chapter 4: growth and health in childhood and adolescence Flashcards
what are the two theories of how our body proportions develop? (birth to 2)
- proximodistal trend = centre of body outwards
- cephalocaudal trend = head downward
- triple in weight
- grows about 10 inch
physical growth (age 2 to puberty)
- 7-8 cm and 3-4 kgs per year (before puberty)
- 10cm or 7-8 kgs per year (puberty)
secular trends
marked changes in physical development occurring from one generation to the next
- includes height, onset of menstruation
what are the things to do in childhood for good nutrition?
- breast feeding over bottle feeding
- need macronutrients (carbs, fats and proteins)
- need micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)
- start to introduce sold foods at 6 months
neophobia
irrational fear or dislike of anything new or unfamiliar
- best to overcome by re introducing new food (make take up to 15 times)
Fisher and Birch (food access to children)
- restricting access to food focuses children’s attention to them and desire to eat them
- using treats as bribes to eat healthy foods make children eat healthy foods less
obesity and its causes
- continue to rise (approx 13% of canadian children and teens)
- causes include overconsumption of unhealthy foods, heredity, lack of activity, lack of sleep, lack of access to healthy foods
- protective factor - eating as family
what is the #1 cause of death of children over 1?
accidents
includes car, bicycle accidents, drowning, suffocating, falling etc.
- need better and proper adult supervision
THE BRAIN IN CHILDHOOD
the brain at birth…..
contains most of the neurons it will ever have
will grow 4x larger by adulthood
grows until 6 layers of the mature brain
what are the 3 factors that cause a massive brain growth and what they mean?
- neuron connections = synaptogenesis (how our brain processes info from the environment and makes neural connections)
- myelination = myelin protects the nerve axons and speeds the transmission of electrical impulses down myelin sheath
- synaptic pruning = loosing irrelevant and inactive synaptic connections
- order - sensory and motor, language and spatial and attention and planning
what is the function of the cerebral cortex?
processing centre for:
- perception of patterns, execution of complex motor sequences, planning and decision making, speech, personality etc.
what is lateralization?
either the left or right hemispheres of the brain are used more than others during tasks and daily activities
- eg. left or right handed chosen by 2
what the 2 major classes of development?
- experience expectant process = environment provides infants with necessary input to develop the neural connections to enable the baby to function
- experience dependent process = brain’s capacity to change in response to experience, repeated stimuli, environmental cues, and learning (eg. brain of an athlete)
what is plasticity?
extent to which the brains organization is flexible and affected by experience but development follows some general bio instructions
- allows for diff parts of brain to control other functions if area is damaged
- children better able to recover from brain damage than adults
- recovery better for language skills than spatial skills
historical context of adolescence
- only applied to youth at beginning of 20th century
- teenager entered vocab in 1950s
- time of transitions
what did Hall, Freud and Dr. Phil say about adolescence?
“time of storm and stress”
“to be normal during adolescence is itself abnormal”
“teenage years can be a parent’s worst nightmare”
psych issues during adolescence
- conflicts with parents
- mood instability (mood swings by extremes)
- engage in risky behaviours (physical risks)
- MINORITY 20% of teens
rate of maturation for females
early - emotional problems, low self esteem, anti social behaviours, eating disorders
late - self confident, positive body image
- deals with being sexually active, warn parental support
rate of maturation for males
early - positive self image, antisocial behaviours
late - low self esteem, feelings of inadequacy
what is the caloric intake for males and females during puberty?
girls
- 13-15 (2200 cal per day)
- 16-19 (2100 cal per day)
boys
- 13-15 (2800 cal per dat)
- 16-18 (3200 cal per day)
role of sleep in adolescence
- taking melatonin messed with sleep schedule
- sleep deprivation affects behaviour control, emotions and attention
- massive for brain maturity
role of exercise in adolescence
- physical activity enhances psychological well being and social relationships
- joining sports teams = enhances self esteem and initiative
what is depression and its symptoms?
most common psych disturbance among adolescents
- emotional - sadness, unable to experience pleasure
- cog - pessimism and hopelessness
- motivational - apathy and boredom
- physical - decrease in appetite, sleeping patterns
