Chapter 14: Psychosocial Development

in Middle Childhood

Prepared by

Debbie Laffranchini

From Papalia, Olds, and Feldman

Child Growth and

Development

The Developing

Self

•Self-Concept Development

•Self-Esteem

•Emotional Growth

•Prosocial Behavior

Self-Concept Development

• Judgments about self more

realistic and balanced

• Self-description can focus

on more than one

dimension of self

– No more black/white self-

definition

– Compare to real self and

ideal self

• Contributes to self-esteem,

global self-worth

Self-Esteem • Major determinant of self-esteem is child’s

capacity for productive work

• Erikson’s fourth stage of psychosocial

development: Industry versus inferiority

– Child learns skills valued in their society

• Make bows and arrows, plant, weed, harvest,

hunt, fish, read, use computers, household

skills, ride public transportation

– Virtue: competence

• Child sees themselves as competent with

ability to complete a task with the necessary

skills

– If child feels inadequate (inferior) when

compared to peers, may retreat to protective

embrace of family

– If child becomes too industrious, may

neglect social relationships and become

workaholic

Emotional Growth • As child grows, more aware of their own feelings and

feelings of others – Better regulate their emotions and respond to others’ emotional

distress

– Understand difference between guilt and shame • Guilt imposed by others

• Shame is intrinsic (internal) process

– Better understand conflicting emotions • I love my brother but he gets on my nerves

– Understand culturally appropriate expression of emotions and cultural expectations

• Emotional self-regulation involves voluntary effort to control emotions, attention and behavior – Children low in effortful control become angry or frustrated

– Children high in effortful control stile impulse to show negative emotions at inappropriate times

• May be temperamentally based

• Low effortful control may predict later behavior problems

Prosocial Behavior

• School-age children more empathic and more

inclined to prosocial behavior

• Prosocial children:

– Act appropriately in social situations

– Relatively free of negative emotion

– Cope with problems constructively

• Parents acknowledge children’s feelings of distress

and help them deal with the source of distress

– Fosters empathy, prosocial development and social skills

• When parents respond with disapproval or

punishment, anger and fear become more intense

and impairs social adjustment or causes child to be

secretive and anxious about negative feelings

The Child in the

Family

•Family Atmosphere

•Family Structure

•Sibling Relationships

Family Atmosphere

• School-age children spend more

free time away from home

– Spend more time at school and on

studies and less time at family meals

than 20 years ago

• 65% of children have dinner with at least

one parent

– 25% of children don’t talk or play with

a parent at least once a day

Family Atmosphere Parenting Issues: Coregulation and Discipline

• Control of behavior gradually shifts from

parents to child

• Parents manage less and discuss more

• Affects discipline

– More likely to use inductive techniques

• Moral values “big strong boy shouldn’t…”

• Appeal to self-esteem “helpful boy…”

• Consequences “no wonder you…”

– Mothers who used guilt to discipline but were

highly affectionate produced child with more

behavior problems

• Inconsistent messages?

• If family conflict is constructive, helps

children see need for rules and standards

Family Atmosphere

Effects of Parents’ Work • 70% of US mothers with children work

• More satisfied mother is with employment status, more

effective parent she is

• Impact on family depends on:

– Family’s SES

– Kind of care child receives before and after school

– Child’s age

– Sex

– Temperament

– Personality

– Whether mother works full- or part-time

– Why mother is working

– Whether she has a supportive partner

• 9% of school age children care for themselves

Family Atmosphere Poverty and Parenting

• 17% of US children live in poverty

– 33% black children

– 29% Hispanic children

– Children living with single mothers 5 times more likely to be poor than

children living with married couples

• 42% compared to 9%

• Poor children more likely to have emotional or behavioral problems

• Parents in poverty more likely to be anxious, depressed, irritable,

less affectionate and less responsive to children, discipline

inconsistently, harshly and arbitrarily

• Patterns for parents and children not inevitable

• Effects of persistent poverty are complex: transitory poverty during

first four years of child’s life less damaging than later, chronic

poverty

– Most damaging to children are unstimulating home environment, unstable adult

relationships, psychiatric problems, violent or criminal behavior, lack of maternal

sensitivity

Family Structure

• 1970 87% of children lived with two married parents

• 2004 67% of children lived with two married parents – 10% of two-parent families are stepfamilies

– 4% are cohabiting families

– Gay or lesbian families are increasingly more common

– Grandparent-headed families increasingly more common

Family Structure

• Children (biological and adoptive) tend to do better in families with two continuously married parents than cohabiting, divorced, single-parent, stepfamilies or when the child is born outside of marriage – Outcome better for children growing up with two happily married parents

• Children have higher standard of living

• Parents more effective in parenting

• More cooperative co-parenting

• Closer relationships with both parents (especially fathers)

• Fewer stressful events

– 20% children live in households with no father

– 13% of children have never seen their fathers

• Poor children, black children, Hispanic children most likely to have no father in home

• Father’s frequent, positive involvement from infancy on

related to physical, cognitive and social development

Family Structure When Families Divorce

• US has one of highest divorce rates in world

– Divorces have tripled since 1960

– 1 million children involved in divorces each year

• Divorce is stressful for children

– Marital conflict, parental separation, departure of one parent

(usually father), don’t understand, standard of living likely to

drop, relationship with noncustodial parent suffers, remarriage,

feelings of loss

– Children exhibit more emotional and behavioral problems

• Anxiety, depression, antisocial behavior

– Adjustment depends on child’s age, gender, temperament,

psychosocial adjustment prior to divorce

• Younger child more anxious, may blame themselves, adapt quicker

• School-age child has loyalty conflicts, fear of abandonment, rejection

• Harder for boys to adjust, boys more susceptible to social and conduct

problems

Family Structure

When Families Divorce • Custody, Visitation, Co-parenting

– Better outcome for child if custodial parent is warm, supportive,

authoritative, monitors child’s activities, has age-appropriate

expectations, parental conflict subsides, and nonresident parent

maintains close contact and involvement

– Most children live with mothers and child adjust better when

father pays child support

• May be barometer of tie between father and child and cooperation

between parents

• Frequency of contact not as important as quality of relationship and

level of parental conflict

• Cooperative parenting improves relationships, hard to do

• Children in joint custody are better adjusted, have higher self-

esteem and better family relationships than sole custody and as well

adjusted as children in nondivorced families

Family Structure

When Families Divorce • Long-Term Effects

– Most children adjust reasonably well

– Modestly lower levels of cognitive, social, emotional well-being

– In adolescence, increased antisocial behavior, difficulty with

authority figures (common for all adolescents)

– 25% of children have serious social, emotional, or psychological

problems in adulthood compared with 10% of nondivorced children

– Lower SES, lower educational levels

– Lower psychological well-being

– Great chance of having child outside of marriage

– Marriages for 2 more generations poorer quality and more likely to

end in divorce

– Anxiety may surface in adulthood as they form intimate relationships

Family Structure Living in a One-Parent Family

• One-parent families result from divorce, separation, unwed

parent, death

• Single-parent families tripled since 1970

• 25% of US children live with one parent

– 11% of these households are cohabiting households

– 50% black children live with single parent

– 26% Hispanic children live with single parent

– 19% white children live with single parent

• More likely to live with mother

– Do well overall

– Lag socially and educationally

– Exposed to more stressors

– Tend to be economically disadvantaged

• 37% with mothers; 16% with fathers

Family Structure Living in a Cohabiting Family

• Parents tend to be more disadvantaged

– Less income

– Less education

– Poorer relationships

– More mental health problems

• Children have worse emotional, behavioral, and

academic outcomes

• 25% cohabiting parents no longer together 1

year later

• 31% cohabiting parents break up after 5 years

Family Structure Living in a Stepfamily

• Most divorced parents eventually remarry

• Many unwed mothers marry men not the father of their

children

• 15% of children live in blended families

• Stress for child

– Loyalty

– Forming ties

– Noncustodial mothers keep in touch more than noncustodial

fathers and offer more social support

– Boys benefit more from stepfather

• Mothers use gentler discipline when with partner,

married or not, better relationships with children

– Supervision greater in stable single-mother families

Family Structure Living with Gay or Lesbian Parents

• 9 million US children have at least one gay or

lesbian parent

– Some gays and lesbians raise children born from

previous heterosexual relationship

– Some conceive by artificial means, use surrogates,

or adopt

• No consistent differences between

homosexual and heterosexual parents in

emotional health or parenting skills

– When present, favor gay/lesbian parents

• Children no more confused about

gender but may be teased and may

hide parents’ sexual orientation

Family Structure Adoptive Families

• 1.4 million US children live with at least one

adoptive parent

– 60% of adoptions are by stepparents or relatives

(usually grandparents)

– Adoptions usually through public or private

agencies

• Confidential

• No contact between birth parents and adoptive parents

– Independent adoptions are agreements between

birth and adoptive parents

• Often open adoptions with information shared and

contact maintained – Open adoptions not correlated with child adjustment or parent

satisfaction with adoption

• Challenges: integrating child into family,

adolescence (especially boys), interracial

rules, older children (particularly foreign)

Family Structure Living with Grandparents

• 5% of US children live with grandparents

– 40% no parent present

– Blacks more likely

– Grandparents often on fixed income or dire financial

straits

– Many are widowed or divorced

– Without legalizing through foster or custody, no legal

status

• “Parents by default”

– Often result of teenage pregnancy, substance abuse,

illness, divorce, or early death

• Do it out of love for the children

– But still may feel cheated out of traditional role

– May lack stamina for parenting

• Working grandparents entitled to federal Family

and Medical Leave Act

• Number of siblings, spacing, birth order, gender determine roles and relationships

• Siblings are motivated to resolve conflict – Same sex quarrel the most, boys more than

girls

• Siblings influence gender development – Firstborns more influenced by parents,

secondborns more influenced by sibling’s attitudes, personality, and activities

• When parent-child relationship has conflict, sibling conflict is more likely

Sibling Relationships

Nourishment • Positive and Negative

Effects of Peer Relations

• Gender Differences in

Peer-Group Relationships

• Popularity

• Friendship

• Aggression and Bullying

The Child in the

Peer Group

Positive & Negative Effects of

Peer Relations • Children benefit from doing things with

peers

– Develop skills for sociability and intimacy

– Gain sense of belonging

– Motivated to achieve

– Get sense of identity

– Learn leadership and communication skills,

roles, and rules

– Compare to others their age and gauge

their abilities more realistically

– Gain clearer sense of self-efficacy

Positive & Negative Effects of

Peer Relations • Peer groups reinforce

prejudice

– “Outsiders”

– Especially racial or ethnic

groups

– Biases toward children like

themselves

– Prejudice and discrimination

do real damage

• Peer group can foster

antisocial tendencies

– Shoplift, drugs

Gender Differences in

Peer-Group Relationships • Boys:

– Groups of boys play in large groups with well-defined

leadership hierarchies

– More competitive and rough-and-tumble play

– Less emotional support from friends

• Girls:

– More intimate conversations with prosocial

interactions and shared confidences

– Seek social connections and more sensitive to others’

distress

– More likely to worry about relationships, express

emotions, and seek emotional support

Popularity

• Becomes more important in middle childhood

• Children who don’t get along with peers more likely to develop

psychological problems, drop out of school, become delinquent

• Popularity measured two ways:

1. Sociometric popularity measured by asking children which peers

they like most and least

• Five peer status groups identified: popular, rejected, neglected,

controversial, average

2. Perceived popularity measured by asking children which children are

best liked by peers

• High status, may be dominant, arrogant, aggressive, physically attractive,

athletic, and to a lesser extent may have academic ability

• Unpopular children tend to be aggressive, hyperactive, inattentive,

withdrawn, silly, immature, anxious, uncertain, insensitive to others’

feelings and not adapt well

• Popular children tend to come from authoritative families

Friendship

• Children look for friends who are like them

– Same age

– Same sex

– Same ethnicity

– Same interests

• Strongest friendships involve equal commitment and mutual

give-and-take

• Unpopular children can make friends, but have fewer friends

and tend to have younger friends

• Friends help children to learn to communicate and cooperate

• Quarrels help children learn to resolve conflicts

• Peer rejection has long-term effects

• Selman’s Stages of Friendship

Aggression and Bullying

• Aggression declines and changes in form

– As child grows less egocentric and more empathic,

more cooperative, better able to communicate

• Instrumental aggression is less common

• Hostile aggression proportionately increases

• School-age boys who are physically aggressive

may become juvenile

delinquents in adolescence

Aggression and Bullying Gender Differences

• Boys are more physically aggressive

• Relational or social aggression is more

typical of girls

– Some research indicates both boys and girls use

relational aggression

• Consequences more serious for girls

– More preoccupied with relationships

• Boys are more aggressive when a group is

forming

– Compete for dominance

• Girls seek status through manipulative

means involving indirect or relational

aggression – Perceived to be most popular in class

Aggression and Bullying

Types of Aggression and Social Information Processing

• Instrumental, proactive aggressors

– View force and coercion as effective ways to get what they want

– Act deliberately, not out of anger

– Expect to be rewarded and when they are, belief is reinforced

– Stops when not rewarded

• Hostile, reactive aggressors

– Hostile attribution bias, see other children as trying to hurt them

– Strike out in retaliation or self-defense

– Rejected children and children exposed to harsh parenting

– Can be stopped through teaching recognition of feeling angry and

teaching conflict resolution

Aggression and Bullying

Does Media Violence Stimulate Aggression? • Children spend about 4 hours screen time daily

• 60% of US TV programs portray violence

– Usually glamorized, glorified, or trivialized

– Music videos disproportionately feature violence against women

and blacks

– Motion picture, music, and video game industries aggressively

market violent, adult-rated products to children

• Children take violence for granted and less likely to intervene

• More time with screen is less time with friends who can balance the

negativity

– Long-term influence greater for school-age than earlier

ages

• AAP recommended media time: 1 – 2 hours daily

Aggression and Bullying

Bullies and Victims • Aggression become bullying when it is deliberate,

persistent, against a particular target who typically is

weak, vulnerable, and defenseless

– Hitting, punching, kicking, taking personal belongings, name

calling, threatening, psychological (isolating and gossiping)

• Bullying occurs in 42% of middle schools and 21% high

schools at least once a week

– Associated with student suicide and suicidal thoughts and

behavior

• Most bullies are boys who tend to victimize other boys

Aggression and Bullying Bullies and Victims • Victims decrease over time as children learn how to

discourage bullying, leaving a smaller pool of

available victims

• Bullies and victims exhibit psychological problems

– Both tend to be disliked

– Both say they are victims

• Bullies are aggressive, impulsive, hostile,

domineering, antisocial, uncooperative

• Risk factors for victimization: don’t fit in, are

anxious, depressed, cautious, quiet, submissive, cry

easily, argumentative, provocative, have few

friends, may live in harsh punitive families

• Victims may: develop hyperactivity, become more

aggressive, become more depressed

Mental Health •Common Emotional

Disturbances

•Treatment Techniques

•Stress and Resilience

Mental Health

• 1 in 10 children and adolescents has a

diagnosed mental illness severe enough to

cause some impairment

– Half of all mental disorders begin by age 14

• 55.7% of children diagnosed with emotional,

behavioral, and developmental problems have

disruptive conduct disorders:

– Aggression, defiance, antisocial behavior

• 43.5% have anxiety or mood disorders

– Feeling sad, depressed, unloved, nervous, fearful,

lonely

Common Emotional

Disturbances Disruptive Conduct Disorders

• Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) – Pattern of behavior until age 8 including temper tantrums, defiance,

argumentative, hostile, deliberately annoying behavior, disobedience

and hostility toward adult authority lasting at least 6 months and beyond

normal childhood behavior

– Child constantly fights, argues, loses temper, grabs things, blames

others, angry, resentful, has few friends, constantly in trouble at school,

tests limits of adult patience

• Conduct Disorder (CD) – Some children with ODD also have CD

– Persistent, repetitive pattern beginning at early age

• Aggressive, antisocial, truant, setting fires, habitual lying, fighting, bullying,

theft, vandalism, assaults, drug and alcohol use

– 25 – 50% of highly antisocial children become antisocial adults

– Neurological deficits, genetics, hostile parenting, family conflict

Common Emotional

Disturbances School Phobia and Other Anxiety Disorders • School phobia: unrealistic fear of going to school

– Some have realistic reasons

• Sarcastic teacher

• Overly demanding work

• Bully

– Change the environment, not the child

– May be type of separation anxiety disorder (4% of children)

• Social phobia or social anxiety: extreme fear and/or

avoidance of social situations (5% of children)

– Runs in families, genetic component, triggered by traumatic

experiences, increases with age

Common Emotional

Disturbances • Generalized anxiety disorder

– Not focused on any specific aspect of child’s life

– Worry about everything

• Grades, storms, earthquakes, hurting themselves, amount of gas in

the tank

– Self-conscious, self-doubting, excessively concerned with

meeting expectations of others

– Seek approval and need constant reassurance

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

– Far less common, obsessed by repetitive, intrusive thoughts,

images, impulses or behaviors

– Runs in families, more common in girls

• Vulnerability to anxiety begins as early as 6 years

– Girls more vulnerable to anxiety which often goes with depression,

which may be neurologically based plus environment

Common Emotional

Disturbances Childhood Depression • Goes beyond normal temporary sadness

• Occurs in 2% of elementary school children

• Symptoms – Inability to have fun

– Inability to concentrate

– Fatigue

– Extreme activity or apathy

– Crying

– Sleep problems

– Weight change

– Physical complaints

– Feelings of worthlessness

– Prolonged sense of friendlessness

– Frequent thoughts of death or suicide

Common Emotional

Disturbances Childhood Depression • May be a signal of a recurring problem that can persist

into adulthood

• Specific causes unknown

– Tends to come from families who have high levels of:

• Parental depression, anxiety, substance abuse, antisocial behavior

– 2 specific genes related to depression

• One controls brain chemical serotonin and affects mood

• Another gene is associated with enlargement of a brain region that

involves negative emotions

Treatment Techniques • Individual psychotherapy

• Family therapy

• Behavior therapy (behavior modification)

• Art therapy

– Children with limited verbal and conceptual skills or who have

suffered emotional trauma

• Play therapy

• Drug therapy

– CONTROVERSIAL

– Sufficient research on effectiveness and safety for children is

lacking

– Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) treat obsessive-

compulsive, depressive, anxiety disorders, risks of suicidal

behavior, especially in early months of treatment

Stress and Resilience

Stresses of Modern Life

• Elkind’s “Hurried Child”**

– Children expected to do well in school, compete in sports, meet

parents’ emotional needs

– Tightly schedule pace of life is stressful

– Exposed to adult problems on television and in real life

Stress and Resilience Stresses of Modern Life

• With added stress comes increased anxiety

• Presence of street gangs and violence in schools

– 94% of middle schools reported incidents of violent crime

• Rape, robbery, physical attacks with or without weapons

• Children more susceptible than adults to psychological

harm from a traumatic event such as war or terrorism

– Reactions vary with age

– Reactions vary with exposure

– Reactions vary with how directly affects child

• Response to traumatic event occurs in two stages:

– First: fright, disbelief, denial, grief, relief if loved ones unharmed

– Second: several days or weeks later, signs of anxiety, fear,

withdrawal, sleep disturbances, pessimism about future

– If symptoms last more than 1 month, child needs counseling

Talking to Children About

Terrorism and War • Listen to children

– Create a time and place and don’t force

• Answer children’s questions

– Avoid stereotyping groups of people by race,

nationality, or religion

– Be honest and be prepared

– You may need to repeat information

• Provide support

– Don’t let them watch the events on TV

Stress and Resilience

Coping with Stress: The Resilient Child • Those who weather circumstances that would devastate

others, bounce back from traumatic event

• Two primary protective factors for resiliency:

1. Family relationships

2. Cognitive functioning (high IQs)

• Other protective factors:

– Child’s temperament and personality

– Compensating experiences (school, sports, music)

– Reduced risk (only one risk factor: exposed to psychiatric

disorder, parental discord, low social status, disturbed mother,

criminal father, experience in foster care or institution)

Great minds discuss ideas, average

minds discuss events; small minds

discuss people.

-Eleanor Roosevelt