Social Development in Middle Childhood & Adolescence: Family Function & Puberty (Chapter 10 & 11)

Question 1

Family Functions

Answer 1

-Meets a child’s physical needs
-Encourages cognitive development
-Provides stability and harmony to foster social development

Question 2

Parenting in Middle Childhood

Answer 2

-Disciple
-Parental control
-Parental warmth and love

Question 3

Discipline

Answer 3

-Inductive techniques: increased use
-Physical discipline: less use
-Deprivation of privileges: increased use

Question 4

Family Structure

Answer 4

-Two-parent families: nuclear family, stepparent family, blended family, adoptive family
-One-Parent families: single mother/father
-Other family types: grandparent family, extended family, and foster family

Question 5

Family Structure and Child Development

Answer 5

Many studies report significant relations between family structure and children’s social and cognitive development
-Nuclear family seems better for children’s cognitive and social development

Question 6

Factors Affecting Family Functions

Answer 6

-Income
-Harmony at home
-Family transitions

Question 7

Signs of Puberty

Answer 7

-Menarche: girls’ first menstruation
-Spermarche: boys’ first ejaculation

Question 8

Hormone and Puberty

Answer 8

Hormone Feedback Lopp
-hypothalamus -> pituitary gland -> gonads/ adrenal glands -> growth and sex hormones

Question 9

Onset Puberty

Answer 9

-Secular trend: lowering age of puberty onset over generations due to factors like improved nutrition and health
Gender differences: girls begin puberty earlier than boys

Question 10

Influences on the Timing of Puberty

Answer 10

-Genetic heredity
-Body fat
-Stress in the family: early timing of puberty for girls
depression
family conflict, mother-daughter distance
absence of bio-father

Question 11

Puberty and Social Relationships

Answer 11

-Relationship with parent: early maturing boys & girls have more conflicts with parents
-Relationship with opposite-sex peers: Early-maturing girls & boys are more likely date

Question 12

Early Maturing Girls

Answer 12

-More truancy
-More substance use
-Lower academic performance and educational attainment

Question 13

Why Do Early Maturing Girls Run into Problems?

Answer 13

-Increased problems only occur for early-maturing girls attending coeducational school (Caspi reported on a sample from New Zealand)
-Early maturation in girls  causes greater conflict with older and deviant boys’  problem behavior (Magnusson and Stattin from Sweden)