Chapter #4

1. Physical Development Chapter #4

2. *young children's brains are like a sponge and they easily absorb info *young kids need mental stimulation for their brains to develop at a healthy pace (Mozart effect) *music can raise children's IQ’s *A child's environment affects their brain development, and the development of the brain alters their physical development The brain

3. *The brain grows in spurts rather than a smooth transition *The pace that your brains grows at slows down as you age *There are localized spurts in which only one part of the brains grows (cognitive development, object oriented actions 20 months, speaking 4 years, hand eye coordination and motor skills 6-8 years) *Frontal lobes develop at 6-12, planning begins, memory is increased *Last brain growth spurt begins at 17, older teens show a greater ability to process thoughts and information that younger teens Growth spurts

4. *Bond with neuron and glial cells *This process is when the two cells begin to make a connection *This process happens rapidly during the first two years *After the first two years another period begins where unwanted cell connections are eliminated making the body operate better *This process never stops, keeps changing as we learn new skills *This process is more effective on kids and they are learning skills more frequently *Each time an experience is done a chemical is released which strengthens the cells bonds that are responsible for it, eventually your body deems these cell connection necessary and they gain immunity to elimination (use it or lose it law) Synaptic development

5. *The process by which a insolating layer of a substance called Myelin is added to neurons *These layers protect neurons from other neurons which could lead to disastrous results *This process continues till early adulthood and affects many different things such as the ability to focus which explains why humans can focus more as they age *The ability to focus on important elements of a problem *Myelination increases the ability to process things faster Myelination

6. *the process in which the brains functions are divided into the two sides of the brain *95% of humans are dominated by the left side of the brain while the remaining 5% are ether right sided or mixed *some functions are built into our genes, such as processing language and sound, both adults and fetuses turn their heads to hear better as their right ears are better connected to the left side of the brain which possess both the language and logic aspects of the brain *some peoples brains lateralize at different rates which is showed in their superiority in certain tasks *spatial perception is the ability to identify and act on the relationships of objects in space(reading maps and relating maps to their real life counterparts) *Handedness is the tendency to rely primarily on one hand, this occurs very early in life, before the age of 1 Laterization

7. Pattern of change in size and shape -by age 2 you are almost half as tall as you will be as an adult -growth is in spurts, not smooth -first year a baby gains about 12 inches in eight and triples their weight at birth and slows down at the age of 2 -9-15 years of age humans grow more than they ever will in their lives -the shape of the body changes as our features change, such as our shoulders become larger while out heads become more proportionate compared to that of a baby Bones, muscles, and motor skills

8. Bones -as we age we actually grow more bones (at 1 years of age we have 3 bones in our wrists but as adults we have 9 bones in our wrists) -these bones develop faster in girls which may correlate to the superior abilities girls show to their counter parts of the same age -the skull of a newborn is actually several separated bones that allows the head to shrink safely during birth and gives the brain room to grow -by 12-18 months the bones in the head have fused together

9. Muscles and fat -90% of muscle fibrs are present at the time of birth but like bones they mature and change over time -in just a few years teenagers become much stronger, this is apparent in both genders but boys gain a lot more strength(40%BMS men, 24% BMS women) -this also depends on a persons life styles as leg strength between teenagers who walk are the same while arm strength is greater in men -hormones play a role in strength as a very fit female will still not be as strong as a very fit or semi fit male -fat increase until 9 months of age(baby fat) and begins to decline until 6-7 years of age after which fat levels are controlled by ourselves -once again gender plays a role in body fat as girls have more fat then boys, by age 13-17 body mass made of fat in girls increases from 22 to 24% while it decreases from 16 to 14% in boys -fat rises in girls as muscle rises in boys and vice versa

10. Using the body -how one uses their body to carry out physical activities -stamina is the capacity to sustain an activity, how long and how hard you can do something, related to the growth of heart and lungs, stamina increases during growth spurts as the lungs and heart increase in size -motor development: growth and change in ability to perform gross motor skills(walking) and fine motor skills(drawing) -all motor skills improve as you age based on experience and brain development

11. Hormones -hormones govern our pubertal growth and some of physical changes -the master gland sends specific hormones to stimulate other glands which enables our development -our growth is governed by our glands -puberty is not a single event but rather a series of events that lead to us being able reproduce -at the start of puberty the master gland increases the levels of hormones its out putting which encourages the change in bodies (sex hormones) -these hormones begin to develop our sex organs and change our physical appearance -the stages in puberty follow a defined sequence (see page 106 for graph) The endocrine and reproductive systems

12. Timing of puberty -puberty changes, in general begin from the ages of 12-14, a bit sooner in females -most early developing girls tend to gain weight during this time while late developing girls do not have this problem, boys have the opposite effect as they tend to gain lean bodies -early developing girls are more likely to get in trouble and pick up addictions as the try to cope with their changes while boys again have the opposite effect as they excel as they gain a more acceptable physique

13. Sequences of changes in girls and boys -first steps of change for girls are changes in their breasts and an increase in the growth of hair -this is usually followed by growth spurts and further breast development, after the first growth spurt the first menstruation occurs, menstruation occurs 2 years after the first signs of change, usually happens around 12-13 years of age -In the 19th century menstruation occurred at the age of 17 and has been decreasing ever since at a rate of 33% per decade, this is due to the fact that people today are less active and have more fatty diets -changes in boys are generally 1-2 years later than girls in their physical changes, with the most noticeable changes such as increase in mass, lower voice and the ability to grow facial hair occurring towards the end of the pubertal sequence

14. In the united states most people become sexually active before the age of 20, and half before they leave HS, some have multiple partners. A large portion of teens suffer from various STD’s and experience unplanned pregnancy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEjiM0sESus Sexual behavior in adolescence

15. Prevalence of sexual behavior - HS boys were found to be more sexually active then their female counter parts -the amount of sexually experienced teens has been steadily increasing -ethnicity also plays a a role as 67% of africanamerican, 51% of latinamerican and 42% of white students have reportedly had a sexual experience -africanamerican students where more likely to use condoms than latinamericans and white student who used condoms the least out of the three ethnic student groups -only 63% of students report using a condom, which explains why pregnancy and STD rates are increasing amongst teens

16. Explaining adolescent sexual behavior -Sexual activities of boys correlated to their testosterone levels -there is a correlation between teenage sexual activity and poor families, those who come from poorer families more likely to engage in such activities, they are also more likely to have been abused as kids and to be abusing some type of substance -religious beliefs and morals also have a role in this matter, kids from religious families are less likely than their peers to take part in such activities

17. STD’s and sex ED -despite an increase in sexual activities many kids do not know a lot about STD’s and their prevention -although sex ED is mandatory in most school and more kids than ever know about STD’s they are easily pressured into unprotected sex and some are too cheap to buy condoms -although STD rates have been dropping in recent years thy are still immensely high and a lack of knowledge may cause an increase as many STD’s are symptom free -most kids are awkward when it comes to the subject of sex and prefer to talk to older siblings, cousins or parents so we should be educating the older population to teach the younger ones about safe sex while making the public education system more effective on this topic

18. Teenage pregnancy -teenage pregnancy rates have been increasing steadily since the 1970’s and where estimated to be at 50 per 1000 teens in the late 1990’s and have nearly doubled since that time -on average around 17-20% of all births in America are from teen mothers -marriage between the two teens who are involved in the situation is also unlikely as only 20 out of a 100 end up getting married, which is better for the child as a child should be raised by an adult not another child -a families financial state also makes a difference, a richer families kids are less likely to be in this situation as they are most likely educated better on this subject (single parent families are the most likely to experience teenage pregnancy) - Teen pregnancy doesn’t necessarily mean that a baby will be born, 33% end up in abortion and 15% end up in miscarriages as they are still young and unable to physically support a baby, less than 10% of teen parents give up their kids for adoption

19. Homosexuality -its immensely hard to pin point an amount of gay teens, just like adults many are scared to share their sexuality with the public, which is understandable considering how some people are still against it -many go on pretending to be heterosexual their entire lives while suppressing their true selves -identical twins who have one identified homosexual twin have a 55% chance that the other twin is also homosexual, this drops to 20% for fraternal twins -its also believed that homosexuality may run in the families genes -its also believed that adults who's mothers took synthetic estrogen or hormones during pregnancy have a higher chance of being homosexual -during a study it was proven that arm and leg bones grow faster in kids who grew up to heterosexual -children who exhibit cross gender preferences such as playing with barbies for boys or toy cars for girls are more likely to be homosexual or at least bisexual -teens who are struggling with their sexual identity are more likely to suffer from depression as they feel isolated from their peers

20. Human being always have needs that need to be met in order to stay healthy, but these needs change significantly in each phase of our lives http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrVJeHmHVEE Health and welness

21. Health in childhood Health care needs: kids need regular checkups and immunizations from various illnesses, kids development can also be looked at and we can predict if they will have any cognitive disorders -during a checkup many things can be cleared up such as sleep patterns which may mean nothing or be a serious issue -a lot of times “bad” kids have issues that are untreated which makes them lash out Illnesses and accident: on average kids get sick 4-6 times a year, if untreated their immune system may weaken and they could get even sicker or sick more often -stress can also make kids sick, kids living with one parent on average suffer more so then kids with stable parents from such illnesses as asthma and migraines -every year 25% of kids suffer from accidents that require medical attention, most accidents happen at home and happen more so to boys due to their playing behavior being more “adventurous” and dangerous

22. Nutrition -because kids grow slower after infancy they eat less and sometimes don’t eat the foods that they once ate which could lead to conflicts between the child and their parents -a child's eating habits can mold their eating habits as an adult and lead to weight issues -sweets should not be taken away but limited while nutritious foods should always be available -kids foods in schools should be monitored as they may develop bad eating habits due to the availability of junk foods in school

23. Obesity -obesity mostly occurs during a child's schools years -about 16% of kids in America are currently identified as obese -the percentage of obese boys is twice as high as obese girls -obesity can be defined if a person weighs 20% more than that of a average person in their age group or if their BMI results are higher than normal -the older a child stays obese the more likely it is that they’ll be obese as an adult -obesity leads to various health issues such as elevated blood pressure and cholesterol levels

24. Dieting -while being obese is a problem, many kids who are only slightly over weight and have self-image issues may develop dangerous eating disorders -kids these days have more knowledge about diets than ever, while some discuss it with their parents and doctors others just go out and buy dangerous products that could be fatal for them - Binge eating is also a growing concern for girls in their teenage years

25. Health care issues: as we get older our immune systems become stronger and we get sick less often, but many teenagers tend to overlook their colds and not go to the doctors which may end up getting them sicker, and kids who come from stable families have a tendency to be healthier overall as they don’t have to strain themselves mentally and emotionally, regardless teenagers usually need more medical care as they are prone to accidents based on their behavior and activities Sensation seeking: many kids have a tendency to become adrenaline junkies and thus they do stupid and reckless things to get their “high” such as driving fast and doing somewhat illegal behaviors and because they are still young and naïve they are more prone to accidents. Studies today show that this behavior is to done gain acceptance by their peers or because they come from troubled families which has left them with a void that they need to fill with the acceptance of others Adolescent health

26. Drugs, smoking and alcohol: adrenaline junkies usually end up doing some type of drug to meet their need to achieve that level of high. Teenagers often drink and smoke as well, mostly in public setting such a party, this behavior is once again done to gain acceptance of their peers, but because most kids are stupid they end up drinking too much and in the hospital, teenagers are more likely than any other age group to suffer from alcohol poisoning. Smoking and drinking eventually become addictions and with them comes various illnesses such as lung cancer, jaw disease and liver failure, its important to educate our youth about these illnesses and not force them to stop their behaviors but rather do it responsibly (other than the drugs…), in the end they’ll usually do what they want so we might as well make sure they are honest about so we know what we are dealing with.(stats 23% of teens in america admitted to smoking weed regularly, nearly 40% of high school student had binge-drink before, 60% have tried smoking and 22% are regular smokers)

27. Poverty and health -in the states more than 17% of kids under the age of 6 live in poverty -a family in poverty is defined as a family with a net income of 30k or less in canada -kids in poverty suffer from many more health issues than kids in wealthy families as they do not have proper nutrition and often are not treated for their illnesses -a kid who lives in poverty may be living in a neighborhood where pollution exists which could lead to asthma or lung cancer in the future, and may suffer from anxiety if they live in a bad neighborhood -stress also weakens the immune system, and kids in poverty suffer from stress as they never know what could happen and when their next meal could come

28. Mortality -Worldwide over 10% of kids die before the age of 5 while in many poorer countries that rate can be as high or higher than 20% -In the western world the leading killer of kids under 5 is car accidents while in the rest of the world its malnutrition and diarrhea -in north america childhood death rates have been decreasing for the past 50 years which is a positive sign that parents are being more careful and not risking their kids lives in anyway -asianamerican children have the least number of deaths (any age group) while africanamericans have the highest due to homicides and various accidents