Ch. 8 - Middle Childhood; the Social World Flashcards
what expands the social world?
drive for independence
erikson’s 4th crisis
industry vs inferiority
- char by tension between productivity and incompetence
- kids attempt to master culturally values skills and develop a sense of themselves as either industrious/inferior, competent/incompetent
parental rxns
shift from care provision to engagement in dialogue, discussion, and shared activities.
- various levels of release from parental supervision and provision of more autonomy
- less time with parents, more time alone or with peers
signs of psychological maturation
- responsibility perform chores
- manage allowance and activities
- complete homework
- attempt to conform to peers
- express preferences for after-school hours
- accept some responsibility for pets or younger siblings
- strive for independence from parents
self-concept
development of more specific and logical ideas about personal intelligence, personal abilities, gender, and ethnic background
- measurement of self to others in relation to own abilities, social status, and other attributes
as self-concept develops…
formulation of a more reality-grounded view of self; increase in self criticism and self consciousness.
- children who affirm pride in gender/ethnicity likely to develop healthy self-esteem
- some face social prejudice related to minority or religious group membership.
- developing a sense of pride is more effective for self-confidence than directly preparing children for prejudice
culture and self-esteem
- cultures and families differ in which attitudes and accomplishments they value
- emerging self-perception benefits academic and social competence
- praise for process (not static qualities) encourages growth
- notice and value of material possessions increase
resilience
capacity to adapt well to significant adversity and to overcome serious stress
- dynamic; not a stable trait
- positive adaption to stress
- adversity must be significant
cumulative stress
- stress accumulates over time
- daily hassles can be more detrimental than isolated major stress
- social context is imperative
factors contributing to resilience
- child’s interpretation of events
- support of family and community
- personal strengths
- avoidance of parentification
shared and nonshared environments
most personality traits and intellectual characteristics traced to genes and nonshared environment
- influence of shared environment decreases with age; fx of nonshared increases
family structure
legal and genetic relationships among relatives living in the same home
family function
the way a family works to meet needs of its members (more important than structure, but harder to measure)
during middle childhood, family can help children by…
- providing basic material necessities
- encouraging learning
- helping them develop self-respect
- nurturing friendships
- fostering harmony and stability
stability and children
stability is difficult in military families and children displaced by storms, fire, war, etc
two-parent families
nuclear family stepparent family adoptive family grandparents alone same-sex parents
single-parent families
single mother/father never married
single mother/father divorced/separated/widowed
grandparent alone
more than two adult families
extended family
polygamous family
cohort changes in family structures
more single-parent households
more divorces and remarriages
less children per family
proportions differ, but problems within non-nuclear families are similar worldwide.
single-parents in US
US has more single-parents than other developed nations, but almost 2/3 of all US school-age children live with two parents
what percent of US children are in single-parent homes or 1 or more years?
> 50%
two-parent families
work best on average; children learn better in school and have less psychological problems.
education, earning potential, and emotional maturity increase the rate of marriage, and parenthood and decrease rate of divorce.
major predictor of child well-being
not parent’s sexual orientation but their income and stability, contact increases affection and care
child maltreatment and shared parenting
shared parenting leads to decreased child maltreatment risk
single fathers
- generally, fathers who don’t live with their children are less involve each year
- single fathers face the same problems as single mothers
stepfathers
- remarried adults tend to spend less time on stepkids, reject them, change residences, disrupt harmony and stability
- stepkids may experience constellation shits, differential dis strat, anger, sadness, destructive behaviours
extended family
family consisting of parents, children, and other relatives living in one household.
10% of US school-age kids
opposing perspectives: aren’t extended families always great?
- depends on intergenerational attitudes and income
- multiple generation habitation often accumulate by stress
- potential for family conflict evident worldwide
two factors increasing likelihood of dysfunction in every structure, ethnic group, and nation
1) low-income or poverty
2) high conflict
poverty: family-stress model
- any risk factor damages family only if high stress in family
- adult stress rxn to poverty crucial in determining fx on kids
wealth
- generally, high income correlates to higher family function
- score gap between high and low income kids larger in US
- rxn to wealth may cause differences; parental rxn is key
conflict
family conflict harms children, especially when adults fight about child rearing
- more common in stepfamilies, divorced families, extended families
- genes have some fx, but conflict is the main influence
children’s culture
each group of children has games, sayings, clothing styles, and superstitions that are not common among adults, just as every culture has distinct values, behaviours, and beliefs.
- customs, rules, rituals
- appearance
- independence from adults
friendships
school-age children value personal friendships more than peer acceptance. intense and intimate friendships improve with advances in social cognition and effortful control. by the end of middle childhood, close friends are almost always between children of the same sex, age, ethnicity, SES
popular and unpopular children
particular qualities make a child liked or disliked depending on culture, cohort, and sometimes the local region/school
popular children in US
- friendly and cooperative
- aggressive
unpopular children in the US
- neglected, not rejected children (don’t enjoy school, but psychologically unharmed)
- aggressive-rejected children (disliked b/c of antagonistic, confrontational behaviour; may become bully-victims)
- withdrawn-rejected children (disliked b/c of timid, withdrawn, or anxious behaviour)
bullying
repeated, systematic efforts to inflict harm through on a weaker person.
types of bullying
physical
verbal
relational
cyberbullying
victims of bullying
- endure repeated shameful experiences with no defense
- tend to be cautious, sensitive, quiet, and friendless
- providing psychological defense against lower self-respect is crucial
- section for bullying based on emotional vulnerability and social isolation, not appearances
- in pervasive bullying, almost any trait can develop into an excuse to exclude and harass a vulnerable child
bullies
popular, proud, and socially dominant.
- more skilled at avoiding adult awareness, picking victims, and using nonphysical methods to avoid adult punishment
- boys typically attack smaller, weaker boys
- girls use words and relational aggression to demean shyer girls
- gay boys become targets, esp at the end of middle childhood
causes of bullying in early childhood
chaotic home life
ineffectual discipline
hostile siblings
insecure attachment
causes of bullying in middle childhood
attempt to gain status and power
consequences of bullying
serious psychological disorders by age 18
impaired social understanding
lower school achievement, relational diff
higher adult mental illness rates
successful efforts to eliminate bullying
- personally finding ways to halt ongoing bullying by ignoring, retaliating, defusing, or avoiding
- involving whole school not just bullies (convivencia)
- engaging bystanders
- encouraging multicultural sensitivity
childrens moral skills
- making moral judgments
- differentiating universal principles from conventional norms
moral rules of child culture
children align themselves with peers when adult morality clashes with child culture
influences:
- peer culture
- personal experience
- empathy
school-age children can think and act morally, but don’t always do so due to hidden curriculum or adult values
3 moral imperatives of child culture
1) defend your friends
2) don’t tell adults about kids’ misbehaviour
3) conform to peer standards of dress, talk, and behaviour
empathy
understanding of basic humanity of other people
Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Thought
stages stem from three levels of moral reasoning with 2 stages at each level
- preconventional moral reasoning
- conventional moral reasoning
- postconventional moral reasoning
pros and cons of Kohlberg
pros: child’s use of intellectual ability to justify moral actions
cons: culture and gender differences ignored; exclusive male sample; diff between child and adult morality not addressed; rational principles values more than individual needs
teaching morality
once children understand moral equity, they may be more ethical than adults; morality can be scaffolded with mentors using moral dilemmas to advance moral understanding, empathy, and moral regulation
