Mental Development from Birth to Maturity.

This article discusses on the mental development of a child from birth to maturity. The normative approach to the study of child growth and development is still used extensively,but there also seems to be a growing realization that the factors that cause or influence particular outcomes must be studied and assessed. New technics and methods of research are being developed and the relatively intangible aspects of growth explored. The need for new evaluative procedures, including the statistical, is becoming increasingly apparent as the problem of patterns of development is commanding greater and greater attention. At Antioch College the Samuel S. Fels Research Institute is following 130 children from conception through adolescence. The work of the Yale Clinic of Child Development is published in a series of notable articles and books. A recent publication summarizes the outcomes of the Third Harvard Growth Study. The Fourth Harvard Growth Study was begun by Stuart and his associates in 1930 and deals with children from birth on. The Berkeley Growth Study, which also deals with children from birth on, is summarized by Jones and Bayley; they include a helpful bibliography of thirty-seven titles. The possible effects of using subjects of different backgrounds of education and experience are not generally recognized and conclusions from studies must be tentative.