social roles without obtaining relief from traditional
responsibilities. As adults, ‘‘baby boomers’’ are be-
coming caretakers of aging parents while they are still
providing support for their own children. Women in
this ‘‘sandwich generation’’ deserve social recognition
and support for maintaining their own health as they
face these new physical and emotional challenges.
See also: POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION; PRENATAL CARE
Bibliography
Bennet, Trude. ‘‘Women’s Health in Maternal and Child Health:
Time for a New Tradition?’’ Maternal and Child Health Journal
1 (1997):253–265.
Bennet, Trude, Milton Kotelchuck, Christine E. Cox, Myra J.
Tucker, and Denise A. Nadeau. ‘‘Pregnancy-Associated Hos-
pitalizations in the United States in 1991 and 1992: A Com-
prehensive View of Maternal Morbidity.’’ American Journal of
Obstetrics and Gynecology 178 (1998):346–354.
Chavkin, Wendy, Vickie Breitbart, and Paul H. Wise. ‘‘Finding
Common Ground: The Necessity of an Integrated Agenda for
Women’s and Children’s Health.’’ The Journal of Law, Medicine
and Ethics 22 (1994):262–269.
Healthy People, 12/2000. In the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion [web site]. Available from http://www.health.gov/
healthypeople/; INTERNET.
Rohweder, Catherine L., Tracy Schaffzin, and Allan Rosenfield.
‘‘Public Health Perspectives in the Care of Women and Chil-
dren.’’ In J. J. Sciarra ed., Gynecology and Obstetrics, revised edi-
tion. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1995.
Zapata, B. Cecilia, and Trude Bennett. ‘‘Women’s Health: A Life
Cycle.’’ In Jonathan B. Kotch ed., Maternal and Child Health:
Programs, Problems, and Policy in Public Health. Gaithersburg,
MD: Aspen Publishers, 1997.
Trude Bennett
Catherine Rohweder
MATURATION
Arnold Gesell, a psychologist, pediatrician, and edu-
cator in the 1940s, was very interested in child devel-
opment. From his numerous observations of
children, Gesell formulated a theory known as matu-
ration. This theory stated that developmental
changes in a child’s body or behavior are a result of
the aging process rather than from learning, injury,
illness, or some other life experience. Gesell’s idea of
maturation was rooted in the biological, physiologi-
cal, and evolutionary sciences. As a result, Gesell cen-
tered most of his theory on the power of biological
forces, which he felt provided momentum for devel-
opment to occur. Gesell and his contemporaries pro-
posed that development follows an orderly sequence
and that the biological and evolutionary history of the
species decides the order of this sequence. Matura-
tion supports the idea that each child’s unique genetic
and biological makeup determines the rate of devel-
opment regardless of other potential environmental
influences.
See also: GESELL, ARNOLD; MCGRAW, MYRTLE
BYRAM; MOTOR DEVELOPMENT; STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT
Bibliography
Salkind, Neil J. ‘‘Arnold Gesell and the Maturational Approach.’’
Theories of Human Development. New York: D. Van Nostrand,
1981.
Shaffer, David R. ‘‘The Concept of Development.’’ Developmental
Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence, 4th edition. Pacific
Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1989.
Joan Ziegler DelahuntMCGRAW, MYRTLE BYRAM
(1899–1988)
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1899, Myrtle
McGraw was a pioneer in the study of child growth
and development in the 1930s and 1940s. She is best
known for her experimental study of twins Johnny
and Jimmy Woods. Her studies demonstrated that
early stimulation accelerates motor development, en-
abling infants to learn challenging skills, such as
swimming and roller skating, and to solve problems
that require judgment and deliberation. She also dis-
puted Yale psychologist Arnold Gesell’s maturation
theory, which held that genetic processes within the
brain determine infant behavior. McGraw found that
early development is not preset or straightforward
but involves frequent changes in the pace and com-
plexity of interactions between brain growth and be-
havior.
McGraw briefly attended Sneed Junior College,
a seminary, before transferring to Ohio Wesleyan
University where she attained her bachelor’s degree
in 1923. She continued her graduate education at Co-
lumbia University and Teachers College in 1924 and
was awarded her master’s degree and doctorate in
psychology in 1925 and 1931, respectively. McGraw
was a recipient of a Laura Spelman Rockefeller Fel-
lowship from 1927 through 1929. During this time,
she was a research assistant with the Institute for
Child Development and an intern for the Institute for
Child Guidance. She was appointed and served from
1930 to 1942 as associate director of the Normal
Child Development Study at Babies Hospital, Colum-
bia University. McGraw was appointed professor of
psychology at Briarcliff College in 1953, headed an
innovative laboratory for the study of infants and tod-
dlers, and served as the head of the department of de-
velopmental psychology until 1972. In 1976 the
Society for Research in Child Development bestowed
upon McGraw its first award for distinguished contri-
bution to child development.
McGraw had an extraordinarily close personal
and intellectual relationship with philosopher John250 MATURATION