Family and Human Development across the Life Course
What this domain tests
Physical, intellectual, emotional and social change from conception to older age, and how family structures and parenting styles shape that change.
Core rules
- Development runs across interlinked domains: physical, cognitive, language, emotional and social.
- Milestones are norms, not deadlines - the normal range is wide (walking anywhere from 9 to 18 months).
- Piaget: sensorimotor (0–2, object permanence), preoperational (2–7, egocentric, symbolic play), concrete operational (7–11, conservation, logic about concrete things), formal operational (11+, abstract and hypothetical reasoning).
- Erikson: trust vs mistrust (infancy), autonomy vs shame (1–3), initiative vs guilt (3–6), industry vs inferiority (6–12), identity vs role confusion (adolescence), then intimacy, generativity and integrity.
- Bowlby: attachment and the secure base; separation anxiety typically appears around 7–9 months.
- Baumrind's parenting styles: authoritative (high warmth plus high control, best outcomes), authoritarian, permissive, uninvolved.
- Duvall's family life cycle: beginning, childbearing, preschool, school-age, teenage, launching, empty nest, ageing.
- Weaning at around 6 months: iron-rich foods, introduce allergens early, no added salt, no honey under 12 months.
Worked example
A 15-year-old argues about coming home late. Using Erikson, she is working through identity vs role confusion; using Piaget, formal operational thinking lets her reason abstractly about risk. An authoritative response - warmth plus explained, negotiated limits - supports autonomy while keeping safety. An authoritarian response escalates conflict and a permissive one removes the boundary altogether.
Traps that cost marks
- Presenting stage theories as fixed ages; Erikson's stages are not tied to precise years.
- Calling a permissive parent authoritative - the difference is the level of control.
- Treating a single missed milestone as proof of delay.
- Ignoring culture and family form when analysing a case.