1 ISSUES AND THEMES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Istock/kali9
Learning Questions
1.1 Who needs to have a good understanding of child development, and why do they need this understanding?
1.2 What are the domains of child development and some recurring issues in the field?
1.3 What are the contexts in which children develop?
1.4 How can you be a smart consumer of information about development?
Take a moment to think about why you want to learn about children, adolescents, and their development. You may enjoy interacting with children and want to
understand them better, or your career goal may involve working with children or adolescents. Perhaps you want to better understand yourself or those you know by
exploring how childhood has affected who you have become. Your interest may be more scientific, with a focus on understanding the research that explains the
processes of development. Your particular goal will influence how you approach the information in this book.
The information and activities in this book have been designed to stimulate your thinking in all these ways. We want to share with you the excitement we feel about the
topic of child and adolescent development. By the time you finish reading this book, you will have a solid foundation in many important topics related to development,
but we also hope to motivate you to continue learning about children and their development long after you have completed this course.
In this chapter, we introduce some of the basic concepts of child and adolescent development. We first look at why people study children and some ways they use
knowledge about children to promote positive development. If you are curious about how you might use this knowledge in a future career, you will learn how to gather
information about careers that require a good understanding of development. We then discuss some basic themes related to how development occurs and introduce you
to the different contexts that influence children’s lives. Finally, we provide strategies and guidelines that will enable you to differentiate reliable information from other
material you may encounter as you study child development.
WHY STUDY CHILDHOOD?
Many people are interested in studying child development because the topic itself is fascinating and important. Some want information they will be able to use when they
become parents. Many students plan to use this information in a future career as a professional who works with children or as a policymaker who shapes social policy
that affects children and families. Some students want to become researchers to further the scientific understanding of children and how they grow and develop. These
are all good reasons to study child development, and we explore them all in this chapter.
Understanding the Process of Development
8158422 - SAGE Publications, Inc. (US) ©
, One reason why students are interested in studying child development is to understand the role that infancy, childhood, and adolescence play in shaping who we become
as adults. From the earliest days in the field of psychology, the idea that early experience has a special, even unique, impact on development has been a persistent theme.
Researchers who study children’s development have provided ample evidence that early traits, behaviors, and experiences are related to many adult outcomes. However,
saying that the earliest stages of development are important for later outcomes is not the same as saying they are any more important than later periods of development.
Instead, development is seen as a process in which each stage lays a foundation for the stages that follow and each stage plays an important role in how we function as
adults.
An example of this principle comes from the research on competent parenting. It is not surprising that receiving sensitive, competent parenting when you are an infant or
young child is associated with being a sensitive, competent parent when you have your own children. However, the pathway to becoming a competent parent is also
affected by social competence with peers during childhood and adolescence and later competence in romantic relationships during early adulthood (Raby et al., 2015).
Although experiences early in life have consequences for functioning later in life, this research shows that experiences all along the path to adulthood contribute to an
adult’s psychological functioning.
Sensitive parenting. Receiving sensitive parenting while you are an infant is associated with becoming a sensitive parent to your own children, but
other experiences throughout your life also influence your ability to be sensitive and responsive.
istock/tdub303
Using Our Knowledge of Child Development
A second reason to study child development is to be able to use this information to improve the lives of children and adolescents. An understanding of how children
think, feel, learn, and grow, as well as how they change and stay the same, is essential to fostering positive development. This understanding can help parents and family
members, professionals who work with children and families, and people who create and carry out social policies and design programs that affect the well-being of
children and their families.
Parents and Family Members
Having a good understanding of children’s needs and abilities at each stage of development can help all parents provide the appropriate amount and type of support and
stimulation to foster their children’s growth and development. When parents have a good understanding of how their children are developing, they engage in higher-
quality interactions with them, use more effective parenting strategies, and provide more developmentally appropriate activities. And when their expectations for their
children’s behavior are realistic, they are more likely to use effective discipline strategies and to rely less on harsh, punitive ones (Bartlett et al., 2018).
Although this knowledge is helpful for all parents, it is even more crucial for particular segments of the parent population. A review of parenting programs for at-risk and
disadvantaged parents, including mothers who were teenagers, unmarried, or living with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, found that a number of the
programs designed to help parents learn more about child development had positive impacts for both the child and the mother (Chrisler & Moore, 2012). For the
children, these benefits included a reduction in reported child behavior problems. For the mothers, they included a home environment that was more supportive of their
children and parents who had more realistic expectations for them. Other research that looked at long-term outcomes from programs designed to improve the quality of
parenting among those who were experiencing the most difficulty found that more of their children graduated from high school and fewer of the children had a child
themselves or had a criminal conviction by age 19 (Reeves & Howard, 2013).
8158422 - SAGE Publications, Inc. (US) ©
Istock/kali9
Learning Questions
1.1 Who needs to have a good understanding of child development, and why do they need this understanding?
1.2 What are the domains of child development and some recurring issues in the field?
1.3 What are the contexts in which children develop?
1.4 How can you be a smart consumer of information about development?
Take a moment to think about why you want to learn about children, adolescents, and their development. You may enjoy interacting with children and want to
understand them better, or your career goal may involve working with children or adolescents. Perhaps you want to better understand yourself or those you know by
exploring how childhood has affected who you have become. Your interest may be more scientific, with a focus on understanding the research that explains the
processes of development. Your particular goal will influence how you approach the information in this book.
The information and activities in this book have been designed to stimulate your thinking in all these ways. We want to share with you the excitement we feel about the
topic of child and adolescent development. By the time you finish reading this book, you will have a solid foundation in many important topics related to development,
but we also hope to motivate you to continue learning about children and their development long after you have completed this course.
In this chapter, we introduce some of the basic concepts of child and adolescent development. We first look at why people study children and some ways they use
knowledge about children to promote positive development. If you are curious about how you might use this knowledge in a future career, you will learn how to gather
information about careers that require a good understanding of development. We then discuss some basic themes related to how development occurs and introduce you
to the different contexts that influence children’s lives. Finally, we provide strategies and guidelines that will enable you to differentiate reliable information from other
material you may encounter as you study child development.
WHY STUDY CHILDHOOD?
Many people are interested in studying child development because the topic itself is fascinating and important. Some want information they will be able to use when they
become parents. Many students plan to use this information in a future career as a professional who works with children or as a policymaker who shapes social policy
that affects children and families. Some students want to become researchers to further the scientific understanding of children and how they grow and develop. These
are all good reasons to study child development, and we explore them all in this chapter.
Understanding the Process of Development
8158422 - SAGE Publications, Inc. (US) ©
, One reason why students are interested in studying child development is to understand the role that infancy, childhood, and adolescence play in shaping who we become
as adults. From the earliest days in the field of psychology, the idea that early experience has a special, even unique, impact on development has been a persistent theme.
Researchers who study children’s development have provided ample evidence that early traits, behaviors, and experiences are related to many adult outcomes. However,
saying that the earliest stages of development are important for later outcomes is not the same as saying they are any more important than later periods of development.
Instead, development is seen as a process in which each stage lays a foundation for the stages that follow and each stage plays an important role in how we function as
adults.
An example of this principle comes from the research on competent parenting. It is not surprising that receiving sensitive, competent parenting when you are an infant or
young child is associated with being a sensitive, competent parent when you have your own children. However, the pathway to becoming a competent parent is also
affected by social competence with peers during childhood and adolescence and later competence in romantic relationships during early adulthood (Raby et al., 2015).
Although experiences early in life have consequences for functioning later in life, this research shows that experiences all along the path to adulthood contribute to an
adult’s psychological functioning.
Sensitive parenting. Receiving sensitive parenting while you are an infant is associated with becoming a sensitive parent to your own children, but
other experiences throughout your life also influence your ability to be sensitive and responsive.
istock/tdub303
Using Our Knowledge of Child Development
A second reason to study child development is to be able to use this information to improve the lives of children and adolescents. An understanding of how children
think, feel, learn, and grow, as well as how they change and stay the same, is essential to fostering positive development. This understanding can help parents and family
members, professionals who work with children and families, and people who create and carry out social policies and design programs that affect the well-being of
children and their families.
Parents and Family Members
Having a good understanding of children’s needs and abilities at each stage of development can help all parents provide the appropriate amount and type of support and
stimulation to foster their children’s growth and development. When parents have a good understanding of how their children are developing, they engage in higher-
quality interactions with them, use more effective parenting strategies, and provide more developmentally appropriate activities. And when their expectations for their
children’s behavior are realistic, they are more likely to use effective discipline strategies and to rely less on harsh, punitive ones (Bartlett et al., 2018).
Although this knowledge is helpful for all parents, it is even more crucial for particular segments of the parent population. A review of parenting programs for at-risk and
disadvantaged parents, including mothers who were teenagers, unmarried, or living with incomes below the federal poverty threshold, found that a number of the
programs designed to help parents learn more about child development had positive impacts for both the child and the mother (Chrisler & Moore, 2012). For the
children, these benefits included a reduction in reported child behavior problems. For the mothers, they included a home environment that was more supportive of their
children and parents who had more realistic expectations for them. Other research that looked at long-term outcomes from programs designed to improve the quality of
parenting among those who were experiencing the most difficulty found that more of their children graduated from high school and fewer of the children had a child
themselves or had a criminal conviction by age 19 (Reeves & Howard, 2013).
8158422 - SAGE Publications, Inc. (US) ©
