Assignment: drugs and pregnancy

Assignment: drugs and pregnancy
Assignment: drugs and pregnancy
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Assignment: Should mothers that use drugs during pregnancy face criminal prosecution?
Instructions for the second part: Below you will find a link to a true story about a young woman named Jennifer Johnson. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/24/news/mother-cleared-of-passing-drug-to-babies.html
Below you will find a link to another story where the National Institutes of Health released a study that showed that maternal cocaine use was not as bad for babies. In the second link, the New York Times provided additional support to the study.
1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11489591
2) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27coca.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This week discussion forum requires you to answer the following questions:
1. Should mothers receive prosecution for prenatal damage to the fetus?
2. Should mothers that use drugs during pregnancy face criminal prosecution?
3. Would the chances of prosecution keep pregnant women from seeking prenatal care and/or delivering the baby in a hospital setting?
4. Research suggests that mothers who smoke tobacco during pregnancy and/or in the presence of their children up to the age of 5 years old increases the risk of their children experiencing asthma. Should smoking mothers also be prosecuted?
5. How did your feelings about this topic change as you read the later “chapters” in Jennifer Johnson’s story?
READING
CHFD307 CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT | LESSON 1
Introduction to Theories
Topics to be covered include:
· Development theories
· Research methods
· Heredity and the environment
· Prenatal development and birth
Introduction
In the first lesson of childhood and adolescent development, we will look at theories that relate to the nature versus nurture debate. This lesson will focus on how nature and nurture interact to influence children’s development. We will discuss five development theories and research methodology in child research. We will then look at heredity and the environment, where we will delve into genetics and the ways in which genes and the environment interact, so that we can better understand why development differs from individual to individual. Thereafter, we will explore the stages of prenatal development and birth, as well as common risks to mothers and their infants. To end the lesson, we will discuss the biological and environmental vulnerabilities that infants face, and how caring, constructive relationships enable them to make sense of life so that they can build resilience.
Themes
Child development falls under developmental psychology, and studies the physical (motor), cognitive, emotional and social processes that occur from the beginning of life through adolescence. Child psychology views childhood as a unique stage that society should protect from developmental problems, and enhance through schooling, healthcare and nutrition (Parke & Gauvain, 2009).
According to Parke and Gauvain (2009), the following three major themes contextualize child development studies.
ORIGINS
DEVELOPMENT
INFLUENCES
We will now explore five theories of child development, each of which focuses on a specific area of development.
Structural Organismic Perspectives
Jean Piaget
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