PSY 1200 Chapter Notes - Chapter Chapter 3: Diphtheria, Measles, Binge Eating
28 May 2023
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1 Health, Illness,
and Disease
CHILDREN’S HEALTH
Many factors affect children’s health. In this chapter, we focus on two of the most
important influences: prevention and poverty. We will also consider the health
impact of immunization, accidents, and access to health care.
Age
Immunization
Birth
Hepatitis B
2 months
Diphtheria Polio Influenza
4 months
Diphtheria Polio Influenza
6 months
Diphtheria Influenza
1 year
TB test
15 months
Measles Mumps Rubella Influenza
18 months
Diphtheria Polio
4 to 6 years
Diphtheria Polio
11 to 12 years
Measles Mumps Rubella
14 to 16 years
Tetanus-diphtheria
In addition to immunization, another important way to prevent health
problems in children is to avoid accidents, which are the leading cause of
death during childhood (Puodziuviene & others, 2018). Infants need
close monitoring as they gain locomotor and manipulative skills along
with a strong curiosity to explore their environment. Aspiration of
foreign objects, suffocation, falls, poisoning, burns, and motor vehicle
accidents are among the most common accidents in infancy (Moehrlen &
others, 2018).
The status of children’s motor, cognitive, and socioemotional
development makes their health-care needs unique (Conover & Romero,
2018; Telljohann & others, 2020). For example, think about how the
motor skills of infants and young children are inadequate to ensure their
personal safety while riding in an automobile. Adults must take
preventive measures to restrain infants and young children in car seats
(Giannakakos, Vladescu, & Simon, 2018). Young children also lack the
cognitive skills, including reading ability, to discriminate between safe
and unsafe household substances. And they may lack the impulse control
to stop themselves from running out into a busy street while chasing a
ball or toy.
Caregivers play an important role in promoting children’s health (Bauer
& others, 2019; Onders & others, 2019). An increasing number of studies
reach the conclusion that children are at risk for health problems when
they live in homes where a parent smokes (Gatzke-Kopp & others, 2019;
Neophytou & others, 2018). For example, children exposed to tobacco
smoke in the home are more likely to develop wheezing symptoms and
asthma than are children in homes where nobody smokes (Hatoun &
others, 2018; Rosen & others, 2018). And a recent study found that
young children who were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke were
more likely to engage in antisocial behavior when they were 12 years old
(Pagani & others, 2017). By driving at safe speeds, decreasing or
eliminating drinking—especially before driving—and not smoking
around children, caregivers can enhance their children’s health and
safety (Lepore & others, 2018; Wu & others, 2019).
Poverty
Of special concern in the United States is the poor health of many young
children from low-income families. An estimated 7 percent of U.S.
children have no usual source of health care. Approximately 11 million
preschool children in the United States are malnourished. Their
malnutrition places their health at risk. Many have poor resistance to
diseases—including minor ones, such as colds, and major ones, such as
influenza.
State of the World’s Children
Each year UNICEF produces a report titled The State of the World’s
Children. In recent reports, UNICEF (2018, 2019) emphasized the
importance of information about the under-5 mortality rate of a nation.
UNICEF concluded that the under-5 mortality rate is the result of a wide
range of factors, including the nutritional health and health knowledge of
mothers, the level of immunization, dehydration, availability of maternal
and child health services, income and food availability in the family,
availability of clean water and safe sanitation, and the overall safety of
the child’s environment.
In countries where poverty rates are high, the effects on children’s health
are devastating (UNICEF, 2018, 2019). The poor are the majority in
nearly one of every five nations in the world. They often experience lives
of hunger, malnutrition, illness, inadequate access to health care, unsafe
