Development During Early Adolescence Essay Example for Free

Development During Early Adolescence Essay Can these changes have a significant impact on a variety of developmental outcomes of identity, morality, transitional stages, beginning of puberty and the full commitment to an adult social role, and sexual maturity? Hence, because of the potential impact of these changes, it is important to understand the cycles of adolescents. Life has store many surprises for us as we develop throughout our whole life span. Developmental stages are the progress that occurs in humans from the time they are born until they grow old and die. Originally beginning with infants and children, development will subsequently progress into adolescence, followed by adult, and lastly elderly. The development occurs in many fields, namely physical, perceptual, cognitive, moral and social. Derived from the Latin verb adolescere (to grow into maturity), adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood. Adolescent is a distinct and dynamic phase of development in the life of an individual. It is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood and is characterized by spurts of physical, mental, emotional and social development. Who considers adolescence to be the period between 10-19 years of age, which generally encompasses the time from the beginning of puberty to the full legal age. The early adolescent developmental period is when individuals experience many changes, including the biological changes associated with puberty, important changes in relations with family and peers, and the social and educational changes related to transition from elementary to middle school (Wigfield, Byrnes, Eccles, 2002). The biological changes that occur at early adolescence are dramatic, as anyone working with this age group knows (Susman Rogel, 2004). Pubertal developments, the timings of puberty is quite different for girls and boys; girls enter puberty approximately 18 months before boys do, which means that during early adolescence, girls mature faster. Adolescence can be prolonged, brief, or practically nonexistent, depending on the culture of their society. Adolescence is somewhere between childhood and adulthood. It is also the period of life between the beginning of puberty and the full commitment to an adult social role, such as worker or parent. It is filled with constant change, uncertainty, but it can be wonderful and full of expectation. Everything a child learned to believe is suddenly challenged. One day you are a cute child that everybody seemed to adore, and the next day your skin and body are changing. Adolescence is a challenging period for both children and their parents. Three stages of adolescence early, middle, and late, are experienced by most teens, but the age at which each stage is reached varies greatly from child to child. These different rates of maturation are connected to physical development and hormone balance, neither of which the child can control. For this reason, adolescents should be treated as individuals and any guidelines should be modified to the particular child. It is very common to come across mood swings in this stage of development. Gene Roland Medinnus and Ronald C. Johnson state that during adolescence, children develop the ability to: †¢ Understand abstract ideas, such as higher math concepts, and develop moral philosophies, including rights and privileges †¢ Establish and maintain satisfying relationships by learning to share intimacy without feeling worried or inhibited. Move toward a more mature sense of themselves and their purpose †¢ Question old values without losing their identity Adolescence begins when signs of sexual maturity begin to occur in both physical and social development and ends when the individual assumes adult roles and is concerned in most ways as an adult by his reference group. Female friendships are one of the most important dimensions of an adolescent girl’s life. Peer relationships and friendships are critical in the developing adolescent’s identity, behaviors, and overall health. These peer connections influence all areas of development including emotional, physical, spiritual, social, and cognitive. The movie â€Å"Mean Girls† addresses social behaviors and experiences that are common in female peer relationships throughout the adolescent years. â€Å"Mean Girls† has brought attention to girls mean behaviors and portrays a dark side of female peer relationships, in which girls act as bullies and use relationships to express anger or power through rumors, exclusion, secrets, or gossip. This movie shows the significant role that female peer relationships play. The functions of peer relationships in adolescence are to help support adolescents at a time when they are challenged with many new experiences, to encourage the development of emotional autonomy, to enable teens to form deeper forms of intimacy that will be needed in adulthood, and to improve social skills. Positive peer relationships cause less anxiety and depression in adolescents where as negative peer relationships may place an individual at risk for maladjustment. Adolescents who are generally disliked, aggressive, disruptive and cannot establish themselves in the peer culture are developmentally at risk. Having friends and peer acceptance are generally related to school competence, higher self-esteem, and better adjustments. Adolescence is a transitional stage of human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. Teenagers (ages 13-19 years) are usually adolescent, though in some individual, puberty may extent a few years beyond the teenage years, and in some individuals puberty begins in the pre-teen years. Because adolescents are experiencing various strong cognitive and physical changes, for the first time in their lives they may start to view their friends, their peer group, as more important and influential than their parents. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word cognition as; the mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning and judgment (Cognition). Because of peer pressure, they may sometimes indulge in activities not deemed socially acceptable. What is Peer Pressure? Peer pressure is the social pressure from friends or other people to accept certain beliefs or act in certain ways in order to be accepted. How and why do we get peers pressure? Everyone gives into peer pressure at one time or another, but why do people sometimes do things they didn’t want to do? Here are a few reasons. They are afraid of being rejected by others, want to be like and don’t want to lose a friend, want to appear grown up, don’t want to be made fun of, friends have a big influence on our lives, but sometimes they push us to do things we may not want to do. The first step to standing up to peer pressure is to understand it. The four main types of peer pressure is: 1. Rejection – threatening to end a friendship or relationship. This pressure can be hard to resist as nobody wants to lose friends. 2. Reasoning – telling a person reasons why they should try something or why it would be okay if they did it i. e. â€Å"your parents would never find out. † Identity is made of what drives an individual, the abilities they have, what they believe, and their personal history (Marcia, 1980). Identity is one of the main struggles in an adolescent’s life. It is very important that children receive the proper guidance while entering their adolescence from their parents and peers. Although they like to believe that they are capable of developing on their own, adolescents need parental guidance to develop their path of identity development. The relationship between a child and a parent plays an important role with an adolescent and his or her decisions about sex. (Chapman, Werner-Wilson 2008). Morality can be defined as the distinction between what is right and wrong or what is good and bad. Although, moral reasoning depends on culture which akes it difficult to define; most people don’t look at where these principles are coming from or what guides one through moral development. As children grow and learn, usually from care takers and people who inspire their every need, their morality changes based on several levels. Although researching of moral development goes as far back as Socrates, there are two psychologists that studied morality in depth and they are Lawrence Kohlberg and Jean Piaget. Jean Piaget was a cognitive developmental psychologist spending most of his time working with children and adolescents, including his own. Although, Piaget’s observation of moral development wasn’t in depth like Kohlberg, he allowed for a basic understanding. He believed that moral development occurred in stages. Piaget strongly believed in education and thought interaction in an education setting allowed children maximum potential in cognitive development. Piaget believed in many things, but when it came to moral development there were only two basic principles. The first principle was that children develop moral ideas in stages and could not skip stages, although movement from one stage to the other could vary in length. Lastly he believed that children create their own perception of their world, including whether their actions enforce what is morally right or wrong. â€Å"Piagets ideas of moral realism and morality of cooperation play a role in Kohlbergs theory. Children in Piagets stage of moral realism believe that rules are absolute and cant be changed. Punishment should be determined by how much damage is done, and the intention of the child is not taken into account. A child has many milestones to reach through adolescence. The success of these milestones depends on normal development. Milestones can be challenging regardless of age and size. However, some children experience abnormal development and also delays. Detecting signs of abnormal development in certain age groups requires an understanding of development milestones. There for this leads us to the major physical, cognitive, self made motivational experience of adolescents that are a variety of developmental outcomes of identity, morality, transitional stages, beginnings of puberty and the full commitment to an adult social role, and sexual maturity.

Peers Essay Example for Free

Peers Essay For this essay, I researched how peers can influence the physical, cognitive, social and personality development of their adolescent friends. In addition to this, my research also included ways the parent-child relationships can have more or less influence on an adolescent. â€Å"Peer pressure is a specific instance of social influence, which typically produces conformity to a particular way of acting or thinking,† states Jeffrey Lashbrook, professor of Sociology at State University of New York College (Lashbrook, 2000, pg. 1). Even when just considering the time adolescents spend with their peers, it really shouldn’t be too surprising the impact and influence adolescent peers can have on one another. Cross-behavior analyses of five activities—alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, marijuana use, tobacco chewing and the adolescent’s introduction to sex were analyzed in a longitudinal study conducted by The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The study found that adolescents were twice as likely to engage in a risk behavior if their friend engaged in it also. The study found that peer influence can be both beneficial and harmful. In the use of cigarettes and marijuana, there was only influence to initiate the behavior. However, for alcohol consumption, the study showed that there was equal influence to conform to friends who drank and to conform to friends who did not drink. Whereas with tobacco chewing, there was shown to be significantly more peer pressure to stop chewing than to begin chewing. This was used as evidence that teens also can protect their peers in risk activities. One of the results the study showed was, not too surprisingly, that best friends were more influential than close peers. The study concludes to say that â€Å"peer influence is a real phenomenon that takes on varying roles across adolescent risk behavior† (Maxwell, 2000, p. 1). This includes the physical, cognitive, social and personality development of the teen. As far as the ways parent-child relationships have more/less influence, I read some additional research in this specific area. In research conducted by Barnes, Hoffman, Welte, Farrell and Dintcheff, (Barnes, 2006), 6 sets of data were analyzed including interviews of 506 adolescents to determine how parental support and monitoring influenced adolescent behavior. The results of the study concluded that effective parenting and adolescents avoidance of associations with delinquent peers proved to be important factors which correlate with the decrease of alcohol misuse, other substance use, and delinquency (Barnes, 2006). Some studies I read through seem to reiterate that parents often wait for â€Å"the right time† to influence adolescents. However, in reading through the various research, it seems to indicate that those parents who remain open to communication with their children all along will have greater influence in their adolescent’s choices. For example, in an article I read titled, â€Å"Parents Communication with Adolescents about Sexual Behavior: A Missed Opportunity for Prevention,† (Eisenberg, 2006), it stated that parents often wait to talk to their teens about sex at the time they know their adolescent is in a romantic relationship. However, the article examined how it is not parallel when the teen stated they had their first sexual experience and when the parent(s) states they believe their teen will or has had his or her first sexual experience. In the various readings I have researched for this essay, I have seen this to be the case with most things in general. Often the parents believe the adolescent doesn’t know or hasn’t experienced various things when the teen states they have. The research I have read does indicate that peers can influence their adolescent peers in a variety of ways depending upon other factors. In the research I have also found that how a parent can influence their adolescent usually begins a long time before they are adolescents and can vary from person to person.

Development of Australian and Aboriginal Education

Development of Australian and Aboriginal Education Australian education had a drastic change in the 1960s, cultural differences became more integrated into the school curriculum. During this time Aboriginal education moved from assimilation to integration. There was the belief that Aboriginals being exposed to white Australian education, would allow them to integrate into mainstream Australian culture. In the past Indigenous students were looked down on and expectations werent very high. However we are now trying to close the gap between white Australian and Indigenous learning (Price, 2015). After watching the video, Djidi Djidi (SBS On Demand, 2011), the video shows Aboriginal and White Australian children playing and learning together. They are learning Aboriginal dancing and native language as well. Even though their NAPLAN (National Assessment Program for Learning and Numeracy) results are low, their participation results are at 88%, which is outstanding. This shows that Aboriginal children thrive in a learning environment that acknowledges their culture and allows them to have a sense of belonging. Education is a key factor that is known to build resilience and has potential to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children. Improving rates of participation and attainment of Indigenous people in the Education system are key strategies to improve their learning, however closing the gap on Aboriginal learning doesnt come without its barriers. (Educating Aboriginal Children, 2016). Some of the reasons that contribute to Aboriginal children not succeeding at school, compared to non-indigenous children, are their accessibility to schools (particularly in remote areas), inability to afford education, inappropriate teaching resources, overcrowded living circumstances leading to lack of nutrition and sleep which in turn leads to learning difficulties, not enough Indigenous teachers and resources to relate to and also the parents of these children might have bad memories from their own education, which they have imprinted into their childrens minds, creating a natural fear before they may have even started their learning. There has been an ongoing debate as to whether it is better to educate Indigenous children in their own communities or whether it is better to remove Indigenous children to boarding schools where they can access Western-style education and be saturated in the English language. A positive from this, is that Indigenous students learn to integrate into society and develop their language skills, but a negative is that they lose their Indigenous language and culture from within their community. . (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tony Calma Social Justice Report 2008, p. 95). This is why the Djidi Djidi school is so fantastic, as they have incorporated both into their school curriculum. Overall the main emphasis for learning in primary school education is developing basic language literacy and numeracy skills, health and social education, and being creative. Primary schooling focuses on developing these aspects and also provides additional opportunities to study other areas. Although the issues relating to Indigenous education are complex, its important that educators have the ability to think critically about Indigenous education, perspectives and pedagogy. Teachers play a positive role in helping to improve the education outcomes of Indigenous students and children and to do that it is necessary to address factors across the whole community, home, school and the student themselves so that all students are able to engage and learn. Assessing the Stolen Generation families and their history, it sheds light that Aboriginal history is Australias history (Singleton, 2006). The importance of teaching a shared and comprehensive view on Australian history cannot be emphasized more. Teachers that understand Australias past, can help students understand their present, which also helps to shape their future (Wilson-Miller, 2003). The chart below displays 8 Aboriginal Ways of Learning, see below- (Share Learn Together, 2016) The chart above, displays an inventive way for Indigenous students to find a common ground through learning in the classroom. Educators can use this framework to teach core curriculum subjects using Aboriginal perspectives and learning techniques. This diagram can also benefit teachers on their pedagogical thinking. It is not only important for teachers to have an understanding of Aboriginal culture but to also have an understanding of the students in the classroom. Schools play a huge role in Aboriginal children finding their own personal identities, finding connections with the other children and also finding a connection with Australian society (Phillips Lampert, 2005). Notions and practices such as the Stolen Generation, have shaped Indigenous lives, but also affected their perceptions through later lives as well. These intuitive understandings are very difficult to change (Leonard, 2002), but in a learning environment where children can feel connected to their culture, heritage and country but also be proud of who they are and where they came from, is a massive push toward a positive outcome.

VARIOLA VIRUS Essay examples -- Essays Papers

VARIOLA VIRUS SMALLPOX INTRODUCTION The Variola virus, which is the most virulent member of Genus Orthopoxvirus, is the causative agent of smallpox. It specifically infects humans. The primary reason for infection in humans is due to its ability to evade the host immune responses, and avoid complement activation. Over the centuries, this naturally occurring virus has spread throughout the earth, through various environments, to cause severe outbreaks. The most devastation outbreak had a case-fatality rate of 40 percent in individuals who have not been vaccinated. The Variola virus is a double-stranded DNA virus. It has two envelopes: the outer envelope is present only in the extracellular state. The outer surface or the core membrane, which surrounds the core of the virus, contains lipids and proteins and has a complex symmetry. The core, which has a dumbbell-shape, contains a large amount of the double-stranded DNA (186kbp), about 10 enzymes to mediate gene expression and lots of nucleoproteins- both specific and common. These proteins are involved in DNA transcription, as well as inducing cross-reactive immunity (IOM, 1999). The space outside the core contains lateral bodies – which do not have any known functions. There are two forms of the variola virus: variola major and variola minor. Variola major is the lethal strain, while variola minor is not lethal, but a mild strain, which is very similar to major but is only genetically different. The most common strain is the variola major, which produces the more severe symptoms, and with a fatality rate of 20% to 40%, within the 7th day of infection. The variola minor is the milder form of the disease that has a death rate of less than 1%. Surviving infection from... ...o, Pere, MD. "Smallpox: The Triumph Over the Most Terrible of the Ministers of Death." Annals of Internal Medicine. 1997; 127:635- 42. Ellner, P.D. "Smallpox: Gone but Not Forgotten." Infection. 1998; 26 (5); 263-9. CDC overview: www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/vaccination/facts.asp CDC overview2: www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/overview/disease-facts.asp CDC vaccine : www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/vaccination/contraindictions-public.asp Koplow, David. "Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge. 2003 IOM(Institute of Medicine): "Live Variola Virus – committee on the assessment of future Scientific needs for live variola virus. National Academy Press; 1999. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). October 1, 2002 http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=ds00424 Nature Reviews Immunology 2, 544 (2002); doi:10.1038/nri868

Regeneration by Pat Barker Essay -- Regeneration Pat Barker Essays

Regeneration by Pat Barker The war in 'Regeneration' is explored 'back home'. Rather than portraying the war in terms of fighting on the frontline in the battlefields of France, Barker demonstrates the effects on the soldiers 'back home', both physically and mentally. The soldiers are those who have been injured, shell-shocked, or had a breakdown and are being treated with the intention of sending those who are able, back to France or at least resuming some kind of war duties. The war is explored, essentially in terms of the psychological effects of those who fought it. The physical traumas and horrific injuries suffered are widely known. However the mental traumas are probably less known and not fully understand. It is from this perspective Barker writes. The book poses as an alternative to the novels written from the perspective and experiences of the soldier who is fighting on the frontline. I Regeneration we learn of these experiences from those who were there but learn them in such a way that we are allowed to understand the real and devastating effects they can have on individuals. Barker manages to provoke the vivid and agonising pain of the First World War through her characters and portrayals of how their lives and they themselves have come to change as people as a result of their involvement in the war. This is seen most clearly in patients such as Sassoon, Burns and Prior as well as Dr. Rivers. Through these characters she challenges the assumptions about the relationship between doctors and their patients - some patients describe Rivers as a father figure, between men and women - Prior finds comfort in a woman who learns nothing about his devastating experiences, and yet there are sub... ...become a rickety sack of skin and bones. There is an episode in Regeneration of his suicide attempt and we learn more about Burns trough his actions rather than his words and emotions. Burns was almost certainly never going to be able to overcome his condition and suffered badly from terrifying nightmares. Burns portrays then men who came back but already had lost their lives. Burns would never be able to return even slightly to the man he once was because his ordeal was too overwhelming and incredibly hard for him to forget and overcome. He is compelled with his thoughts and reminded of his experience in every nightmare and every time he eats. He would rather die and this is what Barker tries to communicate with us - that there were some whose experiences were so devastating that they will never get over them and therefore have already lost their lives.

Margots Intentional Killing in Hemingways The Short Happy Life of Fra

Ernest Hemingway is known for writing novels and short stories with unresolved endings. In his short story, ?The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber?, he definitely leaves his readers guessing. The question is whether Margot kills her husband, Francis, intentionally, or if she accidentally shoots him, because she tries to save his life. There are many points that could be argued for both conclusions, but my observations have led me to believe that Margot did indeed shoot her husband intentionally, however, without pre-meditation. Margot has one of the most obvious motivations to kill her husband: money. In addition, she, on the other hand, has one great asset, her beauty, ?They had a sound basis of union. Margot was too beautiful for Macomber to divorce her and Macomber had too much money for Margot ever to leave him? (Hemingway). As this sentence says, their relationship is one of selfishness on both their parts. Francis desires beauty while Margot desires wealth. Money has long been considered the root of evil especially for those who do anything to keep it. The marriage bet...

Discuss Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia Essay

re are several different explanations for the disorder schizophrenia. One of these explanations is the biological model. This model explains schizophrenia through biological faults, for example viral infections and brain abnormalities. Genetic Factors Some psychologists say that schizophrenia can be passed down generations, meaning that some people inherit the disorder from their parents. Twin research has consistently shown that identical twins have a greater risk of developing schizophrenia, if their twin has the disorder, than non-identical twins. Gottesman found monozygotic twins have a concordance rate of 48%, whilst dizygotic twins have a concordance rate of 17%. Evaluation of Genetic Factors This research shows that there is a definite correlation between genetics and the risk of developing schizophrenia. However, no twin research has found a 100% concordance rate; therefore it is impossible the say that genes definitely cause schizophrenia, as other factors clearly have an influence. Also, some psychologists argue that the high concordance rates found could be caused by being brought up in a family with a schizophrenic, so the child mimics the schizophrenic behaviour, rather than by genetics. The Dopamine Hypothesis The dopamine hypothesis says that schizophrenia is caused by an increased reaction to dopamine in the brain. This could be because there is too much of the hormone dopamine in the brain, or conversely because there is an abnormally high number of dopamine receptors in the brain. This model says the excess sensitivity to dopamine results in the brain causes the symptoms of schizophrenia. Evaluation of the Dopamine Hypothesis Autopsies have found an unusually high number of dopamine receptors in the brain of schizophrenics (Owen et al, 1987), however, this evidence is varied and inconclusive. Grilly (2002) found that patients who suffered from Parkinson’s and took the drug L-dopa, which increases dopamine levels, showed signs of schizophrenic symptoms. This suggests the increase in dopamine could result in schizophrenia. Problems with this explanation There are problems of the dopamine hypothesis. One is that antipsychotic drugs, which block dopamine receptor don’t always help patients. This suggests something else must cause schizophrenia as well; otherwise the drugs would help all the patients. Brain dysfunction Using brain imaging techniques, such as P.E.T scans, researchers have found many schizophrenics have enlarged ventricles, on average 15% larger than normal. Some psychologists believe that the increase in the size of these ventricles is what leads to the schizophrenic symptoms. Evaluation The brain imaging scans support this explanation in itself, it’s clear that a lot of schizophrenics have different brain structures to normal people, so there must be some correlation between the two. Research by Meyer-Lindenberg (2002) found that reduced activity of the prefrontal cortex is linked to dopamine abnormalities. This could provide an explanation of why brain dysfunction could cause schizophrenia, not show a correlation. Viral Infection Some researchers suggest that brain abnormalities that lead to schizophrenia could be caused by viral infection. For example, contracting diseases such as Flu or Syphilis in the womb may relate to developing schizophrenia in later life Evaluation of Viral Theory Torrey (2000) found that more schizophrenics are born in the winter, when it is cold and exposure to viruses is higher, than in other months. Although this link is only correlational it suggests viruses do affect the chance of developing schizophrenia