journal

Emotional and Social Development in Middle Childhood ERIKSON'S THEORY – Psychosocial Stages of Development

Basic conflict of middle childhood: • Industry versus Inferiority • 7 to 11 years of age

According to Erikson this conflict is resolved positively when experiences lead children to develop a sense of competence at useful skills and tasks.

This period of development is marked by the beginning of formal schooling – industry, gains in knowledge and skill building

ERIKSON'S THEORY

The danger at this stage is inferiority, reflected in the sad pessimism of children who have come to believe they will never be good at anything. Children realize they are good at some things and not so good at others

SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Self-concept is the sum total of attributes, abilities, attitudes and values that an individual believes defines who he or she is.

In Middle childhood there are some changes in self-concept

– More refined self-concept, or me-self – Children begin to view themselves less in terms of external

physical attributes and more in terms of psychological traits – Social comparisons are made with peers and others – Cognitive development affects the structure of the self – Organize their observations of behaviors – Children are better at reading others emotional states – Peer influence increases

SELF-DEVELOPMENT - Hierarchically Structures – Contexts of Evaluation of self, peers and others

- Evaluations take place in classrooms, playgrounds, peer groups, home

- Between the ages of 6-7 years, three self-esteems begin to appear:

- Physical appearance is primary through adolescence.

Influences on Self-Esteem

Children with high social self-esteem are better liked by peers. Academic self-esteem predicts school achievement. Children begin to compare themselves to others. They look at the work of peers to gage how they stack up academically. Culture – Research indicates that Japanese/Taiwanese children place

more emphasis on social comparison. Child-Rearing Practices

– Authoritative child-rearing style leads to self-esteem. – Warm, positive parenting – Firm but appropriate expectations

View of Oneself

A person’s self-esteem, the overall positive or negative self- evaluation develops in important ways during middle childhood. Children continue to – compare themselves to others. – develop their own internal standards. – Internalize feedback from others (positive or negative)

Self-esteem, for most children, increases during middle childhood.

Children with low self-esteem may become enmeshed in a

cycle of failure that is difficult to break - a cycle of low self- esteem

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

School-aged children are more likely to explain emotions by making references to internal states than to external events.

Although aware of the external event, children in middle childhood have a range of emotional experience and become better at reading the emotional state of others.

Aware of their Emotions • Pride motivates children to take on challenges • Guilt prompts making amends, striving for self-improvement.

Emotional Understanding

Children explain emotion by making reference to internal states.

By age 8, children realize they can experience more than one emotion at a time – Take more information into account in detecting emotions of

others. – Experience a blend of emotions

Emotional Self-Regulation

By age 10, most children have an adaptive set of strategies for managing emotions. They use strategies internalized from experiences with parent, caregiver and peer models.

Emotionally well-regulated children are: – Upbeat in mood – Empathic and pro-social – Liked by their peers.

UNDERSTANDING OTHERS

In middle childhood children have a better understanding of others and begin perspective taking. Perspective taking is defined as: – Imagining what other people may be thinking and feeling

Perspective Taking and Social Skills can vary greatly among children of the same age. Children with poor social skills have difficulty imagining others’ thoughts and feelings.

Interventions – Provide practice in perspective taking – Helpful in reducing antisocial behavior – Increases empathy and prosocial responding

PEER RELATIONS

Peers become an increasingly important context for development. A peer group is composed of peers who form a social unit by generating shared values and standards for behavior and a social structure of leaders and followers. Aggression declines in middle childhood, especially physical attacks.

Peer Groups

Peers generate – Shared values and standards – Social structure of leaders and followers

The “peer culture” of a peer group typically consists of: – a specialized vocabulary – dress code – place(s) to "hang out”

Children who deviate are often rejected (rebuffed, snubbed) by their peers.

Peer groups provide a context for children to practice – Cooperation – leadership and followership – And develop a sense of loyalty to collective goals

Participation in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, church groups, and other associations promote gains in social and moral understanding.

From third grade on, relational aggression rises among girls (verbal and physical aggression toward both ingroup and outgroup). Boys are more straight forward (hostile) toward the "outgroup."

Friendships Friendship becomes a mutually agreed on relationship in which children like each other's personal qualities and respond to one another's needs and desires. Trust is the defining feature. Violations

of trust are a serious breach of friendship and may bring the friendship to an end. Friendships are among the same age, sex, ethnicity, and SES

– Schools and neighborhoods can affect friendships. Through the development of friendships children learn emotional

commitment, respect and responsibility

Stages of Friendship

According to William Damon, childhood friendship has three stages: – 1. Basing friendship on other’s behavior.

• Age 4-7; friends are children who like you and with whom you share

toys and activities.

– 2. Basing friendship on trust. • Age 8-10; focus on mutual trust.

– 3. Basing friendship on psychological closeness. • Age 11-15; focus on intimacy and loyalty.

Children in middle childhood provide a list of behaviors favored in their good friends. Most-liked • Sense of humor • Nice/friendly • Helpful • Complementary • Sharing • Loyalty and Trusting Peer Acceptance

Four types of peer acceptance: – Popular children

• Many positive interactions with their peers – Rejected children

• Actively disliked by their peers – Controversial children

• Hostile and disruptive, but they engage in high rates of positive, prosocial acts.

– Neglected children • Shy by their classmates, but are not less socially skilled