Child Development FIFTH EDITION Robert S Feldman University
Child Development FIFTH EDITION Robert S. Feldman University of Massachusetts at Amherst Chapter 13 Social and Personality Development in Middle Childhood Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Chapter 13 Key Questions • In what ways do children’s views of themselves change during middle childhood? • Why is self-esteem important during these years? • What sorts of relationships and friendships are typical of middle childhood? Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Chapter 13 Key Questions • How do gender and ethnicity affect friendships? • How do today’s diverse family and care arrangements affect children? Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Psychosocial Development in Middle Childhood: Industry Versus Inferiority • Industry-versus-inferiority stage According to Erikson, the period from ages 6 to 12 characterized by a focus on efforts to attain competence in meeting the challenges presented by parents, peers, school, and the other complexities of the modern world • Consider with this age: Successes Difficulties Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Psychosocial Development in Middle Childhood: Industry Versus Inferiority • Success in the industry-versus-inferiority stage brings with it feelings of mastery and proficiency and a growing sense of competence. • Difficulties in this stage lead to feelings of failure and inadequacy. Consider who you are - related to your past experiences. How would your identify who you are? Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
The Shift in Self-Understanding From the Physical to the Psychological • Children are on a quest for self-understanding during middle childhood. • In addition to shifting focus from external characteristics to internal, psychological traits, children’s views of who they are become less simplistic and have greater complexity. • Children’s self-concepts also become divided into personal and academic spheres. Page 330 Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Social Comparison • Social comparison The desire to evaluate one’s own behavior, abilities, expertise, and opinions by comparing them to those of others • According to a theory first suggested by Festinger, when concrete, objective measures of ability are lacking, people turn to social reality to evaluate themselves. (Who provides the most adequate comparison? ) For children this age they look to others who are similar to themselves. • Social reality refers to understanding that is derived from how others act, think, feel, and view the world. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Downward Social Comparison • In some cases, children choose to make downward social comparisons with others who are obviously less competent or successful. • Downward social comparison protects children’s self-esteem. • It helps explain why some students in elementary schools with generally low achievement levels are found to have stronger academic self-esteem than very capable students in schools with high achievement levels. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Self-Esteem: Developing a Positive— or Negative—View of Oneself • Self-esteem An individual’s overall and specific positive and negative self-evaluation • Self-esteem develops in important ways during middle childhood. • As children progress into the middlechildhood years, however, their self-esteem is higher for some areas and lower in others. • Refer to page 331 Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Change and Stability in Self-Esteem • Generally, overall self-esteem increases during middle childhood, with a brief decline around the age of 12. • Children with chronically low self-esteem face a tough road, as their self-esteem becomes enmeshed in a cycle of failure that grows difficult to break. • Parents can help break the cycle of failure by promoting their child’s self-esteem. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Race and Self-Esteem • Although White children initially show higher selfesteem than Black children, Black children begin to show slightly higher self-esteem than White children around the age of 11. • One explanation for the complex relationship between self-esteem and minority-group status comes from social identity theory. • Differences in self-esteem among members of different ethnic groups have narrowed. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Relationships: Building Friendship in Middle Childhood • Friends influence children’s development in several ways. • Friendships in middle childhood also provide a training ground for communicating and interacting with others. • Children’s psychological functioning and their development in general are the product of a combination of factors, including peers and parents. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Stages of Friendship: Changing Views of Friends • Stage 1: Basing Friendship on Others’ Behaviors • Stage 2: Basing Friendship on Trust • Stage 3: Basing Friendship on Psychological Closeness • Children also develop clear ideas about which behaviors they seek in their friends—and which they dislike. (Table 13 -1) Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Most- and Least-Liked Behaviorspage 335 Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Individual Differences in Friendship: What Makes a Child Popular? • Children’s friendships typically sort themselves out according to popularity. • More popular children tend to form friendships with more popular individuals, while less popular children are more likely to have friends who are less popular. • Popularity is also related to the number of friends a child has. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
What Personal Characteristics Lead to Popularity? • Social competence The collection of social skills that permit individuals to perform successfully in social settings • Although generally popular children are friendly, open, and cooperative, one subset of popular boys displays an array of negative behaviors. • Despite these behaviors, they may be viewed as cool and tough by their peers, and they are often remarkably popular. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Social Problem-Solving Abilities • Social problem-solving The use of strategies for solving social conflicts in ways that are satisfactory both to oneself and to others • According to Dodge, successful social problem-solving proceeds through a series of steps that correspond to children’s information-processing strategies. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Social Problem-Solving Abilities • Generally, children who are popular are better at interpreting the meaning of others’ behavior accurately. • Unpopular children may become victims of a phenomenon known as learned helplessness. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Teaching Social Competence • Several programs have been developed to teach children a set of social skills that seem to underlie general social competence. • Children who receive training may interact more with their peers, hold more conversations, develop higher self-esteem, and—most critically—become more accepted by their peers. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Gender and Friendships: The Sex Segregation of Middle Childhood • The segregation of friendships according to gender occurs in almost all societies. • Dominance hierarchy Rankings that represent the relative social power of those in a group • Friendship patterns among boys and girls are quite different. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Cross-Race Friendships: Integration In and Out of the Classroom • Children’s closest friendships tend largely to be with others of the same race. • Although they may not choose each other as best friends, Whites and African Americans— as well as members of other minority groups —can show a high degree of mutual acceptance. • Contact between majority and minority group members can reduce prejudice and discrimination. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Schoolyard—and Cyber-Yard—Bullies • Some 90% of middle-school students report being bullied at some point in their time at school, beginning as early as the preschool years. • About 10% to 15% of students bully others at one time or another. • Although bullies are sometimes popular among their peers, some ironically become victims of bullying themselves. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Families • What is a family? • Role of a family? • How families created? Types? • Issues families face? Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Families: The Changing Home Environment • One of the biggest challenges facing children and their parents is the increasing independence that characterizes children’s behavior during middle childhood. • Coregulation A period in which parents and children jointly control children’s behavior • Increasingly, parents provide broad, general guidelines for conduct, whereas children have control over their everyday behavior. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Family Life • During the middle years of childhood, children spend significantly less time with their parents than in earlier years. • Siblings also have an important influence on children during middle childhood, for good and for bad. • Sibling rivalry can occur, with siblings competing or quarreling with one another. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
When Both Parents Work Outside the Home: How Do Children Fare? • In most cases, children whose parents both work full time outside the home fare quite well. • The good adjustment of children whose mothers and fathers both work relates to the psychological adjustment of the parents, especially mothers. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Home and Alone: What Do Children Do? • Self-care children Children who let themselves into their homes after school and wait alone until their caretakers return from work; previously known as latchkey children • In sum, the consequences of being a self-care child are not necessarily harmful. • In fact, children may develop an enhanced sense of independence and competence. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Divorce • Although researchers agree that the shortterm consequences of divorce can be quite difficult, the longer-term consequences are less clear. • Some studies have found that 18 months to 2 years later, most children begin to return to their pre-divorce state of psychological adjustment. • On the other hand, there is evidence that the fallout from divorce lingers. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Single-Parent Families • Almost one-fourth of all children under the age of 18 in the United States live with only one parent. • The ultimate consequences for children depend on a variety of factors that accompany single parenthood, such as the economic status of the family, the amount of time that the parent is able to spend with the child, and the degree of stress in the household. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Multigenerational Families • The presence of multiple generations in the same house can make for a rich living experience for children, who experience the influence of both their parents and their grandparents. • On the other hand, multigenerational families also have the potential for conflict, with several adults acting as disciplinarians without coordinating what they do. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Blended Families • Blended family A remarried couple that has at least one stepchild living with them • Living in a blended family is challenging for the children involved, in part because of role ambiguity. • School-age children in blended families often do surprisingly well. • On the other hand, not all children adjust well to life in a blended family. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Families With Gay and Lesbian Parents • An increasing number of children have two mothers or two fathers. • A growing body of research on the effects of same-sex parenting on children shows that children in lesbian and gay households develop similarly to the children of heterosexual families. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Race and Family Life • Although there as many types of families as there are individuals, research does find some consistencies related to race. • African American • Hispanic • Asian American Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Poverty and Family Life • Economically disadvantaged children are at risk for poorer academic performance, higher rates of aggression, and conduct problems. • In addition, declines in economic well-being have been linked to mental health problems Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Group Care: Orphanages in the 21 st Century • Group care has grown significantly in the last decade. • About three-fourths of children in group care victims of neglect and abuse. • Although some politicians have suggested that an increase in group care is a solution to complex social problems, experts in providing social services and psychological treatment are not so sure. Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Characteristics of Best and Worst Child- and Youth-Care Workers Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
Characteristics of Best and Worst Childand Youth-Care Workers, cont’d Feldman / Child Development, 5 th Edition Copyright © 2010
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