Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

5.1: Introduction to Early Childhood

  • Page ID
    3017
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    Skills to Develop

    • Summarize overall physical growth during early childhood.
    • Describe growth of structures in the brain during early childhood.
    • Identify examples of gross and fine motor skill development in early childhood.
    • Identify nutritional concerns for children in early childhood.
    • Examine nutritional content in popular foods consumed by children in early childhood.
    • Describe sexual development in early childhood.
    • Define preoperational intelligence.
    • Illustrate animism, egocentrism, and centration using children’s games or media.
    • Describe language development in early childhood.
    • Illustrate scaffolding.
    • Explain private speech.
    • Explain theory of mind.
    • Explain Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development for toddlers and children in early childhood.
    • Contrast models of parenting styles.
    • Examine concerns about child care.
    • Explain theories of self from Cooley and Mead.
    • Summarize theories of gender role development.
    • Examine concerns about childhood stress and development.

    REFERENCES

    Ariès, P. (1962). Centuries of childhood; a social history of family life. New York: Knopf.

    Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology Monograph, 4(1), part 2.

    Berk, L. E. (2007). Development through the life span (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

    Carroll, J. L. (2007). Sexuality now: Embracing diversity (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.

    Cohen, P. N., & Bianchi, S. M. (1999). Marriage, children, and women’s employment: What do we know? Monthly Labor Review, 22-31.

    Cooley, C. H. (1964). Human nature and the social order. New York: Schocken Books.

    Employment Characteristics of Families Summary. (2010). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved May 05, 2011, from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.nr0.htm

    Gecas, V., & Self, M. (1991). Families and adolescents. In A. Booth (Ed.), Contemporary families: Looking forward, looking back (National Council on Family Relations). Minneapolis.

    Imai, M., Li, L., Haryu, E., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Shigematsu, J. (2008). Novel noun and verb learning in Chinese, English, and Japanese children: Universality and language-specificity in novel noun and verb learning. Child Development, 79, 979-1000.

    Kimmel, M. S. (2008). The gendered society (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Kohn, M. L. (1977). Class and conformity. (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    LeMasters, E. E., & DeFrain, J. D. (1989). Parents in contemporary America: a sympathetic view. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

    Maccoby, E., & Jacklin, C. (1987). Gender segregation in childhood. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 20, 239-287.

    Martinson, F. M. (1981). Eroticism in infancy and childhood. In L. L. Constantine & F. M. Martinson (Eds.), Children and sex: New findings, new perspectives. (pp. 23-35). Boston: Little, Brown.

    Mead, G. H., & Morris, C. W. (1967). Mind, self, and society; from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Middlebrooks, J. S., & Audage, N. C. (2008). The effects of childhood stress on health across the lifespan. (United States, Center for Disease Control, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control). Atlanta, GA.

    Nance-Nash, S. (2009, March 5). President’s Fund Repays Liberia’s Market Women | Womens eNews. Women’s ENews. Retrieved May 05, 2011, from http://womensenews.org/story/busines...s-market-women

    Okami, P., Olmstead, R., & Abramson, P. R. (1997). Sexual experiences in early childhood: 18-year longitudinal data from UCLA Family Lifestyles Project. Journal of Sex Research, 34(4), 339-347.

    Rice, F. P. (1997). Human development: A life-span approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Sadker, M., & Sadker, D. M. (1994). Failing at fairness: How America’s schools cheat girls. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons.

    Sandberg, J. F., & Hofferth, S. L. (2001). Changes in children’s time with parents: United States, 1981-1997. Demography, 38, 423-436.

    Schwartz, I. M. (1999). Sexual activity prior to coitus initiation: A comparison between males and females. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 28(1), 63-69.

    Vygotskiĭ, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    WHO | Gender and genetics: Sex selection and the law. (2010). Retrieved May 05, 2011, from http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index4.html


    This page titled 5.1: Introduction to Early Childhood is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Laura Overstreet via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

    • Was this article helpful?