A Child Development Point of View - Research Paper Example

Child Development Abstract The social, economic and historical events play an important role in shaping the nature of studies being conducted. Over the years, several events have characterized different time periods, hence resulting in the variation of research studies rolled out in different fields. One major field that was greatly affected by the events in the American history is in Child development. It is evidently clear that the journal articles written in the last 9 decades that span from 1930 to date were influenced by the activities that were happening in the America and by extension to the entire world. In this paper, I seek to establish a link between different journal articles that were written in different periods and the historical events that were happening in those periods. Introduction My analysis is based on a journal entitled Society for Research in Child Developments that began its publication in 1930. The journal follows collaboration of several organizations that include Wiley and JSTOR. This journal follows a particular consistent order of issuing, with four issues being offered every year. While undertaking the analysis, I concentrated on issues that served to give a general perspective of the inherent and environmental factors that influence a Childs growth. •Vol. 1, No. 1, Mar. 1930 1. Variations in the Responses of Infants during First Ten Days of Post-Natal Life 2. The Heilbronner Test for Preschool Children 3. The Mental Organization of the Newborn 1930-1940 was an era characterized by the great depression and fears of wars. It also marked the beginning of World War II. The articles on child development focused much on how the hard living condition affected the developments of children. Due to the hard economic conditions, most parents could hardly food for their children. The situation was made even worse for pregnant women. As such, studies and articles written in this period sought to identify if there existed any relationship between the scarcity of food and the mental development of newborn babies. • Vol. 11, No. 1, Mar. 1940 1. An Analysis of the Variance of Conflict Behavior in Preschool Children 2. Factors in the Growth of Girls 3. Nutritional Status of School Children in a Small Industrial City This period coincided with World War II that definitely shaped the way children reason and perceive the event within their environment. It was a period characterized by wars, rumors of wars, fear, and suspicions as countries faced each other in the battle field. United States of America was at the fore-front of this war. The journal articles published at this period focused in the manner the wars influenced the behavior of pre-school children. They basically sought to establish if there is any relationship between the war and the conflict behaviors as witnessed among the preschool children. Also, since girls are vulnerable and require care during their early stages of development, the journal articles talked about some of the challenges that faced the growth of a girl child during this period. Also, the decade spanning 1940-1950 succeeds the period of the great depression. Industrialization is trying to take shape as families struggle to barely survive. The economic conditions were harsh and families relied on meager salaries to provide for their families. As such, cases of malnutrition within families of low economic class were rampant. The article focused on understanding the state of malnutrition among school going children especially in from the small industrial cities. • Vol. 21, No. 1, Mar., 1950 1. Some Aspects of Permissiveness in Psychotherapy of Children 2. Animals and Children 3. Relation of Fantasy Aggression to Interpersonal Aggression It was in the period 1950-1960 that civil rights movements took pre-eminence in the United States of America. Rosa Parks, a renowned civil rights activist (Montgomery Bus protests) initiated a wave of demonstrations that rocked most states in the United States. It was also at this time that Martin Luther King junior took civil rights movements to another level demanding for freedom of the Negroes. Journals in this era focused on understanding the psychology of children in their demands for freedom. They further sought to understand whether they could be distinctive features that made children not pursue developmental path as is the case for the animals. It is an era marked by aggressiveness in demand for freedom. As such, articles focused further on establishing children can truly use their aggressive fantasies in their relationships with one another. • Vol. 31, No. 1, Mar. 1960 1. Developmental Maturity as a Determinant in Prestige of Adolescent Girls 2. The Effect of Long-Term Illness of Children on the Emotional Adjustment of Parents 3. Power Assertion by the Parent and Its Impact on the Child Following the previous decade that realized baby bummers who by now had turned to adolescence, the child development studies that had begun earlier attained a significant level. Articles during this period began addressing issues related to adolescent aggression, Child nurturing beliefs and patterns, motivation, dependency issues and differences between maternal and paternal care. This period conceded the time when most university students in America were passionate about practicing research work. Consequently, most of the work published addressed the processes and findings on children social interactions. Additionally, the research on “children with long-term illness” popped up in a number of articles, as did the idea of parental assertion on their children. The drastic growth in children population, especially the girl child, necessitated the study into matters affecting their growth. This period also realized the second liberation of women where most of them were employed in lucrative jobs than any other time in history. Following this, the need of parental guidance among the growing children instigated studies on Power Assertion by the Parent on a Child. In addition, the subject of Child rearing by mothers was heavily studied in addition to studied made on youth’s attitude when dealing with authority. This subject got a further in-depth approach this time with reference made specifically to effects caused on maternal employment. • Vol.41, No. 1, Mar., 1970 1. The Effects of Temperature and Position on the Sucking Pressure of Newborn Infants 2. Infant Development, Preschool IQ, and Social Class 3. Children's Judgments of Kindness `The period marking this decade worked to instill a new sense of rest now that the war period had long gone and greater strides taken towards resettlement. During this period, the focus built around acts that established a sense of kindness, generosity, justice and even altruism. Articles in this decade sought to address issues relating to cognition and creativity. Further studies show that 1970s served to allow individuals make personal exploration, which led to appreciation of how children view and understand their world. With this knowledge, it became apparent that those children could not be understood best by merely studying how exist in the world and their close surroundings. It is the knowledge acquired here that instigated studies made to discover the issues relating to child development that included; the Effects of Temperature and Position on the Sucking Pressure of Newborn Infants, Infant Development, Preschool IQ, and Social Class and Children's Judgments of Kindness •Vol. 51, No. 1, Mar. 1980 1. The Effect of Playmate Familiarity on the Social Interactions of Young Children 2. Effects of Infant Development on Mother-Infant Interactions 3. Social Cognition and Children's Aggressive Behavior This decade was characterized with more women seeking employment, a factor that works to reduce gap that once existed between the sexes. Consequently, articles in this period focused on effects of such changes on the development a child. The massive women employment meant that children stay at home would take a different turn from the traditional trend. This followed the idea that many women sought employment far from their homes. The articles in this decade focused their interest on infant socialization and childcare, articles like The Effect of Playmate Familiarity on the Social Interactions of Young Children and Effects of Infant Development on Mother-Infant Interactions were published. In addition, the deterioration behavior of the children left at home without proper guidance became evident. The articles in this period address issues relating to Social Cognition and Children's Aggressive Behavior. Majority of the articles published in this season emphasized on developing a positive social behavior at a young age and further reinforcement as the child grows. • Vol. 61, No. 1, Feb. 1990 1. Affective Bias in Children's Perceptions of Dominance Relationships 2. Child-Mother Attachment of Six-Year-Olds and Social Competence at School 3. Parental Beliefs about Problematic Social Behaviors in Early Childhood Articles in this decade built on issues raised in the previous decade with regard to social behavior. The only difference is its emphasis on the poor social behaviors. As depicted in the previous decade, mother’s employment caused a serious problem in the children development. The children raised without a close supervision by mothers are now big and show serious relational problems. Consequently, articles in this decade spoke on matters related to childhood stress, parental influence on their child growth and even broken parent-child relationship. • Vol. 71, No. 1, Jan. - Feb. 2000 1. Grounding Development in Cognitive Processes 2. Evolutionary Developmental Psychology 3. The Rebirth of Children's Learning This period realized the new policies outlined by the American government (2001) to have the education of children in all public schools follow a trend geared towards accountability. The No Child Left behind (NCLB) bill, which was signed into law by then American president George Bush, focused on establishing excellent standards and setting measurable goals to improve results in education sector. Following this, the articles in this period sought to highlight the new approaches employed by the education institutions in implementing these policies. In addition, the articles detailed much on research activities performed with regard to child development. Following these changes, anew understanding of child up bringing developed and became the center of focus in many educational institutions involved in children affairs. Vol. 81, No. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 1. Mothers' Antenatal Depression and Their Children's Antisocial Outcomes 2. Prenatal Antecedents of Newborn Neurological Maturation 3. A Quasi-Experimental Study of Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and Offspring Academic Achievement This period is characterized by great efforts placed by the American government curb to the prevalence of substance abuse. This follows a significant increase in youth social groupings that engage in many heinous acts. The period records an increase in the number of drug cartels targeting youth. Following this, the articles published in this season seek to address issues affecting youth involved in substance abuse. Here, articles published depict how unborn and even newly born babies are affected with their mother’s acts. The articles explored the effects of mother’s actions to their unborn babies and those who are newly born. The articles further explore the effects of mother’s action during pregnancy on the child future development. Summary and Conclusion The analysis of these journal materials that have stretched over 9 decades offers great insight with regard to the overall child development. I have been able to establish the idea that growth in children is purely dependent on many other factors that are both inherent and environmental. These factors work together to influence the pattern and even outcomes of a child growth process. The study made here, show significant discoveries and I anticipate future to attain even greater discoveries that will help asses’ factors surrounding attainment of developmental milestones in children. References Hymes, J. L. (2011). A Child Development Point of View. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall. Read More