LIFE STAGES Chapter 8 Overview of Stages Infancy

LIFE STAGES Chapter 8

Overview of Stages Infancy Birth to 1 year Early Childhood 1 -6 years Late Childhood 6 -12 year Adolescence 12 -18 years Early Adulthood 19 -40 years Middle Adulthood 40 -65 years Late Adulthood 65 years and older

Infants and Toddlers • Infancy generally refers to the first year of life. • Toddler refers to the second year of life. • During this time, children continue to progress rapidly in all areas of development.

Infants and Toddlers: Physical Development • Infants: ▫ Establish a day and night sleeping pattern ▫ Hold up their heads, roll over, and reach for things ▫ Hearing and depth perception improve ▫ Crawl and then walk • Toddlers: ▫ Gain weight and height ▫ Run, jump, and climb ▫ Scribble and stack blocks

Infants and Toddlers: Mental Development • Infants: ▫ Imitate facial expressions Recognize people, places, and objects ▫ Make sounds that resemble spoken language ▫ • Toddlers: ▫ Experiment with objects Play make-believe ▫ Imitate adults ▫ Begin to speak and communicate ▫ Build a 200 -word vocabulary ▫

Infants and Toddlers: Emotional Development • Infants: ▫ Show basic emotions ▫ Anger and fear increase ▫ Develop stranger anxiety ▫ May develop separation anxiety • Toddlers: ▫ Show empathy ▫ Able to cooperate ▫ Begin to express shame, embarrassment, and pride ▫ Self-control emerges

Infants and Toddlers: Social Development • Infants: ▫ Begin to smile and laugh ▫ Match emotional facial expressions of adults ▫ Able to interpret others’ emotions • Toddlers: ▫ Play with siblings ▫ Show signs of gender- stereotypical toy choices

Infant Health Issues • Infants and toddlers should have a series of immunizations to prevent several diseases, such as hepatitis B and polio. • Children are also susceptible to accidental injuries, such as choking, drowning, and poisoning. • These fatal situations are often avoidable when children are given proper care and watched closely.

Early Childhood • Early childhood generally occurs between the ages of 1 and 6. • During this time, children continue to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially.

Early Childhood: Physical Development • Physical growth slows down. • Motor skills improve, allowing for greater coordination and balance. • A preference for the left or right hand develops. • They begin to lose primary teeth and grow adult teeth.

Early Childhood: Mental Development • They can see simple situations from someone else’s point of view. • A greater attention span develops. • The ability to count up and down develops along with the capability to perform simple addition and subtraction problems. • Language and memory skills improve.

Early Childhood: Emotional Development • They tend to shift quickly from confident to unsure. • The feeling of frustration erupts easily due to the increasing intellectual abilities that are developing faster than physical abilities. • They develop self-esteem and learn to express their emotions in acceptable ways.

Early Childhood: Social Development • Children in this stage generally become better communicators. • Most children understand sharing and begin to play with other children, which is called cooperative play.

Early Childhood Health Issues • Children at this age have a considerable drop in appetite as their growth slows down. • Because they are eating less, it is particularly important to make sure that all that they eat is good for them. • Children in this stage still need plenty of adult supervision and guidance about safety issues.

Middle Childhood • Middle childhood generally occurs between the ages of 6 and 11. • During this time, children continue to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially.

Middle Childhood: Physical Development • Children can write smaller and neater. • Their drawings become more detailed. • Motor skills become more developed, including the abilities to run, jump, kick, throw, and catch.

Middle Childhood: Mental Development • Children in this stage display great strides in intellectual growth. • Their ability to think logically and understand more complex ideas develops. • They can employ strategies to remember things.

Middle Childhood: Emotional Development • Children in this stage of development become more independent and responsible as their confidence grows. • They may be able to describe their own personalities and explain their emotions. • They also have more self- esteem than younger children.

Middle Childhood: Social Development • They understand that people’s perspectives on issues are caused by the information that they have. • They can view their relationships with others from a third-party’s point of view. • They develop friendships that are based on trust. • Their personalities and interests become more gender stereotypical.

Middle Childhood Health Issues • Nearsightedness • Ear infections • Obesity • Malnutrition • Bedwetting

Adolescence • Adolescence generally occurs between the ages of 11 and 20. • Most attention is paid to the first half of this stage of development. • Adolescence is a time of transitioning from childhood to adulthood in each area of development.

Adolescence: Physical Development • Females: ▫ Gain up to 40 pounds & grow up to 10 inches ▫ Begin to menstruate ▫ Develop secondary sexual characteristics (pubic hair, breasts, wider hips, more fat) • Males: ▫ Grow much taller and develop muscle mass ▫ Reproductive organs mature ▫ Develop secondary sexual characteristics (deeper voice, muscle mass, broader shoulders, pubic/facial hair)

Adolescence: Mental Development • Adolescents develop better critical thinking skills, which enable them to interpret and evaluate information. • They become idealistic about the world around them. However, they may also become more critical, when the world does not live up to their ideals.

Adolescence: Emotional Development • Adolescence is a challenging and confusing time for many young people. They seek to establish their identities. • They are self-conscious and often influenced by the thought that everyone is watching them. • They are often and easily embarrassed.

Adolescence: Social Development • Adolescents love to socialize with their friends. • They each develop their own sense of morals and values largely based on what their parents have taught them. • They also develop an awareness and interest in the opposite sex.

Adolescent Health Issues • Feelings of inadequacy are often displayed in the form of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. • Some adolescents turn to chemical substances for stress relief, because of peer pressure, or to escape from problems. • Suicide is a leading cause of death in adolescence.

Early Adulthood • Early adulthood generally occurs between the ages of 20 and 40. • During this time, adults continue to develop and change physically and intellectually. • They also continue to change socially and emotionally. However, at this point in life, these two areas become difficult to distinguish.

Early Adulthood: Physical Development • Early in this stage: ▫ In prime physical condition ▫ Typically stronger and faster • Later in this stage: ▫ Body need to be stretched and warmed up to prevent injury ▫ Metabolism slows down ▫ Decline in vision and hearing ▫ Hair begins to thin and gray ▫ Women may have fertility problems

Early Adulthood: Mental Development • People typically settle in a career and develop expertise in that field. • Creativity tends to increase. • Later in this stage, people are better able to manage many responsibilities at one time and to balance work and home life.

Early Adulthood: Emotional and Social Development • Adults develop an image of themselves in relation to the adult world around them. • Adults develop values, skills, and credentials in the workplace. • They acquire fulfilling adult friendships and work contacts. • They might get married and have children.

Middle Adulthood • Middle adulthood generally occurs between the ages of 40 and 60. • They continue to develop and change physically and intellectually. • They also continue to change socially and emotionally. As in early adulthood, at this point in life, these two areas are difficult to distinguish.

Middle Adulthood: Physical Development • People typically experience some high- frequency hearing loss, declining vision, and loss of lean body mass. • The hair continues to thin and gray and weight gain occurs. Skin begins to wrinkle and sag due to loss of elasticity. • Disks in the spinal column begin to collapse, which could result in shrinking as much as an inch in height. • In women, menopause occurs.

Middle Adulthood: Mental Development • Middle adults experience an increase in problem-solving abilities and expertise. • However, there are decreases in the ability to: Remember large quantities of information ▫ Retrieve information from memory ▫ Multi-task ▫

Middle Adulthood: Emotional and Social Development • Middle adults become concerned about the next generation and have a desire to guide and connect with it. • Self-acceptance is at its best. • Some people retire. • Family relationships change: ▫ Children become independent. ▫ Parents begin to age and need assistance. ▫ Sibling relationships become more satisfying.

Late Adulthood • Late adulthood generally occurs between the ages of 60 and 80. • During this time, adults continue to develop and change physically and intellectually. • They also continue to change socially and emotionally. However, at this point in life, these two areas become difficult to distinguish.

Late Adulthood: Physical Development • The body continues to decline: ▫ Vision and hearing decline. ▫ Senses of taste, smell, and touch become less sharp. ▫ The immune system ages. ▫ Bone mass continues to diminish. • Neurons die at a faster rate. However, the brain compensates with new synapses.

Late Adulthood: Mental Development • Late adults continue to experience a decline in their ability to recall from their memories. • Finding the right words and organizing them into speech become increasingly challenging • Although late adulthood includes the continued decline of some functions, people in this stage of life are at their most wise.

Late Adulthood: Emotional and Social Development • People at this stage may be widowed. If they are not widowed, they are probably more satisfied with their marriages than in the past. • Their relationships with siblings become even stronger. • They may become grandparents or great- grandparents. • Their faith and spirituality may become more important. • They also have an increased interest in politics and are more likely to vote.