Lecture 8: Growing up in a family Flashcards
1
Q
Attachment from Infancy to Adulthood
A
- Do caregiving experiences in childhood actually predict adult attachment style?
- Method: Longitudinal study of 707 participants from childhood to age 18
- Assessed quality of caregiving experiences at various points in childhood:
- Maternal sensitivity
- Maternal depression
- Father absence (consistently living w/ father or not)
- Assessed adult attachment style at age 18
2
Q
Attachment from Infancy to Adulthood (results)
A
Results: Less supportive parenting and family instability predicted attachment insecurity in adulthood
* Avoidance (attachment) at age 18 predicted by:
* Lower maternal sensitivity
* Not consistently living with father
* (consistent with attachment theory)
* Attachment Anxiety at age 18 predicted by:
- Higher maternal depression
- (consistent with attachment theory)
* Evidence that there’s an association between childhood caregiving experiences and attachment in adulthood
3
Q
Does daycare interfere
with attachment?
A
4
Q
Study of Early Child Care and Youth
Development (SECCYD)
A
- Longitudinal study conducted across 10 cities in the USA examining the effects of childcare on attachment
- Studied 1364 children from birth to adolescence
- Measured:
* Childcare setup
* Children’s attachment to mother using Strange Situation
* Quality of mother’s interactions with children
* Children’s social behaviour and cognitive development
5
Q
Results of the SECCYD
A
- Attending childcare had no effect on attachment security to their parent
- 15-month olds in childcare were just as likely to be securely attached to their mothers as children not in childcare - Maternal support/sensitivity was the strongest predictor of children’s attachment security –> the parent is likely to be the primary attachment figure.
6
Q
Results of the SECCYD
A
- Quality of childcare only had an effect on attachment security if child experienced low maternal sensitivity
- Low maternal sensitivity + poor quality childcare = less secure
- Low maternal sensitivity + high quality childcare = more secure (these kids showed compareable levels of attachment security to the kids that had highly sensitive moms)
Good quality daycare can act as a buffer and compensate for poor parenting and protect the kids from developing more insecure attachment
7
Q
Implications
A
- Childcare does not undermine parent-child attachment security
- Childcare can compensate for negative parenting experiences at home by promoting attachment security (for children with not warm parents)
8
Q
Parenting Styles
A
9
Q
Discipline
A
-
Discipline: the set of strategies parents use to teach their children how to behave appropriately
- Effective if child stops engaging in inappropriate behaviour and engages in appropriate behaviour instead
- Ideally leads to internalization -
Internalization: the process by which children learn and accept the reasons for desired behaviour
- i.e., Child abides by parent’s rules/norms even when the parent isn’t present
10
Q
Fostering Internalization
A
- Reasoning that focuses on the effects of a behaviour on someone else is best strategy for promoting internalization
- E.g. “pulling someone’s hair is wrong because it hurts the other person’s body” (explain why a rule is a rule)
- Teaches empathy
- Reasoning has to be combined with psychological pressure to foster internalization
11
Q
Sweet Spot of Psychological Pressure
A
- Too little –> Child disobeys and ignores message (doesn’t make a parent sound serious)
- Too much –> Child is obedient but only because they feel forced to do it
- Will only comply if there is a risk of being caught
- Will likely only be obedient when the parent is around… - Just right –> Slightly raised voice and disapproving look is often enough
12
Q
Discipline Guidelines
A
- Set limits: Have clear and consistent rules a child can follow
- Give attention: Give attention and praise for good behaviour
- Ignore bad behaviour: As long as the behaviour is not dangerous, ignoring bad behaviour can be an effective way of stopping it –> not reinforcing bad behaviours
- Give consequences: Calmly explain consequences when the child misbehaves and follow through (cannot be an empty threat)
-
Time-outs: Useful when a specific rules is broken. Works best when:
- The child gets a warning that they will get a time-out if they don’t stop (time-out = 1 min per year old. ie 6yrs old = 6min)
- Caregiver provides a calm explanation of what they did wrong
- Caregiver removes the child from the situation for a pre-set amount of time (when they are older 5-6, you can say go to your room and come back out when you are ready to behave properly).
- Praise should be specific about the behaviour.
- The child gets a warning that they will get a time-out if they don’t stop (time-out = 1 min per year old. ie 6yrs old = 6min)
13
Q
Parenting Styles
A
- 2 dimensions of parenting:
- Discipline/control: Extent to which parents monitor and manage their children’s behaviour through rules and consequences
- Sensitivity/ support/warmth: Extent to which parents mirror their children and are responsive to them
14
Q
Authoritative Parents
A
- High in sensitivity/warmth and discipline
- Set clear standards and limits for their children and are firm and consistent about enforcement
- Explain reasoning behind rules
- But also allow autonomy within those limits - Attentive and responsive to child’s needs and concerns and respect the child’s perspective
ie: parents on the show “this is us” or ‘Ted Lasso”
15
Q
Kids’ Behaviour Correlated with
Authoritative Parenting
A
- Internalize adults’ expectations and behave accordingly
- Higher self-confidence and adaptive skills
- High social skills
- Tend to have many friends and are well-liked
- Do well academically
16
Q
Authoritarian Parents (authoritarion regime ‘dictators’)
A
- High in discipline, but low in sensitivity
- Cold and unresponsive to child’s needs
- Expect child to comply with parent’s desires without question
- Exercise power by using threats, punishments, psychological control, use a lot of guilt trips, discount or minimize kids feelings.
- Might threaten to withdraw attention or love if a kid does not behave in a certain way.
Any stepparent in disney show.
17
Q
Kids’ Behaviour Correlated with
Authoritarian Parenting
A
- Creates hostility in children towards parents
- May be obedient in front of parent but tend to not internalize parent’s message
- More likely to rebel against parent’s rules, especially in adolescence - Lower in self-confidence and generally higher levels of mental health problems
- Lower social competence
- More behavioural problems, like aggression and delinquency
18
Q
Permissive parenting
A
- High in sensitivity, but low in discipline – very loving and warm but very little discipline
- Responsive to child’s needs and wishes but are overly lenient
- Do not require child to regulate themselves or act in appropriate ways
- The child is the boss
- ie phil dumphey from modern family.
19
Q
Kids’ Behaviour Correlated with Permissive Parenting
A
- Higher in impulsivity and tend to struggle with self-control (never been required to adhere to rules or standards)
- Lower academic achievement
- More behavioural problems, like delinquency and aggression
20
Q
Uninvolved Parenting
A
- Low in discipline and sensitivity (no limits and no support)
- Disengaged from parenting
- Sometimes rejecting and neglectful
- Focused on their own needs instead of children’s needs
21
Q
Kids’ Behaviour Correlated with Uninvolved Parenting
A
- Struggle with self-worth and mental health problems
- Insecure attachment
- Low in social competence
- Low academic achievement
- More behavioural problems, like substance abuse and risky sexual behaviours in adolescence
22
Q
Helicopter/ Carpenter Parenting
A
- Overbearing and overprotective due to the close attention they pay to all of their child’s problems and successes
- Solve kids problems for them
- Parent is implicitly sending the message that the child is unable to overcome their struggles on their own (they are incapable and incompetent to deal with their own struggles) - Seems to have become the cultural norm in North America across different social classes
- Correlations in kids: (research is in its infancy, still not a lot of research)
- Increased anxiety and depression
- Decreased self-efficacy and self-regulation
- Poorer academic performance
ie: nemos dad
27
Q
Parenting Across Cultures (similarities)
A
- Many similarities
- All parents teach about good and bad behaviour very often and are least likely to use love withdrawal to discipline child.
- limitation of this data = highly suceptible to demand characteristics. Parents know that teaching about good and bad behaviour sounds like a good thing and withdrawing love sounds like a bad thing.
28
Q
Parenting Across Cultures (differences)
A
- Also some differences
- Italian parents are most likely to yell or scold to discipline kids
- Kenyan parents are most likely to threaten or use punishment, but least likely to take away privileges.
31
Q
Spanking: Is it really that bad?
A
- Yes, research shows that spanking is bad
- United Nations: spanking is a form of violence against children that violates human right to be protected from violence
- Red countries made it illegal.
33
Q
Kids Also Influence Parenting
A
- Parent-child interactions tend to be bidirectional (mutual influence)
- Each influences and reinforces the other’s behaviour
- Can create both positive and negative cycles
34
Q
Coercive Cycle
A
- example of negative cycle
- For parent to get out of this cycle they need to be very clear and from the get go highlight what the rules/limits are and do their best to remain calm and follow though on consequences.
35
Q
The Role of Shared Genes
A
- Parents’ and children’s behaviour can also both be caused by the genes they share –> 3rd variable that could be causing both of these (shared genes)
- Causal relationships
37
Q
Importance of Longitudinal Research
A
- Only way of definitively showing bidirectional relationship between children’s behaviour and parenting practices
- Measurements over multiple timepoints.
- You would figure out bidirectional relationshups if you observed that for example, some kind of parenting practice at one time leads to increased child aggression at time 2 and then controlling for the kids level of aggression at time one influences parenting practice at time 2.
43
Q
Negative Effects of Divorce Don’t Last
A
- But, negative effects of divorce on children tend to not last long
- Differences in well-being of adults whose parents divorced in childhood vs. adults whose parents stayed married are very small
- 0 corresponds to average well-being
- lots of overlap between people with parents divorced and not divorced
- lasting effects of divorce for maybe only 10% of adults.
45
Q
Divorce can be a good thing
A
- Divorce can be a good thing if parents were engaged in a lot of conflict before getting divorced
- Kids’ psychological well-being improves after divorce if parents had a lot of conflict!!!
46
Q
Siblings
A
