DEVELOPMENT

Development in Middle Childhood and Adolescence: Family Dynamics, Peer Relationships and Moral Values

Development in Middle Childhood and Adolescence: Family Dynamics, Peer Relationships and Moral Values

Introduction

It can be said that the period of middle childhood and adolescence are the most essential for the development of any human being. Family and peers play a vital role in the development of a person during this period. In this development, there are functional and dysfunctional family dynamics that come into play. The age from middle childhood till adolescence is one of immense importance as the child is gaining traits, learning values and developing beliefs that will last him or her for life. The development in adolescence is rather more difficult than that in middle childhood.

Discussion

The dynamics of family, both functional and dysfunctional, are the main contributors to the development of a child. These dynamics affect the way a child thinks, generates opinions, and perceives the world and so on. The structure of the family has a great influence on the upbringing and development of a child. A child coming from a broken family is likely to have a negative impact on his or her development. The child may perceive the institution of marriage as a terrible thing or may develop hatred toward men or women. This hatred depends on the parental figure that has caused disturbance in the family. A family that is inflicted with domestic violence will negatively affect the development of the child (Bartle and Sabatelli, 1989).

Peers can impact the thoughts, ideas, actions and feelings of all individuals. This impact is what affects the development of the child into his or her adolescence. The impact can be positive or negative. It is necessary that the impact be positive, because it will affect the development of the child (Berndt and Ladd, 1989).

The period of ...