MIDDLE CHILDHOOD SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OT 500

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD – SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OT 500 SPRING 2016

WHAT ARE SOME FEATURES OF SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD? • Psychoanalytic Theory • Freud’s latency period; repress psychosexual impulses; focus on academic, social and other skills • Erikson’s industry versus inferiority…importance of mastering tasks and developing competencies; inferiority may arise from social or school-related challenges • Social Cognitive Theory • Depend less on external rewards and punishments • Increase regulation of their behavior; role models

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Cognitive-Developmental Theory • Decrease in egocentrism • Capacity to see the perspective of others • Knowledge of one’s social world develops as a result of increased cognitive capacity

HOW DOES SELF-CONCEPT DEVELOP IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD? • Children progress from • Focus on external (appearance) to • Internal characteristics • What they are good at • Social relationships and group memberships are significant • Females more likely to define themselves in terms of groups

HOW DOES SELF-ESTEEM DEVELOP IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD? • Competence and social acceptance contribute to self-esteem • As children begin self appraisal, self-esteem initially declines around 12 or 13 • Gender differences in self-esteem • Girls – higher on reading, academics, and helping others • Boys – higher on math, physical ability, and physical appearance • Consider performance in many areas: physical ability, appearance, peer relationships, parent relationships, reading, math, general school performance

HOW DOES SELF-ESTEEM DEVELOP IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD? • Influences on self-esteem • Socialization and gender stereotypes • Parenting style • Relationship to parents • Social acceptance by peers • Genetics

WHAT IS LEARNED HELPLESSNESS, AND HOW DOES IT DEVELOP? • Acquired belief that one cannot obtain the rewards one seeks • “Helpless child” quits following failure • Doubt ability and believe success is based on ability, less on effort…. feel they have no control over the situation or outcome • Sex Differences • Girls have less confidence in math than boys • Even when they are performing at a comparable level

THE FAMILY

WHAT KINDS OF INFLUENCES ARE EXERTED BY THE FAMILY DURING MIDDLE CHILDHOOD? • Parent – Child Relationships • Focus on school-related matters, chores, peer activities • Co-regulation – transfer of control from parent to child • Spend less time with parents than during younger years • Become more critical of parents • View parents as main source of emotional support • Mothers more involved in caregiving tasks; fathers more involved in recreational pursuits

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF HAVING LESBIAN OR GAY PARENTS? DIVORCE? • General adjustment of same sex parents is comparable to children of heterosexual parents • Divorce has been connected to a decline in parenting skills, financial strain; organization of family life may deteriorate • Difficult to isolate effects of divorce if there has been conflict in the marriage • Young child may feel responsible for conflict • Children of divorce • More likely to have conduct disorders, lower self-esteem, drug abuse and poor grades; Physical health may decline, at least temporarily • More impact during the first year; boys tend to have more challenges with adjusting than girls

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT ON CHILDREN? • Greatest concern is lack of supervision • No evidence of negative effects • Some indication of positive effects • Greater independence, emotional maturity, and higher achievement orientation • More flexible gender roles • The family unit, siblings, parent support all continue to be very important during middle childhood

PEER RELATIONSHIPS

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF PEERS DURING MIDDLE CHILDHOOD? • Socialization Influence • Increasing importance of peers • Exert pressure to conform • Broaden children • Difference relating to parents versus peers • Learn appropriate emotional responses to each • Peers may serve as a sounding board • Peers provide “real-world” practice

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POPULAR AND REJECTED CHILDREN? • Popular Children • Tend to be attractive and mature for age • Socially skilled • Have higher self-esteem and success • Rejected Children • Show behavioral and learning problems • Are aggressive and disruptive • Aggressive Children • Tend to seek out other aggressive children

HOW DO CHILDREN’S CONCEPTS OF FRIENDSHIP DEVELOP? • Early Middle Childhood • Friendships based on proximity, shared activities • 8 - to 11 -year-olds • Friends are nice to each other and trustworthy • Pick friends similar in personality and behavior • Tend to be segregated by sex • Girls develop closer friendships

HOW DO CHILDREN’S CONCEPTS OF FRIENDSHIP DEVELOP? • Five Stages of Concepts of Friendship (Selman, 1980) • Momentary physical interaction 3 -6 • One-way assistance 5 -9 • Fair-weather cooperation 7 -12 • Intimate and mutual sharing 10 -15 • Autonomous Interdependence 12 and above • Childhood friends interact differently • More verbal, attentive, expressive, responsive to each other • More cooperation • Less intense conflict and strive to maintain positive interaction • Typically report more than one ‘best’ friend

THE SCHOOL

ENTRY INTO SCHOOL: GETTING TO KNOW YOU • Upon starting school, children must • Meet academic challenges • Learn new expectations • Fit into peer group • Three factors to consider in school readiness • Diversity and inequity of early life experiences • Individual differences in development and learning • Reasonable and appropriate expectations of children’s capabilities

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SCHOOL? • Effective schools have • Energetic leadership • Empowered teachers and students • Orderly atmosphere • Academic curriculum with frequent assessment • High expectations for students • Smaller class size

THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS • Student performance • Management of the classroom • Emotional climate of classroom • Teacher expectations • Pygmalion effect • Expectations can become self-fulfilling prophecies • Sexism in the classroom • Girls are treated unequally by teachers, peers, tests, and curriculum • Bullying at school. . what do you think of the causes? ? What are solutions to prevent bullying and to deal with it when it occurs? ?

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS

WHAT ARE CONDUCT DISORDERS? • Conduct disorders • Child consistently breaks rules or violates rights of others • Emerge around age 8, more prevalent in boys • Tend to endure • Origins of conduct disorder • Genetic component • Inconsistent discipline, antisocial family members, deviant peers • Treatment of conduct disorders • Cognitive behavioral techniques involving parent training • Teach children social, coping, and problem-solving skills

WHAT IS CHILDHOOD DEPRESSION? • Depressed children • • Feel sad, down in the dumps Show poor appetite, insomnia, difficulty concentrating Loss of self-esteem and of interest in people and activities they enjoy Feel hopeless and show thoughts of suicide • Many children do not recognize their own depression until age 7 • Cognitive development to perceive internal states • Estimate 5% to 9% of children are seriously depressed in any year

WHAT IS CHILDHOOD DEPRESSION? • Origins of depression • Low levels of social and academic competence • Stressful life events and poor problem solving • Attribute failures to internal, stable, and global factors • Genetic factors • Treatment of depression • Psychotherapy • Antidepressants

CHILDHOOD ANXIETY • Generalized anxiety disorder • Phobias • Separation anxiety disorder • Obsessive-compulsive disorder

WHAT IS SEPARATION ANXIETY DISORDER? • Persistent and excessive separation anxiety • Inappropriate for developmental level • Interferes with activities • Children with SAD • Cling to parents and may refuse to attend school • Frequently develops after stressful life event

PREVENTION OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN • • • LISTEN TO THEM and their concerns Monitor performance in school; help as needed Monitor physical health Foster meaningful peer relations Consider family history Parents need to stay involved; continue to guide, challenge, enjoy their children • Nurture interests; foster their development of self concept and self esteem • Foster independence; coping skills • Seek professional help when concerns arise