CHILD AND ADOLESCENT

DEVELOPMENT
Germa T. Borres, Ph.D.

Prepared by: JERSON A.DOGOS

Which factor contributes development to the
child?
Which factor contributes my
personal development?
The development Pattern
Nature versus nurture

The basic mechanisms or causes of developmental change are genetic factors and environmental factors.
The development Pattern
Genetic factors are responsible for cellular changes like overall
growth, changes in proportion of body and brain parts,[25] and the
maturation of aspects of function such as vision and dietary needs.
Environmental factors affecting development may include both diet
and disease exposure, as well as social, emotional, and cognitive
experiences.
The development Pattern
Combination of factors Result
1. Excellenr biological inheritance Superior achievement
and rich environment
2. Excellent biological inheritance Good or poor achievement
and meager environment

3. Poor biological inheritance and Poor or Good achievement

rich environment
4. Poor biological inheritance and Poor achievement
meager environment
Nature and Nurture
• There is a continous controversy over whether the child’s
development is the product of her heredity (nature) or environment
(nurture).
• Nature is responsible for cognitive aspects such as mental capacities,
endowments, innate traits and other materials that contributed to
development as passed upon generations through heredity. The
inherent traits that an individuals possesses are unfolded through
maturation.
• Nurture is associated with environment that provides the stimuli for
nourishment and proper development of certain organism.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Nature and Nurture
• Heredity which is biological transmission of traits and characteristics
from one.
• Maturation is the development or unfolding of traits potentially
present in the individual considering his/her heredity endowment.
• Learning is the result of activities or day-to-day experiences of the
child.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Potential of Development
The principles of hereditary factors are as follows:
The bases of hereditary are germ cells, not somatic or
body cells. Potentialities are handed down from
parents to offprings.
Human beings tend to be more alike rather than
different.
Potential of Development
Human beings tend to look alike but do not resemble
each other in physical structure
There is a tendency toward arriving at a mean or
average.
Processess of hereditary are slow; the force of
environment is continuos.
Nature of Human Growth
Prenatal development has three stages:
Germonal, or egglike organism(after 2 weeks of conception)
Embryonics (after 8 weeks)
Fetal (8 weeks –birth)
Congential influence refers to conditions and factors which can affect
the unburn child as well as its development, such as malnutrition,
disease, infection, birth, injury, emotional sock, and toxin.
These factors explain why some children are born either prematurely
and handicapped or abnormal.
 Five post-natal periods of life:

Infant (4weeks -1yr old)

Childhood (1yr old- 13 yr old)
Adolescence (13 yr old-19 yr old)
Adulthood
senescence
Basic principle of development-Witherington
Learning depends upon maturation
Rate of growth is rapid in the early years.
Each individual has his own rate of growth.
 members of the same species follow a common general pattern of
development.
Mental traits appear together rather than in series
KEY PRINCIPLES OF LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT

1. Development is lifelong – each period of development is influenced

by what happened before and will affect what is to come. Each
period has its own unique characteristics and value.
2. Development depends on history and context – each person
development is within a specific set of circumstances or conditions
defined by place and time.
3. Development is multi-dimensional and multi-directional –
development throughout involves a balance of growth and decline,
cephacaudal direction and proximodistal direction.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

KEY PRINCIPLES OF LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT

4. Development is pliable and plastic – plasticity means modifiability

of performance, many abilities, such as memory strength and
endurance can be significantly improved with training and practice,
even in later life. However, the potential for changes has limits.
5. Early foundations are critical – the foundations laid during the first
two years of life are critical (between 8 to 18 months); early
patterns so persist, but they are not unchangeable, change is likely
to occur when an individual
a. Receives help and guidance in making the change
b. Significant poeple treat the individual in new and different ways
c. There is a strong motivation on the part of the individual.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

KEY PRINCIPLES OF LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT

6. The role of maturation and learning in development

7. All individuals are different – all poeple are genetically and
biologically different from one another even identical twins.
8. Each phase of development has a characteristic pattern of behavior
– when individuals adaptasity to environmental demands (period of
equilibrium) and if there are difficulties in adaptation (periods of
disequilibrium).
9. Each phase of development has hazards – it involves adjustment,
problems either physical, psychological and environmental.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

KEY PRINCIPLES OF LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT

10.Development is aided by stimulation from significant others; most

development will occur as a result of maturation and
environmental experiences, stimulating by directly by encouraging
the individual to use an ability which is in the process of
developing.
11.There is social expectation for every stage of development or
developmental tasks.
12.There are traditional beliefs about poeple olf all ages.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

HAVIGHURT’S DEVELOPMENT TASKS DURING THE LIFESPAN (As society’s
expectations)

Babyhood and Early Childhood

• Learning to take solid food
• Learning to walk
• Learning to talk
• Learning to control the elimination of body wastes
• Learning sex differences and sexual modesty
• Learning to distinguish right from wrong and beginning to develop a
conscience
• Getting ready to read

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

HAVIGHURT’S DEVELOPMENT TASKS DURING THE LIFESPAN (As society’s
expectations)

Late Childhood
• Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games
• Building a wholesome attitude towards oneself as a growing organism
• Learning to get along with age mates
• Beginning to decelop approriate masculine or feminine social roles
• Developing a conscience, a sense of morality and a scale of values
• Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing, and calculating
• Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions
• Achieving personal independence

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

HAVIGHURT’S DEVELOPMENT TASKS DURING THE LIFESPAN (As society’s
expectations)

Adolescense
• Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both sexes
• Achieving a masculine or feminin social role
• Accepting one’s physique and using one’s body effectively
• Desiring, accepting, and achieving socially responsible behavior
• Achieving emotional independence from parents and other adults
• Preparing for an economic career
• Preparing for marriage and family life
• Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as guide to behavior

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

HAVIGHURT’S DEVELOPMENT TASKS DURING THE LIFESPAN (As society’s
expectations)

Early Adulthood
• Getting started in an occupation
• Selecting a mate
• Learning to live with a marriage partner
• Starting a family
• Rearing children
• Managing a home
• Taking on civic responsibility
• Finding a congenial social group

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

HAVIGHURT’S DEVELOPMENT TASKS DURING THE LIFESPAN (As society’s
expectations)

Middle Age
• Achieving adult civic and social responsibility
• Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy adults
• Developing adult leisure-time activities
• Relating oneself to one’s spouse as a person
• Accepting and adjusting to the physiological changes of middle age
• Adjusting to aging parents

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Child and adolescent development

• Child and adolescent psychology are braches of developmental

psychology devoted to the growtth and changes happening from
conception through the beginning of adulthood.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Major Child Development Theories and Theorists

• Though manyh sciecntist and researchers have approached the study

of child development over the last hundred or so years, only a few of
the theories that have resulted have stood the teat of time and have
proven to be widely influential. Among this core group of theories are
five that will serve as the basis for the documents in this series.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Frued’s Psychosexual Theory

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was a Viennese doctor who came to

believe that the way parents dealt with children’s basic sexual and
aggressive desires would determine how their personalities developed
and whether or not they would end up well-adjusted as adults.

Stages of Sexual Development

Each stage focused on sexual activity and the ppleasure recieved
from a particular area of the body. ORAL PHASE, children are focused
on the pleasures that they receive from sucking and biting with their
mouth.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Frued’s Psychosexual Theory

ANAL PHASE, this focus shifts to the anus as they begin toilet training
and attempt to control their bowels. PHALLIC STAGE, the focus moves to
genital stimulation and the sexual identification that comes with having or
not a penis.
During this phase, Frued thought that children turn their interest and
love toward parent of the opposite sex and begin to strongly resent the
aprent of the same sex.
He called this idea the Oedipus Complex as it closely mirrored the
events of an ancient Greek tragic play in which a king named Oedipus
manages to marry his mother and kill his father. The Phallic/Oedipus stage
was thought to be followed by a period of Latency during which sexual and
interest were temporarily nonexistent.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Frued’s Psychosexual Theory

Anotherpart of Freud’s theory focused on identifying the parts of

consciousness. Freud though that all babies are initially dominated by
unconscious, instinctual and selfish urges for immediate gratification which
he labeled the Id.
As babies attempt and fail to get all their whims met, they develop a
more realistic appreciation of what is realistic and possible, which Freud
called the “Ego”.
Over time, babies al;so learn about and come to internalize and
represent their parents’ values and rules. These internalized rules, which he
called the “Super-Ego”, are the basis for the developing chils’s conscience
that struggles with the concepts of right and wrong and works with the Ego
to control the immediate gratification urges of the Id.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory

Erik Erikson (1902-1994) used Frued’s work as starting place to

develop atheory about human stage development from birth to death.
In contrast to Freud’s focus on sexuality, Erikson focused on how
peoples’ sense of identity develops; how poeple or fail to develop
abilities about themselves which allow them to become productive,
satisfied members of society.
Each stage is associated with a time of life and a general age
span. For each stage, Erikson’s theory explains types of stimulation
children need to master that stage and become productive and well-
adjusted members of society and explains the types of problems and
developmental delays that can result when this stimulation does not
occur.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Stages of Psychosocial Theory

• Trust versus mistrust;

• Autonomy versus shame and doubt;
• Initiative versus guilt;
• Industry versus inferiority;
• Identity versus confusion
• Intimacy verusus isolation;
• Generativity versus stagnation;
• Integrity versus despair.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Kohlberg’s Moral Understanding Theory

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) descrbed three of moreal

development which described the process through which porplr learn
to discriminate right from wrong and to develop increasingly
sophisticated appreciations of morality.
Kohlberg’s first ‘preconventional’ level describes children whose
understanding of morality is essentially only driven by consequences.
Essntially, “might makes right” to a preconventional mind, and they
worry about what is right in worng so they don’t get in trouble.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Kohlberg’s Moral Understanding Theory

Second stage ‘conventional’ morality describes poeple who act in

moral ways because they believe that followuing the rules is the best
way to promote good personal relationships and a healthy community.
The final “post conventional’ level describes poeple whose of
morality transcend what the rules or laws say.instead of just following
rules without questioning them, ‘postconventional’ stage poeple
determine what is moral based on a set of values or beliefs they think
are right all the time.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Piaget-Cognitive-Developmental Theory

Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1990), created a cognitive-

development stage theory that described how children’s ways of
thinking developed as they interacted with the world around them.
Infants and young children understand the world much differently
than adults do, and as they explore, their mind learns how to think in
ways that better fit with reality.
Piget’s theory has four stages: sensorimotor, prooperational,
concrete operational, and formal operational. During the sesorimotor
stage, which often last from birth to age two, children are just
beginning to learn how to learn.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Piaget-Cognitive-Developmental Theory

During the preoperational stage, which often lasts from ages two
thought seven, children start to use mental symbols to understand and
to interact with the world, and they begin to learn language and to
engage in pretend play. In the concrete operational stage that follows,
lasting from ages seven through eleven, children gain the ability to
think logically to solve problems and to organize information they
learn. However, they remain limited to considering only concrete, not
abstract, information because at this stage the capability for abstract
thought isn’t well developed yet.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Piaget-Cognitive-Developmental Theory

Finally, during the formal operational stage, which often lasts

from age eleven on, adolescents learn how to think more abstractly to
solve and to think symbolically, e.g., about things that aren’t really
there concretely in front of them. As is the case with Erikcon and
Kohlberg, Piaget’s ideas will be developed in greater depth in future
documents.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Bronfenbrenner-Ecological Systems Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) developed the ecologicaln

systems theory to explain how everything in a child and the child’s
environment affects how a child grows and develops.
He labeled different aspects or levels of the wnvironment that
influence children’s development, including the microsystems, the
microsystem is the small, immediate environment the child lives in.
Children’s microsystems will include any immediate relationships or
organizations they interacts wit, such as their immediate family or
caregivers and their school or daycare.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Bronfenbrenner-Ecological Systems Theory

Mesosystem, describes how the different parts of a child’s

microsystem work together for the sake of the child. For example, if a
child’s caregivers take an active role in a child’s school, suchn as going
to parent-teacher conferences and watching their child’s soccer
games, this will help ensure the child’s overall growth. In contrast, if
the child’s two sets of caretaker, mom with step-dad and dad with
step-mom, disagree how to best raise the child and give the child
conflicting lessons when they see him, this will hinder the child’s
growth in different channels.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Bronfenbrenner-Ecological Systems Theory

Exosystem, level includes the other poeple and places that the
child herself may not interact with often herself but thatb still have a
large affect on her, such as parents’ workplaces, extended family
members, the neighberhood, etc. For example, if a child’s parent gets
laid off from work, that may have negative affects on the child if her
parents are unable to pay rent or to buy groceries; however,if her
parent receives a promotion and a raise at work, this may have a
positive affect on the child because her parents will be btter able to
give her her physical needs.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Bronfenbrenner-Ecological Systems Theory

Macrosystem, which is the largest and most remote set of

poeple and things to a child but which still has a great influence over
the child. The macrosystem includes things such as the relative
freedoms permitted by the national government, cultural values, the
economy, wars, etc. These things can also affect a child either
positively or negatively.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Piaget-Cognitive-Developmental Theory

Four stages of cognitive-development

• Sensorimotor stage- birth 2 yrs. Infants think by acting on the world with their eyes, eas,
and hands. As a result the invent ways of solving sensorimotor problems such as finding
hiddent toys.
• Preoperational stage- 2-7 yrs. Preschool children use symbols to represent thier earlier
sensorimotor discoveries. Development of language and make-believe play takes place.
• Concrete operational stage- 7-11 yrs. Children’s reasoning becomes logical. School-age
children understand that a certain amount of a substance remains the same even after
it’s appearance changes (ex. Liquid in two different sized containers). Thinking is not yet
abstract in this stage.
• Formal operational stage- 11 years on. The capacity for abstraction permits adolescents
to reason with symbols that do not refer to objects in the real world, as in advanced
mathematics.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Bronfenbrenner-Ecological Systems Theory

Ecological systems theory views the person as developing within a complex system
of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.
• Microsystem- innermost level of the environment. Refers to activities and interaction
patterns in the person’s immediate surroundings.
• Mesosystem- refers to connections between Microsystems that foster development.
• Exosystem- social settings that do not contain the developing person but nevertheless
affect experiences in immediate settings.
• Macrosystem- consist of the values, laws, customs, and resources of a particular culture.
In this system, the priority that the macrosystem gives to the needs of children and
adults affects the support they receive at the inner levels of the environment.
• Chronosystem- the environment is dynamic and ever-changing. The temporal dimension
of Bronfenbrenner’s model.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Vygotsky-Sociocultural Theory

• Sociocultural theory focuses on how culture is transmitted to the next generation.

Culture – the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group.

Social interaction – cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society, according to
Vygotsky, is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up comnunites
culture.

Vygotsky emphasize the role of direct teaching.

Private Speech – the inner dialoge that children use when encountering difficult tasks.

Zone of proximal development – the range of tasks too difficult for the child to do alone but can be done with
the help of others. Children then take the language of these dialogues, make it their own private speech, and
use this to organize their own independent efforts.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

Havighurst-Developmental Tasks and Education

Developmental tasks-skills, knowledge, functions, and attitudes that individuals have to

acquire at certain points in their lives through physical maturation, social expectations, and
personal effort.

Havighurst’s * major tasks:

1. Accepting one’s physique and using the body effectively.
2. Achieving new and more mature relations with age mates of both sexes.
3. Achieving a masculine or feminine role.
4. Achieving emotinal independence from parents and other adults.
5. Preparing for an economic career.
6. Preparing for marriage and family life.
7. Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior
8. Acquiring a set of values and ethical system as a guide to behavior-developing ideology.

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES

 The end...

Prepared by: JOSEPH ALVIN G. VALES