...Childhood Development and Sexual Behavior Chari Kelley PSY 265 August 16, 2012 University of Phoenix Childhood Development and Sexual Behavior It has been said that we engage in sexual behaviors as young as 0-2 years old. Fetuses can actually express sexual behaviors. During an ultrasound it has been seen by many that male fetuses can have erections. May boys are born with erections and they can also have them during their first few weeks (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). It is far more difficult to detect any sexual arousal in the female infant; however evidence of genital swelling and lubrication has been reported (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). Infants can show pelvic thrusting as soon as 8-10 months and they begin to masturbate between 6-12 months (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). Throughout the early childhood years children start to wonder about their bodies. They begin to explore one another’s bodies and play games like “doctor”. At this time they will also begin to masturbate by touching their private parts. Not knowing that they are actually masturbating but knowing that they like the feeling they receive when touching themselves. For the period of preadolescence, which ranges from ages 9-13 (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011) some sexual behaviors are sexually related rather than sexual (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). Children will typically form a bond with a “best friend”. This best friend will...
Words: 422 - Pages: 2
...Our sexual behaviors are part of our humanity. Fetuses can actually express sexual behaviors prior to birth. This is seen more often in males than females. In infancy, our sexual behaviors start to emerge. This continues on through our childhood as we develop. Baby boys can experience erections prior to birth. Baby girls can experience vaginal lubrication and swelling prior to birth. Infants start to show pelvic thrusting at 8 to 10 months and begin masturbating between 6 and 12 months (Nevid,Rathus & Fichner-Rathus, 2005).Sexual curiosity and behaviors are a normal part of early childhood development. Kissing is a game that young children play at together. They may also try same sex experimentations. Preadolescence is the stage between age 9 and 13. During this stage, masturbation emerges as a key sexual behavior. A child will continue to evidence sexual curiosity throughout preadolescence, including male-female and same sex experimentation. This experimentation may consist of mutual masturbation or genital touching (Nevid, Rathus & Fichner-Rathus, 2005).During adolescence, puberty takes place. This is the stage during which reproduction becomes biologically possible. The secondary sex characteristics start to appear. This stage ends when no further bone growth is evidenced (Nevid, Rathus &Fichner-Rathus, 2005). During adolescence, females start menstruation. Young women’s bodies produce estrogen allowing for breast growth at this stage. Young men produce higher levels of testosterone...
Words: 330 - Pages: 2
...Childhood Development and Sexual Behavior In my text I have come to realize many things about sexual behavior in children, from infancy to adolescence. Many parents like me have no clue how to handle situation with their children when it comes to sex. Sexual behavior can start as soon as the child is born. In some cases when you notice that your child smiles and giggles when you are changing their diapers, well it is because you are stimulating the babies and it is a degree of masturbation for them. Also in this stage (0-2 years old) curiosity is common and you will notice the child touching their private areas. Sexual behavior in children ages 3 to 8 years old can also be confusing for parents as well. During this stage you might notice your child touching themselves and how curious they will become about the opposite sex. Masturbation will start to take place and it is perfectly normal and should not be handled as they are doing something wrong. At the ages of 9 to 13, this is the best time to talk to your children about sex and their bodies. They are going to learn from other children and I feel that it is best to tell them than let their friends tell them. At this age the child will masturbate in order to reach orgasm. When the child reaches adolescence the parent will know that the child shows a lot of attention to the opposite sex and that the teenager has begun puberty. Boys and girls handle puberty different and so does their bodies, so the parents need...
Words: 314 - Pages: 2
...Childhood Development and Sexual Behavior Infancy (0-2 years old) Fetuses use sucking fingers as teachings for sucking on a bottle or nipple for nourishment. Males have erections while in the fetus stage and according to Freud it could be because of the mouths sensitivity. In the infant stage males continue to have erections and females have vaginal lubrication. Around 8 – 10 months old babies begin pelvic thrusting, though this is a sign of affection not sexual interest. By the time children are 12 months old they have started to explore their own bodies and rubbing against soft objectives to feel pleasure. Children may or may not start genital play by age two depending on what countries they live. Early Childhood (3-8 years old) During this age the child begins to explore their bodies as well as their friend’s bodies, male or female. Children between the ages of 3 and 4 show their affection by kissing. Between ages 6 and 10 children begin to play doctor with friends, males and or females playing together. Boys start the let’s see who can urinate the highest or the farthest while girls learn about menstruation and act out the roles of sexuality that’s age appropriate. Preadolescence (9 to 13 years old) At this stage children begin to see out long lasting same sex friendships, finding the best friend and telling secrets to them. Peer pressure starts to rear its head in this age group. As with masturbation around 15% of females and 45% of males will continue...
Words: 475 - Pages: 2
...Childhood Development and Sexual Behavior To parents of infants and toddlers, their children's sexual development may seem a long way off. But actually, sexual development begins in a child's very first years. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and young school-aged kids develop an emotional and physical foundation for sexuality in many subtle ways as they grow. Just as they reach important physical and emotional milestones, like learning to walk or recognize mom and dad, young kids hit important milestones in how they recognize, experience, and feel about their bodies, and how they form attachments to others. The attachments established in these early years help set the stage for bonding and intimacy down the line. Babies' earliest emotional attachments are formed with their parents through physical contact that expresses their love. Being held and touched, kissed and hugged, snuggled and tickled allows babies to experience comforting, positive physical sensations associated with being loved. The unique type of physical intimacy and emotional attachment between parent and infant can be the early foundation of more mature forms of physical intimacy and love that develop later as part of mature sexuality. As kids continue to understand and experience their bodies, and the physical changes of puberty emerge, your attitude and acceptance will continue to play an important role in their healthy development. As kids mature sexually, they're often both excited and scared about...
Words: 401 - Pages: 2
...Eating Disorder, Substance Abuse, Sex/Gender/Sexual, Impulse-Control, and Personality Disorders PSY/410 Eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual, gender identity, and personality disorders reduce the capacity for normal human behavior functioning. Even though their components vary extensively, understanding each decreases the stigmatized perception of these disorders and promoting the realistic application of interventions and preventions to support and resume normalcy with individuals and the human behavior. Eating Disorder In Eating disorders the biological emphasis on the hereditary factors, hormonal, neurotransmitter abnormalities, and the structure of the brains irregularities. Individuals with anorexia and bulimia have shown signs of low serotonin levels with brain abnormalities In the Psychodynamic the complex is powered by Bruch’s assessment and interpretation with the individual’s comatose feelings. Other psychodynamic theorists believe some individuals agonize with wanting there body to resemble as when they were children. The Cognitive-Behavioral Components viewpoints with eating disorders are a blend of dysfunctional thoughts and recurrent occurrences that have reinforced the behaviors of the eating disorders. Substance Abuse The Biological Components and the commodities of the symptoms of drug addiction is the drug tolerance and withdrawal is the most influential biological features with substance abuse. Approximately 50 percent of substance use disorders...
Words: 697 - Pages: 3
...psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory, that human beings, from birth, possess an instinctual libido (sexual energy) that develops in five stages. Each stage – the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital – is characterized by the erogenous zone that is the source of the libidinal drive. Sigmund Freud proposed that if the child experienced sexual frustration in relation to any psychosexual developmental stage, he or she would experience anxiety that would persist into adulthood as a neurosis, a functional mental disorder.[1][2] Contents [hide] 1 Background 2 Freudian psychosexual development 2.1 Oral stage 2.2 Anal stage 2.3 Phallic stage 2.4 Latency stage 2.5 Genital stage 3 Criticisms 3.1 Scientific 3.2 Feminist 3.3 Anthropologic 4 Medical sexological model 5 See also 6 References Background[edit] The neurologist Sigmund Freud, c. 1921. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) observed that during the predictable stages of early childhood development, the child's behavior is oriented towards certain parts of his or her body, e.g. the mouth during breast-feeding, the anus during toilet-training. He argued that adult neurosis (functional mental disorder) often is rooted in childhood sexuality, and consequently suggested that neurotic adult behaviors are manifestations of childhood sexual fantasy and desire. That is because human beings are born "polymorphous perverse", infants can derive sexual pleasure...
Words: 2881 - Pages: 12
...important part in shaping the future character of mate choice needs a scientific reconsideration that, in turn, requires setting an empirically testable explanation. The authors hypothesize that the close physical and emotional attachment between the mother and her son includes a sexual imprinting-like mechanism that influences the processing of childhood experiences. Here they present a set of experiments showing that adults prefer long-term partners who resemble the mental representation of their parent of the opposite sex. Furthermore, mating preferences were found to be shaped in the process of attachment; those mothers were most frequently used as mental models for their sons’ mate choice who provided more emotional warmth and less avoidance to their sons during childhood. The implications of the study’s results for the contemporary interpretation of Freudian theory are discussed. Key Words: Oedipal relationship; Mate preferences; Evolutionary psychology. Freud’s theory It is well known that the Oedipus complex plays a pivotal role in Sigmund Freud’s theory. This complex characterizes the early stage (between 3-5 years) of boys’ sexual objectchoice (Freud, 1905, 1938). During this period, boys have sexual feelings towards their mother, while they are jealous of their father and consider him a rival party. In Freudian theory, boys at this age have a primary incestuous urge towards their mother while they feel fear and anxiety toward the father because they suppose that the father...
Words: 7556 - Pages: 31
...Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse Shobila Kaligounder Marymount University Introduction As per UNICEF’s (2014) definition, sexual violence against children comprises any sexual activities imposed by an adult on a child against which the child is entitled to protection by criminal law. This includes: (a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful or psychologically harmful sexual activity; (b) The use of children in commercial sexual exploitation; (c) The use of children in audio or visual images of child sexual abuse; and (d) Child prostitution, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation in travel and tourism, trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation (within and between countries), sale of children for sexual purposes and forced marriage. Sexual activities are also considered as abuse when committed against a child by another child if the offender is significantly older than the victim or uses power, threat or other means of pressure. Consensual sexual activities between children are not considered as sexual abuse if the children are older than the age limit defined by the State Party. In spite of a clear definition for child sexual abuse violence in the lives of children is so real and as an international community we do very little to protect them. There is also a dearth of data to prove the prevalence of violence due to the hidden nature of the abuse and gives a false notion that it is a rare occurrence. Children are vulnerable to sexual victimization...
Words: 3402 - Pages: 14
...Eating, Substance Abuse, Sex/Gender/Sexual, Impulse-Control, and Personality Disorders The capacity for normal human functioning is reduced when an individual suffers from eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual, gender identity and/or personality disorders. When an individual suffers from an eating disorder their perception of the self is blurred with a constant need to be “skinner”. Society plays a major role in self-perception. Society portrays beauty as women and men who weigh ninety-five pounds. Due to this current obsession to be skinny in today’s society, many young girls and boys will develop an eating disorder, or turn to drugs and alcohol as a way to escape from the daily pressures to be beautiful in today’s society. This paper will analyze the biological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components of eating, substance abuse, sex/gender/sexual, and personality disorders. The DSM-IV-TR includes two axis I categories of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa—restricting and binge-eating/purging types—and bulimia nervosa—purging and non-purging types. Biological factors involved with eating disorders include genetic basis, hormonal excesses and deficiencies and abnormal neural activity. People who suffer from anorexia and bulimia usually have low serotonin levels as well as structural brain abnormalities. High expectations set by parents is a key factor in the emotional aspect of this disorder. Many strive toward high expectations and suffer the effects of...
Words: 1149 - Pages: 5
...about an individual’s response to sexual trauma. The victim of that trauma has a high likelihood of creating an offence of their own, possibly using substance as a way to cope, or make any number of poor choices as a means of dealing with the abuse. What the sad thing is about it all is that many of the offenders begin as children who are powerless to defend themselves to someone who is usually in their Family. It is only through later acknowledging the trauma that someone can begin to understand the outcome of what happened to them from that incident. There are a number of outcomes that will be dicussed as well as the addiction itself and the healing process in this paper. The focus throughout being what the responses are to sexual trauma. What is Sexual Abuse? Sexual abuse is not the only abuse that can occur in a home that can have lifelong affects on a child. There are many abuses at which many different homes are guilty of. For most homes there is much dysfunction and this dysfunction can lead to or open a door for abuse. Because of the home being the primary place for sexual abuse and other abuses it is important to see what types of abuse can come from the home. According to Laaser; there are four types of abuses specific to the home and they are physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual (2004). All of these are serious and can lead to problems for a child later in life what is interesting is that sexual abuse leads to shame and the human...
Words: 2657 - Pages: 11
...experience neurological, hormonal, and physical changes. It is also important to consider the psychosocial development of adolescents and how it can be influenced by these biological changes as well as the environment that the adolescent is experiencing. Many of the changes that adolescents experience are the result of a combination of factors and the interaction of biology and the environment. Neurological Changes Many times the focus on neurological development is during the early childhood years of development. Such rapid changes take place during early childhood, it is many times the focus of clinicians and academics, but very significant changes also take place during adolescence as well (Rutter, 2007). One of the most interesting neurological changes that are observed in adolescents is that the connections between neurons continue to be refined through pruning (Rutter, 2007). The amount of brain matter tends to increase throughout childhood, but a decline in grey matter is found in adolescence due to pruning of the synaptic connections (Rutter, 2007). Pruning is typically discussed as a major event that occurs in early childhood after the proliferation of connections made during infancy (Santrock, 2011). Research indicates that significant pruning and refinement of synaptic connections also occurs during adolescence (Rutter, 2007). As with the pruning that occurs in childhood, the connections that are not...
Words: 1806 - Pages: 8
...Sexual development and behavior in children Name University Course Tutor Date Sexual development and behavior in children Introduction Childhood is a special time in human life. It is a period of learning and exploration. Children would want to learn, discover and explore things about themselves and other people as they grow up. Like other body parts, children’s sexual parts develop over time as they grow. There is a normal way by which this sexual development happens. The normal development is generally natural in nature. This development is usually associated with certain behaviors that also change as the child grows. The normal sexual development and behavior is a healthy process in a child’s life and is principally driven by the child’s curiosity. However, some behaviors can appear to dominate a child’s life and may become worrisome to the parents. It is therefore important for parents, teachers, guardians and even the whole society to be able to demarcate what can be considered a normal sexual behavior and behaviors that can put a child’s life at risk. According to Rich, normal sexual behavior is usually more exploratory and playful in nature, non hostile, and shows no preoccupation with sexual interaction (Rich, n.d). It is somehow natural. The behavior is experienced within the same age groups, children of same size, and in most cases the children will be friends. On the other hand, inappropriate sexual behaviors in children are characterized by...
Words: 3458 - Pages: 14
...Childhood Sexual Behaviors Sexual development starts in the womb where it has been found that baby boys can have an erection. Although there is no evidence that babies are actually aware that they are sexual aroused it does show that in both girl and boy babies that they do have some excitement at times when their genital area is stimulated while having a diaper changed. In some cases babies may learn to self stimulate although it is not clear if they understand the concept of what they are doing except that it feels good. Early Childhood sexual development at the ages 3 to 8 the kids this age tend be interested in anatomy and behavior. Children, this age may play with other kids both same sex and opposite and my explore each others anatomy purely out of curiosity and in and incent way. Preadolescence ages 9 to 13 have sexual related activity but not always sexual is the terms of sex. At the age boys and girls will have close friends normally of the same sex and although may hang in groups with the opposite sex they are still at the age at least in earlier years of still not being very interested in the other. As they get older but still in preadolescences the opposite sex maybe become more interesting and peer pressures will also set in. When an adolescent goes through their sexual development, this when things really start to change for a teen such as body changes and development with sexual desire. Masturbation is at heightened state at this...
Words: 330 - Pages: 2
...my uncle. I watched from my room as my parents drove away and the fear began. I entered the room to watch TV with my uncle. He put in a video of a sexual nature, as I get up to leave the room, he makes me stay. He touches me; I tried to get away but was over powered. Then it happens again, the sexual abuse and I was afraid to tell and face the consequences if I did. Child sexual abuse, is one of the most traumatic and devastating crimes with far reaching and sometimes, lifelong and lasting negative effects. It encompasses a wide spectrum of conditions and situations that at times may be difficult to delineate clearly and separately. Child sexual abuse is usually found in combinations rather than alone. Child sexual abuse is a problem of epidemic proportion in the United States as well as worldwide with many cases going unreported. Every day more than four children die as a result of child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is a crime that does not discriminate; it crosses all ethnic, social economic and racial lines. Key words: Effect, psychological, Self-Esteem, Child Sexual Abuse The Federal Government has established a very broad definition of child sexual abuse but has left it up to each state as to specific and detailed provisions. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment (CAPTA) amendments of 1996 defines child sexual abuse as * The employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticements, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage...
Words: 2419 - Pages: 10
