Assignment task: Stages of Development
After reading the module content, identify the different stages of human development, their growth rates, and defining characteristics. Need Assignment Help?
Phases of Postnatal Development
- Breastfeeding
- Infancy
- Early Childhood
- Middle Childhood
- Puberty
- Adolescence
- Adulthood
- Old Age
Breastfeeding:
Breastfeeding is a period that begins at birth and ends at approximately two years of age. Once born, the human neonate cannot survive without adult care; they cannot hold their head upright, roll over, or feed themselves. However, they are highly receptive to their surroundings, as their emerging abilities are closely linked to the maturation of the brain, nervous system, and body. They can see, hear, taste, and respond to pain and touch-even though these senses are less acute, they are highly sensitive. (Coon &Mitterer, 2010)
Craig (1997) asserts that the first month is particularly significant in a baby's life. It is distinct because the infant must adapt to life in the external world after leaving the enclosed and protected environment of the maternal womb. The first month involves recovery from birth, adjustment of vital functions, such as breathing, circulation, digestion, and temperature regulation. It is also a time to establish rhythms and find a balance between excessive and insufficient stimulation in an engaging environment. Newborns are capable of organized and predictable responses; their mental activity is more complex than previously expected. Indeed, they exhibit preferences and demonstrate an astonishing capacity for learning.
Kail and Cavanaugh (2011) note that newborns appear to be well-prepared to begin interacting with their environment. They spend most of their time alternating between four distinct states:
- Inactive alertness: The baby is calm with open eyes, appearing attentive and deliberately inspecting their surroundings.
- Active wakefulness: The baby's eyes are open but appear unfocused, while their arms and legs move in bursts of uncoordinated motions.
- Vigorous crying: The baby cries intensely, usually accompanied by agitated and uncoordinated movements.
- Sleep: The baby alternates between a motionless state with regular breathing and one with gentle movements and irregular breathing, all while keeping their eyes closed.
Early Childhood:
The early years of childhood, approximately from ages 2 to 6, are characterized by radical changes in physical, motor, cognitive, and linguistic abilities.
Between the ages of two and six, a child's body undergoes significant changes in size, shape, and proportion, losing its earlier appearance. Simultaneously, rapid brain development enables more refined and complex learning, as well as the enhancement of gross and fine motor skills that were previously unattainable. Each child grows according to their genetic inheritance, nutrition, and opportunities for play and exercise.
During this period, the brain and central nervous system continue to grow, driven by the formation of glial cells and ongoing myelination. Brain development brings greater control over bodily movements and the emergence of lateralization, through which specific skills and abilities become localized in one of the brain's hemispheres. Throughout the preschool years, fine and gross motor skills advance significantly.
Optimal conditions for physical and motor learning require preparation, activity, attention, and feedback. This stage also marks significant changes in cognitive development. Between the ages of two and six, children develop the ability for symbolic representation-the transformation of people, events, and physical objects into mental symbols-leading to more complex thought processes. This allows for the development of concepts such as chronological order, encompassing both the past and the future. However, children at this stage face challenges in classification, understanding time, sequences, spatial relationships, and other abstract concepts. Their thinking remains concrete, irreversible, egocentric, and focused. Studies have shown that their methods of thinking, memory, and problem-solving differ significantly from those of older children.
Middle Childhood:
During middle childhood, from ages 6 to 12, children refine and acquire motor skills, becoming increasingly independent. With appropriate instructional opportunities, they learn to ride a bicycle, jump rope, swim, shoot baskets, dance, write, and play musical instruments. Thanks to improvements in physical abilities and coordination, team sports become particularly significant.
In this stage, children enter the period of concrete operations, becoming capable of logical inferences, reflecting on physical transformations, performing reversible mental operations, and generally formulating hypotheses about the material world. They also begin to speculate about people, objects, and events within their immediate experience. Children learn memorization strategies, including rehearsal, organization, semantic elaboration, imagery, retrieval, and the use of scripts.
During middle childhood, children develop a strong sense of self-esteem if they are positively regarded by their parents and peers. If a child struggles in one area, they often find another where they can excel. One of the most critical contexts for building self-esteem is the family. In addition to changes in family dynamics, middle childhood witnesses advances in social cognition-comprising the thoughts, knowledge, and understanding of the social world in which the child lives. Social cognition includes social inference, such as making assumptions about others' feelings, relationships, and social norms, as well as understanding the rules of fairness and respect that govern societal functioning.
Peers play a crucial role in influencing social cognition. Another aspect of social cognition is moral judgment, which involves decision-making processes about right and wrong. Theories by Piaget and Kohlberg propose that moral reasoning progresses in stages during childhood. Friendships during this period serve many purposes, helping children learn social concepts and skills while enhancing their self-esteem. Friendships often involve complementary traits-such as a sociable child pairing with an introverted one-and frequently involve sharing personal revelations, which is particularly common among girls. The peer group grows in importance as middle childhood progresses.
This stage is marked by the maturation of physical and sexual characteristics in children, driven by hormonal changes. It typically begins around the onset of menstruation in girls, averaging at 13 years of age, and the first ejaculation in boys, approximately at age 14. There is also a rapid increase in height, weight gain, and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. For girls, these include the development of breasts and hips; for boys, increased muscle development, physical strength, broader shoulders, voice changes, and facial hair growth.
- Cognitive Development: Children no longer confuse reality with imagination, enabling them to envision what could be rather than what is.
- Emotional Development: Emotions and feelings are experienced with great intensity. There is often a disproportion between the depth of emotions and their outward expression.
- Social Development: Children increasingly seek independence from their parents, striving for autonomy while simultaneously desiring parental protection. This duality often results in mutual misunderstandings between children and parents.
- Sexual Development: There is a growing tendency for boys and girls to separate socially. Curiosity about all aspects of sexuality becomes pronounced during this stage.
Adolescence:
Adolescence refers to the period between the onset of sexual maturation (puberty) and adulthood. It is a time of psychological maturation during which individuals begin to behave "like adults."
This stage typically occurs between ages 15 and 16 in females and 16 and 17 in males. Significant physiological changes take place during this period, culminating in physical and sexual maturity. These changes include rapid growth, the development of reproductive organs, and the emergence of secondary sexual characteristics.
During adolescence, there is an increase in cognitive capacity and modes of thinking, which expand awareness, imagination, judgment, and discernment. These enhanced abilities lead to the rapid accumulation of knowledge, opening up a wide range of topics and problems that "complicate and enrich" the lives of young people. Cognitive development at this stage is marked by growing abstract thinking and the use of metacognitive skills.
Adolescence as a transitional period is prolonged, especially due to the time required to learn adult roles. To achieve adult status, adolescents must accomplish key developmental tasks: establishing their identity and finding appropriate balances between independence and interdependence. Families must adapt to adolescents' increasing independence as they prepare to become self-sufficient. The success of this adaptation largely depends on parenting styles and family dynamics.
By the end of adolescence, individuals typically have established their identity and have made, or are ready to make, commitments in work and love that will sustain their sense of self throughout adulthood.
Maturity:
Maturity represents the stage in which an individual reaches the fullest development of their holistic capacities. It is a process of reasoning, with each phase possessing its own distinct maturity.
This stage generally spans from ages 25 to 60. During this period, the body reaches its final height, typically before the age of 30, and then continues its development at a slower pace. Adult intelligence matures, characterized more by intuition than by rigid patterns or stereotypes. However, the onset and duration of this stage depend on numerous personal and environmental factors.
In this phase of life, individuals typically attain the peak of their biological and psychological development. Their personality and character are relatively stable and assured, though individual differences remain. Some adults exhibit a strong and confident personality, enabling them to perform effectively in life. Others may possess a less secure and stable personality, while a minority may display a deficient personality, leading to ineffective behaviors and poor adaptation.
Old Age:
Old age begins at approximately 60 years of age or older. This stage is marked by changes in sensory registration, information storage, and processing. Wisdom becomes a defining characteristic, encompassing experience, pragmatic principles, contextual focus, acceptance of uncertainty, and recognition of individual differences.
It is characterized by a gradual decline in physical strength, which, for most individuals, is accompanied by a noticeable and progressive decrease in the quality of mental activity. Biological decline manifests in the gradual reduction of sensory and motor abilities, as well as physical strength. Circulatory challenges often arise due to arterial hardening, alongside a general deterioration in the functioning of various internal organs.
References:
Berk, L. (2018). Exploring child & adolescent development. (4th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Boyatis, C., &Junn, E. (Eds.). (2019). Annual editions: child growth and development (23rd ed.). McGraw Hill Education.
Hauser-Cram, P., Nugent, J. K., Thies, K., & Travers, J. F. (2013). The development of children and adolescents: an applied perspective. Wiley.
Kuther, T. L. (2020). Child and adolescent development in context. SAGE Publications Inc.
Papalia, D. & Martorell, G. (2023). Experience human development. (11th ed.). McGraw Hill.