Developmental Psychology
section five
Each forward step we take we leave some phantom of ourselves behind.
—John Lancaster Spalding
American Educator, 19th Century
Middle and Late Childhood
In middle and late childhood, children are on a different plane, belonging to a generation and feeling all their own. It is the wisdom of the human life span that at no time are children more ready to learn than during the period of expansive imagination at the end of early childhood. Children develop a sense of wanting to make things—and not just to make them, but to make them well and even perfectly. They seek to know and to understand. They are remarkable for their intelligence and for their curiosity. Their parents continue to be important influences in their lives, but their growth also is shaped by peers and friends. They don’t think much about the future or about the past, but they enjoy the present moment. This section consists of two chapters: “Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood” and “Socioemotional Development in Middle and Late Childhood.”
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chapter 9
PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD
chapter outline
Learning Goal 1 Describe physical changes and health in middle and late childhood.
Learning Goal 3 Explain cognitive changes in middle and late childhood.
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Learning Goal 4 Discuss language development in middle and late childhood.
Vocabulary, Grammar, and Metalinguistic Awareness
Second-Language Learning and Bilingual Education
The following comments were made Page 266by Angie, an elementary-school-aged girl:
When I was 8 years old, I weighed 125 pounds. My clothes were the size that large teenage girls wear. I hated my body, and my classmates teased me all the time. I was so overweight and out of shape that when I took a P.E. class my face would get red and I had trouble breathing. I was jealous of the kids who played sports and weren’t overweight like I was.
I’m 9 years old now and I’ve lost 30 pounds. I’m much happier and proud of myself. How did I lose the weight? My mom said she had finally decided enough was enough. She took me to a pediatrician who specializes in helping children lose weight and keep it off. The pediatrician counseled my mom about my eating and exercise habits, then had us join a group that he had created for overweight children and their parents. My mom and I go to the group once a week and we’ve now been participating in the program for 6 months. I no longer eat fast food meals and my mom is cooking more healthy meals. Now that I’ve lost weight, exercise is not as hard for me and I don’t get teased by the kids at school. My mom’s pretty happy too because she’s lost 15 pounds herself since we’ve been in the counseling program.
Not all overweight children are as successful as Angie at reducing their weight. Indeed, being overweight or obese in childhood has become a major national concern in the United States. Later in this chapter, we will further explore being overweight and obese in childhood, including obesity’s causes and outcomes.
topical connections looking back
Children grow more slowly in early childhood than in infancy, but they still grow an average of 2.5 inches and gain 4 to 7 pounds a year. In early childhood, the most rapid growth in the brain occurs in the prefrontal cortex. The gross and fine motor skills of children also become smoother and more coordinated. In terms of cognitive development, early childhood is a period in which young children increasingly engage in symbolic thought. Young children’s information-processing skills also improve considerably—executive and sustained attention advance, short-term memory gets better, executive function increases, and their understanding of the human mind makes considerable progress. Young children also increase their knowledge of language’s rule systems, and their literacy benefits from active participation in a wide range of language experiences. Most young children attend an early childhood education program, and there are many variations in these programs.
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preview
During the middle and late childhood years, children grow taller, heavier, and stronger. They become more adept at using their physical skills, and they develop new cognitive skills. This chapter is about physical and cognitive development in middle and late childhood. To begin, we will explore aspects of physical development.
1 Physical Changes and Health
LG1 Describe physical changes and health in middle and late childhood.
Body Growth and Change
The Brain
Motor Development
Exercise
Health, Illness, and Disease
Continued change characterizes children’s bodies during middle and late childhood, and their motor skills improve. As children move through the elementary school years, they gain greater control over their bodies and can sit and keep their attention focused for longer periods of time. Regular exercise is one key to making these years a time of healthy growth and development.
BODY GROWTH AND CHANGE
The period of middle and late childhood involves slow, consistent growth (Hockenberry, Wilson, & Rodgers, 2017). This is a period of calm before the rapid growth spurt of adolescence. During the elementary school years, children grow an average of 2 to 3 inches a year until, at the age of 11, the average girl is 4 feet, 10 inches tall, and the average boy is 4 feet, 9 inches tall. During the middle and late childhood years, children gain about 5 to 7 pounds a year. The weight increase is due mainly to increases in the size of the skeletal and muscular systems, as well as the size of some body organs.
developmental connection
Brain Development
Synaptic pruning is an important aspect of the brain’s development, and the pruning varies by brain region across children’s development. Connect to “Physical Development in Infancy.”
Proportional changes are among the most pronounced physical changes in middle and late childhood. Head circumference and waist circumference decrease in relation to body height (Kliegman & others, 2016; Perry & others, 2018). A less noticeable physical change is that bones continue to ossify during middle and late childhood but yield to pressure and pull more than mature bones.
THE BRAIN
The development of brain-imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has led to increased research on changes in the brain during middle and late childhood and links between these brain changes and cognitive development (Khundrakpam & others, 2018; Mah, Geeraert, & Lebel, 2017). Total brain volume stabilizes by the end of late childhood, but significant changes in various structures and regions of the brain continue to occur. In particular, the brain pathways and circuitry involving the prefrontal cortex, the highest level in the brain, continue to increase during middle and late childhood (see Figure 1 ). These advances in the prefrontal cortex are linked to children’s improved attention, reasoning, and cognitive control (de Haan & Johnson, 2016; Wendelken & others, 2016, 2017).
Leading developmental neuroscientist Mark Johnson and his colleagues (2009) proposed that the prefrontal cortex likely orchestrates the functions of many other brain regions during development. As part of this neural leadership role, the prefrontal cortex may provide an advantage to neural networks and connections that include the prefrontal cortex. In their view, the prefrontal cortex coordinates the best neural connections for solving a problem at hand.
Changes also occur in the thickness of the cerebral cortex (cortical thickness) in middle and late childhood (Thomason & Thompson, 2011). One study used brain scans to assess cortical thickness in 5- to 11-year-old children (Sowell & others, 2004). Cortical thickening across a two-year time period was observed in the temporal and frontal lobe areas that function in language, which may reflect improvements in language abilities such as reading. Figure 6 in “Physical Development in Infancy” shows the locations of the temporal and frontal lobes in the brain.
As children develop, some brain areas become more active Page 268while others become less so (Denes, 2016). One shift in activation that occurs as children develop is from diffuse, larger areas to more focal, smaller areas (Turkeltaub & others, 2003). This shift is characterized by synaptic pruning, a process in which areas of the brain that are not being used lose synaptic connections and areas that are used show increased connections. In one study, researchers found less diffusion and more focal activation in the prefrontal cortex from 7 to 30 years of age (Durston & others, 2006).
Increases in connectivity between brain regions also occurs as children develop (Faghiri & others, 2018). In a longitudinal study of individuals from 6 to 22 years of age, connectivity between the prefrontal and parietal lobes in childhood was linked to better reasoning ability later in development (Wendelken & others, 2017).
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
During middle and late childhood, children’s motor skills become much smoother and more coordinated than they were in early childhood (Hockenberry, Wilson, & Rodgers, 2017). For example, only one child in a thousand can hit a tennis ball over the net at the age of 3, yet by the age of 10 or 11 most children can learn to play the sport. Running, climbing, skipping rope, swimming, bicycle riding, and skating are just a few of the many physical skills elementary school children can master. In gross motor skills involving large muscle activity, boys usually outperform girls.
Increased myelination of the central nervous system is reflected in the improvement of fine motor skills during middle and late childhood. Children can more adroitly use their hands as tools. Six-year-olds can hammer, paste, tie shoes, and fasten clothes. By 7 years of age, children’s hands have become steadier. At this age, children prefer a pencil to a crayon for printing, and reversal of letters is less common. Printing becomes smaller. At 8 to 10 years of age, the hands can be used independently with more ease and precision. Fine motor coordination develops to the point at which children can write rather than print words. Cursive letter size becomes smaller and more even. At 10 to 12 years of age, children begin to show manipulative skills similar to the abilities of adults. They can master the complex, intricate, and rapid movements needed to produce fine-quality crafts or to play a difficult piece on a musical instrument. Girls usually outperform boys in their use of fine motor skills.
EXERCISE
American children and adolescents are not getting enough exercise (Powers & Dodd, 2017; Powers & Howley, 2018). Increasing children’s exercise levels has a number of positive outcomes (Dumuid & others, 2017; Walton-Fisette & Wuest, 2018).
An increasing number of studies document the importance of exercise in children’s physical development (Dowda & others, 2017; Martin & others, 2018; Pan & others, 2017; Yan & others, 2018). A recent study of more than 6,000 elementary school children revealed that 55 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily was associated with a lower incidence of obesity (Nemet, 2016). Further, a research review concluded that exercise programs with a frequency of three weekly sessions lasting longer than 60 minutes were effective in lowering both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (Garcia-Hermoso, Saavedra, & Escalante, 2013).
developmental connection
Exercise
Experts recommend that preschool children engage in two hours of physical activity per day. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Early Childhood.”
Aerobic exercise also is linked to children’s cognitive skills (Best, 2010; Lind & others, 2018; Martin & others, 2018). Researchers have found that aerobic exercise benefits children’s processing speed, attention, memory, effortful and goal-directed thinking and behavior, and creativity (Chu & others, 2017; Davis & Cooper, 2011; Davis & others, 2011; Khan & Hillman, 2014; Lind & others, 2018; Ludyga & others, 2018; Monti, Hillman, & Cohen, 2012; Pan & others, 2017). A recent meta-analysis concluded that sustained physical activity programs were linked to improvements in children’s attention, executive function, and academic achievement (de Greeff & others, 2018). Also, a recent study found that a 6-week high-intensity exercise program with 7- to 13-year-olds improved their cognitive control and working memory (Moreau, Kirk, & Waldie, 2018). Further, in a recent fMRI study of physically unfit 8- to 11-year-old overweight children, a daily instructor-led aerobic exercise program that lasted eight months was effective in improving the efficiency of neural circuits that support better cognitive functioning (Kraftt & others, 2014).
Parents and schools play important Page 269roles in determining children’s exercise levels (Brusseau & others, 2018; de Heer & others, 2017; Lind & others, 2018; Lo & others, 2018; Solomon-Moore & others, 2018). Growing up with parents who exercise regularly provides positive models of exercise for children (Crawford & others, 2010). In addition, a research review found that school-based physical activity was successful in improving children’s fitness and lowering their fat levels (Kriemler & others, 2011).
Screen time also is linked with low activity, obesity, and worse sleep patterns in children (Tanaka & others, 2017). A recent research review found that a higher level of screen time increased the risk of obesity for low- and high-activity children (Lane, Harrison, & Murphy, 2014). Also, a recent study of 8- to 12-year-olds found that screen time was associated with lower connectivity between brain regions, as well as lower levels of language skills and cognitive control (Horowitz-Kraus & Hutton, 2018). In this study, time spent reading was linked to higher levels of functioning in these areas.
Here are some ways to encourage children to exercise more:
· Offer more physical activity programs run by volunteers at school facilities.
· Improve physical fitness activities in schools.
· Have children plan community and school activities that interest them.
· Encourage families to focus more on physical activity, and encourage parents to exercise more.
HEALTH, ILLNESS, AND DISEASE
For the most part, middle and late childhood is a time of excellent health. Disease and death are less prevalent at this time than during other periods in childhood and in adolescence. However, many children in middle and late childhood face health problems that harm their development.
Accidents and Injuries Injuries are the leading cause of death during middle and late childhood, and the most common cause of severe injury and death in this period is motor vehicle accidents, either as a pedestrian or as a passenger (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017c). For this reason, safety advocates recommend the use of safety-belt restraints and child booster seats in vehicles because they can greatly reduce the severity of motor vehicle injuries (Eberhardt & others, 2016; Shimony-Kanat & others, 2018). For example, one study found that child booster seats reduced the risk for serious injury by 45 percent for 4- to 8-year-old children (Sauber-Schatz & others, 2014). Other serious injuries involve bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, and other sports equipment (Perry & others, 2018).
Overweight Children Being overweight is an increasingly prevalent health problem in children (Blake, 2017; Donatelle, 2019; Smith & Collene, 2019). Recall that being overweight is defined in terms of body mass index (BMI), which is computed by a formula that takes into account height and weight—children at or above the 97th percentile are included in the obesity category, at or above the 95th percentile in the overweight category, and children at or above the 85th percentile are described as at risk for being overweight (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017b). Over the last three decades, the percentage of U.S. children who are at risk for being overweight has increased dramatically. Recently there has been a decrease in the percentage of 2- to 5-year-old children who are obese, which dropped from 12.1 percent in 2009–2010 to 9.4 percent in 2013–2014 (Ogden & others, 2016). In 2013–2014, 17.4 percent of 6- to 11-year-old U.S. children were classified as obese, essentially the same percentage as in 2009–2010 (Ogden & others, 2016).
It is not just in the United States that children are becoming more overweight (Thompson, Manore, & Vaughan, 2017). For example, a study found that general and abdominal obesity in Chinese children increased significantly from 1993 to 2009 (Liang & others, 2012). Further, a recent Chinese study revealed that high blood pressure in 23 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls could be attributed to being overweight or obese (Dong & others, 2015).
developmental connection
Conditions, Diseases, and Disorders
Metabolic syndrome has increased in middle-aged adults in recent years and is linked to early death. Connect to “Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood.”
Causes of Children Being Overweight Heredity and environmental contexts are related to being overweight in childhood (Insel & Roth, 2018; Yanovski & Yanovski, 2018). Genetic analysis indicates that heredity is an important factor in children becoming overweight (Donatelle, 2019). Overweight parents tend to have overweight children (Pufal & others, 2012). For example, one study found that the greatest risk factor for being overweight at 9 years of age was having an overweight parent Page 270(Agras & others, 2004). Parents and their children often have similar body types, height, body fat composition, and metabolism (Pereira-Lancha & others, 2012). In a 14-year longitudinal study, parental weight change predicted children’s weight change (Andriani, Liao, & Kuo, 2015).
Environmental factors that influence whether children become overweight include the greater availability of food (especially food high in fat content), energy-saving devices, declining physical activity, parents’ eating habits and monitoring of children’s eating habits, the context in which a child eats, and heavy screen time (Ren & others, 2017). In a recent Japanese study, the family pattern that was linked to the highest risk of overweight/obesity in children was a combination of irregular mealtimes and the most screen time for both parents (Watanabe & others, 2016). Further, a recent study found that children were less likely to be obese or overweight when they attended schools in states that had a strong policy emphasis on healthy foods and beverages (Datar & Nicosia, 2017). Also, a behavior modification study of overweight and obese children made watching TV contingent on their engagement in exercise (Goldfield, 2012). The intervention markedly increased their exercise and reduced their TV viewing time.
Consequences of Being Overweight The high percentage of overweight children in recent decades is cause for great concern because being overweight raises the risk for many medical and psychological problems (Powers & Dodd, 2017; Schiff, 2019; Song & others, 2018). Diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), and elevated blood cholesterol levels are common in children who are overweight (Chung, Onuzuruike, & Magge, 2018; Martin-Espinosa & others, 2017). Research reviews have concluded that obesity was linked with low self-esteem in children (Gomes & others, 2011; Moharei & others, 2018). And in one study, overweight children were more likely than normal-weight children to report being teased by their peers and family members (McCormack & others, 2011).
Intervention Programs A combination of diet, exercise, and behavior modification is often recommended to help children lose weight (Insel & Roth, 2018; Martin & others, 2018; Morgan & others, 2016). Intervention programs that emphasize getting parents to engage in healthier lifestyles themselves, as well as to feed their children healthier food and get them to exercise more, can produce weight reduction in overweight and obese children (Stovitz & others, 2014; Yackobovitch-Gavan & others, 2018). For example, one study found that a combination of a child-centered activity program and a parent-centered dietary modification program helped overweight children lose pounds over a two-year period (Collins & others, 2011).
Cardiovascular Disease Cardiovascular disease is uncommon in children. Nonetheless, environmental experiences and behavior during childhood can sow the seeds for cardiovascular disease in adulthood (Schaefer & others, 2017). Many elementary-school-aged children already possess one or more of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and obesity (Chung, Onuzuruike, & Magge, 2018; Zoller & others, 2017). In a recent study, the combination of a larger waist circumference and a higher body mass index (BMI) placed children at higher risk for developing cardiovascular disease (de Koning & others, 2015). A recent study found that high blood pressure in childhood was linked to high blood pressure and other heart abnormalities in adulthood (Fan & others, 2018). Also in a longitudinal study, high levels of body fat and elevated blood pressure beginning in childhood were linked to premature death from coronary heart disease in adulthood (Berenson & others, 2016). Further, one study found that high blood pressure went undiagnosed in 75 percent of children with the disease (Hansen, Gunn, & Kaelber, 2007).
Cancer Cancer is the second leading cause of death in U.S. children 5 to 14 years of age. One in every 330 children in the United States develops cancer before the age of 19. The incidence of cancer in children has increased slightly in recent years (National Cancer Institute, 2018).
Childhood cancers mainly attack the white blood cells (leukemia), brain, bone, lymph system, muscles, kidneys, and nervous system. All types of cancer are characterized by an uncontrolled proliferation of abnormal cells (Marcoux & others, 2018). As indicated in Figure 2 , the most common cancer in children is leukemia, a cancer in which bone marrow manufactures an abundance of abnormal white blood cells that crowd out normal cells, making the child highly susceptible to bruising and infection (Kato & Manabe, 2018; Shago, 2017).
connecting with careers
Sharon McLeod, Child Life Specialist
Sharon McLeod is a child life specialist who is senior clinical director in the Division of Child Life and Division of Integrative Care at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati.
Under McLeod’s direction, the goals of her department are to promote children’s optimal growth and development, reduce the stress of health care experiences, and provide support to child patients and their families. These goals are accomplished by facilitating therapeutic play and developmentally appropriate activities, educating and psychologically preparing children for medical procedures, and serving as a resource for parents and other professionals regarding children’s development and health care issues.
McLeod says that human growth and development provides the foundation for her profession as a child life specialist. She also says her best times as a student were when she conducted fieldwork, had an internship, and experienced hands-on applications of the theories and concepts that she learned in her courses.
For more information about what child life specialists do, see the Careers in Life-Span Development appendix.
Because of advancements in cancer treatment, children with cancer are surviving longer than in the past (National Cancer Institute, 2018). Approximately 80 percent of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are cured with current chemotherapy treatment.
Child life specialists are among the health professionals who work to make the lives of children with diseases less stressful. To read about the work of child life specialist Sharon McLeod, see Connecting with Careers .
Review Connect Reflect
LG1 Describe physical changes and health in middle and late childhood.
Review
· What are some changes in body growth and proportions in middle and late childhood?
· What characterizes the development of the brain in middle and late childhood?
· How do children’s motor skills develop in middle and late childhood?
· What role does exercise play in children’s lives?
· What are some characteristics of health, illness, and disease in middle and late childhood?
Connect
· In this section, you learned that increased myelination of the central nervous system is reflected in the improvement of fine motor skills during middle and late childhood. What developmental advances were connected with increased myelination in infancy and early childhood?
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· One way that children get exercise is to play a sport. If you played a sport as a child, was it a positive or negative experience? Do you think that playing a sport as a child likely made a difference in whether you have continued to exercise on a regular basis? Explain. If you did not play a sport, do you wish you had? Explain.
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2 Children with Disabilities
LG2 Identify children with different types of disabilities and discuss issues in educating them.
The Scope of Disabilities
Educational Issues
THE SCOPE OF DISABILITIES
Of all children in the United States, 12.9 percent from 3 to 21 years of age received special education or related services in 2012–2013, an increase of 3 percent since 1980–1981 (Condition of Education, 2016). Figure 3 shows the five largest groups of students with a disability who were served by federal programs during the 2012–2013 school year (Condition of Education, 2016). As indicated in Figure 3 , students with a learning disability were by far the largest group of students with a disability to be given special education, followed by children with speech or hearing impairments, autism, intellectual disability, and emotional disturbance. Note that the U.S. Department of Education includes both students with a learning disability and students with ADHD in the category of learning disability.
Learning Disabilities The U.S. government created a definition of learning disabilities in 1997 and then reauthorized the definition with a few minor changes in 2004. Following is a summary of the government’s definition of the characteristics that determine whether a child should be classified as having a learning disability. A child with a learning disability has difficulty in learning that involves understanding or using spoken or written language, and the difficulty can appear in listening, thinking, reading, writing, and spelling. A learning disability also may involve difficulty in doing mathematics (McCaskey & others, 2017, 2018). To be classified as a learning disability, the learning problem is not primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; intellectual disability; emotional disorders; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (Friend, 2018; Heward, Alber-Morgan, & Konrad, 2017).
About three times as many boys as girls are classified as having a learning disability. Among the explanations for this gender difference are a greater biological vulnerability among boys and referral bias. That is, boys are more likely to be referred by teachers for treatment because of troublesome behavior.
Approximately 80 percent of children with a learning disability have a reading problem (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2017). Three types of learning disabilities are dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia:
· Dyslexia is a category reserved for individuals who have a severe impairment in their ability to read and spell (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2017).
· Dysgraphia is a learning disability that involves difficulty in handwriting (Hook & Haynes, 2017). Children with dysgraphia may write very slowly, their writing products may be virtually illegible, and they may make numerous spelling errors because of their inability to match sounds and letters.
· Dyscalculia , also known as developmental arithmetic disorder, is a learning disability that involves difficulty in math computation (McCaskey & others, 2017, 2018; Nelson & Powell, 2018).
The precise causes of learning disabilities have not yet been determined (Friend, 2018). Researchers have used brain-imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging, to explore whether specific regions of the brain might be involved in learning disabilities (Ramus & others, 2018; Shaywitz, Lyon, & Shaywitz, 2006) (see Figure 4 ). This research indicates that it is unlikely learning disabilities reside in a single, specific brain location. More likely, learning disabilities involve difficulty integrating information from multiple brain regions or subtle impairments in brain structures and functions.
Interventions with children who have a learning disability often focus on improving reading ability (Cunningham, 2017; Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2017; Temple & others, 2018). Intensive instruction over a period of time by a competent teacher can help many children (Thompson & others, 2017).
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disability in which children consistently show one or more of the following characteristics over a period of Page 273time: (1) inattention, (2) hyperactivity, and (3) impulsivity. Children who are inattentive have such difficulty focusing on any one thing that they may get bored with a task after only a few minutes—or even seconds. Children who are hyperactive show high levels of physical activity, seeming to be almost constantly in motion. Children who are impulsive have difficulty curbing their reactions; they do not do a good job of thinking before they act. Depending on the characteristics that children with ADHD display, they can be diagnosed as having (1) ADHD with predominantly inattention, (2) ADHD with predominantly hyperactivity/impulsivity, or (3) ADHD with both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.
The number of children diagnosed and treated for ADHD has increased substantially in recent decades, by some estimates doubling in the 1990s. The American Psychiatric Association (2013) reported in the DSM-V that 5 percent of children have ADHD, although estimates are higher in community samples. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016) estimates that ADHD has continued to increase in 4- to 17-year-old children from 8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007 and to 11 percent in 2016. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13.2 percent of U.S. boys and 5.6 of U.S. girls have ever been diagnosed with ADHD.
There is controversy, however, about the reasons for the increased diagnosis of ADHD (Friend, 2018; Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2019). Some experts attribute the increase mainly to heightened awareness of the disorder; others are concerned that many children are being incorrectly diagnosed (Watson & others, 2014).
One study examined the possible misdiagnosis of ADHD (Bruchmiller, Margraf, & Schneider, 2012). In this study, child psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers were given vignettes of children with ADHD. Some vignettes matched the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, while others did not. The child in each vignette was sometimes identified as male and sometimes as female. The researchers assessed whether the mental health professionals gave a diagnosis of ADHD to the child described in the vignette. The professionals overdiagnosed ADHD almost 20 percent of the time, and regardless of the symptoms described, boys were twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed as having ADHD.
Adjustment and optimal development are difficult for children who have ADHD, so it is important that the diagnosis be accurate (Hechtman & others, 2016; Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2019). Children diagnosed with ADHD have an increased risk of lower academic achievement, problematic peer relations, school dropout, adolescent pregnancy, substance use problems, and antisocial behavior (Machado & others, 2018; Regnart, Truter, & Meyer, 2017). For example, a recent study found that childhood ADHD was associated with long-term underachievement in math and reading (Voigt & others, 2017). Also, a recent research review concluded that in comparison with typically developing girls, girls with ADHD had more problems in friendship, peer interaction, social skills, and peer victimization (Kok & others, 2016). Further, a recent research review concluded that ADHD in childhood was linked to the following long-term outcomes: failure to complete high school, other mental and substance use disorders, criminal activity, and unemployment (Erskine & others, 2016). And a recent study revealed that individuals with ADHD were more likely to become parents at 12 to 16 years of age (Ostergaard & others, 2017).
Definitive causes of ADHD have not been found. However, a number of possible causes have been proposed (Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2019; Lewis, Wheeler, & Carter, 2017). Some children likely inherit a tendency to develop ADHD from their parents (Hess & others, 2018; Walton & others, 2017). Other children likely develop ADHD because of damage to their brain during prenatal or postnatal development (Bos & others, 2017). Among early possible contributors to ADHD are cigarette and alcohol exposure, as well as a high level of maternal stress during prenatal development and low birth weight (Scheinost & others, 2017).
As with learning disabilities, advances in brain-imaging technology are facilitating a better understanding of ADHD (Riaz & others, 2018; Sun & others, 2018). One study revealed that peak thickness of the cerebral cortex occurred three years later (at 10.5 years) in children with ADHD than in children without ADHD (at 7.5 years) (Shaw & others, 2007). The delay was more prominent in the prefrontal regions of the brain that are particularly important in attention and planning Page 274(see Figure 5 ). Another study also found delayed development of the brain’s frontal lobes in children with ADHD, likely due to delayed or decreased myelination (Nagel & others, 2011). Researchers also are exploring the roles that various neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, might play in ADHD (Auerbach & others, 2017; Baptista & others, 2017).
The delays in brain development just described are in areas linked to executive function (Munro & others, 2018). An increasing focus of interest in the study of children with ADHD is their difficulty with tasks involving executive function, such as behavioral inhibition when necessary, use of working memory, and effective planning (Krieger & Amador-Campos, 2018; Toplak, West, & Stanovich, 2017). Researchers also have found deficits in theory of mind in children with ADHD (Maoz & others, 2018; Mary & others, 2016). Stimulant medication such as Ritalin or Adderall (which has fewer side effects than Ritalin) is effective in improving the attention of many children with ADHD, but it usually does not improve their attention to the levels seen in children who do not have ADHD (Wong & Stevens, 2012). A recent research review also concluded that stimulant medications are effective in treating ADHD during the short term but that longer-term benefits of stimulant medications are not clear (Rajeh & others, 2017). A meta-analysis concluded that behavior management treatments are useful in reducing the effects of ADHD (Fabiano & others, 2009). Researchers have often found that a combination of medication (such as Ritalin) and behavior management improves the behavior of some but not all children with ADHD better than medication alone or behavior management alone (Parens & Johnston, 2009).
The sheer number of ADHD diagnoses has prompted speculation that psychiatrists, parents, and teachers are in fact labeling normal childhood behavior as psychopathology (Mash & Wolfe, 2019; Molina & Pelham, 2014). One reason for concern about overdiagnosing ADHD is that the form of treatment in well over 80 percent of cases is psychoactive drugs, including stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall (Garfield & others, 2012). Further, there is increasing concern that children who are given stimulant drugs such as Ritalin or Adderall are at risk for developing substance abuse problems, although evidence supporting this concern so far has been mixed (Erskine & others, 2016; Zulauf & others, 2014).
Recently, researchers have been exploring the possibility that neurofeedback might improve the attention of children with ADHD (Alegria & others, 2017; Gelade & others, 2018; Jiang, Abiri, & Zhao, 2017; Moreno-Garcia & others, 2018). Neurofeedback trains individuals to become more aware of their physiological responses so they can attain better control over their brain’s prefrontal cortex, where executive control primarily occurs. Individuals with ADHD have higher levels of electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities, and neurofeedback produces audiovisual profiles of these abnormal brain waves so that individuals can learn how to achieve normal EEG functioning. In a recent study, 7- to 14-year-olds with ADHD were randomly assigned to either receive a neurofeedback treatment that consisted of 40 sessions or to take Ritalin (Meisel & others, 2013). Both groups showed a lower level of ADHD symptoms 6 months after the treatment, but only the neurofeedback group performed better academically.
developmental connection
Cognitive Processes
Mindfulness training is being used to improve students’ executive function. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Adolescence.”
Recently, mindfulness training also has been given to children and adolescents with ADHD (Edel & others, 2017; Evans & others, 2018; Sibalis & others, 2018). A recent meta-analysis concluded that mindfulness training significantly improved the attention of children with ADHD (Cairncross & Miller, 2018).
Exercise also is being investigated as a possible treatment for children with ADHD (Den Heijer & others, 2017; Grassman & others, 2017; Pan & others, 2018). For example, a recent study confirmed that an 8-week yoga program was effective in improving the sustained attention of children with ADHD (Chou & Huang, 2017). Also, a recent meta-analysis concluded that physical exercise is effective in reducing cognitive symptoms of ADHD in individuals 3 to 25 years of age (Tan, Pooley, & Speelman, 2016). And a second recent meta-analysis concluded that a short-term aerobic exercise program was effective in reducing symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (Cerillo-Urbina & others, 2015). Also, a third recent meta-analysis indicated that exercise is associated with better executive function in children with ADHD (Vysniauske & others, 2018). Among the reasons that exercise might reduce ADHD symptoms in children are (1) better allocation of attention resources, (2) positive influence on prefrontal cortex functioning, and (3) exercise-induced dopamine release (Chang & others, 2012).
Despite the encouraging results of Page 275recent studies involving the use of neurofeedback, mindfulness training, and exercise to improve the attention of children with ADHD, it still remains to be determined whether these non-drug therapies are as effective as stimulant drugs and/or whether they benefit children as add-ons to stimulant drugs to provide a combination treatment (Den Heijer & others, 2017).
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Most children have minor emotional difficulties at some point during their school years. However, some children have problems so serious and persistent that they are classified as having an emotional or behavioral disorder (Mash & Wolfe, 2019). These problems may include internalized disorders such as depression or externalized disorders such as aggression.
Emotional and behavioral disorders consist of serious, persistent problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, and fears associated with personal or school matters, as well as other inappropriate socioemotional characteristics (Lewis, Asbury, & Plomin, 2017; Weersing & others, 2017). Approximately 8 percent of children who have a disability and require an individualized education plan fall into this classification. Boys are three times as likely as girls to have these disorders.
Autism Spectrum Disorders Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) , also called pervasive developmental disorders, range from the severe disorder labeled autistic disorder to the milder disorder called Asperger syndrome. Autism spectrum disorders are characterized by problems in social interaction, problems in verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors (Boutot, 2017; Gerenser & Lopez, 2017). Children with these disorders may also show atypical responses to sensory experiences (National Institute of Mental Health, 2018). Intellectual disability is present in some children with autism; others show average or above-average intelligence (Bernier & Dawson, 2016).
Recent estimates of autism spectrum disorders indicate that they are dramatically increasing in occurrence (or are increasingly being detected). Once thought to affect only 1 in 2,500 children decades ago, they were estimated to be present in about 1 in 150 children in 2002 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). However, in the most recent survey, the estimated percentage of 8-year-old children with autism spectrum disorders had increased to 1 in 68 (Christensen & others, 2016). In the recent surveys, autism spectrum disorders were identified five times more often in boys than in girls, and 8 percent of individuals aged 3 to 21 with these disorders were receiving special education services (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017a).
developmental connection
Conditions, Diseases, and Disorders
Autistic children have difficulty in developing a theory of mind, especially in understanding others’ beliefs and emotions. Connect to “Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood.”
Also, in recent surveys, only a minority of parents reported that their child’s autistic spectrum disorder was identified prior to 3 years of age and that one-third to one-half of the cases were identified after 6 years of age (Sheldrick, Maye, & Carter, 2017). However, researchers are conducting studies that seek to identify earlier determinants of autism spectrum disorders (Reiersen, 2017).
Autistic disorder is a severe developmental autism spectrum disorder that has its onset during the first three years of life and includes deficiencies in social relationships, abnormalities in communication, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.
Asperger syndrome is a relatively mild autism spectrum disorder in which the child has relatively good verbal language skills, milder nonverbal language problems, and a restricted range of interests and relationships (Boutot, 2017). Children with Asperger syndrome often engage in obsessive, repetitive routines and preoccupations with a particular subject. For example, a child may be obsessed with baseball scores or specific videos on YouTube.
Children with autism have deficits in cognitive processing of information (Jones & others, 2018). For example, a recent study found that a lower level of working memory was the executive function most strongly associated with autism spectrum disorders (Ziermans & others, 2017). Children with these disorders may also show atypical responses to sensory experiences (National Institute of Mental Health, 2017). Intellectual disability is present in some children with autism; others show average or above-average intelligence (Volkmar & others, 2014).
In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association published the new edition (DSM-V) of its psychiatric classification of disorders. In the new classification, autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, and several other autistic variations were consolidated in the overarching category of autism spectrum disorder (Autism Research Institute, 2013). Distinctions are made in terms of the severity of problems based on amount of support needed due to challenges involving social communication, restricted interests Page 276, and repetitive behaviors. Critics argue that the umbrella category proposed for autism spectrum disorder masks the heterogeneity that characterizes the subgroups of autism (Lai & others, 2013).
What causes autism spectrum disorders? The current consensus is that autism is a brain dysfunction characterized by abnormalities in brain structure and neurotransmitters (Ecker, 2017; Fernandez, Mollinedo-Gajate, & Penagarikano, 2018; Khundrakpam & others, 2017). Recent interest has focused on a lack of connectivity between brain regions as a key factor in autism (Abbott & others, 2018; Li, Karmath, & Xu, 2017; Nair & others, 2018; Nunes & others, 2018).
Genetic factors also are likely to play a role in the development of autism spectrum disorders (Valiente-Palleja & others, 2018; Wang & others, 2017; Yuan & others, 2017). One study revealed that mutations—missing or duplicated pieces of DNA on chromosome 16—can raise a child’s risk of developing autism 100-fold (Weiss & others, 2008). There is no evidence that family socialization causes autism.
Children with autism benefit from a well-structured classroom, individualized teaching, and small-group instruction (Friend, 2018; Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2018). Behavior modification techniques are sometimes effective in helping autistic children learn (Alberto & Troutman, 2017; Zirpoli, 2016).
EDUCATIONAL ISSUES
Until the 1970s most U.S. public schools either refused enrollment to children with disabilities or inadequately served them. This changed in 1975 when Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, required that all students with disabilities be given a free, appropriate public education. In 1990, Public Law 94-142 was recast as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA was amended in 1997 and then reauthorized in 2004 and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
IDEA spells out broad mandates for services to children with disabilities of all kinds (Smith & others, 2018). These services include evaluation and eligibility determination, appropriate education and an individualized education plan (IEP), and education in the least restrictive environment (LRE) (Cook & Richardson-Gibbs, 2018; Heward, Alber-Morgan, & Konrad, 2017).
An individualized education plan (IEP) is a written statement that spells out a program that is specifically tailored for the student with a disability. The least restrictive environment (LRE) is a setting that is as similar as possible to the one in which children who do not have a disability are educated. This provision of the IDEA has given a legal basis to efforts to educate children with a disability in the regular classroom. The term inclusion describes educating a child with special educational needs full-time in the regular classroom (Lewis, Wheeler, & Carter, 2017; Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2018). In a recent school year (2014), 61 percent of U.S. students with a disability spent more than 80 percent of their school day in a general classroom (compared with only 33 percent in 1990) (Condition of Education, 2015).
The outcomes of many legal changes regarding children with disabilities have been extremely positive (Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2018; Smith & others, 2018). Compared with several decades ago, far more children today are receiving competent, specialized services. For many children, inclusion in the regular classroom, with modifications or supplemental services, is appropriate (Friend, 2018; Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2018). However, some leading experts on special education argue that in some cases the effort to educate children with disabilities in the regular classroom has become too extreme. For example, James Kauffman and his colleagues (Kauffman, McGee, & Brigham, 2004) state that inclusion too often has meant making accommodations in the regular classroom that do not always benefit children with disabilities. They advocate a more individualized approach that does not always involve full inclusion but allows options such as special education outside the regular classroom. Kauffman and his colleagues (2004, p. 620) acknowledge that children with disabilities “do need the services of specially trained professionals” and “do sometimes need altered curricula or adaptations to make their learning possible.” However, they believe “we sell students with disabilities short when we pretend that they are not different from typical students. We make the same error when we pretend that they must not be expected to put forth extra effort if they are to learn to do some things—or learn to do something in a different way.” Like general education, special education should challenge students with disabilities “to become all they can be.”
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Review Connect Reflect
LG2 Identify children with different types of disabilities and discuss issues in educating them.
Review
· Who are children with disabilities? What are some different types of disabilities and what characterizes these disabilities?
· What are some issues in educating children with disabilities?
Connect
· Earlier you learned about the development of attention in infancy and early childhood. How might ADHD be linked to earlier attention difficulties in infancy and early childhood?
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· Think about your own schooling and how children with learning disabilities or ADHD either were or were not diagnosed. Were you aware of such individuals in your classes? Were they helped by specialists? You may know one or more individuals with a learning disability or ADHD. Ask them about their educational experiences and whether they think schools could have done a better job of helping them.
3 Cognitive Changes
LG3 Explain cognitive changes in middle and late childhood.
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Information Processing
Intelligence
Extremes of Intelligence
Do children enter a new stage of cognitive development in middle and late childhood? How do children process information during this age period? What is the nature of children’s intelligence? Let’s explore some answers to these questions.
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY
According to Jean Piaget (1952), the preschool child’s thought is preoperational. Preschool children can form stable concepts, and they have begun to reason, but their thinking is flawed by egocentrism and magical belief systems. As we discussed earlier, however, Piaget may have underestimated the cognitive skills of preschool children. Some researchers argue that under the right conditions, young children may display abilities that are characteristic of Piaget’s next stage of cognitive development, the stage of concrete operational thought (Gelman, 1969). Here we will cover the characteristics of concrete operational thought and evaluate Piaget’s portrait of this stage.
developmental connection
Centration
Centration, a centering of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others, is present in young children’s lack of conservation. Connect to “Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood.”
The Concrete Operational Stage Piaget proposed that the concrete operational stage lasts from approximately 7 to 11 years of age. In this stage, children can perform concrete operations, and they can reason logically as long as reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples. Remember that operations are mental actions that are reversible, and concrete operations are operations that are applied to real, concrete objects.
The conservation tasks described earlier indicate whether children are capable of concrete operations. For example, recall that in one task involving conservation of matter, the child is presented with two identical balls of clay. The experimenter rolls one ball into a long, thin shape; the other remains in its original ball shape. The child is then asked if there is more clay in the ball or in the long, thin piece of clay. By the time children reach the age of 7 or 8, most answer that the amount of clay is the same. To answer this problem correctly, children have to imagine the clay rolling back into a ball. This type of imagination involves a reversible mental action applied to a real, concrete object. Concrete operations allow the child to consider several characteristics rather than focusing on a single property of an object. In the clay example, the preoperational child is likely to focus on height or width. The concrete operational child coordinates information about both dimensions.
What other abilities are characteristic of children who have reached the concrete operational stage? One important skill is the ability to classify or divide things into different sets or subsets and to consider Page 278their interrelationships. Consider the family tree of four generations that is shown in Figure 6 (Furth & Wachs, 1975). This family tree suggests that the grandfather (A) has three children (B, C, and D), each of whom has two children (E through J), and that one of these children (J) has three children (K, L, and M). A child who comprehends the classification system can move up and down a level, across a level, and up and down and across within the system. The concrete operational child understands that person J can at the same time be father, brother, and grandson, for example.
Children who have reached the concrete operational stage are also capable of seriation , which is the ability to order stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such as length). To see if students can serialize, a teacher might haphazardly place eight sticks of different lengths on a table. The teacher then asks the students to order the sticks by length. Many young children end up with two or three small groups of “big” sticks or “little” sticks, rather than a correct ordering of all eight sticks. Another mistaken strategy they use is to evenly line up the tops of the sticks but ignore the bottoms. The concrete operational thinker simultaneously understands that each stick must be longer than the one that precedes it and shorter than the one that follows it.
Another aspect of reasoning about the relations between classes is transitivity , which is the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions. In this case, consider three sticks (A, B, and C) of differing lengths. A is the longest, B is intermediate in length, and C is the shortest. Does the child understand that if A is longer than B and B is longer than C, then A is longer than C? In Piaget’s theory, concrete operational thinkers do, while preoperational thinkers do not.
Evaluating Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage Has Piaget’s portrait of the concrete operational child withstood the test of research? According to Piaget, various aspects of a stage should emerge at the same time. In fact, however, some concrete operational abilities do not appear in synchrony. For example, children do not learn to conserve at the same time they learn to cross-classify.
Furthermore, education and culture exert stronger influences on children’s development than Piaget reasoned (Bredekamp, 2017; Feeney, Moravcik, & Nolte, 2019; Follari, 2019; Morrison, 2018). Some preoperational children can be trained to reason at a concrete operational stage. And the age at which children acquire conservation skills is related to how much practice their culture provides in these skills.
Thus, although Piaget was a giant in the field of developmental psychology, his conclusions about the concrete operational stage have been challenged. Later, after examining the final stage in his theory of cognitive development, we will further evaluate Piaget’s contributions and examine various criticisms of his theory.
Neo-Piagetians argue that Piaget got some things right but that his theory needs considerable revision. They give more emphasis to how children use attention, memory, and strategies to process information (Case & Mueller, 2001). They especially believe that a more accurate portrayal of children’s thinking requires attention to children’s strategies, the speed at which children process information, the particular task involved, and the division of problem solving into smaller, more precise steps (Morra & others, 2008). These are issues addressed by the information-processing approach, and we discuss some of them later in this chapter.
INFORMATION PROCESSING
If instead of describing children’s stages of thinking we were to examine how they process information during middle and late childhood, what would we find? During these years, most children dramatically improve their ability to sustain and control attention (Posner, 2018a, b; Wu & Scerif, 2018). They pay more attention to task-relevant stimuli than to salient stimuli. Other changes in information processing during middle and late childhood involve memory, thinking, metacognition, and executive function (McClelland & others, 2017; Sala & Gobet, 2017; Siegler, 2017).
Memory Earlier we concluded that short-term memory Page 279increases considerably during early childhood but after the age of 7 does not show as much increase. Long-term memory , a relatively permanent and unlimited type of memory, increases with age during middle and late childhood. In part, improvements in memory reflect children’s increased knowledge and their increased use of strategies. Keep in mind that it is important not to view memory in terms of how children add something to it but rather to underscore how children actively construct their memory (Bauer & others, 2017).
Working Memory Short-term memory is like a passive storehouse with shelves to store information until it is moved to long-term memory. Alan Baddeley (1990, 2001, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013. 2015, 2017, 2018a, b) defines working memory as a kind of mental “workbench” where individuals manipulate and assemble information when they make decisions, solve problems, and comprehend written and spoken language (see Figure 7 ). Working memory is described as being more active and powerful in modifying information than short-term memory. Working memory involves bringing information to mind and mentally working with or updating it, as when you link one idea to another and relate what you are reading now to something you read earlier.
Note in Figure 7 that a key component of working memory is the central executive, which supervises and controls the flow of information. The central executive is especially involved in selective attention and inhibition, planning and decision making, and troubleshooting. Recall the description of executive function as an umbrella-like concept that encompasses a number of higher-level cognitive processes. One of those cognitive processes is working memory, especially its central executive dimension.
Working memory develops slowly. Even by 8 years of age, children can only hold in memory half the items that adults can remember (Kharitonova, Winter, & Sheridan, 2015).
Working memory is linked to many aspects of children’s development (Baddeley, 2018a, b; Nicolaou & others, 2018; Nouwens, Groen, & Verhoeven, 2017; Sala & Gobet, 2017; Sanchez-Perez & others, 2018; Swanson, 2017). For example, children who have better working memory are more advanced in language comprehension, math skills, problem solving, and reasoning than their counterparts with less effective working memory (Fuchs & others, 2016; Ogino & others, 2017; Peng & Fuchs, 2016; Sanchez-Perez & others, 2018; Simms, Frausel, & Richland, 2018; Tsubomi & Watanabe, 2017). In a recent study, children’s verbal working memory was linked to these aspects of both first and second language learners: morphology, syntax, and grammar (Verhagen & Leseman, 2016).
Knowledge and Expertise Much of the research on the role of knowledge in memory has compared experts and novices. Experts have acquired extensive knowledge about a particular content area; this knowledge influences what they notice and how they organize, represent, and interpret information (Ericsson, 2017; Ericsson & others, 2016, 2018; Varga & others, 2018). These aspects in turn affect their ability to remember, reason, and solve problems. When individuals have expertise about a particular subject, their memory also tends to be good regarding material related to that subject (Staszewski, 2013).
For example, one study found that 10- and 11-year-olds who were experienced chess players (“experts”) were able to remember more information about the location of chess pieces on a chess board than college students who were not chess players (“novices”) (Chi, 1978) (see Figure 8 ). In contrast, when the college students were presented with other stimuli, they were able to remember them better than the children were. Thus, the children’s expertise in chess gave them superior memories, but only in chess. A key reason the child chess experts did better at this activity was their ability to organize (chunk) the chess pieces into meaningful subgroups based on their understanding of chess.
There are developmental Page 280changes in expertise (Ericsson, 2014; Ericsson & others, 2018). Older children usually have more expertise about a subject than younger children do, which can contribute to their better memory for the subject.
Autobiographical Memory Recall that we discussed autobiographical memory, which involves memory of significant events and experiences in one’s life. You are engaging in autobiographical memory when you answer questions such as: Who was your first-grade teacher and what was s/he like? What is the most traumatic event that happened to you as a child?
As children go through middle and late childhood, and through adolescence, their autobiographical narratives broaden and become more elaborated (Bauer, 2015, 2016, 2018; Bauer & Fivush, 2014; Bauer, Hattenschwiler, & Larkina, 2016; Bauer & others, 2017). Researchers have found that children develop more detailed, coherent, and evaluative autobiographical memories when their mothers reminisce with them in elaborated and evaluative ways (Fivush, 2010).
Culture influences children’s autobiographical memories. American children, especially American girls, produce autobiographical narratives that are longer, more detailed, more specific, and more personal than narratives by children from China and Korea (Bauer, 2013, 2015). In their conversations about past events, American mothers and their children are more elaborative and more focused on themes related to being independent while Korean mothers and their children less often engage in detailed conversations about the past. Possibly the more elaborated content of American children’s narratives contributes to the earlier first memories researchers have found in American adults (Han, Leichtman, & Wang, 1998).
Strategies If we know anything at all about long-term memory, it is that long-term memory depends on the learning activities individuals engage in when they are learning and remembering information. A key learning activity involves strategies , which consist of deliberate mental activities to improve the processing of information (Chu & others, 2018; Graham, 2018a, b; Harris & others, 2018; Nicolielo-Carriho & Hage, 2017). For example, organizing is a strategy that older children, adolescents, and adults use to remember more effectively. Strategies do not occur automatically; they require effort and work.
Following are some effective strategies for adults to use when attempting to improve children’s memory skills:
· Advise children to elaborate on what is to be remembered. Elaboration is an important strategy that involves engaging in more extensive processing of information. When individuals engage in elaboration, their memory benefits (Schneider, 2011). Thinking of examples and relating information to one’s own self and experiences are good ways to elaborate information. Forming personal associations with information makes the information more meaningful and helps children to remember it. For example, if the word win is on a list of words a child is asked to remember, the child might think of the last time he won a bicycle race with a friend.
· Encourage children to engage in mental imagery. Mental imagery can help even young schoolchildren to remember pictures. However, for remembering verbal information, mental imagery works better for older children than for younger children.
· Motivate children to remember material by understanding it rather than by memorizing it. Children will remember information better over the long term if they understand the information rather than just rehearse and memorize it. Rehearsal works well for encoding information into short-term memory, but when children need to retrieve the information from long-term memory, it is much less efficient. For most information, encourage children to understand it, give it meaning, elaborate it, and personalize it. Give children concepts and ideas to remember and then ask them how they can relate the concepts and ideas to their own personal experiences and meanings. Give them practice on elaborating a concept so they will process the information more deeply.
· Repeat with variation on the instructional information and link early and often. Variations on a lesson theme increase the number of associations in memory storage and linking expands the network of associations in memory storage; both strategies expand the routes for retrieving information from storage.
· Embed memory-relevant language when instructing children. Teachers vary considerably in how much they use memory-relevant language that encourages students to remember information. In research that involved extensivePage 281observations of a number of first-grade teachers in the classroom, Peter Ornstein and his colleagues (Ornstein, Coffman, & Grammer, 2007, 2009; Ornstein & others, 2010) found that during the time segments observed, the teachers rarely used strategy suggestions or metacognitive (thinking about thinking) questions. In this research, when lower-achieving students were placed in classrooms in which teachers were categorized as “high-mnemonic teachers” who frequently embedded memory-relevant information in their teaching, the students’ achievement increased (Ornstein, Coffman, & Grammer, 2007).
Fuzzy Trace Theory Might something other than knowledge and strategies be responsible for improvement in memory during the elementary school years? Charles Brainerd and Valerie Reyna (1993, 2014; Reyna, 2004; Reyna & others, 2016) argue that fuzzy traces account for much of this improvement. Their fuzzy trace theory states that memory is best understood by considering two types of memory representations: (1) verbatim memory trace, and (2) gist. The verbatim memory trace consists of the precise details of the information, whereas gist refers to the central idea of the information. When gist is used, fuzzy traces are built up. Although individuals of all ages extract gist, young children tend to store and retrieve verbatim traces. At some point during the early elementary school years, children begin to use gist more and, according to the theory, this contributes to the improved memory and reasoning of older children because fuzzy traces are more enduring and less likely to be forgotten than verbatim traces.
Thinking Three important aspects of thinking are executive function, critical thinking, and creative thinking.
Executive Function In the chapter on “Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood,” you read about executive function and its characteristics in early childhood. Some of the cognitive topics we discuss in this chapter—working memory, critical thinking, creative thinking, and metacognition—can be considered under the umbrella of executive function and linked to the development of the brain’s prefrontal cortex (Bardikoff & Sabbagh, 2017; Groppe & Elsner, 2017; Knapp & Morton, 2017; Muller & others, 2017). Also, earlier in this chapter in the coverage of brain development in middle and late childhood, you read about the increase in cognitive control, which involves flexible and effective control in a number of areas such as focusing attention, reducing interfering thoughts, inhibiting motor actions, and exercising flexibility in deciding between competing choices.
Adele Diamond and Kathleen Lee (2011) highlighted the following dimensions of executive function that they conclude are the most important for 4- to 11-year-old children’s cognitive development and school success:
· Self-control/inhibition. Children need to develop self-control that will allow them to concentrate and persist on learning tasks, to inhibit their tendencies to repeat incorrect responses, and to resist the impulse to do something now that they would regret later.
· Working memory. Children need an effective working memory to mentally work with the masses of information they will encounter as they go through school and beyond.
· Flexibility. Children need to be flexible in their thinking to consider different strategies and perspectives.
developmental connection
Cognitive Processes
In early childhood, executive function especially involves advances in cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and goal-setting. Connect to “Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood.”
Researchers have found that executive function is a better predictor of school readiness than general IQ (Blair & Razza, 2007). A number of diverse activities and factors have been found to increase children’s executive function, such as aerobic exercise (Kvalo & others, 2017); scaffolding of self-regulation (the Tools of the Mind program discussed in the chapter on “Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood” is an example) (Bodrova & Leong, 2015); mindfulness training (Gallant, 2016); and some types of school curricula (the Montessori curriculum, for example) (Diamond & Lee, 2011).
Ann Masten and her colleagues (Herbers & others, 2014; Labella & others, 2018; Masten, 2013, 2014a, b; Masten & Cicchetti, 2016; Masten & Labella, 2016; Monn & others, 2017) have found that executive function and parenting skills are linked to homeless children’s success in school. Masten believes that executive function and good parenting skills are related. In her words, “When we see kids with good executive function, we often see adults around them that are good Page 282self-regulators. . . Parents model, they support, and they scaffold these skills” (Masten, 2012, p. 11).
Critical Thinking Currently, there is considerable interest among psychologists and educators regarding aspects of critical thinking (Bonney & Sternberg, 2017). Critical thinking involves thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating evidence. In this text, the second and third parts of the Review, Connect, Reflect sections of each chapter challenge you to think critically about a topic or an issue related to the discussion.
According to Ellen Langer (2005), mindfulness —being alert, mentally present, and cognitively flexible while going through life’s everyday activities and tasks—is an important aspect of thinking critically. Mindful children and adults maintain an active awareness of the circumstances in their life and are motivated to find the best solutions to tasks. Mindful individuals create new ideas, are open to new information, and explore multiple strategies and perspectives. By contrast, mindless individuals are entrapped in old ideas, engage in automatic behavior, and often use a single strategy or adopt a single perspective.
Jacqueline and Martin Brooks (2001) lament that few schools really teach students to think critically and develop a deep understanding of concepts. Deep understanding occurs when students are stimulated to rethink previously held ideas. In Brooks and Brooks’ view, schools spend too much time getting students to give a single correct answer in an imitative way, rather than encouraging them to expand their thinking by coming up with new ideas and rethinking earlier conclusions. They observe that too often teachers ask students to recite, define, describe, state, and list, rather than to analyze, infer, connect, synthesize, criticize, create, evaluate, think, and rethink. Many successful students complete their assignments, do well on tests and get good grades, yet they don’t ever learn to think critically and deeply. They think superficially, staying on the surface of problems rather than stretching their minds and becoming deeply engaged in meaningful thinking.
Recently, Robert Roeser and his colleagues (Roeser & Eccles, 2015; Roeser & others, 2014; Roeser & Zelazo, 2012) have emphasized that mindfulness is an important mental process that children can engage in to improve a number of cognitive and socioemotional skills, such as executive function, focused attention, emotion regulation, and empathy. They have proposed that mindfulness training could be implemented in schools through practices such as using age-appropriate activities that increase children’s reflection on moment-to-moment experiences and result in improved self-regulation.
In addition to mindfulness training, activities such as yoga, meditation, and tai chi recently have been suggested as candidates for improving children’s cognitive and socioemotional development (Bostic & others, 2015; Roeser & Pinela, 2014). Together these activities are being grouped under the topic of contemplative science, a cross-disciplinary term that involves the study of how various types of mental and physical training might enhance children’s development (Roeser & Eccles, 2015; Roeser & Zelazo, 2012). In a recent study, a social and emotional learning program that focused on mindfulness and caring for others was effective in improving fourth- and fifth-graders’ cognitive control, mindfulness, emotional control, optimism, and peer relations, and in reducing depressive symptoms (Schonert-Reichl & others, 2015). In other recent research, mindfulness training has been found to improve children’s attention and self-regulation (Poehlmann-Tynan & others, 2016), achievement (Singh & others, 2016), and coping strategies in stressful situations (Dariotis & others, 2016). In a recent study, mindfulness training improved children’s attention and self-regulation (Felver & others, 2017). Also, in two recent studies, mindfulness-based interventions reduced public school teachers’ stress, produced a better mood at school and at home, and resulted in better sleep (Crain, Schonert-Reichl, & Roeser, 2017; Taylor & others, 2016).
developmental connection
Creativity
How can you cultivate your curiosity and interest to live a more creative life? Connect to “Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood.”
Creative Thinking Cognitively competent children not only think critically, but also creatively (Renzulli, 2018; Sternberg, 2018e, f; Sternberg & Kaufman, 2018b; Sternberg & Sternberg, 2017). Creative thinking is the ability to think in novel and unusual ways and to come up with unique solutions to problems. Thus, intelligence and creativity are not the same thing. This difference was recognized by J. P. Guilford (1967), who distinguished between convergent thinking , which produces one correct answer and characterizes the kind of thinking that is required on conventional tests of intelligence, and divergent thinking , which produces many different answers to the same question and characterizes creativity. For example, a typical item on a conventional intelligence test is “How many quarters will you get in return for 60 dimes?” In contrast, the following question has many possible answers: “What image comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘sitting alone in a dark room’ or ‘some unique uses for a paper clip’?”
A special concern is that children’s creative thinking appears Page 283to be declining. A study of approximately 300,000 U.S. children and adults found that creativity scores rose until 1990, but since then have been steadily declining (Kim, 2010). Among the likely causes of the creativity decline are the number of hours U.S. children spend watching TV and playing video games instead of engaging in creative activities, as well as the lack of emphasis on creative thinking skills in schools (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2017; Renzulli, 2017, 2018; Sternberg, 2018e, f). Some countries, though, are placing increased emphasis on creative thinking in schools. For example, historically, creative thinking has been discouraged in Chinese schools. However, Chinese educators are now encouraging teachers to spend more classroom time on creative activities (Plucker, 2010).
It is important to recognize that children will show more creativity in some domains than others (Sternberg, 2018e, f). A child who shows creative thinking skills in mathematics may not exhibit these skills in art, for example. An important goal is to help children become more creative. The Connecting Development to Life interlude offers some recommended ways to accomplish this goal.
Metacognition Metacognition is cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing (Flavell, 2004). Metacognition can take many forms, including thinking about and knowing when and where to use particular strategies for learning or solving problems (Fitzgerald, Arvaneh, & Dockree, 2017; Norman, 2017). Conceptualization of metacognition consists of several dimensions of executive function, such as planning (deciding how much time to spend focusing on a task, for example) and self-regulation (modifying strategies as work on a task progresses, for example) (Allen & others, 2017; Fergus & Bardeen, 2018).
developmental connection
Cognitive Theory
Theory of mind—awareness of one’s own mental processes and the mental processes of others—involves metacognition. Connect to “Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood.”
Many studies classified as “metacognitive” have focused on metamemory, or knowledge about memory. This includes general knowledge about memory, such as knowing that recognition tests are easier than recall tests. It also encompasses knowledge about one’s own memory, such as a student’s ability to monitor whether she has studied enough for an upcoming test or a child’s confidence in eyewitness judgments (Buratti, Allwood, & Johansson, 2014).
Young children do have some general knowledge about memory (Lukowski & Bauer, 2014). By 5 or 6 years of age, children usually know that familiar items are easier to learn than unfamiliar ones, that short lists are easier to memorize than long ones, that recognition is easier than recall, and that forgetting is more likely to occur over time (Lyon & Flavell, 1993). However, in other ways young children’s metamemory is limited. They don’t understand that related items are easier to remember than unrelated ones and that remembering the gist of a story is easier than remembering information verbatim (Kreutzer, Leonard, & Flavell, 1975). By the fifth grade, students understand that gist recall is easier than verbatim recall.
Young children also have only limited knowledge about their own memory. They have an inflated opinion of their memory abilities. For example, in one study a majority of young children predicted that they would be able to recall all 10 items on a list of 10 items. When tested for this, none of the young children managed this feat (Flavell, Friedrichs, & Hoyt, 1970). As they move through the elementary school years, children give more realistic evaluations of their memory skills (Schneider, 2011).
In addition to metamemory, metacognition includes knowledge about strategies (Graham, 2018a, b; Harris & others, 2018; McCormick, Dimmitt, & Sullivan, 2013). Strategies have been the focus of a number of microgenetic investigations (Braithwaite, Tian, & Siegler, 2018; Siegler & Braithwaite, 2017). Recall from the “Introduction” chapter that the microgenetic method involves obtaining detailed information about processing mechanisms as they are occurring from moment to moment (Siegler, 2017). Using the microgenetic approach, researchers have shown that the process of developing effective strategies occurs gradually, not abruptly. This research has found considerable variability in children’s use of strategies, even revealing that they may use an incorrect strategy in solving a math problem for which they had used a correct strategy several trials earlier (Siegler & Braithwaite, 2017).
In the view of Michael Pressley (2003), the key to education is helping students learn a rich repertoire of strategies that produce solutions to problems. Good thinkers routinely use strategies and effective planning to solve problems. Good thinkers also know when and where to use strategies. Understanding when and where to use strategies often results from monitoring the learning situation (Serra & Metcalfe, 2010).
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connecting development to life
Strategies for Increasing Children’s Creative Thinking
Following are some strategies for increasing children’s creative thinking.
Encourage Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a technique in which people are encouraged to come up with creative ideas in a group, play off each other’s ideas, and say practically whatever comes to mind that seems relevant to a particular issue. Facilitators usually tell participants to hold off from criticizing others’ ideas at least until the end of the brainstorming session.
Provide Environments That Stimulate Creativity
Some environments nourish creativity, while others inhibit it. Parents and teachers who encourage creativity often rely on children’s natural curiosity. They provide exercises and activities that stimulate children to find insightful solutions to problems, rather than ask a lot of questions that require rote answers (Beghetto, 2018; Renzulli, 2018; Sternberg & Kaufman, 2018a). Teachers also encourage creativity by taking students on field trips to locations where creativity is valued. Science, discovery, and children’s museums offer rich opportunities to stimulate creativity.
Don’t Overcontrol
Teresa Amabile (1993, 2018) says that telling children exactly how to do things leaves them feeling that originality is a mistake and exploration is a waste of time. Instead of dictating which activities they should engage in, teachers and parents who let children follow their interests and who support their inclinations are less likely to stifle their natural curiosity (Hennessey, 2011, 2017, 2018).
Encourage Internal Motivation
Parents and teachers should avoid excessive use of prizes, such as gold stars, money, or toys, which can stifle creativity by undermining the intrinsic pleasure students derive from creative activities (Hennessey, 2011, 2017, 2018). Creative children’s motivation is the satisfaction generated by the work itself.
Build Children’s Confidence
To expand children’s creativity, teachers and parents should encourage children to believe in their own ability to create something innovative and worthwhile. Building children’s confidence in their creative skills aligns with Bandura’s (2012) concept of self-efficacy, the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes.
Guide Children to Be Persistent and Delay Gratification
Parents and teachers need to be patient and understand that most highly successful creative products take years to develop (Sternberg, 2018g, h). Most creative individuals work on ideas and projects for months and years without being rewarded for their efforts (Sternberg, 2018g, h).
Encourage Children to Take Intellectual Risks
Parents and teachers should encourage children to take intellectual risks. Creative individuals take intellectual risks and seek to discover or invent something never before discovered or invented. Creative people are not afraid of failing or getting something wrong (Sternberg, 2018e, f).
Introduce Children to Creative People
Teachers can invite creative people to their classrooms and ask them to describe what helps them become creative or to demonstrate their creative skills. A writer, poet, musician, scientist, and many others can bring their props and productions to the classroom, turning it into a forum for stimulating students’ creativity.
You learned that it is important to recognize that children will show more creativity in some domains than others. Choose one of the strategies mentioned above and describe how you would implement it differently to encourage creativity in writing, science, math, and art in children in middle and late childhood.
Pressley and his colleagues (Pressley & others, 2003, 2004, 2007) spent considerable time in recent years observing strategy instruction by teachers and strategy use by students in elementary and secondary school classrooms. They conclude that strategy instruction is far less complete and intense than what students need to receive in order to learn how to use strategies effectively. They argue that education Page 285ought to be restructured so that students are provided with more opportunities to become competent strategic learners.
INTELLIGENCE
How can intelligence be defined? Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and to adapt and learn from experiences. Interest in intelligence has often focused on individual differences and assessment. Individual differences are the stable, consistent ways in which people differ from each other (Sackett & others, 2017). We can talk about individual differences in personality or any other domain, but it is in the domain of intelligence that the most attention has been directed at individual differences (Estrada & others, 2017; Giofre & others, 2017). For example, an intelligence test purports to inform us about whether a student can reason better than others who have taken the test (Jaarsveld & Lachmann, 2017). Let’s go back in history and see what the first intelligence test was like.
The Binet Tests In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked psychologist Alfred Binet to devise a method of identifying children who were unable to learn in school. School officials wanted to reduce crowding by placing students who did not benefit from regular classroom teaching in special schools. Binet and his student Theophile Simon developed an intelligence test to meet this request. The test is called the 1905 Scale. It consisted of 30 questions on topics ranging from the ability to touch one’s ear to the ability to draw designs from memory and define abstract concepts.
developmental connection
Intelligence
Does intelligence decrease when individuals become middle-aged? Connect to “Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood.”
Binet developed the concept of mental age (MA) , an individual’s level of mental development relative to others. Not much later, in 1912, William Stern created the concept of intelligence quotient (IQ) , a person’s mental age divided by chronological age (CA), multiplied by 100; that is, IQ = MA/CA × 100. If mental age is the same as chronological age, then the person’s IQ is 100. If mental age is above chronological age, then IQ is more than 100. If mental age is below chronological age, then IQ is less than 100.
The Binet test has been revised many times to incorporate advances in the understanding of intelligence and intelligence tests. These revisions are called the Stanford-Binet tests (Stanford University is where the revisions have been done). In 2004, the test—now called the Stanford-Binet 5—was revised to analyze an individual’s response in five content areas: fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial reasoning, and working memory. A general composite score also is still obtained.
By administering the test to large numbers of people of different ages (from preschool through late adulthood) from different backgrounds, researchers have found that scores on the Stanford-Binet approximate a normal distribution (see Figure 9 ). A normal distribution is symmetrical, with a majority of the scores falling in the middle of the possible range of scores and much fewer scores appearing toward the extremes of the range.
The Wechsler Scales Another set of widely used tests to assess students’ intelligence is called the Wechsler scales, developed by psychologist David Wechsler. They include the Wechsler Preschool and Page 286Primary Scale of Intelligence—Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) to test children from 2.5 years to 7.25 years of age; the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fifth Edition (WISC-V) for children and adolescents 6 to 16 years of age; and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV).
The WISC-V now not only provides an overall IQ score but also yields five composite scores (Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Processing Speed, Fluid Reasoning, and Visual Spatial) (Canivez, Watkins, & Dombrowski, 2017). These scores allow the examiner to quickly see whether the individual is strong or weak in different areas of intelligence. The Wechsler scales also include 16 verbal and nonverbal subscales. Three of the Wechsler subscales are shown in Figure 10 .
Types of Intelligence Is it more appropriate to think of a child’s intelligence as a general ability or as a number of specific abilities? Robert Sternberg and Howard Gardner have proposed influential theories oriented to this second viewpoint.
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Robert J. Sternberg (1986, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014a, b, 2015, 2016a, b, 2017a, b; 2018a, b, c, d) developed the triarchic theory of intelligence , which states that intelligence comes in three forms: (1) analytical intelligence, which refers to the ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast; (2) creative intelligence, which consists of the ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine; and (3) practical intelligence, which involves the ability to use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice.
Sternberg (2017a, b, 2018a, b, c, d) says that children with different triarchic patterns “look different” in school. Students with high analytic ability tend to be favored in conventional schooling. They often do well under direct instruction, in which the teacher lectures and gives students objective tests. They often are considered to be “smart” students who get good grades, show up in high-level tracks, do well on traditional tests of intelligence and the SAT, and later get admitted to competitive colleges.
In contrast, children who are high in creative intelligence often are not on the top rung of their class. Many teachers have specific expectations about how assignments should be done, and creatively intelligent students may not conform to those expectations. Instead of giving conformist answers, they give unique answers, for which they might get reprimanded or marked down. No teacher wants to discourage creativity, but Sternberg stresses that too often a teacher’s desire to increase students’ knowledge suppresses creative thinking.
Like children high in creative intelligence, children with predominantly practical intelligence often do not relate well to the demands of school. However, many of these children do well outside of the classroom’s walls. They may have excellent social skills and good common sense. As adults, some become successful managers, entrepreneurs, or politicians in spite of having undistinguished school records.
Gardner’s Eight Frames of Mind Howard Gardner (1983, 1993, 2002, 2016) suggests there are eight types of intelligence, or “frames of mind.” These are described here, with examples of the types of vocations in which they are regarded as strengths (Campbell, Campbell, & Dickinson, 2004):
· Verbal: The ability to think in words and use language to express meaning. Occupations: authors, journalists, speakers.
· Mathematical: The ability to carry out mathematical operations. Occupations: scientists, engineers, accountants.
· Spatial: The ability to think three-dimensionally. Occupations: architects, artists, sailors.
· Bodily-kinesthetic: The ability to manipulate objects and be physically adept. Occupations: surgeons, craftspeople, dancers, athletes.
· Musical: A sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone. Occupations: composers and musicians.
· Interpersonal: The ability to understand and Page 287interact effectively with others. Occupations: successful teachers, mental health professionals.
· Intrapersonal: The ability to understand oneself. Occupations: theologians, psychologists.
· Naturalist: The ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and human-made systems. Occupations: farmers, botanists, ecologists, landscapers.
According to Gardner, everyone has all of these intelligences to varying degrees. As a result, we prefer to learn and process information in different ways. People learn best when they can do so in a way that uses their stronger intelligences.
Evaluating the Multiple-Intelligence Approaches Sternberg’s and Gardner’s approaches have much to offer. They have stimulated teachers to think more broadly about what makes up children’s competencies (Gardner, 2016; Gardner, Kornhaber, & Chen, 2018; Sternberg, 2017a, b, 2018a, b, c). And they have motivated educators to develop programs that instruct students in multiple domains. These approaches have also contributed to interest in assessing intelligence and classroom learning in innovative ways, such as by evaluating student portfolios (Moran & Gardner, 2006, 2007).
However, doubts about multiple-intelligence approaches persist and many psychologists endorse the general intelligence approach (Burkhart, Schubiger, & van Schaik, 2017; Hagmann-von Arx, Lemola, & Grob, 2018). A number of psychologists think that the multiple-intelligence views have taken the concept of specific intelligences too far (Reeve & Charles, 2008). Some argue that a research base to support the three intelligences of Sternberg or the eight intelligences of Gardner has not yet emerged. One expert on intelligence, Nathan Brody (2007), observes that people who excel at one type of intellectual task are likely to excel in others. Thus, individuals who do well at memorizing lists of digits are also likely to be good at solving verbal problems and spatial layout problems. Other critics suggest that if musical skill reflects a distinct type of intelligence, why not label the skills of outstanding chess players, prizefighters, painters, and poets as types of intelligence?
Advocates of the concept of general intelligence point to its accuracy in predicting school and job success. For example, scores on tests of general intelligence are substantially correlated with school grades and achievement test performance, both at the time of the test and years later (Cucina & others, 2016; Strenze, 2007). For example, a recent meta-analysis of 240 independent samples and more than 100,000 individuals found a correlation of +.54 between intelligence and school grades (Roth & others, 2015). Also, a recent study found a significant link between children’s general intelligence and their self-control (Meldrum & others, 2017).
The argument between those who support the concept of general intelligence and those who advocate the multiple-intelligence view is ongoing (Gardner, Kornhaber, & Chen, 2018; Hilger & others, 2017). Sternberg (2017a, b, 2018b, c) acknowledges the existence of a general intelligence for the kinds of analytical tasks that traditional IQ tests assess but thinks that the range of tasks those tests measure is far too narrow.
Interpreting Differences in IQ Scores The IQ scores that result from tests such as the Stanford-Binet and Wechsler scales provide information about children’s mental abilities. However, interpreting what performance on an intelligence test means is a subject of debate among researchers (Deary, 2012; Sternberg, 2017a, b, 2018a, b, c).
The Influence of Genetics How strong is the effect of genetics on intelligence? This question is difficult to answer because making clear-cut distinctions between the influences of heredity and environment is virtually impossible. Also, most research on heredity and environment does not include environments that differ radically. Thus, it is not surprising that many genetic studies show environment to be a fairly weak influence on intelligence.
Have scientists been able to pinpoint specific genes that are linked to intelligence? A research review concluded that there may be more than 1,000 genes that affect intelligence, each possibly having a small influence on an individual’s intelligence (Davies & others, 2011). Thus, some scientists argue that there is a strong genetic component to intelligence (Hill & others, 2018; Rimfeld & others, 2017; Zabaneh & others, 2017). One strategy for examining the role of heredity in intelligence is to compare the IQs of identical and fraternal twins. Recall that identical twins have exactly the same genetic makeup but fraternal twins do not. If intelligence is genetically determined, say some investigators, the IQs of identical twins should be more similar than Page 288the IQs of fraternal twins. A research review of many studies found that the difference between the average correlation of IQs of identical and fraternal twins was .15, a relatively small difference (Grigorenko, 2000) (see Figure 11 ).
Today, most researchers agree that genetics and environment interact to influence intelligence. For most people, this means that modifications in environment can change their IQ scores considerably. Although genetic endowment may always influence a person’s intellectual ability, the environmental influences and opportunities available to children and adults do make a difference (Sternberg, 2017a, b; 2018a, b, c).
Environmental Influences In the chapter on “Cognitive Development in Infancy” we described a study that demonstrated the influence of parental communication patterns on children’s cognitive abilities. Researchers went into homes and observed how extensively parents from welfare and middle-income professional families communicated with their young children (Hart & Risley, 1995). They found that the middle-income professional parents were much more likely to communicate with their young children than the welfare parents were. How much the parents communicated with their children in the first three years of their lives was correlated with the children’s Stanford-Binet IQ scores at age 3. The more parents communicated with their children, the higher the children’s IQs were.
The environment’s role in intelligence also is reflected in the 12- to 18-point increase in IQ that occurs when children are adopted from lower-SES to middle-SES families (Nisbett & others, 2012). Environmental influences on intelligence also involve schooling (Gustafsson, 2007). The biggest effects have been found when large groups of children have been deprived of formal education for an extended period, resulting in lower intelligence (Ceci & Gilstrap, 2000). Another possible effect of education can be seen in rapidly increasing IQ test scores around the world (Flynn, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2013). IQ scores have been increasing so quickly that a high percentage of people regarded as having average intelligence at the turn of the century would be considered below average in intelligence today (see Figure 12 ). If a representative sample of people today took the Stanford-Binet test version used in 1932, about 25 percent would be defined as having very superior intelligence, a label usually accorded to fewer than 3 percent of the population. Because the increase has taken place in a relatively short time, it can’t be due to heredity, but rather may be due to increasing levels of education attained by a much greater percentage of the world’s population, or to other environmental factors such as the explosion of information to which people are exposed (Laciga & Cigler, 2017; Shenk, 2017; Weber, Dekhtyar, & Herlitz, 2017). The worldwide increase in intelligence test scores that has occurred over a short time frame has been called the Flynn effect after the researcher who discovered it, James Flynn.
Researchers are increasingly concerned about finding ways to improve the early environment of children who are at risk for impoverished intelligence and poor developmental outcomes (Hardy, Smeeding, & Ziliak, 2018; Yoshikawa & others, 2017). For various reasons, many low-income parents have difficulty providing an intellectually stimulating environment for their children. Programs that educate parents to be more sensitive caregivers and better teachers, as well as support services such as quality child care and early childhood education programs, can make a difference in a child’s intellectual development (Follari, 2019; Morrison, 2018; Reynolds, Ou, & Temple, 2018). Thus, the efforts to counteract a deprived early environment’s effect on intelligence emphasize prevention rather than Page 289remediation. In a recent two-year intervention study with families living in poverty, maternal scaffolding and positive home stimulation improved young children’s intellectual functioning (Obradovic & others, 2016).
developmental connection
Intelligence
Polygenic inheritance is the term used to describe the effects of multiple genes on a particular characteristic. Connect to “Biological Beginnings.”
In sum, there is a consensus among psychologists that both heredity and environment influence intelligence (Grigorenko & others, 2016; Sauce & Matzel, 2018; Sternberg, 2017a, 2018a). This consensus reflects the nature-nurture issue, which focuses on the extent to which development is influenced by nature (heredity) and nurture (environment). Although psychologists agree that intelligence is the product of both nature and nurture, there is still disagreement about how strongly each influences intelligence.
Culture and Culture-Fair Tests Differing conceptions of intelligence occur not only among psychologists but also among cultures (Sternberg, 2018f). What is viewed as intelligent in one culture may not be thought of as intelligent in another. For example, people in Western cultures tend to view intelligence in terms of reasoning and thinking skills, whereas people in Eastern cultures see intelligence as a way for members of a community to engage successfully in social roles (Nisbett, 2003).
Culture-fair tests are tests of intelligence that are intended to be free of cultural bias. Two types of culture-fair tests have been devised. The first type includes items that are familiar to children from all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, or items that at least are familiar to the children taking the test. For example, a child might be asked how a bird and a dog are different, on the assumption that all children have been exposed to birds and dogs. The second type of culture-fair test has no verbal questions. Even with tests that are designed to be culture-fair, people with more education tend to score higher than do those with less education.
Why is it so hard to create culture-fair tests? Most tests tend to reflect what the dominant culture thinks is important. If tests have time limits, that will bias the test against groups not concerned with time. If languages differ, the same words might have different meanings for different language groups. Even pictures can produce bias because some cultures have less experience with drawings and photographs. Because of such difficulties in creating culture-fair tests, Robert Sternberg concludes that there are no culture-fair tests, only culture-reduced tests.
Ethnic Variations On average, African American schoolchildren in the United States score 10 to 15 points lower on standardized intelligence tests than White American schoolchildren do (Brody, 2000). Children from Latino families also score lower than White children do. These are average scores, however, and there is significant overlap in the distribution of scores. About 15 to 25 percent of African American schoolchildren score higher than half of White schoolchildren do, and many White schoolchildren score lower than most African American schoolchildren.
As African Americans have gained social, economic, and educational opportunities, the gap between African Americans and non-Latino Whites on standardized intelligence tests is shrinking. A research review concluded that the IQ gap between African Americans and non-Latino Whites has been reduced considerably in recent years (Nisbett & others, 2012). This gap especially narrows in college, where African American and non-Latino White students often experience more similar environments than during the elementary and high school years (Myerson & others, 1998). Further, a recent study using the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales found no differences in overall intellectual ability between non-Latino White and African American preschool children when the children were matched on age, gender, and parental education level (Dale & others, 2014). Nonetheless, a recent analysis concluded that the underrepresentation of African Americans in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects and careers is linked teachers’ expectations that African American students have less innate talent in these fields than non-Latino Whites (Leslie & others, 2015).
One potential influence on intelligence test performance is stereotype threat , the anxiety that one’s behavior might confirm a negative stereotype about one’s group (Grand, 2017; von Hippel, Kalokerinos, & Zacher, 2017; Williams & others, 2018). For example, when African Americans take an intelligence test, they may experience anxiety about confirming the old stereotype that Blacks are “intellectually inferior.” Research studies have confirmed the existence of stereotype threat (Lyons & others, 2018; Wegmann, 2017). Also, African American students do more poorly on standardized tests if they perceive that they are being evaluated. If they think the test doesn’t count, they perform as well as White students (Aronson, 2002). However, some critics argue that the extent to which stereotype threat explains the testing gap has been exaggerated (Sackett, Borneman, & Connelly, 2009).
Using Intelligence Tests Here are some cautions Page 290about IQ that can help you avoid the pitfalls of using information about a child’s intelligence in negative ways:
· Avoid stereotyping and expectations. A special concern is that the scores on an IQ test easily can lead to stereotypes and expectations about students. Sweeping generalizations are too often made on the basis of an IQ score. An IQ test should always be considered a measure of current performance. It is not a measure of fixed potential. Maturational changes and enriched environmental experiences can increase a student’s IQ score.
· Know that IQ is not a sole indicator of competence. Another concern about IQ tests involves their use as the main or sole assessment of competence. A high IQ is not the ultimate human value. As we have seen in this chapter, it is important to consider not only students’ intellectual competence in such areas as verbal skills but also their creative and practical skills.
· Use caution in interpreting an overall IQ score. In evaluating a child’s intelligence, it is wiser to think of intelligence as consisting of a number of domains. Keep in mind the different types of intelligence described by Sternberg and Gardner. Remember that by considering the different domains of intelligence you can find that every child has at least one area of strength.
developmental connection
Conditions, Diseases, and Disorders
Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21. Connect to “Biological Beginnings.”
EXTREMES OF INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence tests have been used to discover indications of intellectual disability or intellectual giftedness, the extremes of intelligence. At times, intelligence tests have been misused for this purpose. Keeping in mind the theme that an intelligence test should not be used as the sole indicator of intellectual disability or giftedness, we will explore the nature of these intellectual extremes.
Intellectual Disability The most distinctive feature of intellectual disability (formerly called mental retardation) is inadequate intellectual functioning. Long before formal tests were developed to assess intelligence, individuals with an intellectual disability were identified by a lack of age-appropriate skills in learning and caring for themselves. Once intelligence tests were developed, they were used to identify the degree of intellectual disability. However, even individuals with an intellectual disability who have the same low IQ may have very different levels of functioning. One might be married, employed, and involved in the community and the other might require constant supervision in an institution. Such differences in social competence led psychologists to include deficits in adaptive behavior in their definition of intellectual disability.
Intellectual disability is a condition of limited mental ability in which the individual (1) has a low IQ, usually below 70 on a traditional intelligence test; (2) has difficulty adapting to the demands of everyday life; and (3) first exhibits these characteristics by age 18 (Heward, Alber-Morgan, & Konrad, 2017). The age limit is included in the definition of intellectual disability because, for example, we don’t usually think of a college student who suffers massive brain damage in a car accident, resulting in an IQ of 60, as having an “intellectual disability.” The low IQ and low adaptiveness should be evident in childhood, not after normal functioning is interrupted by damage of some form (Burack & others, 2016). About 5 million Americans fit this definition of intellectual disability.
Some cases of intellectual disability have an organic cause. Organic intellectual disability describes a genetic disorder or a lower level of intellectual functioning caused by brain damage. Down syndrome is one form of organic intellectual disability, and it occurs when an extra chromosome is present. Other causes of organic intellectual disability include fragile X syndrome, an abnormality in the X chromosome that was discussed in “Biological Beginnings”; prenatal malformation; metabolic disorders; and diseases that affect the brain. Most people who suffer from organic intellectual disability have IQs between 0 and 50.
When no evidence of organic brain damage can be found, cases are labeled cultural-familial intellectual disability . Individuals with this type of disability have IQs between 55 and 70. Psychologists suspect that this type of disability often results from growing up in a below-average intellectual environment. Children with this type of disability can be identified in schools, where they often fail, need tangible rewards (candy rather than praise), and are highly sensitive to what others expect of them. However, as adults, they are usually not noticeable, perhaps because adult settings don’t tax their cognitive skills as sorely. It may also be that they increase their intelligence as they move toward adulthood.
Giftedness There have always been people Page 291whose abilities and accomplishments outshine those of others—the whiz kid in class, the star athlete, the natural musician. People who are gifted have above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for something. When it comes to programs for gifted students, most school systems select children who have intellectual superiority and academic aptitude, whereas children who are talented in the visual and performing arts (art, drama, dance), who demonstrate skill in athletics, or who have other special aptitudes tend to be overlooked (Olszewski-Kubilius & Thomson, 2013). There also are increasing calls to further widen the criteria for giftedness to include such factors as creativity and commitment (Sternberg, 2017c; Sternberg, 2018g; Sternberg & Kaufman, 2018a).
Estimates vary but indicate that approximately 6 to 10 percent of U.S. students are classified as gifted (National Association for Gifted Children, 2017). This percentage is likely conservative because it focuses more on children who are gifted intellectually and academically, often failing to include those who are gifted in creative thinking or the visual and performing arts (Ford, 2012, 2015a, b, 2016).
Characteristics What are the characteristics of children who are gifted? Despite speculation that giftedness is linked with having a mental disorder, no relation between giftedness and mental disorder has been found. Similarly, the idea that gifted children are maladjusted is a myth, as Lewis Terman (1925) found when he conducted an extensive study of 1,500 children whose Stanford-Binet IQs averaged 150. The children in Terman’s study were socially well adjusted, and many went on to become successful doctors, lawyers, professors, and scientists. Studies support the conclusion that gifted people tend to be more mature than others, have fewer emotional problems than average, and grow up in a positive family climate (Davidson, 2000). For example, a recent study revealed that parents and teachers identified elementary school children who are not gifted as having more emotional and behavioral risks than children who are gifted (Eklund & others, 2015). In this study, when children who are gifted did have problems, they were more likely to be internalized problems, such as anxiety and depression, than externalized problems such as acting out and high levels of aggression.
Ellen Winner (1996) described three criteria that characterize gifted children, whether in art, music, or academic domains:
1. Precocity. Gifted children are precocious. They begin to master an area earlier than their peers. Learning in their domain is more effortless for them than for ordinary children. In most instances, these gifted children are precocious because they have an inborn high ability in a particular domain or domains.
2. Marching to their own drummer. Gifted children learn in a qualitatively different way from ordinary children. One way that they march to a different drummer is that they need minimal help, or scaffolding, from adults to learn. In many instances, they resist any kind of explicit instruction. They often make discoveries on their own and solve problems in unique ways.
3. A passion to master. Gifted children are driven to understand the domain in which they have high ability. They display an intense, obsessive interest and an ability to focus. They motivate themselves, says Winner, and do not need to be “pushed” by their parents.
Also, researchers have found that children who are gifted learn at a faster pace, process information more rapidly, are better at reasoning, use superior strategies, and monitor their understanding better than their nongifted counterparts (Sternberg & Kaufman, 2018a).
Nature-Nurture Is giftedness a product of heredity or environment? Likely both (Duggan & Friedman, 2014; Sternberg & Kaufman, 2018a). Individuals who are gifted recall that they had signs of high ability in a particular area at a very young age, prior to or at the beginning of formal training. This suggests the importance of innate ability in giftedness. However, researchers have also found that individuals with world-class status in the arts, mathematics, science, and sports all report strong family support and years of training and practice (Bloom, 1985). Deliberate practice is an important characteristic of individuals who become experts in a particular domain. For example, in one study the best musicians engaged in twice as much deliberate practice over their lives as did the least successful ones (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Romer, 1993).
developmental connection
Nature Versus Nurture
The epigenetic view emphasizes that development is an ongoing, bidirectional interchange between heredity and environment. Connect to “Biological Beginnings.”
Domain-Specific Giftedness and Development Individuals who are highly gifted are typically not gifted in many domains, and research on giftedness is increasingly focused on domain-specific developmental trajectories (Sternberg & Kaufman, 2018a; Winner, 2014). During the childhood years, the Page 292domain in which individuals are gifted usually emerges. Thus, at some point in the childhood years the child who is to become a gifted artist or the child who is to become a gifted mathematician begins to show expertise in that domain. Regarding domain-specific giftedness, software genius Bill Gates (1998), the founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s richest persons, commented that when you are good at something you have to resist the urge to think that you will be good at everything. Gates says that because he has been so successful at software development, people expect him to be brilliant in other domains where he is far from being a genius.
Identifying an individual’s domain-specific talent and providing individually appropriate and optional educational opportunities need to be accomplished at the very latest by adolescence (Keating, 2009). During adolescence, individuals who are talented become less reliant on parental support and increasingly pursue their own interests.
Education of Children Who Are Gifted An increasing number of experts argue that the education of children who are gifted in the United States requires a significant overhaul (Renzulli, 2017; Sternberg & Kaufman, 2018a). Ellen Winner (1996, 2009, 2014) argues that too often children who are gifted are socially isolated and underchallenged in the classroom. It is not unusual for them to be ostracized and labeled “nerds” or “geeks.” Many eminent adults report that school was a negative experience for them, that they were bored and sometimes knew more than their teachers (Bloom, 1985). Winner argues that American education will benefit when standards are raised for all children. When some children are still underchallenged, she recommends that they be allowed to attend advanced classes in their domain of exceptional ability. Some especially precocious middle school students may benefit from taking college classes in their area of expertise. For example, Bill Gates took college math classes at 13; Yo-Yo Ma, a famous cellist, graduated from high school at 15 and attended Juilliard School of Music in New York City.
A final concern is that African American, Latino, and Native American children are underrepresented in gifted programs (Ford, 2012, 2014, 2015a, b, 2016; Mills, 2015). Much of the underrepresentation involves the lower test scores for these children compared with non-Latino White and Asian American children, which may reflect test bias and fewer opportunities to develop language skills such as vocabulary and comprehension (Ford, 2012, 2014, 2015a, b, 2016).
Review Connect Reflect
LG3 Explain cognitive changes in middle and late childhood.
Review
· What characterizes Piaget’s stage of concrete operational thought? What are some contributions and criticisms of Piaget?
· How do children process information in the middle and late childhood years?
· What is intelligence, and how is it assessed? What characterizes links between neuroscience and intelligence? What determines individual and group differences in IQ scores?
· What are the key characteristics of intellectual disability and giftedness?
Connect
· In discussing memory, thinking, and intelligence, the topic of recommended educational strategies often came up. Compare these recommendations with those you learned earlier.
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· A CD-ROM, Children’s IQ and Achievement Test, now lets parents test their child’s IQ and identify how well the child is performing in relation to his or her grade in school. Would you want to personally test your own child’s IQ? What might be some problems with parents giving their children an IQ test?
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4 Language Development
LG4 Discuss language development in middle and late childhood.
Vocabulary, Grammar, and Metalinguistic Awareness
Reading
Writing
Second-Language Learning and Bilingual Education
Children gain new skills as they enter school that make it possible for them to learn to read and write (Fox & Alexander, 2017; Graham & Harris, 2017). These skills include increased use of language to talk about things that are not physically present, learning what a word is, and learning how to recognize and talk about sounds. Children also learn the alphabetic principle—that the letters of the alphabet represent sounds of the language.
VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR, AND METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS
During middle and late childhood, changes occur in the way children’s mental vocabulary is organized. When asked to say the first word that comes to mind when they hear a word, preschool children typically provide a word that often follows the word in a sentence. For example, when asked to respond to dog, the young child may say “barks,” or to the word eat respond with “lunch.” At about 7 years of age, children begin to respond with a word that is the same part of speech as the stimulus word. For example, a child may now respond to the word dog with “cat” or “horse.” To eat, they now might say “drink.” This is evidence that children now have begun to categorize their vocabulary by parts of speech.
The process of categorizing becomes easier as children increase their vocabulary (Clark, 2012, 2017). Children’s vocabulary increases from an average of about 14,000 words at age 6 to an average of about 40,000 words by age 11.
Children make similar advances in grammar (Clark, 2017). During the elementary school years, children’s improvement in logical reasoning and analytical skills helps them understand such constructions as the appropriate use of comparatives (shorter, deeper) and subjunctives (“If you were president . . .”). During the elementary school years, children become increasingly able to understand and use complex grammar, such as the following sentence: The boy who kissed his mother wore a hat. They also learn to use language in a more connected way, producing connected discourse. They become able to relate sentences to one another to produce descriptions, definitions, and narratives that make sense. Children must be able to do these things orally before they can be expected to deal with them in written assignments.
These advances in vocabulary and grammar during the elementary school years are accompanied by the development of metalinguistic awareness , which is knowledge about language, such as understanding what a preposition is or being able to discuss the sounds of a language (Schiff, Nuri Ben-Shushan, & Ben-Artzi, 2017; Tong, Deacon, & Cain, 2014; Yeon, Bae, & Joshi, 2017). Metalinguistic awareness allows children “to think about their language, understand what words are, and even define them” (Berko Gleason, 2009, p. 4). It improves considerably during the elementary school years (Pan & Uccelli, 2009). Defining words becomes a regular part of classroom discourse, and children increase their knowledge of syntax as they study and talk about the components of sentences such as subjects and verbs (Crain, 2012). And reading also feeds into metalinguistic awareness as children try to comprehend written text.
Children also make progress in understanding how to use language in culturally appropriate ways—a process called pragmatics (Beguin, 2016; Bryant, 2012). By the time they enter adolescence, most children know the rules for using language in everyday contexts—that is, what is appropriate and inappropriate to say.
READING
Before learning to read, children learn to use language to talk about things that are not present; they learn what a word is; and they learn how to recognize sounds and talk about them. Children who begin elementary school with a robust vocabulary have an advantage when it comes to learning to read Page 294. Vocabulary development plays an important role in reading comprehension (Vacca & others, 2018).
How should children be taught to read? For many years debate focuses on the whole-language approach versus the phonics approach (Fox & Alexander, 2017; Reutzel & Cooter, 2019).
The whole-language approach stresses that reading instruction should parallel children’s natural language learning. In some whole-language classes, beginning readers are taught to recognize whole words or even entire sentences, and to use the context of what they are reading to guess at the meaning of words. Reading materials that support the whole-language approach are whole and meaningful—that is, children are given material in its complete form, such as stories and poems, so that they learn to understand language’s communicative function. Reading is connected with listening and writing skills. Although there are variations in whole-language programs, most share the premise that reading should be integrated with other skills and subjects, such as science and social studies, and that it should focus on real-world material. Thus, a class might read newspapers, magazines, or books, and then write about and discuss them.
In contrast, the phonics approach emphasizes that reading instruction should teach basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds. Early phonics-centered reading instruction should involve simplified materials. Only after children have learned correspondence rules that relate spoken phonemes to the alphabet letters that are used to represent them should they be given complex reading materials, such as books and poems (Cunningham, 2017; Fox & Alexander, 2017; Leu & Kinzer, 2017).
Which approach is better? Research suggests that children can benefit from both approaches, but instruction in phonics needs to be emphasized (Leu & Kinzer, 2017; Reutzel & Cooter, 2019; Tompkins, 2018). An increasing number of experts in the field of reading now conclude that direct instruction in phonics is a key aspect of learning to read (Cunningham, 2017; Fox & Alexander, 2017).
Beyond the phonics/whole language issue in learning to read, becoming a good reader includes learning to read fluently (Breen & others, 2016). Many beginning or poor readers do not recognize words automatically. Their processing capacity is consumed by the demands of word recognition, so they have less capacity to devote to comprehension of groupings of words as phrases or sentences. As their processing of words and passages becomes more automatic, it is said that their reading becomes more fluent (Stevens, Walker, & Vaughn, 2017). Also, children’s vocabulary development plays an important role in their reading comprehension (Vacca & others, 2018). And metacognitive strategies, such as learning to monitor one’s reading progress, getting the gist of what is being read, and summarizing also are important in becoming a good reader (Schiff, Nuri Ben-Shushan, & Ben-Artzi, 2017).
WRITING
As they begin to write, children often invent spellings. Parents and teachers should encourage children’s early writing but not be overly concerned about the formation of letters or spelling. Corrections of spelling and printing should be selective and made in positive ways that do not discourage the child’s writing and spontaneity.
Like becoming a good reader, becoming a good writer takes many years and lots of practice (Graham & Harris, 2017; Tompkins, 2019). Children should be given many writing opportunities. As their language and cognitive skills improve with good instruction, so will their writing skills. For example, developing a more sophisticated understanding of syntax and grammar serves as an underpinning for better writing. So do cognitive skills such as organization and logical reasoning. Through the course of the school years, students develop increasingly sophisticated methods of organizing their ideas.
The metacognitive strategies involved in being a competent writer are linked with those required to be a competent reader because the writing process involves competent reading and rereading during composition and revision (Graham & Harris, 2018; Harris & others, 2018). Further, researchers have found that strategy Page 295instruction involving planning, drafting, revising, and editing improves older elementary school children’s metacognitive awareness and writing competence (Graham, Rouse, & Harris, 2018; Harris & Graham, 2018).
Monitoring one’s writing progress is especially important in becoming a good writer (Graham & Harris, 2018; Graham & others, 2018; Harris & Graham, 2018). This includes being receptive to feedback and applying what one learns in writing one paper to making the next paper better.
Major concerns about students’ writing competence are increasingly being voiced (Graham, 2017, 2018a, b; Tompkins, 2019). One study revealed that 70 to 75 percent of U.S. students in grades 4 through 12 are low-achieving writers (Persky, Dane, & Jin, 2003). College instructors report that 50 percent of high school graduates are not prepared for college-level writing (Achieve, Inc., 2005).
SECOND-LANGUAGE LEARNING AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION
Are there sensitive periods in learning a second language? That is, if individuals want to learn a second language, how important is the age at which they begin to learn it? What is the best way to teach children who come from homes in which English is not the primary language?
Second-Language Learning For many years, it was claimed that if individuals did not learn a second language prior to puberty they would never reach native-language learners’ proficiency in the second language (Johnson & Newport, 1991). However, recent research indicates a more complex conclusion: Sensitive periods likely vary across different language systems (Thomas & Johnson, 2008). Thus, for late language learners, such as adolescents and adults, new vocabulary is easier to learn than new sounds or new grammar (Neville, 2006). For example, children’s ability to pronounce words with a native-like accent in a second language typically decreases with age, with an especially sharp drop occurring after the age of about 10 to 12. Also, adults tend to learn a second language faster than children, but their final level of second-language attainment is not as high as children’s. And the way children and adults learn a second language differs somewhat. Compared with adults, children are less sensitive to feedback, less likely to use explicit strategies, and more likely to learn a second language from large amounts of input (Thomas & Johnson, 2008).
Students in the United States are far behind their counterparts in many developed countries in learning a second language. For example, in Russia, schools have 10 grades, called forms, which roughly correspond to the 12 grades in American schools. Russian children begin school at age 7 and begin learning English in the third form. Because of this emphasis on teaching English, most Russian citizens under the age of 40 today are able to speak at least some English. The United States is the only technologically advanced Western nation that does not have a national foreign language requirement at the high school level, even for students in rigorous academic programs.
Some aspects of children’s ability to learn a second language transfer to success in other areas (Bialystok, 2017). Children who are fluent in two languages perform better than their single-language counterparts on tests of control of attention, concept formation, analytical reasoning, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, cognitive complexity, and cognitive monitoring (Bialystok, 2001, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017; Bialystok & Craik, 2010; Sullivan & others, 2014). Recent research also documented that bilingual children are better at theory of mind tasks (Rubio-Fernandez, 2017). They also are more conscious of the structure of spoken and written language and better at noticing errors of grammar and meaning, skills that benefit their reading ability (Bialystok, 1997; Kuo & Anderson, 2012). A recent study of 6- to 10-year-olds found that early bilingual exposure was a key factor in bilingual children outperforming monolingual children on phonological awareness and word learning (Jasinska & Petitto, 2018).
Thus, overall, bilingualism is linked to positive outcomes for children’s language and cognitive development. (Antovich & Graf Estes, 2018; Singh & others, 2017; Wermelinger, Gampe, & Daum, 2017; Yow & others, 2018). An especially important developmental question that many parents of infants and young children Page 296have asked is whether they should teach them two languages simultaneously, or whether this might confuse them. The answer is that teaching infants and young children two languages simultaneously (as when a mother’s native language is English and her husband’s is Spanish) has numerous benefits and few drawbacks (Bialystok, 2014, 2015, 2017).
Research indicates that bilingual children do have a smaller vocabulary in each language than monolingual children (Bialystok, 2011). Most children who learn two languages are not exposed to the same quantity and quality of each language. However, bilingual children do not show delays in the rate at which they acquire language overall (Hoff, 2016). In a recent study, by 4 years of age children who continued to learn Spanish and English languages had a total vocabulary growth that was greater than that of monolingual children (Hoff & others, 2014).
However, a different type of bilingualism occurs when immigrant children have used only their native language at home and then must learn the main language of a new country at school. For example, in the United States, many immigrant children go from being monolingual in their home language to bilingual in that language and in English, only to end up being monolingual speakers of English. This is called subtractive bilingualism, and it can have negative effects on children, who often become ashamed of their home language.
Bilingual Education A current controversy related to bilingualism involves the millions of U.S. children who come from homes in which English is not the primary language and then must learn English in school (Diaz-Rico, 2018; Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2017; Esposito & others, 2018; Peregoy & Boyle, 2017). What is the best way to teach these English language learners (ELLs), many of whom in the United States are from immigrant families living in poverty?
ELLs have been taught in one of two main ways: (1) instruction in English only, or (2) a dual-language (formerly called bilingual) approach that combines instruction in their home language and English (Diaz-Rico, 2018; Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2017). In a dual-language approach, instruction is given in both the ELL child’s home language and English for varying amounts of time at certain grade levels. One of the arguments for the dual-language approach is the research discussed earlier demonstrating that bilingual children have more advanced information-processing skills than monolingual children (Genesee & Lindholm-Leary, 2012).
If a dual-language instructional strategy is used, too often it has been thought that immigrant children need only one or two years of this type of instruction. However, in general it takes immigrant children approximately three to five years to develop speaking proficiency and seven years to develop reading proficiency in English (Hakuta, Butler, & Witt, 2000). Also, immigrant children vary in their ability to learn English (Diaz-Rico, 2018; Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2017). Children who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have more difficulty than those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds (Hakuta, 2001; Hoff & Place, 2013). Thus, especially for immigrant children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, more years of dual-language instruction may be needed than they currently are receiving.
What have researchers found regarding outcomes of ELL programs? Drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of ELL programs is difficult because of variations across programs in the number of years they are in effect, type of instruction, quality of schooling other than ELL instruction, teachers, children, and other factors. Further, no effective experiments have been conducted that compare bilingual education with English-only education in the United States (Snow & Kang, 2006). Some experts have concluded that the quality of instruction is more important in determining outcomes than the language in which it is delivered (Lesaux & Siegel, 2003).
Nonetheless, other experts, such as Kenji Hakuta (2001, 2005), support the combined home language and English approach because (1) children have difficulty learning a subject when it is taught in a language they do not understand; and (2) when both languages are integrated in the classroom, children learn the second language more readily and participate more actively. In support of Hakuta’s view, most large-scale studies have found that the academic achievement of ELLs is higher in dual-language programs than English-only programs (Genesee & Lindholm-Leary, 2012). To read about the work of one dual-language teacher, see Connecting with Careers .
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connecting with careers
Salvador Tamayo, Teacher of English Language Learners
Salvador Tamayo is an ELL fifth-grade teacher at Turner Elementary School in West Chicago. He recently was given a National Educator Award by the Milken Family Foundation for his work in educating ELLs. Tamayo is especially adept at integrating technology into his ELL classes. He and his students have created several award-winning Web sites about the West Chicago City Museum, the local Latino community, and the history of West Chicago. His students also developed an “I Want to Be an American Citizen” Web site to assist family and community members in preparing for the U.S. Citizenship Test. Tamayo also teaches an ELL class at Wheaton College.
For more information about what elementary school teachers do, see the Careers in Life-Span Development appendix.
Review Connect Reflect
LG4 Discuss language development in middle and late childhood.
Review
· What are some changes in vocabulary and grammar in the middle and late childhood years?
· What controversy characterizes how to teach children to read?
· What characterizes children’s writing skills and their development?
· What is dual-language instruction? What issues are involved in this approach? What characterizes bilingual education?
Connect
· Earlier in the chapter you learned about metacognition. Compare that with metalinguistic awareness.
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· Did you learn a second language as a child? If you did, do you think it was beneficial to you? If so, how? If you did not learn a second language as a child, do you wish you had? Why or why not?
topical connections looking forward
The slow physical growth of middle and late childhood gives way to the dramatic changes of puberty in early adolescence. Significant changes also occur in the adolescent’s brain in which earlier maturation of the amygdala (emotion processing) and later maturation of the prefrontal cortex (decision making, self-regulation) are likely linked to increases in risk-taking and sensation seeking. Sexual development is a normal aspect of adolescence, but having sexual intercourse early in adolescence is associated with a number of problems. Adolescence is a critical juncture in health because many poor health habits begin in adolescence. Despite recent declines, the United States has one of the highest rates of illicit drug use of any developed nation. Adolescent thought is more abstract, idealistic, and logical than children’s. The transition from elementary school to middle school or junior high is difficult for many individuals because it coincides with so many physical, cognitive, and socioemotional changes in development.
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Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood
1 Physical Changes and Health
LG1 Discuss physical changes and health in middle and late childhood.
Body Growth and Change
The Brain
Motor Development
Exercise
Health, Illness, and Disease
· The period of middle and late childhood involves slow, consistent growth. During this period, children grow an average of 2 to 3 inches a year. Muscle mass and strength gradually increase. Among the most pronounced changes in body growth and proportion are decreases in head circumference and waist circumference in relation to body height.
· Changes in the brain in middle and late childhood include advances in functioning in the prefrontal cortex, which are reflected in improved attention, reasoning, and cognitive control. During middle and late childhood, less diffusion and more focal activation occurs in the prefrontal cortex, a change that is associated with an increase in cognitive control.
· During middle and late childhood, motor development becomes much smoother and more coordinated. Children gain greater control over their bodies and can sit and pay attention for longer periods of time. However, their lives should include abundant physical activity.
· Increased myelination of the central nervous system is reflected in improved motor skills. Improved fine motor skills appear in the form of handwriting development. Boys are usually better at gross motor skills, girls at fine motor skills.
· Most American children do not get nearly enough exercise. Parents play an especially important role in guiding children to increase their exercise. Heavy television viewing and computer use are linked to lower activity levels in children.
· For the most part, middle and late childhood is a time of excellent health. The most common cause of severe injury and death in childhood is motor vehicle accidents. Being overweight or obese is an increasingly prevalent child health problem, raising the risk for many medical and psychological problems. Cardiovascular disease is uncommon in children, but the precursors to adult cardiovascular disease are often already apparent during childhood. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children (after accidents). Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer.
2 Children with Disabilities
LG2 Identify children with different types of disabilities and discuss issues in educating them.
The Scope of Disabilities
Educational Issues
· Approximately 14 percent of U.S. children from 3 to 21 years of age receive special education or related services. A child with a learning disability has difficulty in learning that involves understanding or using spoken or written language, and the difficulty can appear in listening, thinking, reading, writing, and spelling. A learning disability also may involve difficulty in doing mathematics. To be classified as a learning disability, the learning problem is not primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; intellectual disabilities; emotional disorders; or due to environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
· Dyslexia is a category of learning disabilities that involves a severe impairment in the ability to read and spell. Dysgraphia is a learning disability that involves difficulty in handwriting. Dyscalculia is a learning disability that involves difficulties in math computation.
· Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disability in which individuals consistently show problems in one or more of these areas: (1) inattention, (2) hyperactivity, and (3) impulsivity. ADHD has been increasingly diagnosed. Emotional and behavioral disorders consist of serious, persistent problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, fears associated with personal or school matters, as well as other inappropriate socioemotional characteristics.
· Autism spectrum disorders Page 299(ASD), also called pervasive developmental disorders, range from autistic disorder, a severe developmental disorder, to Asperger syndrome, a relatively mild autism spectrum disorder. The current consensus is that autism is a brain dysfunction involving abnormalities in brain structure and neurotransmitters. Children with autism spectrum disorders are characterized by problems in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors.
· In 1975, Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, required that all children with disabilities be given a free, appropriate public education. This law was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990 and updated in 2004. IDEA includes requirements that children with disabilities receive an individualized education plan (IEP), which is a written plan that spells out a program tailored to the child and requires that they be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE), which is a setting that is as similar as possible to the one in which children without disabilities are educated. The term inclusion means educating children with disabilities full-time in the regular classroom.
3 Cognitive Changes
LG3 Explain cognitive changes in middle and late childhood.
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
Information Processing
Intelligence
Extremes of Intelligence
· Piaget said that the stage of concrete operational thought characterizes children from about 7 to 11 years of age. During this stage, children are capable of concrete operations, conservation, classification, seriation, and transitivity. Critics argue that some abilities emerge earlier than Piaget thought, that elements of a stage do not appear at the same time, and that education and culture have more influence on development than Piaget predicted. Neo-Piagetians place more emphasis on how children process information, their use of strategies, speed of information processing, and division of cognitive problems into more precise steps.
· Long-term memory increases in middle and late childhood. Working memory is an important memory process. Knowledge and expertise influence memory. Changes in autobiographical memory occur in middle and late childhood. Strategies can be used by children to improve their memory, and it is important for adults who instruct children to encourage children’s strategy use. Fuzzy trace theory has been proposed to explain developmental changes in memory.
· Among the key dimensions of executive function that are important in cognitive development and school success are self-control/inhibition, working memory, and flexibility.
· Critical thinking involves thinking reflectively and productively, as well as evaluating available evidence. Mindfulness is an important aspect of critical thinking. A special concern is the lack of emphasis on critical thinking in many schools.
· Creative thinking is the ability to think in novel and unusual ways and to come up with unique solutions to problems. Guilford distinguished between convergent and divergent thinking. A number of strategies can be used to encourage children’s creative thinking, including brainstorming.
· Metacognition is knowing about knowing. Many metacognitive studies have focused on metamemory. Pressley views the key to education as helping students learn a rich repertoire of strategies for problem solving.
· Intelligence consists of problem-solving skills and the ability to adapt to and learn from life’s everyday experiences. Interest in intelligence often focuses on individual differences and assessment. Widely used intelligence tests today include the Stanford-Binet tests and Wechsler scales. Results on these tests may be reported in terms of an overall IQ or in terms of performance on specific areas of the tests.
· Sternberg proposed that intelligence comes in three main forms: analytical, creative, and practical. Gardner proposes that there are eight types of intelligence: verbal, mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, and naturalist. The multiple-intelligence approaches have expanded our conception of intelligence, but critics argue that the research base for these approaches is not well established.
· IQ scores are influenced by both genetics and characteristics of the environment. Parents, home environments, schools, and intervention programs can influence these scores. Intelligence test scores have Page 300risen considerably around the world in recent decades. This phenomenon is called the Flynn effect, and it supports the role of environment in intelligence. Group differences in IQ scores may reflect many influences, including cultural bias. Tests may be biased against certain groups that are not familiar with a standard form of English, with the content tested, or with the testing situation. Tests are likely to reflect the values and experience of the dominant culture.
· Intellectual disability involves a low level of intellectual functioning as well as difficulty adapting to the demands of everyday life, with these characteristics occurring prior to age 18. One classification of intellectual disability distinguishes between organic and cultural-familial types.
· Individuals who are gifted have above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for something. Three characteristics of gifted children are precocity, marching to their own drummer, and a passion to master their domain. Giftedness is likely a consequence of both heredity and environment. Developmental changes characterize giftedness, and increasingly the domain-specific aspect of giftedness is emphasized. Concerns exist about the education of children who are gifted.
4 Language Development
LG4 Discuss language development in middle and late childhood.
Vocabulary, Grammar, and Metalinguistic Awareness
Reading
Writing
Second-Language Learning and Bilingual Education
· Children gradually become more analytical and logical in their approach to words and grammar. In terms of grammar, children now better understand comparatives and subjectives. They become increasingly able to use complex grammar and produce narratives that make sense. Improvements in metalinguistic awareness—knowledge about language—are evident during the elementary school years as children increasingly define words, expand their knowledge of syntax, and understand better how to use language in culturally appropriate ways.
· A current debate in reading focuses on the phonics approach versus the whole-language approach. The phonics approach advocates phonetics instruction and giving children simplified materials. The whole-language approach stresses that reading instruction should parallel children’s natural language learning and that children should be given whole-language materials such as books and poems. Three key processes in learning to read a printed word are being aware of sound units in words, decoding words, and accessing word meaning.
· Advances in children’s language and cognitive development provide the underpinnings for improved writing. Major concerns are increasingly being voiced about children’s writing competence. Teachers play a key role in improving children’s writing skills.
· Recent research indicates the complexity of determining whether there are sensitive periods in learning a second language. The dual-language approach (formerly called “bilingual”) aims to teach academic subjects to immigrant children in their native languages while gradually adding English instruction. Researchers have found that the dual-language approach does not interfere with performance in either language.
key terms
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
cultural-familial intellectual disability
emotional and behavioral disorders
individualized education plan (IEP)
least restrictive environment (LRE)
organic intellectual disability
triarchic theory of intelligence
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key people
Teresa Amabile
Alan Baddeley
Patricia Bauer
Alfred Binet
Charles Brainerd
Nathan Brody
Jacqueline Brooks
Martin Brooks
Adele Diamond
James Flynn
Howard Gardner
J. P. Guilford
Mark Johnson
James Kauffman
Ellen Langer
Jean Piaget
Michael Pressley
Valerie Reyna
Robert Roeser
Theophile Simon
Robert J. Sternberg
Lewis Terman
David Wechsler
Ellen Winner
apter 10
SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD
chapter outline
1 Emotional and Personality Development
Learning Goal 1 Discuss emotional and personality development in middle and late childhood.
Developmental Changes in Parent-Child Relationships
Learning Goal 3 Identify changes in peer relationships in middle and late childhood.
Contemporary Approaches to Student Learning
Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, and Culture
In The Shame of the Nation, Jonathan Kozol (2005) Page 303described his visits to 60 U.S. schools in urban low-income areas in 11 states. He saw many schools in which minorities totaled 80 to 90 percent of the student population. Kozol observed numerous inequities—unkempt classrooms, hallways, and restrooms; inadequate textbooks and supplies; and lack of resources. He also saw teachers mainly instructing students to memorize material by rote, especially as preparation for mandated tests, rather than stimulating them to engage in higher-level thinking. Kozol also frequently observed teachers using threatening disciplinary tactics to control the classroom.
However, some teachers Kozol observed were effective in educating children in these undesirable conditions. At P.S. 30 in the South Bronx, Mr. Bedrock teaches fifth grade. One student in his class, Serafina, recently lost her mother to AIDS. When author Jonathan Kozol visited the class, he was told that two other children had taken the role of “allies in the child’s struggle for emotional survival” (Kozol, 2005, p. 291). Textbooks are in short supply for the class, and the social studies text is so out of date it claims that Ronald Reagan is the country’s president. But Mr. Bedrock told Kozol that it’s a “wonderful” class this year. About their teacher, 56-year-old Mr. Bedrock, one student said, “‘He’s getting old, . . . but we love him anyway’” (p. 292). Kozol observed the students in Mr. Bedrock’s class to be orderly, interested, and engaged.
topical connections looking back
In early childhood, according to Erikson, young children are in the stage of initiative versus guilt. Parents continue to play an important role in their development, and an authoritative parenting style is most likely to have positive outcomes for children. In early childhood, peer relations begin to take on a more significant role as children’s social worlds widen. Play has a special place in young children’s lives and is an important context for both cognitive and socioemotional development.
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The years of middle and late childhood bring many changes to children’s social and emotional lives. Transformations in their relationships with parents and peers occur, and schooling takes on a more academic flavor. The development of their self-conceptions, moral reasoning, and moral behavior is also significant.
1 Emotional and Personality Development
LG1 Discuss emotional and personality development in middle and late childhood.
The Self
Emotional Development
Moral Development
Gender
In this section, we will explore how the self continues to develop during middle and late childhood and the emotional changes that take place during these years. We will also discuss children’s moral development and many aspects of the role that gender plays in their development in middle and late childhood.
THE SELF
What is the nature of the child’s self-understanding, understanding of others, and self-esteem during the elementary school years? What roles do self-efficacy and self-regulation play in children’s achievement?
Children are busy becoming something they have not quite grasped yet, something which keeps changing.
—Alastair Reid
American Poet, 20th Century
The Development of Self-Understanding Self-understanding becomes more complex in middle and late childhood (Carpendale & Lewis, 2015). From 8 to 11 years of age, children increasingly describe themselves in terms of psychological characteristics and traits, in contrast with the more concrete self-descriptions of younger children. For example, older children are more likely to describe themselves using adjectives such as “popular, nice, helpful, mean, smart, and dumb” (Harter, 2006, p. 526).
In addition, during the elementary school years, children become more likely to recognize social aspects of the self (Harter, 2012, 2013, 2016). They include references to social groups in their self-descriptions, such as referring to themselves as a Girl Scout, a Catholic, or someone who has two close friends (Livesly & Bromley, 1973).
Children’s self-understanding in the elementary school years also includes increasing reference to social comparison (Harter, 2012, 2013). At this point in development, children are more likely to distinguish themselves from others in comparative rather than in absolute terms. That is, elementary-school-age children are no longer as likely to think about what they do or do not do, but are more likely to think about what they can do in comparison with others.
developmental connection
Identity
In adolescence, individuals become more introspective and reflective in their self-understanding as they search for an identity. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Adolescence.”
Consider a series of studies in which Diane Ruble (1983) investigated children’s use of social comparison in their self-evaluations. Children were given a difficult task and then offered feedback on their performance, as well as information about the performances of other children their age. The children were then asked for self-evaluations. Children younger than 7 made virtually no reference to the information about other children’s performances. However, many children older than 7 included socially comparative information in their self-descriptions.
In sum, in middle and late childhood, self-description increasingly involves psychological and social characteristics, including social comparison.
Understanding Others Earlier we described the advances and limitations of young children’s social understanding. In middle and late childhood, perspective taking , the social cognitive process involved in assuming the perspective of others and understanding their thoughts and feelings, improves. Executive function is at work in perspective taking (Galinsky, 2010). Among the executive functions called on when children engage in perspective taking are cognitive inhibition (controlling one’s own thoughts to consider the perspective of others) and cognitive flexibility (seeing situations in different ways). Recent research indicates that children and adolescents who do not have good perspective taking skills are more likely to have difficulty in peer relations and engage in more aggressive and oppositional Page 305behavior (Morosan & others, 2017; Nilsen & Basco, 2017; O’Kearney & others, 2017).
In Robert Selman’s (1980) view, at about 6 to 8 years of age, children begin to understand that others may have a different perspective because some people have more access to information. Then, he says, in the next several years, children begin to realize that each individual is aware of the other’s perspective and that putting oneself in the other’s place is a way of judging the other person’s intentions, purposes, and actions.
Perspective taking is thought to be especially important in determining whether children develop prosocial or antisocial attitudes and behavior. In terms of prosocial behavior, taking another’s perspective improves children’s likelihood of understanding and sympathizing with others when they are distressed or in need.
In middle and late childhood, children also become more skeptical of others’ claims (Heyman, Fu, & Lee, 2013). In a study of 6- to 9-year-old children, older children were less trusting and better at explaining the reasons to doubt sources that might distort claims than were younger children (Mills & Elashi, 2014). Also, more intelligent children and children with better social cognitive skills were more likely to detect and explain distorted claims.
Self-Esteem and Self-Concept High self-esteem and a positive self-concept are important characteristics of children’s well-being (Baumeister, 2013; Miller & Cho, 2018; Oberle, 2018). Investigators sometimes use the terms self-esteem and self-concept interchangeably or do not precisely define them, but there is a meaningful difference between them (Harter, 2012, 2016). Self-esteem refers to global evaluations of the self; it is also called self-worth or self-image. For example, a child may perceive that she is not merely a person but a good person. Self-concept refers to domain-specific evaluations of the self. Children can make self-evaluations in many domains of their lives—academic, athletic, appearance, and so on. In sum, self-esteem refers to global self-evaluations, self-concept to domain-specific evaluations.
The foundations of self-esteem and self-concept emerge from the quality of parent-child interaction in infancy and early childhood (Miller & Cho, 2018). Thus, if children have low self-esteem in middle and late childhood, they may have experienced neglect or abuse in relationships with their parents earlier in development. Children with high self-esteem are more likely to be securely attached to parents and have parents who engage in sensitive caregiving (Lockhart & others, 2017; Thompson, 2016).
Self-esteem reflects perceptions that do not always match reality (Baumeister, 2013; Cramer, 2017). A child’s self-esteem might reflect a belief about whether he or she is intelligent and attractive, for example, but that belief is not necessarily accurate. Thus, high self-esteem may refer to accurate, justified perceptions of one’s worth as a person and one’s successes and accomplishments, but it can also refer to an arrogant, grandiose, unwarranted sense of superiority over others (Gerstenberg & others, 2014). In the same manner, low self-esteem may reflect either an accurate perception of one’s shortcomings or a distorted, even pathological insecurity and inferiority.
What are the consequences of low self-esteem? Low self-esteem has been implicated in overweight and obesity, anxiety, depression, suicide, and delinquency (Paxton & Damiano, 2017; Rieger & others, 2016; Stadelmann & others, 2017). One study revealed that youths with low self-esteem had lower life satisfaction at 30 years of age (Birkeland & others, 2012). Another study found that low and decreasing self-esteem in adolescence was linked to adult depression two decades later (Steiger & others, 2014).
The foundations of self-esteem and self-concept emerge from the quality of parent-child interaction in infancy and childhood. Children with high self-esteem are more likely to be securely attached to their parents and to have parents who engage in sensitive caregiving (Thompson, 2015). And in a longitudinal study, the quality of children’s home environment (which involved assessment of parenting quality, cognitive stimulation, and the physical home environment) was linked to their self-esteem in early adulthood (Orth, 2017).
Although variations in self-esteem have been linked with many aspects of children’s development, much of the research is correlational rather than experimental. Recall that correlation does not equal causation. Thus, if a correlational study finds an association between children’s low self-esteem and low academic achievement, low academic achievement could cause the low self-esteem as much as low self-esteem causes low academic achievement. A longitudinal study explored whether self-esteem is a cause or consequence of social support in youth (Marshall & others, 2014). In this study, self-esteem predicted subsequent changes in social support, but social support did not predict subsequent changes in self-esteem.
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connecting development to life
Increasing Children’s Self-Esteem
Ways to improve children’s self-esteem include identifying the causes of low self-esteem, providing emotional support and social approval, helping children achieve, and helping children cope (Bednar, Wells, & Peterson, 1995; Harter, 2006, 2012).
· Identify the causes of low self-esteem. Intervention should target the causes of low self-esteem. Children have the highest self-esteem when they perform competently in domains that are important to them. Therefore, children should be encouraged to identify and value areas of competence. These areas might include academic skills, athletic skills, physical attractiveness, and social acceptance.
· Provide emotional support and social approval. Some children with low self-esteem come from conflicted families or conditions in which they experienced abuse or neglect—situations in which support was not available. In some cases, alternative sources of support can be arranged either informally through the encouragement of a teacher, a coach, or another significant adult, or more formally through programs such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
· Help children achieve. Achievement also can improve children’s self-esteem. For example, the straightforward teaching of real skills to children often results in increased achievement and, thus, in enhanced self-esteem. Children develop higher self-esteem because they know how to carry out the important tasks that will achieve their goals, and they have performed them or similar behaviors in the past.
· Help children cope. Self-esteem often increases when children face a problem and try to cope with it, rather than avoid it. If coping rather than avoidance prevails, children face problems realistically, honestly, and nondefensively. This produces favorable self-evaluative thoughts, which lead to the self-generated approval that raises self-esteem.
Which parenting approach might help accomplish the last goal mentioned here? How? How can parents help children develop higher self-esteem?
In fact, there are only moderate correlations between school performance and self-esteem, and these correlations do not suggest that high self-esteem produces better school performance (Baumeister, 2013). Efforts to increase students’ self-esteem have not always led to improved school performance (Davies & Brember, 1999).
Children with high self-esteem have greater initiative, but this can produce positive or negative outcomes (Baumeister & others, 2003). Children with high self-esteem are prone to both prosocial and antisocial actions (Krueger, Vohs, & Baumeister, 2008).
In addition, a current concern is that too many of today’s children grow up receiving praise for mediocre or even poor performance and as a consequence have inflated self-esteem (Graham, 2005; Stipek, 2005). They may have difficulty handling competition and criticism. This theme is vividly captured by the title of a book, Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write, or Add (Sykes, 1995). A similar theme—the promise of high self-esteem for students in education, especially those who are impoverished or marginalized—characterized a more recent book, Challenging the Cult of Self-Esteem in Education (Bergeron, 2018). In a series of studies, researchers found that inflated praise, although well intended, may cause children with low self-esteem to avoid important learning experiences, such as tackling challenging tasks (Brummelman & others, 2014). And one study found that narcissistic parents especially overvalue their children’s talents (Brummelman & others, 2015).
What are some good strategies for effectively increasing children’s self-esteem? See the Connecting Development to Life interlude for some answers to this question.
Self-Efficacy The belief that one can master a Page 307situation and produce favorable outcomes is called self-efficacy . Albert Bandura (2001, 2008, 2010a, 2012) states that self-efficacy is a critical factor in whether or not students achieve. Self-efficacy is the belief that “I can”; helplessness is the belief that “I cannot.” Students with high self-efficacy endorse such statements as “I know that I will be able to learn the material in this class” and “I expect to be able to do well at this activity.”
Dale Schunk (2016) has applied the concept of self-efficacy to many aspects of students’ achievement. In his view, self-efficacy influences a student’s choice of activities. Students with low self-efficacy for learning may avoid many learning tasks, especially those that are challenging. By contrast, their counterparts with high self-efficacy eagerly work at learning tasks (Schunk, 2016). Students with high self-efficacy are more likely to expend effort and persist longer at a learning task than students with low self-efficacy.
Self-Regulation One of the most important aspects of the self in middle and late childhood is an increased capacity for self-regulation (Blair, 2017; Galinsky & others, 2017; Neuenschwander & Blair, 2017; Schunk & Greene, 2018; Usher & Schunk, 2018; Winne, 2018). This increased capacity is characterized by deliberate efforts to manage one’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts, leading to increased social competence and achievement (Blair, 2017; Eisenberg, 2017; McClelland & others, 2017; Schunk & Greene, 2018). In one study, higher levels of self-control assessed at 4 years of age were linked to improvements in the math and reading achievement of early elementary school children living in predominantly rural and low-income contexts (Blair & others, 2015). Another study found that self-control increased from 4 years to 10 years of age and that high self-control was linked to lower levels of deviant behavior (Vazsonyi & Huang, 2010). In this study, parenting characterized by warmth and positive affect predicted the developmental increase in self-control. Also, a study of almost 17,000 3- to 7-year-old children revealed that self-regulation was a protective factor for children growing up in low-socioeconomic-status (SES) conditions (Flouri, Midouhas, & Joshi, 2014). In this study, 7-year-old children with low self-regulation living in low-SES conditions had more emotional problems than their 3-year-old counterparts with higher self-regulation. Thus, low self-regulation was linked to a widening gap in low-SES children’s emotional problems over time. Another study revealed that children from low-income families who had a higher level of self-regulation earned better grades in school than their counterparts who had a lower level of self-regulation (Buckner, Mezzacappa, & Beardslee, 2009).
The increased capacity for self-regulation is linked to developmental advances in the brain’s prefrontal cortex (Bell, Ross, & Patton, 2018; Wendelken & others, 2016). Recall our earlier discussion of the increased focal activation in the prefrontal cortex that is linked to improved cognitive control, which includes self-regulation (Diamond, 2013).
Some researchers emphasize the early development of self-regulation in childhood and adolescence as a key contributor to adult health and even longevity (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Valiente, 2016; Llewellyn & others, 2017). For example, Nancy Eisenberg and her colleagues (2014) concluded that research indicates self-regulation fosters conscientiousness later in life, both directly and through its link to academic motivation/success and internalized compliance with norms. Further, a longitudinal study found that a higher level of self-control in childhood was linked to a slower pace of aging (assessed with 18 biomarkers—cardiovascular and immune system, for example) at 26, 32, and 38 years of age (Belsky & others, 2017). An app for iPads has been developed to help children improve their self-regulation (for more information, go to www.selfregulationstation.com/sr-ipad-app/).
Industry Versus Inferiority Recall Erik Erikson’s (1968) eight stages of human development. His fourth stage, industry versus inferiority, appears during middle and late childhood. The term industry expresses a dominant theme of this period: Children become interested in how things are made and how they work. When children are encouraged in their efforts to make, build, and work—whether building a model airplane, constructing a tree house, fixing a bicycle, solving an addition problem, or cooking—their sense of industry increases. However, parents who see their children’s efforts at making things as “mischief” or “making a mess” encourage children’s development of a sense of inferiority.
developmental connection
Erikson’s Theory
Initiative versus guilt is Erikson’s early childhood stage and identity versus identity confusion is his adolescence stage. Connect to “Introduction.”
Children’s social worlds beyond their families also contribute to a sense of industry. School becomes especially important in this regard. Consider children who are slightly below average in intelligence. They are Page 308too bright to be in special classes but not bright enough to be in gifted classes. They fail frequently in their academic efforts, developing a sense of inferiority. By contrast, consider children whose sense of industry is derogated at home. A series of sensitive and committed teachers may revitalize their sense of industry (Elkind, 1970).
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Preschoolers become more adept at talking about their own and others’ emotions. They also show a growing awareness of the need to control and manage their emotions to meet social standards. In middle and late childhood, children further develop their understanding and self-regulation of emotion (Calkins & Perry, 2016; Cole & Hollenstein, 2018; Cole, Lougheed, & Ram, 2018; Morris & others, 2018). In a recent study, a low level of emotion regulation in childhood was especially important in predicting a higher level of externalizing problems in adolescence (Perry & others, 2017).
Developmental Chan ges Developmental changes in emotions during the middle and late childhood years include the following (Denham, Bassett, & Wyatt, 2015; Calkins & Perry, 2016; Kuebli, 1994; Perry & Calkins, 2018; Thompson, 2015):
· Improved emotional understanding. For example, children in elementary school develop an increased ability to understand such complex emotions as pride and shame. These emotions become less tied to the reactions of other people; they become more self-generated and integrated with a sense of personal responsibility. Also, during middle and late childhood as part of their understanding of emotions, children can engage in “mental time travel,” in which they anticipate and recall the cognitive and emotional aspects of events (Hjortsvang & Lagattuta, 2017; Kramer & Lagattuta, 2018; Lagattuta, 2014a, b; Lagattuta & others, 2015).
· Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation. A third-grader, for example, may realize that achieving something might involve both anxiety and joy.
· Increased tendency to be aware of the events leading to emotional reactions. A fourth-grader may become aware that her sadness today is influenced by her friend moving to another town last week.
· Ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions. A fifth-grader has learned to tone down his anger better than he used to when one of his classmates irritates him.
· The use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings. In the elementary school years, children become more reflective about their emotional lives and increasingly use strategies to control their emotions. They become more effective at cognitively managing their emotions, such as soothing themselves after an upset.
· A capacity for genuine empathy. For example, a fourth-grader feels sympathy for a distressed person and experiences vicariously the sadness the distressed person is feeling.
Social-Emotional Education Programs An increasing number of social-emotional educational programs have been developed to improve many aspects of children’s and adolescents’ lives. Two such programs are the Second Step program created by the Committee for Children (2018) and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2018). Many social-emotional education programs only target young children, but Second Step can be implemented in pre-K through eighth grade and CASEL can used with pre-K through twelfth-grade students.
· Second Step focuses on these aspects of social-emotional learning from pre-K through the eighth grade: (1) pre-K: self-regulation and executive function skills that improve their attention and help them control their behavior; (2) K–grade 5: making friends, self-regulation of emotion, and solving problems; and (3) grades 6–8: communication skills, coping with stress, and decision making to avoid engaging in problem behaviors.
· CASEL targets five core social and emotional learning Page 309domains: (1) self-awareness (recognizing one’s emotions and how they affect behavior, for example); (2) self-management (self-control, coping with stress, and impulse control, for example); (3) social awareness (perspective taking and empathy, for example); (4) relationship skills (developing positive relationships and communicating effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds, for example); and (5) responsible decision making (engaging in ethical behavior, and understanding the consequences of one’s actions, for example).
Coping with Stress An important aspect of children’s emotional lives is learning how to cope with stress (Almy & Cicchetti, 2018; Masten, 2017; Masten & Kalstabakken, 2018; Narayan & others, 2017). As children get older, they are able to more accurately appraise a stressful situation and determine how much control they have over it. Older children generate more coping alternatives for stressful conditions and use more cognitive coping strategies (Saarni & others, 2006). They are better than younger children at intentionally shifting their thoughts to something that is less stressful and at reframing, or changing their perception of a stressful situation. For example, younger children may be very disappointed that their teacher did not say hello to them when they arrived at school. Older children may reframe this type of situation and think, “She may have been busy with other things and just forgot to say hello.”
developmental connection
Biological Processes
In older adults, stress hormones stay elevated in the bloodstream longer, which can accelerate aging and harm immune system functioning. Connect to “Physical Development in Late Adulthood.”
By 10 years of age, most children are able to use cognitive strategies to cope with stress (Saarni, 1999). However, in families that have not been supportive and are characterized by turmoil or trauma, children may be so overwhelmed by stress that they do not use such strategies.
Disasters can especially harm children’s development and produce adjustment problems (Masten, 2017; Masten & Kalstabakken, 2018; Narayan & others, 2017). Among the outcomes for children who experience disasters are acute stress reactions, depression, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Danielson & others, 2017; Lieber, 2017). The likelihood that a child will face these problems following a disaster depends on factors such as the nature and severity of the disaster and the type of support available to the child.
In research on disasters/trauma, the term dose-response effects is often used. A widely supported finding in this research area is that the more severe the disaster/trauma (dose), the worse the adaptation and adjustment (response) following the disaster/trauma (Masten, 2017; Masten & Kalstabakken, 2018; Narayan & others, 2017).
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, and hurricanes Katrina and Rita in September 2005 raised special concerns about how to help children cope with such stressful events.
Children who have developed a number of coping techniques have the best chance of adapting and functioning competently in the face of disasters and traumas (Ungar, 2015). Researchers have offered the following recommendations for parents, teachers, and other adults caring for children after a disaster (Gurwitch & others, 2001, pp. 4–11):
· Reassure children (numerous times, if necessary) of their safety and security.
· Allow children to retell events and be patient in listening to them.
· Encourage children to talk about any disturbing or confusing feelings, reassuring them that such feelings are normal after a stressful event.
· Protect children from re-exposure to frightening situations and reminders of the trauma—for example, by limiting discussion of the event in front of the children.
· Help children make sense of what happened, keeping in mind that children may misunderstand what took place. For example, young children “may blame themselves, believe things happened that did not happen, believe that terrorists are in the school, etc. Gently help children develop a realistic understanding of the event” (p. 10).
Child and adolescent psychiatrists are among the mental health professionals who help youth cope with stress, including traumatic experiences. To read about a child psychiatrist who treats children and adolescents, see Connecting with Careers.
Traumatic events may cause individuals to think about the moral aspects of life. Hopelessness and despair may short-circuit moral development when a child is confronted by the violence of war zones and impoverished inner cities (Nader, 2001). Let’s further explore children’s moral development.
connecting with careers
Melissa Jackson, Child Psychiatrist
Dr. Melissa Jackson is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Miami, Florida. She obtained a medical Page 310degree from the University of Florida and then completed an internship and residency in psychiatry at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Chicago, followed by a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Southern California. Among the problems and disorders that Dr. Jackson treats are post-traumatic stress disorder, ADHD, anxiety, autism, depression, and a number of behavioral issues. In addition to her psychiatric treatment of children, she founded Health for Honduras, which includes trips to Honduras to provide services to children in orphanages.
To become a child and adolescent psychiatrist like Melissa Jackson, you would need to obtain an undergraduate degree, then earn a medical degree, then spend three to four years as a resident physician in general psychiatry, and then complete a two-year fellowship in the subspecialty of child and adolescent psychiatry. An important aspect of being a psychiatrist is that psychiatrists can prescribe medication, which psychologists cannot do.
To read further about child and adolescent psychiatrists, see the Careers Appendix at the end of “Introduction.”
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Recall our description of Piaget’s view of moral development. Piaget proposed that younger children are characterized by heteronomous morality—but that by 10 years of age they have moved into a higher stage called autonomous morality. According to Piaget, older children consider the intentions of the individual, believe that rules are subject to change, and are aware that punishment does not always follow wrongdoing.
A second major perspective on moral development was proposed by Lawrence Kohlberg (1958, 1986). Piaget’s cognitive stages of development serve as the underpinnings for Kohlberg’s theory, but Kohlberg suggested that there are three levels of moral development. These levels, he argued, are universal. Development from one level to another, said Kohlberg, is fostered by opportunities to take the perspective of others and to experience conflict between one’s current level of moral thinking and the reasoning of someone at a higher level.
Kohlberg arrived at his view after 20 years of using a unique interview with children. In the interview, children are presented with a series of stories in which characters face moral dilemmas. The following is the most popular Kohlberg dilemma:
In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug, and I am going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. (Kohlberg, 1969, p. 379)
This story is one of 11 that Kohlberg devised to investigate the nature of moral thought. After reading the story, the interviewee answers a series of questions about the moral dilemma. Should Heinz have stolen the drug? Was stealing it right or wrong? Why? Is it a husband’s duty to steal the drug for his wife if he can get it no other way? Would a good husband steal? Did the druggist have the right to charge that much when there was no law setting a limit on the price? Why or why not?
The Kohlberg Levels Based on the answers interviewees gave for this and other moral dilemmas, Kohlberg described three levels of moral thinking. A key concept in understanding progression through the levels is that the person’s morality gradually becomes more internal or mature. That is, their reasons for moral decisions or values Page 311begin to go beyond the external or superficial reasons they gave when they were younger. Let’s further examine Kohlberg’s levels.
Kohlberg’s Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning Preconventional reasoning is the lowest level of moral reasoning in Kohlberg’s theory. At this level, children interpret good and bad in terms of external rewards and punishments. For example, children and adolescents obey adults because adults tell them to obey. Or they might be nice to others so that others will be nice to them. This earliest level has sometimes been described as “What’s in it for me?”
Kohlberg’s Level 2: Conventional Reasoning Conventional reasoning is the second, or intermediate, level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. Individuals abide by certain standards (internal), but they are the standards of others, such as parents or the laws of society.
Kohlberg’s Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning Postconventional reasoning is the third and highest level in Kohlberg’s theory. At this level, morality is more internal. Also, in postconventional reasoning, individuals engage in deliberate checks on their reasoning to ensure that it meets high ethical standards.
Kohlberg maintained that these levels occur in a sequence and are age-related: Before age 9, most children use level 1, preconventional reasoning based on external rewards and punishments, when they consider moral choices. By early adolescence, their moral reasoning is increasingly based on the application of standards set by others, reflecting conventional reasoning. By early adulthood, a small number of individuals reason in postconventional ways.
Influences on the Kohlberg Levels What factors influence movement through Kohlberg’s levels? Although moral reasoning at each level presupposes a certain level of cognitive development, Kohlberg argued that advances in children’s cognitive development did not ensure development of moral reasoning. Instead, moral reasoning also reflects children’s experiences in dealing with moral questions and moral conflict.
Kohlberg emphasized that peer interaction and perspective taking are critical aspects of the social stimulation that challenges children to change their moral reasoning. Whereas adults characteristically impose rules and regulations on children, the give-and-take among peers gives children an opportunity to take the perspective of another person and to generate rules democratically.
developmental connection
Peers
Piaget argued that the mutual give-and-take of peer relations is more important than parenting in enhancing children’s moral reasoning. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Early Childhood.”
Kohlberg’s Critics Kohlberg’s theory has provoked debate, research, and criticism (Graham & others, 2018; Gray & Graham, 2018; Hoover & others, 2018; Killen & Dahl, 2018; Narváez, 2016, 2017a, b, 2018; Railton, 2017; Turiel & Gingo, 2017). Key criticisms involve the link between moral thought and moral behavior, whether moral reasoning is conscious/deliberative or unconscious/automatic, the role of emotion, the contexts of culture and the family in moral development, and the significance of caring for others.
developmental connection
Moral Development
Positive and negative emotions play important roles in moral development. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Early Childhood.”
Moral Thought and Moral Behavior Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on moral thought and not enough emphasis on moral behavior (Walker, 2004). Moral reasons can sometimes be a shelter for immoral behavior. Corrupt CEOs and politicians endorse the loftiest of moral virtues in public before their own behavior is exposed. Whatever the latest public scandal, you will probably find that the culprits displayed virtuous thoughts but engaged in immoral behavior. No one wants a nation of cheaters and thieves who can reason at the postconventional level. The cheaters and thieves may know what is right yet still do what is wrong. Heinous actions can be cloaked in a mantle of moral virtue.
Conscious/Deliberate Versus Unconscious/Automatic Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt (2006, 2013, 2017) argues that a major flaw in Kohlberg’s theory is his view that moral thinking is deliberative and that individuals go around all the time contemplating and reasoning about morality. Haidt believes that moral thinking is more often an intuitive gut reaction, with deliberative moral reasoning serving as an after-the-fact justification. Thus, in his view, much of morality begins with rapid evaluative judgments of others rather than with strategic reasoning about moral circumstances.
The Role of Emotion Kohlberg argued that emotion has negative effects on moral reasoning. However, increasing evidence indicates that emotions play an important role in moral thinking (Seibt & others, 2017; Singer & others, 2017). Researchers have found that Page 312individuals who have damage to a particular region in the brain’s prefrontal cortex lose the ability to integrate emotions into their moral judgments (Damasio, 1994). Losing their intuitive feelings about what is right or wrong, they can’t adequately decide which actions to take and have trouble making choices involving moral issues. Research with healthy individuals also has shown that the moral decisions individuals make are linked to the intensity and activation of emotion in the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala (Shenhav & Greene, 2014).
Culture and Moral Reasoning Kohlberg emphasized that his levels of moral reasoning are universal, but some critics claim his theory is culturally biased (Christen, Narváez, & Gutzwiller, 2018; Graham & others, 2017; Gray & Graham, 2018). Both Kohlberg and his critics may be partially correct. In one study, individuals in diverse cultures developed through the first two levels in sequence as Kohlberg predicted. Level three thinking, however, has not been found in all cultures (Gibbs & others, 2007; Snarey, 1987).
Darcia Narváez and Tracy Gleason (2013) have described cohort effects regarding moral reasoning. In recent decades, postconventional moral reasoning has been declining in college students, not down to the next level (conventional), but to the lowest level (personal interests) (Thoma & Bebeau, 2008). Narváez and Gleason (2013) also argue that declines in prosocial behavior have occurred in recent years and that humans, especially those living in Western cultures, are “on a fast train to demise.” They emphasize that the solution to improving people’s moral lives lies in better child-rearing strategies and social supports for families and children. In more recent commentary, Narváez and her colleagues (Christen, Narváez, & Gutzwiller, 2018) stress that we need better progress in dealing with an increasing array of temptations and possible wrongdoings in a human social world in which complexity is increasing over time.
In sum, although Kohlberg’s approach does capture much of the moral reasoning voiced in various cultures around the world, his approach misses or misconstrues some important moral concepts in specific cultures (Gibbs, 2014; Gray & Graham, 2018).
Families and Moral Development Kohlberg argued that family processes are essentially unimportant in children’s moral development. As noted earlier, he argued that parent-child relationships usually provide children with little opportunity for give-and-take or perspective taking. Rather, Kohlberg said that such opportunities are more likely to be provided by children’s peer relationships. However, most experts on children’s moral development conclude that parents’ moral values and actions influence children’s development of moral reasoning (Carlo & others, 2017; Christen, Narváez, & Gutzwiller, 2017). Nonetheless, most developmentalists agree with Kohlberg and Piaget that peers play an important role in the development of moral reasoning.
Gender and the Care Perspective The most publicized criticism of Kohlberg’s theory has come from Carol Gilligan (1982, 1992, 1996), who argues that Kohlberg’s theory reflects a gender bias. According to Gilligan, Kohlberg’s theory is based on a male norm that puts abstract principles above relationships and concern for others and sees the individual as standing alone and independently making moral decisions. It puts justice at the heart of morality. In contrast with Kohlberg’s justice perspective , Gilligan argues for a care perspective , which is a moral perspective that views people in terms of their connectedness with others and emphasizes interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others. According to Gilligan, Kohlberg greatly underplayed the care perspective, perhaps because he was a male, because most of his research was with males rather than females, and because he used male responses as a model for his theory.
However, questions have been raised about Gilligan’s gender conclusions (Walker & Frimer, 2009). For example, a meta-analysis (a statistical analysis that combines the results of many different studies) casts doubt on Gilligan’s claim of substantial gender differences in moral judgment (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000). And a research review concluded that girls’ moral orientations are “somewhat more likely to focus on care for others than on abstract principles of justice, but they can use both moral orientations when needed (as can boys . . .)” (Blakemore, Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009, p. 132).
In sum, Kohlberg’s theory was a very important pioneering effort in describing and understanding the development of moral reasoning. As indicated in the criticisms of the theory, although it is still relevant in understanding the development of moral reasoning, the theory is no longer as influential as it once was. Let’s now explore some alternative views of moral development.
Domain Theory: Moral, Social Conventional, Page 313and Personal Reasoning The domain theory of moral development states that there are different domains of social knowledge and reasoning, including moral, social conventional, and personal domains. In domain theory, children’s and adolescents’ moral, social conventional, and personal knowledge and reasoning emerge from their attempts to understand and deal with different forms of social experience (Jambon & Smetana, 2018; Killen & Dahl, 2018; Mulvey & others, 2016; Turiel & Gingo, 2017).
Some theorists and researchers argue that Kohlberg did not adequately distinguish between moral reasoning and social conventional reasoning (Killen & Smetana, 2015; Turiel & Gingo, 2017). Social conventional reasoning focuses on conventional rules that have been established by social consensus in order to control behavior and maintain the social system. The rules themselves are arbitrary, such as raising your hand in class before speaking, using one staircase at school to go up and the other to go down, not cutting in front of someone standing in line to buy movie tickets, and stopping at a stop sign when driving. There are sanctions if we violate these conventions, although they can be changed by consensus.
In contrast, moral reasoning focuses on ethical issues and rules of morality. Unlike conventional rules, moral rules are not arbitrary. They are obligatory, widely accepted, and somewhat impersonal (Turiel & Gingo, 2017). Rules pertaining to lying, cheating, stealing, and physically harming another person are moral rules because violation of these rules affronts ethical standards that exist apart from social consensus and convention. Moral judgments involve concepts of justice, whereas social conventional judgments are concepts of social organization. Violating moral rules is usually more serious than violating conventional rules.
The social conventional approach is a serious challenge to Kohlberg’s approach because Kohlberg argued that social conventions are a stop-over on the road to higher moral sophistication. For social conventional reasoning advocates, social conventional reasoning is not lower than postconventional reasoning but rather something that needs to be disentangled from the moral thread (Killen & Dahl, 2018).
Recently, a distinction also has been made between moral and conventional issues, which are viewed as legitimately subject to adult social regulation, and personal issues, which are more likely subject to the child’s or adolescent’s independent decision making and personal discretion (Jambon & Smetana, 2018). Personal issues include control over one’s body, privacy, and choice of friends and activities. Thus, some actions belong to a personal domain and are not governed by moral reasoning or social norms.
Prosocial Behavior Whereas Kohlberg’s and Gilligan’s theories have focused primarily on the development of moral reasoning, the study of prosocial moral behavior has placed more emphasis on the behavioral aspects of moral development (Carlo & others, 2018; Dirks, Dunfield, & Recchia, 2018; Laible & others, 2017). Children engage in immoral, antisocial acts such as lying and cheating and also display prosocial moral behavior such as showing empathy or acting altruistically (Eisenberg & Spinrad, 2016). Even during the preschool years, children may care for others or comfort others in distress (Spinrad & Gal, 2018).
William Damon (1988) described how sharing develops. During their first years, when children share, it is usually not for reasons of empathy but for the fun of the social play ritual or out of imitation. Then, at about 4 years of age, a combination of empathic awareness and adult encouragement produces a sense of obligation on the part of the child to share with others. Most 4-year-olds are not selfless saints, however. Children believe they have an obligation to share but do not necessarily think they should be as generous to others as they are to themselves.
Children’s sharing comes to reflect a more complex sense of what is just and right during middle and late childhood. By the start of the elementary school years, children begin to express objective ideas about fairness. It is common to hear 6-year-old children use the word fair as synonymous with equal or same. By the mid- to late elementary school years, children believe that equity can sometimes mean that people with special merit or special needs deserve special treatment.
Moral Personality Beyond the development of moral reasoning and specific moral feelings and prosocial behaviors, do children also develop a pattern of moral characteristics that is distinctively their own? In other words, do children develop a moral personality, and if so, what are its components? Researchers have focused attention on three possible components: (1) moral identity, (2) moral character, and (3) moral exemplars:
· Moral identity. Individuals have a moral identity when moral notions and moral commitments are central to their lives (Jia & Krettenauer, 2017; Walker, 2016). They construct the self with reference to moral categories.Page 314Violating their moral commitment would place the integrity of their self at risk (Lapsley & Stey, 2014). A study of 15- to 18-year-olds found that a higher level of moral identity could possibly reduce the negative effects of moral disengagement and low self-regulation (Hardy, Bean, & Olsen, 2015). In another recent study of individuals from adolescence through middle adulthood, external moral identity motivation decreased while internal moral identity motivation increased, suggesting that as people get older moral motivation become more self-integrated (Krettenauer & Victor, 2017).
· Moral character. A person with moral character has the willpower, desire, and integrity to stand up to pressure, overcome distractions and disappointments, and behave morally. A person of good moral character displays moral virtues such as “honesty, truthfulness, and trustworthiness, as well as those of care, compassion, thoughtfulness, and considerateness. Other salient traits revolve around virtues of dependability, loyalty, and conscientiousness” (Walker, 2002, p. 74).
· Moral exemplars. Moral exemplars are people who have lived exemplary moral lives. Their moral personality, identity, character, and set of virtues reflect moral excellence and commitment (Walker, 2016). The point of studying and conducting research on moral exemplars is to be able to characterize the ideal endpoint of moral development and understand how people got there.
In sum, moral development is a multifaceted, complex concept. Included in this complexity are an individual’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and personality.
GENDER
Gilligan’s claim that Kohlberg’s theory of moral development reflects gender bias reminds us of the pervasive influence of gender on development. Long before elementary school, boys and girls show preferences for different toys and activities (Leaper & Bigler, 2018). Preschool children display a gender identity and gender-typed behavior that reflects biological, cognitive, and social influences. Here we will examine gender stereotypes as well as gender similarities and differences.
Gender Stereotypes According to the old ditty, boys are made of “frogs and snails” and girls are made of “sugar and spice and all that is nice.” In the past, a well-adjusted boy was supposed to be independent, aggressive, and powerful. A well-adjusted girl was supposed to be dependent, nurturing, and uninterested in power. These notions reflect gender stereotypes , which are broad categories that reflect general impressions and beliefs about females and males.
What are little boys made of? Frogs and snails And puppy-dogs’ tails. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice And all that is nice.
—J. O. Halliwell
English Author, 19th Century
Recent research has found that gender stereotypes are, to a great extent, still present in today’s world, in the lives of both children and adults (Biernat, 2017; Ellemers, 2018; Hyde, 2017; Leaper, 2015; Liben, 2017). Gender stereotyping continues to change during middle and late childhood and adolescence (Blakemore, Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009; Brannon, 2017). By the time children enter elementary school, they have considerable knowledge about which activities are linked with being male or female. Until about 7 to 8 years of age, gender stereotyping is extensive because young children don’t recognize individual variations in masculinity and femininity. By 5 years of age, both boys and girls stereotype boys as powerful and in more negative terms, such as mean, and girls in more positive terms, such as nice (Martin & Ruble, 2010). Across the elementary school years, children become more flexible in their gender attitudes (Trautner & others, 2005).
A study of 3- to 10-year-old U.S. children revealed that girls and older children used a higher percentage of gender stereotypes (Miller & others, 2009). In this study, appearance stereotypes were more prevalent on the part of girls while activity (sports, for example) and trait (aggressive, for example) stereotyping was more commonly engaged in by boys. Another study of 6- to 10-year-olds found that both boys and girls indicated math is for boys (Cvencek, Meltzoff, & Greenwald, 2011). Researchers also have found that boys’ gender stereotypes are more rigid than girls’ (Blakemore, Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009).
Gender Similarities and Differences What is the reality behind gender stereotypes? Let’s examine some of the similarities and differences between the sexes, keeping in mind that (1) the differences are averages—not all females versus all males; (2) even when differences are reported, there is considerable overlap between the sexes; and (3) the differences may be due primarily to biological factors, Page 315sociocultural factors, or both. First, we will examine physical similarities and differences, and then we will turn to cognitive and socioemotional similarities and differences.
Physical Development Women have about twice the body fat of men, most of it concentrated around their breasts and hips. In males, fat is more likely to go to the abdomen. On average, males grow to be 10 percent taller than females. Other physical differences are less obvious. From conception on, females have a longer life expectancy than males, and females are less likely than males to develop physical or mental disorders. Males have twice the risk of coronary disease compared with females.
Does gender matter when it comes to brain structure and function? Human brains are much alike, whether the brain belongs to a male or a female (Halpern & others, 2007). However, researchers have found some differences in the brains of males and females (Hofer & others, 2007). Female brains are approximately 10 percent smaller than male brains (Giedd, 2012; Giedd & others, 2012). However, female brains have more folds; the larger folds (called convolutions) allow more surface brain tissue within the skulls of females than males (Luders & others, 2004). An area of the parietal lobe that functions in visuospatial skills is larger in males than females (Frederikse & others, 2000). And the areas of the brain involved in emotional expression show more metabolic activity in females than males (Gur & others, 1995).
Although some differences in brain structure and function have been found, many of these differences are small or research results are inconsistent regarding the differences. Also, when sex differences in the brain have been revealed, in many cases they have not been directly linked to psychological differences (Blakemore, Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009). Although research on sex differences in the brain is still in its infancy, it is likely that there are far more similarities than differences in the brains of females and males. A further point is worth noting: Anatomical sex differences in the brain may be due to the biological origins of these differences, behavioral experiences (which underscores the brain’s continuing plasticity), or a combination of these factors.
Cognitive Development No gender differences in general intelligence have been revealed, but some gender differences have been found in some cognitive areas (Ganley, Vasilyeva, & Dulaney, 2014; Halpern, 2012). Research has shown that in general girls and women have slightly better verbal skills than boys and men, although in some verbal skill areas the differences are substantial (Blakemore, Berenbaum, & Liben, 2009).
Are there gender differences in math skills? A very large-scale study of more than 7 million U.S. students in grades 2 through 11 revealed no differences in math test scores for boys and girls (Hyde & others, 2008). Further, in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2013) there were virtually no gender differences in math scores at the fourth- and eighth-grade levels. And a meta-analysis found no gender differences in math skills for adolescents (Lindberg & others, 2010). A research review concluded that girls have more negative math attitudes and that parents’ and teachers’ expectancies for children’s math competence are often gender-biased in favor of boys (Gunderson & others, 2012).
One area of math that has been examined for possible gender differences is visuospatial skills, which include being able to rotate objects mentally and to determine what they would look like when rotated (Halpern, 2012). These types of skills are important in courses such as plane and solid geometry and geography. A research review revealed that boys have better visuospatial skills than girls (Halpern & others, 2007). For example, despite equal participation in the National Geography Bee, in most years all 10 finalists are boys (Liben, 1995). A research review found that having a stronger masculine gender role was linked to better spatial ability in males and females (Reilly & Neumann, 2013). However, some experts argue that the gender difference in visuospatial skills is small (Hyde, 2014; Hyde, 2017) (see Figure 1 ).
Are there gender differences in reading and writing skills? There is strong evidence that females outperform males in reading and writing. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2013), girls had higher reading achievement than boys (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2013). Also, an international study in 65 countries found that girls had higher reading achievement than did boys in every country (Reilly, 2012). In this study, the gender difference in reading was stronger in countries with less gender equity and lower economic prosperity. In the United States, girls also consistently have outperformed boys in writing skills in the National Assessment of Educational Progress in fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade assessments.
Are there gender differences in school contexts and achievement? With regard to school achievement, girls earn better grades and complete high school at a higher rate, and they are less likely to drop out of school Page 316than boys are (Halpern, 2012). Males are more likely than females to be assigned to special/remedial education classes. Girls are more likely than boys to be engaged with academic material, be attentive in class, put forth more academic effort, and participate more in class (DeZolt & Hull, 2001).
Keep in mind that measures of achievement in school or scores on standardized tests may reflect many factors besides cognitive ability. For example, performance in school may in part reflect attempts to conform to gender roles or differences in motivation, self-regulation, or other socioemotional characteristics (Eccles, 2014; Watt & Eccles, 2008).
developmental connection
Gender
The nature and extent of gender differences in communication in relationships is controversial. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Early Adulthood.”
Might single-sex education be better for children than coeducation? The argument for single-sex education is that it eliminates distraction from the other sex and reduces sexual harassment. Single-sex public education has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2002, only 12 public schools in the United States provided single-sex education; during the 2011–2012 school year, 116 public schools were single-sex and an additional 390 provided such experiences (NASSPE, 2012).
The increase in single-sex education has especially been fueled by its inclusion in the No Child Left Behind legislation as a means of improving the educational experiences and academic achievement of low-income students of color. It appears that many of the public schools offering single-sex education have a high percentage of such youth (Klein, 2012). However, two research reviews concluded that there have been no documented benefits of single-sex education for low-income students of color (Goodkind, 2013; Halpern & others, 2011). One review, titled “The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Schooling,” by Diane Halpern and her colleagues (2011) concluded that single-sex education is highly misguided, misconstrued, and unsupported by any valid scientific evidence. They emphasize that among the many arguments against single-sex education, the strongest is its reduction in the opportunities for boys and girls to work together in a supervised, purposeful environment.
There has been a special call for single-sex public education for one group of adolescents—African American boys—because of their historically poor academic achievement and high dropout rate from school (Mitchell & Stewart, 2013). In 2010, Urban Prep Academy for Young Men became the first all-male, all African American public charter school. One hundred percent of its first graduates enrolled in college, despite the school’s location in a section of Chicago where poverty, gangs, and crime predominate. Because so few public schools focus solely on educating African American boys, it is too early to tell whether this type of single-sex education can be effective across a wide range of participants.
Socioemotional Development Three areas of socioemotional development in which gender similarities and differences have been studied extensively are aggression, emotion, and prosocial behavior.
One of the most consistent gender differences found is that boys are more physically aggressive than girls are (Hyde, 2017). The difference occurs in all cultures and appears very early in children’s development (Dayton & Malone, 2017). The physical aggression difference is especially pronounced when children are provoked. Both biological and environmental factors have been proposed to account for gender differences in aggression. Biological factors include heredity and hormones. Environmental factors include cultural expectations, adult and peer models, and social agents that reward aggression in boys and punish aggression in girls.
Although boys are consistently more physically aggressive than girls, might girls show levels of verbal aggression, such as yelling, that equal or exceed the levels shown by boys? When verbal aggression is considered, gender differences often disappear, although sometimes verbal aggression is more pronounced in girls (Eagly & Steffen, 1986).
Recently, increased attention has been directed to relational aggression, which involves harming someone by manipulating a relationship. Relational aggression includes such behaviors as spreading malicious rumors about someone in order to make others dislike that person (Casper & Card, 2017; Cooley & Fife, 2016). Relational aggression increases in middle and late childhood (Dishion & Piehler, 2009). Mixed findings have characterized research onPage 317whether girls show more relational aggression than boys, but one consistent finding is that relational aggression comprises a greater percentage of girls’ overall aggression than is the case for boys (Putallaz & others, 2007). And a research review revealed that girls engage in more relational aggression than boys in adolescence but not in childhood (Smith, Rose, & Schwartz-Mette, 2010). Further, in a longitudinal study, preschool relational aggression predicted adolescent relational aggression for girls, but not for boys (Nelson & others, 2014).
Gender differences occur in some aspects of emotion (Brody, Hall, & Stokes, 2018; Leaper, 2013, 2015). Females express emotion more than do males, are better at decoding emotion, smile more, cry more, and are happier (Gross, Fredrickson, & Levenson, 1994; LaFrance, Hecht, & Paluck, 2003). Males report experiencing and expressing more anger than females do (Kring, 2000). A meta-analysis found that females are better than males at recognizing nonverbal displays of emotion (Thompson & Voyer, 2014). Another meta-analysis found that girls showed more positive emotions (sympathy, for example) and more internalized emotions (sadness and anxiety, for example); however, in this meta-analysis, overall gender differences in children’s emotional expression were small (Chaplin & Aldao, 2013). The gender difference in positive emotions became more pronounced with age as girls more strongly expressed positive emotions than boys in middle and late childhood and in adolescence.
developmental connection
Community and Culture
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory emphasizes the importance of contexts; in his theory the macrosystem includes cross-cultural comparisons. Connect to “Introduction.”
An important skill is to be able to regulate and control one’s emotions and behavior (Perry & others, 2017; Usher & Schunk, 2018). Boys usually show less self-regulation than girls do (Berke, Reidy, & Zeichner, 2018). This low self-control can translate into behavior problems.
Are there gender differences in prosocial behavior? Females view themselves as more prosocial and empathic (Eisenberg & Spinrad, 2016). Across childhood and adolescence, females engage in more prosocial behavior than males do (Hastings, Miller, & Troxel, 2015). The biggest gender difference occurs for kind and considerate behavior, with a smaller difference in sharing.
Gender in Context Gender stereotypes describe people in terms of personality traits such as “aggressive” or “caring.” However, the traits people display may vary with the situation (Leaper, 2015; Liben, 2017). Thus, the nature and extent of gender differences may depend on the context.
Consider helping behavior. The stereotype is that females are better than males at helping. But it depends on the situation. Females are more likely than males to volunteer their time to help children with personal problems and to engage in caregiving behavior. However, in situations in which males feel a sense of competence and in circumstances that involve danger, males are more likely than females to help (Eagly & Crowley, 1986). For example, a male is more likely than a female to stop and help a person stranded by the roadside with a flat tire. Indeed, one study documented that males are more likely to help when the context is masculine in nature (MacGeorge, 2003).
The importance of considering gender in context is nowhere more apparent than when examining what is culturally prescribed behavior for females and males in different countries around the world (Hyde & Else-Quest, 2013; UNICEF, 2016). Although there has been greater acceptance of androgyny and similarities in male and female behavior in the United States in recent years, in many countries gender roles have remained gender-specific. For example, in many Middle Eastern countries, the division of labor between males and females is dramatic. Males are socialized and schooled to work in the public sphere, females in the private world of home and child rearing. Also, in Iran the dominant view is that the man’s duty is to provide for his family and the woman’s is to care for her family and household. China also has been a male-dominant culture. Although women have made some strides in China, especially in urban areas, the male role is still dominant. Most males in China do not accept androgynous behavior or gender equity.
In a recent study of eighth-grade students in 36 countries, in every country girls had more egalitarian attitudes about gender roles than did boys (Dotti Sani & Quaranta, 2015). In this study, girls had more egalitarian gender attitudes in countries with higher levels of societal gender equality. In another recent study of 15- to 19-year-olds in the country of Qatar, males had more negative views of gender equality than did females (Al-Ghanim & Badahdah, 2017).
Review Connect Reflect
LG1 Discuss emotional and personality development in middle and late childhood.
Review
· What changes take place Page 318in the self during the middle and late childhood years?
· How does emotional expression change during middle and late childhood?
· What characterizes moral development in middle and late childhood? What are gender stereotypes, and what are some important gender differences?
Connect
· Recall the concept of joint attention. How is joint attention similar to or different from the concept of perspective taking you learned about here?
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· A young man who had been sentenced to serve 10 years for selling a small amount of marijuana escaped from a prison six months after he was sent there. He is now in his fifties and has been a model citizen. Should he be sent back to prison? Why or why not? At which Kohlberg level should your response be placed? Do you think the level at which you placed your response accurately captures the level of your moral thinking? Explain.
2 Families
LG2 Describe developmental changes in parent-child relationships, parents as managers, attachment in families, and stepfamilies.
Developmental Changes in Parent-Child Relationships
Parents as Managers
Attachment in Families
Stepfamilies
This section focuses on how parent-child interactions typically change in middle and late childhood, the importance of parents being effective managers of children’s lives, the role of attachment in family relationships, and how children are affected by living with stepparents.
DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES IN PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS
As children move into the middle and late childhood years, parents spend considerably less time with them (Grusec, 2017; Pomerantz & Grolnick, 2017). In one study, parents spent less than half as much time with their children aged 5 to 12 in caregiving, instruction, reading, talking, and playing as they did when the children were younger (Hill & Stafford, 1980). However, parents continue to be extremely important in their children’s lives. One analysis concluded: “Parents serve as gatekeepers and provide scaffolding as children assume more responsibility for themselves and . . . regulate their own lives” (Huston & Ripke, 2006, p. 422).
Parents especially play an important role in supporting and stimulating children’s academic achievement in middle and late childhood (Lansford & others, 2018; Longo & others, 2017). The value parents place on education can determine whether children do well in school. Parents not only influence children’s in-school achievement, but they also make decisions about children’s out-of-school activities. Whether children participate in sports, music, and other activities is heavily influenced by the extent to which parents sign up children for such activities and encourage their participation (Simpkins, Fredricks, & Eccles, 2015).
Elementary school children tend to receive less physical discipline than preschoolers. Instead of spanking or coercive holding, their parents are more likely to use deprivation of privileges, appeals to the child’s self-esteem, comments designed to increase the child’s sense of guilt, and statements that the child is responsible for his or her actions. During middle and late childhood, some control is transferred from parent to child. A gradual process, it produces coregulation rather than control by either the child or the parent alone. Parents continue to exercise general supervision and control, while children are allowed to engage in moment-to-moment self-regulation. The major shift to autonomy Page 319does not occur until about the age of 12 or later. A key developmental task as children move toward autonomy is learning to relate to adults outside the family on a regular basis—adults such as teachers who interact with children much differently from their parents.
PARENTS AS MANAGERS
Parents can play important roles as managers of children’s opportunities, as monitors of their behavior, and as social initiators and arrangers (Clarke-Stewart & Parke, 2014; Longo & others, 2017). Mothers are more likely than fathers to engage in a managerial role in parenting.
Family management practices are positively related to students’ grades and self-responsibility, and negatively to school-related problems (Eccles, 2007; Taylor & Lopez, 2005). Among the most important are maintaining a structured and organized family environment, such as establishing routines for homework, chores, bedtime, and so on, and effectively monitoring the child’s behavior. A research review of the role of family functioning in determining African American students’ academic achievement found that when parents monitored their son’s academic achievement by ensuring that homework was completed, by restricting time spent on nonproductive distractions (such as video games and TV), and by participating in a consistent, positive dialogue with teachers and school officials, their son’s academic achievement benefited (Mandara, 2006).
ATTACHMENT IN FAMILIES
You have read about the importance of secure attachment in infancy and the role of sensitive parenting in attachment (Roisman & Cicchetti, 2018; Thompson, 2016). In middle and late childhood, attachment becomes more sophisticated and as children’s social worlds expand to include peers, teachers, and others, they typically spend less time with parents. Kathryn Kerns and her colleagues (Brumariu & Kerns, 2013; Brumariu, Kerns, & Seibert, 2012; Kerns & Brumariu, 2016; Kerns & Seibert, 2012, 2016; Movahed Abtahi & Kerns, 2017; Siener & Kerns, 2012) have studied links between attachment to parents and various child outcomes in the middle and late childhood years and found that secure attachment is associated with a lower level of internalized symptoms, anxiety, and depression in children (Brumariu & Kerns, 2010; Kerns & Brumariu, 2016). One study revealed that children who were less securely attached to their mothers reported having more anxiety (Brumariu, Kerns, & Seibert, 2012). Also in this study, secure attachment was linked to a higher level of children’s emotion regulation and less difficulty in identifying emotions.
developmental connection
Family
Approximately 50 percent of remarried women bear children within their newly formed union. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Early Adulthood.”
STEPFAMILIES
Not only has divorce become commonplace in the United States, so has remarriage. It takes time to marry, have children, get divorced, and then remarry. Consequently, stepfamilies include far more elementary and secondary school children than infants or preschool children. The number of remarriages involving children has grown steadily in recent years. Also, divorces occur at a 10 percent higher rate in remarriages than in first marriages (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1994). About half of all children whose parents divorce will have a stepparent within four years of the separation.
Remarried parents face unique tasks (Ganong, Coleman, & Russell, 2015; Papernow, 2018). The couple must define and strengthen their marriage while renegotiating the biological parent-child relationships and establishing stepparent-stepchild and stepsibling relationships. The complex histories and multiple relationships make adjustment difficult (Dodson & Davies, 2014). Only one-third of stepfamily couples stay remarried.
Most stepfamilies are preceded by divorce rather than death of a spouse (Pasley & Moorefield, 2004). Three common types of stepfamily structure are (1) stepfather, (2) stepmother, and (3) blended or complex. In stepfather families, the mother typically had custody of the children and remarried, introducing a stepfather into her children’s lives. In stepmother families, the father usually had custody and remarried, introducing a stepmother Page 320into his children’s lives. In a blended or complex stepfamily, both parents bring children from previous marriages. In E. Mavis Hetherington’s (2006) longitudinal analyses, children and adolescents who had been in a simple stepfamily (stepfather or stepmother) for a number of years were adjusting better than in the early years of the remarried family and were functioning well in comparison with children and adolescents in conflictual nondivorced families and children and adolescents in complex (blended) stepfamilies. More than 75 percent of the adolescents in long-established simple stepfamilies described their relationships with their stepparents as “close” or “very close.” Hetherington (2006) concluded that in long-established simple stepfamilies adolescents seem to eventually benefit from the presence of a stepparent and the resources provided by the stepparent.
Children often have better relationships with their custodial parents (mothers in stepfather families, fathers in stepmother families) than with stepparents (Antfolk & others, 2017; Santrock, Sitterle, & Warshak, 1988). However, a recent study found that when children have a better parent-child affective relationship with their stepparent, the children have fewer internalizing and externalizing problems (Jensen & others, 2018). Also, children in simple stepfamilies (stepmother, stepfather) often show better adjustment than their counterparts in complex (blended) families (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002). As in divorced families, children in stepfamilies show more adjustment problems than children in nondivorced families (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002)—academic problems and lower self-esteem, for example (Anderson & others, 1999). However, the majority of children in stepfamilies do not have such problems. In one analysis, 25 percent of children from stepfamilies showed adjustment problems compared with 10 percent in intact, never-divorced families (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002). Adolescence is an especially difficult time for the formation of a stepfamily (Gosselin, 2010). This difficulty may occur because becoming part of a stepfamily exacerbates normal adolescent concerns about identity, sexuality, and autonomy.
Review Connect Reflect
LG2 Describe developmental changes in parent-child relationships, parents as managers, attachment in families, and stepfamilies.
Review
· What changes characterize parent-child relationships in middle and late childhood?
· How can parents be effective managers of their children’s lives?
· How is attachment linked to children’s development in middle and late childhood?
· How does being in a stepfamily influence children’s development?
Connect
· In this section you learned how being part of a stepfamily affects the development of children. What did you learn earlier about children in divorced families, parenting style, and children’s adjustment?
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· What was your relationship with your parents like when you were in elementary school? How do you think it influenced your development?
3 Peers
LG3 Identify changes in peer relationships in middle and late childhood.
Developmental Changes
Peer Status
Social Cognition
Bullying
Friends
Having positive relationships with peers is especially important in middle and late childhood (Nesi & others, 2017; Rubin & Barstead, 2018; Vitaro, Boivin, & Poulin, 2018; Witgow, Rickert, & Cullen, 2017). Engaging in positive interactions with peers, resolving conflicts in nonaggressive ways, and maintaining quality friendships not only produce positive outcomes at this time in children’s lives, but also are linked to more positive relationships in adolescence and adulthood (Bukowski & Raufelder, 2018; Kindermann & Gest, 2018; Laursen, 2018; Laursen & Adams, 2018; Vitaro, Boivan, & Poulin, 2018). In one longitudinal study, Page 321being popular with peers and engaging in low levels of aggression at 8 years of age were related to higher levels of occupational status at 48 years of age (Huesmann & others, 2006). Another study found that peer competence (a composite measure that included social contact with peers, popularity with peers, friendship, and social skills) in middle and late childhood was linked to having better relationships with coworkers in early adulthood (Collins & van Dulmen, 2006). And another study indicated that low peer status in childhood (low acceptance/likeability) was linked to increased probability of being unemployed and having mental health problems in adulthood (Almquist & Brannstrom, 2014).
DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES
As children enter the elementary school years, reciprocity becomes especially important in peer interchanges. Researchers estimate that the percentage of time spent in social interaction with peers increases from approximately 10 percent at 2 years of age to more than 30 percent in middle and late childhood (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). In an early classic study, a typical day in elementary school included approximately 300 episodes with peers (Barker & Wright, 1951). As children move through middle and late childhood, the size of their peer group increases, and peer interaction is less closely supervised by adults. Until about 12 years of age, children’s preference for same-sex peer groups increases.
PEER STATUS
Which children are likely to be popular with their peers and which ones tend to be disliked? Developmentalists address this and similar questions by examining sociometric status, a term that describes the extent to which children are liked or disliked by their peer group (Achterberg & others, 2017; Cillessen & Bukowski, 2018). Sociometric status is typically assessed by asking children to rate how much they like or dislike each of their classmates. Or it may be assessed by asking children to name the children they like the most and those they like the least.
Developmentalists have distinguished five peer statuses (Wentzel & Asher, 1995):
· Popular children are frequently nominated as a best friend and are rarely disliked by their peers.
· Average children receive an average number of both positive and negative nominations from their peers.
· Neglected children are infrequently nominated as a best friend but are not disliked by their peers.
· Rejected children are infrequently nominated as someone’s best friend and are actively disliked by their peers.
· Controversial children are frequently nominated both as someone’s best friend and as being disliked.
Popular children have many social skills that contribute to their being well liked (McDonald & Asher, 2018). They give out reinforcements, listen carefully, maintain open lines of communication with peers, are happy, control their negative emotions, show enthusiasm and concern for others, and are self-confident without being conceited (Hartup, 1983; Rubin, Bukowski, & Bowker, 2015). Rejected children often have serious adjustment problems (Bukowski & others, 2015; Prinstein & others, 2018). Peer rejection is consistently linked to the development and maintenance of conduct problems (Chen, Drabick, & Burgers, 2015; Prinstein & others, 2018). In a recent study of young adolescents, peer rejection predicted increases in aggressive and rule-breaking behavior (Janssens & others, 2017).
John Coie (2004, pp. 252–253) provided three reasons why aggressive, peer-rejected boys have problems in social relationships:
· “First, the rejected, aggressive boys are more impulsive and have problems sustaining attention. As a result, they are more likely to be disruptive of ongoing activities in the classroom and in focused group play.
· Second, rejected, aggressive Page 322boys are more emotionally reactive. They are aroused to anger more easily and probably have more difficulty calming down once aroused. Because of this they are more prone to become angry at peers and attack them verbally and physically. . . .
· Third, rejected children have fewer social skills in making friends and maintaining positive relationships with peers.”
Not all rejected children are aggressive (Rubin, Bukowski, & Barker, 2015). Although aggression and its related characteristics of impulsiveness and disruptiveness underlie rejection about half the time, approximately 10 to 20 percent of rejected children are shy.
Rejected children can be taught to more accurately assess whether the intentions of their peers are negative (Bierman & Powers, 2009). They can engage in role playing or discuss hypothetical situations involving negative encounters with peers, such as when a peer cuts into a line ahead of them. In some programs, children watch videotapes of appropriate peer interaction and are asked to draw lessons from what they have seen (Ladd, Buhs, & Troop, 2004).
SOCIAL COGNITION
A boy accidentally trips and knocks another boy’s soft drink out of his hand. That boy misinterprets the encounter as hostile, which leads him to retaliate aggressively against the boy who tripped. Through repeated encounters of this kind, the aggressive boy’s classmates come to perceive him as habitually acting in inappropriate ways. This encounter demonstrates the importance of social cognition—thoughts about social matters, such as the aggressive boy’s interpretation of an encounter as hostile and his classmates’ perception of his behavior as inappropriate (Carpendale & Lewis, 2015). Children’s social cognition about their peers becomes increasingly important for understanding peer relationships in middle and late childhood. Of special interest are the ways in which children process information about peer relations and their social knowledge (Dodge, 2011a, b). Kenneth Dodge (1983, 2011a, b) argues that children go through six steps in processing information about their social world. They (1) selectively attend to social cues, (2) attribute intent by interpreting social cues, (3) establish social goals, (4) access behavioral scripts from memory and generate problem-solving strategies, (5) evaluate the likely effectiveness of strategies and make decisions, and (6) enact behavior. Subsequently, children may evaluate the effectiveness of their response. Boys are less likely to spontaneously engage in this kind of self-evaluation of the outcomes of their behavior, and thus more likely than girls to engage in impulsive and aggressive behavior. Aggressive boys are more likely to perceive another child’s actions as hostile when the child’s intention is ambiguous. And when aggressive boys search for cues to determine a peer’s intention, they respond more rapidly, less efficiently, and less reflectively than do nonaggressive children. These are among the social cognitive factors believed to be involved in children’s conflicts.
Social knowledge also is involved in children’s ability to get along with peers (Carpendale & Lewis, 2015). They need to know what goals to pursue in poorly defined or ambiguous situations, how to initiate and maintain a social bond, and what scripts to follow to get other children to be their friends. For example, as part of the script for getting friends, it helps to know that saying nice things, regardless of what the peer does or says, will make the peer like the child more.
BULLYING
Significant numbers of students are victimized by bullies (Hall, 2017; Muijs, 2017; Salmivalli & Peets, 2018; Wang & others, 2017; Zarate-Garza & others, 2017). In a survey of 15,000 sixth- through tenth-grade students, nearly one-third said that they had experienced occasional or frequent involvement as a victim or perpetrator in bullying (Nansel & others, 2001). Bullying was defined as verbal or physical behavior intended to disturb someone less powerful. Being belittled about looks or speech was the most frequent type of bullying (see Figure 2 ). Boys are more likely to be bullies than girls, but gender differences regarding victims of bullies are less clear (Peets, Hodges, & Salmivalli, 2011). In the study boys and younger middle school students were most likely to be bullied (Nansel & others, 2001). Bullied children reported more loneliness and difficulty in making friends, while those who did the bullying were more likely to have low grades and to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol.
Anxious, socially withdrawn, and aggressive children Page 323are often the victims of bullying (Coplan & others, 2018; Rubin & Barstead, 2018). Anxious and socially withdrawn children may be victimized because they are nonthreatening and unlikely to retaliate if bullied, whereas aggressive children may be the targets of bullying because their behavior is irritating to bullies. Overweight and obese children are often bullied (Bacchini & others, 2017; Gibson & others, 2017).
Social contexts such as poverty, family, school, and peer groups also influence bullying (Prinstein & Giletta, 2016; Salmivalli & Peets, 2018; Troop-Gordon, 2017). A meta-analysis indicated that positive parenting behavior (including having good communication, a warm relationship, being involved, and engaging in supervision of their children) and negative parenting behavior (including child maltreatment—physical abuse and neglect), was related to a greater likelihood of becoming either a bully/victim or a victim at school (Lereya, Samara, & Wolke, 2013).
The social context of the peer group also plays an important role in bullying (Salmivalli & Peets, 2018; Troop-Gordon, 2017). Seventy to 80 percent of victims and their bullies are in the same classroom (Salmivalli & Peets, 2009). Classmates are often aware of bullying incidents (Barhight & others, 2017). Bullies often torment victims to gain higher status in the peer group and need others to witness their power displays. Many bullies are not rejected by the peer group. A longitudinal study explored the costs and benefits of bullying in the context of the peer group (Reijntjes & others, 2013). Although young bullies were on a developmental trajectory that over the long run was problematic, the shorter-term personal benefits of bullying often outweighed the disadvantages. Frequent bullying was linked to high social status as indexed by perceived popularity in the peer group, and bullies also were characterized by self-perceived personal competence.
Peer victimization in the fifth grade has been associated with worse physical and mental health in the tenth grade (Bogart & others, 2014). Children who are bullied are more likely to experience depression, engage in suicidal ideation, and attempt suicide than their counterparts who have not been the victims of bullying (Undheim & Sund, 2013; Yen & others, 2014). Peer victimization during the elementary school years has been linked to stress and suicidal ideation (Kowalski & others, 2014). One study indicated that peer victimization during the elementary school years was a leading indicator of internalizing problems (depression, for example) in adolescence (Schwartz & others, 2015). Also, a longitudinal study found that children who were bullied at 6 years of age were more likely to have excess weight gain when they were 12 to 13 years of age (Sutin & others, 2016). Further, a longitudinal study of 6,000 children found that children who were the victims of peer bullying from 4 to 10 years of age were more likely to engage in suicidal ideation at 11½ years of age (Winsper & others, 2012). And a research analysis concluded that bullying can have long-term effects, including difficulty in forming lasting relationships and problems in the workplace (Wolke & Lereya, 2015).
Longitudinal studies have indicated that victims bullied in childhood and adolescence have higher rates of agoraphobia (an abnormal fear of being in public, open, and crowded places), depression, anxiety, panic disorder, and suicidality in their early to mid-twenties compared with those who have not been bullied in childhood and adolescence (Arseneault, 2017; Copeland & others, 2013). In addition, another recent study revealed that being a victim of bullying in childhood was linked to increased use of mental health services by the victims five decades later (Evans-Lacko & others, 2017).
An increasing concern is peer bullying and harassment on the Internet (called cyberbullying) (Vollink, Dehue, & McGuckin, 2016; Wolke, Lee, & Guy, 2017). A study involving third- to sixth-graders revealed that engaging in cyber aggression was related to loneliness, lower self-esteem, fewer mutual friendships, and lower peer popularity (Schoffstall & Cohen, 2011). A meta-analysis concluded that being the victim of cyberbullying was linked to stress and suicidal ideation (Kowalski & others, 2014), and another study found it was more strongly associated with suicidal ideation than traditional bullying was (van Geel, Vedder, & Tanilon, 2014). One meta-analysis revealed that cyberbullying occurred twice as much as traditional bullying and that those who engaged in cyberbullying were likely to also have engaged in traditional bullying (Modecki & others, 2014). Further, a longitudinal study found that adolescents experiencing social and emotional difficulties were more likely to be both cyberbullied and traditionally bullied than to be traditionally bullied only (Cross, Lester, & Barnes, 2015). Adolescents targeted in both ways stayed away from school more than their counterparts who were traditionally bullied only. And a recent study revealed that adolescents who were bullied both in a direct way and through Page 324cyberbullying had more behavioral problems and lower self-esteem than adolescents who were only bullied in one of these two ways (Wolke, Lee, & Guy, 2017). Information about preventing cyberbullying can be found at www.stopcyberbullying.org/. Also, an excellent book on the topic is Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015).
Increasing interest is being directed to finding ways to prevent and treat bullying and victimization (Gower, Cousin, & Borowsky, 2017; Hall, 2017; Menesini & Salmivalli, 2017; Muijs, 2017; Salmivalli & Peets, 2018). School-based interventions vary greatly, ranging from involving the whole school in an antibullying campaign to providing individualized social skills training (Alsaker & Valanover, 2012). One of the most promising bullying intervention programs has been created by Dan Olweus (2003, 2013). This program focuses on 6- to 15-year-olds with the goal of decreasing opportunities and rewards for bullying. School staff are instructed in ways to improve peer relations and make schools safer. When properly implemented, the program reduces bullying by 30 to 70 percent (Ericson, 2001; Olweus, 2003). Information on how to implement the program can be obtained from the Center for the Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado (www.blueprintsprograms.com). A research review concluded that interventions focused on the whole school, such as Olweus’, are more effective than interventions involving classroom curricula or social skills training (Cantone & others, 2015).
FRIENDS
Friendship is an important aspect of children’s development (Bagwell & Bukowski, 2018; Rubin & Barstead, 2018; Smetana & Ball, 2018). Like adult friendships, children’s friendships are typically characterized by similarity (Prinstein & Giletta, 2016). Throughout childhood, friends are more similar than dissimilar in terms of age, sex, race, and many other factors. Friends often have similar attitudes toward school, similar educational aspirations, and closely aligned achievement orientations.
Willard Hartup (1983, 1996, 2009) has studied peer relations and friendship for more than three decades. He concludes that friends provide cognitive and emotional resources from childhood through old age, such as fostering self-esteem and a sense of well-being. More specifically, children’s friendships can serve six functions (Gottman & Parker, 1987):
· Companionship. Friendship provides children with a familiar partner and playmate, someone who is willing to spend time with them and join in collaborative activities.
· Stimulation. Friendship provides children with interesting information, excitement, and amusement.
· Physical support. Friendship provides resources and assistance.
· Ego support. Friendship provides the expectation of support, encouragement, and feedback, which helps children maintain an impression of themselves as competent, attractive, and worthwhile individuals.
· Social comparison. Friendship provides information about where the child stands vis-à-vis others and whether the child is doing okay.
· Affection and intimacy. Friendship provides children with a warm, close, trusting relationship with another individual. Intimacy in friendships is characterized by self-disclosure and the sharing of private thoughts. Research suggests that intimate friendships may not appear until early adolescence (Berndt & Perry, 1990).
Although having friends can be a developmental advantage, friendships are not all alike (Bagwell & Bukowski, 2018; de la Haye & others, 2017; Smetana & Ball, 2018; Zhang & others, 2018). People differ in the company they keep—that is, who their friends are. Developmental advantages occur when children have friends who are socially skilled and supportive (Chow, Tan, & Buhrmester, 2015; Laursen, 2018; Kindermann & Gest, 2018; Schneider, 2016). However, it is not developmentally advantageous to have coercive and conflict-ridden friendships (Laursen & Adams, 2018). One study found that students who engaged in classroom aggressive-disruptive behavior were more likely to have aggressive friends (Powers & Bierman, 2013).
developmental connection
Peers
Beginning in early adolescence, teenagers typically prefer to have a smaller number of friendships that are more intense and intimate. Connect to “Socioemotional Development in Adolescence.”
Friendship also plays an important role in children’s emotional well-being and academic success (Ryan & Shin, 2018). Students with friends who are academically oriented are more likely to achieve success in school themselves (Wentzel & Ramani, 2016).
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Review Connect Reflect
LG3 Identify changes in peer relationships in middle and late childhood.
Review
· What developmental changes characterize peer relations in middle and late childhood?
· How does children’s peer status influence their development?
· How is social cognition involved in children’s peer relations?
· What is the nature of bullying?
· What are children’s friendships like?
Connect
· Most developmentalists agree that peers play an important role in the development of moral reasoning. Of the five peer status groups, in which group do you think children would have the least opportunity to fully develop their moral reasoning capacities and why?
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· Which of the five peer statuses characterized you as a child? Did your peer status change in adolescence? How did your peer status as a child influence your development?
4 Schools
LG4 Characterize aspects of schooling in children’s development in middle and late childhood.
Contemporary Approaches to Student Learning
Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, and Culture
For most children, entering the first grade signals new obligations. They develop new relationships and adopt new standards by which to judge themselves. School provides children with a rich source of new ideas to shape their sense of self. They will spend many years in schools as members of small societies in which there are tasks to be accomplished, people to socialize with and be socialized by, and rules that define and limit behavior, feelings, and attitudes. By the time students graduate from high school, they have spent 12,000 hours in the classroom.
CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO STUDENT LEARNING
Controversy swirls about the best way to teach children and how to hold schools and teachers accountable for whether children are learning (Borich, 2017).
Constructivist and Direct Instruction Approaches The constructivist approach to instruction is a learner-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of individuals actively constructing their knowledge and understanding with guidance from the teacher. In the constructivist view, teachers should not attempt to simply pour information into children’s minds. Rather, children should be encouraged to explore their world, discover knowledge, reflect, and think critically with careful monitoring and meaningful guidance from the teacher (Brophy & Alleman, 2018; Kauchak & Eggen, 2017). Constructivists believe that for too long in American education children have been required to sit still, be passive learners, and rotely memorize irrelevant as well as relevant information (Orlich & Harder, 2018).
Constructivism may include an emphasis on collaboration—children working with each other in their efforts to know and understand (Daniels, 2017; Johnson & others 2018). A teacher with a constructivist instructional philosophy would not have children memorize information rotely but would give them opportunities to meaningfully construct their knowledge and understand the material while guiding their learning (Sadker & Zittleman, 2016). By contrast, the direct instruction approach is a structured, teacher-centered approach that is characterized by teacher Page 326direction and control, high teacher expectations for students’ progress, maximum time spent by students on academic tasks, and efforts by the teacher to keep negative affect to a minimum. An important goal in the direct instruction approach is maximizing student learning time (Webb & Metha, 2017).
Advocates of the constructivist approach argue that the direct instruction approach turns children into passive learners and does not adequately challenge them to think in critical and creative ways. Direct instruction enthusiasts say that the constructivist approaches do not give enough attention to the content of a discipline, such as history or science. They also believe that the constructivist approaches are too relativistic and vague.
Some experts believe that many effective teachers use both a constructivist and a direct instruction approach rather than relying exclusively on one or the other (Johnson & others, 2018; Webb & Metha, 2017). Some circumstances may call more for a constructivist approach, others for direct instruction. For example, experts increasingly recommend an explicit, intellectually engaging direct instruction approach when teaching students who have a reading or a writing disability (Cunningham, 2017; Temple & others, 2018).
Accountability Since the 1990s, the U.S. public and governments at every level have demanded increased accountability from schools. One result was the spread of state-mandated testing to measure just what students had or had not learned (Martin, Sargrad, & Batel, 2017; Popham, 2017). Many states identified objectives for students in their state and created tests to measure whether students were meeting those objectives. This approach became national policy in 2002 when the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation was signed into law.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Advocates argue that state-wide standardized testing will have a number of positive effects. These include improved student performance; more time spent teaching the subjects that are tested; high expectations for all students; identification of poorly performing schools, teachers, and administrators; and improved confidence in schools as test scores rise.
Critics argue that the NCLB legislation is doing more harm than good (Ladd, 2017; Sadker & Zittleman, 2016). One criticism stresses that using a single test as the sole indicator of students’ progress and competence presents a very narrow view of students’ skills (Lewis, 2007). This criticism is similar to the one leveled at IQ tests. To assess student progress and achievement, many psychologists and educators emphasize that a number of measures should be used, including tests, quizzes, projects, portfolios, classroom observations, and so on. Also, the tests used as part of NCLB don’t measure creativity, motivation, persistence, flexible thinking, or social skills (Stiggins, 2008). Teachers may end up spending far too much class time “teaching to the test” by drilling students and having them memorize isolated facts rather than focusing on the development of thinking skills needed for success in life (Ladd, 2017). Also, some individuals are concerned that gifted students are neglected in the effort to raise the achievement level of students who are not doing well (Ballou & Springer, 2017).
Each state is allowed to establish its own criteria for what constitutes passing or failing grades on tests designated for NCLB inclusion. An analysis of NCLB data indicated that almost every fourth-grade student in Mississippi knows how to read but only half of Massachusetts’ students do (Birman & others, 2007). Because state standards vary greatly, state-by-state comparisons of success on NCLB tests are likely to be unreliable. Many states have taken the safe route and kept the standard for passing low. Thus, while one of NCLB’s goals is to raise standards for achievement in U.S. schools, apparently allowing states to set their own standards has lowered achievement standards.
Common Core In 2009, the Common Core State Standards Initiative was endorsed by the National Governors Association in an effort to implement more rigorous state guidelines for educating students. The Common Core Standards specify what students should know and the skills they should develop at each grade level in various content areas (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2016). A large majority of states have agreed to implement the Standards, but they have generated considerable controversy. Some critics argue that they are simply a further effort by the federal government to control education and that they emphasize a “one size fits all” approach that pays little attention to individual variations in students. Supporters say that the Standards provide much-needed detailed guidelines and important milestones for students to achieve.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) The most recent initiative Page 327for accountability in education is the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was passed into law in December 2015 and was to be fully implemented during the 2017–2018 school year. In early 2018, the Trump administration began going forward with ESSA but was giving states much more flexibility in implementing the law (Klein, 2018a, b). The law replaced No Child Left Behind, modifying but not completely eliminating standardized testing. ESSA retains annual testing for reading and writing in grades 3 to 8, then once more in high school. The new law also allows states to scale back the role of tests in holding schools accountable for student achievement. And schools must use at least one nonacademic factor—such as student engagement—in tracking success. Other aspects of the new law include continuing to require states and districts to improve their lowest-performing schools and to ensure that they improve their work with historically underperforming students, such as English-language learners, ethnic minority students, and students with a disability. States and districts are required to implement challenging academic standards, although they can opt out of state standards involving Common Core.
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, ETHNICITY, AND CULTURE
Children from low-income, ethnic minority backgrounds have more difficulties in school than do their middle-socioeconomic-status, White counterparts. Why? Critics argue that schools have not done a good job of educating low-income, ethnic minority students to overcome the barriers to their achievement (Koppleman, 2017; Troppe & others, 2017).
The Education of Students from Low-Income Backgrounds Many children living in poverty face problems that present barriers to their learning (Duncan, Magnuson, & Vtroba-Drzal, 2017; Nieto & Bode, 2018; Sawyer & others, 2018; Watson, 2018). They might have parents who don’t set high educational standards for them, who are incapable of reading to them, or who can’t afford educational materials and experiences, such as books and trips to zoos and museums. They may be malnourished or live in areas with high rates of crime and violence. One study revealed that the longer children experienced poverty, the more detrimental the poverty was to their cognitive development (Najman & others, 2009).
Schools in low-income areas are likely to have more students with low achievement test scores, lower graduation rates, and smaller percentages of students going to college; they are more likely to have young teachers with less experience; and they are more likely to encourage rote learning (Duncan, Magnuson, & Votruba-Drzal, 2017; Gollnick & Chinn, 2017; Sawyer & others, 2018). Many of the schools’ buildings and classrooms are old and crumbling. These are the types of undesirable conditions Jonathan Kozol (2005) observed in many inner-city schools. Far too many schools in low-income neighborhoods provide students with environments that are not conducive to effective learning (Bradley, 2015; Leventhal, Dupere, & Shuey, 2015). In a recent research review, it was concluded that increases in family income for children in poverty were associated with increased achievement in middle school as well as greater educational attainment in adolescence and emerging adulthood (Duncan, Magnuson, & Votruba-Drzal, 2017).
Schools and school programs are the focus of some poverty interventions (Dragoset & others, 2017). In a recent intervention with first-generation immigrant children attending high-poverty schools, the City Connects program was successful in improving children’s math and reading achievement at the end of elementary school (Dearing & others, 2016). The program is directed by a full-time school counselor or social worker in each school. Annual reviews of children’s needs are conducted during the first several months of the school year. Then site coordinators and teachers collaborate to develop a student support plan that might include an after-school program, tutoring, mentoring, or family counselling. For children identified as having intense needs (about 8 to 10 percent of the children), a wider team of professionals becomes involved, possibly including school psychologists, principals, nurses, and/or community agency staff, to create additional supports.
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connecting with careers
Ahou Vaziri, Teach for America Instructor
Ahou Vaziri was a top student in author John Santrock’s educational psychology course at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she majored in Psychology and Child Development. The following year she served as a teaching intern for the educational psychology course, then submitted an application to join Teach for America and was accepted. Ahou was assigned to work in a low-income area of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she taught English to seventh- and eighth-graders. In her words, “The years I spent in the classroom for Teach for America were among the most rewarding experiences I have had thus far in my career. I was able to go home every night after work knowing that I truly made a difference in the lives of my students.”
Upon completion of her two-year teaching experience with Teach for America, Ahou continued working for the organization by recruiting college students to serve as Teach for America instructors. Subsequently, she moved into a role that involved developing curricula for Teach for America. Recently she earned a graduate degree in counseling from Southern Methodist University, and she has continued working to improve children’s lives.
Another important effort to improve the education of children who are growing up in low-income conditions is Teach for America (2018), a nonprofit organization that recruits and selects college graduates from universities to serve as teachers for two years in public schools in low-income communities. Since its inception in 1990, more than 42,000 individuals have taught more than 50,000 students for Teach for America. These teachers can be, but are not required to be, education majors. During the summer before beginning to teach, they attend an intensive training program. To read about one individual who became a Teach for America instructor, see Connecting with Careers.
Ethnicity in Schools More than one-third of African American and almost one-third of Latino students attend schools in the 47 largest city school districts, compared with only 5 percent of White and 22 percent of Asian American students. Many of these inner-city schools continue to be racially segregated, are grossly underfunded, and do not provide adequate opportunities for children to learn effectively. Thus, the effects of SES and of ethnicity are often intertwined (Chaudry & others, 2017; Umana-Taylor & Douglass, 2017; Sawyer & others, 2018; Watson, 2018).
The school experiences of students from different ethnic groups vary considerably (Koppleman, 2017; Nieto & Bode, 2018). African American and Latino students are much less likely than non-Latino White or Asian American students to be enrolled in college preparatory programs and more likely to be enrolled in remedial and special education programs. Asian American students are far more likely to take advanced math and science courses. African American students are twice as likely as Latinos, Native Americans, or non-Latino Whites to be suspended from school.
However, diversity characterizes every ethnic group (Gollnick & Chinn, 2017; Nieto & Bode, 2018; Spencer & others, 2017). For example, the higher percentage of Asian American students in advanced classes is mainly true for students with Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, and East Indian cultural backgrounds; students Page 329with Hmong and Vietnamese cultural backgrounds have had less academic success. Following are some strategies for improving relationships among ethnically diverse students:
· Turn the class into a jigsaw classroom. When Eliot Aronson was a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, the school system contacted him for ideas on how to reduce the increasing racial tension in classrooms. Aronson (1986) developed the concept of a “jigsaw classroom” in which students from different cultural backgrounds are placed in a cooperative group in which they have to construct different parts of a project to reach a common goal. Aronson used the term jigsaw because he saw the technique as much like a group of students cooperating to put different pieces together to complete a jigsaw puzzle. How might this work? Team sports, drama productions, and musical performances are examples of contexts in which students participate cooperatively to reach a common goal; however, the jigsaw technique also lends itself to group science projects, history reports, and other learning experiences with a variety of subject matter.
· Encourage students to have positive personal contact with diverse other students. Mere contact does not do the job of improving relationships with diverse others. For example, busing ethnic minority students to predominantly White schools, or vice versa, has not reduced prejudice or improved interethnic relations. What matters is what happens after children get to school. Especially beneficial in improving interethnic relations is sharing one’s worries, successes, failures, coping strategies, interests, and other personal information with people of other ethnicities. When this happens, people tend to look at others as individuals rather than as members of a homogeneous group.
· Reduce bias. Teachers can reduce bias by displaying images of children from diverse ethnic and cultural groups, selecting play materials and classroom activities that encourage cultural understanding, helping students resist stereotyping, and working with parents to reduce children’s exposure to bias and prejudice at home.
· View the school and community as a team. James Comer (1988, 2004, 2006, 2010) advocates a community-based, team approach as the best way to educate children. Three important aspects of the Comer Project for Change are (1) a governance and management team that develops a comprehensive school plan, assessment strategy, and staff development plan; (2) a mental health or school support team; and (3) a parents’ program. Comer believes that the entire school community should have a cooperative rather than an adversarial attitude. The Comer program is currently operating in more than 600 schools in 26 states
· Be a competent cultural mediator. Teachers can play a powerful role as cultural mediators by being sensitive to biased content in materials and classroom interactions, learning more about different ethnic groups, being aware of children’s ethnic attitudes, viewing students of color positively, and thinking of positive ways to get parents of color more involved as partners with teachers in educating children.
Cross-Cultural Comparisons International assessments indicate that the United States has not fared well in comparisons with many other countries in the areas of math and science (Desilver, 2017). In 2015, comparisons of 15-year-olds on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the United States placed 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science (PISA, 2015). In another assessment of fourth- and eighth-grade students on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), U.S. students fared somewhat better, placing 11th out of 48 countries in fourth-grade math and 8th in fourth-grade science (TIMSS, 2015). Also in the TIMSS, U.S. students placed 8th in math and 8th in science in the 37 countries studied. The top five spots in the international assessments mainly go to East Asian countries, especially Singapore, China, and Japan. The only two countries to crackPage 330the top five in recent years for math and science are Finland and Estonia.
Despite the recent gains by U.S. elementary school students, especially disconcerting, though, is that in most comparisons, the rankings for U.S. students in reading, math, and science compared with students in other countries decline as they go from elementary school to high school. Also, U.S. students’ achievement scores in math and science are still far below those of students in many East Asian countries.
Harold Stevenson’s (1995, 2000; Stevenson, Hofer, & Randel, 1999; Stevenson & others, 1990) research explores possible reasons for the poor performance of American students compared with students in selected Asian countries. Stevenson and his colleagues have completed five cross-cultural comparisons of students in the United States, China, Taiwan, and Japan. In these studies, Asian students consistently outperform American students. And, the longer the students are in school, the wider the gap becomes between Asian and American students—the lowest difference is in the first grade, the highest in the eleventh grade (the highest grade studied). Stevenson and his colleagues spent thousands of hours observing in classrooms, as well as interviewing and surveying teachers, students, and parents. They found that the Asian teachers spent more of their time teaching math than did the American teachers. More than one-fourth of total classroom time in the first grade was spent on math instruction in Japan, compared with only one-tenth of the time in U.S. first-grade classrooms. Also, the Asian students were in school an average of 240 days a year, compared with 178 days in the United States.
Differences were also found between the Asian and American parents. The American parents had much lower expectations for their children’s education and achievement than did the Asian parents. Also, the American parents were more likely to believe that their children’s math achievement was due to innate ability, while the Asian parents were more likely to say that their children’s math achievement was the consequence of effort and training (see Figure 3 ). The Asian students were more likely to do math homework than were the American students, and the Asian parents were far more likely to help their children with their math homework than were the American parents (Chen & Stevenson, 1989). Connecting Through Research explores why parenting practices may be an important aspect of the lower achievement of U.S. children compared with East Asian children.
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connecting through research
Parenting and Children’s Achievement: My Child Is My Report Card, Tiger Mothers, and Tiger Babies Strike Back
There is rising concern that U.S. children are not reaching their full academic potential, which ultimately will reduce the capacity of the United States to compete globally (Pomerantz, 2018; Pomerantz & Grolnick, 2017; Qu, Pomerantz, & Deng, 2016). Interested in identifying how parents can maximize their children’s motivation and achievement in school while also maintaining positive emotional adjustment, Eva Pomerantz and her colleagues are conducting research with children and their parents in the United States and China, where children often attain higher levels of achievement than their U.S. counterparts (Pomerantz, 2017; Pomerantz, Cheung, & Qin, 2012; Pomerantz & Grolnick, 2017; Pomerantz & Kempner, 2013; Pomerantz, Kim, & Cheung, 2012; Qu, Pomerantz, & Deng, 2016).
East Asian parents spend considerably more time helping their children with homework than do U.S. parents (Chen & Stevenson, 1989). Pomerantz’s research indicates that East Asian parental involvement in children’s learning is present as early as the preschool years and continues during the elementary school years (Ng, Pomerantz, & Deng, 2014; Ng, Pomerantz, & Lam, 2013; Pomerantz, 2017; Pomerantz & Grolnick, 2017; Rowe, Ramani, & Pomerantz, 2016; Siegler & Mu, 2008). In East Asia, children’s learning is considered to be a far greater responsibility of parents than in the United States (Ng, Pomerantz, & Lam, 2013; Pomerantz, Kim, & Cheung, 2012).
Pomerantz and her colleagues also are conducting research on the role of parental control in children’s achievement (Cheung & others, 2016). In a research study whose title included the phrase “My Child Is My Report Card,” Chinese mothers exerted more control (especially psychological control) over their children than did U.S. mothers (Ng, Pomerantz, & Deng, 2014). Chinese mothers’ self-worth was more contingent on their children’s achievement than was the case for U.S. mothers.
Pomerantz’s research reflects the term “training parents,” a variation of authoritarian parenting in which the parenting strategy of many Asian parents is to train their children to achieve high levels of academic success. Amy Chua’s 2011 book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, sparked considerable interest in the role of parenting in children’s achievement. Chua uses the term Tiger Mother to mean a mother who engages in strict disciplinary practices. In another book, Tiger Babies Strike Back, Kim Wong Keltner (2013) argues that the Tiger Mother parenting style can be so demanding and confining that being an Asian American child is like being in an “emotional jail.” She says that the Tiger Mother authoritarian style does provide some advantages for children, such as learning to go for what you want and not to take no for an answer, but that too often the results are not worth the emotional costs.
Researchers studying Chinese American immigrant families with first- and second-grade children have found that the children with authoritarian (highly controlling) parents are more aggressive, are more depressed, have a higher anxiety level, and show poorer social skills than children whose parents have non-authoritarian styles (Zhou & others, 2012). Qing Zhou (2013), lead author on the study just described and the director of the University of California’s Culture and Family Laboratory, is conducting workshops to teach Chinese mothers positive parenting strategies such as listening skills, praising their children for good behavior, and spending more time with their children in fun activities. Also, in a recent study in China, young adolescents with authoritative parents showed better adjustment than their counterparts with authoritarian parents (W. Zhang & others, 2017). In sum, while an authoritarian, psychologically controlling style of parenting may be associated with higher levels of achievement, especially in Asian children, there are concerns that an authoritarian style also may produce more emotional difficulties in children (Pomerantz, 2018; Pomerantz & Grolnick, 2017).
Eva Pomerantz (2018) offers the following recommendations for parents who want to increase the motivation of their children and adolescents to do well in school:
· Realize that ability is not fixed and can change. Although it is difficult and takes a lot of patience, understand that children’s and adolescents’ abilities can improve.
· Be involved. One of the most important things parents can do is to become involved in their children’s and adolescents’ academic life and talk often with them about what they are learning.
· Support autonomy and self-initiative. An important aspect of children’s and adolescents’ motivation to do well in school is whether they believe they are responsible for their learning and are self-motivated.
· Be positive. Schoolwork and homework can be frustrating for children and adolescents. Interact with them in positive ways and let them know that life is often tough but that you know they can do well and overcome difficulties.
· Understand that every child and adolescent is different. Get to know your child or adolescent—don’t let them be a psychological stranger to you. Be sensitive to their unique characteristics and know that sometimes you may need to adapt to such idiosyncrasies.
What are the best parenting strategies for rearing children to reach high levels of achievement and be emotionally healthy?
Related to the differences between Asian and U.S. parents in explaining the roles of effort and ability, Carol Dweck (2006, 2012, 2015, 2016) described the importance of children’s mindset , which she defines as the cognitive view individuals develop for themselves. She concludes that each individual has one of two mindsets: (1) a fixed mindset, in which they believe that their qualities are carved in stone and cannot change; or (2) a growth mindset, in which they believe their qualities can change and improve through their own effort. Dweck (2006, 2012) argued that individuals’ mindsets influence whether they will be optimistic or pessimistic, what their goals will be and how hard they will strive to reach those goals, and what they will achieve. Dweck says that mindsets begin to be shaped in childhood as children interact with parents, teachers, and coaches, who themselves have either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. However, recent research indicates that many parents and teachers with growth mindsets don’t always instill them in children and adolescents (Haimovitz & Dweck, 2016, 2017). The following approach has been found to increase adolescents’ growth mindset: teach for understanding, provide feedback that improves understanding, give students opportunities to revise their work, communicate how effort and struggling are involved in learning, and function as a partner with children and adolescents in the learning process (Haimovitz & Dweck, 2017; Hooper & others, 2016; Sun, 2015).
In recent research by Dweck and her colleagues, students from lower-income families were less likely to have a growth mindset than their counterparts from wealthier families (Claro, Paunesku, & Dweck, 2016). However, the achievement of students from lower-income families who did have a growth mindset was more likely to be protected from the negative effects of poverty.
Dweck and her colleagues (Blackwell & Dweck, 2008; Blackwell & others, 2007; Dweck, 2012, 2015, 2016; Dweck & Master, 2009) have incorporated information about the brain’s plasticity into their efforts to improve students’ motivation to achieve and succeed. In one study, they assigned two groups Page 332of students to eight sessions of either (1) study skills instruction or (2) study skills instruction plus information about the importance of developing a growth mindset (called incremental theory in the research) (Blackwell & others, 2007). One of the exercises in the growth mindset group was titled “You Can Grow Your Brain” and emphasized that the brain is like a muscle that can change and grow as it is exercised and develops new connections. Students were informed that the more you challenge your brain to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Both groups had a pattern of declining math scores prior to the intervention. Following the intervention, the math scores of the group who only received the study skills instruction continued to decline, but the group that received the combination of study skills instruction plus the growth mindset emphasis reversed the downward trend and improved their math achievement. In a recent study conducted by Dweck and her colleagues (Paunesku & others, 2015), underachieving high school students read online modules about how the brain changes when you learn and study hard. Following the online exposure about the brain and learning, the underachieving students improved their grade point averages.
Keep the growth mindset in your thoughts. Then, when you bump up against obstacles, you can turn to it . . . showing you a path into the future.
—Carol Dweck
Contemporary Psychologist, Stanford University
Dweck created a computer-based workshop, “Brainology,” to teach students that their intelligence can change (Blackwell & Dweck, 2008; Dweck, 2012, 2015, 2016). Students experience six modules about how the brain works and how they can make their brain improve (see Figure 4 ). After the program was tested in 20 New York City schools, students strongly endorsed the value of the modules. Said one student, “I will try harder because I know that the more you try the more your brain knows” (Dweck & Master, 2009, p. 137).
Review Connect Reflect
LG4 Characterize aspects of schooling in children’s development in middle and late childhood.
Review
· What are two major contemporary issues in educating children?
· How do socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and culture influence schooling?
Connect
· One of Carol Dweck’s exercises in the growth-mindset group was titled “You Can Grow Your Brain.” Can you actually grow your brain? What physical changes, if any, are still occurring in the brain in middle and late childhood?
Reflect Your Own Personal Journey of Life
· How would you rate the quality of your teachers in elementary school? Were their expectations for your achievement too low or too high?
topical connections looking forward
In adolescence, children begin spending more time thinking about their identity—who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life. Time spent with peers increases in adolescence, and friendships become more intense and intimate. Dating and romantic relationships also become more central to the lives of most adolescents. Parents continue to have an important influence on adolescent development. Having good relationships with parents provides support for adolescents as they seek more autonomy and explore a widening social world. Problems that adolescents can develop include juvenile delinquency and depression.
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Socioemotional Development in Middle and Late Childhood
1 Emotional and Personality Development
LG1 Discuss emotional and personality development in middle and late childhood.
· In middle and late childhood, self-understanding increasingly involves social and psychological characteristics, including social comparison. Children increase their perspective taking in middle and late childhood, and their social understanding shows increasing psychological sophistication as well.
· Self-concept refers to domain-specific evaluations of the self. Self-esteem refers to global evaluations of the self and is also referred to as self-worth or self-image. Self-esteem is only moderately related to school performance but is more strongly linked to initiative. Four ways to increase self-esteem are to (1) identify the causes of low self-esteem, (2) provide emotional support and social approval, (3) help children achieve, and (4) help children cope.
· Self-efficacy is the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes. Bandura believes that self-efficacy is a critical factor in whether students will achieve. Schunk argues that self-efficacy influences a student’s choice of tasks, with low-efficacy students avoiding many learning tasks.
· The development of self-regulation is an important aspect of children’s development. Erikson’s fourth stage of development, industry versus inferiority, characterizes the middle and late childhood years.
· Developmental changes in emotion include increased understanding of complex emotions such as pride and shame, detecting that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation, taking into account the circumstances that led up to an emotional reaction, improvements in the ability to suppress and conceal negative emotions, and the use of self-initiated strategies to redirect feelings. As children get older, they use a greater variety of coping strategies and more cognitive strategies.
· Kohlberg argued that moral development occurs on three levels—preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. Kohlberg maintained that these levels were age-related. Movement through the levels is influenced by cognitive development, imitation and cognitive conflict, peer relations, and perspective taking.
· Criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory have been made, especially by Gilligan, who advocates a stronger care perspective. Other criticisms focus on the inadequacy of moral reasoning to predict moral behavior, culture, and family influences.
· The domain theory of moral development states that there are different domains of social knowledge and reasoning, including moral, social conventional, and personal.
· Prosocial behavior involves positive moral behaviors such as sharing. Most sharing in the first three years is not done for empathy, but at about 4 years of age empathy contributes to sharing. By the start of the elementary school years, children express objective ideas about fairness. By the mid- to late elementary school years, children believe equity can mean that others with special needs/merit deserve special treatment. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in moral personality.
· Gender stereotypes are prevalent around the world. A number of physical differences exist between males and females. Some experts argue that cognitive differences between males and females have been exaggerated. In terms of socioemotional differences, males are more physically aggressive than females, whereas females regulate their emotions better and engage in more prosocial behavior than males do. When thinking about gender it is important to consider the social context involved.
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2 Families
LG2 Describe developmental changes in parent-child relationships, parents as managers, attachment in families, and stepfamilies.
Developmental Changes in Parent-Child Relationships
Parents as Managers
Attachment in Families
Stepfamilies
· Parents spend less time with children during middle and late childhood than in early childhood. Parents especially play an important role in supporting and stimulating children’s academic achievement. Discipline changes, and control becomes more coregulatory.
· Parents have important roles as managers of children’s opportunities, as monitors of their behavior, and as social initiators and arrangers. Mothers are more likely to function in these parental management roles than fathers are.
· Secure attachment to parents is linked to a lower level of internalized symptoms, anxiety, and depression in children during middle and late childhood. Also in middle and late childhood, attachment becomes more complex as children’s social worlds expand.
· As in divorced families, children living in stepparent families face more adjustment problems than their counterparts in nondivorced families. However, a majority of children in stepfamilies do not have adjustment problems. Children in complex (blended) stepfamilies have more problems than children in simple stepfamilies or nondivorced families.
3 Peers
LG3 Identify changes in peer relationships in middle and late childhood.
Developmental Changes
Peer Status
Social Cognition
Bullying
Friends
· Among the developmental changes in peer relations in middle and late childhood are increased preference for same-sex groups, increased time spent in peer relations, and less supervision of the peer group by adults.
· Popular children are frequently named as a best friend and are rarely disliked by their peers. Average children receive an average number of both positive and negative nominations from their peers. Neglected children are infrequently named as a best friend but are not disliked by their peers. Rejected children are infrequently named as a best friend and are actively disliked by their peers. Controversial children are frequently named both as a best friend and as being disliked by peers. Rejected children are especially at risk for a number of problems.
· Social information-processing skills and social knowledge are two important dimensions of social cognition in peer relations.
· Significant numbers of children are bullied, and this can result in short-term and long-term negative effects for both the victims and bullies.
· Like adult friends, children who are friends tend to be similar to each other. Children’s friendships serve six functions: companionship, stimulation, physical support, ego support, social comparison, and intimacy/affection.
4 Schools
LG4 Characterize aspects of schooling in children’s development in middle and late childhood.
Contemporary Approaches to Student Learning
Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, and Culture
· Two contemporary issues involve whether it is better to educate students by using a constructivist approach (a learner-centered approach) or a direct instruction approach (a teacher-centered approach) and how to hold teachers accountable for whether children are learning.
· In the United States, standardized testing of elementary school students has been mandated by many state governments and by the No Child Left Behind federal legislation. Numerous criticisms of NCLB have been made. Common Core standards, which attempt to provide more specific recommendations for what students need to know at different grade levels, have recently been proposed by the U.S. Department of Education. And the most recent educational legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), was passed into law in December 2015 to replace NCLB. ESSA reduces the number of state-mandated tests and advocates multiple measures of school success.
· Children in poverty face many barriers to learning at school as well as at home. The effects of SES and ethnicity on schools are intertwined, and many U.S. schools are segregated. Low expectations for ethnic minority children represent one of the barriers to their learning.
· American children are more achievement-oriented Page 335than children in many countries but are less achievement-oriented than many children in Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, and Japan.
· Mindset is the cognitive view, either fixed or growth, that individuals develop for themselves. Dweck argues that a key aspect of supporting children’s development is to guide them in developing a growth mindset. Pomerantz emphasizes that parental involvement is a key aspect of children’s achievement.
key terms
domain theory of moral development
key people
Eliot Aronson
Albert Bandura
John Coie
James Comer
William Damon
Kenneth Dodge
Carol Dweck
Nancy Eisenberg
Erik Erikson
Carol Gilligan
Jonathan Haidt
Willard Hartup
E. Mavis Hetherington
Kathryn Kerns
Lawrence Kohlberg
Jonathan Kozol
Dan Olweus
Eva Pomerantz
Diane Ruble
Dale Schunk
Harold Stevenson