Child Psychology

The way a child develops psychologically from birth to maturity, can have far reaching impact in his or her entire life. You have often heard people comment about someone having ‘an unhappy childhood’. Well, a person who has one such, would act differently from one who has not. Study of this process is referred to as Child Psychology, also known as Developmental Study. This branch of psychology deals with the various processes involved in the child’s mental development and learning as well as varying standards of behavior in children.

The study particularly focuses on the intellectual, cognitive, neural, social and moral development of a child during the growing years as well as personality development, language development and communication. Childhood disabilities and adolescent psychology also form part of the curriculum. Most professional child psychologists have either a psychology master’s degree or a doctoral qualification.

There are plenty of child psychology degrees available on-campus or online. You could do a specialization course with titles such as:

• Childhood Depression & Anxiety
• Counseling Children: Cognitive-Developmental
• Learning Disorders
• Meeting the Spiritual Needs of Ill Children
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder, among others.

During private practice, child psychologists need to work along with parents to work out the problems which are affecting a child’s life to bring about improvement and development through behavioral changes; they also find viable employment opportunities in universities.

Needless to mention, child psychology is a special focus area within the overall science of psychology. They are trained exclusively to deal with children and address their problems.

The process of becoming a child psychologist begins with earning a Bachelor of Arts or Science degree in psychology (B.A or B.S). This should take between four and 5 years, with B.S. requiring more science work than a B.A aspirant. The next step is acquiring a master’s degree, which usually takes about a year or two. You could choose between the course which ends at master’s or you could enroll in a combined program where you could do master’s as well as work for a PhD. These lengthy programs could take anywhere between four to eight years, depending on the student’s academic capability. With a master’s or a PhD, you could work in the research facility of a University or open up your private practice as a counseling child psychologist.

A PsyD degree is another psychology degree that is specifically designed for those who only want to be a practicing doctor of psychology. A person with a PsyD can open their own practice, or work within a mental health institution, but they don’t have the qualification to work in the research field.

There are various employment opportunities for a child psychologist. For instance, you could work as a teacher or researcher for a university, professional school, or community college, or as a counseling child psychologist in a hospital, or community center. Child psychologists can also choose to work for a school district or go into private practice.