Assignment on human growth and development

Assignment on human growth and development This essay uses theoretical perspectives of social sciences relevant to human growth and development by demonstrating the socialisation process and the impact of family structures on the normal development of Gerry. It uses the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to explore the effects of poverty on Gerry’s infancy and it will use Balter, Catherin & Tamis-Lemonda to support Maslow’s philosophy needs. Furthermore it will go on to use Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis to show the effects of attachment during Gerry’s infancy. More still with the use of Erikson’s stages of identity versus role confusion to discuss Gerry’s adolescence, the theory of generativity versus stagnation to explore his adulthood developmental task of his contributing and stagnation to society and finally the psychological crisis of ego integrity verses despair to explain the effects and causes during his development in middle adulthood. However, other psychologists theories will be used to support Erikson’s theories or critic them. During his infancy, 0-2 years by Piaget (1936) (cited in Crawford and Walker 2009 p 22), Gerry and his family experienced poverty because his father had been made redundant. This means that Gerry’s family could not afford to meet his basic needs. According to Maslow’s pyramedical model (1970) ( cited Steers 1998: p21 ) lower -level needs such as food, clothing and shelter have to be fulfilled to a reasonable degree before the more advanced need levels such as self actualisation, esteem, love/ belonging ,and safety are met. It can be argued that the failure of Gerry’s family to meet his basic needs had a profound effect on his development. This argument is supported by Balter, Catherin & Tamis- Lemonda. They argue that â€Å"children growing up in poverty develop developmental delays in intellectual development. Social, emotional and behavioural problems† (Balter, Catherin & Tamis- Lemonda 2003: p.391) (cited Chafel, 1993 and Garbarino, 1993). Poverty goes hand in hand with gross inequality, unemployment and adverse consequences for poor people and society as a whole. Deprivation experienced by poor families affects their quality of life, their health and life expectancy and the education outcomes of their children. Poverty brings despair and fear† Rebach and Bruhn (2001: p. 369). This argument is supported by Spode and Saracho, (2006) (cited in Duncan and Brook-Gunn, 1997), who say that â€Å"children growing up in poverty develop more emotional and behavioural problems than children who live in above the poverty line. This is because early cognitive and behavioural outcomes show to predict later school success†. Another challenge that Gerry encountered was maternal deprivation. This occurred when his mother was in hospital during the birth of Lily and as a result, Gerry had to be looked after by his grandmother. According to Bowlby’s (19 53, 1969) (cited in Smith, Cowe and Blades 2004 p106) maternal deprivation hypothesis, â€Å"children should not be deprived of contact with the mother during a critical period when the primary attachment relationship is being formed†. He also believed that both mother and baby were predisposed biologically to stay in contact and only this relationship would allow normal development. However, critiques of Bowlby like (Oakley 1981) (cited in Holmes 1993: p. 45) argue that to generalise that any separation of mother from child in the first three years of life is likely to be damaging is unwarranted. Oakley further argued that there is no harm in entrusting the infant to the care of a responsible grandmother or baby-minder.

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Abortion - Essay Example This topic lies within the â€Å"gray areas† of human rights and impedes on religious moralities. Abortion was practiced way back in Ancient times. It was always considered as an option when the child would endanger the life of the mother. It was only in 1869 that the Catholic church considered abortion as† a sin punishable by excommunication† ( Trupin, 2009). Other than this law, abortion was not considered illegal until the 19th century, not because of its moral implications but because there were no laws that existed contradicting abortion. It was then normal for a woman to seek even medical help whenever she wanted to terminate her pregnancy. There were no abortion laws before the 19th century. In 1829, laws restricting abortions began to spread across the United States. In 1965, there were over 250 deaths caused by women who tried to abort their babies Illegally ( civilliberty,about.com) .In the United States during the 1960s and 1970s, bans on abortion were deemed as unconstitutional and were lifted. The lift on bans brought negative tension towards the government. However, things changed drastically after the 1973 US Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion. In addition to this the highly controversial case, the Supreme Court decision on Roe vs. Wade left a deep imprint in the legal history of abortion in the United States. Nevertheless, the incidence of abortion has declined as reported by the study made by Sedgh ( 2007 )which revealed that the† incidence of abortion in the United States decreased by 8% from 1996 to 2003†. Such decline can be attributed to greater access to contraceptives ( pills, condoms) and better orientation on family planning even to grade-school children. There are two types of abortion; surgical and medical. The different forms of abortion differentiate, reliant on the amount of time that has passed since

Describe how water quality is determined Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Describe how water quality is determined - Essay Example Keywords: Water quality, guidelines, standards, contamination, pollutants, permissible limits, microbiological. Water Quality Standards Water is essential to life on this planet and its quality impacts both human beings and aquatic marine life (Anon., edugreen, n.d.). Pure water, fit for human consumption and other applications, is odorless, colorless and tasteless but these qualities are lost when contamination takes place. World Health Organization (WHO) has been the nodal agency for developing water quality parameters and recommending them for adoption by the different nations with appropriate modifications, through respective national agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US. WHO guidelines are only recommendatory in nature, and factors like socio-economic conditions, traditional usage practices, need to conserve water as a resource etc. play important role in the quality standards of water in each country ((Fewtrell and Bartram, 2001). To study the quali ty and lay down relevant parameters, water is broadly divided under three different usages for developing standards for each category - drinking water, wastewater for reuse and recreational water (Fewtrell and Bartram, 2001. pp.17-20). Contamination itself is caused by chemical, physical and microbiological factors. Hence quality standards are based on the matrix of water usage and the relevant contaminants. For example, permissible contamination in agricultural or recreational use water is significantly higher/different than that for human consumption. Thus, the pollutants and permissible limits for different water usages have been developed. Chemical contaminants are very many and include chlorine (as disinfectant), pesticides/herbicides (used in agriculture), toxic organic/inorganic chemicals from industry, soaps and other cleaning agents in domestic wastewater running into sewers, canals and river streams etc. (Excel, n.d.). WHO guidelines indicate the tolerable daily intake (TD I) limits for presence of different chemicals in water, beyond which it is considered unfit for consumption. In respect of genotoxic carcinogens, TDI is nil. For other chemicals, standards of maximum permissible concentration levels are developed for each end-product. While developing the guidelines and standards, verification by relatively easy chemical analysis methods either on spot or in laboratories was kept in mind for practical reasons. Physical contamination consists of suspended particles like sand, soil, clay, decaying vegetative matter, precipitated salts etc. apart from metals, dissolved salts and minerals. These contaminants give color, taste and odor to water, impacting quality of the end-products. Dissolved salts and minerals also discolor clothes when such water is used for washing. Multilayer filtration, water softening and demineralization processes help to reduce physical contamination of water. US-EPA recommends a limit of 500mg per liter or 500ppm for total diss olved salts (TDS) (Excel, n.d.). Individual permissible limits have also been laid down by EPA for heavy metals (toxic) like arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead and silver. Microbiological contamination is the presence of pathogenic microorganisms like viruses, bacteria, protozoa and helminthes, and is usually caused by fecal matter ingress. WHO guidelines identified Escherichia coli (E.coli) for sampling and recommend a zero presence in a 100 ml sample and a presence in