Middle Childhood Psychosocial Development PDF

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Summary

Development over the life span...

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The Nature of the SchoolAge Children Children between ages 6 and 11 • Attempt to master culturally valued skills and develop a sense of themselves as either industrious or inferior, competent or incompetent • Learn to care for themselves • Often engage in activities without their parents’ awareness or approval

Adults Stay Out In middle childhood, children want to do things themselves. What if parents grabbed each child’s hand and wanted to jump in, too? That would spoil the fun.

The Nature of the SchoolAge Child

Erikson • Industry versus inferiority

Fourth of Erikson'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 Freud • Latency – Emotional drives are quiet and unconscious sexual conflicts are submerged. – Children acquire cognitive skills and assimilate cultural values by expanding their world to include teachers, neighbors, peers, club leaders, and coaches. – Sexual energy is channeled into social concerns.

The Nature of the Child Self-concept •

Contains ideas about self that include intelligence, personality, abilities, gender, and ethnic background

• •

Gradually becomes more specific and logical Becomes less optimistic as influences from peer and society influences are incorporated

The Nature of the Child 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 selfconsciousness 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

Same Situation, Far Apart: Helping at Home Sichuan, in China, and Virginia, in the United States, provide vastly different contexts for child development. For instance, in some American suburbs, laws require recycling and forbid hanging laundry outside—but not in rural China. Nonetheless, everywhere, children help their families with household chores, as these two do.

Resilience Resilience •

Involves capacity to adapt well to significant adversity and to overcome serious stress

• Suggests differential sensitivity Important components • •

Resilience is dynamic. Resilience is a positive adaptation to stress.

• Adversity must be significant.

Resilience and Stress Resilience: Capacity to adapt well despite significant adversity and to overcome serious stress. • 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.

Resilience and Stress Resilience and Stress Cumulative Stress

Accumulated stresses over time, including minor ones are more devastating than an isolated major stress • Repeated stress • •

• Makes resilience difficult Is more devastating than isolated major stress Includes such things as frequent moves, changes in caregivers, disruption of schooling

Resilience and Stress: 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

Families and Children Shared and nonshared environments • 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 home) shrinks with age • Effect of nonshared environment (e.g., friends or schools) increases

Families and Children Remember!

• •

•

Children raised in the same households 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 Function and Family Structure Family structure •

Legal and genetic relationships among relatives living in the same home; includes nuclear family, extended family, stepfamily, and others

Family function • •

Way a family works to meet the needs of its member Families provide basic material necessities, to encourage learning, to help development of self-respect, to

nurture friendships, and to foster harmony and stability.

Family Function in Middle Childhood Families help children • • • • •

Provide basic material necessities Encourage learning Help them develop self-respect Nurture friendships Foster harmony and stability

Diversity of Family Structures 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

Diversity of Family Structures 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 more than half of all contemporary U.S. children who will live in a single-parent family before they reach age 18

Diversity of Family Structures Extended family •

Consists of parents, their children, and other relatives living in one household

• •

Includes one in six U.S. families in 2010; particularly common when children are small Is less costly and more common in lowincome households

Polygamous family •

•

Consists of one man, several wives, and the biological children of the man and his wives Is rare and illegal in U.S.

Connecting Family Structure and Function Benefits of nuclear families • Generally function best • Better educational, social, cognitive, and behavioral child outcomes • Selection effects and parental alliance • Positive effects beyond childhood

Rates of Single Parenthood Connecting Family Structure and Function Function of other twoparent families • 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

Connecting Family Structure and Function Function of other twoparent families • Same-sex couple families

Generally children develop well

Limited long term studies • Skipped-generation families

Generally lower income, more health problems, less stability

Middle American Family Connecting Family Structure and Function Function of other singleparent families • • • •

On average, structure functions less well Lower income and stability Stress from multiple roles Benefit from community support

Diverse Families Connecting Family Structure and Function

Culture and family structure • Cultural context always matters and varies in support • In U.S., cohabiting structure is worse for children than marriage due to higher separation incidence • Ethnic norms create differences • Single parenthood is differentially accepted and supported

Connecting Family Structure and Function Divorce: Three facts •

U.S. leads world in rates of divorce and remarriage.

• •

On average, children fare best, emotionally and academically, with married parents. On average, divorce impairs children's academic achievement and psychosocial development for years, even decades.

Why?

Connecting Family Structure and Function Insight from scholars • •

Marriage commitments need to be made carefully to minimize the risk of divorce. Once married, couples need to work to keep the relationship strong.

• •

Includes one in six U.S. families in 2010; particularly common when children are small Is less costly and more common in lowincome households

Polygamous family •

•

Consists of one man, several wives, and the biological children of the man and his wives Is rare and illegal in U.S.

Connecting Family Structure

and Function Benefits of nuclear families • Generally function best • Better educational, social, cognitive, and behavioral child outcomes • Selection effects and parental alliance • Positive effects beyond childhood

Rates of Single Parenthood Connecting Family Structure and Function Function of other twoparent families • 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

Connecting Family Structure and Function Function of other twoparent families • Same-sex couple families

Generally children develop well

Limited long term studies • Skipped-generation families

Generally lower income, more health problems, less stability

Middle American Family Connecting Family Structure and Function Function of other singleparent families • • • •

On average, structure functions less well Lower income and stability Stress from multiple roles Benefit from community support

Diverse Families Connecting Family Structure and Function

Culture and family structure • Cultural context always matters and varies in support...