Physical Development In Childhood: A Case Study

Physical Development
I want to discuss the topic of physical development during middle adulthood. Physical development is the time when people become increasingly aware of the gradual changes in their bodies this marks the aging process. (Feldman, 2014) Life style choices such as smoking, diet, alcohol and exercise can have an effect on an individual’s physical development according to the text. There is also a height, weight, and strength changes. The changes are happening in a declining rate stated in the text. The senses also decline at this stage in life. As a people age, so does their bodies they go through biological changes. Women go through climacteric and menopause. Climacteric is the transaction from being able to have children to not having them. (Feldman,2014) Menopause is the period when women can no longer have children. (Feldman, 2014) The individual I chose to do my observation on is my aunt she is 49 years old. She is a stroke victim. She had

multiply strokes until the most recent one she had, made her unable to use her right side. It’s been over 4 years since her last stroke, she is able to walk, but stills have trouble using her right arm and speaking clearly. She does not have a decline in height, but she does have a decline in weight due to loss of appetite and also loss in strength due to not being able to use her right arm. Her sense also declines in vision; she wears reading glasses to be able to read. I asked my aunt if she had gone through menopause, her response was no but she had got a partial hysterectomy so she is not able to have kids anymore. My aunt has diabetes and high blood pressure due to her unhealthy eating habits and genetics. I asked my aunt about her diet and the foods she often eats, she replied she eats fried chicken, pig feet, and macaroni in cheese. I asked her if she eats any greens or anything healthy she replied not often. Do to my aunt having high blood pressure, and diabetes these foods are not the best choice to eat. My aunt still continues to drink alcohol, which is a harmful behavior due to her having a stroke which she does to cope with stress as stated in the text. Her knowing that drinking and eating poorly is horrible for her health she still continues to do it this is an example of indirect health- related behaviors. (Feldman, 2014) She also delays in seeking medical advice, and medical care.

Cognitive Development
I’m going to discuss cognitive development during this stage of life.

Cognitive development includes learning, memory, problem solving and intelligence. People would lose some mental sharpness as they age. (Feldman, 2014) Intelligence is stable across the lifespan, but processing speed declines as people age. When my aunt had the stroke her memory had declined because she had to go to physical therapy to learn how to talk and walk again. With my aunt having to learn how to talk and walk again, I would think this would be an example of fluid intelligence because she had to learn and take in new information and process it (Feldman, 2014) Even though my aunt’s still has trouble pronouncing words she knows how to talk. When I went to a fast food restaurant with my aunt, she asked me to count her change because she couldn’t count her money by herself. This is due to decline in problem solving because she has trouble counting her money or figuring out how to text people or use her camera on her

cellphone.
Social/Personality Development
The last stage I will talk about is social/personality development. This stage is about relationships and personality that evolve during middle adulthood. (Feldman,2014) By age 30 personalities will stay the same unless a life event can change their behavior. Before my aunt had the stroke, she was extroversion because she love being around people she was sociable and outgoing. Now she is the total opposite, she is quieter and reserved. This is due to life events models because of the stroke being an important event of her life, it changed her personality. During this stage people will go through changes such as marriage, divorce, empty nest, and grand parenting. My aunt is married but they have been separated for quite some time now. She has two children who are now old enough to live on their own. When her youngest daughter moved out she started feeling lonely and empty. So she started hanging out with my mom every day and would spend long times at my mother’s house until she was ready to go to sleep. This is an example of empty nest syndrome because my aunt uses my mom to fill the emptiness space of her kids. (Feldman, 2014) My aunt has two grandchildren and her oldest grandchild is five years old. Her daughter got pregnant at a young age and she was unable to provide for her son. So my aunt took over in parenting him until her daughter was able to take care of him. My aunt think of the little boy as her son instead of a grandchild so she gives her opinion when it is not needed on how he is raised. This type of grand parenting is involved because she is actively involved in her grandchildren’s lives. My aunt and her daughter have a strained relationship because of her opinion on how her grandson is being raised. When I had visited my mom the past weekend we had a cookout and my aunt and her daughter came. My aunt asked her daughter if her grandson had eaten my cousin had replied no as she started to feed her youngest child. My aunt got upset and started to talk negatively and told her daughter what a bad parent she is in front of everyone. My cousin got upset and started arguing back to her mother, she then leaves. Every time there at the same place or in the same room she and her daughter would get into an argument or a fight. My aunt would most likely start the arguments and fights. Which I think is related to faulty communication because my aunt starts them due to poor timing, blaming, character attacking, violating boundaries, raising voices, emotional manipulation, and having a discussion with alcohol. (Feldman, 2014)
Conclusion
I learned a lot of information about middle adulthood as I observed my aunt. Learning how individual’s development at this age and stage of their lives. Focusing on my aunt physical, cognitive, and social/ development helped me understand how they develop. I realized that at this age a lot is happing such as gradual changes and their processing speed declines. I learned that life events can change your personality too. I also learned about relationships with others, such as marriages, children and grandchildren. There all an important part of this stage of life. I enjoyed observing my aunt and I felt like it was a great experience to be able to learn all this information before I get to my middle adulthood stage in life.