Define the following terms:-
(a)Infancy (b)Childhood (c)Adolescence (d)Adulthood (e)Puberty
Answers
Answer:
Infancy is the period from birth through the completion of the 12th month of life. ... Infancy represents the most pronounced period of postnatal growth. A child doubles the birth weight by 5 months and triples it by 12 months of age. Length increases by 50% by the end of the first year of life.
a) An infant (from the Latin word infans, meaning "unable to speak" or "speechless") is the more formal or specialised synonym for "baby", the very young offspring of a human.
b) Biologically, a child (plural children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty.The legal definition of child generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority.Children generally have fewer rights and less responsibility than adults. They are classed as unable to make serious decisions, and legally must be under the care of their parents or another responsible caregiver.
c) Adolescence (from Latin adolescere 'to grow up') is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood (age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier and end later.
d) Biologically, an adult is an organism that has reached sexual maturity. In human context, the term adult has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a "minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible. The typical age of attaining legal adulthood is 18, although definition may vary by legal rights, country, and psychological development.
b) Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sex organs. Physical growth—height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when an adult body has been developed. Before puberty, the external sex organs, known as primary sexual characteristics, are sex characteristics that distinguish boys and girls. Puberty leads to sexual dimorphism through the development of the secondary sex characteristics, which further distinguish the sexes.