Psychology Assignment: Sexuality and Childhood Development Reflection

This report presents a reflection on childhood sexuality and development, comparing the behaviors and characteristics of two age groups: 0-9 years and 10-18 years. It discusses the developmental stages according to Piaget's theory, focusing on the sensorimotor, preoperational, and formal operational stages. The report describes an observed situation involving children and their engagement in sexual behaviors, including touching and exploring private parts, and examines the presence of primary and secondary sex characteristics. It also addresses potential sexuality issues, noting that such behaviors, while intrusive, are often unplanned and do not involve aggression or distress. The report provides a detailed analysis of the observed behaviors, developmental stages, and related issues in the context of the provided references.

Running head: OUR SEXUALITY 1
Our Sexuality
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Date

OUR SEXUALITY 2
Age Groups
During the development of a person, there are several stages which an individual passes
through from childhood to adulthood. The children of the ages between 0 to 9 years, show
different childhood sexual behaviors which occur spontaneously, and are both non-coercive and
mutual. These sexual behaviors involve other children of the same age groups but they cause no
emotional distress to the children. These sexual behaviors are observed in the children and begin
at the age of 2 to 3 years. Some of the typical sexual behaviors during child development
especially those who are below 9 years includes showing private parts to others, self-touch,
looking and touching others private parts. These behaviors observed in the preschool age group
where the children are curious, pleasure seekers and very impulsive (Kerpelman, McElwain,
Pittman & Adler-Baeder, 2016)
The age of 10 to 18 years involves mostly the adolescent’s age group. These are school-
aged group and the following behaviors are observed; self-touch, interested in media content
which involves nudity and they show more interest to their age-mates of the opposite sex.
Developmental Stages
The development of sexuality and gender identity in children involves physical, social,
emotional and cognitive developments. There are four developmental stages according to the
Piaget’s cognitive theory of childhood development. These stages include; preoperational,
sensorimotor, concrete operational and formal operational stage. Most children of age between 0
to 9 years fall under the sensorimotor and preoperational stage of cognitive development while
those from 10 years old to 18 years fall under the formal operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive
theory (Dadvand et al, 2015).

OUR SEXUALITY 3
Situation Observed
In research to explore some of the events and some of the sexual behaviors in which
children engage in, I used to collect data and information as I observed the behavior of the
children of ages between 8 to 16 years. I found that children engage in games like strip poker
whereby, the winner during the game could request for sexual activity in reward. In one of the
interviews, the children said that they use one their friend's house which much safer. Sometimes
they go there without any reason or with no intentions of having sex but they found themselves
on the act. They get into the house and lock the door and start looking at the magazines with
nudes and which they used to see all the times. They discuss how the pictures are in the
magazines and they then start looking at each other’s private parts while touching. They then
undress and start to practice what they saw in the magazines (Crooks & Baur, 2016).
Primary and Secondary Characteristics
Some of the sex characteristics observed can be classified as both primary and secondary.
Secondary sex characteristics can be described as the physical features that make us differentiate
between a male and a female child. Some of the secondary characteristic observed includes
men’s beards and breast on the females. The primary charateriscts are the body structures which
are involved with reproduction and they include; testicles, seminal vesicles and penis and vagina
in females.
Sexual Issues
Some of the cases of sexuality issues in such sexual behaviors in children are considered
intrusive, unplanned, and does not involve any form of aggression or distress to them and they
are rare (Gerwinn et al, 2018).

OUR SEXUALITY 4
Reference
Crooks, R. L., & Baur, K. (2016). Atypical sexual behavior. Our sexuality. 13th ed. Boston, MA:
Cengage Learning.
Dadvand, P., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Esnaola, M., Forns, J., Basagaña, X., Alvarez-Pedrerol,
M., ... & Jerrett, M. (2015). Green spaces and cognitive development in primary
schoolchildren. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(26), 7937-7942.
Gerwinn, H., Weiß, S., Tenbergen, G., Amelung, T., Födisch, C., Pohl, A., ... & Wittfoth, M.
(2018). Clinical characteristics associated with paedophilia and child sex offending–
Differentiating sexual preference from offence status. European Psychiatry, 51, 74-85.
Kerpelman, J. L., McElwain, A. D., Pittman, J. F., & Adler-Baeder, F. M. (2016). Engagement in
risky sexual behavior: Adolescents’ perceptions of self and the parent–child relationship
matter. Youth & Society, 48(1), 101-125.