Topic Justification
Sexuality entails all the sexual feelings, attractions, thoughts, and behaviors people have towards each other. It is an integral part of who humans are, and during child development, sexual development is a significant aspect. Most individuals understand that sexual development occurs after reaching puberty and adolescence. On the contrary, children begin to show sexual behaviors and functions from infancy. Babies explore their body out of curiosity to learn about them, and this includes activities such as investigating their genitals and walking around naked. Often, infants may experience masturbatory moments that may be hard to detect, and once detected, it is misdiagnosed as a seizure disorder, abdominal pain, or dystonia. This topic will help individuals understand the importance of child sexual growth and the necessary action that needs to be taken to keep sexual behavior in a normal range. There are limited studies that have been done to establish the cause of infants' masturbation, and this topic will help expand the horizon.
Summary
Article 1 Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2994165/
Article 2 Link: https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/sexual-behaviour-children-young-people
The article “Infantile and early childhood masturbation,” by Ajlouni et al. (2010), contains the findings of a study conducted on infants and young from a pediatric neurology clinic in Jordan. It describes masturbatory behavior's clinical characteristics in 13 children from different clinics and assesses their hormone levels. Masturbation is considered normal behavior in adolescents, and it is attributed to physiological and hormonal changes that are well documented. The absence of genital manipulation makes it hard for parents to detect infancy masturbation, and when discovered, it may lead to potentially harmful therapies, unnecessary investigations, and parental anxiety. The study found out that masturbation usually starts at an early age in most children. The other factor that may raise concerns is that Jordan has a sexually conservative culture without formal sex education. Child masturbation has been highly linked to emotional deprivation and sexual abuse. Most of the children under study were having low estradiol levels as compared to other sex hormones.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Additionally, the article “Sexual Behavior in Children & Young People” by Kids Health has depicted the curiosity of children in discovering their body to express their sexual behaviors. Parents are tasked with observing their children determine if their behavior falls outside the normal range. It may be as a result of being exposed to sexual experiences that are inappropriate for their age. Normal and healthy sexual behavior is different from various age groups. An example, for children of age group 0-4 years of age, the children enjoy touching their genitals, often feel comfortable being naked, are interested in watching adults get undressed, and may touch women's breasts. However, children under the age of five may masturbate in public because there are not aware it is a social vice. It is also a soothing behavior that increases when a child is unsettled or feels stressed. If masturbation is frequent, the parents are encouraged to support their children and engage in distracting activities.
Questions
The articles are interesting, and I learned that sexual development begins at an early age. Even though there are a limited number of studies that cover the topic, the available ones indicate the various cases of infancy masturbation. Furthermore, I have established for current studies that sex hormones influence musturbation behavior in children. In addition, some of the infancy behaviors, such as walking naked and touching their genitals, are part of their sexual growth. I have also learned that development also affects how children express their sexual behavior, such as through play and relationships. Establishing the cause of specific behavior plays an important role. I was surprised to learn that infants do masturbate in a way that cannot be recognized due to the absence of genital manipulation.
In addition, information from the articles has shed some knowledge about sexual growth in infants and has strengthened my understanding of the topic. Understanding that infants experience masturbatory behaviors from a tender age is a natural phenomenon, which may help establish early care for infants to guide them through their sexual development. Also, knowing how the various age groups have different sexual activities that influence the infant’s sexual can help develop the right attitude and moral values during their development. In addition, parents should play a huge role in guiding the infants and instill the moral value that allows children to be conscious about their sexuality.
On the other hand, infants’ masturbation may cause ethical dilemmas at home or in the medical sector. Most people regard masturbation as immoral, but in the real sense, it just the sexual hormones in the infants that are causing the changes. Using the rights approach entails having respect for human dignity. The approach holds that our dignity is based on our freedom of how we live our lives while having moral respect for the choice of freedom and respecting others. When resolving an ethical dilemma, it is important to first identify the involved party's rights and their roles. For example, parents are tasked with ensuring their children have the best sexual development experience. When an ethical dilemma occurs, it is important to decide which interest has merit and prioritize it.
This assignment has provided a lot of information about infants' sexual development. It has enabled me to see the influence of sex hormones on infants and the effects of extreme sexual behavior at a particular age. Understanding behavioral plays by infants may help develop an excellent developmental program that will guide parents to provide care to their children. It will also reduce misdiagnosis cases and provide parents with accurate information about their infants' sexual growth. In the future, the knowledge learned can be used to conduct more research to ascertain the real impact of sex hormones on infants’ sexual and moral development.
References
Ajlouni, H. K., Daoud, A. S., Ajlouni, S. F., & Ajlouni, K. M. (2010). Infantile and early childhood masturbation: Sex hormones and clinical profile. Annals of Saudi Medicine , 30 (6), 471-474. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2994165/
Kids Health. (2020). Sexual behaviour in children & young people . KidsHealth NZ. https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/sexual-behaviour-children-young-people
