Page 546 - Saunders Comprehensive Review For NCLEX-RN

CHAPTER 18

Growth, Development, and Stages of

Life

http://evolve.elsevier.com/Silvestri/comprehensiveRN/

Priority Concepts
Development, Family Dynamics

I. The Hospitalized Infant and Toddler

A. Separation anxiety

1. Protest
a. Crying, screaming, searching for a
parent; avoidance and rejection of
contact with strangers
b. Verbal attacks on others
c. Physical fighting: Kicking, biting,
hitting, pinching
2. Despair
a. Withdrawn, depressed, uninterested in
the environment
b. Loss of newly learned skills
3. Detachment
a. Detachment is uncommon and occurs
only after lengthy separations from the
parent.
b. Superficially, the toddler appears to
have adjusted to the loss.
c. During the detachment phase, the
toddler again becomes more interested
in the environment, plays with others,
and seems to form new relationships;
this behavior is a form of resignation
and is not a sign of contentment.
d. The toddler detaches from the parent in
an effort to escape the emotional pain
of desiring the parent’s presence.
e. During the detachment phase, the
toddler copes by forming shallow
relationships with others, becoming

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