8: Contexts for development - parents, siblings, families

Question 1

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory

Answer 1

Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory views child development as a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate settings of family and school to broad cultural values, laws, and customs.
microsystem
mesosystem
exosystem
macrosystem
chronosystem

Question 2

Belsky’s determinants of parenting

Answer 2

Determines some things that may cause parental stress (eg. developmental history, personality, relationships, work, social network, child characteristics) largely grouped into parent characteristics, child characteristics & contextual factors

Question 3

Predictors of positive parenting

Answer 3

Parent’s personality (Heinicke, 2002; Sroufe et al, 2009)

• Capacity for sustained relationships
• Own attachment can predict the security of attachment in offspring - moderate effect size
• Self development
• Maturity
• Adaptation competence

Question 4

Reflective functioning

Answer 4

Ability of parent to recognise their own issues and realise it can impact their parenting

Question 5

How can parents influence children?

Answer 5

• relationship with child impacts their emotions and ability to have relos with others
• parents instruct and educate
• parents manage and regulate the opportunities and environments of children

Question 6

What does the evidence on parent regulation of children indicate?

Answer 6

1. Low parental monitoring linked with delinquency and lower grades
2. Parents from lower SES less likely to put children in sport

Question 7

According to Baumrind, what do children need?

Answer 7

Balance between warmth/responsiveness and control/demandingness
Warmth - affectionate supportive responsiveness
Demandingness - limit setting when necessary (otherwise let child lead)

Question 8

Baumrind’s parenting typologies

Answer 8

• authoritative is ideal (high warmth, high control) - open communication and rights of both parties recognised
• authoritarian - demands on children not countered by child’s perspective (note cultural differences)
• permissive (research less certain on consequences)
• uninvolved (worst outcomes - mood disorders, substance abuse)

Question 9

Criticisms of parenting typologies

Answer 9

• not consistent across contexts
• direction of effect unknown
• not universal

Question 10

Cross cultural implications of Baumrind’s parenting typologies

Answer 10

Chua (2011) - authoritarian parents deemed better in Chinese culture.

• Studies conducted on Chinese students found that the problematic impacts of authoritarian parenting was restricted to individualist cultures
• Shown migrant families ‘balance’ values from various cultures (Cheah et al; Nguyen et al)

Question 11

Describe how fathers are important for child development.

Answer 11

• Fathers’ attention to fathers reveals that attending antenatal classes and being present at birth predicts ongoing involvement with child (Cabrera et al). Contribute to social-emotional wellbeing & have protective effect when mother is unavailable (Goodman et al., 2014). Have important implications for self regulation of child.
• challenges: work-family, reverse role families

Question 12

Describe how grandparents are important for development.

Answer 12

• may sometimes be alternative child care providers
• varies across cultures
• implement their own views of parenting

Question 13

Describe how siblings are important for child development

Answer 13

Siblings:

• provide companionship, play, learning opportunities
• but also may be the source of friction and rivalry - mainly caused by differential parenting
• siblings may act as tutors and help younger siblings develop TOM. Older siblings tend to have earlier acquisition of social cognition

Question 14

Describe how being an only child impacts child development

Answer 14

• no evidence of them being spoiled or selfish

- no evidence of any lasting cognitive and social deficits

Question 15

Describe how marital conflict and divorce impact child development

Answer 15

• happily married parents tend to be more sensitive and warm to children than unhappily married
• divorce is often a transition for children and they experience emotional problems in the first year. about 20-25% have serious ongoing problems
• note that the quality of parenting environment post divorce and the timing of divorce are also important (worse for 11-16 years)

Question 16

Shared parenting models in divorced/separated parents

Answer 16

1. Cooperative (communicate, avoid arguments & support)
2. Conflicted (communicate but criticise and undermine)
3. Disengaged (uninvolved in each other’s parenting and do not communicate)