Importance of the Study of Genetics

 

Psychology

Importance of the Study of Genetics

The study of genetics in child development is very important because it explains the correlation between genetic material and child development. The study explains how genetics may influence early childhood development. Genetic contributes to childhood development in various ways, including; family inheritance, twin ties, and the intercorrelation between genetics and other environmental factors.

After birth, the child has already inherited genes from parents. These genes are contributors to physical attributes in early childhood. For example, a child may acquire big eyes from the father and straight hair from the mother. These characteristics expose themselves as the child grows and develops. Likewise, specific social features could also be passed from one generation to another (Trentacosta, Christopher, and Mulligan, 93). These may include traits such as temper and intelligence. However, these traits may be altered, considering the environment and parenting used to nurture the child. When children are surrounded by an inspiring atmosphere, they happen to be more outgoing and carefree throughout his life.

The study of genetics describes how certain diseases could be inherited from one generation to the other. Some of these inherited diseases may influence early childhood growth and development. Some example of such disease includes cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Parents may get worried that their disease may be passed to their child. However, this could be prevented when detected early enough. Nurses intervene to put some preventive measures to reduce the child’s chances of acquiring the disease(Trentacosta, Christopher, and Mulligan, 93). For instance, children with psychiatric disorders confirm a familial transmission. This disorder is contributed to by the correlation between genetics and the environmental factors that influence child growth and development. The child happens to suffer from familial risks, which puts him or her in a position where they can use various disorders. For example, some children happen to suffer from autism, and this affects their growth and development.

Similarly, twin ties have also shown the relation between genes and child growth and development. The twin genetic material involves the dizygotic (DZ) and monozygotic (MZ) pairs. The MZ twin pairs are hereditarily identical, but the DZ twin pairs share an average of at least 50% of the genetic material (Garg, Shruti, and Green, 67). The MZ depicts a greater similarity compared to that of the DZ for the inherited attributes. Here, genetic studies have shown the percentage of population disparity in a given phenotype traced from genetic impacts and the shared environment. The kind of trait acquired here would be like depression.

More importantly, parents must have a clue about the environment in which their children relate with. This is because it will help them to identify environmental aspects that influence growth and development. Likewise, parents could also recognize the environmental factors that might contribute to a disease attack at the early stages of development, hence, find effective solutions early enough so that the disease might not inhibit growth and development. The study of the environment helps parents differentiate between the concept of nurturing and nature. This is because biological aspects may strongly impact some factors of development. For instance, the beginning of adolescence is strongly influenced by genes, yet environmental aspects like nutrition also influence children’s growth and development.

The correlation between genetic material and environment inheritance plays an important role in shaping which the children will become in the future. The acquired attributes may be greatly influenced by environmental factors to alter the way various children express themselves. The multifaceted relationship between nature and nurture happens for a lifetime to shape children. It is required of all parents to identify biological aspects that help shape their children to nurture their children in the right manner. Also, they have to know how genetics influences growth and development so that certain inherited traits do not inhibit children’s growth.

Preterm Care

The care for preterm babies helps to improve the well-being of the unborn infant. It very important for nurses to initiate this care to help pregnant women stay healthy. The main objective of this is to check on the growth and development of children. The doctor may identify possible problems through screening, which helps alter the rate of growth and development. The care for preterm babies is meant to increase their chances of survival (Rieder, 56). Nurses are intervening to make sure such preterm infants survive by providing steroid injections before the process of birth. They are offering additional antibodies when the mother happens to lose water before the beginning of labor and encourages pregnant women to consume foods rich in magnesium sulfate to avoid future neurological impairment of the kid. Health care institutions also improve their care for preterm infants by putting them in incubators to facilitate their breathing process.

Preterm survivors have a higher chance of acquiring a disability, hence, putting a heavy task for their caregiver. Parents find it hard to care for their children that bear various impairments, and they may even ignore them in some instances. However, health professionals have intervened to help the child survive. They do so by encouraging parents to love and accept their children the way they are, but they advise that such individuals be taken to a nursing home for the worst conditions. Research has also shown that nurses can reduce the chances of baring an infant with either low weight or impairment.

The socioeconomic status of the mother greatly influences the condition of a preterm infant.  This proves the correlation between maternal health and socioeconomic attributes with prematurity and low birth weight. The contrast between women with preterm pregnancies and women with term pregnancies validates the interrelationship between maternal age and the chances of baring a premature infant (Rieder, 56). This is because the mother’s emotions, such as stress, may contribute to the situation becoming worse.  Healthcare practitioners should consider the overall socioeconomic status of pregnant women as a preventive measure to recognize the frequency of such a problem occurring. Many healthcare institutions are now ensuring that preventive measure is well structured and implemented to improve the survival chances of preterm infants and improve their quality of health.

Development of the Brain

During the first two years after birth, the brain starts to develop. At this age, the brain functions to help the baby control their body parts and movements. This is when babies can hold objects, crawl, and, in some instances, stand while supporting themselves to improve balance. Likewise, the kid starts to identify various faces within their surroundings with the brain’s help, where it functions to give visual context. Also, the brain enhances long-term memory to guide the baby’s awareness of the surroundings and assist them in managing their emotions (Moreton et al., 81). Newborns also learn how to communicate with their mothers and caregivers through facial expressions, sounds, and body movements. For example, kids cry to signify that they are either hungry or when they want to sleep.

The factors that enhance brain development include; exposure to the external environment, proper diet, and exposure to infections. Child’s exposure to the environment helps them interact with various people from different surroundings and through the exchange of ideas when they are playing improves their thinking capacity. Offering proper diet to children helps boost their brains’ development because their body needs quality food to function. Also, exposure of children to various infections helps them get used to them; hence, it cannot slow down brain development(Moreton et al., 81). Caregivers, together with parents, must consider all these aspects that improve brain development and apply them to see the changes in how children think and behave.

The main domains in brain development include; cognitive, physical, and social-emotional. Children happen to encounter different changes within each domain. The physical domain refers to all bodily changes, such as increased size and weight and motor skills development. Also, it involves the development of the five senses (smell, touch, hear, see, and taste). However, physical development is impacted by either illness or a child’s diet. This proves that proper nutrition boosts a child’s brain development. The cognitive domain comprises the development of intelligence and critical thinking of children. This helps children improve on memorizing abilities. In contrast, the social-emotional domain involves managing various emotions and feelings. This domain helps children understand what other people feel to help them interact well, for example, how to relate with temperamental individuals.

Child growth and early learning are debated in various terms and characterized in different methods in several fields and disciplines used in a research study, practice, and program attached to children from conception to age 8. Different researchers and disciplines have grouped various cognitive methods under the definite term “executive function.” General cognitive developments are also related to learning abilities, such as engagement and persistence. Equally, self-regulation has together cognitive and emotive dimensions. It is sometimes considered a portion of the executive role, a fragment of socioemotional capability, or a learning aptitude unit. Attention and remembrance could be measured as a part of universal intellectual processes, rooted inside an executive function, or connected to learning proficiencies related to tenacity.

It is less necessary that all disciplines of research, policy, and practice follow the same categorizations. More significant, all present their work in an inclusive and mindful method of all factors contributing to child growth and early learning. The key point that needs to be emphasized is that all concepts should be mutually and interactive and not hierarchical. There is an urgent need that all sectors concerned with developing children and early learning come together and form a mutual understanding that fosters children’s goals.  The following pre-school program will be necessary and would foster development in all domains of early child development and learning, that is, psychosocial, cognitive, and biosocial.

Pre-School Program.

This program of early learning and child development shows seven domains of learning and development. These domains can be used as the basis for kids’ readiness assessment, and they can help provide a roadmap of how the education sector ought to re-design their programs.

Social fundamentals include the skills needed to:

• regulate one’s emotions and behavior.
• Build healthy social relationships with other children and adults
• Establish a positive individual identity
• Form executive function abilities, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, persistence, and curiosity.
• Engage and participate in learning.

Motor development and Physical welfare include abilities related to:

• Coordination, balance, and muscle control
• Body consciousness
• Rest, health, exercise, wellness, and nutrition
• Self-help competencies such as brushing teeth, dressing, feeding, and washing hands

The abilities related to literacy and language includes writing, reading, listening and speaking, and language:

• Reading consists of the basic concepts of phonemic awareness, phonics, print, and fluency. This concept also entails comprehension and reading skills for literary texts and informational tips.
• Writing encompasses appropriate developmental drawing, dictation, and explanation writing, expressing an opinion, or narrate a story.
• Listening and speaking consist of activities that help a learner participate in conversions, answer and ask questions, distinguish information, and audible speaking while showing a proper understanding of the English language.
• Language skills illustrate the resolutions of grammar in English while writing or speaking. This also includes the comprehension of punctuations, capitalization, and spelling as useful abilities when writing.

Mathematical skills include the following concepts:

• Numeration and cardinality
• Algebraic thinking and Operations
• Operations in base ten and numbers
• Data and calibration
• Geometry

In the above mathematical domain, children are supposed to learn about value, numbers, precision, and numerical relationships. Children are also introduced to spatial awareness through learning the skills of measurement and geometry.

Scientific skills entail the following areas.

Science is a domain through which children develop scientific knowledge and thinking skills. This learning proficiency will help them explore the physical and natural world around them. They learn how to:

• Ask questions
• Reason
• Experiment
• Apply evidence
• Communicate their findings
• Draw conclusions

In these domains, children are expected to utilize their curiosity to question, explore, and study the earth, the physical and science life at a suitable level.

Social Studies competencies comprise the following areas:

• Social fabrics; this includes the system of rulership and the rulemaking process.
• Social relationships are the social network that exists among friends, family, and the community in general.
• Economic relationships; this is simply the transit of goods and services.

Children start to comprehend various relationships between people during early childhood and the function they emphasize in society. Children are supposed to develop an awareness of their self-identity and how people interact with each other in society.

Art skills consist of the following basic areas.

• Art skills should concentrate on the following areas; visual arts, dance, music, and theatre. This domain focuses on the expression of ideas and emotions.
• The art competencies give the children a chance to show their knowledge and skills in unique, personalized, and creative expressions.

In summary, the practitioners in early childhood development should understand that it is a normal thing that all children cannot develop in the same manner. However, there are determinable moments of progress, and development can be visualized. For them to come with the best approach, they must understand development and progress across all domains. This will, in turn, help the children in every stage and will enhance their readiness to grow.

Maltreatment

Maltreatment is behavior towards a person or an animal outside the basic conduct and entails considerable risk of causing physical or emotional harm. Multiple factors contribute to maltreatment. These factors are divided into four groups: oncogenic development, the microsystem, the ecosystem, and the macrosystem.

Ontogeny development is about how the environment and the individuals within the environment contribute to other people’s or animals’ maltreatment. Individuals who are closest in the environment of a person who, most of the time, cause the maltreatment. People who have a history of being abused in their childhood are most likely to abuse their children and other people around them. Lack of formal education or low levels of it can also cause a person’s maltreatment of the people closest to him or her. People who have low levels of child care knowledge and living with others are most likely to take part in the child maltreatment or mistreatment of other people close to them.

The microsystem refers to the environment larger and just after the individual. It refers to the family from which the mistreated person comes from. The environment from which a person comes from, that is, the person’s family, plays a big role in their maltreatment. Most of the time, you find that there are few interactions within an abusive family. Lack of interaction usually motivates maltreatment as the person being mistreated cannot air his or her problems. You also find out that the people who mistreat others are involved in relationships characterized by conflict and violence.

The ecosystem refers to the subsequent level after the family, which is the neighborhood of a person. The neighborhood from which a person lives contribute very much to the maltreatment of children and people. The neighbor usually means external support to the families. The support can either be formal support or informal support. The legal support refers to the family relatives and close friends to the family. These are the people who usually offer help to the family in the form of emotional help or solve family issues. The informal support refers to the environment though around the families, even though it does not directly interact with the family. This involves the neighbors and the people in the community from which an individual life.

The macrosystem refers to the environment from which a society is built on. It refers to the culture and beliefs of the people in the society towards maltreatment. Some beliefs motivate the maltreatment of people and children. In societies where women are considered to be a weak gender, it is always likely that the women in that society are mistreated. Also, societies that believe that children are a source of manpower motivate families to mistreat their children.

Many factors reduce the likely hood of maltreatment. The factors are also categorized according to the individual, family, community, and cultural risk factors. There always ways through which the individuals, the family, and the community can prevent the maltreatment of the people and children.

Individuals who bring about maltreatment, such as the family members, can prevent maltreatment by understanding the people close to them and provide them with physical and emotional support. Just because a person was maltreated during childhood does not make it right for them to mistreat others. A person needs to understand that it was not the people closest to them that caused his or her maltreatment. Individuals have to learn how to offer the best care to the people next to them regardless of where they are from and what others are doing.

The family can also stop maltreatment through nurturing parenting skills, parental education, parental sheltering, stable family relationships, and many more ways. A family is supposed to build a good environment for the children and the people involved with the family. The people affected by family activities should be treated in a caring manner that keeps them away from harm. Every person should be treated differently according to their needs.

The community holds great responsibility for ensuring that the people are not mistreated. A community can prevent maltreatment through support groups, keeping law and order, and giving psychological help to families. Communities require to be alert about what is happening to their members of the community. If there are members mistreated, the community should take it as their duty to protect those people. They should also try to help those held accountable for maltreatment through rehabilitation of the correctional facilities.

The culture of the communities also needs to be revisited and re-established. Times have changed, and so should our culture and beliefs. The female gender, for example, is as effective as the male gender in this modern era. The beliefs should not be rigid. They should always be prone to change according to citations. They should take into account the welfare of every member of the community.

To curb maltreatment, I would use the parental education program if I had insufficient funds. This is because the family is the basic unit of our society. If every family had the proper parental care, it would mean that all the children are brought up in the best care. The best form of eliminating mistreatment for a long time is if we can bring up our children under the best possible care. Good parental care would also eliminate mistreatments among children like bullying.

Obesity

Many factors are associated with obesity in school-aged children. These factors include regular diet, lack of exercise, family factors, and social, economic factors. These factors usually cause unhealthy eating in children. Unhealthy eating brings about obesity, which is harmful to their health.

The diet of school-aged children is the major cause of obesity. The children at this age usually like sugary food and food that has high-calorie levels. Sugary drinks are culprits of obesity, too though not to all people. Diets that are rich in calories lead to weight gain, and if not monitored, it causes malnutrition. This food includes baked and fast foods. They have high-fat levels, which are unhealthy for the body of the children.

A lack of exercise can also cause obesity. School-aged children can be easily lost to books and relationships. Children need to do a lot of exercises to burn the fat in their bodies. Since their food is usually rich in calories, then their body’s fat levels are usually high. The only way to reduce it is through regular exercises such as games. Children should not be allowed to be glued to the computer and televisions at all times. Parents need to make sure that their children are proactive in games and field activities.

Obesity in children is brought about by the family from which the children come from. If the family has a bad eating habit and is overweight, then children are most likely to take up their eating habits. The families need to check their eating habits to be able to check that of their kids. Their food needs to have low amounts of calories, and also, they should avoid sugary food. Families should also try to avoid processed food and built their eating habits direct from the farm products.

The socioeconomic factors of a community may also cause malnutrition in school-aged kids. In communities where there is limited access to shops and supermarkets, families are likely to buy food that does not spoil quickly in bulk, such as milk with preservatives in it. Some people live in densely populated areas and lack enough environment for exercise. Kids in these areas lack proper exercise most of the time and gain a lot of weight, causing obesity.

To develop an education program that will promote healthy eating and weight loss, there are three principles that I would suggest that the school program be built on. These principles are an only healthy food to be sold in the canteens, mandatory exercises for all the children, and regular body check for all kids.

The school canteens should not be allowed to sell food rich in calories or too much sugary food. Fresh food should be the priority for the kids too. The canteens should be monitored to regulate what the kids are eating. The preserved food, sugary food, and high-calorie-level food are usually associated with increased body weight.

Since we can monitor every child’s eating habits, there should be mandatory for participating in an exercise in school for all kids. There should be breaks during learning that allows children some minutes to do exercises. There should also be periods where the teachers join the children in exercising. This is to guide the kids and monitor them to protect them from hurting themselves.

Finally, all children should have regular health checks. Their health should be monitored on how their body parts are developing and also their psychological health. If a child’s body is adding weight within a short period, it means that the child is not getting the proper feeding habits. They are emotionally unstable; my cause a child to eat too much food and avoid exercise.

Carrying extra weight on the body can lead to serious health problems. The health problems include high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart diseases, and many more health problems. Gaining too much weight can also lead to death. People who are overweight suffer from problems with their physical functioning as the body is too heavy for the feeble bones to carry. At times you find that the overweight people are faced with the problems of movements that even when they fall, it is really difficult for them to stand on their feet again.

Gaining weight also has a great effect on the well-being of the person. The people with heavyweight are usually not treated with respect in our societies. They are usually mocked, which might cause psychological problems. They are also faced with different problems about their body functioning, and this may cause them stress—many people having a big weight look down on themselves as not being beautiful or handsome. People dislike overweight people, which might cause them to think that they are not worthy or good enough like other people. Overweight causes people to be unable to participate in some activities such as running, which causes overweight people to perceive themselves as the odd ones out in the community.

Adolescent egocentrism

Adolescent egocentrism can be described as the inability of adolescents to distinguish between how they pensive themselves and how other people perceive them. For example, I always perceived myself to be ugly during my adolescent period because I am slim. This would make me avoid any social gatherings, and I also did not socialize with people from my opposite gender. I always perceived myself not to be good enough to be loved as my body size is small. At one specific time, I was hanging out with my friends, and one of them talked about how lucky I was to have a simple body. He talked about how many ladies had a crush on me, and they were afraid to approach me due to my ever-serious attitude. It was during this time that I knew that I was suffering from adolescent egocentrism.

Teenagers are associated with riskier behaviors than adults and younger children. This usually causes serious injuries and accidental deaths, even though they are at the peak of their physical condition. The risky behavior is attributed to the adolescent brain structure and development. The reasons teenagers take part in risky behaviors are the brain’s inability to handle risk and peer pressure from other people.

The brain of a normal human being usually matures fully at the age of twenty-five. People in the teenage period are at the peak of their physical position; hence they feel more energetic and powerful. The teenage feeling of power makes them want to know more about their body’s limits and even to go beyond them. Their brain is not too experienced with risk; it cannot process fully and caution the body against various activities. Hence, teenagers find themselves experimenting with drugs and other risky behaviors as they lack the proper conviction of how risky this could be.

During the teenage period being a very vigorous period, teenagers usually find themselves under high peer pressure. Having a great amount of strength, the teens are daring and always want to feel superior over others. This makes them engage in competitive activities, which are risky to prove to be the greatest of them. Teens have the urge to be recognized and respected. This causes them to do what even the adults are afraid to do to build a name for themselves. This puts them at too much risk, and many of them end up with severe injuries and broken body parts and even worse to their early death.

Developing adolescent needs great community and parental support. The support is in terms of guidance, avoiding a child’s humiliation, commending, and encouraging them. Supporting developing adolescent children helps them go through that difficult possible without suffering from emotional and physical pain. Successful completion of the adolescent period means maturity for the child.

The parents and the community need to guide the children in adolescence to avoid getting them into risky behaviors. The guidance is in terms of counseling and showing that you understand their feelings. This makes the children not to feel so odd and to be able to manage their overconfidence. They should be guided by examples of teenagers’ past activities and development and how adolescents can be a good or bad master.

The parents and the community should try and avoid humiliating the children going through the adolescent period. Parents might find themselves in situations where they are asked stupid questions, and if they do not answer wisely, they can embarrass them. The children can feel humiliated and lack confidence in their parents. It should always be the parents that these children run to whenever they need guidance. Hence, the parents should be careful to make the child feel safe to ask any question.

The children at the adolescent need to be commended regularly for their small achievements. This makes them feel confident about themselves, and they also feel satisfied with what they can do. When a child feels like he or she is not good enough, they might engage in more risky behaviors to prove their worth. The parents and the community should always commit them to their small achievements and encourage them to continue pursuing such small achievements as they are important. They need to know that they do not need to move mountains for them to be great; moving a spoon can also make you an important person.

The children at their adolescence need to be encouraged to continue doing what they are doing if it is safe and cautioned against risky behaviors. These children need to be awarded every time they achieve, such as good performance in school. These will encourage them to put more effort into those activities and not engage in risky ones. Awarding them in public makes them feel appreciated and important, and there is no need for them to do any risky thing for them to be recognized. Passing through the adolescent period is a must, but it is not a must to engage in risky behaviors. Children at this period can be monitored and led in the right direction.

why so many young adults delay marrying and having children, compared to previous cohorts

The emergence of contraceptive technology

In recent decades, young adults in our country are delaying in marrying or having children. The main reason for this postponement is associated with the following factors: the emergence of operative contraception, the rise in female education and their participation in the labor market, gender equity, value changes, housing conditions, partnership changes, economic crisis, and lack of important family policies. The USA law’s relaxation allowed young women to use the pill to further their education and establish their labor market roots.

Educational advancement and field of study

Women’s advancement in education, such as tertiary colleges and university degrees, has shifted childbearing and marriage behavior. Education has greatly affected the first birth timing. The argument presented by the majority of women is that it poses a challenge to balance between educational roles and motherly roles.

 

Ideology shifts: value and norm changes

The changes in the societal fabrics where there was motivation to have kids and family have shifted to an individualistic family system. The parting from traditional values, ideals, beliefs, norms, and ideologies has resulted in individual independence in decision making.

Gender Equity

This can be well understood in terms of political, individual gender roles, household division of labor, and educational empowerment. The gender system in every society entails the various rights and obligations associated with men and women. These factors, in turn, may disable young adults to postpone marriage and childbearing.

Partnerships

In this modern time, young adults have multiple relationships before first childbirth. This is caused by the increase of weak forms of partnership such as cohabitation, rising divorce levels, and marriage break. These factors can be an inhibitor and are why many adult youths are delaying entering into parenthood.

Housing and economic uncertainty

The housing condition is one of the structural aspects that can fortuitously influence marriage and decide to have a first child among many youths. With the hard-economic condition, it is quite problematic for young Americans to obtain a house, and this, without doubts, will lead to delay in parenthood.

 

 

Social policy incentives

Sometimes, the social policies may be unfriendly when it comes to having the first child and building a family. Policies that regulate the number of children an individual should have are likely to affect young adults when deciding to enter parenthood. Policies that aim to improve family compatibilities, such as paternity and maternity leave with salary-maintenance, can encourage young adults to enter into parenthood.

In conclusion, if I was in a position to influence the current social and economic system, I will develop a robust policy that will ensure that young adults and the dying family fabrics are reinstated. First, I will engage all the stakeholders; this is the government agencies, the citizens, and the scholars in the field. I will ensure the new policy create incentives such as free maternity services, paid paternity, and maternity leave. I will also develop a program of daycare management that will help provide foster care to the children. This will promote childbirth and, eventually, the establishment of the family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

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Dehghan, Mahshid, Noori Akhtar-Danesh, and Anwar T. Merchant. “Childhood obesity prevalence and prevention.” Nutrition Journal 4.1 (2005): 24.

Deutsch, Martin. “Facilitating development in the pre-school child: social and psychological perspectives.” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly of Behavior and Development 10.3 (1964): 249-263.

Elkind, David. “Egocentrism in adolescence.” Child development (1967): 1025-1034.

Garg, Shruti, and Jonathan Green. “Studying child development in genetic models ASD.” Progress in brain research. Vol. 241. Elsevier, 2018. 159-192.

Heft, Harry. “An ecological approach to psychology.” Review of General Psychology 17.2 (2013): 162-167.

Moreton, Fiona C., et al. “Brain imaging factors associated with progression of subcortical hyperintensities in CADASIL over two year follow up.” European Journal of Neurology (2020).

Nefdt, N., Koegel, R., Singer, G., & Gerber, M. (2010). The use of a self-directed learning program to provide introductory training in pivotal response treatment to parents of children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 12(1), 23-32.

Rieder, Travis N. “Saving or creating: which are we doing when we resuscitate extremely preterm infants?” The American Journal of Bioethics 17.8 (2017): 4-12.

Rosenthal, Miriam K., and Lihi Gatt. “‘Learning to Live Together’: training early childhood educators to promote socio‐emotional competence of toddlers and pre‐school children.” European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 18.3 (2010): 373-390.

 

Trentacosta, Christopher J., and Daniel J. Mulligan. “New directions in understanding the role of environmental contaminants in child development: Four themes.” New directions for child and adolescent development (2020).