宇聯心理健康志業群

by Irene Chiang

[Abstract]
This research paper discusses the developmental stage of two different populations: children in early childhood (preschool age) and adolescents (age 16 to age 19), based on research data gathered from professional peer reviewed journals. The aspects of discussion are (1) physical development, how the human body grows; (2) cognitive development, the mental process of thought, including perception, reasoning, intuition and memory; (3) social development, how a person interacts with other people within a group setting, and how this person relates to the environment. Each population has its own distinct developmental features, yet early development does influence later progress. This paper presents the aforementioned developmental traits, and compares and contrasts both groups.

LIFESPAN RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT OF TWO GROUPS: EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENTS

The life stage of early childhood contains one of the two developmental stages with the most rapid change on growth: two to three years after birth. This period is crucial for personality development, and it is also a key life stage for development of socialization (Chang, 1995). A person’s intelligence, personality and mental potential begin to form during this period. Since it is a “before school” period, the major environment for preschool children is family, with parents and/or caretakers being the ones who they interact with most frequently. In additions, the events they encounter during this period will tremendously affect their overall development in later stages.

Adolescence is the other developmental stage with rapid physical growth and change. With the development on reproductive system the secondary sex characteristic begins to emerge, their physical appearance will go through profound transformation. In addition to distinct physical transformation, mental and social developments also play an important role on the overall development, and have crucial influences on adolescent development. Social interaction and the variety of surroundings for adolescents increase tremendously during this period as well. It is best defined as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood with intelligence, emotion, personality and socialization skills begin to mature.

Both early childhood and adolescence are life stages when human beings experience fast growth. They have unique characteristics of their own, yet how well human beings developed in their childhood does have an impact later in life. The aim of this research paper is to compare and contrast physical, cognitive and social developments between these two populations.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Early Childhood Physical Development

The term “growth” represents the increase on height and weight, and the enlargement of organs. The moment a baby is born, the body and internal organs embark on the process of development. Children experience the most rapid growth on height, weight and central nervous system during the first 2 years of life, and such rapidness continues all the way to age 6. Normally, the height of preschool children increases 6 to 7 cm each year, and the weight increases from approximately 3 kg at birth to almost 20 kg at age 6 (“Health Examination for Children” n.d.).

Next, preschool children also experience fast central nervous system development. In the first three years of life, the neonatal brain undergoes speedy growth and development (DiPietro, 2000), and the brain and nervous system grow the fastest from age 0 to age 2. The neonatal brain weights approximately one-fourth of adult size and weight at birth (DiPietro, 2000), and by age 2, it weights approximately three-fourth of adult size and weight. By age 5, the brain weight reaches 90% of adult size and weight.

All human learning activities involve the absorption of external information through the five senses, the process of brain, and the revelation through locomotor system. Therefore, the more mature and brain, the better the locomotor control. The muscular development for children from age 0 to age 2 generally follows this sequence: raising the head, hands supporting the head, sitting, standing, walking, taking an object, going upstairs and downstairs, and running around. For the development of muscle on both hands, the sequence is: reflex grasping motion, voluntary grasping motion, grasping motion with fingers, and pouring water (Chen, n.d.). In later years, children will be able to brush the teeth, comb their hair, dress and undress, and clean themselves.

Adolescent Physical Development

Adolescence is the period of accelerated physical development regarding height, weight, and body proportion (Galambos and Lerner, 1998), and height increase is far more obvious than weight increase. Transition in height is closely related to growth and development in bones. As soon as bone development reaches maturation, the height stops to increase. During a one-year growth spurt, girls and boys generally gain an average of 3.5 inches and 4.1 inches in height respectively, and girls usually experience such spurt two years earlier than boys. In additions, adolescent girls have a greater increase on body fat, and adolescent boys have a greater increase on muscle (Huebner, 2000).

Hormonal changes and gonad growth are also part of characteristics regarding adolescent development, and influences from genetics, social and psychological contexts all play crucial parts during this period. Gonad secretes sex hormone during the growing process, and sex hormone determines the development of primary sex characteristic, which means reproductive system, and the appearance of the secondary sex characteristics (Chang, 2004). Hormone has the most crucial impact on development of reproductive system, and such rapid growth during adolescent period stimulates hormonal secretion as well. Reproductive development represents the most important and fundamental distinction between the two sexes.

Changes in hormonal level also have the impact on activating the development of secondary sex characteristics (Huebner, 2000). Adolescent girls experience the growth of breasts, underarm and pubic hair, the appearance of menstrual cycles and vaginal secretion. Adolescent boys also experience growth of underarm and pubic hair, yet their facial hair also grows during this period. In additions, their voice also changes. Both sexes begin to have acne, an increase on oil production and sweat gland activity (Huebner, 2000).

The brain continues to undergo the process of functional maturation during adolescent period, and total maturation will occur in late adolescence or later (DiPietro, 2000). Meanwhile, the physical function of adolescents gradually matures as well. The frequency of heartbeat and breath slow down with the increase of age, yet vital capacity improves during this period, and the level of muscle extension and persistency, explosive strength on lower limbs, power of grasping, and speed enhanced profoundly as adolescents grow (Kao, 2004).

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Early Childhood Cognitive Development

As children’s brain start to grow, their mental world also begins to develop. Sensory experiences are important for children from age 0 to age 2 because they recognize things around them through visual, auditory and tactual senses; they learn through sensory reception. They develop their knowledge through interaction with other people, and most of them acquire language skill and communication behavior through imitation and interaction with family members, mainly parents (Wang, 2001).

Prior to age 3, as the aforementioned experiences accumulate to a certain level, children begin to enter the operational stage. They learn the order of things through hands-on operations. For example, they learn that an alarm clock is able to ring after actually pressing the button to activate the ringing sound. Therefore, this is a stage of “seeing is believing” - to learn is to see things in person. In additions, they distinguish right from wrong by whether they receive punishment after doing certain things (“Johnson's Baby,” 2004).

According to Piaget, children are cognitively egocentric in the beginning of development; they do not understand perspectives (Flavell, 1999). They see things only in their own views, and are unable to comprehend other people’s point of view. Toddlers (ages 1 and 2) are emotionally egocentric, and they do not like to share personal belongings with other people. As they reach 3 to 4 years of age, they become very self-centered. They perceive that the world revolves around them, and lack the ability to show empathy for others. In additions, their highly active imaginations frequently lead to fears (“The Early Show,” 2002).

Children also develop object permanence as they grow during this period. In the early stage, if a person or an object becomes out of sight, children will consider it no longer exists and even become anxious. However, as preschool children grow older, the development of object permanence gradually matures, so they know that a person or an object continues to exist when out of sight. Next, studies indicate that in the first year of life, infants start to learn that people and objects are different entities. From age 1 to age 2, infants develop significant skill in distinguishing different voices and facial expression (Flavell, 1999). From age 3 to age 5, children depend largely on intuitive thinking, and they have not obtained the concept of reversibility yet. 3-year-old children understand the concept of “now” and “today,” 4-year-old children begin to use “I,” know their own birthday and other important dates, and have the concept of color and quantity. 5-year-old children know a day is the unit of time and possess amazing memory ability. They can count from 1 to 10 and distinguish more then 4 colors. When describing issues, they are able to add on personal events (Huang, 1996).

Preschool children have little ability for emotional control, e.g. when their siblings take away their toys, they will most possibly scream or cry and fight with siblings. Yet, if something makes preschool children angry, their anger will not remain for long, usually less than 5 minutes (“Adolescent Emotional Development,” 2003).

Adolescent Cognitive Development

Adolescence is within a period Piaget named the “formal operational stage,” starting from 12 or 13 years of age. Adolescents develop advanced reasoning skills, such as the capacity to think about various options and possibilities. They can also process thoughts logically, think about things hypothetically, and obtain abstract thinking skill, so they are able to comprehend abstract concepts such as trust, beliefs, faith and spirituality. Moreover, they attain the ability to think about how other people perceive them, and develop strategies in a process known as “meta-cognition” (Huebner, 2000).

Adolescents are frequently described as preferring risk-taking behaviors. They are highly curious about their own physical development, so they pay much attention to themselves, sometimes considering themselves the center of attention. Adolescent egocentrism, addressed by Elkind, explains such phenomenon. Adolescents anticipate other people’s reactions to themselves tremendously, and tend to perform surprising or risky behaviors to satisfy others, the “imaginary audience.” In additions, they often believe that they are unique and invincible (Crowell, Fischhoff & Kipke, (in press).

Adolescence is a period of great dynamic and rapid change. Adolescents are able to make their own judgments, although their judgments might differ from social standards, and this sometimes leads to anti-social or anti-authority thoughts and behaviors. Next, their concept of “self” gradually becomes “more differentiated and better organized” (Steinberg & Morris, 2001), and they are able to progress from feeling themselves subjectively to observing themselves objectively (Lee, 1997).

When adolescents reach high school age, the frequency of emotional outburst decreases, the ability to control emotions increases, and the duration of emotional experiencing extends. If they get angry, the duration might reach as long as several hours (“Adolescent Emotional Development,” n.d.).

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Early Childhood Social Development

Social development begins in the early years of the human life, and the foundation for future social interaction is established in the first few years of life (“Social Development,” December 2002). As infants grow, they engage increasingly in social exchanges by a “reciprocal matching” process. Both the infant and the adult attempt to closely match or imitate each other’s gaze, use of tongue, sounds, and smiles. Children's social-cognitive development, including moral judgment, appears to parallel cognitive development as children's perceptions of relationships, peers, and social situations become more abstract and less egocentric (Oden, 1987).

Prior to ages 3 to 4, one of the important tasks for children is to develop a reliable and positive attachment with their parents or caretakers. Once they trust and rely on their significant others, they will be able to establish a foundation for knowing themselves. When children begin their preschool years, they usually exhibit certain social skills. Individually, they are usually in a positive mood, and are not overly dependant on significant others, such as parents, caretakers or other adults. Generally, they are willing to attend social programs. They have a good relationship with one or two peers, and are capable of caring about such friends (McClellan & Katz, 1993).

Another significant behavior in early childhood is social referencing. This means children try to identify their parents’ emotional reaction toward a particular object or act of the children. Then, children utilize such emotional information to determine how they are going to do next in relation to the object. Frequently, children assume the same emotional states that their parents have shown. “Children seem to have developed this form of behavior around 12 months of age” (Ingsholt, n.d.).

Socially, preschool children do not draw improper attention to self, and generally approach other people verbally or non-verbally with a positive attitude. They can clearly express their preferences and wishes, appropriately assert their own needs and rights, and effectively express anger and frustrations without causing damages. Bullies do not easily intimidate them. Next, they are able to participate, take turns, and make related contributions in continuing group activities. They show interest in other people, can appropriately perform information exchange, make request, negotiate and compromise with others, as well as accept and enjoy peers and adults of other ethnic groups (McClellan & Katz, 1993). They are still unable to distinguish between best friends and friends very well, but they can express specifically the reason why they prefer to or not to interact with certain peers (Oden, 1987).

Infants and toddlers interact mostly with their parents, caretakers and siblings. When they reach preschool age, interactions with peers increase. In this developmental stage, peer acceptance and friendship become major issues and have crucial influence on the development and life adjustment of children, according to studies. Research results indicate that children with low peer acceptance do not perform well academically, and they encounter adjustment problems at school or later in their lives. Children’s peer acceptance can act as an influential predictor for academic achievement (Dong, 2003). For preschoolers, “peers played an essential role in the socialization of interpersonal competence and that skills acquired in this manner affected the individual’s long-term adjustment” (Ladd, 1999).

Adolescent Social Development

Adolescence is typically considered a period of dramatic changes not only in the content of development, but also in the context. During the transition from childhood to adolescence, adolescents spend far more time alone and with friends, and much lesser time with their parents (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). In additions, many adolescents also work part-time to earn extra money to purchase things they like and join more social activities. With the expansion of context and interpersonal network, adolescents pay much attention on relationships outside the family, and such relationships also become increasingly significant for them (Giordano, 2003).

The quality of relationships affects adolescents’ self-understanding, sense of belonging, mental adjustment and degree of satisfaction toward their lives. During this period, adolescents might not discuss everything with their parents as frequently as before, and it is somewhat difficult for parents to grasp what their adolescent children really think about. There will be more disagreements between parents and their adolescent children than in earlier life stage such as early childhood. This is due to the fact that peer influence plays an increasingly important role in many aspects of adolescents’ daily lives, including academic achievement, prosocial and problem behaviors (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). For achieving self-awareness and self-exploration, adolescents need to know their own identity through multiple channels, and they often seek peer opinions. Because adolescents care about peer opinion very much, they encounter peer pressure as well.

Because of more intense peer relationships, adolescents spend less time with their parents and seem not as dependent as earlier in life, but their relationships with parents are still significant to them, and such relationships are in fact fundamental to adolescent development. Actually, relationship with parents is still valuable for adolescents, for a decrease in time spent together does not mean a reduction on the quality of the parent-adolescent relationships. “Most disagreements between adolescents and their parents are over trivial matters, and often come about because of the adolescent’s development towards autonomy” (Slee, 1999). Adolescent do not like to be told what to do. If parents listen to, support, and encourage their adolescent children to make their own decisions instead of being authoritarian, they are essentially helping them to obtain more autonomy and to ultimately achieve independence (Slee, 1999).

In addition to close friendships and wider peer networks, romantic relationships has distinct meanings and significance for adolescents as well (Giordano, 2003). Generally, adolescents are curious not only about themselves, but also the opposite sex, emotionally and sexually. While friendship is rooted in similarity and shared perspectives, romantic relationship encompasses of differences from both parties. Romantic relationships involve both positive and negative experiences and effects, and such relationships obviously matter to adolescents (Giordano, 2003). When facing frustrations in romantic relationships, adolescents often tend to take this seriously, considering it a personal failure (“Adolescents and Relationships,” 2002).

CONCLUSION

Physical well-being, intelligence, personality and mental potential are developed during early childhood. Cognitive development during this stage grows rapidly, and the context has a huge impact on such development. In additions, from psychoanalytic, learning and cognitive perspectives, the nurture of moral development, emotional and self-control, and willpower are all related to experiences in early childhood. The first 6 years in the human life is a period of the greatest development, imitation, curiosity and imagination. What preschool children perceive during this period influences not only their thoughts and behaviors, but also how a society evolves (Huang, 1996).

As the ever-increasing transformations in family and social structures, nuclear families and their children increasingly encounter constriction on living space. Moreover, because parents in double-income families usually are too busy to spend enough time with their children, many preschool children in such families depend heavily on interaction with their caretakers or peers to gradually obtain knowledge, skills, behavioral patterns and ethics. Based on research studies, preschool children who have not participated in peer activities will not have complete development on personality and social behavior. The period from age 3 to age 6 is the most important stage for development in individual socialization, and it is generally considered that problematic behaviors could be traced back to negative experiences or emotions in early childhood (Huang, 1996.).

Adolescence is a fast-growing and bridging period between childhood and adulthood. In addition to biological growth, psychological and social developments are also crucial in this stage. This is a somewhat unstable period because adolescents are neither children nor adults (Lee, 1997). This is a transitional period of exploration and reconstruction, and also a period with the most powerful learning ability. Therefore, how well adolescents adjust in this stage not only affects their present well-being, but it also affects how well they live their lives later on. The key point of personal development is integration. Adolescents have to identify themselves and realize the reciprocal relationship between people and society; otherwise, there will be confusion during the process of integration.

As adolescents become more dependent on peers, peer relation is especially important for adolescent life. Due to the transformation of interpersonal relationship, they particularly need acceptance and support from peers. As previously mentioned, this is a transitional period with more complexity and difficulty. Therefore, they need to choose a peer group of the same age, belief and concern to have a sense of equilibrium and stability (Lee, 1997). Nowadays, adolescents face far greater intricacy than before due to the ever-changing social condition. Positive interactions between adolescents and their parents, teachers, peers and/or even colleagues will promote a healthy development on their intellectual, emotional and social intelligence, as well as influence their personality later in adulthood.

Adolescence is one of the continuation periods of early childhood. Both groups encounter speedy physical and mental growth, and peer relations are essential for social development. For adolescents, however, more intense peer relations bring heavier peer pressure, and with increasing complexity in context, they face greater emotional challenge than in preschool years. As healthy development in an early stage brings positive impact on later development, how well human beings grow does influence how they live later in life.

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