P3: Explain the influences of two predictable and unpredictable major life events on the development of an individual.

Differences in effect of predictable and unpredictable events
There are certain life events that can change the way an individual’s personal development. Some crucial events in a person’s life can be predicted and sometimes even chosen, while there are other events that are unpredicted. Predictable life events such as ageing, starting to school or going through puberty, retiring from work, leaving home etc. often marks a transition from one life stage to another and considered as a milestone in the individual’s personal development. There are life events that are unpredictable such as sudden illness, birth of a sibling, death of friend or family member redundancy, which normally has negative effects on the emotional development of an individual but could also lead to something positive.
Predictable events:
A major event in Serena’s life would be starting school would be a predictable event in her life because it would help to influence her physical development, through promoting healthy eating in the school’s dining hall and participating in P.E lessons or doing activities that are sports and fitness related so that she can maintain her healthy body stature. In addition to the school meals if she came from a low income family the school would help to provide healthy meals so that she can get the nutrition she needs. Starting school would also develop her intellectual development as it would allow her to be aware of the world around her and outside her home. This would also develop her intellectually because of the fact that she will gaining new information and learning different skills as well as academic skills such as social skills. Starting school would help her to meet other individuals and adjust to other groups of people. The emotional aspect that she would experience from starting school would be happiness from being around her friends and loneliness if she was to have a disagreement with her.
Leaving home would be another predictable event in Serena’s life that would influence her because it will show that she is capable of looking after herself based on the experiences that she has had. If she learnt how to cook while growing up she would understand the importance of having a nutritious meal and her diet being a balanced as well as healthy, but if she didn’t learn how to cook or the importance of a healthy meal she would likely turn to microwave meals that contain nothing but fats and sugars leading her to be obese. Secondly if she was to turn to alcohol and drugs it could ruin her physical appearance as she would lose weight and become thinner. Her intellectual development would be that she would be learning how the world’s economy, how to set up her home from setting up gas and water to paying bills and learning about her mortgages, as well as these things that have been listed are of intellectual benefit to her, emotionally it could cause her stress because of all the independence and she may feel as though she is on her own going through life. Serena’s social development would be that she would go out to meet new people but if Serena was to be an introvert she may not go out to socialise with other people.

Unpredictable Events:
If Serena was still a child and her parents had another a child, the positive effects it would have on her is that she would learn how to create an emotional bond with another person not to mention that it would help her improve her tolerance towards people younger than her. Also if she was to be an only child she would have someone else to socialise, which would improve her social skills. The negative effects that gaining a new sibling would cause her would be that she may feel jealousy towards the child as she may feel that she is not holding the attention of her parents anymore, this could affect Serena emotionally causing her to feel sad and unloved often due to the lack of attention. It could also affect her social development because she will not want to talk to her family members, also socially it could cause her to have a rivalry again her sibling.
Bereavement of someone close to her, such as the death of her half-sister Yetunde Price could’ve affected her in both a positive but mostly negative way, for instance the positive effects that it would have on Serena is that she would learn to cope with her loss and adjust to a new life without her sister by taking up a hobby that would distract her. The negative effects that it could have on her, firstly starting with the physical could be that she would become out of shape or suffer from severe weight loss, as she not be eating the right type of foods or not eating and as a tennis player that could affect her when she’s training as she would feel physically weak and unable. Emotionally it would affect her deeply because it is the loss of a sibling she could fall into depression and she may not want to talk to her close friends and family causing her to socially disengage.