Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood
Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood
Introduction
Growth and development are closely related phenomena that occur to all living things but are subtly different. Human development and growth commences at the instance of fertilization, when the sperm (male gamete) fuses with the ovum (female gamete) to form a viable human zygote. Growth and development is gauged according to various differing aspects. These aspects include physical, moral, cognitive, social and personality development. Most of the development aspects consider non-physical development whereas the physical aspect only considers the physical incremental growth of the human physique. Human growth mainly denotes the physical aspect involved in human development.
On the other hand human development considers physical growth as well as other psychological factors involved in development. Unlike physical development, cognitive development is one of the psychological developmental aspects that is not measurable physically or cannot be viewed. Cognitive development involves the formation of the processes that make thoughts and include memory, decision making, and problem solving capability from childhood to adult life.
Factors that affect physical human growth in middle childhood development
There are various factors that influence middle childhood growth and development. These factors may directly influence or indirectly impact the body to determine the rate of physical growth and development. Factors include heredity, health, diseases, food and food habits, family surroundings and rest and recreation.
Heredity involves the passage of genetic and phenotypic characteristics from parents to their siblings. Children that inherit genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia may tend to have slow growth due to their inherited genetic make up that does not allow for faster growth and good health. This can be termed as being both a genetic and disease hindrance to good growth. Other diseases such as cerebral palsy may also hinder proper growth because they impair a child’s posture and his physical ability.
Heredity also determines how a certain measure of an individual’s growth proceeds. For example children that inherit a short stature from their parents may experience slow growth in terms of height compared to those who inherit characteristics of being tall (Mataac, 2010). Health includes the aspect of being mentally, physically and socially well. It is an observed fact that a child that is healthy develops and grows at a faster rate compared to a child that may be sickly. Equally important in determining physical growth are provision of food and the practice of good food eating habits.
The human body requires a variety of foods that will enable it to grow re-energize and repair its tissues for a fast growth rate to occur. Healthy eating habits require that a child gets a sufficient provision of a balanced diet including vitamins, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, water and minerals in order to grow healthy. Therefore, the provision of food without consideration of its content and balance is not sufficient to enhance faster growth in children. Another important factor influenced by the physical surrounding is the maintenance of desirable health habits (Mataac, 2010). Keeping clean (both the surroundings and the body), exercising regularly and taking enough rest are among the key desirable health habits that can ensure that a child grows physically well and fast. The family surroundings have also been known to cause great influence on the physical development of a child. For example children that live in families located in unhealthy environs such as the slums tend to have slow growth because they are likely to contract diseases. The family set up may also be stress inducing due to cases of family violence and as such the involved children may experience a stressful life which may lead to their slow growth. Children that grow in loving and caring families that provide for them tend to row well compared to children that may grow in poor families rife with discord.
Factors that affect cognitive development
Cognitive entails the formation of the processes of thought which include problem solving, memory and decision making. The social set up of children greatly impacts their cognitive development. It is well known that most living animals as well as human beings develop most of their cognitive skills through their interactions with their surroundings. The differences in environments that children are rose in influence greatly how intelligent a child grows (Wells, 2010). The socio-economic factor, an environmental aspect is known to play a great role in development. In a study conducted on children form families with a low SES, it was observed that their scores in tests improved by up to 16 points (Wahlstein, 1995).The set up and type of home environment has also been indicated as an influencing factor that determines the development of cognitive aspects.
A study by R.A. Hanson showed that IQ scores on Stanford Binet tests were associated with stable environmental aspects within the environment at home. The variables considered important in improving home environments for cognitive development include language teaching, provision of models of language development, freedom for verbal expression and parental participation (Hanson, 1975). The environments that children may have been exposed to earlier on in life, especially at conception may also influence their cognitive capability. The use of drugs such as alcohol and poor nutrition by parents may cause health problems that result form the environment that they are exposed to whilst in their mother’s womb. The acquired health problems could further affect their development of cognitive abilities in their middle childhood lives.
Heritability estimates indicate the extent of variation of a certain trait in humans that is as a result genetic differences. The estimate in numbers has been argued to be about .75. This implies that 75 percent of all IQ differences are regarded as being genetic based. Studies have further indicated that this to be high with the exception of monozygotic twins. The studies using twins and non-related people indicate that indeed genetic inheritance may be a significant factor in determining IQ and cognitive growth. However, the direct influence of the genes has not been mapped (Loehlin, Lindzey, and Spuhler, 1975).
Factors affecting social, moral and personality development
The environment in which middle aged children grow is one of the great influences that determine the social and moral growth that a child develops. Most children in the middle childhood learn via assimilation. A great a mount of what they assimilate is information absorbed from their surroundings. Therefore, the environment acts as a provider of information which they assimilate. The environment may also shape their morality and social life by acting as a suppressant or encouragement that fosters morality in a certain direction. For example a child growing in an environment without free expression may develop the personality of an introvert, who may turn out to be less social and interactive. Theories postulated by behaviorist researchers B.F. Skinner (1904–1990)
and Watson (1878–1958) indicate that children of this age are malleable and are thus, easily influenced by their environment. The concept of nurturing in growth thus emphasizes that, the environment and its conditioning can be used as the main control for social, moral and personality development.
References
Hanson, R.A. (1975). Consistency and Stability of Home Environmental Measures Related to Intelligence Quotient. Child Development.
Lindzey. G, Loehlin, J.C. & Spuhler, J.N. (1975). Race Differences in Intelligence. San Francisco, SA: W.H. Freeman Publishers.
Mataac, M. L. (2010). Factors that Affect Growth and Development. Retrieved on 10th August, 2010 fromhttp://www.slideshare.net/lavadoods/factors-that-affect-growth-and-development.
Wahlsten, D. (1995). Increasing the Raw Intelligence of a Nation is constrained by Ignorance, not its Citizens’ Genes. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, volume 41, issue number 3, pp 257-264.
Wells, R. K. (2010). Cognitive Development. Retrieved on 10th August, 2010 from http://www.answers.com/topic/cognitive-development.
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