Human Development and Behaviour: overview of SQA National 5 Care Unit 1
An overview of Unit 1 of SQA National 5 Care, Human Development and Behaviour, covering the principles of development, life stages, the PIES aspects, the factors that affect development, and how behaviour can be explained, with study tips and links to each key area.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Human Development and Behaviour is one of the three units of SQA National 5 Care. It looks at how people develop and change across the lifespan, what affects that development, and how human behaviour can be explained. This page maps the key areas and shows how they connect, so you can answer Section 1 of the question paper with confidence.
The key areas of Unit 1
- Principles of human development
- Age groups are general indicators, development does not always happen in discrete stages, and development results from the interaction of the individual and the environment.
- Life stages and developmental changes
- The main stages from infancy to later adulthood and the typical physical, intellectual, emotional and social changes in each.
- The PIES aspects of development
- The four aspects - physical, intellectual, emotional and social - what each covers, and how they are linked so a change in one affects the others.
- Factors affecting development
- Inherited (genetic), environmental, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, and how each can support or limit a person's development.
- Explanations of behaviour
- The nature-nurture debate, how unmet needs and past experiences drive behaviour, and why behaviour should be understood as communication rather than judged.
How to study Unit 1
- Learn the three principles precisely. They underpin every answer: age as a general indicator, overlapping stages, and the individual-environment interaction.
- Use PIES as a checklist. Sort every change into physical, intellectual, emotional or social, and be ready to show how the aspects link.
- Match changes to the right stage. Attachment belongs to infancy, puberty to adolescence, retirement to later adulthood.
- Apply, don't just list. Many marks come from explaining how a factor, need or experience affects a person in a given situation, with an example.
For the official course specification
The SQA publishes the full National 5 Care course specification, specimen question paper, past papers and marking instructions, and the coursework assessment task at sqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current course specification and SQA past papers.
Sources & how we know this
- National 5 Care Course Specification — SQA (2017)