NAME : N ZUMA STUDENT NO. 64094022
MODULE : PYC 4805 UNIQUE 707391
THE DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXTS THAT SHAPE CHILDREN’S LIVES AND THE CHANGES IN SOCIETY THAT
CHARACTERISE DEVELOPMENT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
The developmental contexts that are mentioned in the book (Belsky, 2018, chapter 1) are the cohorts,
which looks at lives in different group of people who were born in different years, looking the events
that took place which shapes their lives. The next contexts are socioeconomic status, how the income
status and the level of education shapes children’s lives, the culture and ethnicity how the norm, values,
socialization shapes the lives of children and last context is the impact of gender in shaping children’s
lives. I am going to focus on the socio economic context and the four changes that characterise
development in the 20th century.
The socioeconomic status of a family plays an important role on the children’s lives, for instance a child
from a developing country will not have access to health care, basic services, better education because
of the family’s low socioeconomic status. Whereas the child from the developed country will be living a
better life, the parents will manage to buy him/her phones in order to access internet and obtain
learning material to have high academic performance.
An extension in life expectancy, during the 19th century the living conditions were difficult, most people
couldn’t live long and because of many diseases and viral illnesses, which some were caused by eating
contaminated food because they did not have electricity and freezers to keep their food fresh. The
introduction of the vaccines in the 20th century and having access to medical services helped to increase
life expectancy.
An escalation in education, in the 20th century it became compulsory for a child to attend school, unlike
in the past where children were expected to work at a very young age. It is now illegal to keep the child
away from school.
A decrease in family size, back in history people were getting married at young age and there was no
family planning. In the 20th century there was access to medical care this change made people to make
their own choices regarding to get married and the number of children they wanted to have. The rate of
infants /unborn death has decreased because a pregnant woman can access medical support.
A decline in the traditional Western Two -Parent Family, in the past it was seen as taboo to have a child
out of wedlock, a pregnant woman would be forced to get married or to give up her baby for adoption.
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