Socioemotional Development in Middle and Late Childhood

Learning Objectives: Socioemotional Development in Middle and Late Childhood

Erikson: Industry vs. Inferiority

• Description: Children in middle and late childhood are industrious, engaging in planning, play, and social activities.

• Outcome: Success leads to a sense of confidence, whereas failure can lead to feelings of inferiority.

Self-Understanding

• Self-Concept: Refers to beliefs about one’s personal identity, including attributes like age, physical characteristics, and competencies.

  • Development leads to a realistic sense of self and strengths and weaknesses through comparisons with peers.

  • Influenced by appraisals from parents, teachers, peers, and media.

• Self-Esteem: Evaluation of one’s self-identity; discrepancies between actual and ideal selves can negatively impact self-esteem.

• Self-Efficacy: Beliefs about one’s capability to perform tasks or reach goals.

  • Believes affect motivation; high self-efficacy encourages task engagement, while low self-efficacy can lead to avoidance.

  • Optimum self-efficacy aligns with true ability.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

• Overview: Built on Piaget’s work, Kohlberg outlined how moral reasoning evolves through stages.

• Three Levels of Moral Reasoning:

  1. Preconventional Morality (Young children to 9): Focus on punishment and rewards.

  • Stage 1: Actions justified by threat of punishment.

  • Stage 2: Actions based on self-interest and potential rewards.

  1. Conventional Morality(Older children to adolescents to most adults): Focus on societal standards and others' opinions.

  • Stage 3: Seek approval from others; pleasing behavior.

  • Stage 4: Observance of laws and social norms.

  1. Postconventional Morality (Rare with adolescents and few adults): Focus on ethical principles and societal good.

  • Stage 5: Laws viewed as social contracts; justice and welfare of others considered.

  • Stage 6: Decisions made based on personal ethical principles.

• Critique: The model may oversimplify moral reasoning and may not capture differences in male and female moral development.

Friendships and Peers

• Importance of peer relationships in middle childhood; friendships help in learning social skills and self-worth.

• Changes in Friendship Conceptualization:

  • Evolving from egocentric to mutual understanding and emotional sharing.

  • Three Stages of Developing Friendship (Bigelow and La Gaipa):

  • Stage 1: Reward-cost (mutual activities).

  • Stage 2: Normative expectation (kindness and sharing).

  • Stage 3: Empathy and understanding (loyalty and intimacy).

• 5 stages of friendship

  • Momentary Physical Interaction (3-6 years) – Friends are those you play with at the moment, based on proximity rather than shared interests.

  • One-Way Assistance (5-9 years) – Friends do nice things for you, but reciprocity is not expected. Children may tolerate unkind friends just to have a friend.

  • Fair-Weather Cooperation (7-12 years) – Friendship is based on fairness and mutual exchange. If favors aren’t returned, the friendship may end.

  • Intimate & Mutual Sharing (8-15 years) – Friends share secrets and offer emotional support. Trust is key, and differing interests may be seen as betrayal.

  • Autonomous Interdependence (12+ years) – Friends accept and appreciate differences. Possessiveness decreases, and multiple friendships are valued.

• Sociometric Assessment: Measures children's preferences in friendships, distinguishing between popular, rejected, controversial, and neglected children.

• Popular-Prosocial – Friendly, cooperative, well-liked.

• Popular-Antisocial – Gain popularity through toughness or spreading rumors.

• Rejected-Withdrawn – Shy, passive, often bullied.

• Rejected-Aggressive – Loud, confrontational, insecure.

• Consequences of Popularity: Positive childhood likability linked to better adult outcomes, while unpopularity can lead to negative emotional and health consequences.

Bullying

• Definition: Unwanted, aggressive behavior in children involving a power imbalance, often repeated over time.

• Types of Bullying:

  • Verbal (teasing, name-calling), social (exclusion, rumor-spreading), physical (harming or destroying property), and cyberbullying (online harassment).

• Consequences of Bullying: Affects self-esteem, academic performance, and health of victims; cyberbullying poses additional risks due to its pervasive nature.

• At-Risk for Bullying: LGBT youth, disabled students, socially isolated individuals, and those perceived as different, weak, unpopular, or overweight are more likely to be bullied.

• Who Bullies?: Bullies often have high self-esteem, social power, and lack empathy. They dominate others rather than bullying out of insecurity.

• Why Victims Stay Silent: Many bullied children don’t seek help due to fear, embarrassment, or social isolation.

• Warning Signs: Injuries, lost belongings, sleep/eating changes, declining grades, avoiding school, low self-esteem, or self-destructive behavior.