Application of Developmental

Psychology in Health:
Cognitive Development Aspect
By Sana. P. M
M.Sc. Applied Psychology
Importance of Health in Life Span Developmental Framework

• Health and development are lifelong processes that involves gain

(growth) and losses (decline), multidimensional and multifunctional.

• The developmental processes influence health and illness behavior,

the experience of illness, illness prevention, health promotion, and
the assessment & treatment of disease.

• By identifying unique patterns of risk and protective factors.

• Health-related experiences at early stages can affect health and

health behaviors at later stages of the life-span.
Cognitive Development & Health Behaviour
Infancy & Childhood
Theories & Models:

1) Bibace and Walsh’s Model:

 Six stages in this model: Phenomenism, contagion, contamination,
internalization, physiological and psychophysiological.
 These stages are closely parallel to Piaget’s preoperational, concrete
and formal operational stages.
 Increasing logic, complexity of thought, ability to think abstractly and
sophistication regarding the causes of health and the relationships
between behaviour and illness.
2) The Children’s Health Belief Model:
 This model examines how individual beliefs inform children’s health
behaviour choices.
 This model was adapted from the Health Belief Model

 Readiness factors:
Motivation
Perceived vulnerability to the health threat
Perceived severity of threat
Perceived benefits and barriers to taking action to avoid the threat.
Cognitive Development & Illness Self – Care Behaviours

• The type of coping strategies used by chronic ill children is influenced

by cognitive development especially the social reasoning and the
ability to regulate emotions.

• Children who are in the early stages of cognitive development have

difficulties in conceiving a connection between their treatment
schedule and their illness.

• Advanced cognitive development enables the children to have better

awareness about diabetes and its treatment plan
 Cognitive Development and the Health Behaviour of Adolescents

• Logical thinking about the psychological and physiological cause of

the illness.

• Processes that influence the adolescent health behaviour:

Perceptions about the cost and benefits, perceptions of risk and
understanding the future consequences of health related actions.

• Forms a ‘personal fable’ belief in the mind of adolescents that they

are invulnerable.
• Health risk behaviour in the adolescents due to lack of experience
with the consequences of risk, lack of information or denial.

• With regard to diabetes self care, during early adolescence - less

importance to the potential complications

• At middle adolescence - the formal operational thinking and the

increased sense of personal control.

• tends to endanger themselves

Cognitive Development & Health behaviour of Adults in
Midlife

• Great sense of increased control and feelings of security and stability.

• higher levels of self-efficacy for physical activity.

• People who have strong beliefs in their abilities about health strictly
adhere to the challenging medical regimens for successful self-
management of diabetes.
Cognitive Development and the Health Behaviour
of Older Adults
• Perceptions of control – Self Efficacy

• Engaging in exercises – increase in levels of self efficacy.

• Decline in physical activity – decrease in perceived control.

• Physiological states in shaping efficacy expectations in older adults.