Cross-cultural studies of infant gross motor development reveal that culture and environment don not determine how early or how late infants begin to walk. infants who skip crawling become much more athletically inclined. cultural practices and environment can either promote or slow down the process of motor development like walking. infants across all cultures first crawl then walk.

Answer - Cultural practices and environment can either promote or slow down the process of motor development like walking

The answer is B. Cultural practices and environment can either promote or slow down the process of motor development like walking.

EXPLANATION

Motor development allows the infants to explore things with their environment, which also will improve their social, cognitive, and perceptual development. Motor development can deeply be affected by cultural practices and nutritional factor.  

An infant with bad nutritional factors can cause diseases such as iron deficiency. There was a study in 2011 stated that the infant’s motor development was deeply influenced by nutritional factors and cultural practices, which concluded that the environment is a big influence for infants.

Motor development for infants is divided into the gross and fine motor. Gross motor development includes the overall abilities for the baby to move, this has shown to influence infants’ self-care and independence. For example, walking without the assistance of a guardian is followed with emotional changes of reflecting assertiveness and autonomy, promoting attachment, interactions, and social skills.  

In Western countries, infants around 8 until 10 months of age will generally accumulate experience with independent crawling. About 9 months of age, an infant will experience standing, and also the ability to pull from a sitting position into a standing position.

Meanwhile, fine movement is defined as the ability for an infant to coordinate their eyes and hands together in a pattern. Most 9 months age infant will have the power to grasp their hands with precision.

Society and culture can deeply affect an infant’s motor development. Culture itself is defined as social rules, morals, values, and also habits to induce behavioral patterns. There are also sociocultural factors, such as race and national origin can influence motor development, because it may encourage or discourage motor behavior.

LEARN MORE

If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, we recommend you to also take a look at the following questions:

Piagetian process of an infant:  

Sexual feelings of a child:  

KEYWORD: motors development, infant, culture, fine movement, gross motor development  

Subject: Social Studies

Class: 10-12

Subchapter: Motor development