THE LIFESPAN AND DEVELOPMENT OF JUNE 1

Running Head: THE LIFESPAN AND DEVELOPMENT OF JUNE

Person Paper I: The Lifespan and Development of June

from Birth to Adolescence
Camille Hartle
Salt Lake Community College - Psychology 1100

Abstract

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As I was thinking about what to write for this paper, I thought a lot about my own life
and what I have experienced thus far with the way I was raised and treated by my parents, as
well as how my friends and family were raised and treated by their parents. I also thought a lot
about my experiences that Ive had during my whole lifetime that have made me into the person
I am today and the decisions I have made. Thinking about my own life also brings to the surface
of how I want to raise my future children and what I want them to experience in their lives. For
the purpose of this paper, I also added some new experiences and problems based on our
textbook to give my writing more of an interesting approach and to be able to cover all of the
stages that are mentioned in the first half of our book.
My goal for this paper is to explain each stage of life from conception through
adolescents, and explain the affects that can come from the outside environment that are
uncontrollable.
After finishing this paper, you will be able to understand each stage of life and why
children act the way they do during each stage. Readers will also have a better understanding of
why children and adolescents act and behave the way they do based on their life experiences.
Without better knowledge on the way our brain works while growing up, many parents
and teachers seem to see certain behaviors as unfit or as a way to get attention. However, we are
now able to see that most of these behaviors are an important part of our development and need
to be corrected/encouraged in order for a healthy brain and life. To better illustrate this I will be
listing details of Natalies life where you will be able to see how the smallest details can be
fundamental for ones development.
The science of Development

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To observe Junes life we need to first understand how we got to the conclusions
presented here. As Berger (2010) mentioned, to understand the reasons why different types of
people change over time and to observe how it is done, we have the science of human
development. There are five main areas that can be observed in the life span and they are:
multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary and plastic (Berger, 2010,
Ch.1, 4-7).
Genes and Parental Development
Two young adults met on a cold snowy night in December at a mutual friends Christmas
party. The whole night, they were drawn to each other with eyes that gazed deep into each
others souls. The two lovers had the greatest amount of love for each other in every aspect of
life. All of their friends and family would explain this couple as infinite lovers. They had
always promised themselves that they would raise their future family with the basis of love. Not
long after, the couple got married and had their first baby on their way. Human cells have 46
chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs, with one important exception. That exception is the
reproductive cell called a gamete. Each gamete-sperm in a man and ovum in a woman- has only
23 chromosomes, one from each of a persons 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each man or woman
can produce 223 different gametes, or more than 8 million versions of their 46 chromosomes
(Stassen Berger, 2010, p.43).
One of these intimate evenings led to the combining of these and
caused a new cell to be created called a zygote. This zygote contained
genes: the instructions which are passed down every generation. They exist
in every person and are nearly identical with some differences among each
individual (Stassen Berger, 2010, p.45). This news was soon discovered after

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some morning sickness appeared, by then the new life was past the first two
weeks and halfway through the embryonic period (hub pages. (2011).
Living in a white upper class neighborhood had never been something this couple
anticipated in either of their lives since both of them were raised in the slums of northern
Wisconsin. However, with the mans new job, they were fortunate enough to start and raise their
family in this neighborhood. He worked as a social work lawyer at the famous law firm in
eastern Colorado. The woman worked at the local hospital as a Medical Assistant, but had to
quit her job as her pregnancy went on.
After almost 37 weeks the baby signaled the release of hormones from his brain and her
labor began (Stassen Berger, 2010, p.63).
The husband had to rush her to the emergency room one evening during a romantic dinner at the
house. The couple was informed that the baby was tangled in the mothers tubes and they would
have to perform an emergency cesarian section. With the C-section, surgery and anesthesia slow
down the mothers recuperation, and this delay may impair her ability to breast-feed and care for
the baby (Berger, 2010, Ch.2, 65-66).
After minutes of surgery, a dark-haired little girl with big blue eyes was born. Baby June
was beautiful and healthy in every way possible. A couple days later, the couple was able to take
her home to a friendly neighborhood and a home filled with balloons and welcome signs from
family and friends.

The First Two Years: Body and Brain

When baby June was four days old, she got really sick with a fever of 104 degrees. Her
parents rushed her to the hospital and were told that if they had waited any longer, she may have

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not made it. Baby June was diagnosed with kidney reflux disease and would need a ureter
transplant. Since she was too small to operate on, the surgery would have to wait until she was a
couple of years old. In the meantime, baby June would have to be kept on medications to keep
her blood stream from spreading bacteria to other parts of her body.
By the time the dark haired infant with bright blue eyes was seven months old, she was
already babbling and trying to make interesting events last. (Stassen Berger, 2010, p.107) Baby
June became an active baby who loved to play and her development seemed to be progressing
rapidly. She was almost ready to take his first steps. Can you say June? Her mother would
coax him in her motherese voice, trying to teach her her name. She had mastered this and a few
other words by the time she was one year old.
Junes parents often took her on walks together and read books about princesses every
night to her. This allowed her to form a more secure attachment to her parents. A secure
attachment as defined by Stassen Berger (2010) is a relationship in which an infant obtains both
comfort and confidence from the caregiver (p.142). Some of the choices her family made really
helped her and might have prevented her from having any emotional issues during her
development. This improved her social learning environment which is often called modeling;
social learning theory is an extension of behaviorism that emphasizes the influence that other
people have over a persons behavior, even without specific reinforcement. (Stassen Berger,
2010, p.22).
Early Childhood: Body and Mind
As June approached the exciting age of four years old, it was time for her to finally get
her ureter transplant surgery. More nervous than she had ever been, Junes parents comforted her
throughout the whole trip to the hospital and prior to the surgery. After the surgery was over, the

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anesthetics were still very strong in her body. Junes family and friends came to visit her,
bringing stuffed animals, blankets, and treats. Although June was at the tender age of four years
old, she felt the love of people who truly cared for her just like her parents had always shown.
After a couple weeks of recovery, June was back at it and outside running around with
her friends. To her parents surprise, she had learned to read by the time she was five years old,
which also surprised her teachers as she approached preschool. While June was improving her
reading skills, her classmates were still learning shapes, colors,and how to write their names
(Berger, 2010, Ch. 5 185).
Early Childhood: Psychosocial Development
As we all know from our reading, there are four different types of parenting. Junes
parents showed signs of authoritative parenting by always giving explanations to their rules and
expectations for June (Berger, 2010. Ch. 6. 210-211). There rules consisted of a strict bedtime
hour along with getting chores and homework done before dinner time. June never had a
problem following these rules because her parents had set expectations early on and she knew
their would be a consequence if she were to break the rules.
Middle Childhood: Body and Mind
June was well into her grade school years and was nearing the end of her third grade year
with Mrs. Kimpel. At the end of the year parent/teacher conference, Mrs. Kimpel mentioned to
Junes parents that June sometimes had a hard time paying attention during class
and would often be found day dreaming out the window during lessons. After a doctor visit
following this meeting, June was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
(Berger, 2010, Ch. 7 263-264). After being prescribed the correct medication, June was able to
focus better in school and her grades started improving substantially.

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Middle Childhood: Psychosocial Development
By age 11, Junes best friend moved away. She had a really hard time at school for a
couple of months as the other girls in her class would not include her at recess. She felt lonely
and sad at school and started experiencing a little bit of weight gain from the stress and emotions
(Berger, 2010, Ch. 8, 289). After a long and dreadful two months, June met a new girl that
moved in to the neighborhood a couple of weeks prior and started attending the same school.
They became very close friends and June no longer felt lonely.
Adolescence: Body and Mind
At the age of twelve, June had her first menstrual period which, according to her mom ,
was perfectly normal for a girl her age. However, she was the first one in her group of friends to
start menstruating and that caused her to become depressed over the next few months as she did
not know how to share this experience with her peers (Berger, 2010, Ch. 9, 315). Although this
made June very embarrassed of playing with her friends during her menstruation weeks, she was
able to keep it to herself for a few more months until one of her other friends told her she started
and they began to bond over that.
Adolescence: Psychosocial Development
June entered into the scary years of middle school when friends and peers have a huge
impact on life. June loved her group of friends and would always sit by them at their designated
spot in the courtyard for lunch. After a couple of years, her friends began to dwindle into
different groups of people. She found that her really good friends started hanging around groups
of kids that did not do good things. This was a very hard thing for June because her friends
would try and get her to do bad things and to rebel from parents, teachers, and other adults. June

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felt a great deal of anxiety take over, but stuck strong to her belief and standards of who she was
(Berger, 2010, Ch. 9, 320).
Without better knowledge on the way our brain works while growing up, many parents
and teachers seem to see certain behaviors as unfit or as a way to get attention. However, we are
now able to see that most of these behaviors are an important part of our development and need
to be corrected/encouraged in order for a healthy brain and life.

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Person Paper Chapter II: The Lifespan and Development of June
from Adolescence to Death

Adolescence: Psychosocial Development

June had many acquaintances and was known by most in her high school but those who
she called friends could be counted in one hand. It wasnt that she had a hard time making
friends, it was just that she was so shy and felt as if she couldnt get away from her three closest
friends. June liked her three best friends very much, but found that she was not one of the same
with them. She had very different interests and goals and found it hard to hang around them
sometimes because of this difference. During this time of struggling with friendships, June also
started to notice that she had more interest in people of her own sex while all of her friends
would talk about the opposite sex. This was a very big hardship in Junes life and she felt as if
she wasnt normal. Soon, she came to the curious thought that she might be homosexual. June
went through weeks of depression knowing that her friends and family would treat her
differently if they found out. This helped explain the difficulties she had in making new friends.
For homosexual adolescents, complications slow down the formation of friendships and
romantic bonds (Berger, 2010, Ch. 10, 361).
Because of her newly discovered sexual orientation, June started getting into more
arguments than usual with her parents, specifically her mother. She felt as if her parents were
not willing to understand her and her decision of being homosexual. June started acting out
more often and it got to the point where her parents had to send her to live with her aunt Fey in
North Carolina for one year. She learned and grew a lot in that year spent away from home.

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One year later, Junes parents decided that June had matured quite a bit and it was
time for her to come back home and live with them. June resented her parents a little for sending
her away for something she didnt really have much control over, however, it seemed to have
helped their relationship a lot more.
It wasnt long after being home that June started having arguments with her parents yet
again. Due to her behavior, her family insisted in sending her to consult with a few different
psychologists. It took many weeks, but once she decided to actually take advantage of this
opportunity she was more willing to accept herself as well as learning that her experience was
somewhat normal for teenage girls to blame their mothers for their problems and bicker about
them not being able to understand them (Berger, 2010, Ch. 10, 354).

Emerging Adulthood: Body, Mind and Social World

Throughout the rest of high school June did not necessarily apply herself to her studies
which led to a difficult time when it came to choosing a college to apply to, or if she should go to
college at all. She knew that she was unable to go into an Ivy League school with some of her
friends since she did not have the grades for it, but that did not make her give up. She got
accepted into the local university that most students were drafted into. Once there, she studied as
hard as possible to be at the top of her class to prove to herself that she could do it and ensure for
a good future.
For many that seemed premature as she was still a young adult and did not have to worry
about her distant future for a while, but according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 2008,
the hope that a college education will help her in the future is realistic as college is an

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investment. Since in 2006, the average income from someone with a BA degree was around
US$25,000 more than those with just a high school degree (Berger, 2010, Ch. 11, 401).
With the pressure of being the best in her class, June started showing symptoms of
anxiety disorders. She would have small panic attacks when deadlines were approaching and had
a really hard time keeping a social life. Her parents, who lived about an hour away at this point,
tried to be as supportive as possible but they unintentionally pressured her every time they asked
about her grades, which just made the anxiety worse (Berger, 2010, Ch. 11, 407). As the time
went by and she finished college, her anxiety slowly started to get better and was no longer a
major problem in her life.
Adulthood: Body and Mind
Natalie married her partner of four years while still doctorate program. The two women
had decided that they would wait until they were in their early thirties to start thinking about
children since they were both worried about the beginning of their careers. As time passed by,
June came to find out that she suffered from PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and that
combined with her smoking and obesity problems made it extremely hard for her to get pregnant
through in vitro fertilization (Berger, 2010, Ch. 12, 423).
However, after listening to her doctors advice, June stopped smoking and started
exercising in order to lose weight and be healthier which significantly increased her chances of
having a healthy pregnancy. After a year of exercising and treatment, June was able to carry a
healthy full-term pregnancy in which she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Because of her
advanced ageshe was 35 when she gave birth to her sonJune and her partner made the
executive decision to not have any other children.

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Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
June was in her late 40s when her father had a heart attack. He recovered within no time
and was soon able to go back to his daily routine but that didnt mean that Natalie wasnt worried
about his situation. Her son was now 14 and she knew he also needed her full attention and
because of that, she was somehow able to manage to help them both since her parents only lived
a county away. Many of her friends thought she was trying to do more than she could handle and
tried to convince her to hire someone to take care of her dad, but she didnt feel as if this was a
burden at all and she soon realized that many people felt the same way as she did (Berger, 2010,
Ch. 13, 477).
Late Adulthood: Body and Mind
By the time she reached her 60s both of her parents had passed away from heart diseases
which made her even more worried about her health. Instead of slowing down with age, June
decided to join her local senior community where they would meet 4 to 5 times a week to do
yoga or walk around a park. She did that because she knew that Regular exercise is a proven
way to compress morbidity (Berger, 2010, Ch. 14, 508-509).
Late Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
As the years passed by, June began to feel depressed as she felt that her life was no longer
what it used to be. She felt that her family no longer needed her and that had a giant impact on
her perspective on life. One day she heard some of her friends from the senior community how
much they enjoyed volunteering at the homeless shelter. She soon got involved with the shelter
and found out that she was also able to volunteer. Soon after she started volunteering, her
depression started to go away and her health even started to improve (Berger, 2010, Ch. 15, 539).

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Epilogue: Death and Dying
June slowly started feeling more and more tired, and seeing as she was already in her 80s,
she knew that death was close. She accepted that but she still kept living her life and saw this as
no reason to give up (Berger, 2010, Epilogue, 570-571). June passed away one early winter
morning peacefully in her sleep. Although it was difficult at first, her family knew it was part of
life.
Overall June died happy after living a complete life. She had a loving family and enjoyed
her last few years volunteering to make other peoples lives better.

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References
Berger, Kathleen S. (2010). Invitation to the Life Span. New York: Work Publishers.