Peer Relationships Flashcards
What is the self concept?
- an organized set of beliefs about oneself, including personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values and roles
When does self concept emerge?
- 18 months
- children pass the rouge test
- children also start using “me” pronoun and calling themselves by name
How does the self concept develop?
- children’s self concept develops primarily by internalizing others’ perceptions of them
- direct vs indirect perceptions
What are direct perceptions?
- caregiver describes a child a certain way and the child incorporates that description into their self concept
What are indirect perceptions?
- how children are treated
What is the first characteristic present in children’s self concept?
- gender
- it is central to their sense of self
When do children form basic gender identity?
- 2.5-3 years
What is gender socialization?
- process through which children learn about the social expectations, attitudes and behaviours associated with girls and boys by internalizing the messages received about gender from caregivers and wider society
- starts early; parents of newborns describe boys and girls differently
What are the baby X studies?
- studies in which researchers label the same infant as a boy or girl and then observe how adults interact with the infant
- infants labelled as boys rated as bigger, stronger, louder, and more likely to be encouraged to be active
- infants labelled as girls received more talk and nurturance
- suggests that caregivers’ perceptions of differences between male and female babies are due to their own associations with gender, rather than actual gender differences
How does gender shape parents’ expectations about motor skills?
- parents of girls tended to underestimate their infant’s crawling ability but parents of boys more accurately estimated their ability
- when tested on their actual skills, boys and girls did not differ on the slopes they could safely crawl down
- suggests that gender differences in motor skills only exist in parent’s perception
What are the gender differences in toys?
- girls toys are more pink and sedentary
- boys toys are more active and there’s no pink
- boys have more toy trucks and girls have 5 times more pink toys by 12 months
What are gender differences in play?
- parents present boys with more physical challenges than girls
- more likely to offer girls more help
What are gender differences in language?
- parents are more likely to use emotion words with girls than boys in early childhood
- emotion understanding thus develops earlier in girls
What are gender differences in the division of household chores?
- homes in which parents take on more traditional gender roles in completing chores are communicating gender roles
What are gender differences in media exposure?
- more tv viewing by preschoolers associated with them more likely saying that people see boys as better than girls
What is self socialization?
- once a child identifies with a gender, they actively seek out gender related information and conform their behaviour to this info
- highlights children’s own role in their gender development
When do children have rigid, gender stereotyped behaviours?
- 3-5 years
What are rigid, gender stereotyped behaviours?
- preference for toys and clothes that are consistent with gender identity
- preference for same gender playmates
- cross cultural
- due to lack of gender constancy
What is gender constancy?
- understanding that gender remains the same regardless of superficial changes to appearance or behaviour
When does rigid, gendered behaviour relax?
- 6 years
- because gender constancy is achieved
- accept more non-gendered appearance and toy preferences in themselves and others
- but, as children get older, they acquire more complex ideas and expectations about gender that include traits, roles, abilities, etc
- incorporates these into their self concepts and adjust their behaviour accordingly
What are the implications of gender identity?
- gender is a central characteristic that organizes children’s self concepts
- adherence to gender stereotypes can unnecessarily limit children’s development in educational aspirations, social development, and emotional expression
- extent to which a child behaves in gender-consistent ways is associated with level of peer acceptance
- even though children increase their gender flexibility with age, they tend to reject peers who do not behave in typically gendered ways
- greater engagement with peers of same gender is powerful way that gender stereotypes and identities are reinforced
What is gender neutral parenting?
- conscious parenting practice to encourage children to explore and express themselves in a way that is not defined by traditional gender roles
- common in WEIRD countries
- not enforcing gender specific colours, avoiding gender specific language, encouraging all activities
What is sex?
- assigned at birth usually based on external genitalia
Who are cisgender children?
- children who identify with their assigned sex
Who are transgender children?
- children who don’t identify with their assigned sex
- tend to show strong identification and preferences aligned with current gender in a way that is very similar to cisgender children
- research suggest that transgender identity is not a result of parent socialization and instead seems to be internally driven
When is gender central to self concept?
- 3-6 years
What is self concept like in early childhood?
- 3-6 years
- gender is central to self concept
- concrete, observable characteristics that tend to focus on physical attributes and physical activities
- unrealistically positive and confident
What is self concept like in middle childhood?
- 7-12 years
- describe self using personality traits and inner qualities
- self concept is more balanced and accurate
- includes weakness, but overall positive
What are changes in self concept from early childhood to middle childhood due to?
- increased cognitive ability to think about multiple qualities simultaneously
- greater engagement in social comparison and more strongly influenced by the opinions of others
What is self concept like in adolescence?
- 13-18 years
- can think of themselves in increasingly abstract ways
- more intense concerns about social acceptance which heavily influences self concept
- egocentrism; assume their thoughts and feelings are more unique than they really are (younger)
- imaginary audience
- aware of differences in behaviour in different social settings leading to confusion and many questions about identity
When is forming an identity important?
- forming an identity is the primary psychosocial task of adolescence/early adulthood
How is identity formed?
- exploration
- commitment
What is exploration?
- questioning of parental and societal values and experimenting with various facets of identity
- including appearance, hobbies, traits, friends, courses…
- viewed as important and healthy for identity development
What is commitment?
- consolidation and acceptance of who one is as indicated by the choices one makes
- deciding on a major, friend group, clothing style
What are Marcia’s identity statuses?
- identity diffusion
- moratorium
- foreclosure
- identity achievement
What is the typical trajectory of Marcia’s identity statuses?
diffusion –> moratorium/foreclosure –> achievement
What is identity diffusion?
- lack of exploration of options and no commitments made
- due to lack of interest in own identity or indecision
- common in children
- if persists into late adolescence/adulthood, associated with feeling disconnected, being easily influenced by others, and little sense of purpose
What is moratorium?
- active exploration of various roles but no commitments yet
- brought about by awareness of multiple selves and exposure to different identity options
- feelings of confusion and anxiety are normal at this status
- important phase for identity achievement
What is foreclosure?
- commitment to a life path without having explored alternatives
- due to parents making decisions for teen without their input or teen strongly identifies with a parent and wishes to follow in their footsteps
- more likely in teens who are obedient, have a low level of tolerance for uncertainty, and have authoritarian parents
- potential problem in choosing an identity that is not a good fit
- can lead to lower life satisfaction and a struggle to maintain the commitment
What is identity achirvement?
- completed phase of exploration and commitment to an internally driven identity
- associated with most positive mental health and social outcomes
- usually achieved in early adulthood
- biggest gains in identity are in post secondary schooling due to greater exposure to different lifestyles, beliefs, and career options
What are the criticisms of Marcia’s identity statuses?
- research into identity statuses conducted in WEIRD samples, typical progression and outcomes may differ in non WEIRD societies
- identity development is a continuous process, not limited to adolescence
- life event in adulthood can restart the process
What is play?
- voluntary activities done for inherent enjoyment
- play looks different depending on a child’s age
What is non-social play?
- play that doesn’t involve the participation of peers
What are the types of non-social play?
- unoccupied play
- solitary play
- onlooker play
What is unoccupied play?
- birth - 3 months
- child briefly watches things around them, but nothing holds their attention for long
What is solitary play?
- 3 months - 2 years
- child is focused on their own activity and is uninterested in playing with others
What is onlooker play?
- being around 2 years
- child watches other children’s play
- may ask questions, but won’t join in
What is social play?
- play that involves participation of peers
What are the types of social play?
- parallel play
- associative play
- cooperative play
What is parallel play?
- begins between 2-3 years
- children play next to each other, possibly doing the same activity, but do not interact much
What is associative play?
- begins between 3-4 years
- children play together, engaging sometimes, but having different goals
What is cooperative play?
- begins 4+ years
- children play together and are working towards a common goal
Why is play critical for learning?
- social-emotional development
- cognitive development
- motor development
How does play help with social-emotional development?
- learn to cooperate
- develop theory of mind
How does play help with cognitive development?
- practice problem solving
- learning about the world through trial and error
- develop language skills
How does play help with motor development?
- unoccupied play fosters motor skills
What is the importance of play?
- UN recognizes child’s right “to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child”
What is a friend?
- a person that’s not a relative with whom an individual has an intimate, reciprocated, and positive relationship
What are the most important factors in children’s friendships?
- similarity
- proximity
What is similarity?
- age
- acceptance by peers
- personality
- level of negative emotions
- academic motivation
What is proximity?
- live in same neighbourhood
- go to same school
- participate in same extracurricular activities
How does gender affect choice of friends?
- more likely to be friends with kids of the same gender
- this preference emerges around 3 years
- peaks around 13 years
- at 13, time with different gender friends increases, especially for girls
What is the developmental trajectory of friendships?
- 1-2 years: show preference of some children over others
- 2-3 years: developing more complex social behaviours
- 3-5 years: kids have a concept of friendship
- 6-8 years: define friendship on basis of shared activities with peers
- 9-12 years: definition of friendship expands to include trust, care, help, support
- adolescence: friendship primarily defined by self disclosure and intimacy
What is friendship like at 1-2 years?
- show preference of some children over others
- touch them more often
- smile more at them
What is friendship like at 2-3 years?
- developing more complex social behaviours
- imitating peers’ behaviours, cooperative problem solving, turn taking
- emergence of parallel play
What is friendship like at 3-5 years?
- kids have a concept of friendship
- most kids have at least one friend
- friendship defined as playing together
- best friend = peer a child plays with most
- friends have more conflict than non friends, more likely to cooperate to resolve conflict than non friends
- emergence of preference for same gender peers
What is friendship like at 6-8 years?
- define friendship on basis of shared activities with peers
What is friendship like at 9-12 years?
- definition of friendship expands to include trust, care, help, and support
What is friendship like in adolescence?
- friendship primarily defined by self disclosure and intimacy
- friendship takes on central importance
What is the difference between boys and girls friendships?
- girls desire more closeness and dependancy in friendships but comes with more worrying and stress about friendships
- girls and boys show similar levels of conflict and stability in friendships
What is sociometric status?
- degree to which children are liked vs disliked by peers
- measured by having children anonymously nominate peers in their class that they like and peers in their class they dislike
What are the 5 status groups?
- popular
- rejected
- average
- neglected
- controversial
What is the popular status?
- 11% of kids
- liked by many peers and disliked by few
- socially skilled
- good emotion regulation skills
- assertive, but not aggressive
- tend to have factors that give them high status (attractive, athletic, popular friends)
What is the rejected status?
- 13% of kids
- liked by few peers and disliked by many
- tend to have fewer positive social skills compared to peers
- fall into one of 2 categories
What are the categories of the rejected status?
- rejected-aggressive
- rejected-withdrawn
What is the rejected-aggressive status?
- 40-50% of rejected kids
- tend to show high levels of hostility, threatening behaviour, physical aggression, and delinquency
What is the rejected-withdrawn status?
- 10-25% of rejected kids
- trend to be socially withdrawn, timid, and socially anxious
- frequently victimized and feel lonely, isolated, depressed
What is the controversial status?
- 7% of kids
- liked by many but also disliked by many
- aggressive, disruptive, and prone to anger
- compensate for this with many positive social skills like being cooperative, sociable and funny
What is the neglected status?
- 9% of kids
- not liked or disliked
- neutral/not noticed
- less social and less disruptive than average children
- not at risk for negative outcomes
- simply prefer solitary activities
- can be socially skilled in more structured activities
What is the average status?
- 60% of kids
- moderate number of likes and dislikes
- more social than rejected and neglected kids, but not as social as popular and controversial kids
How stable is sociometric status?
- sociometric status more likely to change from year to year
- average and rejected status most stable
- popular status tends to be stable within a given school year
What is the importance of friendship?
- provides social validation and support
- fosters development of positive social skills
How does friendship provide social validation and support?
- especially important during transitions
- kids tend to rely more on friends than parents starting in adolescence
- chronic friendlessness is associated with increased loneliness and depression
- friendship buffers against negative experiences
How does friendship foster development of positive social skills?
- builds cooperation, theory of mind, conflict resolution skills
- childhood friendships are practice for adult relationships
What are the implications of being rejected?
- rejected, especially aggressive-rejected, status in childhood is associated with a variety of negative outcomes
- more aggression
- delinquency in teens
- substance abuse
- continued unhealthy relationships into adolescence and adulthood
- low self esteem
- less education and limited work success
- crime in adulthood
What is deviancy training?
- negative peer pressure wherein peers model and reinforce aggression and deviance by making these behaviours seem acceptable
- kids that have aggressive/delinquent friends are more likely to also become more aggressive and delinquent themselves
- can begin as early as age 5
- similar effect with alcohol and drug use
What is selection effect?
- children choose peers that are similar to them
- implies that kids choose and contribute to the wrong crowd
How can parents shape their children’s peer relationships in a positive way?
- monitoring
- emotion coaching
What is monitoring?
- parents decide whom children interact with and how much time they spend doing particular activities
- looks different depending on the age of the child but matters at all ages
- especially important in adolescence, who have more control over who they spend time with
What is emotion coaching?
- parents teach kids how to effectively manage emotions to interact with peers and handle conflict
What are school interventions?
- school interventions aim to improve children’s peer relationships by enhancing their emotional development
What is PATHS?
- Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies
- aim to change how rejected children interact with peers
- kids age 4-11
- learn to identify emotional expressions
- think about the causes and consequences of different ways of expression emotions
- strategies for self regulation
What are the outcomes for the children who participate in PATHS?
- improved emotion understanding and regulation
- increased social problem solving
- decreased externalizing behaviour (aggression, acting out)
- decreased depression