HDFS 1070 Exam 2 UConn

During the transition to parenthood

1. identities are transformed

2. new roles are assumed

3. family system rules require adjustment

transitions

transition to motherhood or fatherhood

stress

can be exaggerated by negative connections with family

family system stress

horizontal (over time) /vertical (emotional climate)

pregnancy and parenthood can be thought as

horizontal stress

identity tasks

-shifting family themes

-taking on identity of mom and dad

-becoming child centered

external boundaries

-adjusting connections to family members

-reworking ties with friends

-seeking out information and support

internal boundaries

-reworking patterns of separateness and connectedness

-time together/time apart (reasons why couples fight)

maintenance tasks

-the "traditionalizing effect" of babies

maintaining the emotional climate

-anxiety, stress, emotional support and empathetic responsiveness

-personal stress goes up, empathy goes down

-relationship between expectations and complaints

-reworking the sexual relationship

role

how you behave when you occupy a particular identity

What is the relationship between concepts of roles/identities?

must match up with partner,they are complimentary, cant have one without the other

All Parenting is

some combination of decisions when they interact with the child that shows the commitment to the child, understanding and meeting child's needs, reducing anxieties

parenting roles/strategies

nurturance (responsiveness)

control (demandingness)

Determinants of parenting styles

cultural context

cohort and historical era

developmental history of parent

characteristics of child

contextual sources of stress

contextual sources of support

cultural context

different rules, customs

cohort and historical era

advice changes over time

developmental history of parent

how parent was parented

characteristics of child

gender factor, etc

contextual sources of stress

more stress, less responsive

contextual sources of support

all transitions are easier in the presence of social support

Quantitative differences in mother/father transition to parenthood

more mom at the beginning of baby's life

qualitative differences in mother/father transition to parenthood

care/supervision versus play/stimulation (mom/dad)

-children learn that they will get difference stimulation from parents

mediation rule

father involvement is mediated through the relationship the father has with the mother

maternal gatekeeping

mothers assume they have more parenting knowledge than fathers, men don't respond well

toddler years (2-4yrs) 2 big themes

self assertion and mastery are two big themes

developmental tasks

foundation for later development

-elaboration of locomotive

-fantasy and play

-language development

-social control

fantasy

-important cognitive milestone

-based on the ability to think symbolically

semiotic thinking

the use of mental symbols (words/objects) to stand for something else

play

human necessity, play is mechanism for learning

-important role in facilitating the development of cognitive and social skills

cognitive progressions noted in play

from concrete to symbolic

social progressions noted in play

from parallel to social (parallel play with others, egocentric, not together)

two types of play

social (girls) and active (boys)

language acquisition process

every human brain will posses language acquisition device

LAD

born with ability to abstract out of the environment the meaning of words and the rules for the use of language

Process of Acquisition

is consistent across cultures and languages

one word utterances

around 1 year

-meaning depends on context

two word sentences

around 18-20 months old

-telegraphic speech organized around a small number of consistently used words

around age 3

rapid expansion of competence and performance, use of structural rules of language, overgeneralization of rules

"Is this ice-cream for we?"

"We goed outside."

Wiggle and waggle.

"The worm is wiggling."

The dog is waggling his tail."

"What's a five-head?

psychosocial crisis

dominant theme vs. social control

-successful resolution to crisis leads to autonomous child (self regulation)

Dominant Theme vs. Social Control

the pressure thats placed on kids =Psychosocial Crisis-tension that occurs betweens demands and development of children

Crisis

autonomy vs. shame/doubt

-feeling inadequate, toddlers doubt their abilities

Erikson's Characterization of this Crisis

the crisis of autonomy versus shame and doubt, captures the dynamic psychosocial crisis at that period of time

shame/doubt

shame is the emotion that we experience when we believe we are a failure in the eyes of others, secondary emotion, goes along with doubt because the more you are burdened by feelings of shame and anxiety the greater amounts of doubt you feel that you will be able to master different tasks—unsure about your own competence

success encourages autonomy

failure encourages shame and doubt

Causative Factors Contributing to Child Abuse

no one cause - abuse derives from many causes and therefore needs to be addressed on many different levels

Developmental/Contextual Perspectives on Child Abuse

Societal Factors, Child Factors, Parental Factors, Family System Factors

Societal Factors

societal comfort with aggression and violence; societal comfort with use of force and coercion against kids; respect for individual rights of parents, etc

-child abuse rates differ by society and countries based on how comfortable the country/society is with discipline and use of force against children

Child Factors

highlight again the bi-directional relationship between characteristics of children and parenting strategies - note, not talking about an "abuse-provoking child" in the sense that the child then has responsibility for the abuse. Examples:

difficult temperaments

seen as special(children who have disability, who need to be more closely monitored, nurtured) - meaning stress parents in distinct ways

aggressiveness

when you use aggression against a child, you model that aggression is something to be modeled

Basic Points of Language Aquisition

Onset is maturational

Linguistic competence precedes linguistic performance

Language rich environment promotes both competence and performance

Scaffolding

Prompting

Relationship between poverty and exposure to language

Parental Factors

history of mental illness

unrealistic expectations - limited knowledge of child development

history of abuse (300% more likely yet only about 20 to 30% go on to be abusive parents

concurrent problems - drug and alcohol dependency, for example

stress and impulse control

Family System Factors

high levels of marital conflict and tension combined with

patterns of conflict management that promote scape-goating: detouring/attacking triangles - this helps us to explain why in many instances only one child is discriminated against

Middle Childhood

Industry versus Inferiority

What is the dominant tension of this stage?

Central Process: Education - why education?

Prime Adaptive Ego Quality: Competence

Core Pathology: Inertia

central process

imitation

-young children mastery new challenges through imitation, not instruction

Middle Childhood-Peer Relationships and Play as Developmental Tasks

Become more aware of norms

Become more aware of conformity/peer pressure

prime adaptive ego quality

will, willpower

-inner determination, persistence, what we see in children, kids are determined to solve problems and enjoy problem solving

core pathologies

compulsion

-overcome with anxiety when challenged to either act autonomously or take on new tasks, kids who are filled with shame and doubt spend a lot of time thinking about how they are going to be unable to do things, and have a lot of thinking about in-confidence that interferes with them taking on challenges and new tasks, all in their heads

2 primary tasks of parenting toddlers

develop an individuation enhancing style of parenting and develop strategies for discipline

Shame

is so toxic because its the significant others of the child that are regulating the behaviors and emotions communicate that they are successful or failures

expelling

promotes anxiety about "mattering"

binding

promotes anxiety about competence, overly present, intrusive

2 dimensions of parenting styles

responsiveness and demandingness

4 parenting/discipline styles

authoritarian, indulgent, uninvolved, authoritative

authoritarian

low in responsiveness, high in demandingness

-physical assertions and control

-love withdrawl

-psychological control (shame/guilt)

indulgent

high in responsiveness, low in demandingness

-permissive

-afraid on conflict

uninvolved

low in responsiveness, low in demandingness

-on your own

authoritative

high in responsiveness, high in demandingness

inductive approaches to discipline (authoritative)

-promote emotional intelligence

-explain right and wrong

-separate behavior from child

-judicious use of punishments - loss of reward

child abuse statistics

average 5 kids killed a day by parental figures, estimated more than 3 million kids abused/neglected each year

Judgments of Abuse and Values

Intersubjectivity establishes the cultural norms at any given point in time!

when we say a parent is abusing the child, we are saying they are using parenting strategies that discriminate against the health and well being of the child

there is no objective values

there are agreements about what is and is not proper parenting among experts and law enforcement

types of abuse

not mutually exclusive; all exist on a continuum; all have problems when it comes to defining exactly what they are (complicates identification of children at risk)

physical, emotional, neglect, sexual abuse

physical abuse

physical injury

emotional abuse

attacking the self concept, they are not valued, loved, important, accepted, respected has a cumulative affect over time

neglect

failing to protect and provide for the child, no supervision

sexual abuse

involves an adult engaging in an erotic sexual relationship with a child, is perpetrated by someone who is suffering from mental illness, erotically fixated on a child=mental illness, needs to be treated and understood differently, no evidence that there is any therapeutic method to stop offenders, need to be seperated from community

societal factors of child abuse

-societal comfort with aggression and violence

-societal comfort with use of force and coercion

-respect of individual rights of parents

child factors of child abuse

-bi-directional relationship between characteristics of children / parenting strategies

-not talking about "abuse provoking child" in sense that child has responsibility for abuse

-difficult temperaments

parental factors of child abuse

-history of mental illness (10%)

-unrealistic expectations

-history of abuse (300% more likely, but only 20-30% of parents go on to be abusive)

-concurrent problems (alcohol, drugs)

-stress and impulse control

family system factors of child abuse

-high levels of marital conflict and tension

-patterns of conflict management that promote scape-goating

-detouring/attacking triangles

resilient children

-possess temperament that elicit positive responses from others

-many have special interests/talents

-intelligent, good problem solving skills

-have someone they connect to

decompensators

put under enough stress, they will lose control

-intellectual deficits and academic difficulties

-deficits in social and prosocial behavior

-emotional difficulties

compensators

-internalize shame

-driven to get the approval of parents/others

-no joy, just anxiety

-always anxious about being loved

-high performing, high achieving

vulnerable-to-crisis families

-families involved in maltreatment in which parents are experiencing unusual problems and need temporary help to resolve problems.

-children placed in "protective supervision"

-focus is on providing short term supportive interventions and parenting classes

restorable families

-caregivers may have the potential to provide care but are experiencing problems that impair their parenting abilities

-children are removed from the families and placed in foster care

-parents are evaluated

supportable families

families can meet needs of children only with help of social services. ex. psychiatrically impaired parent or mentally challenged parents

inadequate familes

-parents are chronically unable to care for child

-children are removed until parents terminate their parental rights (trial possible)

-children placed in foster care and experience multiple disrupted attachments

developmental tasks in early school year

-gender identification

-self theory-self esteem

-early moral development

-peer play

3 Aspects of Self Theory

Gender Identity

Self Esteem

Self Efficacy

gender identification

-gender schema

-begin to understand that biological sex is permanent

-sexual orientation: preference for sexual partners

androgyny

high in masculinity and femininity

Masculinity

Active

Independent

Competitive

persistent

Femininity

Open to emotions

Helpful

Sensitive

Warm

acquisition process

In spite of years and years of trying to find a biological basis for gender orientations the conclusion remains, the differences between males and females are due to social not biological factors

social learning theory

reinforcement as shaper of learning, observation and imitation

Socialization And Social Learning Theory

reinforcement as shaper of learning

comment on schedules of reinforcement

intermittent is good enough!

social approval as reinforcement

significant others

radius of significant others shifts over time

observation and imitation

vicarious reinforcement

driven by the desire to obtain approval

vicarious reinforcement

driven by desire to obtain approval

imitation leads to

anticipated approval ex. girl see's mom cooking, if she acts like her she will get her approval

socialization: parents

-what mothering/fathering communicate about gender

-housework patterns and gender

-gender emphasis on boys following culturally prescribed norms

socialization: peers

-greater emphasis, objectifying girls

-brutal when it comes to dis/approval

teachers

-socially appropriate behavior "boys will be boys"

Life-span educational implications

teach to genders differently