Human Growth & Development Through the Life Stages

In this assignment I will research on the lifespan of someone in older adulthood 65+ years that I know personally and I’ll conduct an interview with my chosen individual. My chosen individual was my Grandma. She is 95 years old and she has experienced all the life stages expect for one because she has not reached them yet. Here is the information I found out about her physical, intellectual, social and emotional development during each life stage.

P1: Task 1 Describe physical, intellectual, emotional and social development for each of the life stages of an individual.

Physical Development

Physical Development of my Grandma from Life stage 3 my grandma at the age of 3 could go to the toilet on her own. This was due to environment around her. In life stage 4: Childhood the main that happened to her was the start of school because she was so protect an became more aware of herself physical especially when she was age 10. Life stage 5: Adolescence. Is when puberty started and physical my grandma could see that she had inherited a lot of physical features for example her mother and her grandma had large breast and she started developing large breast.

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Her period start and because my grandma got married young this meant she could have her first child and in Africa this is a big thing because this means that you have become a lady.

Life stages 6 Adult hood, in this time my grandma said that in the begin of this stage when she was 21-22 years old that she was at her peak she had three kid and was happy but as the years pasted and she had more children it started become difficult and tried.

She said “at first it felt weird but when I got use to it better this way”. Life stage 7: Older Adulthood My Grandmother is 95 years old so physical she is in good shape she can still walk and move around, but the illness that makes get around because she got arthritis but as for everything else is good.

Intellectual Development

Intellectual Development of my grandma. Life stage 3: 0-3 years language skills developed because she could understand her native language and French this mad communication with the other around her easier. When she was 4-10 years old Life stage 4: Childhood the start of school was the main thing her it allowed her to learn new things and she enjoy it. Her each improve and by the year of 6 she could write and read in fluent French and her native language. My grandma at 8 years old use to families because with her sibling. By the time she was 10 her parent could not effort to send her to school anymore.

Life stage 5: adolescence because my grandmother had to drop out of school she wanted to get married so she did at the age of 14, this allowed her to develop her mind more then the other girls in her age because she learnt about what it was like to be married at a young age. She also became smart street wise because she learnt thing that she never knew before. Life stage 6: Adulthood My grandmother has never had a job in her life because her job was to looking her children and husband. In this life stage my grandmother found out what it is like to have a family and how to take care of them. Life stage 7: My grandma in this stage has become so very wise because she has gone past more then 65 years of her life, the only problem is that she has started to forget thing that are in her short term memory but not the long term part.

Social and Emotional Development

Life stage 3 my grandmother social and emotional development during this stage my grandmother didn’t get a lot of social practice because it was only her and her parents at that time. By the time she reached 6 years old (life stage 4) is developed even more especially emotional because she was able to understand that things were hard for her parent so there would be time where she would want something but because she knew that they didn’t have she wouldn’t ask, she started feeling bad for her parents. At this age she could I identify her feelings. Her Social Development improved to because as she was going to school it allowed her to socialize and make friends with other children. And building friendships was easy. Life stage 5: At the age of 10 my grandma was pulled out of school because so she know not speak to any of her friend or teacher the only relationships she had was the one that were made with her younger siblings.

Emotional she was angry, hurt, crushed and frustrated and she lash out on her parents but after a while she understood. Also during this stage she married at the age of 14 and she fell in love with someone other then a family member. Life stage 6: AT this stage in her life she informed long term friends and a long term partner. She began thinking about her own family. Life stage 7: My grandma 95 so she is lucky to still be live that long, but she says it’s a blessing and a curse because she watched two husbands die and has out lived 7 of her children. She said it was painful, but she believe that god want her to se all her great grandchildren.

M1: Task 2 discusses the nature-nurture debate and relate to the development of your chosen individual. Historically most philosophers and theorist have argued that we are boat o be the way we are. Other theorists have argued that it is the way we are brought up and influenced by our surroundings that makes us the way we are. This historical argument is known as the nature and nature debate

Nature-is the genetic and biological influences
Nurture- is the economic and environmental influences
Biological programming

Genes provide the instruction for structuring our bodies shape and size as we'll as out behavior depending on the interaction of our biology with border environmental factors. A human being is the result of the interaction of genes and the environmental influences they are exposed to. It's argued that our genes can program the amino acids which influence our body cells. Human developments are not programmed by genes although development may be influenced by genes.

The maturation theory some aspects of development such as the ability to speak a first language are thought to be due to an in built genetic process.

Genetic factors each living cell in the human body have a nucleus with 23 pairs of chromosomes inside it. One chromosome comes from the father, one comes from the mother. Each chromosome carries units of inheritance known as genes and these genes interact to create a new set of instructions for making a new person. This means in these chromosomes there is DNA which holds which controls what a person looks like, how there behave etc. For example when my grandma was in her teens she never grew as much in height as she wanted to this was because her mother and father were not tall people and no one in her family grew above 5.11ft. she inherited this from her mother and father it is a her genes.

Environmental factored

Culture, religion and belief

Culture can be identified by distinct aspects of language self-presentation religion music art architecture and literature; children learn the custom associated with their families. In the past most children would have learned the culture and religion associated with their local community everyone on a particular estate, street or work and social roles.

Values and attitudes

your beliefs values and attitudes are influenced by your socialization with family careers and peer groups. Your values and attitudes can also be influenced by your life experiences and the culture that you are exposed to in your neighborhood and that your access.

P2: Explain the potential effects of five different life factors on the development of your chosen individual.

Genetic

When my grandma was in her teens she started to develop big breast, she may have gotten them from her mom this is because when it came to height she wasn’t tall because no one grow above 5.9ft. This is a hereditary trait in our family. From her mum she got her mum she got her facial structure for example her mouth her nose and her eyes. This shows that her mum had the most dominate genes.

Biological factors

As a teenager my grandma never left school at the age of 10 so she never really did anything expect look after her brothers and sisters while her mother and father worked. Her mother had 12 kids and got married at 13, because my grandmother thought at the time that she wanted to be exactly like her mother when reached age 14 and a half she was married. This meant that my grandmother never got to know what, because she would have needed to look after her children and her husband. This affect her in a big way because she thought that it would be easy but it was difficult.

Environmental

According to my grandma growing up in West Africa, Sierra Leone and at that time there was no independents and it was hard because of the high crime rate and how people where treated such as killing ECT. Her parents farm got taken away and they to become diamond miners which was one of the worst jobs ever due to this my grandmother sometimes had to slave for food just to survive because her mum didn’t want to do much. She said “we were poor but we were happy” it was nice at times because she was able to spend time with her family a lot. Where she lived was like the suburbs so she knew all her neighbors and they also helped to bring her up when her mum and dad had to work.

Socio Economic

My grandma came from a lower class family in Sierra Leone the only people black people who had money ere the croyos they were the tribe who did what the British said and forgot there roots. This affected my grandma in a way that she had to stop going to school because her parents couldn’t afford. Peer wise she was ok because most of her friends were like her so she was fine being what was and it affects her intellectually.

Life style

My grandma got married at an old age she lived her life by what her husband says, it is just the way it is in Africa, for example she always want to work but her husband said NO because she has to look after the kids. The way she spend her money and time was simple the money her husband give her was to go out and buy the things that she needed to cook and clean the house for that day and that is the way it was everyday.

P3: Explain the influences of two predictable and two unpredictable major life events on the development of the individual Though out life every person will go many different events in their life. Theses life events will be: During our life we are influenced by a range of life factors and we are influenced by the events which happen to us. Some major changes in life can be predicted and even chosen while others maybe un predicted. If your life suddenly changes there is always the risk that you will feel out of control and stressed. But some life 2events can be predicted to a point where they
were planned.

A Predictable life event for my chosen individual was Marriage because my grandmother knew that she would have to get married, especially due to the time in which she was born in marriage was a must. This event was positive because she loved the man she married someone that she could trust and get comfort from whenever she needed it. The negative influences may be the change of lifestyle. Parenthood- My grandmother new that she had to have kids she even planned it with her husband because she Could continue her husband and her bloodline, but she was not expecting to have as many as she did. This was a negative because it changed her lifestyle in a huge way.

Unpredicted life events
Bereavement:

•After the loss of my grandfather, my grandmother was left pregnant with her first born so she had to deal with bereavement during pregnancy with their 4 which wasn’t good for the baby. The positive effect was that she was able to remain strong for her child and begin a new lifestyle, got married and had more children. •Another lost that had a huge impact is the 7 of children especially the 4 recent deaths, this had a negative effect on physically and mentally because she would think that god was punishing her. Said if it was not for her grand-children or family members she would have gone crazy.

P4: Explain two theories of ageing.

Activity theory states that the elderly person who ages in a positive and healthy way, are the one who stays active and continue to interact with the world around resist the withdrawal of the social world. The individual who is able to maintain the activities of the middle years for as long as possible will be well adjusted and satisfied with life in the later years.

Disengagement theory looks at aging as a process in with an older person withdraws themselves from their community, as expected by society. The theory states that the withdrawal of the older person benefits both individuals and society. This theory is one of the earliest and controversial theories of aging because of the way that they view aging as a process of gradual withdrawal between society and the older adult. Is called disengagement because it is when a person get to a point of their lives way they decide to stop interacting with society and it known to be a natural, acceptable, and universal process that comes with growing old.

M2: Discuss two major theories of ageing in relation to the development of your chosen individual Activity theory states that the elderly person who ages in a positive and healthy way, are the one who stays active and continue to interact with the world around resist the withdrawal of the social world. An individual who is able to maintain the activities of the middle years for as long as possible will be well adjusted and satisfied with life in the later years. This theory effect my chosen person in a positive way because not being able to meet as many people friends family because of not being able to get around easily did not affect my individual because she always had her family around her so her social interaction with others did not change, she also did not withdrawn from interacted her community she would attended community get to gathers. Say it is due to the support her family gives her if not would have disengaged with the outside world.

Biological changes - changes in the body muscles and cells deterioration of eye sight, hearing, movements, muscles illnesses and diseases, but there theories are all based around how this works. One theory of biological changes is Genetic Cellular theory. This theory states that you will live according to the age that the elderly members of their families did. “Humans with long lived parents and grandparents live an average of 6 years longer than those whose parents die before the age of 50.” This theory also affected my chosen individual because she is 95 years old and she believes it is due to the fact that the woman in her family live longer. For example her grandmothers die in august 2007at the age of 109 years old and so on. The negative is they tend to outlive husband and children, especially my grandmother she has outlived 7 of her children and 2 husbands.

P5: Explain the physical and psychological changes which may be associated with ageing. Psychological changes – losing mental functions can lead to loss of self –esteem and withdrawal from others. Women tend to live longer they experience more losses from family and friends, this factor can influence our wellbeing. A Psychological theory called the Disengagement theory looks at aging as a process in with an older person withdraws themselves from their community, as expected by society. The theory states that the withdrawal of the older person benefits both individuals and society. This theory is one of the earliest and controversial theories of aging because of the way 8that they view aging as a process of gradual withdrawal between society and the older adult. Is called disengagement because it is when a person gets to a point of their lives where they decide to stop interacting with society and it is known to be a natural, acceptable, and universal process that comes with growing old.

Biological changes - changes in the body muscles and cells deterioration of eye sight, hearing, movements, muscles illnesses and diseases, but there theories all around as to how this works. One theory of biological changes is Genetic Cellular theory. This theory states that you will live according to the age that the elderly members of their families did. This theory says that “Humans with long lived parents and grandparents live an average of 6 years longer than those whose parents die before the age of 50.” Sociological changes – not being able to meet as many people friends family because of not being able to get around easily may move to other areas not knowing people have network of support.

The social world may withdraw from older people, making it more difficult for them to fulfill these needs. A Sociological theory called the Activity theory states that the elderly person who ages in a positive and healthy way, are the one who stays active and continue to interact with the world around resist the withdrawal of the social world. The individual who is able to maintain the activities of the middle years for as long as possible will be well adjusted and satisfied with life in the later years.

M3: Discuss the effects on self-esteem and self-confidence of the physical changes associated with ageing. During ageing wrinkles start to develop, your vision may start to deteriorate, many older people have good-to-adequate vision, and your hearing may also deteriorate. Hearing loss affects the older person's ability to talk easily with others. Older persons may be frustrated or embarrassed about not being able to understand what is being said. They may have to ask people to repeat themselves, or endure shouting when a speaker tries to be heard. They even refrain from making conversation out of fair of making unrelated comments or they may just be embarrassed. You may even lose some taste; the loss is minor and does not seem to occur in most people until well after 70. Addition, joints stiffen and connecting ligaments between bones lose their elasticity.

Hand and foot pain may occur. Some will have poor circulation; the older heart slows down and is less able to pump blood through the body than the younger heart. A decrease in circulation also contributes to cold sensitivity, particularly in the hands and feet. This will have an effect on older person self-esteem; they will begin to feel like they have no more purpose in life and some may feel like they are a bourdon on people because they can’t really help themselves much. If an older person starts felling like this, it will allow the disengagement theory to be put in play because when a person like they have one purpose in the world then they will not engage with yours because they feel alone and will most likely become anti-social and will isolate themselves form others. This will also effect there self-confidence because they might not want to show there face because of the way there look.