Child Development. Feldman. Ch 13

Industry-versus-inferiority stage

focus on efforts to attain competence in meeting the challenges presented by parents, peers, school, and the other complexities of the modern world
Success: Feelings of mastery and proficiency & growing sense of competence
Difficulties: feelings of failure and inadequacy - withdrawal from academics and interaction with peers

middle childhood

6 - 12. all about about competency according to Erikson

Quest for self-understanding during middle childhood

-Shifting focus from external characteristics to internal, psychological traits
-less simplistic and more complex self-views
-personal and academic spheres of self-concept

non-academic self concept

components of physical appearance, peer relations and physical ability. beliefs and cognition about the self

Academic self concept

components of physical appearance, peer relations and physical ability. beliefs and cognition about the self

Social Comparison

The desire to evaluate one's own behavior, abilities, expertise, and opinions by comparing them to those of others

Festinger

when concrete, objective measures of ability are lacking, people turn to social reality to evaluate themselves

Social Reality

Understanding that is derived from how others act, think, feel, and view the world

Downward social comparisons

-competent or successful
-protect children's self esteem
-helps explain why some students in elementary schools with generally low achievement levels have stronger academic self-esteem than very capable students in schools with high achievement levels

Self-Esteem

An individual's overall and specific positive and negative self-evaluation
-self-esteem develops in important ways during middle childhood
-as children progress into the middle-childhood years, however, their self-esteem is higher in some areas and lower in others
emotionally oriented

Change in Stability in Self-Esteem

-become trapped in a cycle of failure in which low self-esteem feeds on itself by producing low expectations and poor performance
-children increasingly compare themselves to others
-children are developing their own standards
-self-esteem becomes differentiated and, for most children, increases during middle childhood
-children with low self esteem may become enmeshed in a cycle of failure that is difficult to break, although using authoritative child-rearing practices may help break the cycle

Race and Self-Esteem

Although white children initially show higher self esteem than black children, black children begin to show slightly higher self esteem than white children around the age of 11. Hispanics also show increase in self esteem at end of middlechildhood. Asian American children show opposite pattern.

Social identity theory

A theory that predicts certain intergroup behaviors on basis of perceived status, legitimacy, and permeability of the intergroup environment
-one explanation of minority group status and self esteem differences

Relationships

From a focus of mutual liking and time spent together through the consideration of personal traits and the rewards that friendship provides to an appreciation of intimacy and loyalty
a) friendships influence children's development in several ways
1) Friends provide info about the world and other people
2) provide emotional support and help kids to handle stress
3) friends teach children how to manage and control their emotions
4) teach about communiaction with others
5) foster intellectual growth
6) allow children to practice relationship skills

Stages of Friendship according to Damon

1) Basing friendship on others' behaviors. 4 - 7. Presenting opportunities for pleasant interaction
2) Basing friendship on mutual trust. 8 - 10. personal qualities and traits as well as rewards they provide are taken into consideration.
3) Basing friendship on psychological closeness. 11 - 15. feelings of closeness. exclusive, loyal. Children also develop clear ideas about which behaviors they seek in their friends - and which they dislike

More popular children

-tend to form friendship with more popular individuals
-have more friends
-more popular children are likely to form cliques, groups that are viewed as exclusive and desirable

Less popular children

-more likely to have friends who are less popular

Popular children are

helpful, cooperative, funny, able to read non verbal behavior, can control non verbal beahvior better

Social Competence

-The collection of social skills that permit individuals to perform successfully in social settings
--although generally poplular children are friendly, open, and cooperative, one subset of popular boys displays an array of negative behaviors
-despite these behaviors, they may be viewed as cool and tough by their peers, and they are often remarkably popular

Social Problem-Solving abilities

a) social problem solving refers to the use of strategies for solving social conflicts in ways that are satisfactory both to oneself and to others
1) they are helpful and cooperative
2) they have a good sense of humor
3) they have good emotional understanding
4) they ask for help when necessary
5) they are not overly reliant on others
6) they can adapt to social situations

Social Problem-Solving

The use of strategies for solving social conflicts in ways that are satisfactory both to oneself and to others
--According to Dodge, successful social problem solving proceeds through a series of steps that correspond to children's information processing strategies
--popular children are better at interpreting the meaning of others' behavior accurately
--Unpopular children may become victims of learned helplessness

learned helplessness

Unable to understand the root of one's unpopularity, children may feel they have no ability to improve. As a result, they give up and not try to be involved with peers which becomes a self fulfilling prophecy reducing the chances they will be popular in the future.

Gender and Friendship

the segregation of friendships according to gender occurs in almost all societies
-friendship patterns among boys and girls are quite different
2) boys have a strict dominance hierarchy, which is composed of rankings that represent the relative social power of those in a group hierarchy
3) boys attempt to maintain and improve their status in the hierarchy, which makes for a style of play known as restrictive play where interactions are interrupted when status is challenged
4) girls focus on one or two "best friends" of relatively equal status
5) conflicts among girls are solved by compromise, ignoring the situation, or giving in
6) girls, however, can be confrontational with other girls not their friends or with boys
7) girls' language is less confrontational and direct than boys'

Dominance Hierarchy

relative social power of those in a group

How old are children aware of prejudice and discrimination?

11 - 12

School-yard / cyber-yard bullies

90% of middle-school students report being bullied at some point in their time at school, beginning as early as the preschool years
-about 10% to 15% of students bully others at one time or another. half come from abusive homes. other half watching violent TV
-although bullies are sometimes popular among their peers, some ironically become victims of bullying themselves

Development: increasing children's social competence

1) encourage social interaction
2) teach listening skills to children
3) make children aware that people display emotions and moods non-verbally
4)teach conversational skills, including the importance of asking questions and self disclosure

Coregulation

A period in which parents and children jointly control children's behavior
--Increasing independence characterizes children's behavior during middle childhood
--Parents increasingly provide broad, general guidelines for conduct - children have control over their everyday behavior

Family life

-During the middle years of childhood, children spend significantly less time with their parents than in earlier years
-Siblings also have an important influence on children during middle childhood, for good and for bad
-Sibling rivalry can occur, with siblings competing or quarreling with one another

Working Parents

-In most cases, children whose parents both work full-time fare well.
-The good adjustment of children whose mothers and fathers both work relates to the psychological adjustment of the parents, especially mothers

Self-Care children

children who let themselves into their homes after school and wait alone until their caretakers return from work; previously known as latchkey children
-in sum, the consequences of being a self-care child are not harmful
-children may develop an enhanced sense of independence and competence

Divorce

-short-term consequences of divorce can be quite difficult, the longer term consequences are less clear
-studies found that 18 months to 2 years later, most children begin to return to their pre-divorce state of psychological adjustment
-there is also evidence that the fallout from divorce lingers

Single parent families

consequences:
variety of factors
family economic status
amount of time that parent is able to spend with the child
degree of stress in household

Multigenerational Families

-presence of multiple generations in the same house can make for a rich living experience for children, who experience the influence of both their parents and their grandparents
-on the other hand, multigenerational families have the potential for conflict, with several adults acting as disciplinarians without coordinating what they do

Blended Family

A remarried couple that has at least one stepchild living with them
-challenging for the children, role ambiguity
-school-age children often do surprisingly well
-not all children adjust well to life in blended family

Gays

-children develop similarly to those of heterosexual families
Experience:
a) less abuse than those of heterosexual parents
b) the same numbers and types of friends as those with heterosexual parents
c) behavior no more or less-gender-typed
d) state of being well-adjusted
e) adolescent romantic relationships and sexual behavior that is no different from those of adolescents living with opposite-sex parents

Race

African americans have strong sense of family. social and economic support of extended family is critical.
Hispanic also have strong sense of family. sense of self tied to family. larger families.
Asian fathers disciplinarians. Family has higher priority than self. males will take care of family

Poverty

Poor families have fewer resources.

Group home

Home for children whose parents are no longer able to care for them adequately. 3/4 Victims of neglect or abuse. $40,000 a kid 10 times the cost if foster care

How do children's views of themselves change during middlechildhood?

-according to Erikson, children are in the industry=versus-inferiority state focusing on achieving competence and responding to a wide range of personal challenges.
-Children are engaged in making a place for themselves in their social world by working increasingly with others and navigating different social groups and roles.
-the begin to view themselves in terms of psychological characteristics and to differentiate their self-concepts into separate areas. They use social comparisons to evaluate their behavior, abilities, expertise and opinions.

How would you explain the importance of self esteem during the middlechildhood years?

Children in those years are developing self esteem; those with chronically low self esteem can become trapped in a cycle of failure in which low self esteem feeds on itself by producing low expectations and poor performance.

What sorts of relationships and friendships are typical of middle childhood?

Children's understanding of friendship passes through stages from a focus on mutual liking and time spent together through the consideration of personal traits and the rewards that friendship provides to an appreciation of intimacy and loyalty

What personal characteristics lead to popularity

popular children generally are helpful to others, have good sense of humor , are likely to understand the emotions of others and can control their nonverbal behavior

What is social competance?

Popularity in children is related to traits that underlie social competence. Because of the importance of social interactions and friendships, developmental researchers have engaged in efforts to improve social problem solving skills and the processing of social imformation

how does gender affect friendship?

Children generally prefer same gender relationships. Male friendships are characterized by groups, clear dominance hierarchies and restrictive play. female friendships tend to involve one or tow close relationships, equal status and a reliance on cooperation.