Kathleen Stassen Berger Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A. 1 Part IV The School Years: Psychosocial Development Chapter Thirteen The Peer Group Families and Children The Nature of the Child

2 The School Years: Psychosocial Development In middle childhood, children break free from the closely supervised and limited arena of younger years. They venture forth in the neighborhood, experiencing friendships and other social complexities…it is a time for interplay between expanding freedom and guiding forces,…they experience coping strategies and inner strengths.

3 The Peer Group getting along with peers is crucial during middle childhood difficulties with peers can cause serous problems, and being well-liked is protective there is developmental progression in peer relationships

4 The Peer Group social comparison –the tendency to assess one’s abilities, achievements, social status, and other attributes by measuring them against those of other people, especially one’s peers

5 The Peer Group Culture of Children the particular habits, styles, and values that reflect the set of rules and rituals that characterize children as distinct from adult society –deviancy training the process whereby children are taught by their peers to avoid restrictions imposed by adults

6 The Peer Group Children’s Moral Codes –Age 7 to 11 are: years of eager, lively searching on the part of children…as they try to understand things, to figure them out, but also to weigh the rights and wrongs…this is the time for growth of the moral imagination, fueled constantly by the willingness, the eagerness of children to put themselves in the shoes of others (Cole, 1997)

7 The Peer Group Children’s Moral Codes –school-age children are more likely to behave prosocially than are younger children (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998) –social efficacy people come to believe that they can affect their circumstances; this belief then leads to action that changes the social context

8 The Peer Group Stages of Moral Reasoning –Kohlberg’s described three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional moral reasoning –rewards and punishments conventional moral reasoning –social rules postconventional moral reasoning –moral principles

9 The Peer Group What Children Value –moral specifics vary between and within nations and within one ethnic group in one region –children seek respect from each other –children’s moral precepts are not necessarily the ones that adults endorse

10 The Peer Group What Children Value –Three common values among 6 to 11 year-olds are: protect friends don’t tell adults what is happening don’t be too different from your peers which explains both apparent boredom and overt defiance

11 The Peer Group Social Acceptance –aggressive-rejected rejected by peers because of antagonistic, confrontational behavior –withdrawn-rejected rejected by peers because of timid, withdrawn, and anxious behavior

12 The Peer Group Social Awareness –social cognition the ability to understand social interactions, including the cause and consequences of human behavior –effortful control the ability to regulate one’s emotions and actions through effort, not simply through natural inclination

13 The Peer Group Friendship –school-age children value personal friendships –friendship lead to psychosocial growth –peer acceptance (popularity) and close friendship (mutual loyalty) both affect social interaction and emotional health among 5 th graders

14 The Peer Group Friendship –becomes more intense and intimate as children grow older –studies found that children had about the same number of friends no matter what their home background –those from violent homes had fewer closer friends and were lonelier

15 The Peer Group Friendship –becomes more intense and intimate as children grow older –older children tend to choose best friends whose interests, values, and background are similar to their own –older children tend to choose best friends whose interests, values, and backgrounds are similar to their own

16 The Peer Group Bullies and Victims –isolated attacks, occasional insults, and unexpected social slights occur in childhood –defining terms bullying –repeated, systematic efforts to inflict harm through physical, verbal, or social attack on a weaker person bully-victim –someone who attacks others, and who is attacked as well—also called provocative victims because they do things that elicit bullying, such as taking a bully’s pencil

17 The Peer Group –Can bulling be stopped? most children find ways to halt ongoing victimization by: –ignoring –retaliating –defusing –avoiding

18 The Peer Group –Can bulling be stopped? Olweus used an ecological-systems approach: –sent pamphlets to parents –showed videos to students –trained school staff –increased supervision during recess –classroom discussion on how to stop bullying –befriend lonely children

19 Families and Children genes affect temperament as well as ability peers are vital and schools and cultures influence what, and how much, children learn

20 Families and Children parental practices make a difference in how children develop… or do they? some developmental researchers have expressed doubts, suggesting that genes, peers, and communities are so powerful that there may be little room left

21 Families and Children Shared and Nonshared Environment –shared environment household influences that are the same for two people, such as children reared together –nonshared environment when siblings have different friends and different teachers

22 Families and Children Family Function and Dysfunction –family structure the legal and genetic relationship (nuclear, extended, step) among relatives in the same home –family function the way a family works to meet the needs of its members…children need families to provide basic material necessities, encourage learning, develop self-respect, nurture friendships, and foster harmony and stability

23 Families and Children Family Function and Dysfunction –school-age children thrive if their families function for them in five ways: provide basic necessities encourage learning develop self-respect nurture peer relationships ensure harmony and stability

24 Families and Children Diverse Structures –household defined by the U.S. Census as all the people who live together in the same home –structure nuclear family: –a family that consists of a father, a mother, and their biological children under the age of18 single-parent family: –a family that consists of only one parent and his or her biological children under age18 extended family: –a family of three or more generations living in one household

25 Families and Children Connecting Structure and Function –family structure and family function are intertwined –blended family: a family that consists of two adults and the children of the prior relationships of one or both parents and/or the new partnership

26 Families and Children Family Trouble –low income and high conflict –financial stress and family fighting often co-occur because they feed on each other Family Income –correlates with both function and structure –family-stress model holds that the crucial question to ask about any risk factor is how does: low income divorce unemployment increase the stress on families

27 Families and Children Harmony and Stability –ideally parents should form an alliance, learning to cooperate and protect the children in any family the child’s well-being can decline if family members fight, or are physically or verbally abusive to each other –no structure inevitably either harms children or guarantees good family function

28 The Nature of the Child Psychoanalytic Theory –stresses that school-age children are eager to learn about their expanding social universe –latency Freud’s terms for middle childhood, during which children’s emotional drives and psychosocial needs are quiet (latent). Freud thought that sexual conflicts from earlier stages are only temporarily submerged, to burst forth again at puberty

29 The Nature of the Child Psychoanalytic Theory –Industry versus inferiority the fourth of Erikson’s eight psychosexual developmental crises, during which children attempt to master many skills, developing a sense of themselves as either industrious or inferior, competent or incompetent

30 The Nature of the Child Self-Concept –social comparison, effortful control, loyalty, and appreciation of peers and parents typically capture the nature of school-age children –self-criticism and self-consciousness tend to rise from ages 6 to12, as self- esteem dips for children who live with unusual stresses

31 The Nature of the Child Self-Concept –if children are already stressed they tend to have lower academic achievement –cultural differences make self-esteem more complex –many cultures expect children to be modest

32 The Nature of the Child Coping and Overcoming –the school-age child’s expanding social world and developing cognition can bring disturbing problems

33 The Nature of the Child Resilience and Stress –resilience: the capacity to develop optimally by adapting positively to significant adversity resilience is dynamic, not a stable trait resilience is a positive adaptation to stress adversity must be significant

34 The Nature of the Child Social Support and Religious Faith –a strong bond with a loving and firm parent can see a child through many difficulties –parenting practices can buffer stress and adversity –the social world of school-age children allows for new possibilities for social support

35 The Nature of the Child Social Support and Religious Faith –a self-righting characteristic that seems evident in all humans and naturally deals with problems –well-equipped, well-intentioned school-age children must connect to at least one other person an example of self-righting is a child’s use of religion—which provides social support via an adult from the same community

36 The Nature of the Child Social Support and Religious Faith –faith can be psychologically protective –parents can provide religious guidance –many children believe that prayer is communication, expecting prayer will make them fell better—when they are sad or angry –religious beliefs become increasingly useful as school-age children cope with problems