Early

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Early Middle Childhood
Development

• Social

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Aggression

• Instrumental
• Common in preschoolers,
• but decrease with age
• Hostile overt relational
• Overt increases 4-7, then declines
• Relational increases
• Gender differences?

Why and when are children aggressive?
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Bobo Doll Experiment (Albert Bandura)

• Participants 36 boys girls M age 4.5
• Method
• Watched video of either
• Non-aggressive model
• Aggressive model
• Frustration period
• Testing session
• Number type of aggressive acts were recorded

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Bobo Doll Experiment (Albert Bandura)

• Results
• 88 of children (more boys) that watched
  aggressive model, imitated behavior
• in exactly the same way!
• More likely to play aggressively, even if not
  modeled
• 8 months later, 40 reproduced the aggressive
  behavior

What does this say about violence on TV?
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Aggression Summary

• Aggressive families breed aggressive children
• View the world from a violent point of view
• Violent media is particularly influential in
  early childhood because
• Susceptible to models that admire/respect
• Lack of perspective taking, centration, etc.

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Friendships in Childhood

• Types of play
• Early someone you play with, who likes you
• Limit dont describe long-term qualities
• Middle trust becomes defining feature

Think of your first friend why were they a
friend?
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Peer Groups in Middle Childhood

• Social unit that shares values, similar standards
  for behaviors, has a social structure
• Proximity
• Similarity
• Moderately stable peer culture
• Vocabulary, dress codes, hang out spots

How do peer groups become organized?
What makes up a peer groups culture?
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Peer Acceptance
How could we measure peer acceptance?

• Sociometric technique
• Name 3 children you would like to play with most
  3 least.
• Social behavior is primary determinant
• Powerful predictor of current later adjustment
• Four major categories of peer acceptance
• 66 fit categories, 33 are average

What do you think determines peer acceptance?
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Popular children

• Many positive votes
• Popular-prosocial
• Socially academically competent
• Good adjustment
• Popular-antisocial
• Socially competent, athletic tough boys, poor
  students
• Likeability offers protection from maladjustment

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Rejected children

• Many negative votes
• Rejected-aggressive
• Socially hostile conflicts hyperactive
  inattentive
• Poor academically at risk for delinquency
• Rejected-withdrawn
• Socially awkward passive anxiety
  influences academics
• At risk for vicimization by bullies

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Bullies Victims

• Statistics 10 bullied on weekly basis
• Who does the bullying?
• Older children bully younger
• Boys bullied by boys if girls, 60 bullied by
  boys
• Mostly rejected-aggressive or popular antisocial
• Are victims always passive?
• Proactive victims pick fights get angry easily
• Long-term consequences?
• Bullies gt criminals
• Victims gt low self-esteem, depression

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Controversial children

• Many positive negative votes
• Socially hostile, but engage in prosocial
  behaviors
• Relatively happy comfortable relationships

Neglected children

• Almost no votes either way
• Low rates of social interaction shy
• Relatively well-adjusted

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Child Rearing Styles
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Child Rearing Styles

• Warm attentive
• Reasonable demands, consistently explains
• Allows appropriate decision making
• Outcome
• Happy
• Self-confident

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Child Rearing Styles

• Cold rejecting
• Coercive criticizing demands
• Makes decisions for child
• Outcome
• Anxious unhappy
• Hostile reactions

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Child Rearing Styles

• Warm, but overly indulgent
• Few or no demands
• Allows decision making before ready
• Outcome
• Immature
• Impulsive less persistent

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Child Rearing Styles

• Emotionally detached withdrawn
• Few or no demands
• Indifferent to decision making
• Outcome
• Poor emotion control
• Low achievement delinquency

Neglect!
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In-Class Assignment 5

• The purpose of this assignment is to give you
  practice identifying and distinguishing between
  Baumrinds child-rearing styles.

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Parental Relationships in Childhood

• Major developments
• Amount of time with parents decline in middle
  childhood
• Not ready for complete independence

What type of household did you grow up in?

• ¼ of children in single-parent
  household
• For an average of 5 years

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Divorces Influences on Children

• Age the younger the child, the more difficult
• Blame themselves
• Fear of abandonment separation anxiety
• Fantasize about reunion
• Temperament
• Difficult children have most problems
• Sex
• Girls cry withdraw boys act out
• Boys have most difficulty in mother-custody homes
• School problems greater for boys

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Long-term consequences?

• Improved adjustment by 2-years after divorce
• Some problems
• Increased sexual activity in adolescence
• More likely to divorce in adulthood
• Positive adjustment most likely when
• Parent adopts authoritative style
• Boys are placed with fathers

Low-conflict, single-parent household better than
stressed, high-conflict intact family!