7.

Adolescence - from 13 or 14
Nature and Issues of Child and 8. Early Adulthood - from 18 to 35 years
Adolescent Development 9. Middle Adulthood - from 35 to 65 years

Module 1 - Nature and Development 10. Late Adulthood - from 65 years to death

of Children and Adolescents Childhood

Growth, Development and Maturation ✓ Begins when the relative dependency of babyhood is
over
How they Differ?
✓ Approximately the age of two years and extends to
Growth
the time when the child becomes sexually matured
1. It is indicative i.e. increase in size of the body,
✓ Approximately thirteen years for the average girl and
increase height, weight etc.
fourteen years for the average boy
2. It is quantitative progress
✓ After children become sexually mature, they are
3. It is physical change known as adolescents
4. It is external in nature Adolescence
5. It stops at certain stage ✓ The begining when children become sexually mature
and ending when they reach the age of legal maturity
6. It is physical progress
✓ Psychologically, it is the age when the individual
Development
becomes integrated into the society of adults, the age
1. It is not indicative, cannot observe directly the when the child no longer feels that he/she is below the
sequential patterns of change level of elders but equal in rights

2. It is qualitative progress ✓ This is called the period of spring, romance, storm

and stress
3. It is psychological change

4. It is internal in nature ✓ Early childhood extends roughly from 13 to 16 or 17

5. It is continuous process
6. It is cognitive progress
Maturation the completion of growth and development
Stages in the Life Span
1. Prenatal Period - from conception to birth
2. Infancy - from birth to the end of 2nd week
3. Babyhood - from end of 2nd week to end of 2nd year
4. Early Childhood - from 2 to 6 years
5. Late Childhood - from 6 to 10 yeas
6. Preadolescence or Puberty - from 10 to 12 to 14
years
years and the late adolescence covers the period from
then until 18, the age of legal maturity
Havighurst’s Developmental Tasks during
the Life Span (Hurlock, 1982)
Babyhood and Early Childhood
• learning to take food • learning to walk
• learning to talk
• learning to control the elimination of body waste
• learning sex differences and sexual modesty
• getting ready to read
• learning to distinguish right and wrong and learning
to develop a conscience
Late Childhood The Endocrine Glands

• learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games
• building a wholesome attitude toward oneself as a
growing organism
• learning to get along with age mates
• beginning to develop appropriate masculine or
feminine social roles
• developing fundamental skills in reading, writing and
calculating
• developing concepts necessary for everyday living
• developing a conscience, sense of morality, and a
scale of values
• developing attitudes toward social groups and
institutions
• achieving personal independence
Pituitary Gland - the “master gland” whose hormones
influence other endocrine glands.
Hormone - a glandular secretion that affects bodily
functions or behavior.
Endocrine System - glands whose secretions pass
directly into the bloodstream or lymph system.
Thyroid Gland - helps regulate the rate of metabolism.
Adrenal Gland - arouse the body, regulate salt balance,
adjust the body to stress, and affect sexual functioning.
Pancreas - releases insulin and glucagon and smaller
amounts of other hormones to the blood.
Gonads - the primary sex glands, the testes in males
and ovaries in female
Primary Sex Characteristic
MEN
Penis, testes (androgen and testosterone), scrotum,
sperm, vas deferens, etc.

WOMEN
Uterus, ovaries (estrogen and progesterone) ovum,
Adolescence fallopian tubes cervix, vagina, clitoris, etc.
• achieving new and more mature relations with age Secondary sex characteristics
mates
FEMALE
• achieving a masculine and feminine social role
✓ development of the breast
• accepting one’s physique and using one’s body ✓ pelvic widens & hips broaden ✓
effectively
voice deepens slightly ✓
• desiring, accepting and achieving socially responsible hair grown under the arms & in the pelvic region ✓
behavior ovaries start to function
✓ regular menstruation
• achieving emotional independence from parents and
other adults MALE
• preparing for an economic career ✓ the body become more muscular
✓ shoulder & chest become broader
• preparing for marriage and family life ✓ adam’s apple grows
• acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a ✓ vocal cord enlarge
guide to behavior - developing an ideology ✓ underarm, pubic hair & hair on the face, chest &
shoulders start to grow
✓ penis & testes enlarge
✓ testes begin to make sperm
Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective by
Paul Baltes (Santrock, 2002)
1. Development is life long. It does not end in
adulthood. No developmental stage dominates
development.
2. Development is multi-dimentional. It consists
of biological, cognitive and socioemotional
dimensions.
3. Development is contextual. Individuals are
changing beings in a changing world.
4. Development involves growth, maintenance
and regulations.
They are the three (3) goals of human
development., the goals of individuals vary among
developmental stages.
Development as Multidimensional Individual
mental
Moral/sp
[hysical
iriyual
individua
l
social emotion
al
Characteristics of Early Childhood
1. Young children are developing distinctive
personalites and are demanding an
independence which in most cases, they are
incapable of handling successfully.
2. They are often obstinate or stubborn,
disobedient, negativistic or antagonistic.
3. They have frequest temper tantrums, they are
often bothered by bad dreams at night and
irrational fears during the day and they suffer
from jealousies.
4. They spend much of their waking time playing
and this is the foundation of their social
behavior.
5. They want to know what their environment is,
how it works, how it feels and how they can be
a part of it.
Characteristics of Late Childhood
1. The time when children are no longer willing to do
what they are told to do and when they are more
influenced by their peers than by their parents and
other family members.
2. It is the time when the child is expected to acquire
the rudiments of knowledge that are considered
essential for successful adjustment to adult life.
3. The time when children’s major concern is
acceptance by their agemates and membership in a
gang especially a gang with prestige in the eyes of their
age mates.
4. They develop the habit of working up to their
capacities in school or under or above their capacities,
the habit becomes persistent and tends to spread to all
areas of the child’s life not to academic work alone.
Characteristics of Adolescence
1. Adolescence is one the periods when both the
immediate effects and long term effects are
important.
2. It is a transitional period, they learn new
patterns of behavior and attitudes to replace
those they have abandoned.
3. In this stage, when physical changes are rapid,
changes in attitudes and behavior are also
rapid, as physical changes slow down, so do
attitudinal and behavioral changes.
4. It is a problem age and a time of search for
identity, they try to establish themselves as
individuals by the use of status symbols in the
forms of readily observable material
possessions, they hope in this way to attract
attention to themselves and to be recognize as
individuals while at the same time, maintaining
their identity with their peer group
 Module 2 - Issues and
Approach on the Study of
Children and Adolescent 3. Continuity vs. Discontinuity

Does change occur smoothly over time or through a

Lesson 4: Developmental Issues
During Childhood and Adolescence
1. Nature vs. nurture
The debate over the relative contributions of
inheritance and the environment is usually referred to
as the nature vs. nurture debate is one of the oldest
issues in both philosophy and psychology.
series of predetermined steps?
Some theories of development argue that changes
are simply a matter of quantity, children display more of
certain skills as they grow older. Other theories outline
a series of sequentail stages in which skills emerge at
certain points of development.
4. Abnormal Behavior vs. Individual

Plato and Descartes supported the idea that some One of the biggest concerns of many parents is
ideas are inborn. On the other hand, thinkers such as whether or not their child is developing normally.
John Locke argued for the concept of tabula rasa - a Developmental milestones offer guidelines for the ages
belief that the mind is blank slate at birth, with at which certain skills and abilities typically emerge, but
experience determining our knowledge. can create concern when a child falls slightly behind the
norm.
Today, most psychologist believe that it is an
interaction between these two (2) forces that causes While developmental theories have historically
development. focused upon deficits in behavior, focus on individual
differences in development is becoming more common.
Ex. Some aspects of development are distinctly
biological such as puberty. However, the onset of
puberty can be affected by environmental factors such Distribution of Adult IQ Scores on WAIS – III
as diet and nutrition.
IQ Description Percent
2. Early Experience vs. Later Experience Above 130 Very Superior 2.2
Psychoanalytic theorists tend to focus on events that 120-129 Superior 6.7
occur in early childhood. According to Freud, much of a 110-119 Bright Normal 16.1
child’s personality is completely established by the age 90-109 Average 50.0
of five. If this is indeed the case, those who have 80-89 Dull Normal 16.1
experienced deprived or abusive childhoods might 70-79 Borderline 6.7
never adjust or develop normally. Below 70 Mentally Retarded 2.2

In contrast to this view, researchers have found that

the influence of childhood events does not necessarily
have a dominating effect over behavior throughout life,
however there is evidence that childhood adversity may
correlate to greater levels of stress in adulthood.

Many people with less than perfect childhoods go on

to develop normally into well-adjusted adults.

Lesson 5: Methods and Approaches
on the Study of Child and Adolescent
Development
1. Case Study
An in-depth look at an individual. It provides
information about an individual’s fears, hopes,
fantasies, traumatic experiences, upbringing, family
relationships, health and anything that helps a
psychologist understand that person’s development,
(Corpuz, et. 2010)
2. Correlational Study
A research design that determines associations. It is
useful because the more strongly two events are
correlated, the more we can predict one from the
other.
3. Naturalistic Observation
A research design that focuses on children’s
experiences in natural settings. This does not involve
any intervention or manipulation on the part of the
researcher. It is often utilized in situations where
conducting lab research is unrealistic, cost-prohibitive
or would unduly affect the subject’s behavior
4. Longitudinal Study
This research design studies and follows through a
single group over a period of time. The same individuals
are studied over a period of time. It allows them to
record and monitor developmental trends.
4. Experimental
A research design that determines cause and effect
relationships. It involves manipulating one variable to
determine if changes in one variable cause changes in
another variable. This method relies on controlled
methods, random assignment and the manipulation of
variables to test a hypothesis.
5. Cross Sectional
A research strategy in which individuals of different
ages are compared at one time.
6. Action Research
A reflective process of progressive problem solving
led by individuals working with others in teams or as
part of a community of practice to improve the way
they address issues and solve problems.
Data Gathering Techniques
1. Observation - It can be made either in laboratories
or naturalistic settings. In naturalistic observation,
berhaior is observes in the real world like classrooms,
home and neighborhood.
2. Physiological Measures - Certain indicators of
children’s development such as among others like heart
rate, homonal levels, bone growth, body weight and
brain activity are measured.
3. Interviews and Questionnaires - It involves asking
the participants to provide information about
themselves based on the interview or questionnaire
given by the researcher. Gathering of data may be
conducted through a printed questionnnaire, over the
telephone, by mail, in person or online.
4. Life History Records - These are records of
information about a lifetime chronology of events and
activities. They often involve a combination of data
records on education, work, family and residence. Also
includes public records or historical documents or
interviews with respondents