Ch 4: Human Growth & Development in Childhood
About This Chapter
Human Growth & Development in Childhood - Chapter Summary
By working through these lessons, you can strengthen your knowledge of human growth and development in childhood. Some of the topics covered include how a parent's substance abuse can affect their child and how a child's sense of self changes. This chapter can also assist you with understanding what's required to increase self-regulation when a child is aggressive and how resilience is helpful. After reviewing the lessons, you should be ready to:
- Recount the stages of child development
- Explain how children develop cognitively
- Discuss how to help improve a child's self-esteem
- List types of aggression in early childhood
- Describe how divorce can affect a child's development
- Recall social issues that affect a child's development
- Discuss what affects the amount of stress a child feels
- Explain James Marcia's theory of identity
The illustrative teaching style used by our instructors can help to elevate your understanding of human growth and development in childhood. A brief quiz is available to test your knowledge of each lesson, and the quizzes can be printed for use as a handy study tool. You can also use your personal Dashboard to track completed lessons and your quiz results.

1. What Is Child Development? - Definition, Theories & Stages
Child development has been widely studied and refers to the physical, cognitive, and social growth that begins at birth and continues into adulthood. Explore the definition, theories, and stages of child development, including infancy, early and middle childhood, and adolescence.

2. Cognitive Development in Children: Conservation, Decentration & Centration
As children grow, so does their thinking skills, knowledge, and learning ability. Learn about cognitive development in children, including the main concepts of centration, decentration, and conservation, and discover how they relate to each other.

3. Social Development of Children: Self-Esteem
While children are learning to build relationships and develop socially, they are also developing their own self-awareness and feelings--commonly called self-esteem. Learn more about the psychology of self-esteem in children and ways to foster positivity through prasie, encouragement, and care.

4. Emotion Regulation and Aggression in Early Childhood
Through development, children can display different types of aggression that can be controlled through emotion regulation techniques. Learn about early childhood development and explore the different types of aggression that children can display as well as how to improve self-regulation to control it.

5. Social Issues that Impact Early Childhood Development
Children are growing and changing every day, but poorly managed social issues can get in the way of their development. Learn how divorce and parental substance abuse can impact early childhood development.

6. Stress and Resilience in Middle Childhood
Middle childhood can be a stressful time, but children with resilience can better cope with the stressors of this stage. Explore the factors that impact how much stress a child feels and how resilience allows children to deal with stress.

7. Social Issues in Middle Childhood & Their Effects on Development
Children grow and develop in many ways, but sometimes social issues at home or school can get in the way of development. Discover common problems in middle childhood, including family and school issues and their effects on development.

8. Changes in Sense of Self From Childhood to Adolescence
Our sense of self changes while we grow up because it is a dynamic developmental process. Explore James Marcia's four ways in which children navigate their identities from childhood into adolescence, including foreclosure, moratorium, achievement, and diffusion.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the DSST Fundamentals of Counseling: Study Guide & Test Prep course
- The History of Counseling and Psychotherapy
- The Professional Counselor
- Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling
- Human Growth & Development in Adolescence
- Human Growth & Development in Adulthood
- Psychodynamic Theories & Approaches
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies
- Behavioral, Humanistic & Experiential Approaches to Counseling
- Systems Theories in Psychology
- Social & Cultural Aspects of Counseling
- The Counseling Process
- School Counseling
- Marriage and Family Counseling
- Group Counseling
- Overview of Career Counseling
- Decision Making Skills, Processes & Models
- Understanding Measurements in Research
- DSST Fundamentals of Counseling Flashcards