Publisher's Synopsis
The Human Growth and Development examination (Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood and Aging) covers material on developmental psychology or human development. Human development is all about human freedoms: freedom to realize the full potential of every human life, not just of a few, nor of most, but of all lives in every corner of the world-now and in the future. Such universalism gives the human development approach its uniqueness. However, the principle of universalism is one thing; translating it into practice is another. Over the past quarter-century there has been impressive progress on many fronts in human development, with people living longer, more people rising out of extreme poverty and fewer people being malnourished. Human development has enriched human lives-but unfortunately not all to the same extent, and even worse, not every life. An understanding of the major theories and research related to the broad categories of physical development, cognitive development and social development is required, as is the ability to apply this knowledge. The field of psychology has vast areas of interest, and Human growth and development is one of the most popular topics being studied by social workers today. The purpose of this volume is to show how essential it is for a trainee social worker or researchers to attain a firm understanding of human growth and development, and to ultimately achieve a foundation of knowledge in this area. Early childhood development (ECD) programs have demonstrated drastic improvements in survival, growth, health, and social productivity. Identity development is a life-long process that is particularly salient during late adolescence and emerging adulthood, when individuals have to make important life decisions. Although this process has been studied from different theoretical perspectives, third chapter is intended to recognize its complexity in terms of the interaction between person and context. In next chapter, a study explored the perspectives of child care providers on how recent policy changes affect their perceived ability to provide services. Mental health has long been defined as the absence of psychopathologies, such as depression and anxiety. The absence of mental illness, however, is a minimal outcome from a psychological perspective on lifespan development. Hence, fifth chapter focuses on mental illness as well as on three core components of positive mental health: feelings of happiness and satisfaction with life (emotional well-being), positive individual functioning in terms of self-realization (psychological well-being), and positive societal functioning in terms of being of social value (social well-being). Social workers need to develop an understanding of theories from a range of disciplines in order to take a holistic approach to their practice.
