Odisha State Board CHSE Odisha Class 12 Psychology Solutions Unit 1 Long Answer Questions Part-1.
CHSE Odisha 12th Class Psychology Unit 1 Long Answer Questions Part-1
Long answers with questions
Question 1:
What do mean by Life span development? Explain the same on today’s concept.
Answer:
Life Span Development or Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies intraindividual changes and interindividual changes within these intraindividual changes. Its task, as La Bouvier has pointed out, is “not only description but also explication of age-related changes in behavior in terms of antecedent-consequent relationships”.
Developmental psychologists study developmental change covering the life span horn conception to death. By so doing, they attempt to give a complete picture of growth and decline. Others cover only a segment of the life span-childhood, adulthood, or old age. In this book, an attempt will be made to cover all segments and show the important developmental changes at different periods during the entire life span.
Siegel during the early years, as has explained, “Life span psychology was preoccupied with ages and stages. Investigators sought to learn the typical age at which various stages of development occurred”. The areas inr which research was mainly concentrated were those considered significant for human evolutional adaptation. For the most part, research studies were concentrated on preschool and school-age children and on adolescents. Only later did research extend downward, first to birth and then to conception and later upward, to adulthood, old age and finally to middle age.
The two major reasons for the uneven emphasis of developmental psychology,
The study of a particular period in the developmental pattern has been greatly influenced by the desire to solve some practical problem or problems associated with that period. Research in the area of middle age, for example, is an outgrowth of the realization that good adjustments in the latter years of life depend on how well one has adjusted to the physical; and psychological changes, that normally occur in the middle years.
Since the focus of interest in life span psychology has changed over the years, there are gaps in our knowledge of the different developmental phenomena characteristic of the different periods. These gaps are also due in part to difficulties in studying the different patterns of behavior characteristic of a given period, especially difficulties in getting representative samplings of subjects of a given age and in finding a suitable method for the study of behavior patterns.
The reason for the uneven emphasis is that it is – harder to study people at some stages of life than at others. Getting middle-aged and elderly subjects, for example, is far more difficult than getting preschool or school-age children or even adolescents.
Life Span psychologists have six major objectives:
- to find out what are the common and characteristic age changes in appearance, in behavior, in interests, and in goals from one developmental period to another;
- to find out when these changes occur;
- to find out what causes them;
- to find out how they influence behavior;
- to find out whether they can or cannot be predicted and
- to find out whether they are individual or universal.
Question 2:
Discuss the early approaches towards Life span development.
Answer:
Early forerunners of the scientific study of development were baby biographies, journals kept to record the early development of a child. One early journal, published in 1787 in Germany, contained Dietrich Tiedemann’s (1897/1787) observations of his son’s sensory, motor, language and cognitive behavior during the first 21/2 years. Typical of the speculative nature of such observations was Tiedemann’s erroneous conclusion, after watching the infant suck more on a cloth tied around something sweet than on a nurse’s finger, that sucking appeared to be “not instinctive, but acquired”.
It was Charles Darwin, the originator of the theory of evolution, who first emphasized the developmental nature of infant behavior. In 1877 Darwin published notes on his son Doddy’s sensory, cognitive and emotional development, during his first twelve months. Darwin’s journal gave “baby biographies” scientific respectability; about thirty more were published during the next three decades.
By the end of the nineteenth century, several important trends in the western world were preparing the way for the scientific study of development. Scientists had unlocked the mystery of conception and were arguing about the relative importance of “nature” and “nurture” (inborn characteristics and experiential influences). The discovery of germs and immunization made it possible for many more children to survive infancy.
Laws protecting children from long workdays let them spend more time in school and parents and teachers became more concerned with identifying and meeting children’s developmental needs. The new science of psychology taught that people could understand themselves by learning what had influenced them as children. Still, this new discipline had far to go.
For example, adolescence was not considered a separate period of development until the early twentieth century, when G. Stanley Hall, a pioneer in child study, published a popular (though unscientific) book called Adolescence (1904/1916). Hall also was one of the first psychologists to become interested in aging. In 1922, at age 78, he published Senescence: The Last Half of Life. Six years later, Stanford University opened the first major scientific research unit devoted to aging. But not until a generation later did the study of aging blossom.
Since the late 1930s a number of important long-term studies discussed in the second half of this book, such as those of K. Warner Schaie, George Vaillant, Daniel Levinson and Ravenna Helson, have focused on intelligence and personality development in adulthood and old age.
Question 3:
Explain the meaning and development of changes.
Answer:
Development means a progressive series of changes that occur as a result of maturation and experience. As Van den Daele has pointed out, “development implies qualitative change”. This means that development does not consist merely of adding inches to one’s height or of improving one’s ability. Instead, it is a complex process of integrating many structures and functions.
There are two essentially antagonistic processes in development take place simultaneously throughout life – growth, or evolution and atrophy, or involution. Both begin at conception and end at death. In the early years, growth predominates, even though atrophic changes occur as early as embryonic life. In the latter part of life, atrophy predominates, though growth does not stop; hair continues to grow and cells continue to be replaced. With aging, some parts of the body and mind change more than others.
The human being is never static. From conception to death, change is constantly taking place in physical and psychological capacities. As Piaget has explained, structures are “far from being static and given from the start.” Instead, a maturing organism undergoes continued and progressive changes in response to experiential conditions and these result in a complex network of interaction.
As development is continuous, as Bower has pointed out, in the sense that it is a cyclic process with competencies developing and then disappearing, only to appear at a later age, it is not continuous in the sense that it increases constantly but rather in a series of waves with whole segments of development reoccurring repetitively. Bower has explained, newborns walk if held and then this ability disappears only to reappear at eight or ten months of age.
He explains that the “various explanations of repetitive processes in development thus seem to differ depending on the specific repetition to be explained. What all the explanations have in common, however, is that they preserve the assumption that psychological growth, in spite of its apparent reversals, is a continuous and additive process”. When regression to an earlier stage occurs, there is usually a cause for it, as in the regression to the awkwardness that occurs with the rapid growth at puberty.. ‘
The pattern of change resembles a bell-shaped curve, rising abruptly at the start and then flattening out during the middle years, only to decline slowly or abruptly in old age. It is important to recognize that at no time can this pattern be represented by a straight line, though plateau periods of short or long duration may occur in the development of different capacities.
Question 4:
What is the Goal of Life span Changes?
Answer:
It is to enable people to adapt to the environment in which they live. To achieve this goal, self-realization, or, as it is sometimes called, ‘Self-actualization,” is essential. However, this goal is never static. It may be considered an urge-the urge to do what one is fitted to do, the urge to become the person, both physically and psychologically, that one wants to be.
The way people express this urge depends on the individual’s innate abilities and training, not only during the early, formative years of childhood but also as he or she grows older and comes under greater pressures to conform to social expectations. Since self-realization plays an important role in mental health, people who ‘make good personal and social adjustments must have opportunities to express their interests and desires in ways that give them satisfaction but, at the same time, conform to accepted standards. Lack of these opportunities will result in frustrations and generally negative attitudes toward people and toward life in general.
Question 5:
Discuss Researches on Life span Change.
Answer:
Research on developmental changes during childhood and adolescence has been far more extensive than studies of changes that occur during the later years. Among the reasons for this uneven emphasis is the fact that the many prevailing traditional beliefs about children and adolescents have acted as a spur to researchers, who have set up studies designed to prove or disprove these beliefs.
Traditional beliefs concerning the post-adolescent years are less numerous and have had less impact on the direction of research. Further, developmental changes occurring at middle age were regarded as purely physiological and, therefore, outside the scope of psychological research. Changes occurring in old age affected a relatively small percentage of the population and were thus considered less important than changes that occur during the early years. It is now recognized that changes occurring at any developmental stage are worthy of study.
The most important incentive to research about developmental changes has been the nature-nurture controversy which has raged for decades. How important a role maturation based on genetic factors plays in bringing about developmental changes as compared with environmental pressures and experiences has been the focal point of interest and many research studies have been devoted to trying to find a satisfactory solution to this controversy.
The research on developmental changes at all stages has been the emergence of a large number of new theories about the causes and effects of such changes. These theories are not always backed up by adequate evidence and a great deal of research is motivated by the desire to substantiate or refute material that has widespread acceptance in the field.
Any new theory can lead to controversy and experimentation, but of all theories, none have provided a more powerful incentive to research than Piaget’s developmental theories, especially his theories about cognitive development. Other views that have inspired numerous studies are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development and Gesell’s stages of equilibrium and disequilibrium.
Question 6:
Attitudes toward Life span Changes
Answer:
Changes of a physical or psychological nature are constantly taking place; many people are only vaguely aware of them unless they occur abruptly or markedly affect the pattern of their lives. The changes of old age, for example, usually occur at a much slower pace than those of childhood or adolescence. However, they still require readjustments on the part of all individuals. But, when individuals can make these adjustments relatively slowly, they themselves or others may not be conscious of them.
Thus when changes are rapid, on the other hand, the individual is only too well aware of them, as are others. During the puberty growth spurt at the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence, such comments as “My, how you have grown since last saw you!’’ are evidence of how others notice these changes. Similarly, in senescence, when the downward movement begins to accelerate, the elderly are aware of the fact that their health is “failing” and that their minds are “slipping.” Constant readjustment to these changes is necessary in the scheduled pattern of their lives.
They must slow down as the incapacities and infirmities of old age catch up with them and they must frequently forgo some of the activities that formerly played important roles in their lives. As there is, a tendency for most people to regard the past as better than the present. And even though most children look forward to the day when they will be “teenagers,” when that time comes they often long for the carefree days of their childhood.
Similarly, many men who look forward to retirement wish, when the mandatory age for retirement arrives, that they could go back to earlier years when their usefulness and prestige were recognized by the social group. As and when people become aware of the changes taking place in them, they develop definite attitudes toward these changes. Whether these attitudes will be favorable or unfavorable depends on a number of factors, the most important of which are described below.
Question 7:
Write the aspects that influence attitudes toward Life span changes.
Answer:
Appearance:
Developments that improve one’s appearance are welcome and lead to favorable attitudes while those that detract from one’s appearance are resisted and every possible attempt is made to camouflage them.
Behavior:
As and when behavior changes are disconcerting, as during puberty and senescence, they affect attitudes toward the changes unfavorably. The reverse is true when changes are favorable, as occurs, for example, when the helplessness of babyhood gradually gives way to the independence of childhood.
Cultural Stereotypes:
From mass media, people learn cultural stereotypes associated with different ages and they use these stereotypes to judge people of those ages.
Cultural Values:
Each culture has certain values associated with different ages. Because maximum productivity is associated with young through early middle-age adulthood, attitudes toward this age group are more favorable than attitudes toward other ages.
Role Changes:
Attitudes toward people of different ages are greatly influenced by the roles they play. When people change their roles to less favorable ones, as in the case of retirement or widowhood, social attitudes toward them are less sympathetic.
Personal Experiences:
Personal experiences have a profound effect on an individual’s attitude toward developmental changes. Since the authority and prestige of middle-aged executives decreases as they approach retirement their attitudes toward aging are, for example, unfavorably affected. These attitudes are intensified by unfavorable social attitudes.
Question 8:
What are the Obstacles in Studying Life-Span Development?
Answer:
All studies of the Life span are beset by obstacles in varying degrees. The five most common and most serious of these are discussed below.
Representative Samples of Subjects:
The first obstacle scientists encounter in studying development during the life span is securing representative samples of subjects at different age levels, although it is relatively easy to get representative samples of subjects from among schoolchildren and college students. In the case of newborn infants, however, researchers often meet with strong parental objections.
Getting older adolescents and young adults who are not attending school to volunteer as subjects is also difficult because they may not be available for study at any one particular place. This difficulty increases with advancing age, which is why so many of the studies relating to the latter years of life have been made on men and women living in institutions, people who unQably are not representative of the general population.
Recruiting young adults, middle-aged adults, or the elderly as voluntary participants in experiments has likewise been a difficult task, even when they are paid for their time. Many persons shy away from any testing programme, partly because of a lack of personal interest but mainly because they are afraid they will not do well and, as a result, create an unfavorable impression. Relying on those who are willing to participate may be creating a bias just as using institutional cases does.
Establishing Rapport with Subjects:
The second obstacle scientists encounter in studying development during the lifespan is establishing rapport with subjects at different age levels. There is no guarantee that scientists will be able to elicit the information they are seeking from any group unless they are able to establish rapport with their subjects. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the data they obtain is as accurate or as comprehensive as it might have been had a better relationship existed between subjects and experimenters.
The reason for this is that obtaining information from subjects of any age is extremely difficult because most people resent having a stranger pry into their personal affairs. Even schoolchildren and college students, who often take tests or fill out Qnaires as part of their classroom work* show their resentment by being uncooperative or even by falsifying the information they give. This is even truer of adults of all ages. Their resentment at participating in a scientific study may be partially overcome if they are paid to do so, but they tend to regard the experimenter as an invasion of privacy.
As a result, it is questionable whether data obtained from many studies is a true picture of the involved individuals’ attitudes, feelings and values. Only when good rapport can be established with the subjects and when there is evidence of cooperation on their part can great confidence be placed in the results of these studies.
Methodology:
The third obstacle scientists encounter in studying development during the life span is securing a satisfactory method. This is because no one method can be used satisfactorily for studying people at all ages or for investigating all areas of development. Some of the methods that must be resorted to, for lack of better ones, are of dubious scientific value.
Because of the wide age range of subjects and the variety of different areas of development that must be studied to give a composite picture, assorted methods have had to be used. Some have been borrowed from medicine, from the physical sciences and from related social sciences, especially anthropology and sociology. Some have made use of laboratory settings and others of the naturalistic settings of the home, school, community, or work environment. Some are regarded as reliable, while others, especially the retrospective and introspective techniques, are of questionable value.
Regardless of the method used, most of the studies have been cross-sectional comparisons of the same abilities at different stages of development. As such, they do not give evidence about developmental trends or about intraindividual variability. Nor is it possible, when using cross-sectional comparisons, to assess the relative behaviour constellations of individuals at an early age and similar behavior in adult life. One of the most serious problems connected with the cross-sectional approach is that it is almost impossible to get comparable groups of subjects for study at different age levels.
This can bias the result of studies, especially studies of old age. When mental abilities are studied using the cross-sectional approach, mental decline is reported to be far greater than when the same mental abilities are studied using the longitudinal approach. This, in turn, has given scientific backing to the popular belief that mental decline in old age is not only great but also universal.
Another serious problem associated with the cross-sectional approach is that it does not take into consideration cultural changes which always play a major role in the patterns of physical and mental development. This results in a tendency to interpret any change that may appear as an age change. Cultural changes affect values, among other things. A comparison of adolescents of today with members of the older generation showed that the latter tend to disapprove more strongly of extravagance than adolescents do.
This might be interpreted to mean that members of the older generation have become rigid with age. In reality, the difference is one of cultural values. When members of the older generation were growing up, high value was placed on prudent spending of money and on having a nest egg for the proverbial rainy day. Today, adolescents are growing up in a culture dominated by the philosophy of “earn more and spend more”. Because of the rapid change in cultural values taking place at the present time, children often consider their parents’ values old-fashioned.
Accuracy of Data Obtained:
The fourth obstacle scientists encounter in studying development during the life span is ensuring that the data obtained from the studies will be accurate. Inaccuracies may result when a biased sampling of subjects gives a false picture of the normal developmental pattern at a particular age. This can happen, for example, when institutionalized elderly people are used for the study and the subjects try to present as favorable a picture of them as they can and either consciously or unconsciously, distort their introspective or retrospective reports.
It can also occur when the only method available for studying a certain area of development is less than satisfactory. In the measurement of intelligence, it is still questionable if the results are accurate for the first two years of life. There is even controversy about the accuracy of intelligence tests for older age levels. Observational techniques for the study of behavior during the preschool years are Qed for accuracy because of the tendency of observers to draw inferences from their study of children’s behavior and speech.
Ethical Aspects of Research:
The fifth obstacle scientists encounter in studying development during the lifespan involves the ethical aspects of research. Today there is a growing trend to take this into account and it has been a stumbling block to certain kinds of studies, which, in the past, were made without consideration of their fairness to the subjects studied. With the trend nowadays toward considering the rights of subjects, emphasis in being placed on asking their consent to participate in experiments, or, for the very young, the consent of their parents or guardians.
Such consideration also applies to high school and college students; they no longer are expected to take time from their studies to participate in experiments unless they are paid to, do so. Thus there is a tendency to bias the sampling because only those who need the money or those who feel that the money is worth their while are willing to accommodate the researcher.
Question 9:
Write characteristics of the pre-natal period.
Answer:
In spite of the fact that the first developmental period in the life span is next to the shortest of all-the shortest is the period of the newborn or infancy- it is in many respects one of the most, if not the most, important periods of all. This period, which begins at conception and ends at birth, is approximately 270 to 280 days in length, or nine calendar months.
Although it is relatively short, the prenatal period has six important characteristics, each of which has a lasting effect on development during the life span. They are as follows:
The hereditary endowment, which serves as the foundation for later development, is fixed, once and for all, at this time. While favorable or unfavorable conditions, both before and after birth may and probably will affect too. some extent the physical and psychological traits that make up this hereditary endowment, the changes will be quantitative, not qualitative.
Favorable conditions in the mother’s body can foster the development of hereditary potentials while unfavorable conditions can stunt their development, even to the point of distorting the pattern of future development. At few, if any other times in the life span are hereditary potentials so influenced by environmental conditions as they are during the prenatal period.
The sex of the newly created individual is fixed at the time of conception and conditions within the mother’s body will not affect it, as is true of the hereditary endowment. Except when surgery is used in sex transformation operations, the sex of the individual, determined at the time of conception, will not change. Such operations are rare and only partially successful.
Proportionally greater growth and development take place during the prenatal period than at any other time throughout the individual’s entire life. During the nine months before birth, the individual grows from a microscopically small cell to an infant who measures approximately twenty inches in length and weighs, on average, 7 pounds. It has been estimated that weight during this time increases eleven million times. Development is likewise phenomenally rapid. From a cell that is round in shape, all the bodily features, both external and internal, of the human being develop at this time. At birth, the newly born infant can be recognized as human even though many of the external features are proportionally different from those of an older child, an adolescent, or an adult.
The prenatal period is a time of many hazards, both physical and psychological. While it cannot be claimed that it is the most hazardous period in the entire life span-many believe that infancy’s more hazardous-it certainly is a time when environmental or psychological hazards can have a marked effect on the pattern of later development or may even bring development to an end.
The prenatal period is the time when significant people form attitudes toward newly created individuals. These attitudes will have a marked influence on the way these individuals are treated, especially during their early, formative years. If the attitudes are heavily emotionally weighted, they can and often do play havoc with the mother’s homeostasis and, by so doing, upset the conditions in the mother’s body that are essential to the normal development of the newly created individual.
Question 10:
What is the importance of conception?
Answer:
At the time of conception, four important conditions are determined that influence the individual’s later development. What role each of these conditions plays in the individual’s development will explain why the time of conception is probably the most important period in the life span.
Hereditary Endowment:
The first important happening at the time of conception is the determination of the newly created individual’s hereditary endowment. The contributions to this endowment from both parents and from both maternal and “paternal ancestors. Because the hereditary endowment is determined once and for all at the time of conception, its importance is far greater than it Would be if it were subject to later change.
The determination of hereditary endowment affects later development in two ways. First, heredity places limits beyond which individuals cannot go. If prenatal and postnatal conditions are favorable and if people are strongly motivated, they can develop their inherited physical and mental traits to their maximum potential, but they can go no further. Montagu has stressed, “Where we control the environment, we to some extent control heredity. Heredity, it has been said, determines what we can do and environment what we do do”.
The second important thing about the hereditary endowment is that it is entirely a matter of chance: there is no known way to control the number of chromosomes from the maternal or paternal side that will be passed on to the child. Scheinfeld has pointed out that the birth of a given individual depends on the union of a particular ovum with a particular sperm.
Sex:
Determination of the individual’s sex happens during conception. It is known that the sperm cell-that is, the father-determines the sex of a child. At conception, the zygote receives 23 chromosomes from the sperm and 23 from the ovum. (Figure 1 and 2)They align themselves in pairs: 22 pairs are autosomes, or nonsex chromosomes; the twenty-third pair is sex chromosomes, which determine if the new human being will be male or female. In females, this pair is called XX; in males, it is called XY.
The X is a relatively long chromosome, whereas the Y is short and carries little genetic material. When gametes are formed in males, the X and Y chromosomes separate into different sperm cells. In females, all gametes carry an X chromosome. Therefore, the sex of the new organism is determined by whether an X-bearing or a Y-bearing sperm fertilizes the ovum.
Sex depends on the kind of spermatozoon that unites with the ovum. Once the male and female cells have united, nothing can be done to change the sex of the newly formed individual. Whether this individual is male or female will have a lifelong effect on the individual’s patterns of behavior and personality.
There are three reasons why the sex of an individual is important to lifelong development.
First, each year children come under increasing cultural pressures from parents, teachers, their peer group and society at large to develop attitudes and behavior patterns that are considered appropriate for members of their sex. Children who learn to behave in ways that are considered appropriate for their sex are assured of social acceptance. By contrast, children who fail to conform are subjected to criticism and social ostracism.
Second, learning experiences are determined by the individual’s sex. In the home, at school and in playgroups, children learn what is considered appropriate for members of their sex. A boy who learns to play girls’ games is labeled a “sissy” and girls who prefer boys games are known as “tomboys.”Third and perhaps most important of all, is the attitude of parents and other significant family members toward individuals because of their sex.
Studies of sex preferences for offspring have revealed that the traditional preference for a boy, especially for the firstborn, still persists. Strong preferences for a child of a given sex have marked influences on parents’ attitudes, which in turn affect their behavior toward the child and their relationships with the child. Number of Offspring:
The third important happening at the time of conception or shortly thereafter is the determination of the number of offspring there will be. While most humans are singletons, multiple births also occur. Meredith has reported that out of 80 births is twins, 1 out of every 9,000 is triplets and 1 out of every 570,000 is quadruplets. There are more frequent multiple births among blacks and fewer among Chinese, Japanese and other Mongoloid- race groups than there are among whites.
When a ripe ovum is fertilized by one spermatozoon, the result will be a singleton, unless the fertilized ovum (zygote) splits into two or more distinct parts during the early stages of cell cleavage. When this happens, the result will be identical (uniovular) twins, triplets, or other multiple births. If two or more ova are released simultaneously and are fertilized by different spermatozoa, the result will be nonidentical {also called biovular or fraternal) twins, triplets, or other multiple births.
Approximately one-third of all twins are identical. Because the chromosomes and genes of the two or more zygotes from which individuals of nonidentical multiple births develop are not the same, their mental and physical make-ups are different. By contrast, those of identical multiple births come from the same zygote and consequently, they have the same assortment of chromosomes and genes. Children of identical multiple births are always of the same sex, while those of nonidentical multiple births may be of the same or opposite sex. Effects on Development:
Most studies of the effects of multiple births on development have been limited to twins for the reason that triplets, quadruplets and other multiple births occur very infrequently and the mortality rates among them are much higher than among twins, thus making studios of them difficult if not impossible.
However, there is reason to assume that the effects of multiple birth on triplets, quadruplets, and other multiples is much the same as on twins though the former feel these effects to a greater extent. The reason that multiple births affect the pattern of development is not only that there are differences in heredity but that both the prenatal environment and the postnatal environment of singletons are different from those of children of multiple births. This contributes to different patterns of development, different patterns of behavior and differences in personality.
Question 11:
Write Some Common Developmental Characteristics of Twins.
Answer:
Developmental lag: In physical, mental, motor, and speech development, twins tend to lag behind singletons of the same age. Log in motor and speech development may be due to brain damage or to prematurity but it is more likely to be due to parental over-protectiveness.
Physical Development:
Twins tend to be smaller, age for age, than singletons. This is generally due to the fact that they are premature. They also suffer from brain damage and other physical defects more often than singletons.
Mental Development:
Mental similarities between identical twins are much greater than between nonidentical twins and this persists into old age. Identical twins also show strong similarities in terms of special abilities, such as musical and artistic aptitudes.
Social Development:
Twins tend to compete for adult attention, to imitate each other’s speech and behaviour and to depend on each other for companionship during the preschool years. As they grow older, sibling rivalry and competition develop. One twin usually takes on the role of leader, forcing the other into the role of follower. This affects their relationships with other family members and with outsiders.
Personality Development:
Many twins have difficulty in developing a sense of personal identity. This is especially true of identical twins and of nonidentical twins of the same sex. Others enjoy the close relationship of twinship and the attention they receive as a result of their similarity in appearance. This leads to self-satisfaction and self-confidence.
Behavior Problems:
Behavior problems have been reported to be more common among twins than among singletons of the same age. It is thought that this is a result of the way twins are treated, both at home and outside the home. Behavior problems have also been reported to be more common among nonidentical than among identical twins. It has been suggested that this is because rivalry is stronger between nonidentical than identical twins. Long-Term Effects of Twinship Those that have been made rarely go beyond the tenth year of the twins’ lives have indicated the following long-term effects. There is a tendency for the developmental lag in physical development to end before children reach puberty and often much earlier.
Generally, the firstborn twin continues to be larger, brighter, and better adjusted socially throughout the childhood years. The smaller the twins at birth, the longer the developmental lag tends to persist. The mutual dependency or “twinning relationship” so common among young twins and the one-sided dependency of the smaller on the larger twin generally give way to social relationships similar to those of singletons before the twins enter school. Those who attend daycare centers or preschools tend to abandon these patterns of dependency earlier than twins whose environment is limited to the home. F rate mal twins are more vulnerable to external pressures and to have less support from the twinship relationship than do identical twins not only when they are young but also as they grow older.
Question 12:
What are the hazards during the prenatal period?
Answer:
At no other time during the life span are there more serious hazards to the development-or hazards” of a more serious nature than during the relatively short period before birth. These may be physical or psychological. Physical hazards have received more scientific attention because they are more easily recognized.
However, psychological hazards are sometimes as serious as physical hazards since they affect the attitudes of significant people toward the developing child. Furthermore, they often intensify physical hazards.
Physical Hazards :
Each of the three major subdivisions of the prenatal period involves particular physical hazards. While these do not affect all individuals by any means, they do occur with some. frequency and can be serious enough to affect the development of the individual throughout life. Davis and
(a) Common Physical Hazards during the Prenatal Period :
Period of the Zygote
Starvation:
The zygote will die of starvation if it has too little yolk to keep it alive until it can lodge itself in the uterine wall or if it remains too long in the tube.
Lack of Uterine Preparation:
Implantation can not occur if, as a result of glandular imbalance, the uterine walls are not prepared in time to receive the zygote.
Implantation in the Wrong Place:
If the zygote becomes attached to a small fibroid tissue in the uterine wall or to the wall of the Fallopian tube, it can not get nourishment and will die. Period of the Embryo:
Miscarriages:
Falls, emotional shocks, malnutrition, glandular disturbances, vitamin deficiency, and serious diseases, such as pneumonia and diabetes, can cause the embryo to become dislodged from its place in the uterine wall, resulting in a miscarriage. Miscarriages that are due to unfavorable conditions in the prenatal environment are likely to occur between the tenth and eleventh weeks after conception.
Developmental Irregularities:
Maternal malnutrition vitamin and glandular deficiencies excessive use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, and diseases, such as diabetes and German measles, interfere with normal development, especially that of the embryonic brain. Period of the Fetus:
Miscarriages:
Miscarriages are always possible up to the fifth month of pregnancy; the most vulnerable time is when the woman’s menstrual period would normally occur.
Prematurity:
Fetuses who weigh less than 2 pounds 3 ounces have less chance of surviving than heavier fetuses and a greater chance of developing malformations.
Complications of Delivery:
Maternal stress affects uterine contractions and is likely to lead to complications during birth.
Developmental Irregularities:
Any of unfavorable environmental conditions present during the period of the embryo will also affect the development of fetal features and retard the whole pattern of fetal development.
Conditions Influencing Physical Hazards:
Certain conditions have been found to increase the likelihood that physical hazards will occur or accentuate them. The first of these conditions is the timing of their appearance. It has been recognized by doctors for many years that if the mother-to-be contracts rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy the chances of developmental irregularities in her unborn child, especially in the form of an eye or a malformation of the heart, will occur. Female hormones, such as estrogen and progestin, when taken in the early stages of pregnancy may disturb the normal cardiovascular development of the fetus and cause congenital heart diseases.
It is reported that the second and third lunar months, when the heart is developing rapidly, are the most serious times. This is not true if these hormones are taken after the fourth lunar month. The second condition that increases the likelihood of physical hazards is if the condition is intense or greater than is normal. Some conditions that are known to affect the developing child during the prenatal period are described below others are suspected of affecting development. Maternal malnutrition can play havoc with normal development, especially the development of the fetal brain. Excessive smoking and drinking are detrimental to normal development, especially during the periods of the embryo and fetus. This is true also of taking drugs. Maternal age has been reported to be a condition that intensifies the possibility of physical hazards during the prenatal period.
The reason for this is that as women approach menopause, they frequently have endocrine disorders which slow down the development of the embryo and fetus, causing such developmental irregularities as cretinism, Down’s syndrome, heart malformations and hydrocephalus all of which involve physical and mental defects. The incidence of Down’s syndrome increases as age advances in women. Older women also tend to have smaller babies and to have more complications at birth than do younger women. While paternal age may likewise cause developmental irregularities or stillbirths, this is likely to happen only when paternal age is over sixty years.
Certain kinds of work are more likely to disturb prenatal development than others. Chemicals and other hazards faced by women working in such places as hospitals, beauty parlors and factories may be responsible for the increasing number of birth defects and miscarriages during recent years. Multiple births are more hazardous than single births. Fetuses of multiple births are crowded during the prenatal period and this inhibits the normal fetal activity essential for development. Prematurity is also more likely in the case of multiple births, as is the possibility of developmental irregularities. Because multiple births are more common among blacks than among whites, this may account in part for the higher infant mortality rate and the greater incidence of developmental irregularities among blacks than among whites.