Chapter 13 Middle Childhood Psychosocial Development PDF

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Chapter 13: Middle Childhood: Psychosocial Develo Wednesday, March 25, 2020

7:48 PM

The nature of the child - Children between ages 6 and 11 ○ Attempt to master culturally valued skills and develop a sense of themselves as eith industrious or inferior, competent or incompetent ○ Learn to care for themselves ○ Often engage in activities without their parents' awareness or approval ○ Drive for independence expands the social world ○ School-age children venture outdoors alone to play with friends. This budding independence fosters growth Self concept - In middle childhood, self-concept becomes more complex and logical, as cognitive development and social awareness increase ○ Social comparison ○ Effortful control ○ Contains ideas about self that include intelligence, personality, abilities, gender, an ethnic background ○ Gradually becomes more specific and logical ○ Becomes less optimistic as influences from peers and society are incorporated Social comparison - Comparing one's attributes to those of other people - Helps children value themselves and abandon the imaginary, rosy self-evaluation of preschoolers - Self-criticism and self-consciousness rise from ages 6 to 11 - Materialism increases Effortful control - Ability to regulate one's emotions and actions through effort, not simply through natural inclination - Reduced by unrealistically high or low self esteem Th

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The nature of the school-age child - Erickson ○ Industry vs inferiority § Fourth of Erickson's eight psychosocial crises § Characterized by tension between productivity and incompetence § Self-pride depends not just on actual accomplishments but on how others, especially peers, view accomplishments § Growth mindset develops Resilience - Involves capacity to adapt well to significant adversity and to over come serious stress - Suggests differential sensitivity - Importance components ○ Resilience is dynamic: a person may be resilient at some periods but not at others ○ Resilience is a positive adaptation to stress: if rejection by a parent leads a child to establish a closer relationship with another adult, that child is resilient ○ Adversity must be significant: resilient children overcome conditions that overwhelm many of their peers Cumulative stress - Accumulated stresses over time, including minor ones, are more devastating than an isolated major stress - Repeated stress ○ Makes resilience more difficult ○ Is more devastating than isolated major stress ○ Includes such things as frequent moves, changes in caregivers, disruption of schooling Cognitive coping - Coping measures reduce impact of repeated stress ○ Interpretation of family situation § Parentification ○ Development of friends, activities, and skills ○ Participation in school success and after school activities ○ Involvement in community, church, and other programs - A child's interpretation of a family situation (poverty, divorce, etc.) impacts how that situation affects him or her

Family and children - Shared and nonshared environment ○ Genes affect half or more of the variance for almost every trait ○ Influence of shared environment (e.g., children raised by the same parents in the same house) shrinks with age ○ Effect of nonshared environment (e.g., friends or schools) increases - Remember! ○ Children raises in the same household by the same parents do not necessarily share the same home environment ○ Changes in the family affect every family member differently, depending on age and/or gender ○ Most parents respond to each of their children differently Family structure and function - Family structure ○ Legal and genetic relationships among relatives living in the same home; includes nuclear family, extended family, stepfamily, and others - Family function ○ The way a family works to meet the needs of its members ○ Families provide basic material necessities to encourage learning, to help development of self-respect, to nurture friendships, and to foster harmony and stability - Families help children ○ Provide basic material necessities ○ Encourage learning ○ Help them develop self-respect ○ Nurture friendships ○ Foster harmony and stability Diverse family structure - Children flourish, or suffer, in many family structures ○ Nuclear family ○ Single-parent family ○ Extended family ○ Polygamous family - Nuclear family ○ Consists of a father, a mother, and their biological children under age 18 ○ Tend to be wealthier, better educated, healthier, more flexible, and less hostile ○ Has biological and adoptive parents dedicated to their children - Single parent family

Consists of only one parent and his or her children under age 18 Has children who fare worse in school and in adult life than most other children ○ Is often low-income and unstable; move more often and add new adults more often in single-mother households ○ Involves a third of all contemporary U.S. children who will live in a singleparent family before they reach 18 Extended family ○ Consists of parents, their children, and other relatives living in one household ○ Includes on in six U.S. families in 2010; particularly common when children are small ○ Is less costly and more common in low-income households Polygamous family ○ Consists of one man, several wives, and the biological children of the man and his wives ○ Is rare and illegal in the United States ○ ○

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Divorce - The United States leads the world in rates of marriage, divorce, and remarriage; almost half of all marriages end in divorce - Single parents, cohabiting parents, and stepparents sometimes provide good care for about 40 million U.S. children; children do best living with both married, biological parents - Divorce is a process, not a decree; it affects academic achievement and psychosocial development for years - Custody disputes and outcomes often harm children; noncustodial parents (especially fathers) often become less connected to their children Connecting family structure and function - Two-parent families ○ Nuclear family ○ Stepparent families ○ Adoptive family ○ Same-sex couple families ○ Skipped-generation families ○ Children experience better education and better social, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes ○ Education, earning potential, and emotional maturity correlate with marriage, birth, and staying married ○ Mate selection and income correlate with nuclear families and child well

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being ○ Shared parents decrease risk of abuse and neglect Adoptive and foster parent families ○ Typically function well; often better than average nuclear families ○ Vary tremendously in ability to meet child needs Stepparent families ○ Some function well; positive relationships more easily formed with children under 2; more difficult with teenagers ○ Solid parental alliance more difficult to form ○ Child loyalty to parents often undermined by disputes Same-sex families ○ Generally child develop well ○ Limited long-term studies Skipped-generation families ○ Generally low income, more health problems, less stability Single-parent families ○ Single mother - never married ○ Single mother - divorced, separated, or widowed ○ Single father ○ Grandparent alone ○ On average, structure functions less well ○ Lower income and stability ○ Stress from multiple roles ○ Benefits from community support Culture and family structure ○ Cultural context always matters and varies in support ○ In the United States, the cohabiting structure is worse for children than marriage due to higher separation incidence ○ Ethnic norms create differences ○ Single parenthood is differentially accepted and supported Insight from scholars ○ Marriage commitments need to made carefully to minimize the risk of divorce ○ Once married, couples need to work to keep the relationship strong ○ If divorce occurs, adults need to minimize transitions and maintain a child's relationships with both parents ○ In middle childhood, schools can provide vital support for children who are experiencing family change

Family trouble - Two factors increase the likelihood of dysfunction in every structure, ethnic group,

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and nation: wealth or poverty and high conflict Wealth and poverty ○ Family-stress model § A crucial question to ask about any risk factor is whether or not it increases the stress on a family § Adults' stressful reaction to poverty is crucial in determining the effect on the children § Effects of poverty are cumulative; low SES is especially damaging during middle childhood Conflict ○ Family conflict harms children, especially when adults fight about children rearing ○ Fights are more common in stepfamilies, divorced families, and extended families ○ Although genes have some effect, conflict itself was the main influence on the child's well being

The peer group - Culture of children ○ Particular habits, styles, and values that reflect the set of rules and rituals that characterize children as distinct from adult society § Fashion § Language § Peer culture § Attitudes § Independence from adults - Friendships ○ School-age children value personal friendship more than peer acceptance ○ Friendships lead to psychosocial growth and provide a buffer against psychopathology ○ Gender differences § Girls talk more and share secrets § Boys play more active games ○ Older children § Demand more of their friends § Change friends less often § Become more upset when a friendship ends § Find it harder to make new friends § Seek friends who share their interests and values - Popular and unpopular children ○ Popular children in the United States Ki d h i

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§ Kind, trustworthy, cooperative § Athletic, cool, dominant, arrogant, aggressive (around 5th grade) ○ Unpopular children in the United States § Neglected □ Neglected by peers, but not actively rejected □ Ignored, but not shunned □ Do not enjoy school; but psychologically unharmed § Aggressive-rejected □ Disliked by peers because of antagonistic, confrontational behavior § Withdrawn-rejected □ Disliked by peers because of their timid, withdrawn, and anxious behavior Bullies and victims ○ Bullying § Repeated, systematic efforts to inflict harm through physical, verbal, or social attack on a weaker person ○ Bully-victim § Someone who attacks others and who is attacked as well § Also called a provocative victim because he or she does things that elicit bullying, such as stealing a bully's pencil ○ Types of bullying § Physical (hitting, pinching, or kicking) § Verbal (teasing, taunting, or name-calling) § Relational (destroying peer acceptance and friendship) § Cyber (using electronic means to harm another) ○ Causes § Genetic predisposition or brain abnormality § Parenting/caregiving environment § Peers ○ Consequences § Impaired social understanding, lower school achievement, relationship difficulties § Depression ○ Successful efforts to eliminate bullying § The whole school must be involved, not just the identified bullies § Intervention is more effective in the earlier grades § Evaluation of results is critical

Children's moral values - Middle childhood is prime time for moral development

Children show a variety of skills: § Making moral judgements § Differentiating universal principles form conventional norms Influences on moral development ○ Peer culture ○ Personal experience ○ Empathy ○

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Moral reasoning - Kohlberg's level of moral thought ○ Stages of morality stem from three levels of moral reasoning, with two stages at each level: § Preconventional moral reasoning: emphasizes rewards and punishments § Conventional moral reasoning: emphasizes social rules § Postconventional moral reasoning: emphasizes moral principles - Criticisms of Kohlberg ○ Pros § Child use of intellectual abilities to justify moral actions was correct ○ Cons § Culture and gender ignored § Family not included § Differences between child and adult morality not addressed - Developing moral values ○ Throughout middle childhood § Moral judgment becomes more comprehensive, taking into account psychological as well as physical harm, intentions as well as consequences ○ Current research suggests § Raising moral issues, and letting children talk about them, may advance morality - not immediately but soon § Such conversations might help the child think more deeply about moral values What children value - Prosocial values among 6 to 11 year olds ○ Caring for close family members ○ Cooperating with other children ○ Not hurting anyone intentionally - Adult versus peer values ○ Protect you friends...