CHOICES: Making an Informed Decision on PARENTING by H. Glenroy Seale - HTML preview

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GLOSSARY

Adolescent - a young person in the process of developing from a child into an adult

Atherosclerosis - a disease of the arteries in which there are deposits of fatty material on their inner walls

Braxton Hicks - intermittent weak contractions of the uterus occurring during pregnancy

Caesarian section - a surgical operation for delivering a child by cutting through the wall of the mother’s abdomen

Cardiac disease - any disease that affects the cardiovascular system; atherosclerosis and/ or hypertension are the most common.

Chronic - persisting for a long time or constantly recurring

Community - a group of people living together in one place

Conception - the action of conceiving a child

Core values - main principles or standards of behaviour which are considered important in life, such as, respect for elders

Corporal punishment - physical punishment, such as flogging

Cunnilingus - is the act of a male performing oral sex on his partner

Diabetes - a disorder in which the blood sugar is unregulated, or insulin is deficient

Denomination - an identifiable religious body under a common name

Discipline - the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience

Dreadlocks - a Rastafarian hairstyle in which the hair is washed but not combed but twisted while wet into tight braids

Edema - an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin or in one or more cavities of the body that produces swelling

Elucidate - to make (something) clear; or to explain

Environment - the surroundings or conditions in which a person lives or operates

Epidemic - a sudden, widespread occurrence of an undesirable phenomenon

Fellatio - the female act of performing oral sex by inserting the penis of her partner into the mouth, either playfully or until male ejaculation occurs

Fetus - an unborn human more than eight weeks after conception.

Fertilization - the action or process of fertilizing an egg

Gestate - to carry a fetus in the womb from conception to birth

Heterosexual - sexual attraction to people of the opposite sex

Heterosexuality - When a male and female have penile-vaginal intercourse

Hypertension - abnormally high blood pressure

Immune system - the organs and processes of the body that provide resistance to infection and toxins.

Intelligence Quotient IQ a number representing a person’s reasoning ability

In Vitro Fertilization - a procedure in which eggs (ova) from a woman’s ovary are removed and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory procedure

Lactose intolerant - the inability to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk

Marginalize - to treat a person as insignificant

Mentor - an experienced and trusted adviser

Midwife - a nurse (typically a woman) who is trained to assist women in childbirth

Miscarriage - the spontaneous or unplanned expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently

Myopic - lacking foresight or intellectual insight

Obesity - the state of being grossly fat or overweight

Orgasm - the climax of sexual excitement, characterized by intensely pleasurable feelings centred in the genitals

Pandemic - a disease prevalent over a whole country or the world

Paradox - a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true

Peer Pressure - influence from members of one’s peer group

Pheromones - a secreted chemical that triggers a social response in other human beings

Phenomenon - a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen

Poverty - the state of being extremely poor

Procreation - to reproduce

Protocol - the official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or diplomatic occasions

Puberty - the period during which adolescents reach sexual maturity and become capable of reproduction

Rastafarianism - a religious movement of Jamaican origin, holding that Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was the Messiah and that blacks are the chosen people who will eventually return to their African homeland

Ridicule - to subject someone or something to mockery or scorn

Rural district - a district not located in the city

Sedentary lifestyles - a type of lifestyle with little or irregular physical activity

Scholarship - a grant or payment made to support a student’s education

Social safety net - non-contributory transfer programs seeking to prevent the poor from falling below a certain level of poverty

Substance abuse - legal or illegal drug abuse

Therapeutic - having a good effect on the body or mind

Traumatic - deeply disturbing or distressing

Trimester - a period of three months, used as a division of the duration of pregnancy

UNICEF - United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

Utopia - an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect

Vendetta - a prolonged bitter quarrel or campaign with or against someone

Vulnerable - the inability to withstand the effects of what can be considered a hostile environment

Weaning - to introduce an infant to food other than its mother’s milk, and to assist them in being accustomed to this practice