passage A Rite of Passage is “any important act or event that serves to mark a passage from one stage of life to another” (American Dictionary, 2006). Rites of passage combine separation, initiation, and reintegration. During these steps, a child is separating themselves from a parent, friend, or past knowledge to make a deeper discovery of themselves and life. During this journey, the individual has changed and become more mature in thought and understanding. The voyage from adolescence into adulthood will be an experience of several rites of passages. A girl will begin menstruating, an occurrence stating that she is entering motherhood, and a boy will begin growing body and facial hair and broadening...
Words: 1601 - Pages: 7
...Definition of adolescence and adolescent depression 2 2. Adolescent depressive symptoms 4 3. Problems with diagnosis of depression in adolescents 4 4. Gender factors that may play a role in assessing depression 6 5. Contextual factors that may play a role in assessing depression 8 6. Suicide 9 ‘Like anyone else, I have always had times when I felt deeply depressed, but this was something altogether new in my experience – a despairing, unchanging paralysis of the spirit beyond anything I had ever known or imagined could exist.’ The author William Styron (1990). (Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale 2012:132) 1. Definition of adolescence and adolescent depression Adolescence is the period of development marked at the beginning by the onset of puberty and at the end by the attainment of physiological or psychological maturity (Reber, Allen & Reber 2009). It is a period of transition from childhood into adulthood, involving changes in physical development, cognitive abilities, emotional adjustment and self esteem. Adolescence is a time of acute stress. It is a period of social sorting and identity formation. Erikson described development that occurs throughout the lifespan in his theory of psychosocial development. During the adolescent period, which Erikson called ‘Identity vs Role confusion’, adolescents need to develop a sense of self and personal identity. During adolescence, children...
Words: 2086 - Pages: 9
...Describe two (2) developmental changes that occur in “adolescence” Adolescence is generally viewed as a transitional stage between childhood and adulthood, where the adolescent has to face developmental changes, such as biological, psychological, cognitive, emotional, social, moral and spiritual changes. Physical Changes During adolescence, boys and girls experience physical changes: • For both sexes height and weight increase, underarm and pubic hair begins to grow, leg and arm hair becomes thicker and more apparent, perspiration increases, and levels of oil in the skin become high. • In girls, breasts become larger, nipples stand out more clearly, and the genitals grow and get a little darker and fleshier. On the inside, the uterus and ovaries also grow. At some point during the process, menarche (a girl’s first menstrual period) begins. • In boys, the testicles and penis become larger. At some point, the boy gains the capacity to ejaculate sperm. He also begins to have spontaneous erections. Most boys also experience nocturnal emissions which are spontaneous ejaculations of semen that occur during sleep. Cognitive Changes During adolescence (between 12 and 18 years of age), the developing teenager acquires the ability to think systematically about all logical relationships within a problem. The transition from concrete thinking to formal logical operations occurs over time. Each adolescent progresses at varying rates in developing his/her ability...
Words: 362 - Pages: 2
...two issues regarding theories of adolescence. The first one, which has been a topic of discussion for a long time, concerns whether adolescence should be regarded as either an uncomplicated or a turbulent period. In the latter case, it is aspired in this paper to find out which factors account for such turbulence. The second issue, which arose more recently, concerns the continually longer postponement of the transition to adulthood. These topics are empirically addressed using the data of the second Flemish Youth Monitor. Analyses indicate that the loss of childhood innocence causes adolescents to have a more realistic evaluation of live, self and relationships. For adolescents whose ties with parents and their school environment are less tight, this can cause heightened stress in terms of lowered selfesteem and negative future prospects. These stresses, however, cannot account for the rise in delinquent activity during this developmental stage, for the analyses indicate that adolescent delinquency rather results from a more outgoing lifestyle. Finally, the idea of a prolongation of ‘storm and stress’ cannot be supported by the data, since it is found that most youth find their balance back around age 22. 1. STORM AND STRESS? The idea of adolescence being a period of ‘storm and stress’ – a perspective which was introduced by Hall (1904) and supported by the psychoanalytic tradition (Freud, 1958) and Erikson’s (1968) definition of adolescence as a time of identity crisis – was...
Words: 7923 - Pages: 32
...Adolescence and Addiction “Adolescence is development stage that lies between childhood and adulthood” (Feldman, 2011, p.317). The adolescent years are known for exploring and trying new things. For countless adolescences drugs and alcohol are the first things that are experimenting with. The most popular drug of choice among adolescences is marijuana. Teens don’t see this drug as a real “drug”. Many believe that marijuana is consisted an acceptable drug, to try because it comes from the earth. Accord to some research it does not have addictive component’s. Adolescence tends to build relationships with drugs based of using for recreational use, peer pressure, and as an escape from everyday life (Feldman, 2011). Marijuana can be consisted a gateway drug; mean that it can lead to the use of more addictive drugs. “Addictive drugs are drugs that produce a biological or psychological dependence in users” (Feldman, 2011, p.372). Addictive drugs cause the body to be unable to function because the body begins to crave for the drug. Being additive to drugs changes your physical appearance and also causes damage to your nervous system (Feldman, 2011). Alcohol is also a popular thing for adolescence to experiment with. Most people would think it would be hard for adolescence to have access to alcohol, however it is not. Adolescences who have parents who drink have easy access to alcohol at all times. Most parents don’t keep track of how much alcohol is kept in their house. Some...
Words: 655 - Pages: 3
