Social Development

Early and Middle ChildhoodPersonalitySelf-esteemDivorce and ChildrenFriendships

Personality Development:Erikson Early Childhood Initiative vs. Guilt

Play fosters initiative and develops a conscience that is not too strict.

Play develops new skills. Negative outcome is guilt

Middle Childhood Industry vs. Inferiority

Energy directed toward mastering knowledge and intellect

Inferiority in related to a feeling of incompetence

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Emergence of Self-Esteem

Self-esteem: Early Childhood Sense of self-worth Related to the emergence of self-conscious emotions Preschoolers usually rate own ability high. High self-esteem initiative Criticism undermines self-esteem.

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Development of Self-Esteem

Middle Childhood Changes in Level of Self-Esteem

Drops in first years of elementary school. More realistic self-appraisal From fourth to sixth grade, self-esteem rises.

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Development of Self-Esteem Hierarchically Structured

Contexts of evaluation: Classrooms, playgrounds, and peer groups

Age 6 to 7, three self-esteems—academic, social, and physical

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Influences on Self-Esteem

Children with high social self-esteem are better liked by peers. Aggressive children are less liked

Academic self-esteem predicts school achievement. Early reading approaches in Whole Language stress

success and reinforcing exploration of text and books Child-Rearing Practices

Authoritative child-rearing style leads to positive self-esteem

Authoritarian parenting leads to more negative self-esteem

Indulgent/Permissive parenting leads to poor self-regulation, non-compliance, poor respect for others

Developmental consequences of maltreatment Poor emotional regulation Attachment problems Problems in peer relations Difficulty adapting to school Other forms of problems such as depression,

anxiety, and down the road, personality problems and delinquency

Moral Development

Definition: Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding standards of right vs. wrong

Heteronomous Morality, stage 1 age 4 to 7 Justice and rules are unchangable properties of the world

(Kohlberg’s Preconventional Reasoning)

Autonomous Morality, stage 2 age 10+ Rules and laws are created by people, person’s intent and

consequences are important. Individuals abide by interal standards that still come from others (Kohlberg’s Conventional Reasoning)

Example: Which is worse, breaking 12 cups by accident or 1 cup while stealing a cookie?

Kohlberg’s Postconventional Reasing Morality internalised as rights and principles transcend law, e.g.,

speeding to get someone to the hospital.

Problems with Kohlberg

Too much emphasis on thought and not behavior Cultural biases Family processes

Kohlberg thought it was unimportant, but in fact some parents teach moral behavior by stressing the impact of behavior on someone else’s feelings

Too rule- and justice-based, may be gender-biased Carol Gilligan has stressed caring behavior within

relationships as a basis of moral behavior, something girls are known to do

Prosocial behavior and altruism Unselfish behavior that helps others Young children “share” for social play and imitation,

not empathy They initially share things to “get their way” part of

the time This requires “future-oriented thinking” as

gratification needs to be delayed E.g., do you want $10 today or $20 next week?

Sharing, perspective-taking, recognising the emotions of others, and adult reinforcement is all important

Divorce and children: Purposes of a Custody and Access Assessment The purpose of a custody and access assessment is to assess

children’s needs and make recommendations when birth parents can not agree on what is in the children’s best interests and well-being. developmental, physical, medical, socio-emotional, and cognitive needs.

Separation: Separation agreements, access, interim orders, Family Court

Divorce: “Final” determination in Divorce decrees when all unresolved matters are determined, Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

Parenting Capacity: Questions are child protection issues, initiated through Family and Children’s Services or through parents themselves, child may be in F&CS care, Family Court

Over-riding principle is CPA’s Ethical Code Family Conflict is negative for children regardless of whether

families are intact or not – there is no magic solution of “staying together for the sake of the children”

Definitions

Custody: Legal guardianship. Includes physical care of the child and decision-making over education, religion, activities, and health care

Access: Living/access arrangements. The opportunity to visit or have contact with the child. Federal statute suggests parents with access rights have access to information

Federal and Provincial Acts are useful, such as the Divorce Act and Family and Children’s Services Act

Over 90% of families create their own solutions, C&A Assessments are thus by definition in adversarial or complex cases

Societal bias: From “truechristian.com”

Nova Scotia Guidelines: Process of a C&A Assessment

Files are current and exhaustive Multiple avenues of data collection Parents treated equally Data should address children’s best interests only Children’s wishes are assessed indirectly Location of meetings: Use judgment Avoid undue influence of lawyers and/or parents Consult with child protection services as appropriate Plans for feedback Offer NO opinion on someone not assessed

Justice Canada Data from Stats Can: Distribution of minor children for whom there was a custody order at divorce, according to the

type of arrangement, Canada, 1970-2000

Stepfamilies

Blended families Women have a harder time integrating than

men Stepfathers can act distant and disengaged

from stepchildren, act like “polite strangers” Complex blended families

Both parents bring children in, hardest on the children

Simple stepfamilies Only one parent brings children in

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PEER RELATIONS

Advances in Peer Sociability (Parten) Nonsocial activity

Unoccupied play, Onlooker play, and solitary play Parallel play

Plays near other children with similar materials Mimics but does not interact.

Highest level Associative play

Engaged in separate activities, but interact Both in sandbox, lending toys, but separate activities

Cooperative play Actions are directed toward a common goal Building a town together, same activity

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Friendships: Middle Childhood Like each other's personal qualities and respond

to one another's needs Trust is the defining feature. Violations of trust

are a serious breach. Same age, sex, ethnicity, and SES

Schools and neighborhoods can affect friendships.

Some social groups tend to be within gender such as “Sparks”, some do not, such as soccer

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Peer Acceptance

Assessed by self-reports of likeability and sociometric ratings of others

Four types of response Popular children

Many positive votes Rejected children

Actively disliked Controversial children

Positive and negative votes Neglected children

Seldom chosen

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Peer Acceptance

Social behavior determines whether liked or rejected Popular are sensitive, friendly, and cooperative Rejected-aggressive are hostile, hyperactive,

inattentive, and impulsive Rejected-withdrawn are passive and socially awkward,

at risk for abuse by bullies Controversial are hostile and disruptive, but engage in

positive, prosocial acts Neglected are well adjusted but shy

Bullying

Defined as an intent to hurt, repeated action, no clear provocation, powere imbalance, and has negative impact on the victim

Victims can be depressed, lose interest in schoolwork, and even avoid school

Bullies are at risk to be abusive within later adult relationships, harrass others

Intervention programs focus on identification of problem behavior, use school-wide rules against the behavior, form friendships with victims, and disseminate anti-bullying messages

Start Friday

Gender

Physical difference in size and strength, but only after puberty

Males are more aggressive, but this is likely a socialisation effect If aggression is defined as verbal assault, girls may be

more aggressive: would you rather be pushed down or the subject of gossip?

Males are supposed to be better at math, maybe due to visuo-spatial ability, but these differences are very small and overdramatised

Education is correlated to androgyny Social constructions are very powerful

Television and children

What does television do?

Takes away time from reading, social play, physical activity, creativity, expressive language

Can expose children to ethnic and other stereotypes Gives false impression that “everything works out” Can portray violent role models

Behavior is modelled when consequences are not seen Experiment was conducted in which cartoons had violence

removed and children watched these for 11 days: Observed more violent acts in children whose cateeons were not changed than those with these edits.

Parallel Research on Violence in Videogames

Anderson, B.A., & Bushman, B.J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: a meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12, 353-9.

violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults.

Experimental and nonexperimental studies with males and females in laboratory and field settings support this conclusion.

Exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases prosocial behavior.

Trends in Education

Private schooling School uniforms: Good or bad? Early identification of reading readiness prior

to elementary registration Reduction of religious affiliations of schools

(has this really happened?) Compensating for SES issues, such as

breakfast and after-school programming Ethnic diversity/ appreciation vs. segregation