HSC M2: Human growth and development
Unit reference: F/508/3710
(1.1) Outline the life stages of human growth and development
Infancy is when someone is a new born baby or a young child who is hours, days or
months (0 -2 years). At this stage, they to be very new and still growing and
developing.
Childhood is someone who age 3 to 8 years old. According to UNICEF (2005),
“Childhood is the time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and
confident with the love and encouragement of their family and an extended
community of caring adults”.
Adolescence is the age between 13 to 19 years old and can be considered the
transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. In this stage, adolescence physical
and psychological development that generally occurs during the period of puberty.
Adulthood is commonly thought of as early adulthood at age 20 or 21 years. Middle
adulthood age is at about 40 years and followed by late adulthood age is at about 60
years and above.
(1.2) Outline social, emotional, cognitive and physical development.
Adulthood
Social – The social development in early adulthood become more autonomous from
their parents and spend more time with someone and begin exploring the romantic
relationship and commenting long term relationship. And also, they developing
empathy and understanding the needs of others. The social in middle adulthood, the
family relationship can become stronger as they have time together and have more
opportunities to enjoy success as they will have a stable job to support their family.
The social development in late adulthood there may change in social interaction
because of mobility problem, financial problem or loss of a long-term partner.
, Emotional – The emotional development in early adulthood gets many emotional
stresses related to career, marriage, family, and other related. They will also be more
mature by taking responsibility for their actions and learn to accept criticism from
mistakes. The emotional development in middle adulthood can be a period of
contentment and satisfaction by having a stable job, financial success and good
health. Stress can result from loss of a job, fear of aging, loss of youth or illness. The
emotional development in late adulthood will start when they retire from work. They
have to get used to the idea that they are no longer a wage earner. They will no
longer responsible for others and this can cause some people to feel upset if they
have not prepared.
Physical – The physical development in early adulthood will have excellent health,
they reach their physical peak in strength and endurance. Changes in skin, vision, and
reproductive capability due to this stage they will start aging. The physical
development in middle adulthood will experience many physical changes that the
person is aging, including grey hair and hair loss, wrinkle and spots, vision and hearing
loss. Menopause also will occur in women during this stage.
Cognitive – The cognitive development in early development, memory recall, and
problem-solving skills are at their peak and they can think more mature and
creatively. At this stage, they will become aware of what is wrong or right. The
cognitive development in middle development, have better strategies to perform well
in tasks and have shortcuts to solving the problem. The cognitive development in late
development, the aging process generally results in changes and lower functioning in
the brain such as poor memory, thinking and reacting become slow. During this stage,
they probably have an illness such as dementia.
