The Development of Children, Seventh Edition Cynthia Lightfoot, Michael Cole, and Sheila R. Cole Chapter 10: Contexts of Development

Chapter Overview The Family Context Nonparental Child Care Neighborhoods and Communities Media Contexts Contexts, Risks, and Resilience

Contexts of Development Nested, interacting ecosystems

Contexts of Development resources for positive growth challenges to health and well-being

I. The Family Context Family structure influences development Culture influences family structure

Biocultural Origins of Family Family Structure The social organization of a family. Common forms: Nuclear Extended

Family Structure Nuclear families Families consisting of parents and their children.

Extended Families Extended families Families in which not only parents and their children, but other kin share a household. Biological/Evolutionary Perspective Allocaregiving Cooperative breeding

Parenting Practices Parenting goals The survival goal: ensuring their children’s survival The economic goal: ensuring they will be economically productive adults The cultural goal: sharing the group’s values

Parenting Styles Diana Baumrind’s three patterns of parenting: Authoritative Authoritarian Permissive

Authoritative Parents behavior exert some control use reasoning express warmth

Authoritarian Parents behavior focus on obedience and control use physical punishment tend not to express warmth

Permissive Parents behavior express warmth fail to set standards or exert control

The Role of Siblings Complex relationship Influential factors Intimacy Conflict Influential factors Culture Age Gender Family’s emotional climate

Family Diversity Immigrant Families Single-Parent Families Gay and Lesbian Parents

Immigrant Families Rates: Cultural variations Approximately 22 percent of U.S. children have immigrant parents Cultural variations Parenting styles Values

Single-Parent Families Rates: About half of all children born in U.S. for at least a portion of their lives Effects on children: Behavioral Social Academic

Gay and Lesbian Parents Increasing numbers Research Limitations Parents’ reluctance to discuss, fear of discrimination Lack of reliable information on gay- and lesbian-parent families Still, paints overall positive picture

Factors Impeding Development Poverty Adolescent parent(s) Abuse

Poverty Approximately 1 in 5 children Effects: Housing Health care Education Safety

Poverty Subsequent difficulties mental and physical health problems problems in intellectual development

Adolescent Parents United States among the highest rate in the industrialized world Children are More aggressive Less self-controlled Less intellectually advanced Replace Table 10.2 with Figure 10.10 Teen birth rate (per 1,000 15-19) in the industrialized world

Abuse What constitutes abuse? This Table is now Table 10.2

Causes of Abuse Parent’s childhood experience Stresses on the family Only 30% of those abused as children become abusers Stresses on the family Poverty, drug abuse, education Child’s age, gender and ethnicity Cultural acceptance

I. Apply – Connect – Discuss Using Bronfenbrenner’s model (Chapter 1), analyze the ecology of Alexis and her baby as described in the box about the Louisiana swamp nurse. Describe features of the microsystems, exosystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems. If you lack specific information about the features of a system, try to speculate on the basis of features in the other systems.

II. Nonparental Child Care By age 4, 86 percent of children in the United States experience regular nonparental care.

Three Forms of Nonparental Care Home child care in the children’s own home Family child care in someone else’s home Child-care centers organized facilities supervised by licensed professionals

Developmental Effects of Child Care Physical and intellectual effects Increased stress Intellectual development at least as good as home care Can improve intellectual development, especially for low SES

Developmental Effects of Child Care Social and emotional effects Positive effects: more self-sufficiency and verbal expressiveness Negative effects: more aggressive behavior Importance of warm, responsive caregivers

II. Apply – Connect – Discuss Imagine that you are preparing to have or adopt your first baby, and you are debating about when to return to work. To help you decide, outline the arguments for and against enrolling your baby in a child-care center. Based on the evidence of your arguments, what do you decide to do?

III. Neighborhoods and Communities Community resources Social capital - children’s quality of life - mental health outcomes Community and culture Distressed communities Economic disadvantage Physical and social disorder

III. Apply – Connect – Discuss A newly elected mayor campaigned on promises to tackle the problems affecting a distressed community in his city. He has put you in charge of a task force and wants you to develop a plan for reducing social disorganization.

Apply – Connect – Discuss Generate a list of possible community programs that you think might help reduce social disorganization, and explain why and how they would improve the lives of children in the community.

IV. Media Contexts Variety of media contexts Forms of mass communication Print Media Television Interactive Media Replace table 10.5 with table 10.4 (time spend using media and in other activities)

Television Most common media form used

Television Concerns: Distinguishing between appearance and reality Violence Social stereotyping

Interactive Media Developing cognitive skills Concerns: Divided attention Spatial imagery and representation Concerns: effects on relationships effects of violent action

Interactive Media

IV. Apply – Connect – Discuss Some argue that exposure to violent and aggressive interactive games causes children to be more aggressive. Others believe that such games are a symptom, not a cause, of the fact that our species and/or society is inherently aggressive, and that exposure is unlikely to make much difference.

Apply – Connect – Discuss What is your own position on this classic chicken-or-egg debate? What evidence supports your position?

V. Contexts, Risks, and Resilience Prevention science Seeks to protect children from harm and promote their well-being by identifying risk factors as well as protective factors.

Contexts, Risks, and Resilience Risk factors Personal and environmental characteristics that increase the probability of negative outcomes. Protective factors Factors that may be sources of children’s resilience.

Resilience Resilience The ability to recover quickly from the adverse effects of early experience or persevere in the face of stress with no apparent special negative psychological consequences.

Public Policies International Organizations Government laws and programs such as those designed to promote the welfare of children and families International Organizations Individual Government programs Head Start, WIC

V. Apply – Connect – Discuss Visit the Web site of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) at www.unicef.org. What are the priorities of the organization (see “What We Do”)? Explore the most recent report of the State of the World’s Children.