Life Span Development, Parenting, and Education - Research Paper Example

? Life Span Development Affiliation Life Span Development Introduction Individuals experience various issues throughout their life from the period of adolescence to the period of adulthood; the perspective of life span development addresses these issues. In everyday life, individuals experience various issues such as work stress, sexual abuse, childhood’s abuse and various other subjects; researchers analyze these issues and provide information about how these issues impact people of different ages and provide in-depth view of how to deal with these issues and how to treat people who are experiencing them. This writing will focus upon certain contemporary problems experienced by any individual during his/her life span. These issues include parenting, education, health and wellbeing, diversity, culture and how the social policy impacts the development of an individual. Body Since the beginning of this world, health and wellbeing have been a major concern of individuals. The researchers of the Greek and the Roman era realized the importance of healthy habits for maintenance of the individual’s health. These researchers realized that individuals played a major role in their own wellbeing and there was no third party involved in keeping an individual healthy. Physicians during that era played a major role in keeping an individual healthy. Even during the 21st century, great importance is given to the physical and mental health of an individual. Researchers of the 21st century even realize the key role played by lifestyle in keeping an individual healthy. According to a research conducted by Colcombe, the fitness of the individual’s brain declines with aging, but those individuals who have indulged in the acts of advertising, experienced a delayed loss of fitness of the mental health (Santrock, 2008, p.166). Family and parenting have a major impact on the psychological and physical development of an individual; researchers say that individuals at an early age learn from their parents and they act in the same way as their parents do at a later age. Individuals who are subjected to child abuse at an early age tend to believe that such activities are socially acceptable and later in their lives they act in the same manner. It is not necessary for individuals to experience the abuse themselves; even information about abuse or witnessing an abusive act taking place may impact the child. For example, if parents fight regularly and the mother of the child continuously experiences abuse and the child observes such activities taking place, he/she may perceive that this act is socially acceptable and may treat others in the same way (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family, 2012). The child may give the similar treatment to an individual he/she is having an intimate relationship with. Bolger’s study states that children who experience abuse at the hands of their parents at an early age tend to become aggressive and treat their parents in a negative manner and due to this the parents further treat the child in a negative manner. Education plays a major role in development of an individual’s mental as well as physical health. Education received in an educational institute shapes the cognitive and physical behavior of a person; education received at home as well as within the organization impacts an individual. The top level managers within an organization and those people who are able to secure good jobs are mostly those who have high quality education. Education has the power to alter the way an individual perceives the world; education has the ability to change the individual’s negative mind frame to a positive one. Considerable importance is attached to training and learning within an organization because learning and development enable a person to develop his/her skills and to perform better than those who do not gain training and education (Barrett, 2012). Organizations prefer those individuals who have the ability to adopt to changes, and an individual is ready to accept any change and challenge only if he/she gains training for how to address a particular change or challenge. American culture has experienced alternation in every particular aspect; major changes have taken place in the areas of diversity among the people living in the US. The US has experienced diversity in different aspects including religion, sex, race, and color. These changes have been both beneficial as well as negative for the US. The socio-cultural context is based on various concepts including ethnicity, culture, context, and sex and socio-economic status. Changes in context refer to the changes in areas where development of an individual takes place – religion, families, educational institutes, and countries. Culture refers to changes in values and norms that one generation receives from previous generations. These values inform an individual about the behaviors that are acceptable in a particular society, and human development takes place according to these guidelines. Ethnicity refers to the characteristics that are based upon an individual’s citizenship and religion. These characteristics are adopted by an individual during the early stages of his/her life and significant others play a major role in making an individual conform to these characteristics. Another important part of culture is the social status that an individual holds or his/her family. These statuses are divided into low, medium and high income earners; individuals are impacted by the social status they receive as a child. High quality education has been associated with people of high social status; these individuals are able to gain high quality education and secure high paying jobs. Diversity is impacting the development of individuals within the American society – they come across diversified people in different settings and they learn from the behaviors of these people and distinguish between right and wrong (Chao, 2011). Social policy refers to the guidelines that are created by the government of any country to direct the behavior of the citizens living within that country and to ensure their wellbeing. These policies impact the development of individual throughout his/her life; these policies determine what is right for an individual and what an individual should refrain from (Santrock, 2008, p.11). Conclusion The development of a person from childhood to adulthood is dependent on various factors including family, education, culture and social policy. These factors impact the development of individuals in different manners. References Barrett, J.L. (2012). Born believers. New Scientist, 213(2856), 38-41. Chao, R.K., & Otsuki-Clutter, M. (2011). Racial and ethnic differences: Sociocultural and contextual explanations. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(1), 47-60. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family (2012). America's children in brief: Key national indicators of well-being, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp Santrock, J.W. (2008). Life span development: A topical approach to. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More