Emotional and Social Development in Middle Childhood QUESTIONS

What are children's self-concept refined into during school years?

Dispositions

Between what ages do children begin to evaluate themselves based on competencies rather than specific behaviors?

Between ages 8 and 11.

What cognitive process do school-age children frequently engage in to evaluate their own performance?

Social comparisons.

How does the social comparison of a 4-6 year old differ from that of an older school-age child?

Younger children compare against a single peer, while older children can compare multiple individuals at once.

What is the changing content of a child's self-concept a product of?

Cognitive capacities and feedback from others.

In terms of cultural influences on self-concept, what do Western parents tend to emphasize?

Independence and self-assertion.

How do Asian parents' cultural influences on self-concept typically differ from those of Western parents?

Asian parents tend to stress harmonious interdependence.

Upon entering school, how does a child's self-esteem adjust?

To a more realistic level.

What are the four separate self-esteems that children form from their experiences in different settings?

Academic competence, social competence, physical/athletic competence, and physical appearance.

What three negative outcomes are linked to low self-esteem in middle childhood?

Anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior.

How does TV viewing predict self-esteem differently for European-American boys versus girls?

TV viewing predicts higher self-esteem for boys and lower self-esteem for girls.

What type of child-rearing style is linked to higher self-esteem in children?

Authoritative child-rearing style.

What do controlling parents often communicate to their children, potentially harming their self-esteem?

A sense of inadequacy.

What personality trait may indulgent parenting lead to in children?

Narcissism.

What is the counterintuitive effect of inflated praise on a child's self-esteem?

It actually lowers a child's self-esteem.

Children who hold mastery-oriented attributions credit their success to what?

Ability that can be improved with effort (a growth mindset).

What is 'learned helplessness' in the context of achievement-related attributions?

Children attribute failures to ability and credit external factors for successes, holding a fixed mindset.

What type of praise teaches children that ability is fixed?

Person praise (e.g., 'You're so smart').

What does 'process praise' teach children about competence?

It teaches that competence develops through hard work and effective strategies.

What is 'attribution retraining'?

An intervention that encourages learned-helpless children to believe they can overcome failure with more effort and effective strategies.

Which group of mothers made more task-relevant statements after their child's failure on a task?

Chinese mothers.

In middle childhood, how are the self-conscious emotions of pride and guilt governed?

By personal responsibility.

What positive outcome does the emotion of pride motivate in children?

It motivates children to take on further challenges.

Unlike pride, what does the emotion of guilt prompt children to do?

It prompts them to make amends and strive for self-improvement.

Which self-conscious emotion is noted to contribute to adjustment problems?

Shame.

In middle childhood, how do children explain emotion?

By referring to internal states rather than external events.

What development in emotional understanding allows school-aged children to appreciate contradictory facial and situational cues?

An appreciation of mixed emotions.

What is problem-centered coping?

A strategy for emotional self-regulation where one focuses on appraising the situation as changeable, identifying the difficulty, and deciding what to do about it.

When a situation is seen as unchangeable, what type of coping strategy might a child use?

Emotion-centered coping.

What do school-age children acquire when emotional self-regulation develops well?

A sense of emotional self-efficacy.

In middle childhood, how does moral understanding become more flexible?

Children consider not just the action and its impact, but also the actor's intentions and the context or aim.

What does it mean for perspective taking to become 'recursive' in middle childhood?

Children can 'step into another person's shoes' and view their own thoughts, feelings, and behavior from the other person's perspective.

Within what domain do children typically challenge adult authority during middle childhood?

The personal domain.

When faced with conflicting concerns, what do older school-age children typically favor?

Kindness and fairness.

In the development of prejudice, which emerges first: in-group favoritism or out-group prejudice?

In-group favoritism.

What three personal and situational factors are linked to the extent to which children hold racial and ethnic biases?

A fixed view of personality traits, overly high self-esteem, and a social world sorted into groups.

What is an effective strategy for reducing prejudice that involves bringing different groups together?

Intergroup contact, especially long-term contact and collaboration.

Inducing children to view others' traits as _ is an effective strategy for reducing prejudice.

changeable

Peer groups in middle childhood form on the basis of proximity and _?

similarity

What is the defining feature of friendship in middle childhood?

Trust.

What term refers to likability, or the extent to which a child is viewed as a worthy social partner?

Peer acceptance.

Name the five general categories of peer acceptance yielded by self-reports.

Popular, rejected, controversial, neglected, and average children.

Describe popular-prosocial children.

They are socially accepted and admired.

Describe popular-antisocial children.

They are relationally aggressive boys and girls who also engage in prosocial acts.

Which category of peer acceptance is characterized by high rates of conflict, aggression, and impulsive behavior?

Rejected-aggressive children.

What are the key characteristics of rejected-withdrawn children?

They are passive and socially awkward.

Which peer acceptance category includes children who engage in both positive and negative social behaviors but have qualities that protect them from exclusion?

Controversial children.

Children in the _ peer acceptance category are typically well-adjusted but simply not gregarious or outgoing.

neglected

What is peer victimization?

A destructive form of interaction where certain children become targets of verbal and physical attacks or other forms of abuse.

Peer victimization is linked to impaired production of what stress-response hormone?

Cortisol.

What is coregulation in the context of parent-child relationships in middle childhood?

A form of supervision in which parents exercise general oversight while letting children take charge of moment-by-moment decision making.

In middle childhood, sibling _ tends to increase.

rivalry

Jealousy over _ attention is a predictor of sibling conflict.

paternal (father's)

Compared to children with siblings, only children are relatively higher in what three areas?

Self-esteem, achievement motivation, and levels of education.

In what social area are only children sometimes less well-accepted than children with siblings?

In the peer group.

Children of never-married mothers who lack a father's involvement show less favorable cognitive development and engage in more _ behavior.

antisocial

What are three immediate consequences of divorce for children?

Instability, conflict, and a drop in income (also parental stress, disorganized family life).

After a divorce, children's adjustment typically improves after how many years?

Two years.

What is a blended, or reconstituted, family?

A family structure where a parent, stepparent, and children form a new family.

In a mother-stepfather blended family, who tends to adjust more rapidly: boys or girls?

Boys.

In a father-stepmother family, the remarriage of a noncustodial father often has what effect on his relationship with his biological children?

It often reduces his contact with his biological children.

Name three benefits for children when their mothers enjoy their work and remain committed to parenting.

Higher self-esteem, positive family/peer relations, fewer gender stereotypes, better grades, or more father involvement.

What is the term for children who regularly look after themselves for some period of time during after-school hours?

Self-care children.

Before what age do children generally need supervision and are not ready for self-care?

Before age 8 or 9.

What is 'school refusal' that occurs between ages 11-13 often related to?

Fear of particular aspects of school.

What are the perpetrators of child sexual abuse most often like?

They are usually male, and often a parent or someone known by a parent.

Name three psychological consequences of child sexual abuse.

Anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, anger/hostility (also sleep difficulties, suicidal reactions, substance abuse).

What kind of therapy is usually needed for victims of child sexual abuse?

Specialized trauma-focused therapy.

To prepare child witnesses for court, what type of intervention can be used?

Court schools.

List two personal traits that foster resilience in middle childhood.

Easygoing temperament, intelligence, high self-esteem, or good emotional self-regulation.

What two family characteristics foster resilience in children?

A trusting relationship with a parent, authoritative child rearing, or a supportive sibling.

What is the 4Rs Program designed to do?

It is a social and emotional learning program designed to reduce violence and increase academic motivation.