Child Development Term Paper

In an article named “Stages of development of children and their adaptations to various situations”, a detailed survey and where made out among the population of New jersey state school and their parents teachers association. Here the children right from kinder garden to high school age where examined and their parents, teachers, doctors, physical education faculties were the main aspects of information of the survey. A total of 4,254 girls and 4,007 boys were examined and about 7,587 people concerned with student’s life and wellbeing were consulted (New Jersey times journal 2003). The research topics were as follows stages of development of a child, it’s adaptation toward them. Main critical sites are growth of a kid in to a boy/girl, where the child is first adapting itself to the stepping stone of their life. The matter how they study, how they respond and react with others, attitude towards others and general family condition and their social status is very well revealed here. This study was very important to make in order to have a brief idea about the children’s development.

This survey and analysis was very informative, but it had its own limitations and shortcomings. The objective examination was carried out in New Jersey which is an urban province and all residents over there are socially in a well being state. It is a catholic institution and even the surveyors and faculties concerned had their own children in this State school. Hence the information obtained was Quantitative but nevertheless was not Qualitative. Depending upon the strength of the School children Examined, faculties and parents those who volunteered are quite opposite ratios.

In the early journals “Children development and parenting on social and emotional spheres in Soviet Union 1984 ”“ 1990”. They gave a brief account on the need to know for children development. “As children alone are the future hopes for the Nation and if we build our children strong then we are building a strong nation” ”“ St. Petersburg times Journal.

This journal clearly depicts the importance that Soviet Union had given to Children and how they brought up their nation into a great and developed one. These research journals involved a number of schools in and around Moscow and St. Petersburg. Even many developed countries like America, China, France and Germany have also taken various surveys and concludes stages of children development. These stages of children are as follows, The Development of a child from Infant to a kid, where the child starts going to school and starts learning by itself. He starts to learn for himself and turns accordingly to what he has learnt and seen.     As always, the research had some limitations, which include the following items discussed in this paragraph. Those conducting the study and claimed that single-sex schools were unsuccessful needed to broaden their perspective because this assessment was based on several meeting transcripts with students, teacher-student interactions, and discussions about what was occurring in the all boys’ schools, however, the views expressed in the decision making represent those of administrators. The opinions and perspectives of students and teachers are not reflected in the study, and those are the people who are most directly involved are parents and faculties. It almost seems that it was tested and it did not succeed immediately so then it was quickly changed back. No long-term results or evidence were provided. Also, there was not a quantitative analysis there were almost no numbers to back up the research.

Though the articles differ in the way they present their information and the studies were not completely the same, the first study proves that the child grows rapidly in this period. The next one is the stage of a boy/girl. Here the child begins to take up the responsibilities by himself and mostly prefers a sedentary type of lifestyle. The reasoning power of the child is high. The Journals’ believed that an individual’s social environment played a large part in satisfying an individual’s developmental needs at each stage. The physical changes that individuals have early on in preschool and elementary years include normal growth and losing and gaining teeth. These are the same changes that young boys experience and again, physical appearance is not as big of an issue when children are younger because they are not as aware of it and how society impacts it.

The Last or the final stage of the child is the stage of adolescence where the child Girls experience puberty before boys, and therefore their body experiences changes that make them feel awkward and insecure. Self-esteem differences are most obvious is early adolescents when they are adapting to their changing physical appearance and social environment, girls would most definitely benefit and experience less stress in a single-sex environment because they would not feel as uncomfortable realizing that all of their peers are in a similar situation.

Being mixed with members of the opposite sex, especially for girls at this age can make them increasingly insecure, especially when they grow taller than their male peers and experience all of the changes that puberty brings, when the boys have not. In college years, both males and females are usually finished growing and know the general direction of where they are going. They are confident in whom they are and therefore they do not feel strain or stress to fit in as they did before.

Journal of Youth and Adolescence

We know according to the journal of “youth and adolescence” by young world magazine of the journal News time of Asia in 2001 January and Youth and Adolescence (child and school sinology) journal, a Springer publication. A study was carried out in order to see if some individuals experience different amounts of stress based on the gender composition of a school. The study took place in all over Asia where 29 co-educational schools and 63 single-sex schools (51 girls’ and 72 boys’) were surveyed. At these schools, the participants were 14 and 19 year old third year students, and a total of 5,670 girls and 7,957 boys were studied overall. The research question that was addressed was the following: could the potential relationship between the gender make-up of a school and stress be explained by such aspects as a sense of belonging in school, socio-economic status, parental support, and quality of teacher-pupil interaction? Research shows that girls in early adolescence at single-sex schools exhibit lower levels of stress than their female peers in co-educational environments, and this is mainly a reflection of their sense of belonging.

We thus accordingly know the stages of development of a child have got three stages and we are now considering about the third stage. The females in co-educational environments most likely experience high stress levels because at the age of 14 or 15, like the students in the study, adolescents are going through a stage that Erikson calls “identity vs. identity role confusion”. This stage is categorized as the time when adolescents must find themselves, what they find important and where they want to go in life.

It would make sense that girls would benefit from single-sex schools, especially at the age of 14 or 15 when they are just beginning to find themselves. Speaking from experience, it is much harder to find yourself and become your own person with the presence of boys, whom young girls are constantly trying to impress. This is also a time when adolescent girls are most vulnerable and emotional, and could easily be pulled in a multitude of directions and lose themselves. This chance is lessened with gender separation, especially in early adolescent years. We would have had different results if it was given to much older or much younger individuals. If the stress assessment tests were given to a younger group of girls and boys, the girls may not have been aware of social expectations and the need to fit in and they may have shown a similar amount of stress to their male peers. If given to a group of college aged students, the same amount of stress may not have been exhibited either, because these adolescents may have found themselves by this point. This is also why grouping all of the boys together in the Soviet’s study was a problem, because from elementary years through high school the boys could have been in “industry vs. inferiority” or “identity vs. role confusion”, which is a significant distinction. For these reasons, girls would most definitely benefit and experience less stress in a single-sex environment because they would not feel as uncomfortable realizing that all of their peers are in a similar situation. Being mixed with members of the opposite sex, especially for girls at this age can make them increasingly insecure, especially when they grow taller than their male peers and experience all of the changes that puberty brings, when the boys have not.

Again, this also varies across the board. Early adolescence is a rough time for girls who seem far too young to be undergoing the changes that will make them a woman. The physical changes that individuals have early on in preschool and elementary years include normal growth and losing and gaining teeth. These are the same changes that young boys experience and again, physical appearance is not as big of an issue when children are younger because they are not as aware of it and how society impacts it. In college years, both males and females are usually finished growing and know the general direction of where they are going. They are confident in who they are and therefore they do not feel strain or stress to fit in as they did before. Girls have their own perception of Body weight as normal when compared to real normal body weight. Dangerous weight control practices such as severe diet controlling process can even cause a serious long term health implications. These are the journal lists about Youth and Adolescence.