CHFD342 | LESSON THREE Physical, Cognitive, and Psychosocial Development in Early Childhood Topics to be covered include: • • • • • • • Physical and cognitive development in early childhood Psychosocial development in early childhood Major physical and motor accomplishments of the early childhood years Piaget’s views on cognitive development versus information processing theorists Early childhood education and language acquisition The role of family in development during these early childhood years Children’s acquisition of a sense of self and gender Introduction Early childhood is a magical time. Children age two through six experience amazing growth and excitement. They progress through many stages of development, from physical to cognitive to language development. Most importantly, they begin to understand how they as individuals fit within the social structures and culture that exists in their environment. With this amazing, magical growth come challenges for the child and also for the parents and family members. There are many environmental factors that influence this development but none more important than the family unit. This lesson will explore early childhood development, building upon the concepts discussed in the previous lesson on infant development. This lesson will refer to children at this stage as early childhood or preschool. Development during Early Childhood Growth during early childhood is not as fast paced as during infancy. Children usually grow around 12 inches and gain five pounds per year during this time. By the end of age six, the average child is around 45 percent of their future body weight and length. Cells, tissues and organs grow at different rates and are different for each individual child. That is why development is unique to each child although generalizations can be made about motor skill development of most children at various ages (like age three, four, etc.). Also, the change in brain development at this age has a significant impact on motor development as well. This will be explored in depth a little later. Motor Skills The first focus will be on motor skill development. Motor skills can be broken down into gross motor, which is the use of large muscle groups and includes activities such as running, climbing, hopping, jumping, carrying and catching and fine motor, which includes the use of small muscles of the hands and fingers and includes such activities as throwing, scribbling, writing letters, tying shoes, etc. Obviously, these different skills progress in complexity and difficulty depending on the age of the child. Because of the substantial physical growth during this period, it is important for caregivers to balance the activity with routines and consistent sleep patterns. One key area that has been studied in depth by researchers is drawing. For some reason, drawing fascinates most children at this age; they love to draw. Drawing progresses from scribbling to the use of more complex drawing rules. By the end of this age period, most children are producing skillful creations. Researchers have not only studied fine motor skill needed for drawing but they have also studied the idea that drawings from children provide insight in the child’s personality and emotional state as well. The progress of drawing for children can be broken down into four stages, which include: PLACEMENT Placement occurs at ages two and three and focuses on where the child places scribbling on the paper. SHAPE Shape occurs at age three as the child begins to draw actual shapes, such as squares and circles. DESIGN Design occurs between ages 3 and four as the child begins to combine forms into different designs. PICTORIAL Pictorial occurs between ages four and five as the child begins to draw pictures such as a house, humans, etc. Influences on Physical Development There are several factors that influence physical development in preschool age children. There is a balance of environmental factors combined with hereditary factors that were discussed in Lesson 1. 1. Genetic elements significantly impact physical development. Many physical traits in children come from the genetic combination of their parents. 2. Nutrition is another factor that significantly impacts physical development. Pre- school children need a well-balanced diet to provide their growing and changing bodies with support. 3. Major disease can be another factor that can stunt growth and development. Most children can work through minor illness but major disease can substantially stunt physical development. 4. Psychological disturbances have a profound impact as well. A child under major stress whether that stress comes from prenatal developmental risk factors discussed in Lesson 1 or after the child is born. Early childhood stress can come from trauma related to leaving home for school or day care (impacting attachment) as well as from trauma that is occurring in the home such as fighting, drugs use, etc. 5. Socioeconomic status has been found to also be a significant influence on physical development. Generally, children from homes of lower socioeconomic status can sometimes have slower physical development, although this is not true in all cases. The reasons cited for this are usually poor nutrition, family stability and sleep patterns, along with a lack of recreation and exercise. Genetic elements significantly impact physical development. Many physical traits in children come from the genetic combination of their parents. Brain Development • EARLY DEVELOPMENT The development of the brain is obviously an important aspect of physical development. The basic structure of the brain is created in the first two trimesters of the fetus. The third trimester and first few years of infancy see changes in the connectivity and function of the brain. The early childhood years is when the wiring of the brain (called synaptogenesis) and improving the efficiency of the brain (called myelination) begins to occur. The reason for these changes in early childhood is because of the growth in dendrites and the number of synapses that exist during this time. It is said that during this stage of development that the neural foundation is being laid to create a system that will allow for more connections to be made later, which will significantly impact an individual’s ability to learn. • PRE-SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT It is very important for pre-school children to form connections in the brain. Children at this age are taking in information through all sorts of modems (seeing, hearing, etc.) This new information translates into nerve impulses that travel along neurons making connections with dendrites and other neurons. Neural pathways that are used survive and those that are not used prune away and die. As neural pathways are used, glia cells support the neurons and coat pathways with myelin. Myelin strengthens the pathways and increases the speed of that pathway. Speed impacts how quickly someone can access information from the brain. The process of strengthening a neural pathway is called myelination. This process of myelination has profound implications for teachers of all ages and specifically of pre-school age children. The development of the brain is obviously an important aspect of physical development. The basic structure of the brain is created in the first two trimesters of the fetus. The third trimester and first few years of infancy see changes in the connectivity and function of the brain. The early childhood years is when the wiring of the brain (called synaptogenesis) and improving the efficiency of the brain (called myelination) begins to occur. The reason for these changes in early childhood is because of the growth in dendrites and the number of synapses that exist during this time. It is said that during this stage of development that the neural foundation is being laid to create a system that will allow for more connections to be made later, which will significantly impact an individual’s ability to learn. Environmental Impact on Brain Development Genetics may determine the structure of the brain, but it is the environment that determines the extent of the brain’s development. It is the same idea, nature versus nurture that we discussed in Lesson 1. Nature creates the structure and nurture completes the wiring. As a matter of fact, neuroscience has shown that up through age 10 the brain has the greatest capacity to learn new concepts. As a result of this information, it is imperative that parents create an environment where lots of conversation occurs with their preschool age children, which is often referred to as a languagerich environment. This assists with brain development, which has obviously been linked to cognitive and language development. In addition, it is critical for parents to create a warm, supportive and safe environment as well because it will assist with making those emotional connections. Preoperational Stage of Piaget’s Theory on Cognitive Development The preoperational stage is the second stage in Piaget’s theory on cognitive development and occurs from ages two through seven. It is the type of thought that precedes operational thought. Children in this stage struggle to take two things into consideration at one time (such as putting together a simple Lego set and then taking it apart – they can do one or the other) and to return to the beginning of a thought sequence (when telling a story, they would be challenged to go back and remember the early parts of the story they just told). During this stage, children begin to represent objects and events in the environment; they can talk about memories, indicating brain connections are being made; they progress through a spectrum of language development, and they understand symbols. Three examples of cognitive processing at this stage include realism, which occurs when a child accepts that there is both an internal and external world meaning not everything revolves around them; animism, which occurs when they describe inanimate objects as being alive meaning they would for example describe an icicle as being cold; and artificialism, which occurs when they attribute human life to animate objects such as describing clouds as being made by humans. Piaget provides five different and important features to this stage of development. 1. Representation One of the most important features he describes is representation, which is a child’s ability to record or express information through abstract thinking. For example, at this age, they say they want food rather than saying they want pizza or crackers because food expresses a big category or idea. Over time, more specificity will surface. 2. Deferred Imitation A second feature is deferred imitation, which means a child can imitate a behavior even after the model is gone. For example, a big brother gets done eating and he throws his plate away. Later when the preschool age student gets done, he throws his plate and fork away even though they are washable. 3. Symbolic Play A third feature includes symbolic play, which is expressed through pretending during play. Pretending is a child’s way of acting out what they see and hear and it helps them make sense of the information. 4. Drawing Fourth is drawing, where children create mental representations on paper of what is in their mind. Children create mental images but mental images at this stage are limited to reproducing what they have seen before (imitation) rather than anticipating something new. For example, it is much easier for a child at this age to build a house with blocks by modeling a house their parent made rather than creating a new house on their own or it is easier for them to draw a picture of their own family rather than draw a picture of a made up family. 5. Language The final feature is language development, which is the vehicle for thought. Limitations of Preoperational Thought Although children in early childhood are experiencing cognitive development, preoperational thoughts still has many limitations. These limitations are important for parents and teachers to understand when working with children at his age. The limitations include: EGOCENTRISM Egocentrism is when a child tends to focus too much on the self during this period. They understand that there is an internal and external world but they still tend to feel most things relate to them. They tend to view everything around them from their own perspective. For example, they feel that the moon is following them around. CENTRATION Centration occurs when children focus too much on one feature of an object and ignore other features. An example of this would be when asking children to group a bunch of flowers by color and then asking them to group them by type of flower (rose, daisies, etc.) The children would struggle with this change of classification because they are so focused on color. CONSERVATION Conservation is when children at this age lack the ability to understand that certain objects retain properties regardless of their form. An example of this is the famous experiment where you take two exact glasses that are equally filled with water. Then take one glass and pour the water into a taller thinner glass and the child thinks the taller skinnier glass has more water in it simply because it is taller. REVERSIBILITY Children at this stage lack the ability to reverse their thought process, or go back to their earlier thinking in a sequence. For example, in the water case above, the child cannot go back to when he had the mental image of the two glasses having an equal amount of water. Information Processing Theory Information processing theory does not rely on stages of development like Piaget’s theory. The theory indicates that children’s cognitive development is based on the maturation of certain cognitive processes. These processes include attention – how much can a person attend to at one time and memory strategies such as rehearsal – the ability to repeat modeling, organization - the ability to finds ways in their mind to create structure for information, and retrieval – the ability to access information through recognition and recall. Language Development We discussed language development somewhat in Lesson 2, but we will explore it in more detail here. Researchers marvel at how children learn their language. With almost no formal training or process, children have the amazing ability to acquire language on their own. By the time children enter first grade, they have around 8,000 words in their vocabulary, but as we discussed earlier, socioeconomic status of children significantly impacts that vocabulary development. At the same time children are learning words, they are also using rules and guidelines that help them understand how to use those words to express ideas and thoughts. They do this through many ways but one important method is called fast mapping, which is the mental process used where children use context clues to determine meaning of words. Receptive and Expressive Language The use of language can be expressed in two ways that are very much influenced by different levels of development. Receptive language indicates an understanding of words and language. In other words, children hear and can understand words and meaning. Expressive language occurs when someone not only understands but also can use the language to express his or her own ideas. Obviously, people have a higher amount of receptive language than expressive. Language development follows a fairly standard progression. Between ages two and three, children can begin to produce sentences and ask questions. Around age four, children have acquired the complicated structures of their language. And around age six, children can speak and understand sentences they have never been used before. There are several key terms that are important to know and understand when it comes to language development. It is very important for adults that work with preschool age children to understand these terms and their application to language development. Although children learn the language on their own; parents, day care providers and teachers can play a key role in accelerating that language development. Some of the key terms include: PHONOLOGY Phonology is a language’s sound system. PRAGMATICS Pragmatics is the way to use language in practical conversation. SEMANTICS Semantics refers to the meaning of words. SYNTAX Syntax refers to the rules of arrangement of words so that they form a meaningful sentence. SYNAPSIS Synapsis is the space between the axon and dendrite that passes the brain impulse transmitting information. Early Childhood Education Early childhood education is usually defined as pre-school programs and kindergarten. Early programs were either focused on physical, social or emotional development or they were focused on cognitive development. Most programs today result in a balance of both approaches together. Most early childhood programs now emphasize learning through structured play where children learn through interacting with the environment and being an active participant in constructing meaning. The U.S. Department of Education recommends three goals for preschool programs. They are support children in developing healthy relationships, teaching resilience or how to overcome and deal with challenges; and readiness for school. Enrollment in most early childhood programs both at the state and federal level are based on atrisk factors. Many of those factors have been discussed in the first three lessons so far. It makes sense that since research indicates that developmental risk factors come from homes with low socioeconomic status. One such risk factor is limited English speaking families. Bilingual Education Substantial immigration in the United States has led to many children who are defined as limited English-speaking students or students that are English Language Learners (ELL). There is an obvious link between the lack of ability to speak English and success at school. There is a federal requirement to provide a specific program, called Bilingual Education, for these students. The goals of the program include continuing to develop primary language, acquire English, and provide instruction in both languages. There are three types of bilingual programs. They include: TRANSITIONAL PROGRAMS Transitional programs are the most commonly used program in U.S. education. They include the rapid development of English so students can be in all English-speaking courses. MAINTENANCE PROGRAMS Students learn English but remain in classes where they continue to develop both languages. IMMERSION PROGRAMS Students spend 90 percent of the day in the primary language in preschool through kindergarten, then they are introduced to English in 2nd and 3rd grade; and 4th and 5th grade is taught in about 50 percent English and 50 percent primary language. Many researchers feel the immersion programs yield the best results at closing the achievement gap for language learners. Universal Preschool Illinois is one state that provides close to universal preschool programs for children ages three to five. The Illinois State Board of Education (2016) recently released their implementation manual for their competitive grant process for the Pre-K grants. They state three goals for their program, which are to provide programs that are founded in researched-based knowledge about child development; promote children’s emotional, physical, mental and social well-being; and to support nurturing families. In addition, they indicated that funding will be based on the following priority: “The first priority in awarding grants must be given to applicants that propose to serve primarily children who have been identified as being at risk of academic failure. At-risk children are those who, because of their home and community environment, are subject to such language, cultural, economic, and like disadvantages. They have been determined, as a result of screening procedures, to be at risk of academic failure. A disproportionate share of all children considered to be at risk come from low-income families, including low-income working families, homeless families, families where English is not the primary language spoken in the home, or families where one or both parents are teenagers or have not completed high school. However, neither a child’s membership in a certain group nor a child’s family situation should determine whether that child is at risk” (Implementation Manual, p. 3). You can see the impact that risk factors and language development have on a wide scale basis. Funding in Illinois Pre-K programs is in the hundreds of millions. The ultimate goals of these programs are to close the achievement gap between the “have and have nots.” Psychosocial Development in Early Childhood All of us are familiar with the childhood story of Cinderella. Disney brought to life a story that has marveled and entertained children and adults since 1950. A lot of research on early childhood development has occurred since 1950. Amazingly, the story of Cinderella is a perfect model of the powerful impact that having a supportive and healthy environment during the early childhood years has on the long-term impact on being a well-adjusted adult. As most of you know, Cinderella had wonderful early childhood years. During that time, she had amazingly supportive parents that shared life and education lessons with her on a daily basis. She was supported in in every area of her development, physical, social, emotional and cognitive. She was a very well adjusted, thriving child with an established personality when her mother passed away at the age of 10. After that, we all know the story of the wicked stepmother and step-sisters and the horrible years that she experienced until she became an adult. But through all those horrible challenges as an adolescent, she never lost who she was. Cinderella never changed how she treated other people and shared her talents with others. Cinderella’s supportive growth in early childhood provided her with the foundation for being a well-adjusted happy adult, regardless of the challenges she faced after those early childhood years. This section of the lesson will focus on the profound impact that that the environment has on early childhood development. Family Development The most current view on the “family” looks at the family as system of complex interactions between the family environment, the child’s personality, and the temperament (biological dispositions) of the child and parents. These cannot be viewed as independent systems but rather as a complex set of patterns of interactions between all three areas identified that work together to create one family system. The view of family has changed over time. The “old” view of the family was the two-parent family. But now, there are many, many different types of families from blended families of divorced adults, single parent families and families where parents are not raising children at all. These different types of families have always existed but were viewed as unique variations of the original “family.” But due to the increased divorce rate and other challenges facing adults and children in our society, family is defined as being one these different types rather than being variations of a certain structure. Researchers have also changed other ways in which they view the family dynamic. There is less focus on the direct parent/child relationship and more on the interaction of the whole family; more focus on the way family members influence each other; and the belief that the parent-child relationship is bidirectional rather than one sided (in other words, the child influences the parent behavior in addition to the reverse). There is no one model that fits all families today because of the differences in children, differences in parents and the changes that have occurred in our country with changing cultures, which we have discussed in prior lessons significantly impact family dynamics. Parenting Behavior and Siblings Baumrind (1967) studying parenting and broke parenting styles down into three types. Although this research occurred a long time ago, it is still used as a foundation for new theories today. The three different types of parents included: Authoritarian – where parents demand instant obedience (my way or the highway). Authoritative – where parents respond to child’s needs and wishes believing in parent control but also having a willingness to explain reasons to children. Permissive – where parents take a very tolerant, accepting view of children behavior and rarely place demands or discipline children. Effective Parenting Styles Baumrind’s research showed that the authoritative style of parenting during early childhood resulted in the most successful, well-adjusted children. These types of parents maintain a balance for children between helping them grow as an individual and helping them socialize into family and society. They set a standard of control, maintain clear communication, encourage mature behavior, and are nurturing. The one caution with Baumrind’s theory is that the research was primarily done on white, two-parent families. Caution needs to be employed when broadening the theory to the culturally diverse families that exist today. Siblings Siblings (brothers and sisters) also have a strong impact on child development and assist in the role of socialization of children during the early childhood years. Siblings influence each other in many ways including sometimes being caregivers, modeling behavior to be imitated, and providing a non-threatening sounding board. The sibling relationship is one of the most important relationships throughout a person’s life because it is usually the longest relationship. Parents normally pass away much earlier in a person’s life than siblings do. Divorce and the Impact on Development Around 50 percent of all marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. That means, many children during their early childhood years are impacted by divorce. Divorce can have a profound impact on children of all ages but because of the powerful long-term impact that development at this age has on personality, pre-school age children are particularly vulnerable. Divorce can be looked at in three stages in terms of impact on development: pre-divorce, actual separation, and changing sometimes meshing of families through remarriage. • PRE-DIVORCE The period that usually precedes divorce is usually full of conflict and displays of anger. This behavior obviously occurs between parents but it also trickles down to how the children are treated as well. Stress can cause profound changes in behavior. This stress in the home can significantly slow emotional development, which as we discussed earlier will impact other areas (physical and cognitive) of development as well. • ACTUAL SEPARATION The actual separation that comes with the divorce impacts children in many ways. Because children at this age struggle with abstract thinking and cannot “reverse” think, meaning they can’t link behavior together, children often times end up blaming themselves for the divorce. From a brain development standpoint, they just cannot understand the concept that all that fighting between mom and dad led to the divorce. The obvious impact at this stage is the separation anxiety that exists when parents split. This separation anxiety stems from the attachment concept that we discussed in Lesson 2 that has been established between each child and parent during infancy. Parenting styles often change as well during this time. Two examples of this occur when mothers often show less affection during the initial divorce and fathers become more permissive. • REMARRIAGE The last stage of divorce is sometimes remarriage. Children must develop new relationships with a step-parent and sometimes step children and integrate into a whole new family system. Ultimately, parents and others that influence children during divorce at early childhood need to be very tuned into the developmental impact that divorce as on children at this age. The period that usually precedes divorce is usually full of conflict and displays of anger. This behavior obviously occurs between parents but it also trickles down to how the children are treated as well. Stress can cause profound changes in behavior. This stress in the home can significantly slow emotional development, which as we discussed earlier will impact other areas (physical and cognitive) of development as well. Self-image As children grow and develop, they begin to develop a self-image. Think of a child looking in a mirror. That child has two aspects of self-image. The first is the “I” and it is the part that is looking in the mirror. This is the part of the self-image that is thinking, making judgments and controlling the surrounding world. The second part is the “Me” and it is the part being watched in the mirror. It is the object of I’s thinking and judging. As “I” evaluates “Me”, the self is judged as being good or bad, competent or incompetent, etc. This judgment gives a child his or her sense of self, which makes that child unique. • Infants go through the beginning steps in developing this self-image. During the early childhood years, children have an increasing ability to understand things at a deeper level and see different insights into themselves. • Within the span of ages two through seven, children grow developmentally with regard to self-image. Early on, the child will focus on either physical images (I am tall) or tangible objects (I like food). • As they get older, their language develops and their cognitive and social maturity expands their sense of self. At this stage they may say, “I am growing really fast and as a result I am tall” or “I eat a lot and I really like different kinds of food.” • At the end of early childhood, children expand their sense of self because they can compare themselves to others. They might make statements like, “I have really grown since last year but there are a lot of kids in my classes still taller” or “My favorite food to eat on the weekend is pizza but my brothers and sisters like to eat tacos.” Gender Roles Another application of self-image has to do with gender roles. Am I a girl or a boy and what should a girl or boy act like? As you know, the idea of gender roles has changed drastically in America and continues to change. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Education released guidance to schools that transgender students (children whose assigned sex at birth does not match their gender identity) must not be discriminated against in any way. The guidance includes the provision that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of the sex that they identify with. This guidance was later removed by 2017, but the fact that the debate is happening is a reminder how gender roles change over time. It is helpful to define a few terms in regards to gender. GENDER IDENTITY Gender identity is the conviction that one is male or female. GENDER STEREOTYPE Gender stereotype is the set of narrow beliefs about characteristics that are associated with being a male or female. GENDER ROLE Gender role is the culturally accepted sexual behavior or what is accepted by society for being male or female. Theories on Gender Development There are four popular theories about gender development. They include biological explanations, which occur when physical and psychological differences are attributed to males and females. Outside of obvious physical differences, most of the research in this area has to do with the influences of chromosome and hormonal differences between males and females. • COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY Cognitive development theory explains that children create a sense of identity and then seek behaviors that are reinforced. As they develop a construct of their world, they build concepts of males and females. • GENDER SCHEMA THEORY An extension of cognitive develop theory is called gender schema theory. In this application in older children in the early childhood stage, children form a mental network of associations that guide how they interpret information they encounter. • PSYCHOANALYTIC IDENTIFIED THEORY Psychoanalytic identified theory is based on the work of Freud. His theory states that children become sex typed between the ages of four and six. The strong attachment they have with the father or mother will impact their gender identity. • SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Finally, social learning theory argues that parents and other family members and media influence gender role behavior with the way they reinforce behavior and with decisions they may. A child’s environment profoundly impacts gender roles. And as we know, the environment profoundly impacts child development. Gender roles are most defined by family, peer, media and cultural stereotypes. How a child interprets those environmental influences will determine the aspect of their self-image that applies to their gender. Conclusion The stage of early childhood can be amazing to watch children experience. The level of growth from physical to cognitive to emotional to language to social is unreal. This is also the stage that has been identified as having the longest-term impact on developing personality and becoming a well-adjusted adult. But, like infancy, things can go very wrong for a child during this time. Stress in the home, divorce, unclear role definition can all influence that development. Physical, Cognitive, and Psychosocial Development in Adolescent Years Topics to be covered include: • • • • Theories of adolescence Physical development Cognitive development Risk behavior of adolescents Introduction Once children transition out of the middle childhood years, they transition into adolescence. Children go from being very interactive children that need and want guidance from their parents to very independent children wanting to “do their own thing.” Adolescents still go through many physical and cognitive developments during this phase but this development is balanced with the expectations that parents and society put on children during this age. The expectations have shifted from healthy development to wanting children to be employable, good citizens, critical thinkers, emotionally self-reflective, trustworthy, full of common sense and meaningful ideas. Many researchers feel our expectations are too high on adolescent children, which over time has led to an increasing number of at-risk behaviors by children at this age. What is Adolescence? Adolescence is a tougher stage of development to define than earlier stages. In infancy, early childhood and the middle childhood stage, most children transition from one stage to another around the same time period (or age). Adolescence does not work that way. There is a lot more variability that occurs based on individual children. Most approaches to studying adolescents consider precursors and outcomes of various transitions, events that define the transition period, and the sequence of events that occur within the transition period. Many researchers call these transition-linked turning points, which can be defined as events that define a transition period or the timing and sequence of events that occur within transition period. Two events that often characterize the movement into adolescence are puberty – a relatively abrupt and qualitatively different set of physical changes that normally occur at the beginning of teen years, and experiencing school events. Both older and newer approaches to defining adolescence refer to different items such as when did the child become moody, when did he begin to worry about how he looks, when did he become interested in the opposite sex, etc. that occurs to normally characterize adolescence. Many people have tried to quantify when children transition into adolescence. In reality, the best way to determine that transition is with the onset of four hormones that affect sexuality. Unfortunately, that is hard to determine. The next few sections will explore some of the most referenced theories on adolescence. The three theories explored next are not necessarily the most accepted theories, but they are the theories most used to further research in this area. Anna Freud The first theory was proposed by Anna Freud (1951), who is Sigmund’s daughter. She focused her work on extending her father’s psychoanalytical theory as it applied to adolescence. If you recall from Lesson 1, the id satisfies the basic instincts for food, drink, comfort, etc. The ego is the central part of personality and keeps the id in line with reality. The superego is defined as a person’s conscious. She disagreed with her father about adolescence. He believed adolescence is a time for the restoration of the id and the ego (which had been reconciled during latency and disrupted by puberty). • Latency Period Anna Freud believed the latency period is when a child adopts the moral values and principles of people with whom they identify. She further believed that as a child approaches adolescence, childhood fears are replaced by internal feelings of guilt. • Id and Puberty She proposed that during the latency period the id (basic instincts) is controlled by the superego (conscious). But as puberty hits, the force of the id becomes greater and causes an imbalance between the id and superego. This is the cause for the internal feelings of guilt described earlier. • Defense Strategies These feelings of guilt cause repression, denial and anxiety. Some children cope by employing two defense strategies. The first is called asceticism, which occurs when a child becomes very religious as a way to cope with feelings of sexual, sinful drive and the second is called intellectualism, which is when a child turns to extremely intellectual and logical thinking about life rather than dealing with emotional guilt. Stages of Adolescence • State of Identity Erikson (1968) believed that the main task of adolescence is to achieve a state of identity, which occurs when the various aspects of a child’s self-image are all in agreement with each other. • Identity Crisis Erikson also coined the phrase identity crisis, which are situations that cause us to make major life decisions about our identity. During adolescence, children’s development is considered to be in a “time out” as they explore a variety of identities. This exploration process and eventually, decision making process is necessary for a child to fall on the right identity. This healthy exploration will lead to stability later on. • Repudiation Erikson also described the term repudiation, which he says occurs when a person gives up all other possibilities and lands on one identity. There are some people that never land on that one identity and this leads to problems of commitment and stability later in life. These people that always feel the “grass is greener on the other side.” Stages Relative to Identity Formation Erikson’s theory was a springboard to research in the area of identity formation. Marcia (2002) described four different stages or statuses relative to identity formation. Status 1 Identity Confusion, where no crisis (identity crisis as described earlier) has occurred and no commitment (to aspects of a particular identity) has been made. Status 2 Identity Foreclosure, where no crisis has occurred, but some commitments have been made. Status 3 Identity Moratorium is when several crises have occurred, but no commitments have been made. Status 4 Identity Achievement is when numerous identity crises have occurred and been resolved and permanent commitments to an identity have been made. Women Gilligan, Lyons, & Hanmer (1990), who we discussed in Lesson 4 regarding gender differences, further described Marcia’s idea and said that women are generally less concerned about establishing an independent identity and are more likely to define their identity by their relationships. John’s Hill Biopsychosocial Theory Hill’s (1987) theory on adolescence states that there are three main factors that interact with one another during this period of development. Those factors include: BIOLOGICAL FACTORS Genital maturation, puberty and physical growth PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS Detachment, sexuality, intimacy, achievement motivation and behavior, and identity crisis and resolution SOCIAL FACTORS Gender identity, ethnicity and race You can see that his theory is much more complicated than the other two because it integrates development in all three developmental domains that we have been exploring in each age span of development. The physical and social factors will be explored later in the lesson. We will explore the psychological factors in more detail now. Hill described detachment as a shift from dependence to interdependence, or a growing autonomy. He argued that puberty brought on by abrupt physical changes and social changes forced an adolescent to develop a new self-concept about their sexuality. Intimacy then is closely linked to sexuality. He described the ability to be intimate with another as a progression from feelings of attraction for close friends all the way to sex. Achievement, motivation and behavior are linked to the standards of excellence that an adolescent has for himself or herself and feelings about how he or she “measures up.” Behavior differs from motivation because behavior can be influenced by other factors such as peer pressure. Overall these three theories have provided a strong foundation for understanding the adolescent period of development. Physical Development in Adolescence There are many physical changes that occur in both males and females during adolescence. Many of those changes are directly associated with the reproductive system. It is important for adolescents to understand their reproductive system and be knowledgeable about the changes that will be occurring. It is also important that adults support children from a psychological perspective as they adjust to these physical changes. As discussed earlier, one of the biggest questions is determining when puberty begins for children. What we do know is that the beginning of puberty varies drastically from child to child and within and across sexes (boys and girls). The other question is what the triggering event for puberty is. This is one question that is not easily answered or identified. Most researchers believe that a substantial shift in hormonal balance is the triggering mechanism for puberty. But, without conducting invasive medical tests, it is very hard to determine when that occurs in a child. The identification of puberty usually comes through the observation of physical changes. Some of the physical changes that occur for boys include enlarged genitals, pubic hair, voice change, facial hair, etc. For women the changes include breast development, pubic hair, menstruation, etc. On the other hand, once puberty does begin, the sequences of physical changes that occur during puberty are very stable from individual to individual, within the sex group. In other words, all girls progress through the same sequence and so do boys. Researchers also describe a secular trend when it comes to puberty. A secular trend is defined as a phenomenon that adolescents are entering puberty sooner and growing taller and heavier than in earlier periods. As a matter of fact, the average age for the onset of puberty in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was 17 years of age but in the early twentieth century it was 14.5. As a result of these changes, children at younger ages have to psychologically deal with the physical changes earlier, often times at an age where they are less prepared to handle them. For example, the early development of breasts for girls often means that they must deal with the issues of sexualization that exist in our culture. These can be hard things to cope with during a fragile time of development. Early onset of puberty has been linked to lack of exercise, which leads to obesity that causes early release of hormones; more fat in the diet, which releases hormones; and the presence of hormonal chemicals in milk and meat. Family characteristics have been linked to delaying puberty especially in girls. The characteristics linked to delaying puberty included increased father involvement with the girl and more love and affection shown by both parents. Ultimately, most of the changes in puberty are driven by physical changes that occur during this time period but we cannot ignore the psychological and cultural effects. Body Image and Eating Disorders Eating disorders are most common in adolescents and they are the third most common chronic condition among them. Gender, weight, puberty, and age all impact body image, which is an individual’s self-concept about his or her body. Negative body images can lead to feelings of loss of control and decreased self-esteem, which creates the potential for eating disorders. One of the most common eating disorders is anorexia nervosa, which is a disorder of selfstarvation. Ninety-five percent of all cases are either adolescent or young adult women. Symptoms include: refusal to maintain weight at a normal body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, denial of seriousness of changing physical condition, and absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles. The second eating disorder is bulimia nervosa, which is a disorder is characterized by binge eating with awareness that the eating pattern is abnormal. Individuals with bulimia nervosa often have self-deprecating thoughts and fear not being able to stop. One difference with anorexia is that this can occur in women that are both over and underweight. The characteristics of bulimia are recurrent episodes of binge eating; a sense of lack of control over being able to stop eating; recurrent compensation of binge eating such as self-induced vomiting, and self-evaluations that are overly influenced by body shape and weight. Overall, puberty is a time when the observable changes are physical but these physical changes impact adolescents emotionally as well. We have also discussed that there is a strong relationship between stress and emotional wellness. Cognitive Development in Adolescence • COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Because of the tremendous changes puberty causes both from a physical and psychological standpoint, cognitive development during this age span often gets overlooked. But, these changes are critical to long term wellness. At age 11, which is considered early adolescence, children enter into Piaget’s fourth stage of cognitive development. The stage, which is formal operational thinking, is based on the idea that children combine similar ideas and concepts into formal operations. For example, they may combine the ideas of voting, political parties, and the president to the bigger concept of democracy. Interestingly enough, democracy is one core value that Piaget references for most children at this age. They understand that a group of individuals can change the rules but once they are changed, everyone must now follow the new rules. • CULTURE AND GENDER Culture and gender also influence cognitive development during this stage. The key idea about development is that the endpoint or outcome of development may not be the same for all cultures or genders. For example, most early researchers on adolescence indicate that the endpoint for development is independence and separation (which is very much from a male dominated perspective). But, when considering what was discussed earlier in the lesson, if researchers were considering women when formulating these endpoints, they may change those endpoints to relationships with others and interdependence. This idea of different genders having different endpoints can be expanded when considering cultural differences that exist in America. We know from prior learning that context can influence development and lead to different outcomes for individuals. For example, adolescents from lower poverty homes tend to have different outcomes than children that come from middle or high socioeconomic homes. Of course, this is not true for all individuals, but the trends have been shown through years of study. The Brain and Emotions The brain initiates the complex emotions of self-awareness, morality, feeling of free will, and social emotions. Many believe that spindle cell neurons in the brain play a big part in the brain that creates emotions. These cells are responsible for sending socially relevant signals across the brain. Only human and ape brains have spindle cells and these cells are not prevalent at birth but rather begin to show up as children develop moral and social concepts. They accelerate growth when a child hits adolescence. Most neurons have cone- or star-shaped bodies with several branching projections, called dendrites that receive signals from neighboring cells. But spindle cell neurons are thin and elongated, with just one dendrite at each end. They are four times bigger than most other brain cells and are rare. These unusual cells seem to reside only in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and one other niche of the human brain, the Frontal Insula (FI). Brain-scanning studies have established that the ACC and FI are particularly active when people experience emotion. Both areas also seem to be important for "self-monitoring," such as noticing bodily sensations of pain and hunger or recognizing that one has made a mistake. In addition, the FI plays an even more specific role in generating social emotions such as empathy, trust, guilt, embarrassment, love and even a sense of humor. Critical and Creative Thinking Critical Thinking In addition to brain development having an influence on emotional growth in adolescents, it is also a time when schools should be working to develop critical thinking in students. Critical thinking includes two types of thinking: Creative Thinking Creative thinking, on the other hand, has the potential to really grow through adolescent years. Creative thinking includes divergent thinking, fluency in thinking, flexibility and originality. It requires critical thinking, but critical thinking does not necessarily require creative thinking. Very creative thinkers have been referred to as being genius. Genius is described in two distinct ways. The first type of genius is one that has been determined to have a very high IQ. This is often referred to as precociousness, which means they have the ability to do what others can do but at a younger age. Think of the 5th grade student taking 8th grade math. The second description of genius is referred to as prodigiousness, where the child has the ability to do things most cannot do or at least do them much better than most can do. Think of Mozart or Einstein, who were often referred to as child protégées. The key differences between the different types of thinking are that critical thinking aims at having a correct assessment of existing ideas and creative thinking is more about creating new inventions and the discovery of new ideas. • CONVERGENT THINKING Convergent thinking is thinking that is used to solve problems that have one solution (for example 48 * 926). It doesn’t matter how many people solve this type of problem or the method they use, they will get the same answer. • DIVERGENT THINKING On the other hand, divergent thinking occurs when there are many possible answers or solutions. Examples of questions that require divergent thinking would be “how would schools be different if there were no rules” or “how would our lives be different if we lived in a dictatorship.” Divergent thinking requires much more creativity and individual opinion. To be a critical thinker, an individual needs to be able to both analyze problems and understand that multiple solutions are possible. In addition, the person must also be able to identify the implications of those solutions as well. Increased At-risk Behavior in Adolescents and Reasons Why America has seen a substantial growth in high-risk behaviors both in adults and especially in adolescents. One theory about this increase is that those parents that were adolescents in the 60s and 70s became parents in the 90s and early 2000s. Their changing values about high-risk behavior have directly influenced the development of their children and so on. In addition, any researchers would argue that what we know as “family” has changed more than anything over the years. As a result, the role of adolescent has changed dramatically. In the 1840s, the family filled six functions, over the years, five of these roles have been replaced by professionals ((1) economic - replaced by workforce; (2) education - replaced by schools; (3) religious - replaced by churches; (4) recreation - replaced by commercial institutions; and (5) medical - replaced by doctors). The only role that remains is (6) providing affection. There are three main reasons cited for why families do not need each other as much as they used. GENDER ROLES The first is that vocational instruction has changed, in that fathers would mentor boys and mothers would mentor girls. The changing gender roles and breakdown of the traditional family has changed that dynamic. ECONOMIC VALUE The second change is the economic value of children. Children were expected to work with the family business, farm etc. because otherwise the family had to hire workers. This has obviously changed. SOCIAL STABILITY The final change is in regards to social stability. In the past, families would rarely move from their hometown and many children once grown continued to stay in their hometown. As a result, parents knew the social structures of the community and were able to mentor their children. Again, because of the changing work patterns for parents, families move much more and often parents must drive many miles out of town for work, leaving them disconnected with the community. Divorce Divorce is one factor that can greatly impact adolescent development. Estimates are that between one-third to one -half of all adolescents are affected by divorce today. Divorce obviously leads to a breakdown in the support system for adolescents. Munson and Sutton (2006) indicate that one of the factors that negatively impact these children is the change in economic status, which can impact social status. The adjustments required in divorce lead to increased at-risk behavior and even mental health issues such as depression. The absence of one parent, usually the father can significantly impact the ability to provide effective and consistent discipline. It has been found the absence of the father can lead to increased aggressive behavior in boys and involvement in earlier sexual activity for girls. Overall, divorce can certainly lead to problems for teenagers but it is also noted that staying in a dysfunctional family situation will lead to its own set of problems. Nurturing Parents In Lesson 3 we discussed different types of parenting styles. These included: AUTHORITARIAN Parents demand instant obedience (my way of the highway) AUTHORITATIVE Parents respond to child’s needs and wishes believing in parent control but also having a willingness to explain reasons to children PERMISSIVE Parents take a very tolerant, accepting view of children behavior and rarely place demands or discipline in children Nurturing Parenting Style One new approach to parenting that has been found to be effective with adolescents is called a nurturing parenting style, which is where the parents use indirect method (such as communication) and modeling to influence behavior. The parents communicate, teach and model. Children receiving this type of parenting often express that parental disappointment is the biggest influence for changing behavior. Nurturing parents positively influence behavior because they provide the children with an opportunity to practice decision-making, self-control and creative thinking. Consequences during Adolescent Sexuality The newfound sexuality in adolescents can result in negative consequences for some. • SEXUAL ABUSE One problem is sexual abuse. Sexual abuse can occur with younger children and usually carries forward into adolescents. It often occurs with a family member or an adult the adolescent knows well and usually goes unreported. It also leads to long term problems such as running away, drugs and alcohol, and eating disorders. Over the last ten years, there has been much more of a focus on child sexual abuse with an increase in awareness and avenues for reporting. But it still remains a large problem that is most often unreported. • SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES Increased sexual activity also leads to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), which is a class of infections transmitted through sexual behavior. The highest profile disease is the human immunodefiency virus (HIV), which can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS plagues certain groups of people more than others. These groups include black adults, homosexuals, and people involved in the sex industry. In 2000, estimates indicated that only one percent of all HIV cases occurred in adolescents. But that statistic has changed drastically over the last 12 years. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) stated that 50,000 new people acquire HIV annually and that one in four or 25 percent of them occur in ages 13 to 24 (CDC, 2012). Other sexually transmitted diseases that affect adolescents are: GONORRHEA Well-known venereal infection accounting for between 1.5 and 2 million cases per yea CHLAMYDIA Bacterial infection that may cause infertility; now the most common STI, there often are no symptoms GENITAL HERPES Incurable sexually transmitted infection, with about 500,000 new cases every year SYPHILIS Sexually transmitted infection that presents a great danger in that in its early stage there are no symptoms; if untreated, it can be fatal HEPATITIS B Viral infection transmitted through sex or shared needles Illegal Behavior There are many factors that lead to illegal behavior from adolescents including poor family situations, divorce, peer pressure, sexual abuse, gang involvement, etc. If there are problems in the complicated progression of childhood development, an adolescent may choose to turn to illegal behavior. One of the biggest concerns is smoking, drug and alcohol abuse. Cleveland and Wiebe (2003) has revealed that excessive alcohol use in teenage years can lead to later problems with brain functioning including damage to memory, learning abilities and language skills. Drugs and alcohol abuse can also lead to other types of criminal behavior such as theft, damage to property, etc. Teens that grow up in troubled families and low socioeconomic situations are more likely to end up being involved in gangs. These organizations often provide the adolescent with the type of structure and support they did not get from the family unit. Conclusion Adolescence is another unique period of development for children. The start of adolescence and puberty is not as clear-cut as it is during earlier periods of development. Researchers have struggled to define adolescence because its’ complicated nature and generally describe it through common behaviors and experiences. Adolescents go through several aspects of physical and cognitive development during this stage and habits created often influence individual’s well into adult life.
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