Synopsis Child psychology involves looking at the issues, stages and various influences that a child experiences throughout their development into functioning adults. Child psychology can be divided into two main areas -the actual process of psychological development that the child goes through when growing up and the analysis and treatment of the various problems that a child may face throughout their development. During a child's development from infancy to adulthood, many influences are responsible for shaping their ways of seeing the world, their ideas of their own identity and their place within society. Factors such as environmental setting, family, community and the media all shape a child. In a perfect world, a child would develop successfully into a happily functioning adult, without any problems along the way, however this is not usually the case and many children find that they may struggle throughout the process.