Family Dynamics and Child Development

Family as a Dynamic System

  • Family dynamics are explored as a system with interconnected elements.
  • Dynamic System Principles:
    • Any event (like a family) can be considered a system with its own purpose, needs, resources, and limitations.
    • The family comprises multiple elements (family members), each also a system with their own purpose, needs, resources, and limitations.
    • Relationships between family members define the system; these relationships are themselves systems.
    • If one family member changes, their relationship with others changes, affecting the entire system.
    • These relationship changes mean family environments are less stable than we think.
  • Examples of Changes in a Family System:
    • Moving houses
    • Starting or ending romantic relationships
    • Birth of a new sibling
    • Starting school or childcare
    • Marriage or divorce
    • Starting or losing a job
  • These changes affect a person's role in the family and, therefore, the entire system.
  • Blu ray episode example: Showed how each family member is affected in different ways.
  • Family as a dynamic system helps us understand the context in which children understand the world.
  • James Oliver argues that family shapes a child's personality and interests.
  • This framework can map changes over time and how those changes affect family members.
  • Two key relationships to understand are caregiver-child and sibling relationships.

Caregiver-Child Relationship and Attachment

  • Attachment: An emotional bond between two people. Caregiver-child attachment is a strong and enduring bond.
  • Three key approaches to caregiver-child attachment:
    • Attachment Theory: A person's relationship with their caregiver informs all their future relationships.
    • Ethological Approaches: The emotional bond ensures the infant is protected, fed, and cared for, ensuring survival.
    • Psychodynamic Approaches: The bond informs the child's mental representation of what a relationship looks like, informing their understanding of themselves and their role in the relationship.
  • Consequences of Attachment:
    • Short-Term:
      • Infant survival
      • Emotional security: Informs infants how much they can rely and trust other people so they are able to build their confidence in exploring new enviroments
      • Co-regulation of emotions: Helps infants recognize and understand their emotions.
    • Long-Term: Informs a child's internal working model (perceptions, expectations, and assumptions) of all relationships.
  • The capacity for attachment is universal, but the emotional bond takes time to develop.
  • Ecological approach says that attachment is really for the child's survival.
  • John Boby identified four phases of an attachment in the child's first two years:
    • Indiscriminate Sociability (0-2 months):
      • Infant uses crying and smiling to communicate needs to everyone around them.
      • Caregiver responds to the infant (caregiver is doing all of the regulating for the child).
    • Attachment in the Making (2-7 months):
      • The child starts to show a strong relationship to the caregiver and starts to show preferences.
      • Reciprocal relationships start to develop.
    • Clear-Cut Attachment (7-24 months):
      • The child can seek out contact with the caregiver.
      • Caregiver offers a secure base for the infant. The comfort given by the caregiver allows the child to explore the world knowing they feel safe.
    • Reciprocal Relationship (24+ months):
      • Child starts to see that the caregiver has their own needs, purpose, resouces and limitations.
      • The caregiver will start to pull away.
      • Mutual regulation
  • Mary Ainsworth's work identifies four distinct attachment patterns:
    • Secure Attachment (60-70%): Infant is upset when the caregiver leaves but is easily comforted when the caregiver returns. Develops trust with the caregiver.
    • Anxious-Resistant Attachment: Infant is upset when the caregiver leaves and is difficult to soothe upon their return. Resist effort to be comforted but they are also seeking to be comforted.
    • Anxious-Avoidant Attachment: Infant is indifferent to their caregiver. Lack of discomfort
    • Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment: Inconsistent and confused behavior. Tends to emerge when infants are not getting clear messages from the caregiver. Parents may need support.
  • Factors Affecting Attachment Patterns:
    • A study found that 62% of infants were securely attached by age three, and 38% had insecure patterns.
    • Childcare:
      • Childcare did not have direct relationship with attachment.
    • Family Environment:
      • Infants in households with high income to needs ratio and high maternal sensitivity were more likely to be securely attached. Childcare can buffer negative impacts of financial distress and low maternal sensitivity.
  • Attachment style can predict social and emotional outcomes in toddlerhood, early childhood, and adulthood.
    • Toddlerhood: Attachment pattern can predict the toddler's ability and willingness to cooperate with other family members.
    • Early Childhood: Different attachment types affect ability to ask for and respond to teacher's help.
    • Adulthood: Attachment patterns affect caregiving behavior to their newborn, having generational effects.
  • New mothers: Stern and colleagues - how new mothers attachment behaviors that were developed when they themselves were infants, do they change over the two years of their child's life
    • Prototype Model: Attachment behaviors that are formed in infancy are relatively fixed. Showed that there is stability in their attachment patterns over that two years of their infant's life.
    • Revisionist Model: Attachment behaviors can change and each meaningful new relationship is a new opportunity to test and revise and challenge a person's perception of what a relationship is.
      • The results showed that mental health and perceived care from others can influence a person's attachment pattern during those two years of transition to parenthood for a new mother.

Sibling Relationship

  • Unique in duration, permanency, intimacy, and shared experiences.
  • Three key aspects:
    • Sibling Rivalry: Competition between siblings
    • Sibling Conflict: Fighting between siblings offers opportunities to learn conflict resolution.
      • Both sibling rivalry and conflicts are normal, very normal and they can be very frequent, particularly with younger children but we've also said that they are actually really important experiences to learn conflict resolution and peer maintenance
      • Problematic - If there is no resolution, then it can lead to depressive behavior.
      • Most Problematic - if the older sibling is using aggressive or antisocial behaviors towards younger sibling
    • Coalition/Alliance: Older and younger siblings help, defend, and support each other.
      • Older siblings help younger ones develop social-cognitive skills and can act as surrogate parents or teachers.
      • Younger siblings reciprocate and demonstrate trust, respect, and admiration, putting the older sibling in a role of responsibility. The coalition helps develop prosocial behaviors and social skills, building confidence.