Life Stages

Emma Kammann and Eva

Karnowski

Infancy - Birth - 1 year

Physical:
Eyes changing color
Teeth breaking through gums
Causes a lot of crying and chewing on various objects
Triple in weight with first year of their life

Emotional:
Separation anxiety may begin
Coos for pleasure and cries with displeasure

Infancy - Birth - 1 year

Mental:
Starts to understand the meaning of no
Can differentiate between family members and strangers
self -esteem begins to develop

Social:
May become shy or anxious with strangers
Tries to mimic adult sounds
May tire quickly of a toy but never of attention

Early Childhood: 1-6 years

Physical:
Begin to lose baby fat and develop muscles
Learns to walk
Continues to grow in height

Mental:
Learns to communicate
Imaginative
Can begin to read

Early Childhood: 1-6 years

Emotional:
Learn to adjust to new situations
Impatient and frustrated around 2, but begin to take control of emotions by 4
Develop self-awareness (effect on others)

Social:
Learn to become agreeable and cooperative
No longer completely self-centered
Play with children their age

Late Childhood: 6-12 years

Physical:
Weight gain
Muscle coordination
Primary teeth grow in

Mental:
Strengthens ability to read and to write
Understand abstract concepts
Memory begins to become more complex

Late Childhood: 6-12 years

Emotional:
More independent
Fearful (starting to attend school)
Mood swings begin to develop towards 10

Social:
Parent and peer approval
Awareness of other gender
Easily make friends

Adolescent: 12-20 years

Physical:
Clumsy and uncoordinated (body is adjusting to new size)
The lungs, muscles, and bones grow larger
The brain increases in size
Mental:
What are others thinking of me?
How can my ideals be achieved?
Reasoning skills develop

Adolescent: 12-20 years

Emotional
Depression (2x as likely in girls than in boys)
Body image and self-esteem issues
Mood swings

Social
Less time with parents; more with peers
Discovering role in society/self-identify
Trying new things (good or abusive things)

Early Adult: 20-40 years

Physical:
Development is typically complete
Coordination is at its apex
Best childbearing years

Mental:
Higher level education (college)
Deciding on career path
Creating lifestyle

Early Adult: 20-40 years

Emotional:
Take responsibility for actions
Can have emotional stresses (job, dating/marriage, etc.)
Learn from mistakes

Social:
Straying away from peer group
Associate themselves with similar ambitions and dreams
Forms a family with their spouse

Middle Adult: 40-65 years

Physical:
Hair begins to turn gray or balds in some areas
Visual accuracy declines
Weight gain occurs

Mental:
Better at analyzing situations
Learn to cope with different types of stress
More confident in decision making

Middle Adult (40-65 years)

Emotional:
Can be a time of content and satisfaction (financial
success, job stability)
Can also be a time of emotional crisis (loss of job,
aging parents, etc.)
Emotional status varies based on the events that take
place during this time period

Social:
Family relationships decline
Work relationships replace family relationships
Relationship between husband and wife can become
stronger (however divorce rates are high)

Late Adult (65+ years)

Physical:
Skin looses elasticity
Muscles lose tone and strength
Reaction time is impaired

Mental:
Decreased intellectual functioning of the brain
The frontal lobe, which is responsible for judgement and reaction, slowly loses
neurons, impairing the brain

Late Adult (65+ years)

Emotional:
May struggle with guilt or shame
Death of spouse and financial problems
Deal with 5 stages of grief for death

Social:
Increased dependency on others
Increased loneliness as loved one pass away
Staying active and involved in social outings = have greater self-esteem