Answer these 10 questions of Developmental Psycology

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231

The Play Years: Cognitive Development

I was among dozens of adults on a subway who were captivated by a little girl, perhaps 3 years old, with sparkling eyes and many braids. She sat beside a large stranger, looking at her mother, who stood about 6 feet to her left, holding onto a pole. The little girl repeatedly ducked

her head behind the stranger and said, “You can’t see me, Mama,” unaware not only that her stockinged legs and shiny shoes stuck out in front of her but also that her whole body was constantly visible to her mother.

Like that little girl, every young child has much to learn. They are some- times egocentric, understanding only their own perspective. Among their developing ideas is a theory of mind, an understanding of how minds work (as in knowing that your mother can sometimes see you when you cannot see her).

Since children learn so much from age 2 to 6, developmentalists have gained a new respect for early education. No longer merely “day care,” or “home care,” early learning is now considered vital, whether it occurs at home or in a center.

The halting, simple sentences of the typical 2-year-old become the non- stop, complex outpourings of a talkative 6-year-old, who can explain almost anything. How does that happen? This chapter describes thinking and learn- ing from age 2 to 6, including remarkable advances in language as well as thought.

Piaget and Vygotsky Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky (introduced in Chapter 2) are justly famous for their descriptions of cognition. Their theories, especially in what they have to say about the eager learning of young children, are “compatible in many ways” (Rogoff, 1998, p. 681).

Piaget: Preoperational Thinking

For Piaget, early childhood is the second of four stages of cognition. He termed cognitive development between the ages of about 2 and 6 preoperational intelligence, which goes beyond senses and motor skills (sensorimotor intelligence) to include language and imagination. Preoperational thinking is magical and self-centered; pre-operational means that the child is not yet ready for logical operations (or reasoning processes) (Inhelder & Piaget, 1964).

CHAPTER OUTLINE

c Piaget and Vygotsky

Piaget: Preoperational Thinking

Vygotsky: Social Learning

c Children’s Theories

Theory-Theory

Theory of Mind

c Language

Vocabulary

IN PERSON: Mommy the Brat

Grammar

Learning Two Languages

c Early-Childhood Education

Child-Centered Programs

Teacher-Directed Programs

Intervention Programs

Costs and Benefits

preoperational intelligence Piaget’s term

for cognitive development between the

ages of about 2 and 6; it includes language

and imagination (in addition to the senses

and motor skills of infancy), but logical,

operational thinking is not yet possible.

Obstacles to Logical Operations

Piaget described four characteristics of thinking in early childhood, all of which make logic difficult: centration, focus on appearance, static reasoning, and irreversibility.

Centration is the tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation to the exclu- sion of all others. Young children may, for example, insist that lions and tigers seen at the zoo or in picture books cannot be cats, because the children “center” on the house-pet aspect of the cats they know. Or they may insist that Daddy is a father, not a brother, because they center on the role that each family member fills for them. The latter example illustrates a particular type of centration, ego-centration, which Piaget called egocentrism, literally self-centeredness. Egocentric children contemplate the world exclusively from their personal perspective.

Piaget did not equate egocentrism with selfishness. Consider, for example, a 3-year-old who chose to buy a model car as a birthday present for his mother, stubbornly convinced that she would be delighted. In fact, his “behavior was not selfish or greedy; he carefully wrapped the present and gave it to his mother with an expression that clearly showed that he expected her to love it” (Crain, 2005, p. 108).

A second characteristic of preoperational thought is a focus on appearance to the exclusion of other attributes. A girl given a short haircut might worry that she has turned into a boy. In preoperational thought, a thing is whatever it appears to be.

Third, preoperational children use static reasoning, assuming that the world is unchanging, always in the state in which they currently encounter it. A young boy might want the television turned off while he goes to the bathroom, assuming that when he returns, he can pick up the program exactly where he left off.

The fourth characteristic of preoperational thought is irreversibility. Preoper- ational thinkers fail to recognize that reversing a process sometimes restores what- ever existed before. A 3-year-old might cry because his mother put lettuce on his hamburger. Overwhelmed by his desire to have things “just right” (as explained in Chapter 8), he might reject the hamburger even after the lettuce is removed be- cause he believes that what is done cannot be undone.

Conservation and Logic

Piaget devised many experiments demonstrating the constraints on thinking that result from preoperational reasoning. A famous set of experiments involved con- servation, the fact that the amount of something remains the same (is conserved) despite changes in its appearance.

Suppose two identical glasses contain the same amount of liquid, and the liquid from one glass is poured into a tall, narrow glass. If young children are asked whether one glass contains more liquid or they both contain the same, they will insist that the narrower glass, in which the liquid level is higher, has more.

All four characteristics of preoperational thought are evident in this mistake. Young children fail to understand conservation of liquids because they focus (center) on what they see (appearance), noticing only the immediate (static) condition. It does not occur to them that they could reverse the process and re-create the liquid level of a moment earlier (irreversibility). (See Figure 9.1 for other examples.)

Limitations of Piaget’s Research

Notice that Piaget’s test of conservation required the child’s words, not actions. Other research has found that even 3-year-olds can distinguish appearance from reality if the test is nonverbal or playful (Sapp et al., 2000). Many children indi- cate that they know something via their gestures before they say it in words (Goldin-Meadow, 2006).

egocentrism Piaget’s term for children’s

tendency to think about the world entirely

from their own personal perspective.

centration A characteristic of preoperational

thought in which a young child focuses

(centers) on one idea, excluding all others.

focus on appearance A characteristic of

preoperational thought in which a young

child ignores all attributes that are not

apparent.

static reasoning Thinking that nothing

changes: Whatever is now has always

been and always will be.

irreversibility The idea that nothing can be

undone; the inability to recognize that

something can sometimes be restored to

the way it was before a change occurred.

conservation The idea that the amount of a

substance remains the same (i.e., is con-

served) when its appearance changes.

Especially for Parents Who Want Their

Children to Eat Better How can Piaget’s

theory help you encourage your child to eat?

232 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Piaget and Vygotsky 233

Tests of Various Types of Conservation

Type of

Conservation

Initial

Presentation

Preoperational

Child’s AnswerTransformation Question

Volume Two equal glasses of

liquid. The taller one.Pour one into a taller,

narrower glass.

Which glass contains

more?

Number Two equal lines of

checkers. The longer one.Increase spacing of

checkers in one line.

Which line has more

checkers?

Matter Two equal balls of clay. The long one.Squeeze one ball into

a long, thin shape.

Which piece has more

clay?

Length Two sticks of equal

length.

The one that is farther

to the right. Move one stick. Which stick is longer?

FIGURE 9.1

Conservation, Please According to Piaget, until children grasp the concept of conservation at (he

believed) about age 6 or 7, they cannot understand that the transformations shown here do not

change the total amount of liquid, checkers, clay, and wood.

C O

U R

TE S

Y O

F K

A TH

LE EN

B ER

G ER

Demonstration of Conservation My youngest daughter, Sarah, here at age 53⁄4, demonstrates

Piaget’s conservation-of-volume experiment. First, she examines both short glasses to be sure

they contain the same amount of milk. Then, after the contents of one are poured into the tall

glass and she is asked which has more, she points to the tall glass, just as Piaget would have ex-

pected. Later she added, “It looks like it has more because it’s taller,” indicating that some direct

instruction might change her mind.

Researchers now believe that Piaget underestimated the conceptual ability of young children, just as he underestimated it in infants (Halford & Andrews, 2006). He designed his experiments to reveal what young children seemed not to under- stand, rather than to identify what they could understand, and he relied on the children’s words in an experimental setting rather than their nonverbal signs in a play context.

Vygotsky: Social Learning

It is undeniable that young children’s thinking is often magical and self-centered. For many years, this aspect of cognition dominated descriptions of early childhood by developmentalists, especially Piaget.

Vygotsky was the first leading developmentalist to emphasize a second aspect of early cognition: Young children are not always egocentric; they can be very sensitive to the wishes and emotions of others. This second aspect emphasizes the social side of preschool thought, which contrasts with Piaget’s emphasis on the individual.

Children as Apprentices

Vygotsky believed that every aspect of children’s cognitive development is embed- ded in a social context (Vygotsky, 1935/1987). Children are curious and observant. They ask questions—about how machines work, why weather changes, where the sky ends—assuming that others know the answers.

In many ways, a child is what Vygotsky called an apprentice in thinking, someone whose intellectual growth is stimulated and directed by older and more skilled members of society. The parents and older siblings are usually the child’s teachers (Maynard, 2002; Rogoff, 2003). If the child attends a day-care program, learning from “more capable peers” is central (C. Thompson, 2002).

According to Vygotsky, children learn because their elders do the following:

■ Present challenges ■ Offer assistance (not taking over) ■ Provide instruction ■ Encourage motivation

With the help of their mentors, children learn to think by means of their guided participation in social experiences and in explorations of their universe, with both the mentor and the child talking as well as acting. For example, children learning to draw or write or dance are quite willing to copy from one another. A child who is copied is not resentful but rather appreciates the recognition.

The reality that children are curious about everything, learn- ing and remembering whatever they experience, is evidence of cognition. The ability to learn (not the measure of what is known) indicates intelligence. Vygotsky (1935/1978) said: “What children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone” (p. 5).

apprentice in thinking Vygotsky’s term for

a person whose cognition is stimulated

and directed by older and more skilled

members of society.

guided participation The process by which

people learn from others who guide their

experiences and explorations.

234 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Guided Participation Through shared social activity, adults in

every culture guide the development of their children’s cognition,

values, and skills. Typically, the child’s curiosity and interests,

rather than the adult’s planning for some sort of future need,

motivate the process. That seems to be the case as this

Guatemalan girl eagerly tries to learn her mother’s sewing skills.AV E

B A

R TR

U FF

/ S

TO C

K , B

O S

TO N

Especially for Aunts and Uncles It is a

special family occasion, and you want to take

presents to your nieces and nephews. What

should you take?

➤Response for Parents Who Want

Their Children to Eat Better (from page

232): It may help if you take each of the four

characteristics of preoperational thought into

account. Because of egocentrism, having a

special place and plate might assure the child

that this food is exclusively his or hers. Since

appearance is important, food should look

tasty. Since static thinking dominates, if

something healthy is added (e.g., grate

carrots into the cake, add milk to the soup),

the addition should be done before the food

is given to the child. In the reversibility

example in the text, the lettuce should be

removed out of the child’s sight and the

“new” hamburger presented.

Scaffolding

As you saw in Chapter 2, Vygotsky believed that for each developing individual, there is a zone of proximal development (ZPD), which includes all the skills that the person can perform with assistance but cannot quite perform independ- ently. How and when children master their potential skills depends, in part, on the willingness of others to provide scaffolding, or temporary sensitive support, to help them traverse that zone.

Good caregivers scaffold often, teaching children to look both ways before crossing a street (while holding the child’s hand) or letting them stir the batter for a cake (perhaps stirring a few times themselves to make sure the ingredients are well mixed).

Scaffolding is particularly important for experiences that are directly cognitive —that is, ones that will produce better understanding of words and ideas. For example, adults reading to 3-year-olds usually provide excellent scaffolding— explaining, pointing, listening—toward the child’s ZPD in response to the child’s needs at the moment (Danis et al., 2000). The sensitive reader would never tell the child to be quiet and listen but might instead prolong the session by asking the child questions.

Siblings can also provide scaffolding. In one study in Chiapas, Mexico, 8-year- old Tonik taught his 2-year-old sister, Katal, how to wash a doll. After several min- utes of demonstrating and describing, Tonik continues:

Tonik: Pour it like this. (Demonstrates) Tonik: Sister, pour it. (Hands glass) Tonik: Look! Pour it. Katal: (Pours, with some difficulty) Tonik: Like that. (Approval) Katal: (Looks away) Tonik: It’s finished now.

[quoted in Maynard, 2002, p. 977]

Note that when Katal looked away, Tonik wisely declared the session finished. Such a response, not criticism, encourages the learner to participate in later ap- prenticeships. Motivation is crucial in early education—one reason why sensitive social interaction is so powerful.

Language as a Tool

Vygotsky believed that words are used to build scaffolds, developing cognition. Just as a builder could not construct a house without tools, the mind needs lan- guage. Talking, listening, reading, and writing are tools to advance thought.

Language advances thinking in two ways. First, internal dialogue, or private speech, occurs when people talk to themselves, developing new ideas (Vygotsky, 1934/1987). Young children use private speech often, typically talking out loud to review, decide, and explain events to themselves (and, incidentally, to anyone else within earshot). Older preschoolers use private speech more selectively and effectively, sometimes in a whisper or even without any audible sound (Winsler et al., 2000). Adults use private speech quietly, and write down their ideas to help them think.

The second way in which language advances thinking, according to Vygotsky, is by mediating the social interaction that is vital to learning. This social mediation function of speech occurs during both formal instruction (when teachers explain things) and casual conversation.

Language used in social mediation is evident as children, guided by their men- tors, learn numbers, recall memories, and follow routines. Among the differences between 2-year-olds and 6-year-olds is that the latter can count objects, assigning

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Vygotsky’s term for the skills that a person

can exercise only with assistance, not yet

independently. ZPD applies to the ideas or

cognitive skills a person is close to master-

ing as well as to more apparent skills.

scaffolding Temporary support that is tai-

lored to a learner’s needs and abilities and

aimed at helping the learner master the

next task in a given learning process.

private speech The internal dialogue that

occurs when people talk to themselves

(either silently or out loud).

Piaget and Vygotsky 235

social mediation A function of speech by

which a person’s cognitive skills are

refined and extended through both formal

instruction and casual conversation.

Especially for Someone Teaching a

Friend to Drive You want to teach a friend

to drive using your car, but you fear a temper

explosion or a crash. How would Vygotsky

advise you to proceed?

one number per item (called one-to-one correspondence), can remember accurately (although false memories can confuse anyone), and can verbalize scripts (such as the usual scenario for a birthday party or a restaurant meal).

Adult instruction and verbal encouragement are crucial for all these cognitive accomplishments (e.g., Hubbs-Tait et al., 2002; Mix et al., 2002). Thus, by age 3 or 4, children’s brains are mature enough to comprehend numbers, store memo- ries, and know routines, but whether or not a child actually demonstrates this understanding depends on family, school, and culture. Language is a key mediator between brain potential and what children actually understand and remember be- cause other people teach via the words children use to think (Haden et al., 2001; Schneider & Pressley, 1997).

SUMMING UP

Cognition develops rapidly from age 2 to 6. Children’s active search for understanding was

first recognized by Piaget, who realized that children of this age are generally not capable

of performing logical operations (which is why he called this period preoperational ).

Their egocentrism limits their understanding and they center on only one thing at a time,

focusing on appearance. Their thinking is static, not dynamic. They do not understand

reversibility.

Vygotsky emphasized the social and cultural aspects of children’s cognition. He be-

lieved that children must be properly guided as apprentices, within their zones of proxi-

mal development. Language is a tool that mediates between the child’s curiosity and

the mentor’s knowledge. ■

Children’s Theories Both Piaget and Vygotsky realized that children actively work to understand their world. Recently, many other developmentalists have attempted to show exactly how children’s knowledge develops. Children seek to explain what they experience, especially why and how people behave as they do. If no one provides satisfying explanations, they develop their own answers.

Theory-Theory

One theory of cognitive development begins with the human drive to develop theories, a drive that is especially apparent in early childhood. The term theory- theory refers to the idea that children construct theories to explain everything they see and hear:

More than any animal, we search for causal regularities in the world around us. We are perpetually driven to look for deeper explanations of our experience, and broader and more reliable predictions about it. . . . Children seem, quite literally, to be born with . . . the desire to understand the world and the desire to discover how to behave in it.

[Gopnik, 2001, p. 66]

Thus, according to theory-theory, the best conceptualization of, and explanation for, mental processes in young children is that humans always seek reasons, causes, and underlying principles. Figure 9.2, with its narrative-style “recipe” for cooking a turkey, captures the essential idea of theory-theory: that children don’t want logical definitions but rather explanations of various things, especially things that involve them.

Exactly how are explanations sought in early childhood? In one study, Mexican American mothers kept detailed diaries of every question their 3- to 5-year-olds

theory-theory The idea that children attempt

to explain everything they see and hear by

constructing theories.

236 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Especially for Adults Answering a

3-Year-Old’s Questions A characteristic of

young children is that they ask questions,

often frustrating adults by asking “Why?”

getting an answer, and immediately asking

“Why?” again. Now that you know that such

questions are almost always about purpose,

not science, how would you answer the

question “Why is my brother bad?” or

“Why is there night?”

➤Response for Aunts and Uncles (from

page 234): Remember that preschool children

focus on appearances and are egocentric.

Whatever you give a 2- to 5-year-old must be

seen as equal to any present you give another

child. Thus, you would choose identical gifts

(perhaps markers, toys, or articles of clothing),

so that no child can compare presents and

decide that you love another child more.

➤Response for Someone Teaching a

Friend to Drive (from page 235): Use guided

participation, and scaffold the instruction so it

does not all come at once. Both you and your

student might hold the steering wheel at first,

and practice in a large, empty parking lot. Be

sure to provide lots of praise and days of

practice.

asked and how the mothers responded (Kelemen et al., 2005; see Research Design). Generally, younger children asked more questions than older children, and more educated mothers heard (or recorded) more questions. This study focused partic- ularly on children’s curiosity and how adults respond.

Most of the questions were about human behavior and characteristics (see Fig- ure 9.3). For example, children asked, “Why do you give my mother a kiss?” “Why is my brother bad?” “Why do women have breasts?” and “Why are there Black kids?” Fewer questions were about nonliving things (“Why does it rain?”) or objects (“Why is my daddy’s car white?”).

Many questions concerned the un- derlying purpose of various natural phenomena, although parents usually responded as if children were asking about science instead. For example, when children asked why women have breasts, parents would tell them about hormones and maturation, not that breasts are for feeding babies.

Children’s Theories 237

A whole turkey

1 big bag full of a whole turkey (Get the kind with no feathers on,

not the kind the Pilgrims ate.)

A giant lump of stuffin’

1 squash pie

1 mint pie

1 little fancy dish of sour berries

1 big fancy dish of a vegetable mix

20 dishes of all different candies; chocolate balls, cherry balls,

good’n plenties and peanuts

Get up when the alarm says to and get busy fast. Unfold the turkey and

open up the holes. Push in the stuffin’ for a couple of hours. I think you get

stuffin’ from that Farm that makes it.

I know you have to pin the stuffin’ to the turkey or I suppose it would get

out. And get special pins or use big long nails.

Get the kitchen real hot, and from there on you just cook turkey.

Sometimes you can call it a bird, but it’s not.

Then you put the vegetables in the cooker—and first put one on top,

and next put one on the bottom, and then one in the middle. That makes a

vegetable mix. Put 2 red things of salt all in it and 2 red things of water also.

Cook them to just 1⁄2 of warm.

Put candies all around the place and Linda will bring over the pies.

When the company comes put on your red apron.

Percentage of Questions Asked by 3- to 5-Year-Olds, by Domain

Source: Adapted from Kelemen et al., 2005.

Human behavior

47%

Biology

31%

Other

4%

Nonliving

natural things

9%

Objects

9%

FIGURE 9.3

Questions, Questions Parents found that

most of their children’s questions were about

human behavior—especially the parents’

behavior toward the child. Children seek to

develop a theory to explain things, so the

question “Why can’t I have some candy?”

is not satisfactorily answered by “It’s almost

dinnertime.”

Research Design Scientists: Deborah Kelemen and others.

Publication: Developmental Psychology

(2005).

Participants: A total of 48 Mexican

American mothers and their 3- to 5-

year-olds. Most of the women were

born in Mexico and all lived in central

California at the time of the study.

Design: After an initial interview, the

researchers phoned the mothers every

two days for two weeks to hear what

“Why?” or “How?” questions the chil-

dren asked and what answers the

children were given.

Major conclusion: Children ask many

questions about the purpose of things

and about human behavior; they seem

less curious about inanimate objects.

Comment: These families were often

bilingual, immigrant, and religious.

These characteristics may not have

affected the results, but replication is

needed to find out for sure. Ideally,

children’s actual questions would be

tape-recorded, not simply reported by

the mothers (whose reports might be

distorted by unconscious biases).

FIGURE 9.2

Unfold the Turkey This recipe (from Smashed Potatoes,

edited by Jane Martel) shows many characteristics of pre-

school thought, among them literal interpretation of words

(“Sometimes you can call it a bird, but it’s not”) and an

uncertain idea of time (“Push in the stuffin’ for a couple

hours”) and quantity (“A giant lump of stuffin’ ”).

Theory of Mind

Human mental processes—thoughts, emotions, beliefs, motives, and intentions— are among the most complicated and puzzling phenomena that we encounter every day. Adults seek to understand why people fall in love, or vote as they do, or make foolish choices. Children are puzzled about a playmate’s unexpected anger, a sibling’s generosity, or an aunt’s too-wet kiss.

To know what goes on in another’s mind, people develop a “folk psychology,” an understanding of others’ thinking called theory of mind. Theory of mind typically appears rather suddenly (Wellman et al., 2001), in “an important intellectual change at about 4 years” (Perner, 2000, p. 396).

Belief and Reality: Understanding the Difference

Actually, theory of mind includes many concepts, some of which are difficult for much older children. However, a sudden leap in understanding does seem to occur at about age 4. What is it that children suddenly understand? Between the ages of 3 and 6, children come to realize that thoughts may not reflect reality. This idea leads to the theory-of-mind concept that people can be deliberately deceived or fooled—an idea that is beyond the understanding of most younger children, even when they have themselves been deceived.

Consider an experiment. An adult shows a 3-year-old a candy box and asks, “What is inside?” The child says, naturally, “Candy.” But the child has been tricked:

Adult: Let’s open it and look inside. Child: Oh . . . holy moly . . . pencils! Adult: Now I’m going to put them back and close it up again. (Does so) Now

. . . when you first saw the box, before we opened it, what did you think was inside it?

Child: Pencils. Adult: Nicky [friend of the child] hasn’t seen inside this box. When Nicky

comes in and sees it . . . what will he think is inside it? Child: Pencils.

[adapted from Astington & Gopnik, 1988, p. 195]

This experiment has become a classic, performed with thousands of children from many cultures. Three-year-olds almost always confuse what they know now with what they once thought and what someone else might think. Another way of describing this is to say that they are “cursed” by their own knowledge (Birch & Bloom, 2003), too egocentric to grasp other perspectives.

As a result, young children are notoriously bad at deception. They play hide- and-seek by hiding in the same place time after time, or their facial expression betrays them when they tell a fib. Closely related is their inability to change their minds (remember perseveration from Chapter 8), even when they recognize that they must think something new. With static reasoning (characteristic of preopera- tional thought), changing one’s mind is difficult.

Contextual Influences

Recently, developmentalists have asked what, precisely, strengthens theory of mind at about age 4. Is this change more a matter of nature or of nurture, of brain maturation or of experience?

Neurological maturation is a plausible explanation. In one study, 68 children aged 21⁄2 to 51⁄2 were presented with four standard theory-of-mind situations, including a Band-Aid box that really contained pencils (similar to the candy-box experiment just described) (Jenkins & Astington, 1996). More than one-third of the children

238 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

theory of mind A person’s theory of what

other people might be thinking. In order to

have a theory of mind, children must real-

ize that other people are not necessarily

thinking the same thoughts that they

themselves are. That realization is seldom

possible before age 4.

Especially for Social Scientists Can you

think of any connection between Piaget’s

theory of preoperational thought and 3-year-

olds’ errors in this theory-of-mind task?

➤Response for Adults Answering a

3-Year-Old’s Questions (from page 236):

Do not talk about the toy the brother broke or

explain the earth’s rotation! Instead, connect

the answer to the child. You might say, “Your

brother probably wishes he had your toy” or

“There’s night so you know when it is time to

go to sleep.”

Children’s Theories 239

succeeded at all four tasks, and more than one-third failed at three or four. Age was the main factor: The 5-year-olds were most likely to succeed on all tasks, the 4-year-olds had mid- dling success, and the 3-year-olds were most likely to fail every time.

This age-related advance suggests that context is less cru- cial than maturation of the brain’s prefrontal cortex (Perner et al., 2002). Further evidence that brain maturation is a prereq- uisite for theory of mind is the fact that impaired brain func- tioning is the most likely cause of autism (see Chapter 11), and many autistic children are advanced in numerical under- standing but slow to develop theory of mind (Baron-Cohen, 1995).

Two other influences that are affected by context are key: language and siblings. Children with greater verbal fluency (at any age) are more likely to have a theory of mind. This is partly the result of experience, especially mother–child conversations that involve thoughts and wishes (Ruffman et al., 2002). Deaf children are delayed in develop- ing a theory of mind, probably because their language development is delayed (Lundy, 2002).

When the effects of both age and language ability are accounted for, a third im- portant factor emerges: having at least one older brother or sister (Jenkins & Astington, 1996). One researcher estimates that, in theory-of-mind development, “two older siblings are worth about a year of chronological age” (Perner, 2000, p. 383). The arguing, agreeing, competing, and cooperating that siblings normally do apparently lead children to understand that their own thinking is not shared by everyone.

A study comparing theory of mind among young children in preschools in Canada, India, Peru, Samoa, and Thailand found that the Canadian children were slightly ahead and the Samoan children were slightly be- hind, but across cultures most of the children in the study sample passed the false-belief tests (such as a culture-fair version of the one involving pencils in the candy box) by age 5 (see Figure 9.4). The researchers con- cluded that brain maturation was the primary factor in the acquisition of theory of mind but that language development and social interaction were also influential (Callaghan et al., 2005).

The child’s own logic and maturation are important (Piaget), but lan- guage and social interaction are mediators (Vygotsky) once the necessary brain structures are in place. In most cultures, “a certain amount of expe- rience hearing and participating in conversation” occurs by age 3, allow- ing theory of mind to develop (Callaghan et al., 2005, p. 382).

SUMMING UP

Scholars have recently noted that children develop theories to explain whatever they

observe, and those theories do not necessarily spring from explanations given to them

by adults. Children seem to be much more interested in the underlying purpose of

events within the grand scheme of life; adults are more focused on immediate scientific

causes. Many researchers have explored the development of theory of mind, the under-

standing that other people can have thoughts and ideas that are unlike one’s own.

Neurological maturation, linguistic competence, family context, and culture all affect the

attainment of theory of mind at about age 4. ■

Road Rage? From their expressions, it looks

as if this brother and sister may crash their

toy jeep and cry, each blaming the other for

the mishap. But a benefit of such sibling in-

teractions is that they can advance theory of

mind by helping children realize that people

do not always think the same way.

© P

U N

C H

S TO

C K

Children’s Performance on False-Belief Tests

Number of children

5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Canada

India

Peru

Samoa

Thailand

Source: Callaghan et al., 2005.

Age 3:

Pass Fail

Age 5:

Pass Fail

FIGURE 9.4

Few at Age 3, Most by Age 5 The advantage

of cross-cultural research is that it can reveal

universal patterns. Although the number of

children in each group is small (from 31 3-year-

olds in Peru to 13 5-year-olds in Thailand), the

pattern is obvious. Something changes at

about age 4.

Language Language is pivotal to cognition in early childhood, as we have seen in the ex- amples of Vygotsky’s social mediation and the development of theory of mind. Language is also the leading cognitive accomplishment during these years: 24-month-old children begin this period with short sentences and limited vocabu- lary, and 6-year-olds end it with the ability to understand and discuss almost any- thing (see Table 9.1).

Maturation and myelination added to extensive social interaction make age 2 to 6 the usual time for learning language. Indeed, scientists once thought that these years were a critical period, the only time when a first language could be mas- tered and the best time for learning a second or third language. This hypothesis has been disproven. Millions of older children and adults learn to be fluent in sec- ond languages (Bialystok, 2001; Hakuta et al., 2003).

Nonetheless, early childhood is a sensitive period for language learning—for rapidly and easily mastering vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Young chil- dren are sometimes called “language sponges” because they soak up every drop of language they encounter.

They also talk a lot—to adults, to each other, to themselves, to their toys—unfazed by mispronunciation, misuse, stuttering, or other impediments to fluency. Note a crucial developmental asset as well: Language comes easily because, compared with most older children and adults, young children are not as self-conscious about what they say.

Vocabulary

In childhood, new words are added rapidly. The average child knows about 500 words at age 2 and more than 10,000 at age 6. One scholar says that 2- to 6-year-olds learn 10 words a day (Clark, 1995); another estimates one word for every two waking hours from about age 2 to age 20 (Pinker, 1994). The naming explosion (explained in Chapter 6) be- comes a more general explosion, with new verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions as well as many more nouns mastered during early childhood.

Precise estimates of vocabulary vary be- cause contexts are diverse; the estimates given here may be high. However, all researchers agree that vocabulary builds quickly and that most children could learn far more language than they do. Every child could probably become fluently bilingual if their context encouraged that.

Fast-Mapping

How does the vocabulary explosion occur? After painstakingly learning one word at a time at age 1, children develop an interconnected set of categories for words, a kind of grid or mental map, which makes speedy vocabulary acquisition possible. The process is called fast-mapping (Woodward & Markman, 1998) because, rather than figuring out an exact definition after hearing a word used in several

240 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

TABLE 9.1

AT ABOUT THIS TIME: Language in Early Childhood

Approximate Age Characteristic or Achievement

2 years Vocabulary: 100–2,000 words

Sentence length: 2–6 words

Grammar: Plurals, pronouns, many nouns, verbs, adjectives

Questions: Many “What’s that?”questions

3 years Vocabulary: 1,000–5,000 words

Sentence length: 3–8 words

Grammar: Conjunctions, adverbs, articles

Questions: Many “Why?” questions

4 years Vocabulary: 3,000–10,000 words

Sentence length: 5–20 words

Grammar: Dependent clauses, tags at ends of sentences

(“. . . didn’t I?” “. . . won’t you?”)

Questions: Peak of “Why?” questions; also many “How?”

and “When?” questions

5 years Vocabulary: 5,000–20,000 words

Sentence length: Some seem unending (“. . . and . . . who . . .

and . . . that . . . and . . .”)

Grammar: Complex, sometimes using passive voice

(“Man bitten by dog”); subjunctive (“If I were . . .”)

Questions: Include some about differences (male/female,

old/young, rich/poor)

critical period A time when a certain devel-

opment must happen if it is ever to happen.

For example, the embryonic period is

critical for the development of arms and

legs. It was once thought that early child-

hood was the critical period for language

learning, but today it is considered a

sensitive period.

sensitive period A time when a certain type

of development is most likely to happen

and happens most easily. For example,

early childhood is considered a sensitive

period for language learning.

fast-mapping The speedy and sometimes

imprecise way in which children learn new

words by mentally charting them into

categories according to their meaning.

contexts, children hear a word once and tentatively stick it into one of the cate- gories on their mental language map.

Like more conventional mental mapping, language mapping is not always pre- cise. Thus, when asked where Nepal is, most people can locate it approximately (“in Asia”), but few can name each bordering country. Similarly, children quickly learn new animal names, for instance, because they are mapped in the brain close to already-known animal names. Thus, tiger is easy to map if you know lion. A trip to the zoo facilitates fast-mapping of dozens of animal words, especially since zoos scaffold such learning by placing similar animals together.

The benefit of knowing at least one word of a category is evident in a classic ex- periment. A preschool teacher taught a new word by saying, “Give me the chromium tray, not the red one” (Carey, 1985). Those children who already knew red quickly grasped the new word, chromium, and remembered it more than a week later. Those children who knew no color words did not remember the new word (a week later, they could not select a chromium object) because they were unable to map it (Mandler, 2004).

Another set of experiments began in cultures whose languages had only a few counting words: the equivalents of one, two, and many. People in such cultures were much worse at estimating quantity because they did not have the words to guide them (Gordon, 2004). Mapping and understanding a new number word, such as nineteen, is easier if one already knows a related word, such as nine.

Generally, the more linguistic clues children already have, the better their fast- mapping is (Mintz, 2005). To increase vocabulary, parents should talk to them often, adding new vocabulary (Hoff & Naigles, 2002). Alas, preschoolers also map words their parents would rather they didn’t, as I learned.

Language 241

What’s That? By far the best way for a par-

ent to teach a young child new vocabulary is

by reading aloud. Ideally, the interaction

should be a very social one, with much point-

ing and talking, as this Idaho pair demon-

strate. If such experiences are part of her

daily routine, this little girl not only will de-

velop language but also will be among the

first of her classmates to learn how to read.

M IC

H A

EL W

IC K

ES /

T H

E IM

A G

E W

O R

K S

“Mommy the Brat”

Fast-mapping has an obvious benefit: It fosters quick acquisi-

tion of vocabulary. However, it also means that children seem to

know words merely because they use them when, in actuality,

their understanding of the words’ meaning is quite limited.

Realizing that children often do not fully comprehend the

meanings of words they use makes it easier to understand—and

forgive—their mistakes. I still vividly recall an incident when my

youngest daughter, then 4, was furious at me.

Sarah had apparently fast-mapped several insulting words

into her vocabulary. However, her fast-mapping did not provide

precise definitions or reflect nuances. In her anger, she called

me first a “mean witch” and then a “brat.” I smiled at her inno-

cent imprecision, knowing the first was fast-mapped from fairy

tales and the second from comments she got from her older

sisters. Neither label bothered me, as I don’t believe in witches

and my brother is the only person who can appropriately call me

a brat.

But then Sarah let loose an X-rated epithet that sent me reel-

ing. Struggling to contain my anger, I tried to convince myself

that fast-mapping had left her with no real idea of what she had

just said. “That word is never to be used in this family!” I sput-

tered. My appreciation of the speed of fast-mapping was deep-

ened by her response: “Then how come Rachel [her older sister]

called me that this morning?”

in person

Words and the Limits of Logic

Closely related to fast-mapping is logical extension: After learning a word, children use it to describe other objects in the same category. One child told her father she had seen some Dalmatian cows on a school trip to a farm. He understood her because he remembered that she had petted a Dalmatian dog the weekend before.

Children use their available vocabulary to cover all the territory they want to talk about (Behrend et al., 2001). They use logic to figure out what words mean—for instance, deciding that butter comes from butterflies and birds grow from bird seed.

One child, jumping on a bed, knew that live with means reside in the same home.

Mother: Stop. You’ll hurt yourself. Child: No I won’t. (Still jumping)

Mother: You’ll break the bed. Child: No I won’t. (Still jumping)

Mother: OK. You’ll just have to live with the consequences. Child: (Stops jumping) I’m not going to live with the consequences.

I don’t even know them.

[adapted from Nemy, 1998]

An experiment in teaching the names of parts of objects (e.g., the spigot of a faucet) found that children learned much better if the adults named the object that had the part, and then spoke of the part in the possessive (e.g., “See this butterfly? Look, this is its thorax”) (Saylor & Sabbagh, 2004). This finding shows that how a new word is presented affects the likelihood that a child will learn that word.

Young children have difficulty with words that express comparisons (such as tall and short, near and far, high and low, deep and shallow) because they do not understand that the meaning of these words depends on the context (Ryalls, 2000). Young children who know that one end of the swimming pool is the deep end might obey parental instructions to stay out of deep puddles by splash- ing through every puddle they see, insisting that none of them are deep.

Words expressing relationships of place and time—such as here, there, yester- day, and tomorrow—are difficult as well. More than one pajama-clad child has awakened on Christmas morning and asked, “Is it tomorrow yet?” A child told to “stay there” or “come here” may not follow instructions, partly because the terms are confusing.

One example of childlike understanding comes from Italian preschoolers who were discussing a war nearby. They seemed to understand the issues, advocating peace. But their words revealed their egocentrism. Giorgia, age 4, said, “The dad- dies, mommies, and children get their feelings hurt by war” (Abbott & Nutbrown, 2001, p. 123).

Grammar

Chapter 6 noted that the grammar of language includes the structures, techniques, and rules that are used to communicate meaning. Word order and word repetition, prefixes and suffixes, intonation and emphasis—all are part of grammar.

By age 3, English-speaking children understand many aspects of grammar. They know word order (subject/verb/object), saying “I eat the apple,” not any of the 23 other possible sequences of those four words. They also use plurals, tenses (past, present, and future), and nominative, objective, and possessive pronouns (I/me/mine or my). They use articles (the, a, an) correctly, even though the use of articles in English has many complexities.

Parents’ input and encouragement, as well as their use of grammar, lead directly to faster and more correct language use by children (Barrett, 1999; Hoff & Naigles, 2002). In a study of twins (who are often delayed in grammar because they experience less individualized conversation), researchers found that the speed and scope of language learning depended on how much the parents spoke

242 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Fangs for the Memories Museums, zoos,

parks, farms, factories—all provide abundant

opportunities for vocabulary building and

concept formation. These parents may be

teaching their children not only mountain lion

but also habitat, carnivore, and incisors.

B A

N A

N A

S TO

C K

/ P

IC TU

R EQ

U ES

T

➤Response for Social Scientists (from

page 238): According to Piaget, preschool

children focus on appearance and on static

conditions (so they cannot mentally reverse

a process). Further, they are egocentric,

believing that everyone shares their point of

view. No wonder they believe that they had

always known that the candy box held pencils

and that their friend would know that, too.

to each twin (Rutter et al., 2003). Some parents speak more to one twin than the other, and that difference affects language development.

Each specific aspect of language develops differently, because many genetic and environmental influences have an impact, and no two children have the same influences. Genes may be more influential for expressive than for receptive language, since the latter is more dependent on experience (Kovas et al., 2005). Grammar is strongly influenced by experience.

Young children learn grammar so well that they tend to apply rules when they should not. This tendency, called overregularization, creates trouble when a language includes many exceptions, as English does. An example involves one of the first grammatical rules that English-speaking children apply: the addition of a final -s to form the plural of a noun. Many young children overregularize, talking about foots, tooths, sheeps, and mouses.

A fascinating aspect of the increasing intelligence of young children is that many of them first say words correctly and then, when they understand the rule, start making overregularizing mistakes. Although even the first sentences show some understanding of grammar, it takes many years before children use all the grammar structures of their native language correctly (Tomasello, 2006).

Learning Two Languages

In today’s world, bilingualism is an asset, even a necessity. Yet as they grow up, language-minority children (those who speak a language that is not the dominant language of their nation) are at a disadvantage in almost every measure. They are more likely to do poorly in school, to feel ashamed, to become unemployed as adults, and so on (see Chapter 12). Learning the majority language is crucial for them, but how should this learning happen?

What Is the Goal?

The first question that must be answered is, What is the goal of having a second language? Parents, teachers, and the public often disagree. Should young children become bilingual, learning two distinct languages? Some say no, arguing that young children need to become proficient in one, and only one, language and that trying to teach them two languages might confuse them. Others say yes, arguing that everyone should learn at least two languages and that the language-sensitive years of early childhood are the best time for it.

The second argument has more research support. Remarkably, soon after the vocabulary explosion, young children are able to master two languages’ distinct sets of words and grammar, with each lan- guage’s characteristic pauses, pronunciations, into- nations, and gestures (Bates et al., 2001; Mayberry & Nicoladis, 2000). Adults who are bilingual can use one language and temporarily inhibit the other, experiencing no confusion, thanks to a specific area of the brain that stores language and uses the appro- priate words (Crinion et al., 2006).

Young children have difficulty with pronunciation in every language, but this does not slow down their learning of a second language, as it does for adults. When expressing themselves, many of them transpose sounds (magazine becomes mazagine), drop conso- nants (truck becomes ruck), convert difficult sounds

overregularization The application of rules

of grammar even when exceptions occur,

so that the language is made to seem

more “regular” than it actually is.

Language 243

Tiene Identificación Lista Are you pleased

or angered by this bilingual sign at a school in

Chelsea, Massachusetts, that serves as a

polling place on election day? In this election,

voters were deciding whether or not to elimi-

nate government funding for bilingual educa-

tion. Those who favored immersion argued

that signs like this one would soon become

unnecessary if children were taught only in

English. Those who favored bilingual education

held that without it, children from minority-

language families would be likely to drop out

of school before mastering any language.

A P

/ W

ID E

W O

R LD

P H

O TO

S

244 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

( father becomes fadder), and make other errors. But they can hear better than they can talk (receptive more than expressive). For example, my daughter Rachel at age 4 asked for a “yeyo yayipop.” Her father said, “You want a yeyo yayipop?” She replied, “Daddy, sometimes you talk funny.”

Bilingualism, Cognition, and Culture

Since language is integral to culture, bilingualism is embedded in emotions of ethnic pride and fear. This reality hampers developmental research. One group of researchers explains:

A question of concern to many is whether early schooling [in the play years] in English for language minority children harms the development and/or mainte- nance of their mother tongue and possibly children’s language competence in general. . . . [The] debate quickly and unfortunately becomes . . . hampered by extreme and emotional political positions.

[Winsler et al., 1999, p. 350]

Research finds that bilingualism has both advantages and disadvantages. Sup- porters point out, correctly, that children who speak two languages by age 5 are less egocentric in their understanding of language and more advanced in their theory of mind. Opponents point out, also correctly, that bilingual children often are less fluent in one or both languages, slowing down reading as well as other linguistic skills (Bialystok, 2001).

This last fact makes many who speak the dominant language strive to have every child learn that language. This issue is of particular importance in California, where more than half of all public school children have parents who are immi- grants. Many such parents find that their children make a language shift, becoming more fluent in their new language than in their home language (Min, 2000; S.-L. C. Wong & M. G. Lopez, 2000).

It is not unusual for 5-year-olds to understand their parents’ language but re- fuse to speak it, especially if their parents understand the dominant language. Nor is it unusual for adults to depend on a child as interpreter when they deal

with monolingual bureaucrats. This dependency, which amounts to a role reversal, makes practical sense, but it widens the gap between child and parent. (Even native- born monolingual families have a generational and cohort parent–child gap.)

Language shift and role reversal are unfortunate, not only for the child and the parents but also for the society. Having many bilingual citizens is a national strength, and respect for family traditions is a bulwark against ado- lescent rebellion. Yet young children are preoperational: They center on the immediate status of their parents and their language, on appearances more than past history or future benefits. No wonder many shift toward the domi- nant language.

Again, what is the goal of second-language learning? Parents are reluctant to deprive children of their roots, heritage, and identity, and yet they know that speaking, reading, and writing the dominant language are necessary for success (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001). Many adults who are proud of their home language criti- cize members of their ethnic group who have “lost” their heritage language. But they also know that their children

One Family’s Multiculturalism One of the

first cultural preferences to travel successfully

is food, and Italian cuisine is one of the world’s

most popular. This family lives in New York,

the parents were born in Taiwan, their chil-

dren are learning to speak both Chinese and

English—and they all love pepperoni pizza.

S U

S A

N K

U K

LI N

/ P

H O

TO R

ES EA

R C

H ER

S , I

N C

.

Especially for Immigrant Parents You

want your children to be fluent in the language

of your family’s new country, even though you

do not speak that language well. Should you

speak to your children in your native tongue or

in the new language?

will face discrimination if they speak with a “foreign” accent and are less than fluent in the dominant language.

The best solution seems to be for every child to become a balanced bilingual, fluent in two languages, speaking both so well that no audible hint suggests the other language. Is balanced bilingualism possible? Yes. In many nations, during these sensitive play years, children become fluent in two or more languages.

Constant Change

The basics of language learning—explosion, fast-mapping, overregularization, ex- tensive practice—apply to bilingual learning. Parents who want a child to learn two languages need to intensify the child’s exposure to both languages.

Fortunately, children have a powerful urge to communicate and a readiness to learn as much as they can. This was dramatically illustrated by children in Nicaragua at a boarding school for the deaf (Siegal, 2004). Their teachers tried to teach spoken Spanish and used no sign language. (This strategy is no longer com- mon, since it is now clear that deaf children learn best if they are taught sign lan- guage from infancy. However, war delayed the teachers’ awareness of this finding.)

The children in Nicaragua invented their own sign language, using it among themselves and teaching it to the new arrivals. Their created language flourished, with each new generation of children refining it. Younger children were more flu- ent than older ones because they built on what had already been invented, adding new gestures.

Similarly, established languages continually change. In English in the past few decades, the word Negro gave way to Black, which was soon replaced by African American. New terms include hip-hop, e-mail, DVD, spam, blog, cell (phone), rap (music), buff (in shape), and hundreds more. Words from other languages have become basic English vocabulary, such as salsa, loco, amour, kowtow, and mensch. Some key terms in this book, doula and kwashiorkor among them, originated in other languages. Young people learn such changes before adults do.

SUMMING UP

Children aged 2 to 6 have impressive linguistic talents. They explode into speech, from

about a hundred words to many thousands, from halting baby talk to fluency. Fast-

mapping and grammar are among the sophisticated devices they use, strategies that

can backfire. No other time in the entire life span is as sensitive to language learning,

especially to mastering pronunciation. Children can readily learn two languages during

these years. Extensive exposure to both languages is necessary to become a balanced

bilingual. ■

Early-Childhood Education A hundred years ago children had no formal education until first grade, which is why it was called “first” and why younger children were called “preschoolers.” Today most 3- to 5-year-olds in developed nations are in school (see Figure 9.5 for U.S. trends), partly because research “documents the rapid development and great learning potential of the early years” (Hyson et al., 2006, p. 6).

Names of early educational institutions differ (such as preschool, nursery school, day care, pre-primary), but names do not indicate the nature of a program. We will consider three clusters: child-centered, teacher-directed, and intervention programs.

Early-Childhood Education 245

balanced bilingual A person who is fluent

in two languages, not favoring one or the

other.

Child-Centered Programs

Many programs are developmental, or child-centered, stressing children’s devel- opment and growth. This approach stresses children’s need to play and explore rather than to follow adult directions (Weikart, 1999). Many child-centered pro- grams use a Piaget-inspired model that allows children to discover ideas at their own pace. The physical space and the materials—dress-up clothing, art supplies,

puzzles, blocks of many sizes, and other toys—are or- ganized to encourage self-paced exploration.

Many child-centered programs encourage artistic ex- pression. Some educators argue that young children “are all poets” in that they are gifted in seeing the world more imaginatively than older people do. According to advocates of child-centered programs, this peak of cre- ative vision should be encouraged; children should be given lots of opportunities to tell stories, draw pictures, dance, and make music for their own delight (Egan & Ling, 2002).

Child-centered programs also show the influence of Vygotsky, who thought that children learn from other children, with adult guidance. For example, in order to learn number skills, classrooms have games that include math (counting objects, keeping score), routines that use measurements (daily calendars, schedules), and number guidelines (only three children in the blocks corner, two volunteers to get the juice).

246 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Percentage of U.S. 3-, 4-, and 5-Year-Olds Enrolled in Preprimary Programs

Percent

50

40

30

20

10

19701965 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2004

Year

Source: Snyder et al., 2004, p. 65; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2006.

90

80

70

60

3-year-olds

4-year-olds

5-year-olds

FIGURE 9.5

Changing Times As research increasingly finds that preschool education provides a foundation

for later learning, more and more young children are in educational programs.

“We teach them that the world can be an unpredictable, dangerous, and sometimes frightening place, while being careful

not to spoil their lovely innocence. It’s tricky.”

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Montessori Schools

One type of preschool that is child-centered began a hundred years ago, when Maria Montessori opened nursery schools for poor children in Rome. She believed that children needed structured, individualized projects to give them a sense of accomplishment, such as completing particular puzzles, using a sponge and water to clean a table, and drawing shapes.

Like Piaget (her contemporary), Montessori (1936/1966) realized that children have different thoughts and needs from adults. They learn from activities that adults might call play, and teachers should provide tasks that dovetail with the cognitive eagerness of the child. For example, because they have a need for order, for language learning, and for using all their senses, children will learn from exer- cises that allow them to develop these skills.

Today’s Montessori schools still emphasize individual pride and accomplish- ment, presenting many literacy-related tasks (such as outlining letters and looking at books) to the children at age 4 or so (Lillard, 2005). Many tasks differ from those Montessori developed, but the underlying philosophy is the same. Children collaborate with each other and do not sit quietly while a teacher instructs them. That is what makes this child-centered, although some things children enjoy (pre- tend play, for example) are not Montessori.

The goal is for the children to feel proud of themselves and engaged in learning. Many aspects of Montessori’s philosophy are in accord with current developmen- tal research, and that is one reason this kind of school remains popular in many nations. A study of 5-year-olds in inner-city Milwaukee who were chosen by lottery to attend Montessori programs found that they were better at pre-reading and early math tasks, as well as at theory of mind, than a group of their peers who had not been selected (Lillard & Else-Quest, 2006).

The Reggio Emilia Approach

Another form of early-childhood education is called the Reggio Emilia approach because it was inspired by a program pioneered in the Italian town of that name, where today 13 infant–toddler centers and 21 preschools are funded by the city. Almost all local parents want their children to participate; there is a waiting list, and more centers are planned.

In Reggio Emilia, every preschooler is encouraged to master skills not usually seen in American schools until age 7 or so, such as writing and using tools, but no child is required to engage in such learning (Edwards et al., 1998). There is no large-group instruction, with formal lessons in, say, forming letters or cutting paper. Children are seen as “rich and powerful learners” and as “competent, creative individuals” (Abbott & Nutbrown, 2001, pp. 24, 47), each with his or her own learning needs and artistic drive.

Appreciation of the arts is evident not only in the children’s activities but also in the physical design of the schools. Every Reggio Emilia school has a large central room where children gather, with floor-to-ceiling windows open to a spacious, plant-filled playground. Big mirrors are part of every school’s décor (again fostering individuality), and children’s art is displayed on white walls and hung from high ceilings. Among the characteristics of Reggio Emilia programs (now evident in every developed nation) are a low teacher/child ratio, ample space, and abundant materials.

One of the distinctive features of the curriculum is that a small group of children become engaged in long-term projects of their choosing. Such projects foster the children’s pride in their accomplishments (which are displayed for all to admire) while teaching them to plan and work together.

Early-Childhood Education 247

➤Response for Immigrant Parents (from

page 244): Children learn by listening, so it is

important for you to speak with them often,

and it is probably best to do so in both

languages. Depending on how comfortable

you are with the new language, you might

prefer to read to your children, sing to them,

and converse with them primarily in your

native language and find a good preschool

where they will learn the new language. The

worst thing you could do would be to restrict

speech in either tongue.

Teachers have 6 hours of work time each week without the children, which they spend planning activities, having group discussions, and talking to parents. Parental involvement is expected: They teach in special subject areas, meet with one another, and receive frequent reports, often with photographs, written observations, and their child’s artwork. The entire town is proud of their children and schools.

Teacher-Directed Programs

Unlike Reggio Emilia, some programs stress academics taught by the teacher to the entire class. The curriculum teaches children letters, numbers, shapes, and colors, as well as how to listen to the teacher and sit quietly. Praise and other reinforce- ments are given for good behavior, and time-outs (brief separation from activities) are punishments.

In teacher-directed programs, there is a clear distinction between the serious work of schooling and the cozy play of home. As one German boy explained:

So home is home and kindergarten is kindergarten. Here is my work and at home is off-time, understand? My mum says work is me learning something. Learning is when you drive your head, and off-time is when the head slows down.

[quoted in Griebel & Niesel, 2002, p. 67]

The teachers’ goal is to make all children “ready to learn” when they enter ele- mentary school. Some of these programs explicitly teach basic skills, including reading, writing, and arithmetic, sometimes with the teacher asking questions that all the children answer together. Children are given practice in forming letters, sounding out words, counting objects, and writing their names. If a 4-year-old learns to read, that is success. (In a developmental program, it might arouse suspi- cion that the child was not being allowed enough time to play.) Many teacher- directed programs were inspired by behaviorism, which emphasizes step-by-step learning and repetition.

The contrast between child-centered and teacher-directed philosophies is evi- dent in many areas, not only in lessons but also in social interactions. For instance, if one child bothers another child, should the second child tell the teacher, or

248 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Another Place for Children High ceilings,

uncrowded play space, varied options for art

and music, a glass wall revealing trees and

flowers—all these features reflect the Reggio

Emilia approach to individualized, creative

learning for young children. Such places are

rare in nations other than Italy.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 250):

How many children appear in this photograph

and how many are engaged in creative

expression?

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should the two children work it out by themselves? If one child bites another, should the biter be isolated, reprimanded, or—as sometimes happens—should the victim be allowed to bite back? Each preschool has rules for such situations, which vary because of contrasting philosophies.

Intervention Programs

Developmental scientists, linking research findings and practical applications, have discovered that early childhood is a prime learning period. It is also evident that some children learn much more than others. Five-year-olds differ dramati- cally in their ability to learn, talk, and even listen. The main reason is thought to be exposure to language and other learning opportunities that some parents provide and others do not (Hart & Risley, 1995).

Many nations try to narrow the gap by offering high-quality early education. Some nations (e.g., China, France, Italy, and Sweden) make programs available to all children; others vary (for example, in the United States, Oklahoma, and some other states provide full-day kindergarten and preschool education for all children, while other states provide only a few hours a day for those who are particularly needy).

Head Start

In the United States, the most widespread early-childhood-education program is Project Head Start, which began in 1965 and continues to this day. This federal pro- gram was designed for low-income or minority children who were thought to need a “head start” on their education. The quality and results of Head Start programs vary from place to place. Some long-term effects are unknown, because scientific evaluation was not included in the original planning (Phillips & White, 2004).

Nevertheless, Head Start has provided half-day education for millions of 3- to 5-year-olds, boosting their social and learning skills at least temporarily, and has probably provided long-term benefits as well (Zigler et al., 1996). Some programs are now 6 hours long rather than 3, because researchers realize that learning cor- relates with the length of school time.

There are many problems in evaluating Head Start. Over the decades, its goals have been diffuse and varied, from lifting families out of poverty to promoting lit- eracy, from providing dental care and immunizations to teaching standard English. Some teachers practice child-centered education and others prefer a teacher- directed approach; some consider parents part of the problem and others regard parents as allies. In any case, intervening with parents has proven difficult (Powell, 2006).

Many of the early Head Start programs had no spe- cific curriculum or goals, which made valid evaluation impossible (Whitehurst & Massetti, 2004). An added problem has been the political turmoil that surrounds the topics of poverty, government programs, and the education of young children in the United States. The federal government has continued to fund Head Start year after year, partly because early education is proven to be beneficial in dozens of ways, but the pro- gram’s priorities and direction have changed continu- ally as the political winds have shifted (Zigler & Styfco, 2004).

Early-Childhood Education 249

Learning Is Fun The original purpose of the

Head Start program was to boost disadvan-

taged children’s academic skills. The most en-

during benefits, however, turned out to be

improved self-esteem and social skills, as is

evident in these happy Head Start partici-

pants, all crowded together.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 251):

How many of these children are in close

physical contact without discomfort or

disagreement?

LA U

R A

D W

IG H

T

Especially for Parents In trying to find a

preschool program, what should a parent

look for?

Experimental Programs

The same social imperatives that led to Head Start also led to several intensive programs (involving many hours and years, with cognitive emphasis) that have been well evaluated through longitudinal research. Three projects in particular have excellent follow-up data: one in Michigan, called Perry or High/Scope (Schweinhart & Weikart, 1997; Schweinhart et al., 2005); one in North Carolina, called Abecedarian (Campbell et al., 2001); and one in Chicago, called Child– Parent Centers (Reynolds, 2000; Reynolds et al., 2004).

All three programs enrolled children from low-income families for several years before kindergarten, all compared experimental groups of children with matched control groups, and all reached the same conclusion: Early education can have substantial long-term benefits, which become apparent when the children are in the third grade or later.

Children in these three programs scored higher on math and reading achieve- ment tests by age 10 than did other children from the same backgrounds, schools, and neighborhoods. They were significantly less likely to be placed in special classes for slow or disruptive children or to repeat a year of school. In adolescence, they had higher aspirations and a greater sense of achievement and were less likely to be mistreated. As young adults, they were more likely to attend college and less likely to go to jail.

All three research projects found that direct cognitive training (not simply let- ting children play), with specific instruction in various school-readiness skills, was useful as long as each child’s needs and talents were considered. The curriculum was neither child-centered nor teacher-directed, but a combination. Parents were engaged with the child’s learning.

Although these programs were expensive (perhaps as much as $15,000 annu- ally per child in 2007 dollars), many believe that the decreased need for special education and other social services eventually makes such programs a wise invest- ment. Indeed, one economist calculates that governments eventually spend at

250 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Learning from One Another Every nation

creates its own version of early education.

In this scene at a nursery school in Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysia, note the head coverings,

uniforms, bare feet, and absence of boys.

None of these elements would be found in

most early-childhood education classrooms

in North America or Europe.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 252):

What seemingly universal aspects of child-

hood are visible in this photograph? PA U

L C

H ES

LE Y

/ S

TO N

E /

G ET

TY IM

A G

ES

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 248): Eight children, and all of them are

engaged in creative projects—if the boy

standing at right is making music, not just

noise, with that cymbal.

least five times more per person when children do not have the benefit of an in- tensive preschool program (Lynch, 2004). Children from low-income families who did not attend preschool have higher rates of many costly conditions later in life: special education (four times more expensive per student per year); unemploy- ment (no taxes); and even imprisonment ($150,000 per inmate per year).

Costs and Benefits

The financial aspect may be especially significant. For many early-childhood edu- cators, Reggio Emilia is the gold standard because the teacher/child ratio is low and the physical space is luxurious, but the cost per child for such a program is about twice that of most other types of preschool care.

Since parents pay the bulk of the cost of preschool education in the United States (except for some intervention programs), Reggio Emilia is beyond the means of most families. Child-centered programs open to all children may be fea- sible only in places with community support and a low birth rate (like Italy, where most families have only one child).

A key finding from all the research is that the quality of early-childhood educa- tion counts. The most recent reauthorization of Head Start emphasizes educational quality and evaluative research (Lombardi & Cubbage, 2004). Comparisons of programs find that the specific curricula and philosophy matter less than teachers who know how to respond to the needs of young children. Generally, an educa- tional, center-based program is better than family day care or home care, but high- quality home care is better than a low-quality day-care center (Clarke-Stewart & Allhusen, 2005).

Some characteristics of quality care have been described in Chapter 7: safety, adequate space and equipment, a low adult/child ratio, positive social interactions among children and adults, and trained staff (and educated parents) who are likely to stay in the program. Continuity helps, for the child as well as for the adults. One of the best questions that parents comparing options can ask is, “How long has each staff member worked at this center?”

Curriculum is also important, especially by age 4 or 5. Best may be programs with an emphasis on learning, reflected in a curriculum that includes extensive practice in language, fine and gross motor skills, and basic number skills. Such programs may be found in child-centered or teacher-directed schools. As this chapter emphasizes, young children love to learn and can master many skills and ideas, as long as adults do not expect them to think and behave like older children.

Beyond that, history teaches that new research will find additional cognitive potential among 2- to 6-year-olds and additional strategies to develop that poten- tial. Valid evaluation (longitudinal comparisons with experimental and control groups) are still rare. Some readers of this book will undertake the research and staff the schools that will update our view of cognition in childhood.

SUMMING UP

Research, particularly on preschool programs for children in low-income families, has

proved that high-quality early education benefits children, who improve in language, in

social skills, and in prospects for the future (Clarke-Stewart & Allhusen, 2005). A variety

of programs, including child-centered (Montessori and Reggio Emilia) and teacher-

directed are available—although sometimes very expensive. Nations, states, and parents

differ in what they seek from early education for their children, and programs vary in

teacher preparation, curriculum, physical space, and adult/child ratios. ■

Early-Childhood Education 251

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 249): All five—not four (look again at the

right-hand side of the photograph)!

➤Response for Parents (from page 249):

There is much variation. None fit every

parent’s values. However, children should

be engaged in learning, not allowed to sit

passively or to squabble with one another.

Before deciding, parents should look at

several programs, staying long enough to

see the children in action and the teachers

showing warmth and respect for the children.

252 CHAPTER 9 ■ The Play Years: Cognitive Development

Piaget and Vygotsky

1. Piaget stressed the egocentric and illogical aspects of thought during the play years. He called this stage preoperational thought because young children often cannot yet use logical operations to think about their observations and experiences.

2. Young children, according to Piaget, sometimes focus on only one thing (centration) and see things only from their own view- point (egocentrism), remaining stuck on appearances and on cur- rent reality. They cannot understand that things change, actions can be reversed, and other people have other perspectives.

3. Vygotsky stressed the social aspects of childhood cognition, noting that children learn by participating in various experiences, guided by more knowledgeable adults or peers. That guidance assists learning within the zone of proximal development, which encompasses the knowledge and skills that the child has the potential to learn.

4. According to Vygotsky, the best teachers use various hints, guidelines, and other tools to provide the child with a scaffold for new learning. Language is a bridge of social mediation between the knowledge that the child already has and the learning that the society hopes to impart. For Vygotsky, words are a tool for learning that both mentor and child use.

Children’s Theories

5. Children develop theories, especially to explain the purpose of life and their role in it. Among these theories is theory of mind— an understanding of what others may be thinking. Notable ad- vances in theory of mind occur at around age 4. Theory of mind is partly the result of brain maturation, but a child’s language and experiences (in the family and community) also have an impact.

Language

6. Language develops rapidly during early childhood, which is a sensitive period but not a critical one for language learning. Vocabulary increases dramatically, with thousands of words added between ages 2 and 6. In addition, basic grammar is mastered.

7. Many children learn to speak more than one language. Ideally, children become balanced bilinguals, equally proficient in two languages, by age 6.

Early-Childhood Education

8. Organized educational programs during early childhood ad- vance cognitive and social skills, although specifics vary a great deal. Montessori and Reggio Emilia are two child-centered pro- grams that began in Italy and now are offered in many nations. Behaviorist principles led to many specific practices of teacher- directed programs.

9. Head Start is a government program that generally helps low- income children. Longitudinal research on three other programs for low-income children has demonstrated that early-childhood education reduces the likelihood of later problems. Graduates of these programs are less likely to need special education and more likely to become law-abiding, gainfully employed adults.

10. Although many preschool programs are successful, the qual- ity of early education matters. Children learn best if there is a clear curriculum and if the adult–child ratio is low. The training and continuity of early-childhood teachers are also important.

preoperational intelligence (p. 231)

centration (p. 232) egocentrism (p. 232) focus on appearance (p. 232) static reasoning (p. 232)

irreversibility (p. 232) conservation (p. 232) apprentice in thinking (p. 234) guided participation (p. 234) zone of proximal development

(ZPD) (p. 235)

scaffolding (p. 235) private speech (p. 235) social mediation (p. 235) theory-theory (p. 236) theory of mind (p. 238) critical period (p. 240)

sensitive period (p. 240) fast-mapping (p. 240) overregularization (p. 243) balanced bilingual (p. 245)

SUMMARY

KEY TERMS

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from page 252): Three aspects are

readily apparent: These girls enjoy their friendships; they are playing a

hand-clapping game, some version of which is found in every culture;

and, most important, they have begun the formal education that their

families want for them.

Summary 253

6. How does fast-mapping apply to children’s learning of curse words?

7. How do children learn grammar without formal instruction?

8. What are the differences between child-centered and teacher- directed instruction?

9. Why is there disagreement about the extent to which Head Start benefits children?

10.Why do some cities and nations provide much better pre- school education than others?

1. Piaget is often criticized for his description of early cognition. Why is this, and is the criticism fair? (Discuss with particular ref- erence to preoperational thought.)

2. Give an example of the process of cognition in early childhood as Vygotsky would describe it, highlighting at least three of his specific concepts.

3. What are the main similarities between Vygotsky and Piaget?

4. How would parents act differently toward their child accord- ing to whether they agreed with Piaget or with Vygotsky?

5. How does Piaget’s idea of egocentrism relate to the research on theory of mind?

3. Theory of mind emerges at about age 4, but many adults still have trouble understanding other people’s thoughts and motives. Ask several people why someone in the news did whatever they did (e.g., a scandal, a crime, a heroic act). Then ask your inform- ants how sure they are of their explanation. Compare and analyze the reasons as well as the degrees of certainty. (One person may be sure of an explanation that someone else thinks is impossible.)

4. Think about an experience in which you learned something that was initially difficult. To what extent do Vygotsky’s concepts (guidance, language mediation, apprenticeship, zone of proximal development) explain the experience? Write a detailed, step-by- step description of your learning process as Vygotsky would describe it.

The best way to understand thinking in early childhood is to listen to a child, as applications 1 and 2 require. If some students have no access to children, they should do application 3 or 4.

1. Replicate one of Piaget’s conservation experiments. The easi- est one is conservation of liquids (pictured in Figure 9.1). Find a child under age 5, and make sure the child tells you that two identically shaped glasses contain the same amount of liquid. Then carefully pour one glass of liquid into a narrower, taller glass. Ask the child which glass now contains more or if the glasses contain the same amount.

2. To demonstrate how rapidly language is learned, show a pre- school child several objects and label one with a nonsense word the child has never heard. (Toma is often used; so is wug.) Or choose a word the child does not know, such as wrench, spatula, or a coin from another nation. Test the child’s fast-mapping.

KEY QUESTIONS

APPLICATIONS

10

255

CHAPTER OUTLINE

c Emotional Development

Initiative Versus Guilt

Psychopathology

Empathy and Antipathy

c Parents

Parenting Style

ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS: Planning Punishment

The Challenge of Media

c Becoming Boys and Girls

Theories of Gender Differences

IN PERSON: Berger and Freud Gender and Destiny

The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

I magine that you have two children, a typical 2-year-old and a 6-year- old. What a contrast! If you take your 2-year-old to the playground, don’t become absorbed in conversation. Before you realize it, your child may be crying atop a high slide, tasting a sandbox cake, grabbing

a toy, or, worse, nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, as long as adults are nearby, your 6-year-old is probably safe, sliding and sharing, not swallowing sand or disappearing without permission.

This chapter describes that 2-to-6 transformation. Maturation and moti- vation are crucial; so are emotions and experiences. Psychosocial develop- ment is multifaceted, involving genes, gender, parents, peers, and culture, all readily apparent in this chapter.

Emotional Development Learning when and how to express emotions (made possible as the emotional hotspots of the brain become linked to the executive functions) is the pre- eminent psychosocial accomplishment between ages 2 and 6 (N. Eisenberg et al., 2004). Children who master this task, called emotional regulation, become more capable in every aspect of their lives (Denham et al., 2003; Matsumoto, 2004).

Emotions are regulated and controlled by 6-year-olds in ways unknown to exuberant, expressive, and often overwhelmed toddlers. Children learn to be friendly to new acquaintances but not too friendly, angry but not explosive, frightened by a clown but not terrified, able to distract themselves and limit their impulses if need be. (All these abilities emerge during the preschool period and continue to develop throughout life.) Now we explain some spe- cific aspects of emotional regulation.

Initiative Versus Guilt

Initiative is saying something new, extending a skill, beginning a project. De- pending on the outcome (including the parents’ response), some initiatives make children feel guilty—a consequence that can make children afraid to try new activities again. Children internalize past experiences of pride or shame, thus affecting their self-esteem or feelings of guilt.

emotional regulation The ability to control

when and how emotions are expressed.

This is the most important psychosocial

development to occur between the ages of

2 and 6, though it continues throughout life.

More generally, positive enthusiasm, effort, and self-evaluation characterize ages 3 to 6, according to Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory. During what he called his third developmental stage, initiative versus guilt, Erikson described self-esteem as emerging from the acquisition of skills and competencies described in the previous two chapters.

Self-esteem is the belief in one’s own ability, a personal estimate of success and worthiness. As self-esteem builds, children become more confident and inde- pendent. The autonomy of 2-year-olds, often expressed as stubborn reactions, becomes the initiative of 5-year-olds, often seen in their self-motivated activities. In the process, children form a self-concept, or understanding of themselves, which includes not only self-esteem but also facts such as gender and size.

Balancing one’s own wishes with the expectations embedded in the social context is not easy, especially if one’s only playmate has been a mother who never thwarted the child’s initiative. For example, one child (about age 3) was new to peers and to preschool:

She commanded another child, “Fall down. Go on, do what I say.” When the other child stayed stalwartly on his feet, she pushed him over and was clearly amazed when he jumped up and said, “No pushing!” and the teacher came over and reproved her.

[Leach, 1997, p. 474]

In this example, the more experienced child has a strong self-concept that he was ready to defend. The inexperienced girl was “reproved,” not punished. The teacher hoped she would internalize the rule so that she would feel guilt (not shame) if she broke it again. Most older children and adults, but fewer 4- or 5-year- olds, experience guilt when their initiative clashes with the rules and regulations they have learned (Lagattuta, 2005).

Pride

Erikson recognized that typical 3- to 5-year-olds have immodest and quite positive self-concepts, holding themselves in high self-esteem. They believe that they are strong, smart, and good-looking—and thus that any goal is quite achievable. Whatever they are (self-concept) is also thought to be good (for instance, little boys are proud of being male).

In the play years, children are confident that their good qualities will endure but that any bad qualities (even biological traits such as poor eyesight) will disappear with time (Lockhart et al., 2002). As one group of researchers explained:

initiative versus guilt Erikson’s third psy-

chosocial crisis. Children begin new

activities and feel guilty when they fail.

self-esteem How a person evaluates his or

her own worth, either in specifics (e.g.,

intelligence, attractiveness) or overall.

self-concept A person’s understanding of

who he or she is. Self-concept includes

appearance, personality, and various traits.

256 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

Close Connection Unfamiliar events often

bring developmental tendencies to the sur-

face, as with the curious boy and his worried

brother, who are attending Colorado’s Pikes

Peak or Bust Rodeo breakfast. Their attentive

mother keeps the livelier boy calm and reas-

sures the shy one.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 259):

Mother is obviously a secure base for both

boys, who share the same family and half the

same genes but are different ages: One is 2

and the other is 4. Can you tell which boy is

younger? SE A

N C

A Y

TO N

/ T

H E

IM A

G E

W O

R K

S

Young children seem to be irrepressibly optimistic about themselves. . . . Consider, for example, the shortest, most uncoordinated boy in a kindergarten class who proclaims that he will be the next Michael Jordan.

[Lockhart et al., 2002, pp. 1408–1409]

The new initiative that Erikson describes is aided by a longer attention span (made possible by neurological maturity); now children have a purpose for what they do. Concentrated attention is believed to be crucial for later competence of all kinds, but concentration is not an automatic result of brain growth.

Self-esteem and concentration are connected to motivation, cognition, and experience, all of which correlate with matura- tion but are not caused by it. For example, 6-year-olds who have been chronically mistreated feel inadequate and incompetent, with abnormally low self-esteem (Kim & Cicchetti, 2006).

Feeling proud of oneself is the foundation for practice and then mastery, as children learn to pour juice or climb a tree. For most children, self-criticism does not arise until later. Preschoolers predict that they can solve impossible puzzles, re- member long lists of words, change every undesirable trait, and control the dreams that come when they are asleep (Stipek et al., 1995; Woolley & Boerger, 2002). Such naive predictions, sometimes called “protective optimism,” help them learn (Lockhart et al., 2002) because they are not afraid to try new things.

Guilt and Shame

Notice that Erikson called the negative consequence of this crisis “guilt,” not shame. Erikson believed that because children develop self-awareness, they feel guilty when they realize their own mistakes. Generally, guilt means that people blame themselves because they have done something wrong, while shame means that people feel that others are blaming them.

Shame can be based on what is, such as one’s ethnic background. In this case, the shame is rooted in the belief that others devalue those of certain ethnicities or minorities. To counter such feelings of shame, many parents of minority children (Mexican, African, or Indian American, among others) wisely make sure their chil- dren feel proud of their identity (Parke & Buriel, 2006).

Guilt and shame often occur together, though they do not necessarily go hand in hand. For example, children who misbehave may shame the parents, but the parents do not usually feel guilty. Or a person could feel guilty (of driving too fast, for instance) but not ashamed.

Many thoughtful people believe that guilt is a more mature emotion than shame because guilt is internalized (Bybee, 1998; Tangney, 2001; Zahn-Waxler, 2000). Guilt originates within; it may bother a person even if no one else knows about the misdeed. Shame depends on other people; it comes from knowing that someone else might see and criticize what a person has done. Thus, Erikson’s expectation of shame at age 2 and guilt by age 5 signifies emotional maturation during these years.

Intrinsic Motivation

The idea that guilt comes from within highlights the distinction between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is evident when a per- son does something for the joy of doing it—such as a musician who plays simply for the delight of making music, even if no one else is around to hear it. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside (ex-), when the reason to do something is to gain praise or some other reward from someone else.

intrinsic motivation Goals or drives that

come from inside a person, such as the

need to feel smart or competent.

extrinsic motivation The need for rewards

from outside, such as material possessions

or someone else’s esteem.

Emotional Development 257

A R

IE L

S K

EL LE

Y /

C O

R B

IS

Happy and Colorful No wonder this 5-year-

old is proud—her picture is worth framing.

High self-esteem is one of the strengths of

being her age. Can you imagine a 9-year-old

holding an equally colorful picture so proudly?

Especially for College Students Is

extrinsic or intrinsic motivation more

influential in your study efforts?

For the most part, preschool children are intrinsically motivated. They enjoy learning, playing, and practicing for their own joy, not be- cause someone else sets a goal for them. For instance, when they play games, young children might not keep score; the fun is in playing more than in winning.

In a classic experiment, preschool children were given Magic Mark- ers with which to draw and then placed into one of three groups with different conditions: (1) no award, (2) expected award (told before they had drawn anything that they would get a certificate), and (3) unex- pected award (they heard “You were a big help” and received a certifi- cate after they had drawn something) (Lepper et al., 1973). When the children returned to their classrooms, observers noted how often they chose to draw. Those who got the expected award drew less than those with the unexpected award. This was interpreted to mean that the extrinsic award undercut intrinsic motivation.

This research triggered a flood of studies. Researchers tried to un- cover whether, when, and how rewards should be given. The consensus is that praising or paying a person after work has been done encourages that behavior, as long as the reinforcement is based on actual accom- plishment. However, if substantial rewards are promised in advance for something that the person already enjoys doing, the extrinsic conse- quences may backfire by diminishing intrinsic motivation (Cameron & Pierce, 2002; Deci et al., 1999).

Cross-cultural research makes this more complex. Cultures differ re- garding which emotions need regulation and which internal and external motivations work best. For example, children are especially encouraged

to overcome their fears in the United States, to modify their anger in Puerto Rico, to temper their pride in China, and to control their aggression in Japan (Harwood et al., 1995; Hong et al., 2000; J. G. Miller, 2004). Emotional regulation is valuable everywhere, but cultures differ in the specifics (Matsumoto, 2004).

Psychopathology

At every age, developmentalists are concerned with preventing or treating psy- chopathology, which is an illness or disorder (-pathology) that involves the mind (psycho-). The first signs of psychopathology in children usually involve emotions that seem to overwhelm the child. Emotional regulation begins with impulse con- trol. Often the impulse that most needs control is anger, because “dysregulated anger may trigger aggressive, oppositional behavior” (Gilliom et al., 2002, p. 222). Before such regulation, a frustrated 2-year-old might flail at another person or lie down screaming and kicking. A 5-year-old usually has more self-control, perhaps pouting and cursing, but not hitting and screaming.

Emotional Balance

Without adequate control, emotions overpower children. This occurs in two, seemingly opposite, ways. Some children have externalizing problems: They lash out in impulsive anger, attacking other people or things. They are sometimes called “undercontrolled.”

Other children have internalizing problems: They are fearful and withdrawn, turning emotional distress inward. They are sometimes called “overcontrolled.” Both externalizing and internalizing children are unable to regulate their emotions properly or, more precisely, unable to regulate the expression of their emotions. They do not exercise enough control or they control themselves too much (Caspi & Shiner, 2006; Hart et al., 2003).

externalizing problems Difficulty with emo-

tional regulation that involves outwardly

expressing emotions in uncontrolled ways,

such as by lashing out in impulsive anger

or attacking other people or things.

internalizing problems Difficulty with emo-

tional regulation that involves turning one’s

emotional distress inward, as by feeling

excessively guilty, ashamed, or worthless.

258 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

Emotional Regulation Older brothers are

not famous for being loving caregivers. How-

ever, in the Mayan culture, older children

learn to regulate their jealousy and provide

major care for younger siblings while their

parents work.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 260):

What do you see that suggests that this boy

is paying careful attention to his brother?

JE FF

G R

EE N

B ER

G /

T H

E IM

A G

E W

O R

K S

Emotional regulation is in part neurological, a matter of brain functioning. Because a child’s ability to regulate emotions requires thinking before acting, deciding whether and how to display joy, anger, or fear, emotional regulation is the province of the prefrontal cortex, the executive area of the brain. As you remember from Chapter 8, the prefrontal cortex reacts to the limbic system (by acting or inhibiting action), including those parts of the brain (including the amygdala) where powerful emotions, especially fear and anxiety, form.

Normally, neurological advances in the prefrontal cortex occur at about age 4 or 5, when children become less likely to throw a temper tantrum, provoke a physical attack, or burst into giggles (Kagan & Hershkowitz, 2005). Throughout the period from age 2 to 6, violent outbursts, uncontrollable crying, and terrifying phobias diminish, and the capacity for self-control—such as not opening a wrapped gift immediately if asked to wait—becomes more evident (Carlson, 2003; Grolnick et al., 2006).

Emotional differences between younger and older children begin within the brain, perhaps going beyond simple maturation to differences more closely linked to the XX or XY chromosomes (Colder et al., 2002). Although girls are better at regulating their externalizing emotions, they are less successful with internalizing ones. By adolescence, undercontrolled boys may be delinquents; overcontrolled girls may be anxious or depressed (Pennington, 2002).

Differences in Early Care

Neurological damage can occur during early development, either pre- natally (if a pregnant woman is stressed, ill, or a heavy drug user) or in infancy (if an infant is chronically malnourished, injured, or frightened). Extensive stress can kill some neurons and stop others from developing properly (Sanchez et al., 2001). This may affect the child’s ability to reg- ulate his or her emotions—the temper tantrum of a particular 5-year-old may not be as readily controllable as for most kindergarten children.

Early care prevents or worsens innate problems with emotional control. Highly stressed infant rats develop abnormal brain structures. However, if stressed rat pups are raised by nurturing mothers, their brains are protected by hormones elicited by their mothers, who lick, nuzzle, groom, and feed them often (J. Kaufman & Charney, 2001). Similarly in humans, nurturing caregivers guide reactive children toward emotional regulation, helping them become more competent than many other children (Hane & Fox, 2006; Quas et al., 2004).

The harm of poor caregiving is evident in maltreated 4- to 6-year-olds. Most such children (80 percent in one study) are “emotionally disregulated,” either indifferent or extremely angry when strangers criticize their mothers (Maughan & Cicchetti, 2002). If neglect or abuse occurs in the first few years, it is more likely to cause internalizing or externalizing problems than mistreatment that begins when the child is older, probably because it harms the developing brain (Lopez et al., 2004; Manly et al., 2001).

Always remember that many influences affect each child. Nurture and nature interact, influencing the brain as well as behavior, through “multiple converging pathways,” many originating in the brain but also activated by experiences (Cicchetti & Walker, 2001, p. 414).

Empathy and Antipathy

With increasing social awareness and decreasing egocentrism (as reviewed in Chap- ter 9), two other emotions develop: empathy, an understanding of the feelings and concerns of others, and antipathy, a dislike or even hatred of other people.

➤Response for College Students (from

page 257): Both are important. Extrinsic

motivation includes parental pressure and the

need to get a good job after graduation.

Intrinsic motivation includes the joy of

learning, especially if you can express that

learning in ways others recognize. Have you

ever taken a course that was not required

and was said to be difficult? That was intrinsic

motivation—a sign that you will benefit from

your college studies.

empathy The ability to understand the emo-

tions of another person, especially when

those emotions differ from one’s own.

antipathy Feelings of anger, distrust, dislike,

or even hatred toward another person.

Emotional Development 259

Who’s Chicken? Genes and good parenting

have made this boy neither too fearful nor too

bold. Appropriate caution is probably the best

approach to meeting a chicken.

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➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from page

256): Size is not much help, since children

grow slowly during these years and the heads

of these two boys appear about the same

size. However, emotional development is

apparent. Most 2-year-olds, like the one at the

right, still cling to their mothers; most 4-year-

olds are sufficiently mature, secure, and

curious to watch the excitement as they drink

their juice.

Empathy is not the same as sympathy, which is feeling sorry for someone. It is feeling sorry with someone, feeling their pain as if it were one’s own. Research with mirror neurons (see Chapter 1) suggests that observing someone else may activate the same areas of the brain as in the person directly involved. This is how empathy works. Antipathy likewise is a personal and emotional reaction, much stronger than merely disagreeing with someone.

Preschoolers develop empathy, but as you may remember from the Chapter 9 discussion of egocentrism and theory of mind, they do not always read others’ emotions accurately (Saarni et al., 2006). For instance, when a person says in a very sad voice, “I came in first place in a race,” virtually every 6-year-old judges the person to be unhappy, but almost no child younger than 6 recognizes the impor- tance of tone (Morton et al., 2003). In other words, it takes maturity to correctly read tone, expression, and body language when they contradict what the child would feel in that situation.

Young children (ages 3 and 4) also confuse another person’s intentions and desires, a mistake that older children and adults rarely make (Leslie et al., 2006; Schult, 2002). Finally, young children can experience too much empathy, becom- ing so distressed by someone else’s problem that they are not able to help (Saarni et al., 2006). An overly empathetic 3-year-old whose friend bumped his head may be overwhelmed with sadness and unable to find ice, tell an adult, or even express words of comfort.

Leading to Behavior

Ideally, empathy leads to prosocial behavior, being helpful and kind without gaining any obvious benefit. Expressing concern, offering to share food or a toy, and including a shy child in a game or conversation are examples of prosocial behavior.

Antipathy can lead to antisocial behavior, deliberately injuring someone or destroying something that belongs to another (Caprara et al., 2001). Antisocial actions include verbal insults, social exclusion, and physical assaults. An antisocial 4-year-old might look another child in the eye, scowl, and then kick him hard without provocation.

By age 4 or 5—as a result of brain maturation, theory of mind, emotional regu- lation, and interactions with caregivers—most children can be deliberately proso- cial or antisocial, with prosocial behavior generally increasing from age 3 to 6 and beyond (N. Eisenberg et al., 2006). Imagine that a boy hits his mother. If he is a toddler, the mother usually realizes that he is experimenting, a tertiary circular

reaction, and she should stop him with a stern expression but not feel personally attacked.

However, if her son is 5, something is seriously wrong. In fact, according to a study in Montreal, when 5-year-olds are mean to their mothers (phys- ically or verbally), that signifies a disturbed rela- tionship, and the child is headed for externalizing problems with others at school, with friends, and probably later in life (Moss et al., 2004).

Cultures vary in how much they allow, punish, or encourage both prosocial and antisocial behav- ior, as well as in what particular behaviors are con- sidered good and bad. In one specific example (see Figure 10.1), when Japanese and U.S. mothers were helping their 4-year-olds with a puzzle, the Japanese mothers were likely to emphasize mutu- ality (e.g., “This puzzle is hard for us”), while the

He’s Listening With tilted head and pink

tutu, this girl exemplifies two of the best

characteristics often found in young children:

empathy and self-confidence. Responding to

her personality and concern, the distressed

boy may well decide to rejoin the group.

prosocial behavior Feeling and acting in

ways that are helpful and kind, without

obvious benefit to oneself.

antisocial behavior Feeling and acting in

ways that are deliberately hurtful or

destructive to another person.

260 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

EL LE

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Especially for Adults Who Are Unhappy

What would prompt a young child to cheer

someone up?

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 258): Look at his hands, legs, and face.

He is holding the bottle and touching the

baby’s forehead with delicacy and care;

he is positioning his legs in a way that is

uncomfortable but suited to the task; and his

eyes and mouth suggest he is giving the

baby his full concentration.

instrumental aggression Hurtful behavior

that is intended to get or keep something

that another person has.

reactive aggression An impulsive retaliation

for another person’s intentional or acciden-

tal actions, verbal or physical.

bullying aggression Unprovoked, repeated

physical or verbal attack, especially on

victims who are unlikely to defend them-

selves.

Emotional Development 261

U.S. mothers tended to emphasize individuality (e.g., “You are having a hard time with this puzzle”) (Dennis et al., 2002; see Research Design). If this is typical, then Japanese children might learn to empathize more than U.S. children would.

Preschool children are capable of feeling empathy for others of their own group (national, ethnic, religious, or familial) without feeling antipathy toward people of other groups, never realizing that their values and goals are not universally shared (Verkuyten, 2004). In fact, their innocence can be astonishing, as researchers found in Northern Ireland: Most 6-year-olds said they did not know of any prob- lems between the Catholics and Protestants (Sani & Bennett, 2004). Meanwhile, many adults in their communities felt such antipathy that even killing was possible.

Most young children are not prejudiced against other children because of back- ground characteristics such as gender or ethnicity. A 5-year-old girl might say “I hate boys” because her older sister says that, but she may consider a boy her best friend. Typically, best friends are of the same sex and background, but that is because of personal interests more than categories (Rubin et al., 2006). When children are prejudiced (and some are), that usually begins when they are older, influenced by family and culture (Nesdale, 2004; Ruble et al., 2004). More often, young children feel empathy toward any child who is hurt, hungry, or otherwise in trouble.

Aggression

The gradual regulation of emotions and emergence of antipathy is nowhere more apparent than in the most antisocial behavior of all, active aggression, which occurs when a child’s dislike erupts into action. Learning when and how to be aggressive is a major goal of the play of young children. This is evident on close observation of rough-and-tumble play; or in the fantasies of domination and submission that shine through sociodramatic play; or in the sharing of art supplies, construction materials, and wheeled vehicles (J. D. Peterson & Flanders, 2005). Children learn to inhibit their angry impulses in emotional regulation.

Researchers recognize many types of aggression, described in Table 10.1. Instrumental aggression is very common among young children, who often want something they do not have and will try, without thinking, to get it. Reactive aggression is impulsive as well, and this type, particularly, becomes better con- trolled with emotional regulation. Finally, bullying aggression is the most omi- nous, when a child seems to deliberately hurt another.

Research Design Scientists:Tracy A. Dennis, Pamela Cole,

Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, and Ixchiro

Mizuta.

Publication: Child Development (2002).

Participants: Sixty 4-year-olds in two

groups of 30, one in Japan and one in

the United States.

Design: Mothers played with their chil-

dren while their interaction was video-

taped. Later, coders who were blind to

the hypothesis coded the mother’s and

the child’s actions and speech in more

than 20 categories. One was individual-

ity and one was autonomy.Validity and

reliability checks on the coding helped

ensure standardization.

Major conclusion: Many similarities and

a few differences (some opposite to the

stereotypes) were found. Japanese

mothers emphasized mutuality much

more, and U.S. mothers emphasized in-

dividuality.

Comment:The two groups were closely

matched on many factors, including

child’s age, parents’ age, and education.

This suggests that the differences were

primarily cultural. Replication, with 4-

year-olds in these and other nations, is

needed.

Source: Dennis et al., 2002.

30

20

10

0 Individuality Mutuality

Japanese mothers

U.S. mothers

Percentage

of time

Time Mothers Spent Emphasizing Either Individuality or Mutuality

FIGURE 10.1

How Empathy Is Taught During free play with their 4-year-olds, Japanese

mothers were more likely than U.S. mothers to emphasize mutuality, or inter-

dependence. U.S. mothers tended to stress individuality, or self-reliance. This

study demonstrates the role of culture in children’s development of empathy.

Especially for Young Adults When you

were younger, you might have had an

imaginary friend with whom you played,

slept, and talked. Does this mean you were

emotionally disturbed?

Bullying is not always physical; it can be verbal or relational when the goal is to disrupt a child’s friendships. Physical aggression declines over the preschool and school-age years, but verbal attacks may increase (Dodge et al. 2006). So might relational aggression (described in Chapter 13).

Bullying is apparent among some young children, with boys particularly likely to use physical attacks. Preschool bullies must be stopped, and victims must learn to defend themselves, lest the bully/victim patterns continue throughout middle childhood and adolescence. The various forms of bullying and the consequences are described in detail in Chapter 13, on school-age children.

Aggression follows a developmental pattern, becoming less common, but more hurtful, with time. Infants are very aggressive; they naturally pinch, slap, and even bite others. In Richard Tremblay’s dramatic words, “The only reason babies do not kill each other is that we do not give them knives or guns” (quoted in Holden,

262 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

TABLE 10.1

The Four Forms of Aggression

Type of Aggression Definition Comments

Hurtful behavior that is aimed at gaining something

(such as a toy, a place in line, or a turn on the swing)

that someone else has

An impulsive retaliation for a hurt (intentional or

accidental) that can be verbal or physical

Nonphysical acts, such as insults or social rejection,

aimed at harming the social connections between the

victim and others

Unprovoked, repeated physical or verbal attack,

especially on victims who are unlikely to defend

themselves

Instrumental aggression

Reactive aggression

Relational aggression

Bullying aggression

Often increases from age 2 to 6; involves objects more

than people; quite normal; more egocentric than

antisocial.

Indicates a lack of emotional regulation, characteristic

of 2-year-olds. A 5-year-old should be able to stop and

think before reacting.

Involves a personal attack and thus is directly

antisocial; can be very hurtful; more common as

children become socially aware.

In both bullies and victims, a sign of poor emotional

regulation; adults should intervene before the school

years. (Bullying is discussed in Chapter 13.)

Ladies and Babies A developmental differ-

ence is visible here between the 14-month-

old’s evident curiosity and the 4-year-old

friends’ pleasure in sociodramatic play.

The mother’s reaction—joy at the children’s

mastery play or irritation at the mess they’ve

made—is less predictable. FE LI

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.

➤Response for Young Adults (from page

261): No. In fact, imaginary friends are quite

common, especially among creative children.

➤Response for Adults Who Are

Unhappy (from page 260): Young children

are not good at guessing emotions from voice

tone, facial expression, or sarcasm. They are

naturally sympathetic if an adult sheds a few

tears while describing a sad event, thereby

expressing feelings clearly and directly.

2000, p. 580). Fortunately, babies are not strong and they have no weapons, giving parents time to teach them some self-control before any serious harm occurs.

Almost all 2-year-olds are still somewhat aggressive, but the incidence of such behavior diminishes over the next two years. If a child has not begun to modify his or her antisocial behavior by age 3 or 4, that child may be violent throughout child- hood, adolescence, and early adulthood (Loeber et al, 2005; Tremblay & Nagin, 2005). However, if parents have a good relationship with their child and they help him or her decrease aggression, then the child will probably do well, academically and socially, displaying only average aggression by middle childhood (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004).

Remember that emotions need regulation, not repression. Since overcontrol, not just undercontrol, can lead to psychological problems, some assertive and self-protective behaviors are probably beneficial (Hawley, 1999). An internalizing 4-year-old who cries and retreats from every threat may become a victim, overwhelmed by anxiety or depression later on. Thus, some aggression in early childhood is quite normal (NICHD Early Child Care Network, 2004).

As self-esteem and the self-concept build, children become more likely to defend their interests. As emotional regulation increases, they do not attack without reason. Normal 4-year-olds have learned to choose issues and targets as well as to control the type and intensity of aggression (Tremblay & Nagin, 2005).

SUMMING UP

As Erikson describes, pride, purpose, and initiative are integral components in the self-

concept of young children. Preschoolers typically have high self-esteem. Children who

have difficulty with emotional regulation often develop internalizing or externalizing

problems. Many researchers believe that emotional regulation is the foundation for later

social skills and cognitive growth, as children become more prosocial and less antisocial,

expressing empathy more than anger. Some aggression is normal in young children,

who gradually learn to regulate their anger. ■

Emotional Development 263

Male Bonding Sometimes the only way to

distinguish aggression from rough-and-tumble

play is to look at the faces. The hitter is not

scowling, the hittee is laughing, and the hug-

ger is just joining in the fun. Another clue that

this is rough-and-tumble play comes from

gender and context. These boys are in a Head

Start program, where they are learning social

skills, such as how to avoid fighting.LA U

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IN C

.

A Real Fight? Could be. We cannot see the

boys’ faces, and we do not know what led up

to this moment.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 264):

Are any signs of a serious fight visible?

Parents We have seen that young children’s emotions and actions are affected by many factors, including brain maturation and culture. Now we focus on another primary influence: parents.

Parenting Style

Parents differ a great deal in what they believe about children and how they act with them. Although thousands of researchers have traced the effects of parenting on child development, the work of one person, 40 years ago, continues to be most influential. Diana Baumrind (1967, 1971) studied 100 preschool children, all from California, almost all middle-class European Americans. (The cohort and cultural limitations of this sample were not obvious at the time.)

Baumrind found that parents differed on four important dimensions:

■ Expressions of warmth. Some parents are very affectionate, others cold and critical.

■ Strategies for discipline. Parents vary in whether and how they explain, criticize, persuade, ignore, and punish.

■ Communication. Some parents listen patiently; others demand silence. ■ Expectations for maturity. Parents vary in standards for responsibility and self-

control.

Baumrind’s Three Patterns of Parenting

On the basis of these dimensions, Baumrind identified three parenting styles (see Table 10.2).

■ Authoritarian parenting. The parents’ word is law, not to be questioned. Misconduct brings strict punishment, usually physical (but not so harsh as to be considered abusive). Authoritarian parents set down clear rules and hold high standards. They do not expect children to give their opinions; discussion about emotions is especially rare. (One adult from such a family said that the question “How do you feel?” had only two possible answers: “Fine” and “Tired.”) Authoritarian parents love their children, but they seem aloof, rarely showing affection.

■ Permissive parenting. Permissive parents make few demands, hiding any impatience they feel. Discipline is lax partly because permissive parents have low expectations for maturity. Instead, permissive parents are nurturing and accepting, listening to whatever their offspring say. They want to be helpful, but they do not feel responsible for shaping their children.

■ Authoritative parenting. Authoritative parents set limits and enforce rules, but they also listen to their children. The parents demand maturity, but they are usually forgiving (not punishing) if the child falls short. They consider themselves guides, not authorities (as authoritarian parents do) or friends (as permissive parents do).

As explained in Chapter 8, no researcher has ever found that abusive or neg- lectful parenting helps children. This means that authoritarian parents must take care not to punish too often or too harshly and that permissive parents must be concerned about, not indifferent to, their children’s well-being.

Many other researchers continue to study parenting styles. The three-part de- scription above, although still influential, is too simple (e.g., Bornstein, 2006; Galambos et al., 2003; Lamb & Lewis, 2005; Parke & Buriel, 2006). Baumrind’s original sample was limited (very little economic, ethnic, or cultural diversity):

authoritarian parenting Child rearing with

high behavioral standards, punishment of

misconduct, and low communication.

264 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

permissive parenting Child rearing with

high nurturance and communication but

rare punishment, guidance, or control.

authoritative parenting Child rearing in

which the parents set limits but listen to

the child and are flexible.

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 263): No. Boys acting out of antipathy

kick and pummel, grab and pull, bite and

pound. None of that is shown here.

She focused on style more than daily processes; she did not take into account the child’s substantial contribution to parent–child relationships; and she did not realize that some authoritarian parents are very loving and that some permissive parents guide their children with words, if not with rules.

Children growing up with these three styles have been followed longitudinally, and the following correlations have been reported (Baumrind, 1991; Steinberg et al., 1994):

■ Authoritarian parents raise children who are likely to be conscientious, obedient, and quiet but not especially happy. The children tend to feel guilty or depressed, internalizing their frustrations and blaming themselves when things don’t go well. As adolescents, they sometimes rebel, leaving home before age 20.

■ Permissive parents raise unhappy children who lack self-control, especially in the give-and-take of peer relationships. Inadequate emotional regulation makes them immature and impedes friendships, which is the main reason for their unhappiness. They tend to live at home, still dependent, in early adulthood.

■ Authoritative parents raise children who are successful, articulate, happy with themselves, and generous with others. These children are usually liked by teachers and peers, especially in cultures where individual initiative is valued.

An especially important factor regarding parenting style during the preschool years is a child’s temperament. Fearful children and impulsive children need different parental responses (Kochanska et al., 2001; Van Leeuwen et al., 2004). This means that any simple formula of the best parenting is likely to be wrong in some cases; a child’s personality and the social context are always significant.

Cultural Variations

Effective Chinese American, Caribbean American, and African American parents are often stricter than effective parents of northern or western European back- grounds (Chao, 2001; Wachs, 1999). It is important to acknowledge that multi- cultural and international research has found that specific discipline methods and family rules are less important than parental warmth, support, and concern (McLoyd & Smith, 2002; Parke & Buriel, 2006). Children from every ethnic group and every country benefit if they believe that their parents appreciate them; children everywhere suffer if they feel rejected and unwanted (Khaleque & Rohner, 2002; Maccoby, 2000).

An example of the role of culture in discipline comes from the contrast between mothers in Japan and in the United States. Japanese mothers tend to use reason- ing, empathy, and expressions of disappointment to control their children more than North American mothers do. These techniques work well, partly because the

Especially for Political Activists Many

observers contend that children learn their

political attitudes at home, from the way their

parents treat them. Is this true?

Parents 265

TABLE 10.2

Characteristics of Parenting Styles Identified by Baumrind

Characteristics

Communication

Style Warmth Discipline Expectations of Maturity Parent to Child Child to Parent

Authoritarian Low Strict, often physical High High Low

Permissive High Rare Low Low High

Authoritative High Moderate, with much discussion Moderate High High

Japanese mother–child relationship is strongly affectionate (it is called amae, a close interpersonal bond) (Rothbaum et al., 2000).

Would North American parents successfully raise their children if they expressed more sympathy and less anger with their misbehaving 4-year-olds? There is no simple answer. But cross-cultural differences in disciplining young children are apparent (e.g., physical punishment is illegal in some Scandinavian nations, common in some Latin American ones).

Dozens of other differences in values, climate, economy, history, and so on are evident between nations (and among groups within nations). Each of these factors could affect child-rearing practices. It is impossible to draw simple conclusions about discipline and adult personality, because definitive research linking cross-cultural variables has not been done (Matsumoto & Yoo, 2006).

Given this appreciation that cultural differences reflect a group’s adapta- tion to its specific setting, developmentalists hesitate to recommend any one particular style of parenting as best for everyone (Dishion & Bullock, 2002; J. G. Miller, 2004). That does not mean that they believe all parents function equally well—far from it. Signs of serious trouble are obvious in a child’s behavior, including several mentioned in this chapter: overcontrol, undercontrol, bullying, and antisocial play. Ineffective parenting is not the only explanation for such problems, but it is one common cause. Solutions, however, vary.

Discipline and Punishment

A particular issue for many developmentalists and parents is discipline, which varies a great deal from family to family, culture to culture. Given what re- searchers have learned about cognition (that children do not understand complex causes), ideally parents anticipate misbehavior and guide their children toward patterns that will help them lifelong. But parents cannot always anticipate and prevent problems; punishment is sometimes necessary.

No disciplinary technique works quickly and automatically to teach any and all children desired behavior. It is easy to stop a child for a moment, with a threat or a slap, but it is hard to shape behavior so that the child gradually internalizes the parents’ standards. Yet this is the goal and sometimes the result. Between ages 2 and 6, children learn to reflect on consequences, to control their emotions,

and to bring their actions closer to what their parents expect. The child becomes self-regulating, not just obedient.

In every nation and family, the first step is clarity about what is expected. What is “rude” or “nasty” or “undisciplined” behavior in one community is often accepted, even encouraged, in another. Each family needs to decide its goals and make them explicit for the child. Parents have a wide range of expecta- tions and thoughts regarding child rearing, although they are often unaware of them (Bornstein, 2006; Bugental & Grusec, 2006). This diversity is all the more reason both parents need to discuss their expectations—to form a strong parental alliance.

The second step is to remember what the child is able to do. Many parents forget how immature chil- dren’s control over their bodies and minds is. For instance, some parents punish children for wetting

266 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

LA U

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Parenting Style This woman is disciplining

her son, who does not look happy about it.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 270):

Which parenting style is shown here?

© T

H E

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Pay Attention Children develop best with

lots of love and attention. They shouldn’t have

to ask for it!

“He’s just doing that to get attention.”

the bed, but no child deliberately wets the bed. Three-year-olds are clumsy and irrational; they inevitably break things and tell “lies.”

Punishment should be rare, reserved for misdeeds that the child understands and could reasonably control. Other developmental characteristics to remember are listed in Table 10.3, and different methods of punishment are discussed in the following.

Parents 267

Planning Punishment

Physical punishment (slapping, spanking, or beating) is used

more on children between the ages of 2 and 6 than on children

of any other age group. Many parents believe that spanking is

acceptable, legitimate, and sometimes necessary, and they often

remember being spanked themselves.

However, the life-span perspective reminds us of long-term

consequences. Physical punishment works at the moment it is

administered—spanking stops a child’s misbehavior—but longi-

tudinal research finds that children who are physically punished

are likely to become bullies, delinquents, and then abusive

adults. Domestic violence of every type—spousal abuse, threats,

and insults—correlates with antisocial behavior in childhood and

then adulthood (Jaffee et al., 2004; Straus, 1994). Of course,

many children who are spanked do not become violent adults.

Spanking increases the risk, but other factors (poverty and tem-

perament, among others) are stronger influences. Nonetheless,

developmentalists wonder why parents would increase any risk.

Since physical punishment increases the possibility of aggression

and only temporarily increases obedience, it is not recommended

(Amato & Fowler, 2002; Gershoff, 2002).

In truth, every form of punishment may have unintended

consequences. Another method, psychological control, uses

guilt and the child’s gratitude toward the parent and may dam-

age a child’s initiative and achievement (Barber, 2002).

Consider the results of a study of an entire cohort (the best

way to obtain an unbiased sample) of children born in Finland

(Aunola & Nurmi, 2004). Their parents were asked 20 ques-

tions about their approach to child rearing. The following four

items, which the parents rated from 1 (“Not at all like me”) to 5

(“Very much like me”), measured psychological control:

1. My child should be aware of how much I have done for

him/her.

2. I let my child see how disappointed and shamed I am if he/she

misbehaves.

3. My child should be aware of how much I sacrifice for him/her.

4. I expect my child to be grateful and appreciate all the advan-

tages he/she has.

The higher the parents scored on psychological control, the

lower the children’s math scores. The connection grew stronger

as the children advanced in school. Math achievement suffered

most if parents were high in both psychological control and

affection (e.g., they frequently hugged their children) (Aunola

& Nurmi, 2004). Other research also finds that psychological

issues and applications

TABLE 10.3

Relating Discipline to Developmental Characteristics

During Early Childhood

1. Remember theory of mind. Young children gradually come to understand things from other

viewpoints. Encouraging empathy (“How would you feel if someone did that to you?”)

increases prosocial and decreases antisocial behavior.

2. Remember emerging self-concept. Young children are developing a sense of who they are

and what they want. Adults should protect that emerging self, neither forcing 3-year-olds to

share their favorite toys nor saying, “Words do not hurt.” Instead, children need to know

when and how to protect their favorite possessions and their emerging sense of self. For

instance, a child can learn not to bring a toy to school unless he or she is willing to share it

with everyone.

3. Remember the language explosion and fast-mapping. Young children are eager to talk and

think, but they say more than they really understand. Children who “just don’t listen”

should not always be punished, because they may not have understood a command.

Discussion before and after they misbehave helps children learn.

4. Remember that young children are not yet logical. The connection between misdeed and

punishment needs to be immediate and transparent, but usually it is not. If you were

spanked as a child, do you remember why? Did you ever do the same misdeed again?

psychological control A disciplinary tech-

nique that involves threatening to withdraw

love and support and that relies on a child’s

feelings of guilt and gratitude to the parents.

➤Response for Political Activists (from

page 265): There are many parenting styles,

and it is difficult to determine each one’s

impact on children’s personalities. At this

point, attempts to connect early child rearing

with later political outlook are speculative at

best.

Especially for Parents Suppose you agree

that spanking is destructive, but you some-

times get so angry at your child’s behavior

that you hit him or her. Is your reaction

appropriate?

The Challenge of Media

Some people (not parents) imagine that parenting is straightforward and that good parents always have good children. Not so. Children are emotionally immature,

sometimes angry or fearful or defiant. Preschoolers, in particular, talk when they should be quiet, run when they should walk, show off when they should be modest.

Further, each cohort of parents is faced with challenges that their parents never confronted. Currently, those challenges include new junk food; far more single-parent families than in the past (about 40 percent, discussed in the following chapters); earlier sexual awareness; and an explosion of media, including the Internet (Comstock & Scharrer, 2006).

Parents allow their young children to watch television or use the computer not only because the children demand it but also because video keeps children engaged. Parents easily ignore the possible impact on the emotionally immature child, who is dazzled by fast-moving images and entranced by cartoon figures that have no empathy. Almost no preschooler understands “the motivated purpose of a commercial as a self-interested vehicle intended to benefit the advertiser” (Comstock & Scharrer, 2006, p. 833).

268 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

control can depress children’s achievement and social accept-

ance, although affection does not always make things worse

(Barber, 2002).

One disciplinary technique often used in North America is

the time-out, in which an adult requires the child to sit quietly

apart from other people for a few minutes. For young children, a

time-out can be quickly effective; one minute of time-out per

year of age is suggested. Another common practice is withdrawal

of love, when the parent expresses disappointment or looks

sternly at the child, as if the child were no longer lovable.

A third method is induction, in which the parents talk with

the child, getting the child to under-

stand why the behavior was wrong.

Conversation helps children internalize

standards, but listening takes time and

patience from the child as well as from

the adult. Since 3-year-olds do not un-

derstand causes and consequences, they

cannot answer an angry “Why did you do

that?”

Each method varies in consequences

and effectiveness, depending on the

child’s temperament, the culture, the

parents’ personalities, and the parent–

child relationship. For example, a time-

out is effective if the child prefers to be

with other people. One version of time-

out for older children is suspension from

school, which works if the child wants to

be in the classroom. However, if a child

dislikes school, time-out becomes a reinforcement for the child

(and the teacher), making future disobedience more likely.

There is no simple answer partly because children’s personal-

ities and parental pressures vary. As a mother, I know that pa-

tient guidance is necessary and that prevention is better than

punishment, but emotions can be overwhelming. Rachel, at age

3, took a glass orange juice bottle from the refrigerator, dropping

it on the kitchen floor. It shattered. I wanted to slap her. “Time-

out!” I yelled, putting her on the couch (20 feet away) until I

cleaned it up. I needed that time-out more than she did.

Parents have powerful emotions, memories, and stresses.

That’s why punishment is not a simple

issue. One young child who was disci-

plined for fighting protested, “Some-

times the fight just crawls out of me.”

Ideally, punishment won’t just crawl out

of the parent.

Angela at Play Research suggests that

being spanked is a salient and memorable

experience for young children, not because

of the pain but because of the emotions.

Children seek to do what they have learned;

they know not only how to place their

hands but also that an angry person does

the hitting. The only part of the lesson they

usually forget is what particular misdeed

precipitated the punishment. Asked why

she is spanking her doll, Angela will likely

explain, “She was bad.”DA V

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time-out A disciplinary technique in which a

child is separated from other people for a

specified time.

“Why don’t you get off the computer and watch some TV?”

Experts advise parents to minimize media exposure, including no television before age 2. Six major organizations devoted to the health of children (the Ameri- can Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association) implore parents to stop exposing their children to video violence— whether in cartoons, in situation comedies, in video games, or on the evening news. This leaves almost nothing to watch (C. A. Anderson & Bushman, 2002).

Did you notice that all six organizations have American in their titles? That requires a cross-cultural advisement: Most of the research reported here studied U.S. children watching U.S. media (C. A. Anderson & Bushman, 2002; Roberts & Foehr, 2004). Readers need to ask themselves whether this limits the conclu- sions reported here or whether American media are so pervasive that the same problems exist worldwide.

The Importance of Content

Most young children of every ethnic and economic group in the United States spend more than three hours each day using some sort of media (see Table 10.4). Among young children, television is the most popular medium. Almost every home has at least two televisions, and children usually watch apart from their parents, often in their own rooms. By age 3, more than one-fourth of all children already have a television in their bedrooms, and this percentage rises as children grow older (Roberts & Foehr, 2004).

What do children see? The “good guys,” whether in cartoons or police dramas, do as much hitting, shooting, and kicking as the “bad guys,” yet the consequences of their violence are sanitized, justified, or made comic. Almost all the good guys are male and White. Women are usually portrayed as victims or adoring girl- friends, not as leaders—except in a very few girl-oriented programs that boys rarely watch.

Attempts to restrict children’s watching have limited success. For instance, many TV programs and movies are now labeled regarding their appropriateness for children, but this is voluntary and many producers refuse to do it. Parents can install a V-chip in their television to limit what children can see, but few families have done so successfully. For many reasons, such voluntary measures have little effect on children’s exposure to violence and sex, especially for children who are most vulnerable.

Evidence from every perspective and method confirms that violence is pervasive and that children of all ages who watch violence on television become more violent themselves (C. A. Anderson et al., 2003; Huesmann et al., 2003; J. G. Johnson et al., 2002; Singer & Singer, 2005). For example, they are more likely to get into fights with each other and even to break things and hurt people when they grow up. For obvious reasons, extensive longitudinal research has not been published for the newer media, but virtually all developmentalists expect that sexual messages and aggression on all media (DVDs, MP3 players, the Internet) undermine opti- mal development of young children (Comstock & Scharrer, 2006).

Past research gives parents good reason to limit their children’s media involve- ment. Consider the results of a longitudinal study that began with children at about age 5 and queried those same children again as adolescents (D. R. Anderson et al., 2001; see Research Design).

Preschoolers who watched a lot of violence on television and copied the actions of cartoon characters were more violent and less creative. They had lower grades in school when they were older. This was true for both sexes and evident in every subject, but some correlations were particularly strong. For instance, 5-year-old

Parents 269

TABLE 10.4

Average Daily Exposure

to Electronic Media

Age 2 to 4 Years Hours per Day

White 3:18

Black 4:30

Hispanic 3:37

Age 5 to 7 Years Hours per Day

White 3:17

Black 4:16

Hispanic 3:38

Source: Adapted from Roberts & Foehr, 2004.

Research Design Scientists: Daniel Anderson, Aletha C.

Huston, Kelly L. Schmitt, Deborah L.

Linebarger, and John C. Wright.

Publication: Monographs of the Society

for Research in Child Development

(2001).

Participants: A total of 570 adolescents

from Massachusetts and Kansas, whose

television watching and other character-

istics were studied in depth (viewing

diaries recorded exactly what they

watched).

Design:These participants and their

television viewing were first studied at

age 5. As adolescents, they were asked

questions about their current lives,

and their high school transcripts were

obtained. Researchers controlled for

many factors (e.g., SES, gender, region),

seeking correlations between viewing

habits at age 5 and behavior at age 16

or so. Efforts were made to understand

causation, not just correlation.

Major conclusion: Sixty-five correlations

were found between television viewing

at preschool and adolescent behavior

and characteristics. Most but not all

effects were negative, leading to the con-

clusion that content matters: “Marshall

McLuhan appears to have been wrong.

The medium is not the message.The

message is the message” (p. 134).

Comment:These researchers wisely fol-

lowed up on hundreds of preschoolers

who had been carefully surveyed many

years earlier.The result confirms the

conclusions of many cross-sectional and

shorter longitudinal studies:Television

in the early years affects behavior in

school.The other interesting result was

not predicted by those most critical of

TV:The content of some programs facili-

tates learning.

girls generally watched less violence than boys did, but when they did, the effects were greater.

There were also some positive effects of early television watching, depending on the programs watched. Young children who watched only educational programs (mostly Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood) became teenagers who earned higher grades and read more than other high school students did, especially if they were boys. This study also examined what the children watched as adolescents and again found an impact, almost always negative.

From a developmental perspective, early childhood is the best time to raise this issue because that is when household media habits are established. Young children are strongly influenced by their parents and older siblings, who often watch TV during meals or spend hours with television, computer, and hand-held video games. Already in 1999, one-fourth of all 6-year-olds had played a computer or video game within the past 24 hours (Roberts & Foehr, 2004). And the numbers are rising each year.

Early childhood is a vulnerable period for media effects for other reasons as well. First, young children spend more time in front of TV and computer screens than do people of any other age group. Second, young children are not very knowl- edgeable about society, culture, and people; they are novices at interpreting and regulating emotions. For example, when a cartoon animal or even a person ex- plodes on the screen, they are more likely to cheer than to cry.

The Effects on Family life

Probably the worst effect of the media is how it interferes with family life. Chil- dren benefit when their parents are involved in their lives, as already apparent in the discussion of parenting patterns. As you have seen, language development (the crucial cognitive achievement of early childhood) depends on hours of one-on-one conversations every day. Likewise, emotional regulation (the crucial psychosocial accomplishment of early childhood) depends on parental responsiveness.

Unfortunately, all the research reports that the more media a family uses, the less time they spend together. Parents and children talk only briefly when they watch together, and they rarely watch together. In most families, parents and children have their own TVs, often in separate rooms. Further interfering with family time, the tele- vision often stays on during meals and even when no one is watching.

All told, the result is “parental abdication of oversight on chil- dren’s media behavior” (Roberts & Foehr, 2004, p. 202). Not only do the media cut into the time children spend with their parents, they also reduce the amount of time children spend in imagina- tive and social play—and thus on learning.

Although many adults hope that more time spent with one type of media would mean less time spent with another, this is not the case. The only exception is with print: Children who read many books tend to watch less TV (Roberts & Foehr, 2004). It is not surprising that grades suffer and impulsive violence increases as children watch more TV.

No wonder those six organizations recommend limited televi- sion. But few parents can enforce a total prohibition. (When you read about fast-mapping in Chapter 9, did you wonder why Sarah called me angry names? It was because I had momentarily un- plugged the TV.) Parents can, however, limit their own and their children’s media exposure and play, read, and talk with their chil-

Dangerous Toy? Would this 4-year-old at the

computer be safer playing outside with a ball?

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➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 266): The authoritative style. Note the

firm hold this woman has on her defiant son;

he must listen (evidence that she is not

permissive). Also note that she is talking to

him, not hitting or yelling, and that her

expression is warm (evidence that she is not

authoritarian).

“Have some respect for my learning style.”

Video Style Children who spend a lot of time watching television

and playing video games are likely to develop a visual learning style.

They get used to receiving information in the form of vivid images

and brief scenes, making it harder for them to concentrate on and

comprehend anything that is longer and presented in verbal form.

dren more. Few children know a proven fact: An animated parent can be more en- tertaining than Mickey Mouse.

SUMMING UP

Over the past 40 years, Diana Baumrind and most other developmentalists have found

that authoritative parenting (warm, with guidance) is more effective than either authori-

tarian (very strict) or permissive (very lenient) parenting. In any culture, children thrive

when their parents appreciate them and care about their accomplishments. The children

of parents who are uninvolved, uncaring, or abusive are seldom happy, well-adjusted,

and high-achieving.

Good parenting is not achieved by following any one simple rule; children’s tempera-

ments vary, and so do cultural patterns. The media pose a particular challenge world-

wide because children are attracted to colorful, fast-paced images, yet violent TV

programs, in particular, lead to more aggressive behavior. Parental monitoring of the

quality and quantity of the media—the underlying messages as well as the overt

themes—to which children are exposed is recommended by every expert. ■

Becoming Boys and Girls Identity as a male or female is an important feature of a child’s self-concept, a major source of self-esteem (with each gender believing that it is best) (Powlishta, 2004). The first question asked about a newborn is “Boy or girl?” and parents select gender-distinct clothes, blankets, diapers, and even pacifiers. Toddlers already know their own sex, and children become more aware of gender with every passing year of childhood (Maccoby, 1998).

Social scientists attempt to distinguish between sex differences, which are the biological differences between males and females, and gender differences, which are culturally imposed masculine or feminine roles and behaviors. In the- ory, this may seem like a straightforward separation, but, as with every nature– nurture distinction, the interaction between sex and gender makes it hard to sepa- rate the two (Hines, 2004).

Even 2-year-olds can apply gender labels (Mrs., Mr., lady, man) consistently. That simple cognitive awareness becomes, by age 3, a rudimentary understanding that sex distinctions are lifelong (although some pretend, hope, or imagine other- wise). By age 4, children are convinced that certain toys (such as dolls or trucks) and certain roles (such as nurse or soldier) are appropriate for one gender but not the other (Bauer et al., 1998; Ruble et al., 2006).

Throughout the play years, children confuse gender and sex. Awareness that a person’s sex is a biological characteristic, not determined by words, opinions, or clothing, develops gradually, becoming firm at age 8 or so (Szkrybalo & Ruble, 1999). This uncertainty about the biological determination of sex was demon- strated by a 3-year-old who went with his father to see a neighbor’s newborn kittens. Returning home, the child told his mother that there were three girl kit- tens and two boy kittens. “How do you know?” she asked. “Daddy picked them up and read what was written on their tummies,” he replied.

Theories of Gender Differences

Experts as well as parents disagree about what proportion of observed gender dif- ferences is biological (perhaps hormones, brain structure, body shape) and what proportion is environmental (perhaps embedded in the culture or in the family)

sex differences Biological differences

between males and females, in organs,

hormones, and body type.

gender differences Differences in the roles

and behavior of males and females that

originate in the culture.

Becoming Boys and Girls 271

➤Response for Parents (from page 267):

The worst time to spank a child is when you

are angry, because you might seriously hurt

the child and because the child will associate

anger with violence and may follow your ex-

ample. You would do better to learn to control

your anger and develop other strategies for

discipline and for prevention of misbehavior.

(Leaper, 2002; Ruble et al., 2006). For example, you read earlier that girls are often ahead of boys in emotional regulation. Is that connected to the twenty-third pair of chromosomes that affects brain development, or is it that parents treat their sons and daughters differently? Evidence supports both.

Neuroscientists tend to look for male–female brain differences, and they find many; sociologists tend to look for male–female family and culture patterns, and they also find many. Similar but varied predilections apply to historians, anthropol- ogists, political scientists, and psychologists of every perspective. Consider the explanations for sex/gender differences during early childhood from each of our five theories.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud (1938) called the period from about age 3 to 6 the phallic stage because he believed its central focus is the phallus, or penis. At about 3 or 4 years of age, said Freud, the process of maturation makes a boy aware of his male sexual organ. He begins to masturbate, to fear castration, and to develop sexual feelings toward his mother.

These feelings make every young boy jealous of his father—so jealous, according to Freud, that every son secretly wants to replace his dad. Freud called this the Oedipus complex, after Oedipus, son of a king in Greek mythology. Abandoned as an infant and raised in a distant kingdom, Oedipus later returned to his birthplace and, not realizing who they were, killed his own father and married his mother. When he discovered what he had done, he blinded himself in a spasm of guilt.

Freud believed that this ancient drama has been replayed for two millennia because it dramatizes emotions all boys feel about their parents—both love and hate. Every male feels guilty because of the incestuous and murderous impulses that are buried in his unconscious. Boys fear that their fathers will inflict terrible punishment if their secret impulses are discovered.

In self-defense, boys develop a powerful conscience called the superego, which is quick to judge and punish “the bad guys.” According to Freud’s theory, a young boy’s fascination with superheroes, guns, kung fu, and the like arises from his unconscious urges to kill his father. An adult man’s homosexuality, homopho- bia, or obsession with punishment might be explained by an imperfectly resolved phallic stage.

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Biology or Culture? Could the trio on the left dress as pirates and the three on the right all eat ice cream cones

with multicolored sprinkles? If they did, and if new photographs were taken, would their expressions, clothes, close-

ness, and hair switch as well? Probably not: By age 5, dozens of differences between boys and girls are evident.

Oedipus complex The unconscious desire

of young boys to replace their father and

win their mother’s exclusive love.

phallic stage Freud’s third stage of develop-

ment, when the penis becomes the focus

of concern and pleasure.

superego In psychoanalytic theory, the

judgmental part of the personality that

internalizes moral standards of the

parents.

Freud offered several descriptions of the phallic stage in girls. One centers on the Electra complex (also named after a figure in classical mythology). the Elec- tra complex is similar to the Oedipus complex in that the little girl wants to elimi- nate the same-sex parent, her mother, and become intimate with the opposite-sex parent, her father.

Children of both sexes cope with their guilt and fear through identification, that is, by allying themsleves with another person—the same-sex parent—by sym- bolically taking on that person’s behavior and attitudes. Because they cannot re- place their parents, young boys copy their fathers’ mannerisms, opinions, actions, and so on, and girls copy their mothers’. Both sexes exaggerate the appropriate male or female role.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, social scientists generally have agreed that Freud’s explanation of sexual and moral development “flies in the face of sociological and historical evidence” (David et al., 2004, p. 139). More recently, however, some of Freud’s ideas have become more acceptable to psychologists. I myself have softened my criticism of Freud, as the following explains.

Electra complex The unconscious desire of

girls to replace their mother and win their

father’s exclusive love.

identification An attempt to defend one’s

self-concept by taking on the behaviors

and attitudes of someone else.

Becoming Boys and Girls 273

Berger and Freud

My family’s first “Electra episode” occurred in a conversation

with my eldest daughter, Bethany, when she was about 4 years

old:

Bethany: When I grow up, I’m going to marry Daddy.

Mother: But Daddy’s married to me.

Bethany: That’s all right. When I grow up, you’ll probably be

dead.

Mother: (determined to stick up for myself) Daddy’s older

than me, so when I’m dead, he’ll probably be dead,

too.

Bethany: That’s OK. I’ll marry him when he gets born again.

At this point, I couldn’t think of a good reply, especially since

I had no idea where she had gotten the concept of reincarna-

tion. Bethany saw my face fall, and she took pity on me:

Bethany: Don’t worry, Mommy. After you get born again, you

can be our baby.

The second episode was a conversation I had with my daugh-

ter Rachel when she was about 5:

Rachel: When I get married, I’m going to marry Daddy.

Mother: Daddy’s already married to me.

Rachel: (with the joy of having discovered a wonderful solu-

tion) Then we can have a double wedding!

The third episode was considerably more graphic. It took the

form of a “valentine” left on my husband’s pillow by my daughter

Elissa, who was about 8 years old at the time. It is reproduced

at right.

Finally, when my youngest daughter, Sarah, turned 5, she

also expressed the desire to marry my husband. When I told her

she couldn’t, because he was married to me, her response re-

vealed one more hazard of watching TV: “Oh, yes, a man can

have two wives. I saw it on television.”

I am not the only feminist developmentalist to be taken

aback by her own children’s words. Nancy Datan (1986) wrote

about the Oedipal conflict: “I have a son who was once five

years old. From that day to this, I have never thought Freud

mistaken.” Obviously, these bits of “evidence” do not prove that

Freud was correct. I still think he was wrong on many counts.

But I now find Freud’s description of the phallic stage less

bizarre than I once did.

in person

Pillow Talk Elissa placed this artwork on my husband’s pillow.

My pillow, beside it, had a less colorful, less elaborate note—

an afterthought. It read “Dear Mom, I love you too.”

Behaviorism

In contrast with psychoanalytic theorists, behaviorists believe that virtually all roles are learned and therefore result from nurture, not nature. To behaviorists, gender distinctions are the product of ongoing reinforcement and punishment.

Some evidence supports this aspect of learning theory. Parents, peers, and teachers all reward behavior that is “gender appropriate” more than behavior that is “gender inappropriate.” For example, “adults complement a girl when she wears a dress but not when she wears pants” (Ruble et al., 2006, p. 897). According to social learning theory, children themselves notice the ways men and women behave and then internalize the standards they observe, becoming proud of themselves when they act like “little men” and “little ladies” (Bandura & Bussey, 2004; Bussey & Bandura, 1999).

The male–female distinction seems to be more significant to males than to fe- males (Banerjee & Lintern, 2000; David et al., 2004). Boys are more often criticized for being “sissies” than girls are criticized for being “tomboys.” Fathers, more than mothers, expect their daughters to be feminine and their sons to be tough.

Behaviorists believe children learn about proper behavior not only directly (such as receiving a gender-appropriate toy or a father’s praise) but also indirectly, through social learning. Children model their behavior particularly after that of people they perceive to be nurturing, powerful, and yet similar to themselves. For young children, those people are usually their parents. And parental attitudes about gender differences become increasingly influential as children become more aware of the thoughts and attitudes other people might hold (Tenenbaum & Leaper, 2002).

This theory explains why gender prejudice is particularly strong during the play years. If a college man wants to teach young children, his classmates will probably respect him and may know another man who made the same choice. If a 4-year- old boy wants the same thing, his peers will laugh because their experience has been quite gender-segregated. As one professor reports:

My son came home after 2 days of preschool to announce that he could not grow up to teach seminars (previously his lifelong ambition, because he knew from personal observation that everyone at seminars got to eat cookies) because only women could be teachers.

[Fagot, 1995, p. 173]

Cognitive Theory

Cognitive theory offers an alternative explanation for the strong gender identity that becomes apparent during the play years. Cognitive theorists focus on children’s understanding—on the way a child intellectually grasps a specific issue or value. Children develop concepts about their experiences, developing many schemas or general beliefs. In this case, a gender schema is the child’s understanding of sex differences (Kohlberg et al., 1983; Martin et al., 2002).

Young children, they point out, have many gender-related experiences but not much cognitive depth. They tend to see the world in simple terms. For this reason, they categorize male and female as opposites, even when some evidence contra- dicts such a sexist assumption. Nuances, complexities, exceptions, and gradations about gender (as well as about everything else) are beyond the intellect of the pre- operational child.

The self-esteem and self-concept that young children develop lead to a cogni- tive drive to categorize themselves as male or female and then to behave in a way that fits the category. For that reason, cognitive theorists see “Jill’s claim that she is a girl because she is wearing her new frilly socks as a genuine expression of her gender identity” (David et al., 2004, p. 147).

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Rehearsal for Future Motherhood This pre-

schooler is demonstrating three behaviors

that are considered appropriate for girls and

are almost never seen in boys: She is wear-

ing a dress, tucking one crossed leg behind

the other, and cradling and “feeding” a doll.

gender schema A cognitive concept or

general belief based on one’s experiences

—in this case, a child’s understanding of

sex differences.

An example comes from a 31⁄2-year-old boy whose aunt called him cute. He insisted he should be called handsome instead (Powlishta, 2004). Obviously he had developed gender-based categories, and he wanted others to see him as the young man his own cognition had decided he was.

According to cognitive theory, children develop a mental set, or a cognitive schema, which biases their views of whatever experiences they have. For 2- to 6- year-olds, that cognitive schema is, of necessity, quite simple, which is why their sex stereotyping peaks at about age 6.

Cognitive theory differs from social learning theory in that “while both theories explain how the social reality of sex differences is internalized, social learning theory proposes that society socializes children, while cognitive developmental theory pro- poses that children actively socialize themselves” (David et al., 2004, pp. 139–140).

Sociocultural Theory

Proponents of the sociocultural perspective point out that many traditional cultures enforce gender distinctions with dramatic stories, taboos, and ter- minology. In societies where adult activities and dress are strictly separated by gender, girls and boys attend sex-segregated schools and virtually never play together. Regardless of how strictly gen- der distinctions are enforced in different cultures, however, children all over the world adopt what- ever patterns of talking, behaving, and even think- ing that are prescribed for their sex (Leaper & Smith, 2004).

Every society has powerful values and attitudes regarding preferred behavior for men and women, and every culture teaches these values to its young, even though the particular tasks assigned to males and to females vary. To sociocultural theo- rists, this proves that society, not biology, segregates the sexes and transmits its version of proper male or female behavior (Kimmel, 2004).

This is blatantly apparent during adolescence, when sexual urges might drive young people to seek out the other sex. Instead, in most nations, young people work beside adults of the same sex as themselves and socialize in sex-segregated but cross-age groups, “from the pottery making sessions of the Hopi to the gathering parties of the !Kung Bushmen to the groups of Sicilian women neighbors, sitting together as they embroider” (Schlegel, 2003, pp. 243–244).

To break through the restrictiveness of culture and to encourage individuals to define themselves primarily as humans, rather than as males or females, some parents and teachers have embraced the idea of androgyny. As psychologists use the term, androgyny means a balance, within a person, of traditionally masculine and feminine characteristics. To achieve androgyny, boys would be encouraged to be nurturant and girls to be assertive so that they can develop less restrictive, gen- der-free self-concepts (Bem, 1993). However, androgyny does not necessarily lead to a healthier self-concept (Ruble et al., 2006).

Sociocultural theory stresses that androgyny (or any other gender concept) cannot be taught simply through parental reinforcement, as behaviorism might propose. Children will not be androgynous unless their culture promotes such ideas and practices—something no culture has done. Why not? The reasons may lie buried far deeper in human nature than in political forces or social values. That is what epigenetic theory suggests.

Becoming Boys and Girls 275

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Trick or Treat? Any doubt about which of these

children are girls and which are boys? No. Any

question about whether such strict gender dis-

tinctions are appropriate at age 4? Maybe.

Especially for Gender Idealists Suppose

you want to raise an androgynous child. What

do you think would happen if you told no one

your newborn’s sex, dressed it in yellow and

white rather than pink or blue, and gave it a

gender-neutral name, such as Chris or Lee?

androgyny A balance, within a person, of

traditionally male and female psychological

characteristics.

Epigenetic Theory

We saw in Chapter 2 that epigenetic theory contends that our traits and behaviors are the result of interaction between genes and early experience—not just for each of us as individuals but for the human race as a whole. The idea that gender differ- ences are based in genetics is supported by recent research in neurobiology, which has found dozens of biological differences between male and female brains (Hines, 2004). Sex hormones, circulating before birth, affect the brain throughout life, as male and female brains differ not only in overall size (male brains are larger) but also in connections between parts (female brains often have more con- nections) and in many other ways.

In nonhuman creatures, sex differences in brain shape and function are legion. For example, male and female voices differ partly because of vocal control systems within the brains of all jawed vertebrates. In an experiment, male and female hormones quickly changed the brain impulses, altering the pattern of vocalization in a fish species. The authors believe this may apply to all “vocal vertebrates,” including people (Remage-Healey & Bass, 2004).

Although epigenetic theory stresses the biological and genetic origins of behav- ior, it also recognizes that the environment can shape, enhance, or halt those genetic impulses. Here is one example: Girls seem to be genetically inclined to talk earlier than boys, perhaps because in prehistoric times, when women stayed behind to care for the children while the men hunted, women had to become more adept at social interaction. Consequently, female brains evolved to favor language (Gleason & Ely, 2002).

Today, women still specialize in caregiving, using language to show support and agreement, while men are still more assertive, favoring speech that is more direc- tive, with shorter, louder sentences. Even when these patterns are shown to be stereotypes that no longer apply to a specific person, genetic adaptation of the species may have led to sex differences that began several millennia ago and would take centuries to change.

Researchers repeatedly find that girls tend to be more responsive to language than boys and that mothers and daughters typically talk more than fathers and sons (Leaper, 2002; Leaper & Smith, 2004; Maccoby, 1998). The female advan- tage in language is more apparent from ages 2 to 5 than at any other age (Leaper & Smith, 2004). Those are the sensitive years when the brain is most likely to respond to language and thus when epigenetic effects are most likely to appear.

In the same way, all sex and gender differences may have genetic, hormonal roots, for reasons that originated millions of years ago and helped our ancestors form families and thus survive. Modern society has quite different needs and can create different conditions that may enhance or redirect those inherited tendencies.

Such redirection is uncommon. Accordingly, male–female distinctions are among the first that children recognize, and by age 5 children show a strong same- sex favoritism as well as strong impulses to avoid playing with toys they believe belong to the other gender. Preschool boys avoid dolls, a preference that seems as evident in the twenty-first century as in historic times (Ruble et al., 2006).

Gender and Destiny

The first and last of our five major theories—psychoanalytic theory and epigenetic theory—emphasize the power of biology. A reader might seize on those theories to decide that, since gender-based behavior and sexual stereotypes originate in the body and brain, they are difficult to change. But the other three theories—behaviorism, cognitive theory, and sociocultural theory—all present persuasive evidence for the influence of family and culture.

276 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

Thus, our five major theories lead in two opposite directions:

■ Gender differences are rooted in biology. ■ Biology is not destiny: Children are shaped by their experiences.

Given nature and nurture, both these conclusions are valid. That creates a dilemma. Since human behavior is plastic, what gender patterns should children learn, ideally? Answers vary among developmentalists as well as among mothers, fathers, and cultures.

If children responded only to their own inclinations, some might choose behav- iors, express emotions, and develop talents that are taboo—even punished—in certain cultures. In Western societies, little boys might put on makeup, little girls might play with guns, and both sexes might play naked outside in hot weather. Whether these behaviors should be permitted is a question for adults, not children.

My daughter Bethany, at about age 5, challenged one of my young male students to a fight.

“Girls don’t fight,” he said, laughing. “Nobody fights,” I sternly corrected him. To this day I wonder if my response, although cast in unisex words, was

nonetheless quite female. Should I have just left it alone, allowing my student to teach Bethany gender norms? Or should I have championed androgyny, telling Bethany that girls can fight and urging my student to engage in the same rough- and-tumble play fighting that might have occurred if she were a boy? I remember this incident now, years later, because I am still not sure of the answer.

SUMMING UP

Young boys and girls are seen as quite different, not only by parents and other adults but

especially by the children themselves. Gender stereotypes are held most forcefully at

about age 6. Each of the five major theories has an explanation for this phenomenon:

Freud describes unconscious incestuous urges; behaviorists note social reinforcement;

cognitive theorists describe immature categorization; sociocultural explanations focus on

patterns throughout the culture; and epigenetic theory begins with the hereditary aspects

of brain and body development. Although each theory offers an explanation, theories don’t

answer questions about moral and social values. Perhaps that is why cultures and individu-

als draw contradictory conclusions about everyday practices regarding sex and gender. ■

Becoming Boys and Girls 277

➤Response for Gender Idealists (from

page 275): Since babies are raised by a

society and community as well as by their

parents, and since some gender differences

are biological, this attempt at androgyny

would not succeed. First, other interested

parties would decide for themselves that the

child was male or female. Second, the child

would sooner or later develop gender-specific

play patterns, guided by other boys or girls.

Emotional Development 1. Regulation of emotions is crucial during the play years, when children learn emotional control. Emotional regulation is made possible by maturation of the brain, particularly of the prefrontal cortex, as well as by experiences with parents and peers.

2. In Erikson’s psychosocial theory, the crisis of initiative versus guilt occurs during the play years. Children normally feel pride and self-esteem, sometimes mixed with feelings of guilt.

3. Both externalizing and internalizing problems indicate im- paired self-control. Many severe emotional problems that are evi- dence of psychopathology are first evident during these years.

4. Empathy, which leads to prosocial behavior, and antipathy, which leads to antisocial behavior, develop during early child-

hood. These emotions come from within the child, but family ex- periences either enhance or undercut the process.

5. As children become more aware of themselves and their peers, they regulate their aggression. Instrumental aggression occurs when children fight over toys and privileges, and reactive aggres- sion occurs when children react to being hurt. More worrisome is bullying aggression, damaging to both aggressor and victim.

Parents 6. Three classic styles of parenting have been identified: authori- tarian, permissive, and authoritative. Generally, children are more successful and happy when their parents express warmth and set guidelines. Parenting that is rejecting and uninvolved is harmful.

SUMMARY

278 CHAPTER 10 ■ The Play Years: Psychosocial Development

them. If your sources agree, find a parent (or a classmate) who has a different view.

3. Gender indicators often go unnoticed. Go to a public place (park, restaurant, busy street) and spend at least 10 minutes recording examples of gender differentiation, such as articles of clothing, mannerisms, interaction patterns, and activities. Quan- tify what you see, such as baseball hats on eight males and two females or (better but more difficult) four male–female conversa- tions, with gender difference in length and frequency of talking, interruptions, vocabulary, and so on.

1. Observe the interactions of two or more young children. Sort your observations into four categories: emotion, reasons, results, and emotional regulation. Note every observable emotion (laugh- ter, tears, etc.), the reason for it, the consequences, and whether or not emotional regulation was likely. For example: “Anger: friend grabbed toy; child suggested sharing; emotional regulation probable.”

2. Ask three parents about punishment, including their preferred type, at what age, for what misdeeds, and by whom. Ask your three informants how they were punished and how that affected

APPLICATIONS

emotional regulation (p. 255) initiative versus guilt (p. 256) self-esteem (p. 256) self-concept (p. 256) intrinsic motivation (p. 257) extrinsic motivation (p. 257) externalizing problems (p. 258) internalizing problems (p. 258)

empathy (p. 259) antipathy (p. 259) prosocial behavior (p. 260) antisocial behavior (p. 260) instrumental aggression (p. 261) reactive aggression (p. 261) bullying aggression (p. 261)

authoritarian parenting (p. 264) permissive parenting (p. 264) authoritative parenting (p. 264) psychological control (p. 267) time-out (p. 268) sex differences (p. 271) gender differences (p. 271)

phallic stage (p. 272) Oedipus complex (p. 272) superego (p. 272) Electra complex (p. 273) identification (p. 273) gender schema (p. 275) androgyny (p. 275)

KEY TERMS

7. What are the consequences of using time-out and of psycho- logical control?

8. How do children change from age 2 to 6 in their male and female roles and behaviors?

9. Describe the differences among three of the five theories of sex differences.

10. List the similarities between two of the five theories of sex differences.

1. How can adults help children develop self-esteem?

2. What are the differences between shame and guilt?

3. What is the connection between temperament and emotional regulation?

4. How do early caregiving and culture affect emotional control?

5. How do parenting styles relate to cultural differences?

6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of physical pun- ishment?

KEY QUESTIONS

Punishment should fit not only the age and temperament of the child but also the culture.

7. Children are prime consumers of many kinds of media, usually for several hours a day, often without their parents’ involvement. Content is crucial. The themes and characters of many television programs and video games can lead to increased aggression, as shown in longitudinal research.

Becoming Boys and Girls 8. Even 2-year-olds correctly use sex-specific labels, and young children become aware of gender differences in clothes, toys, fu- ture careers, and playmates. Gender stereotypes, favoritism, and segregation peak at about age 6.

9. Nature and nurture are both involved with sex and gender; dis- entangling them is very difficult. Every type of scientist and each major theory has a perspective on sex and gender distinctions.

10. Freud emphasized that children are attracted to the opposite- sex parent and eventually seek to identify, or align themselves, with the same-sex parent. Behaviorists hold that gender-related behaviors are learned through reinforcement and punishment (es- pecially for males) and social modeling.

11. Cognitive theorists note that simplistic preoperational thinking leads to gender schema and therefore stereotypes. Sociocultural theorists point to the many male–female distinctions apparent in every society.

12. An epigenetic explanation notes that some sex differences re- sult from hormones affecting brain formation. Experiences en- hance or halt those neurological patterns.

13. Thus each theory has an explanation for the sex and gender dif- ferences that are apparent everywhere. Parents need to decide which differences are useful to encourage and which are destructive.

BIOSOCIAL

Body Changes Children continue to grow from ages 2 to 6, but their rate of growth

slows down. Normally the BMI (body mass index) is lower at about age 5 than at any

other time of life. Children often become more discriminating eaters, eating too much

unhealthy food and refusing to eat certain other foods altogether.

Brain Development Both the proliferation of neural pathways and myelination con-

tinue. Specific parts of the brain (including the corpus callosum, prefrontal cortex,

amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus) begin to connect, allowing lateralization

and coordination of left and right as well as less impulsivity and perseveration. Gross

motor skills, such as drawing, develop more slowly.

Injuries and Maltreatment Injury control is particularly necessary in these years, since

far more children worldwide die of avoidable accidents than of diseases. Child abuse and

neglect are likely in homes with many young children and few personal or community

resources. Prevention requires that abused children be protected from further harm

(tertiary prevention), that risk factors be reduced (secondary prevention), and—most dif-

ficult but crucial—that social changes make maltreatment less likely (primary prevention).

COGNITIVE

Piaget and Vygotsky Piaget stressed the young child’s egocentric, illogical perspective,

which prevents the child from grasping concepts such as conservation. Vygotsky

stressed the cultural context, noting that children learn extensively from others. Many

children develop their own theories, including a theory of mind as they realize that not

everyone thinks as they do.

Language Language abilities develop rapidly. By age 6, the average child knows

10,000 words and demonstrates extensive grammatical knowledge. Young children are

quite capable of becoming balanced bilinguals if their social context is encouraging.

Early Childhood Education Young children are avid learners as they play. Child-

centered, teacher-directed, and intervention programs can all nurture learning; the

actual outcome depends on the skill and number of teachers.

PSYCHOSOCIAL

Emotional Development Self-esteem is usually high during the play years. In Erikson’s

stage of initiative versus guilt, self-concept emerges, as does the ability to regulate

emotions. Externalizing problems may be the result of too little emotional regulation;

internalizing problems may result from too much control. Empathy produces prosocial

behavior; antipathy leads to antisocial actions. Aggression takes many forms: Instru-

mental aggression is quite normal; bullying aggression is ominous.

Parents Parenting styles that are warm and responsive, with much communication,

are most effective in encouraging the child’s self-esteem, autonomy, and self-control.

This parenting style is called authoritative. The authoritarian and permissive styles are

less beneficial, especially if spanking or psychological control is used as discipline.

Extensive use of television and other media by children can disrupt family life.

Becoming Boys and Girls Children develop stereotypic concepts of sex differences

(biological) and gender differences (cultural). Theories give contradictory explanations of

nature and nurture, but all agree that sex and gender identities become increasingly

salient to young children.

279

The Play Years

PA R T I I I The Developing Person So Far:

The School Years

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

F amilies and cultures have always stressed

education for children who are past early

childhood but not yet adolescents. In

some cultures and centuries, girls and

poor children were not sent to school; they learned

how to perform the tasks required of adults in their

cultures. Today, most children worldwide—including

girls and less advantaged boys—begin their educa-

tion before early childhood and continue after ado-

lescence, preparing for school or building on what

they have learned. But the period from age 7 to 11 is

still prime time for learning—hence these are “the

school years.” Although sometimes called middle

childhood, we have chosen to emphasize what is

special about these years—and schooling is it.

If asked to pick the best years of the entire life

span, you might choose ages 7 to 11 and defend your

choice persuasively. For many children, these healthy

and productive years allow measured (not dramatic)

growth; mastery of new athletic skills; and acquisition

of concepts, vocabulary, and intellectual abilities. In

psychosocial development, children typically appre-

ciate their parents, make new friends, and are proud

of their nationality, gender, and ethnicity.

All this is true for many, but not all. Some school-

age children struggle with special educational needs;

some live in dysfunctional families; some cope with

poverty or homelessness; some contend with obesity,

chronic health problems, learning disabilities, or

bullying. The next three chapters celebrate the joys

and acknowledge the difficulties of these school

years.

PA R T I V

281

The School Years: Biosocial Development

C ontext changes, so everything changes. No longer do children depend entirely on their families to dress, feed, and wash them, or to send them to a preschool where they encounter a limited number of similar children. By age 6 or 7, self-care (dressing,

eating, bathing) is routine and attendance at school is mandated—usually a school with a formal curriculum and, often, hundreds of fellow learners from many backgrounds.

This chapter describes similarities among all school-age children, but also differences that suddenly become significant—in size, in health, in learning ability, and in almost everything else. Children make comparisons, and almost every child sometimes feels inadequate. I moved a thousand miles in the second grade, entering a new school. I was self-conscious and lonely. Cynthia talked to me; she seemed willing to be my friend.

“We cannot be friends,” she told me, “because I am a Democrat.” “So am I,” I answered. (I knew my family believed in democracy.) “No you’re not. You are a Republican,” she said. I was stunned. We never became friends.

Neither Cynthia nor I realized that each child is unusual in some way (per- haps from another culture, family type, or, in this case, political background) and yet capable of friendship with children who are different. I wish that some adult had noticed my loneliness and helped me. Cynthia would have made a good friend.

A Healthy Time Genetic and environmental factors safeguard childhood. Most fatal child- hood diseases and accidents occur before age 7, and by the school years a measure of caution and several doses of vaccine are protective. Even during times of high infant mortality and before immunization, school-age children have always been quite hardy, protected until they reach their reproductive years and can produce the next generation.

The same factors operate today. Middle childhood, the period after early childhood and before adolescence, approximately from age 7 to 11, is the healthiest period of the entire life span (see Figure 11.1). Fatal illness is very rare and mortal injuries are unusual during this time.

11

283

CHAPTER OUTLINE

c A Healthy Time

Size and Shape

Physical Activity

Chronic Illness

c Brain Development

Advances in Brain Functioning

Measuring the Mind

c Children with Special Needs

A CASE TO STUDY: Billy: Dynamo or Dynamite?

Developmental Psychopathology

THINKING LIKE A SCIENTIST: Overdosing and Underdosing

Educating Children with Special Needs

middle childhood The period between

early childhood and early adolescence,

approximately from age 7 to 11.

overweight In an adult, having a BMI (body

mass index) of 25 to 29. In a child, being

above the 85th percentile, based on the

U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s 1980

standards for his or her age and sex.

obesity In an adult, having a BMI (body mass

index) of 30 or more. In a child, being above

the 95th percentile, based on the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control’s 1980 stan-

dards for his or her age and sex.

284 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

Size and Shape

The rate of growth slows down, allowing school-age children to undertake their basic self-care, from brushing their teeth to buttoning their jackets, from making their own lunch to walking to school. Muscles become stronger: The average 10-year-old can throw a ball twice as far as a 6-year-old. Lung capacity expands: With each passing year, children run faster and exercise longer without breathing more heavily (Malina et al., 2004).

In fact, partly because of slower growth and stronger muscles, during these years children can master almost any motor skill that doesn’t require adult size. For instance, 9-year-olds can race their elders on bicycles, but they can’t compete in adult basketball.

Culture, motivation, and practice are crucial for any motor skill. This is illus- trated by the use of chopsticks, a fine motor skill that is attained in chopstick- using cultures by half of the 4-year-olds and virtually all the 6-year-olds (Wong et al., 2002), but by almost no 7- to 11-year-olds elsewhere.

Typically, school-age children in developed nations eat enough, as their bodies grow taller. Healthy 6-year-olds tend to have the lowest body mass index (BMI, a number expressing the relationship of height to weight) of any age group (Guillaume & Lissau, 2002) and, until puberty, children typically stay slim.

As you know, however, not every school-age child is slim. The most common nutritional problem at this age is overweight, defined as having a BMI above the 85th percentile of the growth charts as compiled (according to age and sex) by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Obesity is defined as having a BMI above the 95th percentile. (The definitions for adults are different: a BMI between 25 and 29 for overweight and 30 or above for obesity).

0

.20

.50

1.00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Age (years)

Number of

deaths,

per 1,000

individuals

U.S. Annual Death Rates

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, “Deaths: Final Data for 2003”, Table 4; www.cde.gov/nchs/fastats, accessed August 15, 2007.

0

70

50

60

40

30

20

10

5–9

Age (years)

Number of

deaths,

per 1,000

individuals

10–14 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40–44 45–49 50–54 55–59 60–64 65–69 70–74 75–79 80+

FIGURE 11.1

Death at an Early Age? Almost Never!

Schoolchildren are remarkably hardy, as

measured in many ways. These charts show

that death rates for 7- to 11-year-olds are

lower than those for children under 7 or over

11 and about a hundred times lower than

for adults.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 286):

From the bottom graph, it looks as if ages 9

and 19 are equally healthy, but they are

dramatically different in the top graph. What

is the explanation?

The average child of every age, family income, nationality, and cultural group is heavier today than in 1980 (see Figure 11.2). Older and poorer children show the most worrisome gains (Ogden et al., 2006). Quality of food (e.g., high-calorie, low- nutrition “junk foods”), not quantity, is the problem. Even in China, where more than a billion people are poor, obesity is becoming a medical problem (Gu et al., 2005). Poverty no longer means starvation, except in nations beset by famine or war, where crop failures and forced migration make food very scarce.

Excess weight hinders development in every domain. Overweight children ex- ercise less and have higher blood pressure, risking health problems in adulthood, including type 2 diabetes (which is increasing among older children), heart dis- ease, and stroke. School achievement often decreases, self-esteem falls, and lone- liness rises with excessive increases in weight (Friedlander et al., 2003; Guillaume & Lissau, 2002; Mustillo et al., 2003).

What makes one child more vulnerable to being overweight than another of the same age? Genes are part of the explanation; they affect activity level, food preferences, body type, and metabolic rate. People who inherit from both parents a particular allele of a gene called FTO (as about 16 percent of all children of European ancestry do) are much more likely to be obese than are other children (Frayling et al, 2007). It is not known how often this genetic combination is found in children of other backgrounds.

But genes do not act alone: “Fat runs in families but so do frying pans, which makes it hard to know whether DNA or dripping is more to blame for today’s plague of obesity” (Jones, 2006, p. 1879).

Vulnerable children become obese because of the influence of an estimated 250 genes and because of many influences in the environment, including their parents’ and grandparents’ diets (Gluckman & Hanson, 2006). Studies suggest dozens of other environmental culprits. For instance, children who daily watch more than two hours of television and drink more than two servings of soda (“pop”) are more often overweight than are those who do neither (Institute of Medicine, 2005).

Adults may not realize that their children are over- weight and thus may not think that they have any rea- son to limit their consumption of junk food, their time spent playing video games and watching TV, and their lack of physical activity. For instance, in one study of obese African American children, only 30 percent of the parents acknowledged that their children were overweight (Young-Hyman et al., 2003).

Especially for Teachers A child in your

class is overweight, but you are hesitant to

say anything to the parents, who are also

overweight, because you do not want to

insult them. What should you do?

A Healthy Time 285

All The Same These boys are all friends in

the third grade, clowning in response to the

camera—as school-age boys like to do. Out-

siders might notice the varied growth rates

and genetic differences, but the boys them-

selves are more aware of what they have in

common.

LA U

R A

D W

IG H

T

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs; accessed August 15, 2007; Ogden et al., 2006.

20

15

10

5

0 1963–70 1971–74 1976–80 1988–94 1999–2004

Percent

Prevalence of Overweight Among U.S. Children Aged 6–11

FIGURE 11.2

No Improvement in Sight The prevalence

of overweight among 6- to 11-year-olds in-

creased by 8 percentage points between

1988 and 1994 and between 1999 and 2004.

The picture is not much brighter among ado-

lescents: Overweight among 12- to 19-year-

olds increased by 6 percentage points, from

11 percent to 17 percent, during the same

period.

If parents do recognize the problem, their attempt to put the child on a diet may boomerang. One study of 7- to 12-year-olds found that “restricting access to certain foods increases rather than decreases preference. Forcing a child to eat a food will decrease liking for that food” (Benton, 2004, p. 858). A better strategy is for adults to keep their own weight down and to exercise with the child (Patrick et al., 2004).

Physical Activity

Active play benefits children in every way, not only with weight and motor skills. Children often play joyfully, “fully and totally immersed” (Loland, 2002, p. 139). Much more than for younger children, the maturation of body and brain enables school-age children to join in active games. For them, the benefits of sports can last a lifetime:

■ Better overall health ■ Less obesity ■ Appreciation of cooperation and fair play ■ Improved problem-solving abilities ■ Respect for teammates and opponents of many ethnicities and nationalities

There are hazards as well:

■ Loss of self-esteem as a result of criticism from teammates or coaches ■ Injuries (the infamous “Little League elbow” is one example) ■ Reinforcement of prejudices (especially against the other sex) ■ Increases in stress (evidenced by altered hormone levels, insomnia) ■ Time and effort taken away from learning academic skills

Where can children potentially reap the benefits and avoid the hazards? Three possibilities are neighborhoods, schools, and sports leagues.

Neighborhood Games

Neighborhood play is flexible; children improvise to meet their needs. Rules, boundaries of where play can occur, and times are adapted to children’s availability (usually any school-age children whose parents let them). Stickball, touch football, tag, hide-and-seek, jump rope, and dozens of other games that involve running

Especially for Parents Suppose that you

always serve dinner with the television on,

tuned to a news broadcast. Your hope is that

your children will learn about the world as

they eat. Can this practice be harmful?

286 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

Will She Drink Her Milk? The first word

many American children read is McDonald’s,

and they all recognize the golden arches. Fast

food is part of almost every family’s diet—

one reason the rate of obesity has doubled in

every age group in the United States since

1980. Even if the young girl stops playing with

her straw and drinks the milk, she is learning

that soda and French fries are desirable food

choices. M IC

H A

EL N

EW M

A N

/ P

H O

TO E

D IT

➤Response for Teachers (from page 285):

Speak to the parents, not accusingly (because

you know that genes and culture have a major

influence on body weight), but helpfully. Alert

them to the potential social and health problem

that their child’s weight poses. Most parents

are very concerned about their child’s well-

being and will work with you to improve the

child’s snacks and exercise level.

Answer to Observation Quiz (from page

284): Look at the vertical axis. From age 1 to 20,

the annual death rate is less than 1 in 1,000.

and catching, or kicking and jumping, can go on forever, or at least until dark. The play is active and interactive, ideal for children.

Modern life has made informal neighborhood games increasingly scarce. Exploding urbanization means fewer open areas that are both fun and safe. For example, Mexico City had an estimated 3 million residents in 1970 and 20 million in 2005; an inevitable re- sult is overcrowding, with less space for children to play.

Further, many parents keep their children inside because of “stranger danger”—although “there is a much greater chance that your child is going to be dangerously overweight from staying inside than that he is going to be abducted” (Layden, 2004, p. 96). Home- work, television, and video games all compete with outdoor play.

Exercise in School

When opportunities for neighborhood play are scarce, physical edu- cation in school is an alternative. Good gym teachers know develop- mentally appropriate, cooperative games and exercises for children (Belka, 2004). However, children may enjoy sports but hate physi- cal education. One author cites an example of two children who participate enthusiastically in sports every weekend but have a different attitude in school:

Their current softball unit in physical education hardly provokes any excitement. There are 18 students on each side, sides that are formed in an ad hoc manner each lesson. . . . Few students get turns to pitch, and many are satisfied playing the deepest of outfield positions in order to have minimal involvement in the game.

[Hastie, 2004, p. 63]

As schools are pressured to increase reading and math knowledge (see Chapter 12), time for physical education and recess has declined to a few hours a week. Typically, many children share a confined space, spending more time waiting than moving.

Athletic Clubs and Leagues

Private or nonprofit clubs and organizations offer opportunities for children to play. Culture and family influence this type of play: Some children learn golf, others tennis, others boxing. Cricket and rugby are common in England and in former British colonies, such as Australia and Jamaica; baseball is common in Japan, the United States, Cuba, Panama, and the Dominican Republic; soccer is central in many European, African, and Latin American nations.

The best-known organized recreation program for children is Little League, with 2.7 million children playing baseball and softball on 180,000 teams in 75 countries. When it began in 1939, Little League had only three teams of boys aged 9–12. Now it includes girls, younger and older children, and 22,000 children with dis- abilities, an expansion that indicates the desire of children and their parents to play sports—increasingly less available at school or on a neighborhood vacant lot.

Despite possible problems, most children enjoy organized sports. One adult confesses:

I was a lousy Little League player. Uncoordinated, small, and clueless are the accu- rate adjectives I’d use if someone asked politely. . . . What I did possess, though, was enthusiasm. Wearing the uniform—cheesy mesh cap, scratchy polyester shirt, old-school beltless pants, uncomfortable cleats and stirrups that never stayed up —gave me a sort of pride. It felt special and made me think that I was part of something important.

[Ryan, 2005]

A Healthy Time 287

Keep It Rolling This boy in Orissa, India, is

using an old bicycle tire as a hoop. Although

they use different objects, children every-

where have the impulse to play, and many of

their games are the same.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 289):

Is this boy malnourished?

S EA

N S

PR A

G U

E /

TH E

IM A

G E

W O

R K

S

“Just remember son, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose—

unless you want Daddy’s love.”

TH E

N EW

Y O

R K

ER C

O LL

EC TI

O N

2 00

1 PA

T B

Y R

N ES

FR O

M C

A R

TO O

N B

A N

K .C

O M

. A LL

R IG

H TS

R ES

ER V

ED .

Belonging is important to every child, but that point raises one final problem with organized children’s sports: Many children are left out (Collins, 2003). Parents must pay their children’s fees, transport them to practices and games, and support their children’s teams. Children who are from poor families, who are not well coor- dinated, or who have chronic illnesses are less likely to belong to sports teams. Those are the very children who could benefit most from the exercise.

Chronic Illness

We noted that middle childhood is generally a healthy time, more so now in every nation of the world than just 30 years ago. Immunization has reduced deaths dramatically, and serious accidents, fatal illnesses, and even minor diseases are less common.

In the United States, the improved health of school-age children is evidenced in fewer chronic illnesses, less exposure to environmental toxins, and fewer surgeries performed in childhood. Hearing impairments and anemia are half as frequent as they were two decades ago, and only 1 percent of 5- to 10-year-olds had elevated blood levels of lead in 2001, compared with almost 30 percent in 1978 (MMWR, May 27, 2005; see Research Design). Elevated blood lead correlates with many disabilities, especially affecting the brain (mental retardation, hyperactivity).

Health-related problems still occur, of course. About 13 percent of all children have special health needs, some of which get worse during the school years, in- cluding Tourette syndrome, stuttering, and allergies. Such conditions often have social side effects, impairing children’s learning as well as peer acceptance. Rela- tively minor problems, such as walking with a limp, wearing glasses, repeatedly having to blow one’s nose, or even having a visible birthmark, may make children self-conscious.

Basic practices, such as eating a balanced diet, getting enough exercise and sleep, and breathing clean air, continue to be important for health and learning during these years; some evidence suggests that they become more important. Just 50 years ago, most poor children lived in rural areas; they exercised more and breathed cleaner air than city children. Now most poor children live in cities. The children who are at risk of illness for economic or social reasons are also the most vulnerable if basic health needs are not met—which is all too often the case (Buckhalt et al., 2007; Dilworth-Bart & Moore, 2006).

Any chronic condition that limits active play, impedes focused attention, or prevents regular school attendance correlates with emotional and social problems of every kind. For illustration, we examine the condition that is the most common reason for children to miss school: asthma.

Asthma

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways that makes breathing diffi- cult. Although asthma affects people of every age, rates are highest among school-age children and are increasing worldwide (Bousquet et al., 2007). In the United States, asthma affects 9 percent of all children under age 18, with higher rates for Puerto Rican (19 percent) and African American (13 percent) children. These rates are about twice as high as they were in 1980 (Akinbami, 2006).

Many researchers are studying the possible causes of asthma, including genetic factors. Suspect alleles have been identified, but asthma has varied genetic roots (Bossé & Hudson, 2007).

In any case, as you saw with obesity, genes increase the risk of asthma, but en- vironment is crucial. Some experts suggest a “hygiene hypothesis,” the idea that contemporary children are so overprotected from viruses and bacteria that they do

Especially for Phys. Ed. Teachers A

group of parents of fourth- and fifth-graders

has asked for your help in persuading the

school administration to sponsor a

competitive sports team. How should you

advise the group to proceed?

288 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

Research Design Scientists: Nine scientists working for

three U.S. government agencies: Envi-

ronmental Protection, Housing and

Urban Development, and Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.

Publication: Mortality and Morbidity

Weekly Report (MMWR) of May 27,

2005, published by the Massachusetts

Medical Society.

Participants: A large, representative U.S.

sample is examined every few years as

part of NHANES (the National Health

and Nutrition Examination Survey).The

study cited was the 1999–2002 survey,

and these data were from blood tests of

6,283 people aged 6–19.

Design: Blood levels of lead were ana-

lyzed by spectrophotometry in a CDC

laboratory. The cutoff for an “elevated”

level was 10 µg per deciliter, a standard

recognized by many public health

authorities.

Major conclusion: Compared with previ-

ous NHANES data, a marked decrease in

blood levels of lead was found among

all groups.The decrease was attributed

to “coordinated, intensive efforts” that

included removing lead from gasoline,

paint, and the metal used to make food

cans.

Comment:This study confirmed that a

public health campaign to reduce expo-

sure to lead was succeeding.The data

also reveal some problems: Children

under 6 years are about 10 times more

likely to have elevated lead levels than

are adolescents, and rates are still rela-

tively high among African and Latino

Americans.

asthma A chronic disease of the respiratory

system in which inflammation narrows the

airways from the lungs to the nose and

mouth, causing difficulty in breathing.

Signs and symptoms include wheezing,

shortness of breath, chest tightness, and

coughing.

not get the infections and childhood diseases that would strengthen their immune systems (Busse & Lemanske, 2005; Tedeschi & Airaghi, 2006).

Several aspects of modern life—carpets, pets inside the home, airtight windows, less outdoor play—are known to contribute to the increased rates of asthma (Tamay et al., 2007). Many allergens that trigger asthma attacks (pet dander, cigarette smoke, dust mites, cockroaches, and mold) are more concentrated in today’s well- insulated homes than in the houses of a century ago. Air pollution is also a problem. A study in Mongolia, where many people still live in sparsely populated and poor rural areas, confirmed that asthma increases with modern, city life, even though Mongolian urban dwellers are still quite poor (Viinanen et al., 2007).

Prevention of Asthma

The three levels of prevention discussed in Chapter 8 apply to every chronic health problem, including asthma. Primary prevention is the most difficult. Better ventilation of schools and homes, decreased pollution, eradication of cockroaches, and construction of many more outdoor play areas would make asthma less common by helping all children.

The benefit of primary prevention was revealed during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Various meas- ures aimed at reducing traffic congestion (e.g., free mass transit) also reduced air pollution and, unexpectedly, cut the number of asthma attacks almost in half (Friedman et al., 2001). Similar conclusions, using an entirely different methodology, were found regarding air pollution and asthma in Beijing (Pan et al., 2007).

Secondary prevention reduces the occurrence of asthma among high-risk chil- dren. When asthma runs in the family, then breast-feeding and ridding the house of dust, pets, smoke, and other allergens cut the rate of allergies and asthma in half (Elliott et al., 2007; Gdalevich et al., 2001). For asthma (as well as all other health problems), regular checkups aid secondary prevention.

Finally, tertiary prevention (reducing the damage caused by asthma once it develops) includes the prompt use of injections and inhalers, which markedly reduce acute wheezing and overnight hospitalizations (Glauber et al., 2001). The use of hypoallergenic materials (e.g., for mattress covers) can also reduce the rate of asthma attacks—but not by much, probably because tertiary prevention at home occurs too late (MMWR, January 14, 2005).

Adequate tertiary prevention is provided for less than half the children with asthma in the United States. Why? One reason is economic. One-third of school- age children, including more than half of African American and Hispanic children, have no health insurance (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004). Another reason is mistrust of doctors (mostly White, high-income older men) by parents of young children (often non-White, low-income young women).

Language and cultural barriers add to the problem. Among one group of immi- grant mothers of asthmatic children, 88 percent thought drugs were overused in the United States, and 72 percent did not give their children the medication their doctors prescribed (Bearison et al., 2002). In a large multiethnic study, half the parents who bought drugs for childhood asthma did not acknowledge that their child was asthmatic (Roberts, 2003). It may be that the prescribing doctor did not explain, or that the parents did not understand, or that they refused to acknowl- edge a chronic illness.

Children reflect their parents’ attitudes. Only half of a group of 8- to 16-year- olds with asthma followed their doctor’s advice about medication; those children

Especially for School Nurses For the past

month, a 10-year-old fifth-grade girl has been

eating very little at lunch and has visibly lost

weight. She has also lost interest in daily

school activities. What should you do?

A Healthy Time 289

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➤Response for Parents (from page 286):

Habitual TV watching correlates with obesity,

so you may be damaging your children’s

health rather than improving their intellect.

Your children would probably profit more if

you were to make dinner a time for family

conversation.

Pride and Prejudice In some city schools,

asthma is so common that using an inhaler is

a sign of prestige, as suggested by the facial

expressions of these two boys. The prejudice

is more apparent beyond the walls of this

school nurse's room, in a society that allows

high rates of childhood asthma to occur.

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 287): Although malnutrition is common

in India, school-age children worldwide are

more often too fat than too thin. This boy has

healthy hair; his ribs do not show; and, most

important, he seems to have adequate energy

and coordination for active play. Although a

definitive answer depends on percentiles, he

is probably just fine.

who were older, minority, and low-income were least likely to comply (McQuaid et al., 2003). This lack of compliance among older children is also a major prob- lem in the treatment of diabetes, PKU, sickle-cell anemia, and almost every other chronic childhood condition.

Asthma and many other adult health problems can be prevented during the school years if two things occur. First, parents must be diligent in providing regular preventive care for dental health (early treatment prevents later tooth loss and gum disease), eye health (specific exercises can postpone the need for glasses), spine curvature (a back brace may encourage normal growth), and so on. Second, chil- dren must develop the habit of taking care of their health so that their adolescent rebellion erupts in some way (such as green hair) that does not make them sick.

SUMMING UP

School-age children are usually healthy, strong, and capable. Immunizations during the

play years protect them against childhood diseases, and developmental advances give

them sufficient strength and coordination to take care of their own basic needs (eating,

dressing, bathing). However, their growing awareness of themselves and of each other

makes every physical condition a potential problem that might interfere with peer ac-

ceptance and school attendance. Obesity and asthma are two notable examples. Both

have genetic and early-childhood origins, but both become more problematic during

middle childhood. Primary prevention is crucial, but many children do not get the safe,

active play or the ongoing care that they need. ■

Brain Development Recall that, in early childhood, emotional regulation, theory of mind, and left–right coordination emerge. The maturing corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain. The prefrontal cortex—the executive part of the brain— plans, monitors, and evaluates. These developments continue in middle child- hood. We look now at advances in reaction time, attention, and automatization, and at ways to measure brain activity, particularly tests of ability that indicate whether a child is developing as expected.

Advances in Brain Functioning

Increasing myelination results “by 7 or 8 years of age, in a massively intercon- nected brain” (Kagan & Herschkowitz, 2005, p. 220). One consequence is a reduction in reaction time, the length of time it takes to respond to a stimulus. Over the decades of adulthood, reaction time slowly lengthens again. Conse- quently, for instance, grandparents might lose to a teenage grandchild at rapid- response video games but be fairly matched with an 8-year-old one.

Advances in the “mental control processes that enable self-control” (Verté et al., 2005, p. 415) allow planning for the future, which is beyond the ability of the impatient younger child. Now children can analyze possible consequences before they lash out in anger or dissolve in tears and can figure out when a curse word seems advisable (on the playground to a bully, perhaps) and when it does not (in the classroom or at home).

Neurological advances allow children to process different types of information in many areas of the brain at once and to pay special heed to the most important elements. Selective attention, the ability to concentrate on some stimuli while

reaction time The time it takes to respond

to a stimulus, either physically (with a

reflexive movement such as an eye blink)

or cognitively (with a thought).

selective attention The ability to concentrate

on some stimuli while ignoring others.

290 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

➤Response for Phys. Ed. Teachers (from

page 288): Discuss with the parents their

reasons for wanting the team. Children need

physical activity, but some aspects of compet-

itive sports are better suited to adults than to

children. Recommend that the parents think

of ways to foster their children’s health and

cooperative spirit without the element of

competition.

ignoring others, is crucial for early school competence (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2003). Selective attention requires ongoing myelination and the increased production of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) and improves noticeably at about age 7. School-age children not only notice various stimuli (which is one form of attention) but can also judge the appropriate response when several possibilities conflict (Rueda et al., 2007).

Attention deficits may underlie many of the problems seen in 6-year-olds, including poor motor skills that gradually improve with age (Wassenberg et al., 2005). Motor and cognitive impairments are not entirely the result of inattention, but inattention is part of the problem.

In the classroom, selective attention allows children to listen, take concise notes, and ignore distractions (all very difficult at age 6, better by age 10). In the din of the cafeteria, children can understand one another’s gestures and expres- sions and respond quickly. Playing ball, batters ignore the other team’s attempts to distract them, while alert fielders start moving into position as soon as a ball is hit their way. Selective attention underlies all of these abilities.

Another major advance in brain function in middle childhood is automatiza- tion, the repetition of a sequence of thoughts and actions until it becomes auto- matic, or routine. At first, almost all behaviors under conscious control require careful and slow thought. After many repetitions, as neurons fire in sequence, actions become automatic and patterned. Less thinking is needed because firing one neuron sets off a chain reaction.

Increased myelination and hours of practice lead to the “automatic pilot” of cognition (Berninger & Richards, 2002). Consider a child learn- ing to read. At first, eyes (sometimes aided by a finger) concentrate, painstakingly making out letters and sounding out each one. This se- quence of actions leads to perception of syllables and then words. Even- tually the process becomes so automatic that a glance at a billboard results in reading without any intentional effort.

Automatization is apparent in the acquisition of every skill. Speaking a second language, reciting the multiplication tables, and writing one’s name are haltingly, even painfully, difficult at first but then gradually become automatic. A transformation to a more efficient form of neural processing, freeing the brain for more advanced reading, speaking, com- putation, and writing, is the reason for this advance (Berninger & Richards, 2002). Practice makes perfect (almost).

Measuring the Mind

Measuring developmental changes in brain functioning can be done via repeated brain scans, such as the fMRI. One laboratory reported that the cortex (the top layers of the brain) is relatively thin at the beginning of childhood and then grows thicker during the school years, reaching a peak at about age 8. The brains of children who are very intelligent follow the same pattern, but it is more pronounced (notably thinner and then thicker) and the thickening develops more slowly, particularly in the prefrontal cortex (Miller, 2006).

Intriguing research like this is arduous and expensive; it has not yet been repli- cated or even fully understood. More often, mental processes are measured via written questions on a standardized test. Each child’s answers are compared with those of other children the same age (to assess aptitude) or the same school grade (to measure achievement).

automatization A process in which repeti-

tion of a sequence of thoughts and actions

makes the sequence routine, so that it no

longer requires conscious thought.

Brain Development 291

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➤Response for School Nurses (from page

289): Something is wrong, and you (or the

school psychologist, or both) should talk to

the girl’s parents. Ask whether they, too, have

noticed any changes. Recommend that the

child see her pediatrician for a thorough

physical examination. If the girl’s self-image

turns out to be part of the problem, stress

the importance of social support.

Neurons at Work Brain development is

evident in this duet, since playing the piano

requires selective attention, practice, and

automatization, as does singing in harmony.

These girls are about 9 years old; compare

their proficiency with the piano banging and

off-key singing of the typical preschooler.

Aptitude and Achievement

In theory, aptitude is the potential to master a particular skill or to learn a par- ticular body of knowledge. The most important aptitude for school-age children is intellectual aptitude, or the ability to learn in school. Intellectual aptitude is measured by IQ tests (see Figure 11.3).

In theory, achievement is distinct from aptitude. Achievement is not what a person might learn but what a person has learned. Achievement tests are taken routinely by students (as mandated in the United States by the No Child Left Behind Act, discussed in Chapter 12), measuring learning in reading, math, writ- ing, science, and other subjects.

The words in theory precede those definitions because aptitude and achieve- ment tests are designed to measure different traits; but the scores on them are highly correlated, not just for individuals but also for nations, according to a study of 46 countries (Lynn & Mikk, 2007). Both aptitude and achievement also corre- late with wealth, individually and nationally (Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002). It is not surprising, then, that a child’s IQ score predicts later education and then adult success. To be specific, children with high IQs usually earn good grades in school and graduate from college. As adults, they typically hold professional or manage- rial jobs, marry, and own homes (Sternberg et al., 2001).

The average IQs of entire nations have risen substantially—a phenomenon called the Flynn Effect, after the researcher who first described it (Flynn, 1999). At first, the Flynn Effect was doubted because IQ was thought to be totally genetic and genes don’t change. But developmentalists now agree that the Flynn Effect is real (Rodgers & Wänström, 2007) and believe that the reasons are envi- ronmental, including better health, smaller families, and more schooling.

IQ is an abbreviation for “intelligence quotient.” Originally, an IQ score was based on an actual quotient: mental age (as indicated on the test) divided by chronological age, and the result was then multiplied by 100. Children whose test performance equals the average performance of all children the same age have a mental age equal to their chronological age. In that case, mental age divided by chronological age equals 1, and 1 times 100 gives an IQ of 100. Thus, an IQ of 100 is exactly average.

The current method of calculating IQ is more complicated, but it is still assumed that a person’s aptitude for learning increases through adolescence, so dividing the score by years of age equals the IQ. An IQ of 100 is held to be average at any age. In adulthood, aptitude is assumed not to change year by year (see Chapter 21). About two-thirds of people of all ages have an IQ between 85 and 115. Almost all (96 percent) are between 70 and 130.

292 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

aptitude The potential to master a particular

skill or to learn a particular body of knowl-

edge.

IQ tests Tests designed to measure intellec-

tual aptitude, or ability to learn in school.

Originally, intelligence was defined as

mental age divided by chronological age,

times 100—hence the term intelligence

quotient, or IQ.

achievement tests Measures of mastery or

proficiency in reading, math, writing, sci-

ence, or any other subject.

40

Theoretical Distribution of IQ Scores

16055 70 85 100 115 130 145

Superior

Gifted

Genius

Slow learner

Mild retardation

Moderate to

severe retardation

Average

68.26% 13.6%13.6% 2.13%

0.14% 2.13%

0.14%

IQ Score

FIGURE 11.3

In Theory, Most People Are Average Almost

70 percent of IQ scores fall within the normal

range. Note, however, that this is a norm-

referenced test. In fact, actual IQ scores have

risen in many nations; 100 is no longer exactly

the midpoint. Further, in practice, scores below

50 are slightly more frequent than indicated by

the normal curve shown here, because severe

retardation is the result not of the normal dis-

tribution but of genetic and prenatal factors.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 295):

If a person’s IQ is 110, what category is he or

she in?

Flynn Effect The rise in average IQ scores

that has occurred over the decades in

many nations.

Especially for People Who Know Their

IQ Score How would you interpret scores of

125, 100, and 75?

Highly regarded and widely used IQ tests include the Stanford-Binet test, now in its fifth edition (Roid, 2003), and the Wechsler tests. There are Wechsler tests for preschoolers (the WPPSI, or Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intel- ligence), for adults (the WAIS, or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), and for school-age children—the WISC, or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, now in its fourth edition (Wechsler, 2003).

The WISC has 10 subtests, including tests of vocabulary, general knowledge, memory, and visual awareness, each of which provides a score. The Wechsler tests allow calculation of two IQ scores, one “verbal” (measured by tests of vocabulary, word problems, etc.) and the other “performance” (solving puzzles, copying shapes, etc.).

Gifted or Retarded

A child with a very high IQ (usually above 130) may be considered gifted and placed in “gifted and talented” classes. In the United States, school policies and programs for gifted children vary from state to state. In 2000, 14 percent of children in Oklahoma were in gifted classes; in Vermont, only 1 percent were (Digest of Educational Statistics, 2005). Very high IQs are just as common among children in Vermont as in Oklahoma, but adults—voters, legislators, educators—in these two states have decided to educate these children in different ways.

Thirty years ago the definition of mental retardation was straightforward: All children or adults with an IQ below 70 were classified as mentally retarded, with further subdivisions for progressively lower scores: mild retardation, 55–70; mod- erate retardation, 40–54; severe retardation, 25–39; profound, below 25. Each of these categories signified different expectations, from “educable” (mildly retarded, able to learn to read and write) to “custodial” (profoundly retarded, unable to learn any skills). However, the mere label mentally retarded sometimes led parents and teachers to expect less of a child than the child was actually capable of, which reduced learning.

Further, in the population as a whole, where the average IQ is 100, only about 2 percent of children score below 70; but children in many immigrant, low- income, and minority groups have an average IQ well below 100. The reason is probably cultural bias embedded in the IQ tests, not those children’s lack of intel- lectual aptitude. The result is that disproportionate numbers of those children (significantly more than 2 percent) are designated mentally retarded (Edwards, 2006; Pennington, 2002). That seems unfair.

Accordingly, the current definition stipulates that, in addition to having an IQ below 70, children who are designated as mentally retarded must be unusually far behind their peers in adaptation to life. Thus, a 6-year-old who, without help, gets dressed, fixes breakfast, walks to school, and knows the names of her classmates would not be considered mentally retarded, even if she had an IQ of 65. Adapta- tion is often measured with the Vineland Test of Adaptive Intelligence or some other assessment tool (Venn, 2004).

Criticisms of IQ Testing

Many developmentalists criticize IQ tests. They argue that no test can measure potential without also measuring achievement and that every test score reflects the culture of the people who wrote, administer, and take it (Armour-Thomas & Gopaul-McNicol, 1998; Cianciolo & Sternberg, 2004). Even tests designated as culture-free, because they ask children to perform universally familiar tasks

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

(WISC) An IQ test designed for school-

age children. The test assesses potential in

many areas, including vocabulary, general

knowledge, memory, and spatial compre-

hension.

mental retardation Literally, slow, or late,

thinking. In practice, people are consid-

ered mentally retarded if they score below

70 on an IQ test and if they are markedly

behind their peers in adaptation to daily

life.

Brain Development 293

Performance IQ This puzzle, part of a per-

formance subtest on the Wechsler IQ test,

seems simple until you try it. The limbs are

difficult to align correctly, and time is of the

essence. This boy has at least one advantage

over most African American boys who are

tested. Especially during middle childhood,

boys tend to do better when their examiner is

of the same sex and ethnicity.

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like drawing a person or naming their classmates, depend on cultural experiences.

Developmentalists also know that intellectual potential does in fact change over the life span. A child who needs special education in an early grade might later be classified as above average, or even gifted, like my nephew David (see Chapter 1). Like any other psychological test, an IQ test is a snapshot, providing a static, framed view of a dynamic, ever- developing brain at work.

Many measures are thus used to indicate learning potential. If an 8-year- old cannot read, for instance, vision and hearing assessments are done; then tests of comprehension, word recognition, and phonetic skills are given to supplement the IQ test. If brain damage is suspected, tests of balance and coordination (“Hop on one foot,” “Touch your nose”) or of brain– eye–hand connection (“Copy this drawing of a diamond”) are useful.

Even with a battery of tests, assessment may be inaccurate, especially when tests that have been standardized in the United States are used in cultures where academic intelligence is not prized (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004).

Like many other Western technological inventions (such as the printing press, the sewing machine, the bicycle, and the tractor), the intelligence test (popularly known as the IQ test) has been widely exported around the world. Like tractors, intelligence tests bring with them both osten- sible utility and hidden implications.

[Serpell & Haynes, 2004, p. 166]

A more fundamental criticism concerns the very concept that there is one general thing called intelligence (often referred to as g, for general

intelligence). Humans may have multiple intelligences. If they do, then the use of a test to find one IQ score is based on a false premise. Robert Sternberg (1996) describes three distinct types of intelligence:

■ Academic, measured by IQ and achievement tests ■ Creative, evidenced by imaginative endeavors ■ Practical, seen in everyday problem solving

Other psychologists stress a kind of intelligence called emotional intelligence, including the ability to regulate one’s emotions and perceptive understanding of other people’s feelings. Emotional intelligence is thought to be more important than intellectual ability in determining success in adulthood (Goleman, 1995; Salovey & Grewal, 2005).

The most influential of all multiple-intelligence theories is Howard Gardner’s, which describes eight intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic (movement), interpersonal (social understanding), intra- personal (self-understanding), and naturalistic (understanding of nature, as in biology, zoology, or farming) (Gardner, 1983, 1999; Gardner & Moran, 2006).

A person might be gifted spatially but not linguistically (a visual artist who can- not describe her work), or someone might have interpersonal but not naturalistic intelligence (a gifted clinical psychologist whose houseplants wither). Gardner’s theory has been influential in education, especially with young children (e.g., Rettig, 2005); it has also been widely criticized (Kincheloe, 2004; Visser et al., 2006; Waterhouse, 2006).

According to those who hold that humans have multiple intelligences, standard IQ tests measure only part of brain potential. If intelligence is the multifaceted jewel that Gardner believes it to be, tests and schools need to expand their curric- ula so that every child can shine.

Especially for Teachers What are the

advantages and disadvantages of using

Gardner’s eight intelligences to guide your

classroom curriculum?

294 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

Demonstration of High IQ? If North

American intelligence tests truly reflected

all aspects of the mind, children would be

considered mentally slow if they could not

replicate the proper hand, arm, torso, and

facial positions of a traditional dance, as this

young Indonesian girl does brilliantly. She is

obviously adept in kinesthetic and interper-

sonal intelligence. Given her culture, it would

not be surprising if she were deficient in the

logical-mathematical intelligence required to

use the Internet effectively or to surpass an

American peer in playing a video game.

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SUMMING UP

During middle childhood, neurological maturation allows faster, more automatic reactions.

Selective attention enables focused concentration in school and in play. Aptitude tests,

including IQ tests, compare mental age to chronological age. Actual learning is measured

by achievement tests. The concept that an IQ score measures underlying aptitude (g) is

challenged by Robert Sternberg, Howard Gardner, and others, who believe that the brain

contains not just one aptitude but many. Determining who is gifted and who is retarded

may be useful for educators, but there is much more change in IQ scores than originally

imagined. Adaptation to circumstances is crucial. ■

Children with Special Needs Parents watch with pride as their offspring become smarter, taller, and more skilled. These feelings may mingle with worry when their children are not like other children. Often slowness, impulsiveness, or clumsiness is the first problem to be noticed; other problems become apparent once formal education begins.

Such children with special needs require extra help in order to learn because of differences in their physical or mental characteristics. Many of them seem fine until they encounter the demands of primary school. One example is Billy.

children with special needs Children who,

because of a physical or mental disability,

require extra help in order to learn.

Children with Special Needs 295

a case to study Billy: Dynamo or Dynamite?

Billy was born full term after an uncomplicated pregnancy;

he sat up, walked, and talked at the expected ages. His parents

were proud of his energy and curiosity: “Little Dynamo,” they

called him affectionately. He began to read on schedule, and he

looked quite normal. But when Billy was in third grade, his

teacher, Mrs. Pease, referred him to a psychiatrist because his

behavior in class was “intolerably disruptive” (Gorenstein &

Comer, 2002, p. 250), as the following episode illustrates:

Mrs. Pease had called the class to attention to begin an oral ex-

ercise: reciting a multiplication table on the blackboard. The

first child had just begun her recitation when, suddenly, Billy

exclaimed, “Look!” The class turned to see Billy running to the

window.

“Look,” he exclaimed again, “an airplane!”

A couple of children ran to the window with Billy to see the

airplane, but Mrs. Pease called them back, and they returned to

their seats. Billy, however, remained at the window, pointing at

the sky. Mrs. Pease called him back, too.

“Billy, please return to your desk,” Mrs. Pease said firmly. But

Billy acted as though he didn’t even hear her.

“Look, Mrs. Pease,” he exclaimed, “the airplane is blowing

smoke!” A couple of other children started from their desks.

“Billy,” Mrs. Pease tried once more, “if you don’t return to your

desk this instant, I’m going to send you to Miss Warren’s office.”

[Billy did sit down, but before Mrs. Pease could call on anyone,

Billy blurted out the correct answer to the first question she asked.]

Mrs. Pease tried again. “Who knows 3 times 7?” This time Billy

raised his hand, but he still couldn’t resist creating a disruption.

“I know, I know,” Billy pleaded, jumping up and down in his

seat with his hand raised high.

“That will do, Billy,” Mrs. Pease admonished him. She delib-

erately called on another child. The child responded with the

correct answer.

“I knew that!” Billy exclaimed.

“Billy,” Mrs. Pease told him, “I don’t want you to say one

more word this class period.”

Billy looked down at his desk sulkily, ignoring the rest of the

lesson. He began to fiddle with a couple of rubber bands, trying

to see how far they would stretch before they broke. He looped

the rubber bands around his index fingers and pulled his hands

farther and farther apart. This kept him quiet for a while; by this

point, Mrs. Pease didn’t care what he did, as long as he was quiet.

She continued conducting the multiplication lesson while Billy

stretched the rubber bands until finally they snapped, flying off

and hitting two children, on each side of him. Billy let out a yelp

of surprise, and the class turned to him.

“That’s it, Billy,” Mrs. Pease told him, “You’re going to sit out-

side the classroom until the period is over.”

“No!” Billy protested. “I’m not going. I didn’t do anything!”

“You shot those rubber bands at Bonnie and Julian,” Mrs.

Pease said.

“But it was an accident.”

“I don’t care. Out you go!”

Billy stalked out of the classroom to sit on a chair in the hall.

Before exiting, however, he turned to Mrs. Pease. “I’ll sue you for

this,” he yelled, not really knowing what it meant.

[Gorenstein & Comer, 2002, pp. 250–251]

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 292): He or she is average. Anyone with

a score between 85 and 115 is of average IQ.

➤Response for People Who Know Their

IQ Score (from page 292): Above average,

average, and below average compared with

others the same age. For example, if three

children are 12 years old, one might have a

mental age (as determined by the test) of 15,

another 12, and the third, 8. Then their IQ

scores would be: 15/12 =1.25 × 100 = 125

(above average); 12/12 = 1 × 100 = 100

(average); 8/12 = 0.75 × 100 = 75 (below

average).

You will read more about Billy later in this chapter. Dozens of specific diagnoses lead to classification as a child with special needs,

including anxiety disorder, Asperger syndrome, attachment disorder, attention- deficit disorder, autism, bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, clinical depression, developmental delay, and Down syndrome. In the United States, two-thirds of school-age children with special needs are said to have a learning or language disability—neither of which may have been evident in earlier years or may still be evident in later years.

Every special need probably begins with a biological anomaly, perhaps the extra chromosome of Down syndrome or simply an unusual allele that affects some neurological connections. Biology is only the beginning; the social context affects how disabling the condition becomes.

296 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

the 21st pair (trisomy-21) do not have “Down’s syndrome,”

although a Dr. Down first described the condition in 1866. They

are now referred to as people with Down syndrome (no ’s) so as

not to imply that their condition belongs to someone else.

In addition, some people choose to refer to themselves as

challenged, not handicapped, because challenges can more read-

ily be overcome. Disability is preferred over handicap.

Using Language Carefully: People First

Labels can stereotype and restrict rather than describe and enable.

People-first designations are preferred when speaking or writing

about people with special needs. The idea is to begin with the

general human term (e.g., child, boy, person) and add “with [the

type of special need].” Thus, we write about children with autism,

not autistic children, people with AIDS, not AIDS patients.

Further, the names of syndromes are no longer expressed in

the possessive. For example, people with three chromosomes at

Developmental Psychopathology

One part of the science of development is called developmental psychopath- ology, which links the study of typical development to that of various disorders, and vice versa. The goal is “to understand the nature, origins, and sequelae [con- sequences] of individual patterns of adaptation and maladaptation over time” (Davies & Cicchetti, 2004, p. 477).

Four lessons from developmental psychopathology apply to everyone:

1. Abnormality is normal. Most people sometimes act oddly, and those with seri- ous disabilities are, in many respects, like everyone else.

2. Disability changes year by year. Someone who is severely disabled at one stage may become quite capable, or vice versa.

3. Adulthood may be better or worse. Prognosis is difficult. Many infants and chil- dren with serious disabilities that affect them psychologically (e.g., blindness) become happy and productive adults. Conversely, some conditions become more disabling at maturity, when interpersonal skills become more important.

4. Diagnosis depends on the social context. According to the widely used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-R), “nuances of an individual’s cultural frame of reference” must be considered before a diagnosis can be made (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. xxxiv). Perhaps psycho- pathology resides “not in the individual but in the adaptiveness of the relation- ship between individual and context” (Sameroff & MacKenzie, 2003, p. 613).

We now focus on only three of the many categories of disorders that develop- mental psychopathologists study: attention deficits, learning disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorders. Understanding these three can lead to a better understanding of all children.

developmental psychopathology The field

that uses insights into typical development

to study and treat developmental disorders,

and vice versa.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-R) The Ameri-

can Psychiatric Association’s official guide

to the diagnosis (not treatment) of mental

disorders. (IV-R means “fourth edition,

revised.”)

➤Response for Teachers (from page 294):

The advantages are that all the children learn

more aspects of human knowledge and that

many children can develop their talents. Art,

music, and sports should be an integral part

of education, not just a break from academics.

The disadvantage is that they take time and

attention away from reading and math, which

might lead to less proficiency in those subjects

on standard tests and thus to criticism from

parents and supervisors.

comorbidity The presence of two or more

unrelated disease conditions at the same

time in the same person.

Attention-Deficit Disorders

A major problem for about 10 percent of all young children is that they have difficulty paying attention. They have an attention-deficit disorder (ADD), which is sometimes accompanied by an impulse to be continually active, leading to one of the most exasperating developmental disruptions, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD have three problems: They are inattentive, impulsive, and overactive, with individual variations in which of these three is most evident (Barkley, 2006).

After sitting down to do homework, a child with ADHD might look up, ask questions, think about playing, get a drink, fidget, squirm, tap the table, jiggle his or her legs, and go to the bathroom—and then start the whole sequence again. The child’s difficulty may be caused by a slow-developing prefrontal cortex, an overactive limbic system, or an imbalance of neurotransmitters (Wolraich & Doffing, 2005). No matter what the cause, their brains make it hard to pay atten- tion, and this often becomes a lifelong problem (Barkley, 2006).

About 5 percent of U.S. children are diagnosed with ADHD (more boys than girls, more European Americans than Latinos). One such child was Billy, the 8-year-old already described, who ran to the window when he was supposed to stay seated and who blurted out the answers without waiting to be called on. Children with ADHD often think they are being punished unfairly. Remember that Billy com- plained: “I knew that!”, “I didn’t do anything!”, and finally “I’ll sue you.”

Often, other disorders are comorbid with ADHD (Barkley, 2006). (Comorbid- ity means the presence of two or more unrelated disease conditions at the same time in the same person.) Some comorbid conditions, such as delinquency, may be consequences of untreated ADHD, but many predate it and may have the same underlying cause. Among these conditions are “conduct disorder, depres- sion, anxiety, Tourette syndrome, dyslexia, and bipolar disorder, . . . autism and schizophrenia” (Pennington, 2002, p. 163).

The most effective treatment for ADHD is usually medication plus psychother- apy, with training for parents and teachers (Abikoff & Hechtman, 2005). Curiously, many drugs that are stimulants for adults, including amphetamines (e.g., Adderall) and methylphenidate (Ritalin), calm down children with ADHD. Prescribing drugs for children is controversial, with some fearing overdosing while others argue that refusing to prescribe drugs for ADD is akin to withholding insulin from a diabetic. The following feature details the ongoing debate.

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

(ADHD) A condition in which a person

not only has great difficulty concentrating

for more than a few moments but also is

inattentive, impulsive, and overactive.

Children with Special Needs 297

Especially for Health Workers Parents

ask that some medication be prescribed for

their kindergarten child, who they say is much

too active for them to handle. How do you

respond?

Not a Cure-All Ritalin has been found to

calm many children with ADHD—but it does

not necessarily make them models of good

behavior. Like this 5-year-old boy with multi-

ple handicaps, including ADHD (for which he

is given Ritalin), they are still capable of hav-

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298 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

thinking like a scientist Overdosing and Underdosing

In the United States, more than 2 million children and adoles-

cents under age 18 take prescription drugs to regulate their

emotions and behavior. This rate doubled between 1987 and

1996 (Brown, 2003; Zito et al., 2003). It has leveled off in re-

cent years but remains high, with 1 in 20 children aged 6 to 12

taking stimulants (usually for ADHD) (Zuvekas et al., 2006).

The most commonly prescribed drug is Ritalin, but at least

20 other psychoactive drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil,

are being used to treat children as young as 2 for depression,

anxiety, and many other conditions (Gorski, 2002). Few of these

substances have been studied with children, who might respond

better with higher or lower doses than those given to adults

(Brown, 2003).

Many people fear that drugs are prescribed too early and too

often. One writer contends:

Squirming in a seat and talking out of turn are not “symptoms”

and do not reflect a syndrome. [Such behaviors may be] caused

by anything from normal childhood energy to boring classrooms

or overstressed parents and teachers. We should not suppress

these behaviors with drugs.

[Breggin & Baughman, 2001, p. 595]

Almost all child psychologists agree that drugs are both un-

derused and overused in treating children with ADHD (Angold

et al., 2000; Brown, 2003). Some children who would benefit

are never given medication; other children are given more med-

ication than they need. Dosage is a particular concern, because

children’s weight and metabolism change continuously, so that a

dose that is right at age 5 might be too low at age 10. Further,

overdosage could be especially problematic when brains and

bodies are still developing.

We all have opinions about drugs: Some of us are suspicious

of anything that is not natural; others believe that medication

can cure almost anything. Thinking like a scientist requires

looking at evidence, not being swayed by preconceived ideas.

Of course, it is impossible to be entirely objective, but many

researchers, doctors, and parents try to consider the particular

needs of each child rather than acting on general principles.

One group of researchers, seeking to find out whether drugs

helped children with ADHD, began with small doses that were

gradually increased until behavior improved as much as possible

without side effects. After several weeks at that optimal dose,

the children were given a placebo for a week. The children, par-

ents, and teachers knew that this might occur but did not know

when. Without the medication, the children’s ability to function

deteriorated rapidly, according to all observers. That convinced

the scientists that the medication was effective (Hechtman

et al., 2005).

Might childhood drug treatment for psychological problems

(whether or not the origin is in the brain) have long-term conse-

quences? This is a common fear. A particular concern is that

such children will become drug dependent and will abuse

chemical substances as adolescents. However, longitudinal re-

search comparing nonmedicated and medicated children with

ADHD finds the opposite: Childhood medication reduces the

risk of adolescent drug abuse (Faraone & Wilens, 2003).

Far fewer children are diagnosed with ADHD in Europe than

in North America. In the United States, rates of medication are

highest among boys from low-income, non-Hispanic, southern

households (see Table 11.1) (Martin & Leslie, 2003; Rowland

et al., 2002; Witt et al., 2003; Zito et al., 2003). To a scientist,

these differences suggest that culture and setting, not just bio-

chemistry, influence diagnosis and treatment. Might girls in

Kansas or London be underdiagnosed or English-speaking boys

in Mississippi be overdiagnosed? Is prejudice at work here?

A British writer suggests that the diagnosis of ADHD is a way

for low-income families to get more public money, part of the

“madhouse of modern Britain, where families of badly behaved

children are rewarded by the state” (McKinstry, 2005). Such an

opinion obviously reflects bias more than science, but it indi-

cates the need for public understanding.

Thinking like a scientist means asking questions. For each

child, exactly what genetic or environmental conditions foster

ADHD and what intervention is best (not just drugs, but which

drug at what dose; not just family, but which child-rearing prac-

tices and family structures; not just school, but which teacher

and placement)? Literally thousands of scientists in dozens of

nations are seeking answers.

Ritalin was prescribed for Billy, and his parents and teacher

were taught how to help him. He “improved considerably,” be-

coming able not only to stay in his seat and complete his school-

work but also to make friends (Gorenstein & Comer, 2002).

TABLE 11.1

Rates of Diagnosis and Medication for ADHD

Percent of Those

Diagnosed Taking

Percent Diagnosed Medication

with ADHD for ADHD

Girls 4.7 63

Boys 14.8 73

1st and 2nd grades 7.4 70

3rd, 4th, and 5th grades 12.2 72

Non-Hispanic White 10.8 76

Non-Hispanic Black 9.1 56

Hispanic 4.0 53

Source: Rowland et al., 2002.

Learning Disabilities

Many people have some specific learning disability that leads to difficulty mas- tering a particular skill that most other people acquire easily. If Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is correct, almost everyone has a learning disability. Perhaps one person is clumsy (low on kinesthetic intelligence), while another sings off key (low in musical intelligence).

A learning disability becomes prob- lematic when the child falls markedly behind in some aspect of school curricu- lum, despite the best efforts of the child and the teacher. The child may have an average or above-average IQ but “scat- tered” scores on subtests, with some high and others low. The child may seem less capable in some areas than in others.

Learning disabilities do not usually result in lifelong impediments. Children typically find ways to compensate; they learn effective strategies to work around their deficiency. As an adult, such a child may function well. This seems to have been true of Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and Hans Christian An- dersen, all of whom probably had learning disabilities as children. Or an adult may feel inferior, afraid to do many things, because of childhood disability.

One common learning disability is dyslexia, which refers to unusual difficulty with reading. No single test accurately diagnoses dyslexia (or any other learning disability), because every academic achievement includes many skills (Sofie & Riccio, 2002). A child with a reading disability might have trouble sounding out words but excel in other reading skills, such as comprehension and memory of printed text. Thus, various forms of dyslexia have been identified.

Poor listening skills are often at the root of dyslexia. Early theories of dyslexia hypothesized that visual difficulties—e.g., reversals of letters (reading was instead of saw) and mirror writing (b instead of d)—were the origin, but in fact dyslexia originates with speech and hearing problems (Pennington, 2002). An early warn- ing occurs if a 3-year-old does not talk clearly and does not experience a language explosion. Early speech therapy might not only improve talking but also reduce or prevent later reading problems.

Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Autism is a disorder characterized by woefully inadequate social skills. Two decades ago, it was considered a single, rare disorder affecting fewer than one in a thousand children, who experienced “an extreme aloneness that, whenever possi- ble, disregards, ignores, shuts out anything . . . from the outside” (Kanner, 1943). Children who developed slowly but were not so withdrawn were diagnosed as being mentally retarded or as having a “pervasive developmental disorder.” Now such children are usually said to have an autistic spectrum disorder, which characterizes about 1 in every 150 8-year-olds (three times as many boys as girls) in the United States (MMWR, February 9, 2007).

There are three signs of an autistic spectrum disorder: delayed language, impaired social responses, and unusual play. Underlying all three is a kind of emotional blindness (Scambler et al., 2007). Children with any form of autism

autism A developmental disorder marked by

an inability to relate to other people nor-

mally, extreme self-absorption, and an

inability to acquire normal speech.

autistic spectrum disorder Any of several

disorders characterized by inadequate

social skills, impaired communication, and

abnormal play.

dyslexia Unusual difficulty with reading;

thought to be the result of some neurolog-

ical underdevelopment.

Children with Special Needs 299

learning disability A marked delay in a par-

ticular area of learning that is not caused

by an apparent physical disability, by men-

tal retardation, or by an unusually stressful

home environment.

Is She Dyslexic? No. Some young readers

have difficulty “tracking” a line of print with

their eyes alone. Using a finger to stay on

track can be a useful temporary aid.LA U

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➤Response for Health Workers (from

page 297): Medication helps some hyper-

active children, but not all. It might be useful

for this child, but other forms of intervention

should be tried first. Compliment the parents

on their concern about their child, but refer

them to an expert in early childhood for an

evaluation and recommendations. Behavior-

management techniques geared to the

particular situation, not medication, will be

the first strategy.

find it difficult to understand the emotions of others. Consequently, they do not want to talk, play, or otherwise interact with anyone. The problem may be a deficit in the brain’s mirror neurons (see Chapter 1; Oberman & Ramachandran, 2007) that makes them feel alien, like an “anthropologist on Mars,” as one adult with autism expressed it (Sacks, 1995).

Because autistic disorders cover a wide spectrum, or range, their degree of severity varies. Some children never talk, rarely smile, and play for hours with one object (such as a spinning top or a toy train). Others, including those with Asperger syndrome, are called “high-functioning,” which means that they are unusually intelligent in their specialized area and that their speech is close to normal. However, their social interaction is impaired. Still others are slow in all three areas (language, social interaction, play) but are not as severely impaired as are children with classic autism.

Some children with autistic characteristics show signs in early infancy (no social smile, for example) and continue to resist social contact. Others improve by age 3 (Chawarska et al., 2007). Still others (about a fourth) start out developing normally and then deteriorate (MMWR, February 9, 2007). The most dramatic example of the latter pattern occurs in girls with Rhett syndrome. They seem normal at first, but their brains develop very slowly and are much smaller than those of other children the same age (Bienvenu, 2005).

In other children with autism, the problem may be too much neurological activity, not too little. Their heads are large, and parts of the brain (especially the limbic system) are unusually sensitive to noise, light, and other sensations (Schumann et al., 2004). The effect was described by Temple Grandin, a woman with autism:

Every time you take the kid into Wal-Mart, he’s screaming. Well, the reason for that is that the fluorescent lights are flickering and driving him crazy, the noise in there hurts his ears, the smells overpower his nose. Wal-Mart is like being inside the speaker at a rock and roll concert.

[Medscape Psychiatry and Mental Health, 2005]

300 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

Culture Clash This Tibetan boy attends a

Chinese school. Chinese is very difficult to

learn to read, especially if it is not one’s native

language. He may indeed have learned to

decode the printed symbols—or he may have

learned to fake it.

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Hope for Autism The prime prerequisite in break-

ing through the language barrier in a nonverbal

autistic child, such as this 4-year-old, is to get the

child to pay attention to another person’s speech.

Note that this teacher is sitting in a low chair to

facilitate eye contact and is getting the child to

focus on her mouth movements—a matter of little

interest to most children but intriguing to many

autistic ones. Sadly, even such efforts were not

enough: At age 13, this child was still mute. AL A

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Asperger syndrome A specific type of

autistic spectrum disorder characterized by

extreme attention to details and deficient

social understanding.

The incidence of autistic spectrum disorders may have tripled during the 1990s, as reported in California, Minnesota, and other areas. Certainly the num- ber of children receiving special educational services because of autistic disorders has increased dramatically (Newschaffer et al., 2005).

This increase may reflect an expanded definition of the condition, earlier diag- nosis, and availability of special education (before 1980, children diagnosed as autistic were not provided special education in the United States) (Gurney et al., 2003; Parsell, 2004). This hypothesis received support from a detailed study in Texas, showing that, over a six-year period, the number of children with autism tripled in the wealthiest school districts but did not change in the poorest districts (with fewer specialists) (Palmer et al., 2005; see Research Design).

Another possibility is that some new teratogen is harming many embryonic or infant brains. One suspect was thimerosal, an antiseptic containing mercury that is used in childhood immunizations. Many parents of autistic children first noticed their infants’ impairments after their MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vac- cinations (Dales et al., 2001).

This immunization hypothesis has been disproven. Of all 500,000 children born in Denmark from 1991 to 1998, about a fifth never received MMR vaccinations. They were just as likely to be diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders as those who were vaccinated (Madsen et al., 2002). Further, thimerosal was removed from vaccines a decade ago, but the rates of autism are still rising.

Many other substances (pesticides, cleaning chemicals, some of the ingredi- ents in nail polish) remain to be tested. Problems with risk analysis (explained in Chapter 4) are evident in this research, as in all research in developmental psycho- pathology. Scientists are not sure exactly why some children have autistic spectrum disorders, nor why symptoms vary.

It is known, however, that the original cause of autistic spectrum disorders is biological (genes, stress, perhaps chemicals). But treatment that relieves symptoms of autism involves early education. Each core symptom (problems with language, social connections, and play) has been a focus of treatment.

In programs that emphasize language, one-on-one training with teachers and parents helps children learn to communicate. Usually, this training involves ap- plied behavior analysis, with data collection and intervention that reinforces each step in the right direction, a method developed from behavioral theory (Wolery et al., 2005). Other programs emphasize play (Greenspan & Wieder, 2006), as with Jacob in Chapter 7. Remember that when Jacob’s parents learned to play with him, his language abilities improved dramatically.

Still other programs stress attachment (Beppu, 2005). Achieving even stronger parent–child bonds of attachment is a goal favored in Japan, where “successful diagnosis of high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome has resulted in high detection rates” (p. 204). In one program, a 6-year-old boy with autism noticed his older brother pouring water and tried to take a turn. “When his mother praised him, [the boy] looked back at his mother with a smile and poured his water even more eagerly” (p. 211). According to this therapist, the boy’s smile and pride were signs that he was aware of social praise and formed an attachment by connecting with his mother.

Educating Children with Special Needs

For all children with special needs, individualized instruction before age 6 can help them develop better learning strategies (Berninger & Richards, 2002; Silver & Hagin, 2002). Even children with severe symptoms of autism can be helped, although few ever learn to function normally (Ben-Itzchak & Zachor, 2007). For

Children with Special Needs 301

Research Design Scientists: Raymond Palmer, Stephen

Blanchard, and David Mandall designed

the study, and C. R. Jean provided criti-

cal interpretation.

Publication: American Journal of Public

Health, (2005).

Participants: All 1,040 school districts in

Texas over six school years, 1994 to 2001.

Design:The school districts were sorted

into tenths according to their resources:

income, salaries, community wealth,

proportion of disadvantaged students

and so on.Within each tenth, the num-

ber of students designated as autistic

was tallied each year.

Major conclusion: Increases in rate of

students with autistic spectrum disor-

ders correlated with wealth, from an

increase of 300 percent in districts in

the top two-tenths to no change in the

bottom tenth. For every 10,000 children,

21 in the top districts and 3 in the bot-

tom districts were designated as having

autism.

Comment:These findings, covering an

entire state, suggest that increases in

the incidence of autism are caused by

better diagnosis, greater availability of

special education, and perhaps parental

insistence on diagnosis and treatment.

all disorders, psychologists advocate “preventive intervention rather than waiting to intervene when language and learning problems begin to cast a long and wide shadow” (Plomin, 2002, p. 59).

Although the underlying physiological roots of childhood disorders are probably the same everywhere, the education of children with special needs during the school years varies dramatically. Most children with special needs are first spotted by a teacher (not a parent or pediatrician), who makes a referral, a request for evaluation. Then other professionals observe and test the child. If they agree that the child has special needs, they discuss an individual education plan (IEP) with the parent (see Table 11.2). Some parents want such specialized help; others dread the social consequences of special education for their child.

Before 1960, most children with special needs simply left school—they either dropped out or were forced out. Some were never even accepted to any school at all. That changed in the United States with a 1969 law that required that all children be educated. At first, children with special needs were placed together, but neither their social skills nor their academic achievement advanced.

individual education plan (IEP) A document

that specifies educational goals and plans

for a child with special needs.

302 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

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She Knows the Answer Physical disabilities

often mushroom into additional emotional

and cognitive problems. However, a disability

can be reduced to a minor complication if it is

recognized and if appropriate compensation

or remediation is made a part of the child’s

education. As she signs her answer, this deaf

girl shows by her expression that she is ready

to learn.

TABLE 11.2

Laws Regarding Special Education in the United States*

PL (Public Law) 91-230: Children with Specific Learning Disabilities Act, 1969

Recognized learning disabilities as a category within special education. Before 1969, learning-

disabled children received no special education or services.

PL 94-142: Education of All Handicapped Children Act, 1975

Mandated education of all school-age children, no matter what disability they might have, in

the least restrictive environment (LRE)—which meant with other children in a regular class-

room, if possible. Fewer children were placed in special, self-contained classes, and even

fewer in special schools. This law required an individual education plan (IEP) for each child

with special needs, specifying educational goals and periodic reassessment.

PL 105-17: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA], 1990;

updated 1997 and 2004

Refers to “individuals,” not children (to include education of infants, toddlers, adults), and to “disabilities,” not handicaps. Emphasizes parents’ rights in placement and IEP.

*Other nations have quite different laws and practices, and states and school districts within the United States vary

in interpretation and practice. Consult local support groups, authorities, and legal experts, if necessary.

In response, a 1975 U.S. law called the Education of All Handicapped Children Act mandated that children with special needs must learn in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Often that meant educating them with children in the regular class, a policy called mainstreaming.

Some schools set aside a resource room, where mainstreamed children with special needs spent time with a teacher who worked individually with them. How- ever, pulling children out of the regular classroom so that they could spend time in the resource room sometimes undermined their friendships and learning.

Another approach, inclusion, seemed wiser. Children with special needs were “included” in the general classroom, with “appropriate aids and services” (special help from a trained teacher who worked with the regular teacher).

In theory, parents decide what education their children receive. This is not always the case, however, partly because experts, teachers, and parents often disagree about the goals and practices of special education (Connor & Ferri, 2007; Rogers, 2007). Currently, children with special needs typically have fewer friends and learn less than other children, no matter what placement they are given (Wiener & Schneider, 2002).

Compared with the United States, most other nations recognize fewer children with special needs and have fewer laws and specialized teachers for helping those children. It is not clear whether singling them out for special education is better or worse for children with special needs.

SUMMING UP

Many children have special learning needs that originate in their brain development.

Developmental psychopathologists emphasize that no one is typical in every way; the

passage of time sometimes brings improvement and sometimes not. People with

attention-deficit disorders, learning disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorders may

function adequately or may have lifelong problems, depending on severity, family,

school, and culture as well as on comorbid conditions. Specifics of diagnosis, prog-

nosis, medication, and education are debatable; no child learns or behaves exactly like

another. ■

Children with Special Needs 303

least restrictive environment (LRE) A legal

requirement that children with special

needs be assigned to the most general

educational context in which they can be

expected to learn.

resource room A room in which trained

teachers help children with special needs,

using specialized curricula and equipment.

inclusion An approach to educating children

with special needs in which they are includ-

ed in regular classrooms, with “appropriate

aids and services,” as required by law.

Every Child Is Special One reason for a

school policy of inclusion is to teach children

to accept and appreciate children who have

special needs. The girl with Down syndrome

(in yellow) benefits from learning alongside

her classmates, as they learn from her. An ef-

fective teacher treats every child as a special

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A Healthy Time 1. Middle childhood is a time of steady growth and few serious ill- nesses. Increasing independence and self-care allow most school- age children to be relatively happy and competent.

2. Childhood obesity is becoming a worldwide epidemic. Although genetics plays a role in body weight, less exercise and the greater availability of unhealthy food are also culprits. Many adults, includ- ing parents, have not fully recognized this problem, which allows contempory children to be heavier than children a generation ago.

3. Physical activity not only retards obesity, it aids health and joy in many ways. Current environmental conditions make child play increasingly scarce.

4. Most other health problems are less common than they were 30 years ago, but the incidence of asthma is increasing. Although the origins of asthma are genetic and the triggers are specific al- lergens, effective primary prevention involves extending the breast-feeding period, making sure children get more outdoor play, and reducing air pollution.

Brain Development 5. Brain development continues during middle childhood, enhanc- ing every aspect of development. Myelination increases, speeding communication between neurons. The prefrontal cortex and the corpus callosum continue to mature, allowing not only analysis and planning but also selective attention and automatization.

6. IQ tests are designed to quantify intellectual aptitude. Most such tests emphasize language and logical ability and predict school achievement. IQ tests also reflect the culture in which they were created.

7. Achievement tests measure what a person has actually accom- plished. Most standard achievement tests measure academic learning. Sometimes measuring adaptation to daily life is crucial, especially in diagnosing mental retardation.

8. Critics contend that intelligence is actually manifested in mul- tiple ways, which conventional IQ tests are too limited to measure. The concept of multiple intelligences recognizes creative and practical abilities, some of which are difficult to test.

Children with Special Needs 9. Developmental psychopathology uses an understanding of normal development to inform the study of unusual development. Four general lessons have emerged: Abnormality is normal; dis- ability changes over time; adolescence and adulthood may make a condition better or worse; and diagnosis depends on context. Every disability has a physical and psychic component.

10. Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have potential problems in three areas: inattention, impulsiveness, and overactivity. The treatment for attention deficits is a combi- nation of medication, home management, and education. Stimu- lant medication often helps children with ADHD to learn, but the dosage must be carefully monitored.

11. Some young children with obvious educational or psychologi- cal disabilities are recognized, referred, evaluated, diagnosed, and treated in early childhood. For the most part, however, behavioral or learning problems are not spotted until children enter elemen- tary school and are compared with other children in a setting that demands maturity and learning.

12. Children with autistic spectrum disorders typically show odd and delayed language ability, impaired interpersonal skills, and un- usual play. Several specific disorders, including Asperger syndrome and Rhett syndrome, fall under this category. Autism may improve with intensive early education but never disappears.

13. People with learning disabilities have unusual difficulty in mastering a specific skill that other people learn easily. The most common learning disability that manifests itself during the school years is dyslexia, unusual difficulty with reading. Children with learning disabilities can be helped if the problem is spotted early and if the assistance is individualized to suit the particular child.

14. About 10 percent of all school-age children in the United States receive special education services. These services begin with an IEP (individual education plan) and assignment to the least restrictive environment.

15. Inclusion of children with special needs into regular educa- tion may aid the social skills of all children. However, inclusion does not meet every child’s needs.

middle childhood (p. 283) overweight (p. 284) obesity (p. 284) asthma (p. 288) reaction time (p. 290) selective attention (p. 290) automatization (p. 291) aptitude (p. 292) IQ tests (p. 292)

achievement tests (p. 292) Flynn Effect (p. 292) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for

Children (WISC) (p. 293) mental retardation (p. 293) children with special needs

(p. 295) developmental psychopathology

(p. 296)

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-R) (p. 296)

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (p. 297)

comorbidity (p. 297) learning disability (p. 299) dyslexia (p. 299) autism (p. 299)

autistic spectrum disorder (p. 299)

Asperger syndrome (p. 300) individual education plan

(IEP) (p. 302) least restrictive environment

(LRE) (p. 303) resource room (p. 303) inclusion (p. 303)

SUMMARY

KEY TERMS

304 CHAPTER 11 ■ The School Years: Biosocial Development

Summary 305

5. What are some good uses of intelligence tests?

6. What are some misuses of intelligence tests?

7. Why was the field of developmental psychopathology created?

8. Why might parents decide to ask a doctor to prescribe Ritalin for their child?

9. What are the signs of autistic spectrum disorders?

10. How could it happen that an adult might have a learning dis- ability that was never spotted?

1. How does the growth of the school-age child compare with the growth of the younger child?

2. What are the main reasons for the recent increase in child- hood obesity?

3. What measures to reduce asthma would also benefit all other children?

4. How does reaction time affect a child’s ability to learn and behave?

children with special needs. Pick one childhood disability or dis- ease and find several information sources on the Internet devoted to that condition. How might parents evaluate the information provided?

4. Special education teachers are in great demand. In your local public schools, what is the ratio of regular to special education teachers? How many are in self-contained classrooms, resource rooms, and inclusion classrooms? What does your data reveal about the education of children with special needs in your community?

1. Compare play spaces for children in different neighborhoods— ideally, urban, suburban, and rural areas. Note size, safety, and use. How might children’s weight and motor skills be affected?

2. Developmental psychologists believe that every teacher should be skilled at teaching children with a wide variety of needs. Does the teacher-training curriculum at your college or university reflect this goal? Should all teachers take the same courses, or should some teachers be specialized? Give reasons for your opinions.

3. Internet sources vary in quality, no matter what the topic, but this may be particularly true of Web sites designed for parents of

KEY QUESTIONS

APPLICATIONS

The School Years: Cognitive Development

S chool-age children are learners. As long as it’s not too abstract, they can learn almost anything: how to divide fractions, when to surf the Web, what to feed an orphaned kitten, and much more. Each day advances knowledge a tiny bit.

Time matters, but the depth and content of learning reflect motivation more than maturation—motivation guided by cultural priorities and chan- neled by brain networks. Thus, nurture and nature interact to allow each child’s mind to develop. Every school-age child is primed to learn, and adults everywhere are eager to teach.

In the United States, concerns that children were not learning enough led to a federal law called No Child Left Behind, which was passed in 2001 and is scheduled for revision and renewal in 2007. Meanwhile, the people of Japan worried that their children felt too much academic pressure, so their govern- ment in 2002 began yutori kyoiku, which means “more relaxed education.” Both these policies, and many other ideas about education, are described later in this chapter.

First, however, we describe theories and research on cognitive development during the school years. By the time you finish this chapter, you will under- stand what school-age children might learn and why adults argue about it.

Building on Theory Every theory, as Chapter 2 stressed, is practical. The dominant theories of cognition in school-age children, as expressed by Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and information-processing theorists, have been used to structure education.

Piaget and School-Age Children

In Piaget’s view, the most important cognitive structure attained in middle childhood is called concrete operational thought, characterized by a collection of concepts that enable children to reason.

Piaget thought that many logical concepts are almost impossible for younger children to comprehend but that children begin to understand them sometime between ages 5 and 7 (Inhelder & Piaget, 1964). Soon they apply logic in concrete situations—that is, situations that deal with visible, tangible, real things. Children thereby become more systematic, objective, scientific —and educable—thinkers.

12

307

CHAPTER OUTLINE

c Building on Theory

Piaget and School-Age Children

Vygotsky and School-Age Children

Information Processing

c Language

Vocabulary and Pragmatics

Second-Language Learning

ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS: SES and Language Learning

c Teaching and Learning

Curriculum

The Outcome

THINKING LIKE A SCIENTIST: International Achievement Tests

Education Wars and Assumptions

A CASE TO STUDY: Where Did You Learn Tsunami?

Culture and Education

concrete operational thought Piaget’s

term for the ability to reason logically

about direct experiences and perceptions.

An Example: Classification

One crucial logical concept is classification, the organization of things into groups (or categories or classes) according to some property that they have in common. For example, a child’s parents and siblings are classified as belonging to a group called family. Other common classes are people, animals, food, and toys. Each class includes some elements and excludes others, and each is part of a hierarchy. Food, for instance, contains the subclasses of meat, grains, fruits, and so on.

Most subclasses can be further divided: Meat includes poultry, beef, and pork, which again can be further subdivided. It is apparent to adults who have mastered classification, but not always to children, that items at the bottom of the hierarchy belong to every higher category (bacon is always pork, meat, and food) but that the process does not work in reverse (most foods are not bacon).

Piaget developed many experiments to reveal children’s understanding of clas- sification. For example, an examiner shows a child a bunch of nine flowers—seven yellow daisies and two white roses (revised and published in Piaget et al., 2001).

The examiner makes sure the child understands “flowers,” “daisies,” and “roses.” Then comes the crucial question: “Are there more daisies or more flowers?” Until about age 7, most children say, “More daisies.” Pushed to justify their answer, the youngest children usually have no explanation, but some 6- or 7-year-olds say that there are more yellow ones than white ones or that, because the daisies are daisies, they aren’t flowers (Piaget et al., 2001). By age 8, most children have a solid understanding of the classifica- tion of objects they can see (concrete objects, not yet hypo- thetical ones) and they confidently answer, “More flowers than daisies.”

The Significance of Logic

What do Piaget’s classification experiments mean? Despite Piaget’s interpretation, they do not prove a dramatic logical shift between preoperational and concrete operational

thought. Other research finds that classification appears before middle child- hood (Halford & Andrews, 2006). Even infants seem to have brain networks ready to categorize what they see (Quinn, 2004), and 4-year-olds can judge whether a certain food is breakfast food, junk food, both, or neither (S. P. Nguyen & Murphy, 2003).

Nonetheless, Piaget’s experimentation revealed something important. What develops during middle childhood is the ability to use mental categories and sub- categories flexibly, inductively, and simultaneously. This is apparent with flowers and daisies or (a greater challenge) with cars, which can be transportation, toys, lethal weapons, imports, consumer products, Toyotas, SUVs, and so on. Although preschool children can categorize, older children are more precise and flexible in classification, so that they are able to separate the essential from the irrelevant (Hayes & Younger, 2004).

The same flexibility is evident for other logical concepts. Remember from Chapter 9 that younger children do not understand conservation because they are swayed by appearance. School-age children grasp the concept of identity, the principle that objects remain the same even if some characteristics appear to shift. A ball is still a ball when it rolls into a hole; a child is the same person awake and asleep.

They also understand reversibility, the principle that things can return to their original state. By middle childhood, a child might prove conservation by using

classification The logical principle that

things can be organized into groups (or

categories or classes) according to some

characteristic they have in common.

308 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

After “Gee Whiz!” After he sees the magni-

fied image that his classmate expects will

amaze him, will he analyze his observations?

Ideally, concrete operational thought enables

children to use their new logic to interpret

their experiences.

V EE

R

identity The logical principle that certain

characteristics of an object remain the

same even if other characteristics change.

reversibility The logical principle that a thing

that has been changed can sometimes be

returned to its original state by reversing

the process by which it was changed.

identity (“It’s still the same milk”) or by reversing the process (pouring the liquid back into the first container).

Piaget realized that school-age children gradually become more logical, less egocentric, and quite concrete in their understanding. This is evident not only in Piaget’s experiments but also in research regarding math, physics, sickness, and so on (Astuti et al., 2004; C. Howe, 1998; Keil & Lockhart, 1999).

This movement away from egocentrism toward a more flexible logic was illus- trated by 5- to 9-year-olds who were asked about two hypothetical boys—David, who thought chocolate ice cream was yucky, and Daniel, who found chocolate ice cream yummy. Most 5-year-olds (63 percent) thought David was wrong, and many felt he was bad or stupid as well. By contrast, virtually all (94 percent) of the 9-year-olds thought both boys could be right, and few were critical of David (Wainryb et al., 2004).

Vygotsky and School-Age Children

Vygotsky (1934/1994) also felt that educators should consider the thought processes of the child. This approach was a marked improvement over the dull “meaningless acquisition” approach of many educators, which rendered the child “helpless in the face of any sensible attempt to apply any of this acquired knowl- edge” (pp. 356–357), which was apparent not only in Vygotsky’s home nation (Russia), but in schools worldwide.

The Role of Instruction

Unlike Piaget, who stressed the child’s own discovery of important concepts, Vygotsky regarded instruction by others as crucial, with peers and teachers pro- viding the bridge between the child’s developmental potential and the necessary skills and knowledge. In each child’s zone of proximal development, or almost- understood ideas, other people are crucial.

Confirmation of the role of social interaction comes from children who, because of their school’s entry-date requirement, are relatively old kindergarteners or young first-graders. Learning among 5-year-old first-graders (those who were born in December, for instance) far exceeds that of 5-year-olds who are only slightly younger but who (because they were born in January) are in kindergarten.

Additional confirmation comes from the effect on children of high-quality teaching. There is a direct correlation between the percentage of qualified teach- ers in a school and learning, even when other factors (SES, prior achievement, neighborhood) are considered (Wayne & Youngs, 2003).

Remember that, for Vygotsky, formal education is only one of many contexts for learning. Children are apprentices as they play with each other, watch television, eat dinner with their families, and engage in other daily interactions.

In short, Vygotsky’s emphasis on the sociocultural context contrasts with Piaget’s more maturational approach. Vygotsky believed that cultures (tools, customs, and people) teach people. The social setting guides children in their zone of proximal development. For example, a child who is surrounded by adults who read for pleasure, by well-stocked bookcases, and by street signs is likely to read sooner than a child with little or no exposure to any of these things—even if both are in the same classroom—because the former is enticed into the zone of reading.

Cultural Variations

Most research on children’s cognition has been done in North America and west- ern Europe, but the same patterns are apparent worldwide. In Zimbabwe, for ex- ample, children’s understanding of classification is influenced not only by their

Building on Theory 309

Especially for Teachers How might

Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s ideas help in teaching

geography to a class of third-graders?

310 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

age (Piaget) but also by factors related to social interactions (Vygotsky), such as the particulars of their schooling, and by their family’s SES (Mpofu & van de Vijver, 2000).

The most detailed international example comes from Brazil, specifi- cally from the street children who sell fruit, candy, and other products to earn their living. Many have never attended school and consequently score poorly on standard math achievement tests. This is no surprise to developmentalists, who have seen many examples of slower academic proficiency in children who are unschooled (Rogoff et al., 2005).

However, most young Brazilian peddlers are adept at pricing their wares, making change, and giving discounts for large quantities—a set of operations that must be recalibrated almost every day because of infla- tion, wholesale prices, and customer demand. These children calculate “complex markup computations and adjust for inflation in these compu- tations by using procedures that were widespread in their practice but not known to children in school” (Saxe, 1999, p. 255).

Thus, the knowledge of advanced math that is reflected in these street children’s cognitive performance comes from three sources:

■ Demands of the situation ■ Learning from other sellers ■ Daily experience

None of this would surprise Vygotsky, who would expect that street culture would teach children what they needed to know. The researchers found that school was not completely irrelevant. The best math skills were demonstrated by children who had some schooling as well as street experience (Saxe, 1991).

Today’s educators and psychologists regard both Piaget and Vygotsky as insight- ful theorists. Developmentalists’ understanding of how children learn depends largely on “a framework that was laid down by Piaget and embellished by Vygotsky” (C. Howe, 1998, p. 207). In other words, Piaget’s appreciation that children are eager learners, trying to understand the world in ways limited by their maturation, has been developed by Vygotsky. Vygotsky realized how much children learn from each other and from their teachers—as long as those mentors know what motiva- tion and understanding the children already possess.

Information Processing

An alternative approach to understanding cognition arises from information- processing theory. As you learned in Chapter 6, this approach takes its name from computer functioning. Computers receive and store vast quantities of infor- mation (numbers, letters, pixels, or other coded symbols) and then use software programs to process that information.

People, too, take in large amounts of information. They use mental processes to perform three functions: search for specific units of information when needed (as a search engine does); analyze (as software programs do); and express the analysis in a format that another person (or a networked computer) can interpret. By tracing the paths and links of each of these functions, scientists can better understand the mechanisms of learning. Information processing focuses on the specifics of a child learning a particular thing, not on theories but on details. It’s thinking that pro- gresses from models and hypotheses to practical demonstrations (Munakata, 2006).

Learning is particularly rapid in childhood, even without explicit adult instruc- tion. As they search, analyze, and express information, many 7- to 11-year-olds not only soak up knowledge in school but also outscore their elders in video games, memorize the lyrics of popular songs, and recognize out-of-towners by the clothes

Street Smarts Javier Garcias sells candy

and cigarettes on the streets of San Salvador,

the capital of El Salvador, from 5:00 A.M. until

1:00 P.M. and from 5:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. In

between, he goes to school. That combina-

tion of work experience and formal education

may add up to excellent math skills—if Javier

is awake enough to learn.

V IC

TO R

R U

IZ C

A B

A LL

ER O

/ A

P /

W ID

E W

O R

LD P

H O

TO S

information-processing theory The view of

cognition as comparable to the functioning

of a computer and as best understood by

analyzing each aspect of that functioning—

sensory data input, connections, stored

memories, and output.

they wear. Some children, by age 11, beat their elders at chess, play music so well that adults pay to hear them, or write poems that are published. Other children live by their wits on the street or become soldiers in civil wars, learning lessons that no child should know (Grigorenko & O’Keefe, 2004). All this is evidence of rapid acquisition of knowledge.

As with a computer, greater efficiency in learning requires more than just the storage of information within the brain. Greater efficiency requires retrieval strategies and analysis, which make 11-year-olds better thinkers than 7-year-olds, who are better thinkers than 3-year-olds. Nonetheless, as with computers, memory is crucial.

Memory

Sensory memory (also called the sensory register) is the first component of the human information-processing system. It stores incoming stimuli for a split second after they are received, to allow them to be processed. To use terms first explained in Chapter 5, sensations are retained for a moment so that some of them can become perceptions. This first step of sensory awareness is already quite good in early childhood, improves slightly until about age 10, and remains adequate until late adulthood.

Once some sensations become perceptions, the brain selects meaningful percep- tions to transfer to working memory for further analysis. It is in working memory (previously called short-term memory) that current, conscious mental activity occurs. Working memory improves steadily and significantly every year from age 4 to age 15 (Gathercole et al., 2004). For example, capacity increases, and sounds are remembered. These improvements are possible in part because of changes in the brain: increased myelination and dendrite formation in the prefrontal cortex—the massive interconnection described in Chapter 11.

Finally, some information is transferred to long-term memory, which stores it for minutes, hours, days, months, or years. The capacity of long-term memory— how much information can be crammed into one brain—is virtually limitless by the end of middle childhood. Together with sensory memory and working memory, long-term memory assists in organizing ideas and reactions. Crucial to the process of measuring and using long-term memory is not merely storage (how much mate- rial has been deposited) but also retrieval (how readily the material can be brought into working memory to be used). Retrieval is easier for some memories—especially memories of vivid, highly emotional experiences—than for others.

Speed and Knowledge

Having looked at the components of the information-processing system, let’s look more closely at two keys to cognitive development in school-age children: greater speed and greater knowledge.

Speed of thinking continues to increase throughout the first two decades of life. Neurological maturation, including ongoing myelination, helps to account for these changes (Benes, 2001). So does experience.

Repetition (pronouncing the same word, rehearsing the same dance step, adding the same numbers) makes neurons fire in a coordinated and seemingly instantaneous sequence (Merzenich, 2001). As children repeatedly use their intel- lectual skills, processes that once required hard mental labor become automatic.

sensory memory The component of the

information-processing system in which

incoming stimulus information is stored for

a split second to allow it to be processed.

(Also called the sensory register.)

working memory The component of the

information-processing system in which

current conscious mental activity occurs.

(Also called short-term memory.)

long-term memory The component of the

information-processing system in which

virtually limitless amounts of information

can be stored indefinitely.

Building on Theory 311

Especially for Teachers How might your

understanding of memory help you teach a

2,000-word vocabulary list to a class of

fourth-graders?

Eye on the Ball This boy’s concentration while heading the

ball and simultaneously preparing to fall is a sign that he has

practiced this maneuver enough times that he can perform it

automatically. Not having to think about what to do on the

way down, he can think about what to do when he gets up,

such as pursuing the ball or getting back to cover his position. KA Z

M O

R I /

T H

E IM

A G

E B

A N

K

➤Response for Teachers (from page 309):

Here are two of the most obvious ways.

(1) Use logic. Once children can grasp classifi-

cation and class inclusion, they can understand

cities within states, states within nations,

and nations within continents. Organize your

instruction to make logical categorization

easier. (2) Make use of children’s need for

concrete and personal involvement. You might

have the children learn first about their own

location, then about the places where relatives

and friends live, and finally about places

beyond their personal experience (via books,

photographs, videos, and guest speakers).

This automatization (described in Chapter 11) increases processing speed, frees up memory capacity, allows more information to be remembered, and advances thinking in every way (Demetriou et al., 2002).

Progress from initial effort to automatization often takes years, making repetition and practice essential. Many children lose cognitive skills over the summer because the lack of daily schooling for a few months erases earlier academic learning (Alexander et al., 2007). Even adults who leave college for a decade feel “rusty” when they first return. The most problematic aspect of children’s television watching may be that it crowds out time for reading and thus reduces achievement (Roberts & Foehr, 2004). Not until something is overlearned does it become automatic.

The more people know, the more they can learn and remember. That is, having an extensive knowledge base, a broad body of knowledge in a particular subject area, makes it easier to master new information in that area. Ongoing develop- ment of knowledge depends on past experience, current opportunity, and personal motivation. This is evident from millions of school-age children: Their knowledge base is far greater in some domains, and far smaller in others, than their parents or teachers would like.

A British study provides an example (Balmford et al., 2002; see Research Design). Schoolchildren were asked to identify 10 out of a random sample of 100 Pokémon creatures and 10 out of 100 types of wildlife common in the United Kingdom. As you can see in Figure 12.1, the 4- to 6-year-olds knew only about a third of the 20 items but could identify more living things than imaginary ones. In contrast, 8- to 11-year-olds recognized more Pokémon creatures than living things. A peak in Pokémon knowledge occurred at about age 9, more for boys than girls (gender breakdowns are not shown in the graph). It is easy to understand why: Third-grade boys were often intensely engaged in collecting Pokémon cards.

control processes Mechanisms (including

selective attention, metacognition, and

emotional regulation) that combine mem-

ory, processing speed, and knowledge to

regulate the analysis and flow of informa-

tion within the information-processing

system.

312 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

Research Design Scientists: Andrew Balmford, Lizzie

Clegg,Tim Coulson, and Jennie Taylor.

Publication: Science (2002) (a weekly

journal published by the American

Association for the Advancement of

Science).

Participants: A total of 109 British

schoolchildren, aged 4–11.

Design: Each child was asked to name

20 pictures, 10 of British wildlife (plants,

mammals, invertebrates, and birds) and

10 of Pokémon characters, randomly

chosen from two packs of 100.To be

considered correct, the children did not

have to name the genus of insect or

plant (saying “beetle” was enough), but

they had to do so for mammals (e.g.,

“badger”). Pokémon creatures had to

be identified by their correct names.

Major conclusion: Children are great

learners, but they do not learn much

about nature. Identification increased

markedly from age 4 to 8, from 32 per-

cent to 53 percent for natural creatures,

and from 7 to 78 percent for Pokémon

characters.

Comment:This straightforward study is

presented as a wake-up call for conser-

vationists.The authors quote Robert

Pyle: “What is the loss of a condor to a

child who has never seen a wren?”

knowledge base A body of knowledge in a

particular area that makes it easier to mas-

ter new information in that area.

Children’s Ability to Identify Images on Flashcards

Source: Adapted from Balmford et al., 2002, p. 2367.

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 124

Age (in years)

Score

(average

number of

correct

identifica-

tions)

Pokémon

characters

Types of

British wildlife

FIGURE 12.1

Knowledge of the Real and

the Imaginary Every child’s

knowledge base expands with

age, but the areas of special in-

terest tend to shift as the child

grows older. At about 8 years

of age, British schoolchildren’s

ability to identify Pokémon

characters on flashcards began

to surpass their ability to iden-

tify real-life animals and plants.

Observation Quiz (see

answer, page 314): What does

this graph suggest about the

state of wildlife conservation

in the United Kingdom in the

year 2020?

Control Processes

The mechanisms that put memory, processing speed, and the knowledge base together are called control processes; they regulate the analysis and flow of in- formation within the system. Control processes include selective attention, metacognition, and emotional regulation. They assume an executive role in the information-processing system. When someone concentrates on only the crucial

➤Response for Teachers (from page 311):

Children this age can be taught strategies

for remembering by making links between

working memory and long-term memory.

You might break down the vocabulary list into

word clusters, grouped according to root

words, connections to the children’s existing

knowledge, applications, or (as a last resort)

first letters or rhymes. Active, social learning

is useful; perhaps in groups the students

could write a story each day that incorporates

15 new words. Each group could read its

story aloud to the class.

part of the material bombarding the sensory memory, or summons a rule of thumb from long-term memory to working memory, or uses the knowledge base to connect new information, control processes are active. They organize, decide, and direct, as the chief executive officer of a large corporation is supposed to do.

Control processes develop spontaneously with age, but they are also taught. Sometimes this teaching is explicit. For instance, class- room instruction often includes spelling rules such as “i before e except after c” and helpful sentences for remembering things such as the order of the planets from the sun (“My Very Eager Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas”—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto). Once children know these, they can use the same techniques to make up their own mnemonic devices (memory aids). In fact, now that Pluto is no longer considered a planet, they have an opportunity to do so.

Sometimes it is more implicit. Cultures teach children general strategies, such as whether they should learn by attending to one thing at a time, as is the expectation in North American schools, or should learn while doing other things, as some cultures (for example, in Latin America) encourage. This latter approach is not necessarily inefficient because “simultaneous attention may be important when learning relies on observation of ongoing events” (Correa-Chavez et al., 2005, p. 665).

During the school years, children develop a more comprehensive form of think- ing called metacognition, sometimes called thinking about thinking. Metacogni- tion is the ability to evaluate a cognitive task to determine how best to accomplish it and then to monitor and adjust one’s performance on that task.

Marked advances in metacognition occur when children become better aware of what they know and what they need to learn. School-age children with such an awareness might, for example, test themselves to judge whether they have learned their spelling words, rather than insisting (as younger children might) that they know it all (Harter, 1999).

With the advances in metacognition come strikingly evident improvements in children’s ability to store information so that retrieval is possible. The relationship is clear, for example, from an experiment in which 7- and 9-year-olds memorized two lists of 10 items each (M. L. Howe, 2004). Some children had separate lists of toys and vehicles; others had two mixed lists, with toys and vehicles combined in both. A day later, they were asked to remember one of the lists. Having had sepa- rate lists of toys and vehicles helped the 7-year-olds somewhat, compared to the 7-year-olds with mixed lists, but having organized lists was particularly beneficial for the 9-year-olds. They remembered notably more items than did other 9-year- olds whose lists had mixed toys and vehicles.

Some of these children had been explicitly told about the categories of the lists and some had not. That did not make much difference, because the 9-year-olds spontaneously noted the categories, and that helped them remember (M. L. Howe, 2004). In other words, the 9-year-olds used metacognitive skills without prompting.

The relative benefits of spontaneous use of metacognition versus instruction in memory techniques have been the focus of decades of research (Pressley & Hilden, 2006). Such research has thus looked at both discovery (inspired by Piaget) and explicit scaffolding (inspired by Vygotsky) from an information-processing perspective.

It is apparent that during the school years, children benefit from learning spe- cific cognitive strategies in every academic subject (math, reading, writing, science),

Building on Theory 313

They’ve Read the Book Acting in a play

based on The Lion, the Witch, and the

Wardrobe suggests that these children have

metacognitive abilities beyond those of al-

most any preschooler. Indeed, the book itself

requires a grasp of the boundary between

reality (the wardrobe) and fantasy (the witch).

“Thinking about thinking” is needed in order

to appreciate the allegory.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 314):

Beyond understanding the book, what are

three examples of metacognition implied

here? Specifically, how does the ability to

memorize lines, play a part, and focus on the

play illustrate metacognition?

B A

C H

M A

N N

/ P

H O

TO R

ES EA

R C

H ER

S , I

N C

.

metacognition “Thinking about thinking,” or

the ability to evaluate a cognitive task to

determine how best to accomplish it, and

then to monitor and adjust one’s perform-

ance on that task.

especially if they are given practice over weeks and months. To use the language of computers, once a program is installed, if the operator uses it frequently and understands its application, output is faster and more accurate. That works for children, too.

SUMMING UP

Piaget and Vygotsky both recognized that school-age children are avid learners who ac-

tively build on the knowledge they already have. Piaget emphasized the child’s own logical

thinking, as the principles of classification, identity, and reversibility are understood during

concrete operational thought. Research inspired by Vygotsky and the sociocultural per-

spective fills in Piaget’s outline with details of the actual learning situation. Cultural differ-

ences can be powerful; specific instruction and practical experience make a difference.

An information-processing analysis highlights many components of thinking that ad-

vance during middle childhood. Although sensory memory and long-term memory do not

change much during these years, the speed and efficiency of working memory improve

dramatically, which makes school-age children better thinkers than they previously were.

Another advantage of older children is that past learning results in a greater knowledge

base.

In addition, control processes, such as selective attention and metacognition, enable

children to become more strategic thinkers, able to direct their minds toward whatever

they are motivated to learn and adults are motivated to teach. ■

Language As you remember, many aspects of language advance rapidly before middle child- hood. By age 6, children have mastered most of the basic vocabulary and grammar of their first language, and many even speak a second language. However, as we will now see, because school-age children have the abilities described in the chap- ter to this point (noted by Piaget, Vygotsky, and information-processing theorists), they advance in language.

Some school-age children learn as many as 20 new words a day and apply gram- mar rules they did not use before. These new words and applications are unlike the language explosion. Increases in logic, flexibility, memory, speed of thinking, metacognition, and connections between facts enhance the learning of a first and second language (Kagan & Herschkowitz, 2005).

Vocabulary and Pragmatics

Young children know the names of thousands of objects, and they understand many other parts of speech as well. But school-age children are more flexible and logical in their knowledge and use of vocabulary, understanding metaphors, pre- fixes and suffixes, and compound words.

For example, 2-year-olds know egg, but 10-year-olds also know egg salad, egg- drop soup, eggless, eggplant, egghead, and walking on eggshells, egg on my face, and last one in is a rotten egg. They understand that each of these expressions is logi- cally connected to egg (benefits of the knowledge base) but is also distinct from the dozen uncooked eggs in the refrigerator. They use each expression in the appropriate contexts.

One aspect of language that advances markedly in middle childhood is prag- matics, the practical use of language, including communication with varied audi- ences in different contexts. This ability is obvious to linguists when they listen to children talk informally with their friends and formally with their teachers or

Especially for Parents You’ve had an

exhausting day but are setting out to buy

groceries. Your 7-year-old son wants to go

with you. Should you explain that you are so

tired that you want to make a quick solo trip

to the supermarket this time?

314 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from page

312): As the authors of this study observe,

“People care about what they know.” As their

knowledge about their country’s animal and

plant life declines with age, these British

children’s concern for wildlife conservation is

likely to decline, too.

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 313): (1) Memorizing extensive passages

requires an understanding of advanced

memory strategies that combine meaning

with form. (2) Understanding how to play a

part so that other actors and the audience

respond well requires a sophisticated theory

of mind. (3) Staying focused on the moment

in the play despite distractions from the

audience requires selective attention.

parents, never calling the latter a rotten egg—regardless of whether they are the last one to sit down to dinner or not.

Children are thus able to switch back and forth, depending on the audience, between different manners of speaking, or “codes.” Each code includes many aspects of language—tone, pronunciation, gestures, sentence length, idioms, vocabulary, and grammar. Sometimes the switch is between formal code (used in academic contexts) and informal code (used with friends); sometimes it is between dialect or vernacular (used on the street) and standard or proper speech. Many children use a new code in text messaging, with numbers (411), abbre- viations (LOL), and emoticons (☺).

During middle childhood, many children excel at pragmat- ics, using the appropriate code in each context. They not only adjust to their audience but can use logic to do so, applying grammatical rules when they need to. Children need help from teachers to become fluent in the formal code so that they will be able to communicate with educated adults from many places. The peer group teaches the informal code, and each local community teaches dialect and pronunciation.

Second-Language Learning

The most obvious need for school-age children to use various codes pragmatically occurs when children speak one language at home and another at school. Almost every nation’s population includes many children who speak a minority language, and most of the world’s 6,000 languages are never used in school. Consequently, about a billion children are educated in a language other than their mother tongue (John-Steiner et al., 1994). Many will lose fluency in their first language. It is estimated that at least 5,000 languages will die by 2050 (May, 2005).

In the United States, 4 million students (10 percent of the school population) are English-language learners (ELLs) (formerly called LEP, limited English proficiency) and thus do not yet speak English well. Many live with their co- linguists in California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Florida, while others are surrounded by people who cannot converse with them. Many public school classes (43 percent) have at least one ELL student (Zehler et al., 2003).

Middle childhood is a good time for learning a second language. As explained earlier, children aged 7 to 11 are eager to communicate, are logical, and have an ear (and brain) for nuances of code and pronunciation. Experience in Canada, in Israel, and in many other nations proves that most children can become fluent in two languages before puberty (DeKeyser & Larson-Hall, 2005).

In the United States, as in many other countries, some students learning the majority language in school have a first language that is relatively close to it, while others have a quite different first language. Those who already read and write Span- ish, French, or another Romance language have a foundation for learning English, since the letters, many sounds, and some words are similar. If their teachers show them how to sound out letters and recognize words that are cognates, they grasp English more quickly (Carlo et al., 2004). Children whose first language uses differ- ent symbols and has a markedly different sound system, as is the case, for example, with Arabic and Asian languages, have a harder time (Snow & Kang, 2006).

Many American children, most notably from Asian American backgrounds, make a language shift, replacing their original language with English rather than becoming fluent in both languages (Tse, 2001). Partly to avoid this, many Asian communities provide “heritage” language classes after school or on Saturdays. In the 1990s in the Los Angeles area, there were 80 Chinese heritage schools with

Language 315

Connections Basic vocabulary is learned by

age 4 or so, but the school years are best for

acquiring expanded, derivative, and specialized

vocabulary, especially if the child is actively

connecting one word with another. With his

father’s encouragement, this boy in San Jose,

California, will remember Jupiter, Mars, and

the names of the other planets and maybe

even orbit, light-years, and solar system.

R A

C H

EL E

PS TE

IN /

T H

E IM

A G

E W

O R

K S

English-language learner (ELL) A child who

is learning English as a second language.

bilingual education A strategy in which

school subjects are taught in both the

learner’s original language and the second

(majority) language.

ESL (English as a second language) An

approach to teaching English in which all

children who do not speak English are

placed together and given an intensive

course in basic English so that they can be

educated in the same classroom as native

English speakers.

15,000 pupils. Despite such classes, many Asian American children lose their original language (Liu, 2006). This is unfortunate, not only because fluently bilin- gual adults are needed but also because language is intimately connected to values and emotions, and parents and others fear language loss may represent a loss of culture. Immigrant parents want their children to maintain their culture even as they want their children to succeed.

Bilingual speakers are aware of the connection between language and emotion, and they choose how to say what to whom (Myers-Scotton & Bolonyai, 2001). Things learned in English are more readily remembered in English, and things learned in the original language are remembered better in that language (Marian & Fausey, 2006).

Many educators fear that immigrant children may suffer if they are expected to relinquish their first language.

Challenges of adaptation to a new language and culture for child migrants are reflected in data about their academic achievement. Language minority children are at demonstrably greater risk than native speakers of experiencing academic difficulty . . . in the United States, . . . in the Netherlands, . . . in Great Britain, . . . and in Japan.

[Snow & Kang, 2006, p. 76]

Experts agree that all children should learn to speak and write in the majority language while not losing their native tongue, and that those children who already speak the majority language should learn a second language, ideally before puberty. Experts do not agree on the best way to reach these goals. Political controversies have made objective research difficult; no single approach has been proven to be best for all children in all contexts (Bialystok, 2001; Hinkel, 2005; Snow & Kang, 2006).

Approaches range from total immersion, in which instruction in all school subjects occurs entirely in the second (majority) language, to the opposite ap- proach, in which children learn in their first language until the second language can be taught as a “foreign” tongue. Variations between these extremes include bilingual education, with instruction in two languages, and, in North America, ESL (English as a second language), programs in which ELL children are taught intensively and exclusively in English to prepare them for regular classes.

The success of any of these methods seems to depend on the literacy of the home (the specific language used at home matters less than the frequency of reading, writing, and listening), the warmth and skill of the teacher, and the over- all cultural context. Any method tends to fail if children feel shy, stupid, or lonely because of their language.

Second-language learning remains controversial in the United States, even among immigrants who do not speak English. Cognitive research leaves no doubt that school-age children can learn a second language if it is taught logically, step by step, and they can maintain their original language. The best strategies included a language-rich environment (at home and school), with ample reading, writing, and speaking instruction.

The likelihood of parents, school, and culture encouraging bilingualism in chil- dren is affected by the socioeconomic status of the family and of the minority group. This is one explanation for the experience of Korean immigrant children, who usually have more success at learning English in the United States than the typical immigrant child but do much worse in Japan (where they often are at the bottom of the economic ladder). An overview finds that “language teaching has always been susceptible to political and social influences” (Byram & Feng, 2005, p. 926). Let’s take a closer look at the role of SES in language learning.

total immersion A strategy in which instruc-

tion in all school subjects occurs in the

second (majority) language that a child is

learning.

316 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

➤Response for Parents (from page 314):

Your son would understand your explanation,

but you should take him along if you can do

so without losing patience with him. Any

excursion can be a learning opportunity. You

wouldn’t ignore his need for food or medicine;

don’t ignore his need for learning. While

shopping, you can teach vocabulary (does he

know pimientos, pepperoni, polenta? ),

categories (“root vegetables,” “freshwater

fish”), and math (which size box of cereal is

cheaper?). Explain in advance that you need

him to help you find items and carry them

and that he can choose only one item that

you wouldn’t normally buy. Seven-year-olds

can understand rules, and they enjoy being

helpful.

SUMMING UP

Children continue to learn language rapidly during the school years. They become more

flexible, logical, and knowledgeable, figuring out the meaning of new words. Many

converse with friends using informal speech and master a more formal code in school.

Millions become proficient in a second language, a process facilitated by teachers

who help them see connections between the new language and their original one, and

by peers who do not make them feel ashamed. Speaking and listening to each child, in

school and at home, continues to help with language learning. ■

Teaching and Learning School-age children are great learners. They develop strategies, accumulate knowledge, apply logic, and think quickly. Magical and egocentric thinking no longer dominate, yet 7- to 11-year-olds are not yet as resistant to authority as ado- lescents sometimes are.

Children universally are given responsibility and instruction at about age 7, because that is when their bodies and brains are ready. Traditionally, this occurred within the family, but now 95 percent of the world’s 7-year-olds are in school. Communities and cultures choose what happens at school, including what chil- dren learn.

Teaching and Learning 317

SES and Language Learning

Decades of research throughout the world have found a power-

ful connection between language development and socioeco-

nomic status (Plank & MacIver, 2003). Compared with their

peers, children from low-SES families tend to fall behind in

talking, then in reading, and then in other subjects. Not only do

children from low-income families have smaller vocabularies,

but their grammar is simpler (fewer compound sentences, de-

pendent clauses, and conditional verbs) and their sentences are

shorter (Hart & Risley, 1995; Hoff, 2003).

The information-processing perspective forces us to look at

specifics of daily input that might affect the child’s brain and

thus the child’s ability to learn language. Possibilities abound—

lead in house paint, inadequate prenatal care, lack of a nourish-

ing breakfast, overcrowded household, too few books at home,

teenage parenthood, authoritarian child rearing . . . the list

could go on and on. All of these correlate with low SES, but no

one of them has been proven to be in itself a major cause of poor

language learning.

There are two factors, however, that do appear to play an

important role in the connection between low SES and poor

language learning. One is extent of early exposure to language.

Unlike parents with higher education, many less educated par-

ents tend not to speak extensively or elaborately with their chil-

dren. The reasons correlate with low income (financial stress,

not enough time for each child, neighborhood noise) but are not

caused by it. In one study, researchers observed young children

at home for three years, recording an average of 30 hours of talk

per family. Children in high-SES families heard about 2,000

words an hour, while children in low-SES families heard only

about 600 words per hour (Hart & Risley, 1995). Many studies

have found a “powerful linkage” between adult linguistic input

and later child output (Weizman & Snow, 2001, p. 276). Remem-

ber that dendrites in the brain grow to accommodate the child’s

experiences, including experience with language.

A second factor is expectation. Many people believe that

teachers’ and parents’ expectations are the reason some children

master language quickly while others do not, and SES may

affect expectations. Expectations can, of course, make a positive

difference. For example, E. P. Jones, who won the 2004 Pulitzer

Prize for his novel The Known World (E. P. Jones, 2003), grew

up in a very poor family, headed by a single mother who was illit-

erate. Jones writes:

For as many Sundays as I can remember, perhaps even Sundays

when I was in the womb, my mother has pointed across “I” street

to Seaton [school] as we come and go to Mt. Carmel [church].

“You gonna go there and learn about the whole world.”

[E. P. Jones, 1992/2003, p. 29]

He did.

issues and applications

Schools are pivotal. In the United States, this is particularly true for young children whose families are immigrants, have low SES, and/or do not speak the majority language. Two such children, both educated in southern California, describe their experiences.

Yolanda: When I got here [from Mexico at age 7], I didn’t want to stay here, ’cause I didn’t like the school. And after a little while, in third grade, I started getting the hint of it and everything and I tried real hard in it. I really got along with the teachers. . . . They would start talking to me, or they kinda like pulled me up some grades, or moved me to other classes, or took me somewhere. And they were always con- gratulating me.

Paul: I grew up . . . ditching school, just getting in trouble, trying to make a dollar, that’s it, you know? Just go to school, steal from the store, and go sell candies at school. And that’s what I was doing in the third or fourth grade. . . . I was always getting in the principal’s office, suspended, kicked out, everything, starting from the third grade.

My fifth grade teacher, Ms. Nelson . . . she put me in a play and that like tripped me out. Like, why do you want me in a play? Me, I’m just a mess-up. Still, you know, she put me in a play. And in the fifth grade, I think that was the best year out of the whole six years. I learned a lot about the Revolutionary War. . . . Had good friends. . . . We had a project we were involved in. Ms. Nelson . . . just involved everyone. We made books, this and that. And I used to write, and wrote two, three books. Was in a book fair. . . . She got real deep into you. Just, you know, “Come on now, you can do it.” That was a good year for me, fifth grade.

[quoted in Nieto, 2000, pp. 220, 249]

Note that initially Yolanda didn’t like the United States because of school, but her teachers “kind of pulled me up.” By third grade she was beginning to get “the hint of it.” For Paul, school was where he sold stolen candy and where his teachers

sent him to the principal, who suspended him. Ms. Nelson’s fifth grade, though it was “a good year” for him, was too late; Paul was sent to a special school and probably (suggested, not confirmed in the text) had been in jail by age 18.

Curriculum

Everywhere children are taught to read, write, and do arithmetic, although beyond basic skills, nations vary in how and what they teach their children and how much they spend to do it (see Figure 12.2). For exam- ple, reasoned speaking and logical argument are taught in Russia and France but not in India or the United States (Alexander, 2000); memorization is important in India but is less so in England. In some places, physical education and the arts are essential; in France, for example, every week physical education takes three hours and arts education more than two hours (Marlow-Ferguson, 2002). Even nations that are geographically and culturally close to each other differ in specifics. For example, every elementary school student in Australia spends at least two hours per week studying science, but this is true for only 23 percent in nearby New Zealand (Snyder et al., 2004).

318 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

Public Spending per Child in Elementary School, Selected Countries

Annual expenditure per child

(in U.S. dollars)

$1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 $6,000 $7,000 $8,000

Australia

Denmark

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Italy

Japan

Mexico

New Zealand

Poland

Sweden

United Kingdom

United States

Source: Snyder et al., 2006.

FIGURE 12.2

What Money Can’t Buy The United States

spends more on elementary school education,

but U.S. students do not learn more than stu-

dents in other developed nations. Depending

on your personal and political perspective,

you can blame the children, the teachers, the

curriculum, or government policies.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 320):

Four other nations have relatively high per

capita spending on education. Do you know

anything else noteworthy about them?

When, how, to whom, and whether second-language instruction should occur also varies markedly from nation to nation. Within some nations, including the United States, second-language instruction varies from district to district, as already explained. Even in the same district and under the same policy, teacher quality is crucial, as the quotations from Yolanda and Paul illustrate and as re- search has confirmed (Hinkel, 2005). In other nations, including most European countries, every elementary school child learns at least one language in addition to his or her native tongue.

Religious instruction is another major variable. In some nations, every public school teaches religion. For instance, Finnish schools require religious education —but provide parents only three choices: Lutheran, Christian Orthodox, or non- sectarian (Marlow-Ferguson, 2002). In other nations, religious instruction is forbidden in state-sponsored schools. This is true in the United States, where 88 percent of children attend public schools; the other 12 percent are home-schooled (2 percent) or attend a private school (10 percent), often with a religious bent (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). Almost every nation has some private schools that are sponsored by religious groups. Again, international variation is large. Sixteen percent of French children attend church-related schools; only 1 percent of Japanese children do (Marlow-Ferguson, 2002).

Another major difference is whether the parents, the local community, the state, or the nation decides curriculum. The following is from a minister of educa- tion in Australia:

Education is a national priority and it is too important to be left at the mercy of state parochialism . . . with an increasingly mobile workforce, why should students and teachers be disadvantaged when they move interstate from one educational system to another?

[Bishop, quoted in Manzo, 2007, p. 40]

In Australia local control of curriculum clashes with a push for national stan- dards. The same clash is at the heart of the controversy in the United States over the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a federal law that mandates annual standardized achievement tests for public school children beginning in the third grade. If schools do not meet the achievement standards (which keep rising) for several years, parents can transfer their children out, and low-scoring schools will lose funding and may have to close.

Some states (e.g., Utah) have opted out of No Child Left Behind. Other states have achievement tests that allow most schools to progress (and thus get funding). The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a federal Depart- ment of Education project that measures achievement in reading, mathematics, and other subjects over time, finds fewer children proficient in various skills than state tests show (see Figures 12.3 and 12.4). Yet

local control of public schools is a hallowed tradition in American education and there has long been antipathy to the idea of a national test. . . . Some state edu- cators say comparisons are unfair because NAEP is too rigorous and was designed to chart long-term trends, not to measure what states feel students should know.

[Vu, 2007]

One problem with national standards, as is evident with NAEP, is that states disagree about what children should know and how they should learn it. Many schools (71 percent in one study) cut back on parts of the curriculum (especially art or music) in order to offer more instruction in reading and math (Rentner et al., 2006). One reason for this shift in emphasis is that No Child Left Behind implemented Reading First, reflecting the notion that the primary item of curriculum (and the primary goal of national standards and topic of achievement tests) should be reading. In addition, nationally approved materials for teaching

No Child Left Behind Act A U.S. law passed

by Congress in 2001 that was intended to

increase accountability in education by

requiring standardized tests to measure

school achievement. Many critics, espe-

cially teachers, say the law undercuts

learning and fails to take local needs into

consideration.

Especially for Parents Suppose you and

your school-age children move to a new

community that is 50 miles from the nearest

location that offers instruction in your faith or

value system. Your neighbor says, “Don’t

worry, they don’t have to make any moral

decisions until they are teenagers.” Is your

neighbor correct?

Teaching and Learning 319

National Assessment of Educational

Progress (NAEP) An ongoing and nation-

ally representative measure of children’s

achievement in reading, mathematics, and

other subjects over time; nicknamed “the

Nation’s Report Card.”

Reading First A federal program that was

established by the No Child Left Behind Act

and that provides states with funding for

early reading instruction in public schools,

aimed at ensuring that all children learn to

read well by the end of the third grade.

reading favor the phonics side of the reading wars (discussed below) (Manzo, 2006). For all these reasons, reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, scheduled for 2007, required major revision.

In addition to formal mandates, there is a hidden curriculum, which consists of the unrecognized lessons that children absorb in school. The hidden curricu- lum typically involves such matters as tracking, teacher characteristics, discipline, teaching methods, sports competition, student government, and extracurricular activities. For example, if most of the teachers are different from most of the chil- dren in terms of gender, ethnicity, or economic background, the hidden message may be that some children are not expected to succeed in school.

One obvious manifestation of the hidden curriculum is the physical setting. Some schools have spacious classrooms; wide hallways; personal computers; and large, grassy playgrounds. Others have small, poorly equipped rooms and cement play yards or “play streets,” closed to traffic for a few hours a day. A former New York State Commissioner of Education explained:

320 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

Percentage of 12th-Graders Within and At or Above the Mathematics

Achievement Levels, 1990–2000

1990 1995 2000

Source: Perie et al., 2005.

Proficient

Advanced

Basic

At or above

Proficient

At or above

Basic

Below Basic

10% 14% 14%

1%

12% 16% 17%

69% 65%

58%

2% 2%

42% 31% 35%

46% 53% 48%

2005

23% 25%

61%

2%

39%

36%FIGURE 12.3

Better or Worse? Should a country’s educa-

tion policy emphasize helping more students

become “Proficient” or better in mathematics

or trying to make sure that fewer students

score “Below Basic”? The United States

seems to be choosing the former, with more

resources allocated to the schools where

students score high in math achievement.

FIGURE 12.4

Local Standards Each state sets its own

level of proficiency, which helps low-scoring

states obtain more federal money for educa-

tion, but it may undercut high standards for

student learning.

Percentage-Point

Difference in

State vs. Federal

Proficiency Ratings

0–20

21–40

41–60

61+

NY

VT ME

NH

MA RI

CT NJ DE

MD

PA

VAWV

OH IN

MI WI

IL

MO

AR

IA

MN

ND

Rating Fourth-Graders’ Reading Proficiency: The Gap Between NAEP and the States

SD

NE

KS

OK

TX LA

NM

CO

MT

ID WY

UT

AZ

NV

CA

OR

WA

AK

HI

KY

NC TN

MS

SC

GAAL

FL

Source: EPE Research Center, in Hoff, 2007, p. 23.

hidden curriculum The unofficial, unstated,

or implicit rules and priorities that influence

the academic curriculum and every other

aspect of learning in school.

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from page

318): Denmark, Italy, Japan, and Sweden have

very low birth rates and thus have relatively

few schoolchildren.

If you ask the children to attend school in conditions where plaster is crumbling, the roof is leaking and classes are being held in unlikely places because of over- crowded conditions, that says something to the child. . . . If, on the other hand, you send a child to a school in well-appointed or [adequate facilities], that sends the opposite message. That says this counts. You count. Do well.

[Sobol, quoted in Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York, 2001]

In some countries, school is held outdoors. Students sit quietly on the ground. The school day must end whenever it rains. What messages does this kind of school setting convey?

In all these variations in curriculum, those who advocate one “best” practice risk becoming tangled in ideology, politics, and culture, disconnected from the findings of educational research (Rayner et al., 2001). On their part, children do not necessarily learn what policy makers intend, or even what their own teachers teach. Intended, implemented, and attained curricula are three different things (Robitaille & Beaton, 2002).

The Outcome

Most parents, teachers, and political leaders believe that their children are learn- ing what they need. Parents give higher ratings to their children’s schools than nonparents in their community do, although nonparents do rate their own com- munity’s schools higher than schools nationwide (Snyder et al., 2004). Similarly, many parents of home-schooled and private school children believe that public schools are worse than research finds them to be (Green & Hoover-Dempsey, 2007; Lubienski & Lubienski, 2005).

This does not necessarily mean that parents are fooling themselves, only that people disagree about what children should learn and how to best measure that learning (Elmore et al., 2004; R. S. Johnson, 2002). Objective, international tests do not put an end to these disagreements, as the following explains.

Teaching and Learning 321

thinking like a scientist International Achievement Tests

Objective assessment of educational achievement might be done

by comparing results from international, culture-neutral tests.

Ideally, each nation would give the same tests, under the same

conditions, to a representative group of children of a particular

age and year of schooling. Such even-handed comparisons are

impossible, however, because educational practices vary too

widely in different countries. For example, Scottish children, who

begin school at age 4, have a three-year advantage over Russian

children, who usually begin school at age 7 (Mullis et al., 2004).

Despite such problems, international tests are useful. One

such assessment, administered periodically to fourth- and

eighth-graders worldwide, is called the TIMSS (Trends in

Math and Science Study). The average 10-year-old in Singa-

pore is ahead of the top 5 percent of U.S. students in math, ac-

cording to the TIMSS. Fourth-graders in Hong Kong, Japan, and

Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) also did better than their counterparts “Big deal, an A in math. That would be a

D in any other country.”

© T

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TIMSS (Trends in Math and Science Study)

An international assessment of the math

and science skills of fourth- and eighth-

graders. Although the TIMSS is very useful,

scores are not always comparable, because

sample selection, test administration, and

content validity are hard to keep uniform.

➤Response for Parents (from page 319):

No. In fact, these are prime years for moral

education. You might travel those 50 miles

once or twice a week or recruit other parents

to organize a local program. Whatever you do,

don’t skip moral instruction. Discuss and

demonstrate your moral and religious values,

and help your children meet other children

who share those values.

Western nations score better on international reading assessments, such as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). In the first round of testing, in 2001, only 3 of the 35 participating nations (Sweden, England, and Bulgaria) surpassed the United States in the percentage of fourth-graders who read in the top 10 percent.

For all international tests, data can be interpreted in various ways. For instance, critics of U.S. education focus more on math and science (assessed by the TIMSS) than on reading (assessed by the PIRLS). Those who are concerned about educa- tional disparities notice the spread between the children in the top fourth (above the 75th percentile) and the bottom fourth (below the 26th percentile). On the PIRLS, 24 nations had a wider spread than the United States, and ten had less disparity (Sweden, England, Bulgaria, Canada, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong) (Mullis et al., 2003).

Gender differences in performance are both confirmed and refuted by the data. Internationally, girls are ahead in verbal skills (by 4 percentage points, on average) and boys in math, but nations differ from one another much more than boys do from girls, and the gender spread varies. To pick two extremes, Scottish fourth- grade boys averaged 11 points higher in math than girls, but Filipino girls averaged 9 points above the boys. National scores ranged from 339 (Tunisia) to 594 (Singa- pore), a much greater difference than the gender differences. Such results led one team to propose a gender similarities hypothesis that males and females are similar on most measures, with very few exceptions (Hyde & Linn, 2006).

International testing is too costly to be done every year. Current TIMSS analy- sis is of tests conducted in 2003. Students worldwide are taking a TIMSS test in 2007, and the results will be reported and analyzed by 2009. Beyond the slow

Progress in International Reading Literacy

Study (PIRLS) Inaugurated in 2001, a

planned five-year cycle of international

trend studies in the reading ability of

fourth-graders.

322 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

in western nations. This trend of East Asian superiority continues

through high school (see Table 12.1).

Canada, England, and the United States are above average

on the TIMSS, but not by much. The lowest-ranking nations—

Tunisia, Morocco, and the Philippines (not shown in the table)

—do not have a long history of universal fourth-grade education.

No very poor nations participated in the testing, finding it too

expensive, too discouraging, or too difficult.

Is the TIMSS fair? Here is a sample math question for

fourth-graders:

Jasmine made a stack of cubes the same size. The stack had 5 layers, and each layer had 10 cubes. What is the volume of the stack? a. 10 cubes b. 15 cubes c. 30 cubes d. 50 cubes

Is this item equally difficult for children in every nation, or

are East Asians favored?

TABLE 12.1

TIMSS Rankings of Average Math Achievement

Scores of Eighth-Graders, Selected Countries*

Year

Country 2003 1999 1995

Singapore 1 1 1

Korea 2 2 2

Hong Kong 3 3 4

Japan 4 4 3

Netherlands 5 6 6

Canada** 6 5 7

Hungary 7 8 8

Czech Republic 8 7 5

Russian Federation 9 9 9

Australia 10 10 10

United States 11 11 12

New Zealand 12 12 11

Cyprus 13 13 13

Iran 14 14 14

*Not all of the countries that participated in TIMSS (25 in 2003) are reported

because most of them did not give this test in all three years. Eighth-grade

rankings are given here; the fourth-grade rankings are similar, but not as much

comparative data are available.

**Results for Canada are for the provinces of Ontario and Quebec only and thus

are not strictly comparable with other countries’ average scores.

Source: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement,

2003; http://timss.bc.edu, accessed April 25, 2007.

Teaching and Learning 323

Catching Up with the West These Iranian

girls are acting out a poem that they have

memorized from their third-grade textbook.

They attend school in a UNICEF-supported

Global Education pilot project. Their child-

centered classes encourage maximum

participation.SH EH

ZA D

N O

O R

A N

I / P

ET ER

A R

N O

LD , I

N C

.

Especially for Future Research

Scientists What should you watch for in

news reports about the TIMSS data?

reporting of results, another problem is that both participation and emphasis vary from nation to nation. For cultural and cost reasons, some nations participate in TIMSS but not PIRLS (e.g., Japan and South Korea), or in PIRLS but not TIMSS (e.g., Iran and Greece), or in neither (most developing nations). The United States has participated in both, as well as in PISA (Programme for Inter- national Assessment), a third international test designed to assess 15-year-olds’ ability to apply knowledge (reviewed in Chapter 15). The United States scores well in reading and poorly in applications, but its middling TIMSS scores are most widely publicized.

Education Wars and Assumptions

Adults differ in their beliefs about what children should learn—and how. Virtually every aspect of education is not merely debatable; it has caused bitter dispute. Almost everyone has opinions about Japanese education, about teaching reading, about learning math, and many other issues, and those opinions often do not square with the research findings, as you will now see.

Japanese Education

How good is Japanese education? Your answer is probably affected by whether you were educated in Japan or elsewhere. The Japanese are much more critical of their schools than people in the United States are of them.

Ever since Harold Stevenson first compared schoolchildren in North America and Japan (H.W. Stevenson, Lee, et al., 1990; H.W. Stevenson, Chen, et al., 1993), many Americans have envied Japanese education. Japanese children spend more time in school, with longer days, weeks (including Saturday mornings), and years (only one month of summer vacation). Children study at school (and so have less free time) and at home (and so have fewer household chores). Three-fourths of them attend juko, private classes that supplement public school.

Japanese teachers are respected by students and parents, and they learn from one another; time is specifically scheduled for collaboration (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). Further, the Japanese government funds and guides education. That involve- ment by national government fosters equity and allows children who move mid- year from one region to another to lose no time in catching up with their new classmates. Absenteeism is low, and less than 2 percent of high school students leave school before graduation.

All these factors and others are cited to explain why Japanese children score far above their U.S. peers in math and science. The contrast was among the reasons almost all U.S. Congress members voted for No Child Left Behind in 2001: The program anticipated that every child in the United States would eventu- ally learn as well and as much as Japanese children do.

Meanwhile, in Japan, many parents and government officials express disappointment with the outcomes of public education (Hosaka, 2005; Sugie et al., 2006). Some Japanese children need help developing metacognitive skills that are not taught in school, partly because large class sizes and detailed curriculum requirements make individualized attention difficult (Ichikawa, 2005). In addition, the system may sacrifice creativity and inde- pendent thought, at least according to Western critics (Kohn, 2006).

In 2002 the Japanese eased educational and testing require- ments by instituting yutori kyoiku, which means “more relaxed

education.” The required curriculum was reduced by 30 percent to allow more emphasis on learning to think rather than memorizing facts to get high test scores (Magara, 2005). The long-term results, like the results of No Child Left Behind, are not yet known.

The Reading Wars

Reading is complex. The ability to read with speedy, automatic comprehension is the cumulative result of many earlier steps—from looking closely at pictures (at age 2 or earlier) to learning to figure out unknown technical words (at age 10 and beyond). There are two distinct methods of teaching children to read: phonics and whole language (Rayner et al., 2001). Clashes over the two approaches have led to “serious, sometimes acrimonious debate, fueling the well-named ‘reading wars’” (Keogh, 2004, p. 93).

Historically, schools used the phonics approach (from the root word for “sound”), in which children learn to read by learning letter–sound correspon-

324 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

Collaborative Learning Japanese children

are learning mathematics in a more struc-

tured and socially interactive way than are

their North American counterparts.

R U

S S

EL L

D . C

U R

TI S

/ P

H O

TO R

ES EA

R C

H ER

S , I

N C

.

Reading with Comprehension (left) Reading and math scores in third-grader Monica’s Illinois elementary school showed

improvement under the standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act. The principal noted a cost for this success in less time

spent on social studies and other subjects. (right) Some experts believe that children should have their own books and be able

to read them wherever and however they want. This strategy seems to be working with Josue and Cristo, two 8-year-olds

who were given books through their after-school program in Rochester, Washington.

TE D

S . W

A R

R EN

/ A

P PH

O TO

N A

M Y

. H U

H /

A P

PH O

TO

phonics approach Teaching reading by first

teaching the sounds of each letter and of

various letter combinations.

Especially for Teachers You are teaching in

a school that you find too lax or too strict, or

with parents who are too demanding or too

uncaring. Should you look for a different line

of work?

dences in order to decipher simple words. This approach seemed to be supported by behaviorism (see Chapter 2) and, more recently, by information-processing theory in that step-by-step instructions, with frequent repetition, was favored.

Piaget’s theory—that children learn on their own as soon as their minds are ready—provided the rationale for another method, called the whole-language approach. For concrete operational thinkers, Piaget’s followers explained, abstract, decontextualized memorization (as in traditional phonics) is difficult. Literacy is the outcome of natural motivation in talking and listening, reading and writing. When teachers instruct using the whole-language approach, young children (in addition to reading) draw, talk, and write. They also invent their own spelling, because many languages, including English, are too variable to be spelled phonet- ically (see Figure 12.5).

However, unlike talking, which is experience-expectant, reading and writing are experience-dependent. Children need instruction, as Vygotsky might argue. Be- ginning readers may need to be taught to translate spoken words into printed ones, and vice versa. Some children may never “discover” how to read on their own.

Research arising from every contemporary developmental theory has noted the uniqueness of each child as a beginning reader, including individual patterns of language proficiency, learning style, and maturation. In practical terms, this means that phonics may be essential for those children who need help learning how to sound out new words. Targeted early instruction in letter–sound combina- tions may be crucial (Torgesen, 2004). Score one for phonics.

Yet for comprehension and memory, children need to make connections be- tween concepts, not just between letters. Thus, children need to read books that are challenging and interesting and must write about their own experiences and interests. Score one for whole language.

The answer to this tie is also a truce in the reading wars. A focus on phonics need not undercut instruction that motivates children to read, write, and discuss with their classmates and their parents. For reading comprehension and fluency, phonemic awareness is a beginning, but other aspects of literacy are important as well (Muter et al., 2004). As the editors of a leading publication for teachers explain:

In any debate on reading instruction that counterposes a focus on skills with a focus on enjoyment—or that pits phonological skills against the knowledge necessary to comprehend grade-level material—there is only one good answer: Kids need both.

[The Editors, American Educator, 2004, p. 5]

Fortunately, experts on the two sides in the reading wars have stopped their bitter feud. Most developmentalists and many reading specialists now believe that teachers should use a variety of methods and strategies, for there are “alternate pathways in learning to read” (Berninger et al., 2002, p. 295). Research leaves little doubt that in the early grades systematic phonics instruction “is important” (Camilli et al., 2003, p. 34) but that it should not come at the expense of meaning and pleasure.

Researchers are less sure of “the best approaches and methods of reading and writing instruction for students older than age 9 and interventions for those who are struggling readers in grades 4–12” (McCardle & Chhabra, 2004, pp. 472– 473). It is, however, known that, for older children, reading instruction can and should be connected to literature, history, science, and other areas of study. An expanding knowledge base aids comprehension and helps avoid the “fourth-grade slump.” One teacher who knew that and taught accordingly may have saved some people’s lives.

Teaching and Learning 325

whole-language approach Teaching reading

by encouraging early use of all language

skills—talking and listening, reading and

writing.

FIGURE 12.5

“You Wud Be Sad Like Me” Although Karla

uses invented spelling, her arguments show

that she is reasoning quite logically; her

school-age mind is working quite well. (If you

have trouble deciphering Karla’s note, turn

the book upside down for a translation.)

“From Karla to my mom. It’s no fair that you

made me let my lady bug go. What if I was

your mom and I made you take your lady bug.

I am sure you would be sad like me. That lady

bug might have been an orphan. So you

should have let me have it anyway.”

➤Response for Future Research

Scientists (from page 323): The next set of

published results of the TIMSS is expected in

2009. As someone who knows how to think

like a scientist, see if the headlines accurately

reflect the data.

The Math Wars

Mathematics instruction in the United States has become even more problematic than instruction in reading, for a number of reasons. First, economic development depends on science and technology, and math is vital in both those fields. Second, many children hate math, as suggested by a 2007 Google search that found 36,100 sites for “math phobia” and just 171 for “reading phobia,” a 210-to-1 ratio. Third, U.S. students are weaker in math than students from other nations, espe- cially East Asian nations, at least as measured by TIMSS. This last reason makes math education vulnerable to quick solutions suggested by angry adults—not the best way to develop curriculum.

One reason the United States does not rank higher may be just that: The battle over how to teach math is not always to the benefit of children (Boaler, 2002). According to one report, “U.S. mathematics instruction has been scorched in the pedagogical blaze known as the ‘math wars’—a divide between those who see a need for a greater emphasis on basic skills in math and others who say students lack a broader, conceptual understanding of the subject” (Cavenaugh, 2005, p. 1).

Historically, math was taught by rote; children memorized number facts, such as the multiplication tables, and filled page after page of workbooks. In reaction against this approach, many educators, inspired especially by Piaget and Vygotsky, sought to make math instruction more active and engaging, less a matter of mem- orization than of discovery (Ginsburg et al., 1998).

This newer approach is controversial. Many parents and educators believe that children need to memorize number facts. Educators as well as mathematicians stress that math involves a particular set of rules, symbols, and processes that must be taught, with limits to the role discovery can play (Mervis, 2006).

As with reading, researchers have attempted to understand what teachers can do to help children learn, and enjoy, math. TIMSS experts videotaped 231 math classes in three nations—Japan, Germany, and the United States—to analyze national differences (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). The U.S. teachers presented math

326 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

a case to study Where Did You Learn Tsunami?

Before December 26, 2004, perhaps 1 percent of the world’s

population knew the word tsunami. I was in the other 99. Over

Christmas that year, when my nephew Bill said we should

pray for the victims of the tsunami, I marveled that he could

pronounce a word that I had not known until I read that day’s

headlines.

Even among the 1 percent who knew the word, few under-

stood it. Some British 10-year-olds were the exceptions. In early

December 2004 their teacher, Andrew Kearny, had shown them

a video clip of survivors of a tsunami that struck Hawaii in the

1950s and had drawn a diagram on the board that his students

copied into their exercise books. Tilly Smith was his student.

Two weeks later, Tilly was on Maikhao Beach in Phuket,

Thailand, with her parents and her 7-year-old sister. Suddenly,

the tide went out, leaving a wide stretch of sand where the

ocean had been. Most tourists stood gawking at the disappear-

ing ocean, but Tilly grabbed her mother’s hand: “Mummy, we

must get off the beach now. I think there’s going to be a

tsunami.”

Tilly’s parents alerted other holiday makers nearby, then raced

to tell their hotel staff in Phuket. The hotel swiftly evacuated

Maikhao Beach, and minutes later a huge wave crashed onto the

sand, sweeping all before it. Incredibly, the beach was one of the

few in Phuket where no one was killed.

[Larcombe, 2005]

Tilly and her family survived for many reasons: Tilly remem-

bered what she had learned; her parents heeded her warning;

higher ground was nearby. But some credit goes to her teacher,

who did more than list tsunami as a vocabulary word. He used

examples and activities to give the concept meaning. Ten-year-

olds are ready to learn and remember as long as knowledge is

concrete (Piaget) and instruction includes examples and active

participation (Vygotsky). This is not just good fortune, but also

good education.

➤Response for Teachers (from page 324):

Nobody works well in an institution they hate,

but, before quitting the profession, remember

that schools vary. There is probably another

school nearby that is much more to your liking

and that would welcome an experienced

teacher. Before you make a move, however,

assess the likelihood that you could adjust to

your current position in ways that would make

you happier. No school is perfect; nor is any

teacher.

at a lower level than did their German and Japanese counterparts, with more defi- nitions but less coherence and connection to what the students had learned in other math classes. The “teachers seem to believe that learning terms and practic- ing skills is not very exciting” (p. 89).

In contrast, the Japanese teachers were excited about math instruction, working collaboratively and structuring lessons so that the children developed proofs and alternative solutions, alone and in groups. Teachers used social interaction (among groups of children and groups of teachers) and sequential curricula (lessons for each day, week, and year built on previous math knowledge), often presenting the students with problems to solve in groups.

Some have suggested that teachers should dispel math anxiety by convincing students that they are good at math. This seems unlikely to be helpful. In the United States, 51 percent of eighth-graders are highly confident of their math ability, even though their scores on international math achievement tests are unimpressive. Among 46 nations, only Israel has a higher level of math confidence (59 percent) (Snyder et al., 2006). Unfortunately, achievement seems to fall as confidence rises. The highest math achievement scores are from China (Taipei), which has the lowest proportion of students who are highly confident of their math ability (26 percent).

One idea that follows from information-processing theory is to make each grade of elementary school math build on the previous year’s instruction. This idea is now endorsed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), an influential group in the United States. For example, second-graders will learn addition, subtraction, and place value; multiplication, fractions, and decimals will be saved for the fourth grade (Mervis, 2006). Whether this plan will be implemented and attained remains to be seen; children and parents like to believe that they are advanced in math, and learning multiplication and fractions in second grade confirms their belief, even though it will eventually slow down their basic understanding.

Other Assumptions

The educational landscape is filled with other controversies and assumptions that are commonly held but debatable. For example, in the past 20 years adults have become convinced that children learn from homework, and even kindergarten children often bring work home. Yet one researcher finds that homework under- mines learning instead of advancing it (Kohn, 2006).

Similarly, although many parents choose to send their children to schools with smaller class sizes, the evidence about their effect is mixed (Blatchford, 2003; Hanushek, 1999). Wide international variation is apparent, from a teacher–pupil ratio of 10 to 1 in Denmark to 30 to 1 in Turkey. Smaller is not necessarily better, as evidenced by Asian nations with high ratios that tended to have high math and science scores (Snyder et al., 2006).

Data on class size thus “do not lend themselves to straightforward implications for policy” (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004, p. 66; see Research Design). Even a famous study in Tennessee, which found that smaller classes in kindergarten benefited children for several years, is open to various interpretations (Finn & Achilles, 1999).

Other reforms, in addition to reducing class size, that have been strongly advo- cated—and strongly opposed—include raising teacher salaries; improving profes- sional education; extending school hours; expanding the school year; creating charter schools; allowing school vouchers; and increasing sports, music, or silent reading. These might, or might not, help children learn. Valid, replicated, unbiased research is thus far lacking. One review of the impact of class size concludes:

Teaching and Learning 327

Research Design Scientists: NICHD Early Child Care

Research Network, consisting of 29

leading child-care researchers.

Publication: Developmental Psychology,

(2004).

Participants: A total of 890 children in

their second year of school in 651 ele-

mentary school classrooms.These

children were part of a cohort of 1,634

children followed since birth, from 10

research sites, in various locations in

the United States.

Design: Children’s achievement and

social outcomes were measured, as

were teacher behaviors, via a structured

three-hour observation in each class-

room. Measures were first adjusted to

reflect the children’s academic and

social backgrounds (e.g., SES, gender)

and the teachers’ backgrounds (e.g.,

education, ethnicity). Many factors were

controlled to learn the effects of class

size (which ranged from 10 to 39 stu-

dents per teacher).

Major conclusions: Class size was irrele-

vant for many measures. Smaller classes

(less than 20) were better in some ways

but not all. For example, first-graders in

smaller classes tended to develop better

word attack skills but were more disrup-

tive.Their teachers were less structured

but showed more warmth.

Comment:This study (cited in earlier

chapters) features a large, geographically

varied, longitudinal sample that allows

controls for preexisting factors. How-

ever, the sample had few high-risk

children (a newborn was excluded if

the mother was under 19, did not speak

English, or lived in an unsafe neighbor-

hood).

Reductions in class size are but one of the policy options that can be pursued to improve student learning. Careful evaluations of the impacts of other options, preferably through the use of more true experiments, along with an analysis of the costs of each option, need to be undertaken. However, to date there are rela- tively few studies that even compute the true costs of large class-size reduction programs, let alone ask whether the benefits . . . merit incurring the costs.

[Ehrenberg et al., 2001]

Similar conclusions apply for most other education reforms. Another review, this one about home schooling, charter schools, and vouchers, complains of “the difficulty of interpreting the research literature on this topic, most of which is biased and far from approaching balanced social science” (Boyd, 2007, p. 7). The call for “evidence-based” reforms is appreciated by developmentalists, as by all other scientists. Unfortunately, as experience with Reading First has illustrated, bias can creep in when it is left to political leaders to decide which evidence is valid (Manzo, 2006).

Culture and Education

As you can see, many controversies regarding cognitive development as it relates to education are political more than developmental. Piaget, Vygotsky, information- processing theory, and, in earlier decades, progressive education and behavior modification have all been used to support particular practices, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not. To conclude this chapter, we highlight again the sometimes hidden role of culture.

Here are excerpts from two letters to a local newspaper in British Columbia, Canada (quoted in K. Mitchell, 2001, pp. 64–65). One mother wrote:

Our children’s performances are much lower both in academic and moral areas. I noticed the children have learned very little academically. They learned to have self-confidence instead of being self-disciplined; learned to speak up instead of being humbled; learned to be creative instead of self-motivated; and learned to simplify things instead of organizing. All of these characteristics were not bal- anced, and will be the source of disadvantage and difficulties in children in this competitive society.

Another parent responded:

She wants her children to be self-disciplined, humble, self-motivated and organ- ized, instead of being self-confident, assertive, creative and analytic. . . . These repressive, authoritarian, “traditional” parents who hanker for the days of yore, when fresh-faced school kids arrived all neatly decked out in drab-grey uniforms and shiny lace-up leather shoes, are a menace to society.

In this district, many families were immigrants from Asia (including the author of the first letter), while others and almost all the school administrators and teach- ers were from families that had been in Canada for generations. Similar conflicts erupt in every community that has diverse groups of families or a difference in background between the teachers and the children.

Recognizing this problem is only a beginning. For example, in another Cana- dian community, Inuit children were taught in Inuit by Inuits for their first two years of school and were then taught in French or English, the majority languages, by non-Inuits. The Inuit teachers prepared the children for the transition by teaching French and English as a second language, and later teachers worked to increase their students’ language proficiency. Both groups of teachers realized that they were failing. Relatively few Inuit children became fluent in a second lan- guage, and most dropped out before high school graduation. Other research has

328 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

Especially for School Administrators

Children who wear uniforms in school tend to

score higher on reading tests. Why?

found that many aboriginal adolescents (as members of Canada’s First Nations are called) become alienated from their native culture and then become depressed or even suicidal as adolescents (Chandler et al., 2003). The problem may seem to be a failure of bilingual education—perhaps total immersion coming too soon or too late. But culture, not language, may be the pivotal factor.

A scientist using naturalistic observation found much more than a lan- guage shift between grades 2 and 3 (Eriks-Brophy & Crago, 2003). The Inuit teachers encouraged group learning and cooperation, almost never explicitly judging an individual student’s response. By contrast, the non- Inuit teachers often criticized behaviors that the earlier teachers encour- aged, such as group cooperation (which the non-Inuit teachers called “talking out of turn”), helping each other (“cheating”), and attempts to an- swer (“stupid mistakes”).

A specific example illustrates this pattern. A common routine in North American schools is called initiation/response/evaluation: The teacher asks a question, a child responds, and the teacher states whether the response is correct or not. An analysis of 14 teachers in this Inuit school found that the initiation/response/evaluation routine dominated the instruction of the non-Inuit teachers (60 percent) but not that of the Inuit teachers (18 percent) (Eriks-Brophy & Crago, 2003). For example, an Inuit teacher showed a picture and asked:

Teacher: This one. What is it? Student: Tutuva (an insect). Teacher: What is it? Student: Tutuva. Teacher: All of us, look carefully. Student: Kituquianluti (another insect, this time correct.

The teacher nodded and breathed in.)

In contrast, a non-Inuit third-grade teacher asked:

Teacher: Richard, what is this? Richard: It is an ear. Teacher: Good. Teacher: Rhoda, what is this?

Rhoda: Hair. Teacher: No. What is this?

Rhoda: Face. Teacher: It is a face.

Rhoda: It is a face. Teacher: Very good, Rhoda.

[quoted in Eriks-Brophy & Crago, 2003]

Note that the first teacher never verbally evaluated the child (merely nodding and breathing to signal correctness), but the second teacher did so at least three times (“good,” “no,” “very good”). No wonder the children were confused and discouraged. They were unprepared to make a cultural shift as well as a language one.

Such problems can emerge anywhere. Teaching methods are the outcome of cultural beliefs, a “social system that evolves over time” (Eriks-Brophy & Crago, 2003, p. 397), often hidden from the teachers themselves. Underlying the issues that parents seize on—discipline, phonics, and math scores—are deeper issues involving culture and values.

Every child wants to learn, every teacher wants to teach, and every family wants the best for its children. This makes differences in curricula and methods much

Teaching and Learning 329

Hidden Curriculum This informal, bilingual

first-grade class in Acoma Pueblo, New

Mexico, is a contrast to the U.S. government’s

nineteenth-century policy of sending all Native

American children to English-only boarding

schools.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 330):

What three social constructions about proper

education for Pueblo children do you see?

B O

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M R

IC H

/ T

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IM A

G E

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S

Building on Theory 1. According to Piaget, children begin concrete operational thought at about age 6 or 7. Egocentrism diminishes and logic be- gins. School-age children can understand classification, conserva- tion, identity, and reversibility.

2. Vygotsky stressed the social context of learning, including the specific lessons of school and the overall influence of culture. International research finds that maturation is one factor in the cognitive development of school-age children (as Piaget predicted) and that cultural and economic forces are also influential (as Vygotsky predicted).

3. An information-processing approach examines each step of the thinking process, from input to output, using the computer as a model. Humans are more creative than computers, but this approach is useful for understanding memory, perception, and expression.

4. Memory begins with information that reaches the brain from the sense organs. Then selection processes allow some information to reach working memory. Finally, long-term memory stores some images and ideas indefinitely, retrieving some parts when needed.

5. Selective attention, a broader knowledge base, logical strategies for retrieval, and faster processing advance every aspect of cog- nition. Repeated practice makes thought patterns and skill sets almost automatic, requiring little time or conscious effort.

6. Children become better at controlling and directing their think- ing as the prefrontal cortex matures. Consequently, metacognition advances.

Language 7. Language learning improves in many practical ways, including expanded vocabulary, as words are logically linked together. Many children learn a second language, succeeding if they are well

SUMMARY

330 CHAPTER 12 ■ The School Years: Cognitive Development

harder to reconcile than more obvious cultural manifestations. No one cares if a particular child eats goat, chitlings, or whale for dinner, but people everywhere care about what their own—and their neighbors’—children learn.

SUMMING UP

Societies throughout the world recognize that school-age children are avid learners and

that educated citizens are essential to economic development. However, schools differ

in what and how children are taught. The nature and content of education raise ideologi-

cal and political concerns. Examples are found in the reading wars, the math wars, class

size, and bilingual education. Research finds that direct instruction (in phonics; in mathe-

matical symbols and procedures; in the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax of second

languages) is useful, even essential, if children are to master all the skills that adults

want them to learn. Also crucial are motivation, pride, and social interaction. School-age

children are great learners, but they cannot learn everything. Adults decide the specifics,

and cultural values are apparent in every classroom. ■

O B

D A

EM M

R IC

H /

T H

E IM

A G

E W

O R

K S

Maintaining Tradition Some would say that

these Vietnamese children in Texas are fortu-

nate. They are instructed in two languages by

a teacher who knows their culture, including

the use of red pens for self-correction as well

as teacher correction. Others would say that

these children would be better off in an

English-only classroom.

➤Response for School Administrators

(from page 328): The relationship reflects

correlation, not causation. Wearing uniforms

is more common when the culture of the

school emphasizes achievement and study,

with strict discipline in class and a policy of

expelling disruptive students.

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (see

answer, page 330): The ideas that (1) learning

colors is important, (2) children should raise

their hands to be called on individually, and

(3) words should be written. (Note that the

Pueblo words for colors are much longer than

the English equivalents—harder for first-

grade readers.) Indeed, the very idea of

bilingual education is a social construction,

approved by most Americans but not

necessarily by research.

concrete operational thought (p. 307)

classification (p. 308) identity (p. 308) reversibility (p. 308) information-processing theory

(p. 310) sensory memory (p. 311)

working memory (p. 311) long-term memory (p. 311) knowledge base (p. 312) control processes (p. 312) metacognition (p. 313) English-language learner (ELL)

(p. 315) total immersion (p. 316)

bilingual education (p. 316) ESL (English as a second

language) (p. 316) No Child Left Behind Act

(p. 319) National Assessment of

Educational Progress (NAEP) (p. 319)

Reading First (p. 319)

hidden curriculum (p. 320) TIMSS (Trends in Math and

Science Study) (p. 321) Progress in International

Reading Literacy Skills (PIRLS) (p. 322)

phonics approach (p. 324) whole-language approach

(p. 325)

KEY TERMS

Summary 331

7. What are some of the differences in education in various parts of the world?

8. Why are international tests of learning given, and what are some of the problems with such tests?

9. How might a hidden curriculum affect what a child might learn?

10. Why are disagreements about curriculum and method some- times called “wars,” not merely differences of opinion?

1. How do logical ideas help children understand classification?

2. According to Vygotsky, if children never went to school, how would cognitive development occur?

3. What are differences among the three kinds of memory?

4. What are the differences between language learning in early and middle childhood?

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages in teaching children who do not speak English in English-only classes?

6. How does metacognition affect the ability to learn something new?

3. What do you remember about how you learned to read? Com- pare your memories with those of two other people, one at least 10 years older and the other at least 5 years younger than you. Can you draw any conclusions about effective reading instruc- tion? If so, what are they? If not, why not?

4. Talk to two parents of primary school children. What do they think are the best and worst parts of their children’s education? Ask specific questions and analyze the results.

1. Visit a local elementary school and look for the hidden curricu- lum. For example, do the children line up? Why or why not, when and how? Does gender, age, ability, or talent affect the grouping of children or the selection of staff? What is on the walls? Are par- ents involved? If so, how? For everything you observe, speculate about the underlying assumptions.

2. Interview a 7- to 11-year-old child to find out what he or she knows and understands about mathematics. Relate both correct and incorrect responses to the logic of concrete operational thought.

KEY QUESTIONS

APPLICATIONS

taught. Children of low SES are usually lower in linguistic skills, primarily because they hear less language and adult expectations for their learning are low.

Teaching and Learning 8. Nations and experts agree that education is critical during middle childhood, and 95 percent of the world’s children now at- tend primary school. Schools differ in what and how they teach, especially in the hidden curriculum.

9. International assessments are useful as comparisons, partly because few objective measures of learning are available. In the United States, the No Child Left Behind law and the National Assessment of Educational Progress attempt to raise the standard of education, with mixed success.

10. The “reading wars” pit advocates of phonics against advocates of the whole-language approach. These wars have quieted some- what, as research finds that phonological understanding is essen- tial for every child who is just learning to read but that motivation and vocabulary are important as well.

11. Math learned by rote and math learned via social interaction are the two sides of the “math wars.” Math and science achieve- ment are higher in East Asian nations than elsewhere, perhaps because in those countries math lessons are sequential and inter- active.

12. Cultural differences in assumptions about education are fre- quent, but scientific research on the best way for children to learn is scarce. For example, many people believe that children learn better in small classes, but the research is inconclusive.

The School Years: Psychosocial Development

I n middle childhood, children break free from the closely supervised and limited arena of younger years. They venture forth in the neighbor- hood, community, and school, experiencing friendships, rivalries, and other social complexities.

From Cinderella to Harry Potter, school-age children’s favorite stories use the extraordinary—either magical or coincidental—as a scaffold for deeper themes: friendship, mistrust of adults, sharp wits, and the heroic battle of good against evil. These are standard themes that children love.

This chapter examines the interplay between expanding freedom and guiding forces, between brave adventures and adult society, between valuing peers and needing parents. We look first at friends and families, then at the children themselves, especially at their coping strategies and inner strengths.

The Peer Group Getting along with peers is especially crucial during middle childhood, “central to living a full life and feeling good” (Borland, 1998, p. 28). Difficul- ties with peers can cause serious problems, and being well-liked is protective, especially for children from conflicted, punitive, or otherwise stressful homes (Criss et al., 2002; Rubin et al., 2006).

There is an important developmental progression in peer relationships. Younger children have friends and learn from them, but their egocentrism makes them less affected by another’s acceptance or rejection. School-age children, in contrast, are well aware of their classmates’ opinions, judgments, and accomplishments.

One way to characterize this is to distinguish between “two distinct but intimately intertwined aspects of self” (Harter, 2006, p. 508): the “I-self ” and the “me-self.” The I-self is the self as subject—a person who thinks, acts, and feels independently; the me-self is the self as object—a person reflected, validated, and critiqued by others (Harter, 2006).

In middle childhood, the me-self is crucial, because of the new strength of social comparison, comparing oneself with other people even when no one else explicitly makes the comparison. School-age children become much more socially aware, judging themselves as worse or better than other people in hundreds of ways. Ideally, social comparison helps children value

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CHAPTER OUTLINE

c The Peer Group

The Culture of Children

Children’s Moral Codes

Social Acceptance

Bullies and Victims

c Families and Children

Shared and Nonshared Environment

THINKING LIKE A SCIENTIST: “I Always Dressed One in Blue Stuff . . .”

Family Function and Dysfunction

Family Trouble

c The Nature of the Child

Psychoanalytic Theory

Self-Concept

Coping and Overcoming

social comparison The tendency to assess

one’s abilities, achievements, social status,

and other attributes by measuring them

against those of other people, especially

one’s peers.

the abilities they have and abandon the imaginary, rosy self-evaluation of preschoolers (Grolnick et al., 1997; Jacobs et al., 2002).

The Culture of Children

Peer relationships, unlike adult–child relationships, in- volve partners who negotiate, compromise, share, and defend themselves as equals. Children learn social lessons from each other that grown-ups cannot teach, not only because adults are from a different generation but also because they are not peers. Adults sometimes command obedience, sometimes allow dominance, but always are much older and bigger.

The culture of children includes the particular rules and rituals that are passed down from slightly older children without adult approval. “Ring around

the rosy, ashes, ashes, all fall down,” for instance, originated with children coping with death (Kastenbaum, 2006). (Rosy is short for rosary.)

Throughout the world, the culture of children encourages independence from adult society. By age 10, if not before, peers pity those (especially boys) whose par- ents kiss them in public (“momma’s boy”), tease children who please the teachers (“teacher’s pet,” “suck up”), and despise those who betray other children to adults (“tattletale,” “grasser,” “snitch,” “rat”). Keeping secrets from adults is part of the culture of children.

Clothes often signify independence and peer-group membership. Many 9-year- olds refuse to wear clothes their parents buy because they are too loose, too tight, too long, too short, or wrong in color, style, brand, or in some other way invisible to adults.

Since children adopt the manners and values of their peers, parents may encour- age their children to form certain friendships (Dishion & Bullock, 2002). This suc- ceeds with young children, but not with older ones, some of whom prefer friends who talk “dirty” or defy authority. The culture of children may include deviancy training, when children show each other how to avoid adult restrictions (Snyder et al., 2005). Some consequences of this are harmless (passing a note during class), others are not (shoplifting, spray-painting graffiti, cigarette smoking).

How to Play Boys teach each other the

rituals and rules of engagement. The bigger

boy shown here could hurt the smaller one,

but he won’t; their culture forbids it in such

situations.

Yu-Gi-Oh The specifics vary tremendously—

stamps, stickers, liquor ads, matchbooks,

baseball cards, and many more—but the

impulse to collect, organize, and trade certain

items is characteristic of school-age children.

For a few years, in south Florida and else-

where, the coveted collector’s item was

Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

culture of children The particular habits,

styles, and values that reflect the set of

rules and rituals that characterize children

as distinct from adult society.

deviancy training The process whereby

children are taught by their peers to avoid

restrictions imposed by adults.

334 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

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One aspect of the culture of children that bothers many adults in developed nations is sexism. Gender stereotypes become more elaborate during the school years, when children much prefer to play with other children of their own sex (Ruble et al., 2006). While gender segregation is strongly maintained (especially among the boys), racial and ethnic prejudice is usually not (Nesdale, 2004). Indeed, schoolchildren’s sense of justice and fairness helps them recognize and reject prej- udice, first when it affects someone else and then them- selves (C. S. Brown & Bigler, 2005; Killen, 2007).

As already apparent in deviancy training, the culture of children is not always benign. For example, because communication with peers is a priority, children may quickly master a second language but also spout curses, accents, and slang if that signifies being in synch (or “up,” or “down”) with their peers’ culture.

Attitudes are affected by friends as well. Remember Yolanda and Paul (from Chapter 12)?

Yolanda: There’s one friend . . . she’s always been with me, in bad or good things . . . She’s always telling me, “Keep on going and your dreams are gonna come true.”

Paul: I think right now about going Christian, right? Just going Christian, trying to do good, you know? Stay away from drugs, everything. And every time it seems like I think about that, I think about the homeboys. And it’s a trip because a lot of the homeboys are my family, too, you know?

[quoted in Nieto, 2000, pp. 220, 149]

Children’s Moral Codes

Ages 7 to 11 are:

years of eager, lively searching on the part of children . . . as they try to under- stand things, to figure them out, but also to weigh the rights and wrongs . . . This is the time for growth of the moral imagination, fueled constantly by the willing- ness, the eagerness of children to put themselves in the shoes of others.

[Coles, 1997]

The validity of that statement is suggested by a meta-analysis of dozens of studies: Generally, school-age children are more likely to behave prosocially than are younger children (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998).

A similar idea arises from the theory of social efficacy—that people come to be- lieve that they can affect their circumstances; this belief then leads to action that changes the social context. As Bandura writes, “the human mind is generative, reflective, proactive and creative, not merely reactive” (2006, p. 167). Those are exactly the cognitive traits that come to the fore in middle childhood, and they re- sult in moral engagement, a drive to understand and weigh in on moral arguments. Empirical studies show that, throughout middle childhood, children readily suggest moral arguments to distinguish right from wrong (Killen, 2007).

Emotion, particularly empathy (stronger now because children are more aware of each other), is one force that drives this interest in right and wrong. Peer culture and personal experience is another. For example, children in multiethnic schools are better able to argue against prejudice (Killen et al., 2006). Intellectual maturation is a fourth, as we will now see.

The Peer Group 335

The Rules of the Game These young monks

in Myanmar (formerly Burma) are playing a

board game that adults also play, but the chil-

dren have some of their own refinements of

the general rules. Children’s peer groups

often modify the norms of dominant culture,

as is evident in everything from superstitions

to stickball.

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Stages of Moral Reasoning

Much of the developmental research on children’s morality began with Piaget’s descriptions of the rules used by children as they play (Piaget, 1932/1997). This led to Lawrence Kohlberg’s explanation of the cognitive stages of morality (Kohlberg, 1963). Kohlberg’s research involved asking children and adolescents (and eventually adults) about various moral dilemmas. The story of a poor man named Heinz, whose wife was dying, serves as an example. A local druggist had the only cure for the wife’s ill- ness, an expensive drug that sold for 10 times what it cost to make.

Heinz went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about 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.” The husband got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that? Why?

[Kohlberg, 1963]

The crucial factor in Kohlberg’s scheme is not the final answer, but the reasons for it. For instance, a person might say the husband should steal the drug because he needs his wife to care for him, or because people will blame him if he lets his wife die, or because trying to save her life is more important than obeying the law. Each reason indicates a different level of moral reasoning.

Kohlberg described three levels of moral reasoning, with two stages at each level (see Table 13.1) and with clear parallels to Piaget’s stages of cognition. Preconventional moral reasoning is similar to preoperational thought in that it is egocentric. Conventional moral reasoning parallels concrete operational thought in that it relates to current, observable prac- tices. Postconventional moral reasoning is similar to formal operational thought because it uses logic and abstractions, going beyond what is con- cretely observed in a particular society.

According to Kohlberg, intellectual maturation, as well as experience, advances moral thinking. During middle childhood, children’s answers shift from being primarily preconventional to conventional: Concrete thought and peer experiences help children move past the first two stages to the next two.

Kohlberg has been criticized for not taking cultural or gender differences into account. For example, caring for family members is much more impor- tant to many people than Kohlberg seemed to recognize. In terms of chil- dren’s psychosocial development, Kohlberg did not seem to recognize the shift from adult to peer values. School-age children are quite capable of questioning or ignoring adult rules that seem unfair (Turiel, 2006).

What Children Value

Sociocultural contexts are always influential at any stage. Moral specifics vary between and within nations, even within one ethnic group in one region. Yolanda and Paul, both Hispanic Americans from southern California, had quite different opinions about the value of education.

Yolanda: I feel proud of myself when I see a [good] grade. And like [if] I see a C, I’m going to have to pull this grade up. . . . I like learning. I like really getting my mind working. . . . [Education] is good for you.

preconventional moral reasoning

Kohlberg’s first level of moral reasoning,

emphasizing rewards and punishments.

conventional moral reasoning Kohlberg’s

second level of moral reasoning, empha-

sizing social rules.

postconventional moral reasoning

Kohlberg’s third level of moral reasoning,

emphasizing moral principles.

336 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

TABLE 13.1

Kohlberg’s Three Levels and

Six Stages of Moral Reasoning

Level I: Preconventional Moral Reasoning

The goal is to get rewards and avoid punishments;

this is a self-centered level.

■ Stage One: Might makes right (a punishment and

obedience orientation). The most important value

is to maintain the appearance of obedience to

authority, avoiding punishment while still

advancing self-interest. Don’t get caught!

■ Stage Two: Look out for number one (an instru-

mental and relativist orientation). Each person

tries to take care of his or her own needs. The

reason to be nice to other people is so that they

will be nice to you.

Level II: Conventional Moral Reasoning

Emphasis is placed on social rules; this is a

community-centered level.

■ Stage Three: “Good girl” and “nice boy.” Proper

behavior is behavior that pleases other people.

Social approval is more important than any

specific reward.

■ Stage Four: “Law and order.” Proper behavior

means being a dutiful citizen and obeying the

laws set down by society, even when no police

are nearby.

Level III: Postconventional Moral Reasoning

Emphasis is placed on moral principles; this level is

centered on ideals.

■ Stage Five: Social contract. Obey social rules

because they benefit everyone and are estab-

lished by mutual agreement. If the rules become

destructive or if one party doesn’t live up to the

agreement, the contract is no longer binding.

Under some circumstances, disobeying the law

is moral.

■ Stage Six: Universal ethical principles. General,

universally valid principles, not individual

situations (level I) or community practices

(level II), determine right and wrong. Ethical

values (such as “life is sacred”) are established

by individual reflection and may contradict

egocentric (level I) or social and community

(level II) values.

Paul: I try not to get influenced too much, pulled into what I don’t want to be into. But mostly, it’s hard. You don’t want people to be saying you’re stupid. “Why do you want to go to school and get a job? . . . Drop out.”

[quoted in Nieto, 2000, pp. 220, 221, 252]

In developed nations, almost all parents value education and expect children to respect their teachers and other elders, but children do not necessarily do so (Cohen et al., 2006). They seek respect from each other. In other cultures, adults may not value school or friendship as much as children do.

In rural Kenyan villages, the most competent children are often those viewed as having . . . accurate knowledge regarding natural herbal medicines that are used to treat parasites and other illnesses. . . . In many rural Alaska Yup’ik villages, the most competent children are often those viewed as having . . . superior hunting and gathering skills.

[Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004, p. ix]

As in this example, people disagree about which traits are most important in children. To cite an example familiar in developed nations, some parents want cre- ative, lively offspring and others prefer obedient, quiet ones. But as Kenya, Alaska, and every other nation strives to modernize, political leaders, teachers, and many of the children themselves value school success.

Similarly, children’s moral precepts are not necessarily the ones that adults en- dorse. Parents who want a lively child may watch with dismay as their school-age child starts acting lackadaisical and bored (which in the culture of children may be “cool”); parents who want an obedient child may have a defiant one. Three common values among 6- to11-year-olds are: Protect your friends, don’t tell adults what is happening, and don’t be too different from your peers (which explains both apparent boredom and overt defiance.)

Social Acceptance

Some children are well-liked, others not; but the children in each group change over time (Kupersmidt et al., 2004; Ladd, 2005). In a study conducted over six years, researchers asked 299 children which classmates they wanted, or did not want, as playmates. Overall, about a third of the children were popular (often chosen), about half were average (sometimes chosen), and about a sixth were unpopular (often rejected), with some change in the size of each cluster from year to year. Almost every child (89 percent) changed from one cluster to another over the six years. Only 2 percent were unpopular every year, and only 6 percent were consistently popular (Brendgen et al., 2001).

Culture and cohort affect the reasons why children are liked. For example, in North American culture, shy children are consistently not popular; in contrast, a study conducted in 1990 in Shanghai found that shy children were respected and often popular (Chen et al., 1992). Over the next 12 years, however, Chinese cul- ture changed; assertiveness became more valued. This was shown in a new survey from the same Shanghai schools, which found that shy children were less popular than their shy predecessors had been (Chen et al., 2005). This cultural change also meant that fewer children identified themselves as shy.

Among young children in the United States, the most popular children are “kind, trustworthy, cooperative.” Particularly as children grow older (around the time of fifth grade), a new group appears—children who are “athletic, cool, domi- nant, arrogant, and . . . aggressive.” They are feared and respected, high in social status, but not necessarily liked (Cillessen & Mayeux, 2004a, p. 147).

The Peer Group 337

Another development is the emergence of three distinct types of unpopular children. Some are neglected, not really rejected; they are ignored but not shunned. This may not be damaging to the child, especially if he or she has a supportive family or outstanding talent (in music or the arts, say) (Sandstrom & Zakriski, 2004).

The other two types of unpopular children suffer active rejection. Some are aggressive-rejected—disliked because they are antagonistic and confrontational. Others are withdrawn-rejected—disliked because they are timid, withdrawn, and anxious. Children of these two types have much in common: They tend to misinterpret social situations and to lack emotional regulation, and they are often mistreated at home (Pollak et al., 2000).

Social Awareness

Interpretation of social situations (akin to emotional intelligence, discussed in Chapter 11) may be crucial for peer acceptance. Social cognition is the ability to understand human interactions, an ability that begins developing in infancy (with social referencing) and continues in early childhood (as children develop a theory of mind). In most cases, social cognition is well-established in middle childhood. Children with impaired social cognition are likely to be rejected (Gifford-Smith & Rabiner, 2004; Ladd, 2005).

One extensive two-year study of social awareness began with 41⁄2 - to 8-year- olds. The researchers found that school-age children improve not only in social cognition but also in a related ability called effortful control, which entails mod- ifying impulses and emotions. As a result of these improvements, the older chil- dren in this study had fewer emotional problems than did the younger ones, based on parents’ reports (N. Eisenberg et al., 2004).

Well-liked children generally assume that social slights, from a push to an un- kind remark, are accidental. Therefore, in contrast with rejected children, a social slight does not provoke fear, self-doubt, or anger. Given a direct conflict between themselves and another child, well-liked children think of the future of that rela- tionship, seeking a compromise to maintain the friendship (Rose & Asher, 1999). These prosocial impulses and attitudes are a sign of social maturity, rare in re- jected children (Gifford-Smith & Rabiner, 2004).

aggressive-rejected Rejected by peers

because of antagonistic, confrontational

behavior.

withdrawn-rejected Rejected by peers

because of timid, withdrawn, and anxious

behavior.

338 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

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social cognition The ability to understand

social interactions, including the causes

and consequences of human behavior.

effortful control The ability to regulate one’s

emotions and actions through effort, not

simply through natural inclination.

Loneliness Are the girls in the background

whispering about the girl in the foreground

loudly enough for her (but not the teacher) to

hear? Perhaps this social situation is not what

it appears to be, but almost every classroom

has one or two rejected children, the targets

of gossip, rumors, and social isolation.

Friendship

Although school-age children value acceptance by the entire peer group, personal friendship is even more important to them (Erwin, 1998; Ladd, 1999; Sandstrom & Zakriski, 2004). Indeed, if they had to choose between being popular but friendless and having close friends but being unpopular, most children would take the friends. That is a healthy choice. Friendship leads to psychosocial growth and buffers against psychopathology.

A longitudinal study of peer acceptance (popularity) and close friendship (mu- tual loyalty) among fifth-graders found that both affected social interactions and emotional health 12 years later but that close friends were more important (Bagwell et al., 2001).

Another study found that children had about the same number of acquain- tances no matter what their home backgrounds, but those from violent homes had fewer close friends and were lonelier. The authors explained, “Skill at recruiting surface acquaintances or playmates is different . . . from the skill required to sustain close relationships,” and the latter is needed if the child is to avoid loneliness, isolation, and rejec- tion (McCloskey & Stuewig, 2001, p. 93).

Friendships become more intense and intimate as chil- dren grow older, an expected development with improve- ment in social cognition and effortful control. Compared to age 6, by age 10, children demand more of their friends, change friends less often, become upset when a friendship breaks up, and find it harder to make new friends. Gender differences persist in activities (girls talk more while boys play games), but both boys and girls want best friends (Erwin, 1998; Underwood, 2004).

By age 10, most children know how to be a good friend. For example, when fifth-graders were asked how they would react if other children teased their friend, they almost all said they would ask their friend to do something fun with them, reassuring them that “things like that happen to everyone” (Rose & Asher, 2004).

Older children tend to choose best friends whose interests, values, and back- grounds are similar to their own. In fact, by the end of middle childhood, close friendships are almost always between children of the same sex, age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. This occurs not because children become more preju- diced over the course of middle childhood (they do not) but because they seek friends who understand and agree with them (Aboud & Amato, 2001; Aboud & Mendelson, 1996; Powlishta, 2004).

Bullies and Victims

Almost every adult remembers isolated attacks, occasional insults, and unex- pected social slights in childhood. Many adults also remember good friends who kept them from being bullied.

Defining Terms

Bullying is defined as repeated, systematic attacks intended to harm those who are unable or unlikely to defend themselves and who have no protective social network. Bullying occurs in every nation, in every community, and in every kind of school (religious or secular, public or private, progressive or traditional, large or small), although some schools have much less bullying than others of the same

bullying Repeated, systematic efforts to

inflict harm through physical, verbal, or

social attack on a weaker person.

The Peer Group 339

Friends and Culture Like children every-

where, these children—two 7-year-olds and

one 10-year-old, of the Surma people in

southern Ethiopia—model their appearance

after that of slightly older children, in this

case adolescents who apply elaborate body

paint for courtship and stick-fighting rituals.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 340):

Are they boys or girls? C

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type. Bullying may be physical (hitting, pinching, or kicking), verbal (teasing, taunting, or name-calling), or relational (designed to halt peer acceptance).

A key word in this definition is repeated. Victims of bullying typically endure shameful experiences again and again—being forced to hand over lunch money, laugh at insults, drink milk mixed with detergent, and so on, with others watching and no one defending them.

Victims of bullying tend to be “cautious, sensitive, quiet . . . lonely and aban- doned at school. As a rule, they do not have a single good friend in their class” (Olweus et al., 1999, p. 15). Most victims are withdrawn-rejected, but some are aggressive-rejected, called bully-victims (or provocative victims) (Unnever, 2005). Bully-victims are “the most strongly disliked members of the peer group,” with neither friends nor sympathizers (Sandstrom & Zakriski, 2004, p. 110).

Most bullies are not rejected. They have a few admiring friends (henchmen). Unless they are bully-victims, they are socially perceptive—but without the em- pathy of prosocial children. Especially over the years of middle childhood, they become skilled at avoiding adult awareness, attacking victims who can be counted on not to resist.

Boy bullies are often big; they target smaller, weaker boys. Girl bullies are often sharp-tongued; they harass shyer, more soft-spoken girls. Boys tend to use force (physical aggression), while girls tend to mock, ridicule, or spread rumors (rela- tional aggression). This is a generality; many bullies of both sexes use multiple tactics.

Bullying may originate with a genetic predisposition or a brain abnormality, but parents, teachers, and peers usually succeed in teaching children to restrain their aggressive impulses before middle childhood (part of effortful control). However, families that create insecure attachment, provide a stressful home life, or include hostile siblings tend to intensify children’s aggression (Cairns & Cairns, 2001; Ladd, 2005).

The consequences of bullying can echo for years. Many victims develop low self-esteem, and some explode violently at times; many bullies become increasingly

340 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

Picking on Someone Your Own Sex Bullies

usually target victims of the same sex. Boy

victims tend to be physically weaker than

their tormentors, whereas girl victims tend

to be socially out of step—unusually shy or

self-conscious, or unfashionably dressed. In

the photograph at right, notice that the by-

standers seem very interested in the bullying

episode, but no one is about to intervene.

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bully-victim Someone who attacks others,

and who is attacked as well. (Also called

provocative victims because they do things

that elicit bullying, such as taking a bully’s

pencil.)

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 339): They are all girls. Boys would not

be likely to stand so close together. Also, the

two 7-year-olds have decorated their soon-to-

be budding breasts.

cruel (Berger, 2007). Over time, both bullies and victims incur social costs, includ- ing impaired social understanding and relationship difficulties (Pepler et al., 2004). Even bystanders suffer (Nishina & Juvonen, 2005), liking school less. Perhaps mirror neurons make them feel pain when observing victimization (Berger, 2007).

Can Bullying Be Stopped?

Most children who are attacked find ways to halt ongoing victimization, by ignor- ing, retaliating, defusing, or avoiding. A study of older children who were bullied one year but not the next indicated that finding new friends was crucial (P. K. Smith, et al., 2004). Friendship helps current victims, but bullies may find new targets. More successful efforts change conditions in the whole school, including the behaviors of teachers and bystanders.

This “whole-school” strategy is advocated by Dan Olweus, a pioneer in antibul- lying efforts. In 1982, after three victims of bullying in Norway killed themselves, the government asked Olweus to survey Norway’s 90,000 school-age children. He reported much more bullying than adults realized: 14 percent of the children in grades 2–5 said that they were victims “now and then” and 10 percent admitted that they deliberately hurt other children (Olweus, 1993).

To stop bullying, Olweus used an ecological-systems approach, involving every segment of the school. He sent pamphlets to parents, showed videos to students, trained school staff, and increased supervision during recess. In each classroom, students discussed how to stop bullying and befriend lonely children. Bullies and their parents were counseled. Twenty months later, Olweus surveyed the children again. Bullying had been reduced by half (Olweus, 1992).

Similar efforts have been tried in dozens of nations, after surveys found high rates of bullying. For example, a Canadian study reported that about a third of the boys and a fourth of the girls had bullied another child in the previous two months (Pepler et al., 2004). However, interventions have usually been less successful than Olweus’s original effort.

In the United States, one recent intervention produced a decrease in observed bullying but not in reported bullying (Frey et al., 2005; see Research Design). After another much-acclaimed effort in Texas, reported bullying actually increased (Rosenbluth et al., 2004). Several studies have discovered that putting troubled students together in a therapy group or a classroom tends to increase aggression in all of them (Kupersmidt et al., 2004). Older children are particularly stuck in their patterns; some high school efforts have backfired.

Especially for Former Victims of

Bullying Almost everyone was bullied at

some point in childhood. When you

remember such moments, how can you

avoid feeling sad and depressed?

The Peer Group 341

Shake Hands or Yell “Uncle” Many schools,

such as this one in Alaska, have trained peer

mediators who intervene in disputes, hear

both sides, take notes, and seek a resolution.

Without such efforts, antagonists usually fight

until one gives up, giving bullies free rein.

Despite Alaska’s higher rate of adolescent al-

cohol abuse, the state’s adolescent homicide

rate is lower than the national average.

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Especially for Parents of an Accused

Bully Another parent has told you that your

child is a bully. Your child denies it and

explains that the other child doesn’t mind

being teased.

342 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

Even in elementary school, well-intentioned measures, such as letting children solve problems on their own or assigning guards to the school, may make the situa- tion worse. Teaching social cognition to victims may seem like a good idea, but the problem arises from the school culture more than from the victims. Many anti- bullying projects report discouraging results (J. D. Smith, et al., 2004; P. K. Smith & Ananiadou, 2003).

A review of all research on successful ways to halt bullying (Berger, 2007) finds the following to be true:

■ The whole school must change, not just the identified bullies. ■ Intervention is more effective in the younger grades. ■ Evaluation is critical. Programs that appear to be good might actually be

harmful.

This final point merits special emphasis. Some programs make a difference; some do not; only objective follow-up can tell. The best recent success was reported from a multifaceted effort that involved every school in one town over eight years. Victimization was reduced from 9 to 3 percent (Koivisto, 2004). Sustained and comprehensive effort may be what is needed.

SUMMING UP

School-age children develop their own culture, with customs and morals that encourage

them to be loyal to each other. Moral development is affected by cognitive maturation

and cultural values, with school-age children being more influenced by the ethics of their

peer groups than by adults. All 6- to 11-year-olds need social acceptance and close, mu-

tual friendships, to protect against loneliness and depression.

Most children experience some peer rejection as well as acceptance. However,

some are repeatedly rejected and friendless, becoming victims of bullying. Bullying oc-

curs everywhere, but the frequency and type depend on the school climate, on the cul-

ture, and on the child’s age and gender. Efforts to reduce bullying have rarely been

successful; a whole-school approach seems best. ■

Families and Children No one doubts that genes affect temperament as well as ability, that peers are vital, and that schools and cultures influence what, and how much, children learn. Many people are also convinced that parental practices make a decided difference in how children develop. On this last point, some developmental researchers have expressed doubts, suggesting that genes, peers, and communities are so powerful that there may be little room left for parents (Ladd & Pettit, 2002; McLeod et al., 2007; O’Connor, 2002).

As already detailed (see Chapter 3), a substantial part of a person’s behavior can be traced to heredity. This statement is based on research and statistical analysis of many traits found in monozygotic twins (genetically identical) sepa- rated at birth and raised in different homes (environment is not identical) (Canli, 2006; Lykken, 2006; Plomin et al., 2002; Wright, 1999).

Some human traits (such as height and hearing) are largely genetic; others (especially complex traits, including moral values) are far less so.

Nothing is entirely genetic or entirely environmental: Genes always interact with the environment, which amplifies the power of some genes and mutes the expression of others (see Chapter 1). Also, as the dynamic-systems approach re- minds us, the relationship between genes and the environment for any particular

Research Design Scientists: Karin S. Frey, Miriam K.

Hirschstein, Jennie L. Snell, Leihua V. S.

Edstron, Elizabeth MacKenzie, and Car-

ole J. Broderick (all from The Committee

on Children).

Publication: Developmental Psychology

(2005).

Participants: All third- to sixth-graders

in six schools.

Design: Confidential surveys and play-

ground observations were conducted

at six schools (three experimental and

three control), both before and after in-

terventions at the experimental schools.

In the experimental schools, administra-

tive changes (such as better supervision

at recess) were coupled with a special

12-week curriculum taught by all the

third- to sixth-grade teachers.

Major conclusion: Bullying is hard to

stop. Playground observations found

that bullying at the three control

schools increased more over the school

year than in the experimental schools

(60 percent compared with 11 percent).

However, children’s attitudes and self-

reported victimization did not improve.

Comment:This is good science, with ex-

perimental and control groups, before-

and-after measures, observations, and

questionnaires. It shows, unfortunately,

that the culture of children and schools

resists change.

➤Response for Former Victims of

Bullying (from page 341): Although children

who are victims of bullying often feel inferior

and alone, you now know that adults should

have stopped the bully. Now you can become

angry at the adults who should have

protected you. You can also be proud of

yourself for having eventually gotten through

or escaped the situation. Your anger and pride

may replace your lingering sadness and

depression.

trait changes over time. Here we focus on the environmental component of child development between ages 6 and 10.

Shared and Nonshared Environment

Environment is subdivided into shared environment (e.g., household influences that are the same for two people, such as children reared together) and nonshared (e.g., when siblings have different friends and different teachers). Surprisingly, careful research has repeatedly found that nonshared environmental factors are more influential on siblings than are shared ones. This fact has led some to conclude that parents have little influence on how school-age children develop (e.g., Harris, 1998, 2002).

The latest findings, however, reassert the power of parents. The analysis of shared and nonshared influences was correct, but the assumption was wrong. Children raised in the same household do not necessarily share the same home environment. If the family moves, parents divorce, or one or both lose a job, each child is affected differently; thus, these environmental influences are nonshared. Further, parents’ attitudes toward each of their children vary, as the following makes clear.

Families and Children 343

thinking like a scientist “I Always Dressed One in Blue Stuff . . .”

One way to measure family influence is to compare children of

varying genetic similarity (twins, full siblings, stepsiblings,

adopted children) raised in the same household (Reiss et al.,

2000). The extent to which children share alleles (100 percent

for monozygotic twins, 50 percent for full siblings, 25 percent

for half-siblings, much less for unrelated individuals such as

stepsiblings and adopted children) can be used to calculate how

much of the variation in a trait is inherited. The remaining vari-

ation presumably arises from the environment.

This seems simple enough. However, every research design

aimed at studying the links between parental behavior and child

behavior is vulnerable to criticism (see Figure 13.1). Conse-

quently, an expert team of scientists, noting the flaws in earlier

research, set out to compare 1,000 sets of monozygotic twins

reared by their biological parents (Caspi et al., 2004).

The team assessed each child’s temperament by asking the

mothers and teachers to fill out a detailed, standardized check-

list. They also assessed every mother’s attitudes toward each

child. These ranged from very positive (“my ray of sunshine”) to

very negative (“I wish I never had her. . . . She’s a cow, I hate

her”) (quoted in Caspi et al., 2004, p. 153).

Many mothers described personality differences between

their twins and assumed these were innate. The mothers did

not realize that they themselves may have created many of these

differences. For example, one mother spoke of her identical

daughters:

Susan can be very sweet. She loves babies . . . she can be inse-

cure . . . she flutters and dances around. . . . There’s not much

between her ears. . . . She’s exceptionally vain, more so than

Ann. Ann loves any game involving a ball, very sporty, climbs

trees, very much a tomboy. One is a serious tomboy and one’s a

serious girlie girl. Even when they were babies I always dressed

one in blue stuff and one in pink stuff.

[quoted in Caspi et al., 2004, p. 156]

Some mothers were much more cold and rejecting toward

one twin than toward the other:

He was in the hospital and everyone was all “poor Jeff, poor Jeff”’

and I started thinking, “Well, what about me? I’m the one’s just

had twins. I’m the one’s going though this, he’s a seven-week-old

baby and doesn’t know a thing about it.” . . . I sort of detached

and plowed my emotions into Mike.

[quoted in Caspi et al., 2004, p. 156]

After she was divorced, this mother blamed Jeff for favoring

his father: “Jeff would do anything for Don but he wouldn’t for

me, and no matter what I did for either of them it wouldn’t be

right” (p. 157). She said Mike was much more lovable.

The researchers controlled for genes, gender, age, and per-

sonality differences in kindergarten (by measuring, among other

things, antisocial behavior as assessed by the children’s kinder-

garten teachers). They found that twins whose mothers were

more negative toward them tended to become more antisocial

than their co-twin. The rejected twins were more likely to fight,

steal, and hurt others at age 7 than at age 5 after all background

factors were taken into account. Mothers’ attitudes were obvi-

ously influential.

➤Response for Parents of an Accused

Bully (from page 341): The future is ominous

if the charges are true. Your child’s denial is a

sign that there is a problem. (An innocent child

would be worried about the misperception

instead of categorically denying that any

problem exists.) You might ask the teacher

what the school is doing about bullying. Family

counseling might help. Because bullies often

have friends who egg them on, you may need

to monitor your child’s friendships and perhaps

befriend the victim. Talk matters over with your

child. Ignoring the situation might lead to

heartache later on.

Family Function and Dysfunction

Exactly what do school-age children require from their families, and what factors in family structure make it likely (or unlikely) that they will get it? Family structure refers to the legal and genetic connections among related people living in the same household. Family function refers to the way a family works to care for its members.

The most important family function for people of all ages is to afford a safe haven of love and encouragement. Beyond that, people of various ages need differ- ent things from their families: Infants need frequent caregiving and social inter- action; teenagers need both freedom and guidance; young adults need peace and privacy; the aged need respect and appreciation.

family structure The legal and genetic rela-

tionships (e.g., nuclear, extended, step)

among relatives in the same home.

family function The way a family works to

meet the needs of its members. Children

need families to provide basic material

necessities, encourage learning, develop

self-respect, nurture friendships, and fos-

ter harmony and stability.

344 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

Many other nonshared factors—peers, teachers, and so on—

are important. But this change in identical twins confirms the

popular belief: Parents matter. The assumption that parents and

a home provide a completely shared environment for all their

children is false. As everyone with siblings can attest, each

child’s family experiences are unique.

Design Design does not take into account:

The Problem

Possible “third variables”

that differ between

families (e.g., low SES,

maternal psychopathology)

Between-family,

1-child-per-family

designs

Third variables may

account for the between-

family correlations

“Genetic”

child effect

Within-family, 2-child-

per-family designs

Siblings’ different treatment

may be confounded with

genetic differences

between siblings

”Environmental”

child effect

MZ-twin

difference method

Differential treatment may

be elicited by differences

in twins’ behavior

Multisource, multi-

method measurement Continuing refinements

Single-source, single-

method data

Longitudinal design

documenting

intra-individual change

The correlation may

inflate true associations

between variables

Source: Caspi et al., 2004.

FIGURE 13.1

Improvements in Research Design Before designing a study,

researchers identify the weaknesses of earlier studies so that they

can consider ways of avoiding them. This chart shows the preliminary

analysis made by the team that found that parents’ attitudes have a

direct effect on children’s behavior. As they realized, “continuing

refinements” in research design are always possible.

Families and Children 345

Meeting Her Need for Fit and Fashion A

10-year-old’s rapidly growing feet frequently

need new shoes, and peer pressure favors

certain styles of footwear. Here, Rebekah’s

sisters wait and watch as their mother tries

to find a boot that fits her and is fashionable.KA TH

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K S

School-age children thrive if their families function for them in five ways:

1. Provide basic necessities: Children aged 6 to 11 can eat, dress, wash, and sleep without help, but someone must provide food, clothing, and shelter.

2. Encourage learning. School-age children must master academic and social skills. Families can support and guide their education.

3. Develop self-respect. As they become cognitively mature, school-age children become self-critical and socially aware. Families can help their children feel competent and capable.

4. Nurture peer relationships. School-age children need friends, and families can provide the time and opportunity to develop those friendships.

5. Ensure harmony and stability. School-age children need protective and pre- dictable family routines, since they are particularly troubled by conflict and change. Families can provide this kind of stability and security.

Thus, families provide resources, both material and cognitive, as well as emo- tional and social support. No family always functions perfectly, but some malfunc- tions are worse than others at various points of the life span. Family structures do not determine function, but they affect it, as do other family characteristics, particularly income.

Diverse Structures

The effects of family structure on family function are many, but before explaining them we need to distinguish household from structure. A household as defined by the United States Census is all the people who live together in the same home. Many households, worldwide, are not made up of members of a single family— that is, they are not “family households” (Georgas et al., 2006). Often, a household consists of one person living alone (26 percent of all households in the United States in 2005) or of nonrelatives living together (6 percent in the United States). Among family households, most do not include children under age 18, usually because they consist of a married couple living alone.

Here we focus on family households that include a school-age child (about one-fourth of all households). Table 13.2 briefly describes common family struc- tures within these households in the United States. More than half of all school- age children live in two-parent homes as part of a nuclear family (a married couple and their biological offspring); worldwide as well, this is the most common family structure (Georgas et al., 2006). Nuclear families include families in which parents live together but are not legally married; they cohabit. Depending partly on local customs, they are sometimes considered married.

In the United States, more than a fourth of all school-age children currently live in a single-parent family, with only one parent. This is the dominant form among African Americans. Most European American children will spend some time in a single-parent family before age 18.

The nuclear and single-parent family structures are sometimes contrasted with the extended family, in which children live not only with one or both of their parents but also with other relatives (usually grandparents, but often aunts, uncles, and cousins as well). Extended families are common among low-income families and in poor nations, partly because household expenses and responsibilities can be shared.

nuclear family A family that consists of a

father, a mother, and their biological chil-

dren under age 18.

single-parent family A family that consists

of only one parent and his or her biological

children under age 18.

extended family A family of three or more

generations living in one household.

346 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

TABLE 13.2

Common Family Structures (with percentages of U.S. children aged 6–11 in each family type)

Two-Parent Families (67%)

Most human families have two parents. These families are of several

kinds.

1. Nuclear family (56%) Named after the nucleus (the tightly

connected core particles of an atom), the nuclear family consists of

a husband and wife and their biological offspring. About half of all

families with children are nuclear. This category includes extended

families in which both parents live with the parents of one of the

spouses or when a grandparent couple acts as mother and father.

2. Stepparent family (8%) Divorced fathers (Stewart et al., 2003) are

particularly likely to remarry. Usually his children from a previous

marriage do not live with him, but if they do, they are in a step-

parent family. Mothers are less likely to remarry, but when they do,

the children often live with her and their stepfather. Many children

spend some time in a stepparent family, but relatively few spend

their entire childhood in such families.

Blended family A stepparent family that includes children born to

several families, such as the biological children from the spouses’

previous marriages and the biological children of the new couple.

This type of family is a particularly difficult structure for school-age

children.

3. Adoptive family (3%) Although as many as one-third of infertile

married couples adopt children, fewer adoptable children are

available than in earlier decades, which means that most adoptive

families have only one or two children. A single parent is sometimes

an adoptive parent, but this is unusual.

4. Polygamous family (0%) In some nations, it is common for one

man to have several wives, each bearing his children.

One-Parent Families (28%)

One-parent families are increasingly common, but they tend to have

fewer children than two-parent families.

1. Single mother, never married (11%) Many babies (about a third of

all U.S. newborns) are born to unmarried mothers, but most of

these mothers intend to marry someday (Musick, 2002). Many of

them do get married, either to their baby’s father or to someone

else. By school age, their children are often in two-parent families.

2. Single mother—divorced, separated, or widowed (12%)

Although many marriages end in divorce (almost half in the United

States, less in other nations), many divorcing couples have no

children and many others remarry. Thus, many divorced women do

not have school-age children living with them.

3. Single father, divorced or never married (5%) About one in five

divorced or unmarried fathers has physical custody of the children.

This structure is uncommon, but it is the most rapidly increasing

form.

Other Family Types (5%)

Some children live in special versions of one- or two-parent families,

described here.

1. Extended family Many children live with their grandparents as well

as with one or both of their parents.

2. Grandparents alone For some school-age children, their one or

two “parents” are their grandparents, because the biological

parents are dead or otherwise unable to live with them. This family

type is increasing, especially in Africa, where an epidemic of AIDS is

killing many parents.

3. Homosexual family Some school-age children live in a homosexual

family, usually when a custodial parent has a homosexual partner.

Less often, a homosexual couple adopts children or a lesbian has a

child. Varying laws and norms determine whether these are one- or

two-parent families.

4. Foster family This family type is usually considered temporary, and

the children are categorized by their original family structure.

Otherwise, they are in one- or two-parent families depending on the

structure of their foster family.

Source: Percentages are estimated from U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2007.

The distinctions among family types are not clear-cut, especially regarding ex- tended families. Most nuclear and single-parent families have close connections with other relatives who often live nearby, share meals, provide emotional and financial support, and otherwise function as an extended family. Further, espe- cially in developing nations, extended families who technically are in one household nonetheless have private living areas within the home for each couple and their children, as occurs in nuclear families (Georgas et al., 2006).

Connecting Structure and Function

Family structure and family function are intertwined. The crucial question for children is whether the family living arrangements make it more, or less, likely that several adults are devoted to their well-being.

From this perspective, single-mother families may be problematic, because such households are likely to be low-income and unstable in that they are most likely to change structure as well as location (Raley & Wildsmith, 2004). Furthermore, there is only one adult who often has many roles to fill besides being a parent. Children in single-mother families “are at greatest risk,” faring worse in school and in adult life (Carlson & Corcoran, 2001, p. 789).

A blended family, the structure in which a married couple combine offspring from earlier partnerships, also risks instability. Blended families tend to be wealthier than single-parent families, but older children leave, new babies arrive, and mar- riages dissolve more often than do first marriages. The likelihood that children will thrive in blended families depends on the adults’ economic and emotional security; blended families are not necessarily better for children than single-parent families.

Nuclear families tend to function best for children, partly because people who marry and stay married tend to have personal and financial strengths that also make them better parents. Correlational statistics show that, compared with adults who never marry, married adults tend to be wealthier, better educated, healthier, more flexible, and less hostile—even before they marry.

On average, biological and adoptive parents are more dedicated to their chil- dren than are step or foster parents. For these reasons, children growing up in nuclear families are more likely to have someone to teach them to brush their teeth, to read to them at bedtime, to check their homework, and so on, as well as to plan for their future, saving for college and inculcating health habits.

Especially for Readers Whose Parents

Are Middle-Aged Your mother tells you that

she misses taking care of young children and

wants to become a foster parent. How do

you advise her?

Families and Children 347

blended family A family that consists of

two adults and the children of the prior

relationships of one or both parents and/or

the new partnership.

A Comfortable Combination The blended

family—husband, wife, and children from

both spouses’ previous marriages—often

breeds resentment, depression, and rebellion

in the children. That is apparently not the case

for the family shown here, which provides

cheerful evidence that any family structure is

capable of functioning well.BIL L

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IT , I

N C

.

Especially for Single Parents You have

heard that children raised in one-parent

families will have difficulty in establishing

intimate relationships as adolescents and

adults. What can you do about this

possibility?

Every family type is affected by culture (Heuveline & Timberlake, 2004). For example, many French parents are not married, but they share household and child-rearing tasks and are less likely to separate than are married adults in the United States. Thus, the cohabiting structure functions well for French children. However, in the United States, cohabiting parents split up more than married parents. This makes that structure, on average, less functional for children (S. L. Brown, 2004).

More generally, the effect of marriage and divorce on parenthood varies not only by nation but also by ethnic group. Compared with other American ethnic groups, divorced and single-parent families are not as common among Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans, and marriage usually entails devotion to child rearing by both parents. Children benefit.

However, if divorce does occur, it is more life-changing. Divorced Hispanic American fathers are less likely to stay involved with their children than are di- vorced fathers of other ethnic groups (King et al., 2004). (Data are not available for Asian American divorced fathers.)

Every study finds exceptions to these patterns. In any family type, some children develop well and others are harmed. It is “not enough to know that an individual lives in a particular family structure without also knowing what takes place within that structure” (Lansford et al., 2001, p. 850). Function, not structure, is key.

Family Trouble

We now look at two factors that interfere with family function in every nation: low income and high conflict (Georgas et al., 2006). Financial stress and family fight- ing often co-occur because they feed on each other. Imagine this scene.

Suppose a 3-year-old spills his milk, as every 3-year-old sometimes does. In a well-functioning, financially stable family, the parents then teach the child how to mop up a spill. They pour more milk, perhaps with a comment that encourages family harmony, such as, “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.”

What if the parents are already overwhelmed by unemployment, overdue rent, an older child who wants money for a school trip? What if the last of the food stamps bought that milk? Conflict erupts, with shouting, crying, and accusations (a sibling claiming, “He did it on purpose”; the 3-year-old saying, “You pushed me”; an uncle adding, “You should teach him to be careful”). Poverty can make anger spill over when the milk does.

Family Income

As in this example, family income correlates with both function and structure. Directly or indirectly, all five functions benefit from adequate income (Conger & Donellan, 2007; Gershoff et al., 2007; Yeung et al., 2002), especially at ages 6 to 9 (Gennetian & Miller, 2002).

To understand exactly how income affects child development, consider the family-stress model, which holds that the crucial question to ask about any risk factor (such as low income, divorce, unemployment) is whether or not it increases the stress on a family. In developed nations, poverty may not directly prevent chil- dren from having adequate food, clothing, and other necessities, since adults are usually able to secure at least the minimum needed. In that case, low income may not add to stress.

However, for many families, economic hardship increases stress, which results in the worry and tension that make adults more likely to be harsh and hostile with their partners and children (Conger et al., 2002; Parke et al., 2004). Thus, the adults’ stressed and stressful reaction to poverty is crucial. Many intervention

348 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

➤Response for Single Parents (from

page 347): Do not get married mainly to

provide a second parent for your child. If you

were to do so, things would probably get

worse rather than better. Do make an effort

to have friends of both sexes with whom

your child can interact.

➤Response for Readers Whose Parents

Are Middle-Aged (from page 347): Foster

parenthood is probably the most difficult type

of parenthood, yet it can be very rewarding if

all needed support is available and a long-term

arrangement is likely. Advise your mother to

make sure that medical, educational, and

psychological help is available if needed and

that the placement agency truly cares about

children’s well-being.

programs aim to educate poor parents so that their reactions to their children become more encouraging and patient than hostile (McLoyd et al., 2006).

Reaction to wealth may be a problem, too. Children in high-income families have a disproportionate share of emotional problems, which sometimes lead to drug abuse and delinquency. One reason, again, is thought to be the stress from parents who pressure their children to be superstars (Luthar, 2003).

In low-income families, however, an emphasis on parental reaction (not on income) may be misplaced. Poverty itself—inadequate child care, poor health care, possible homelessness, and so on—may cause stress. Perhaps raising household income, thereby reducing stress, would be better for children than focusing on problematic parenting styles and dysfunctional reactions.

That conclusion might be drawn from an eight-year natural experiment (Costello et al., 2003). This study began by assessing psychopathology among 1,420 school-age children, many of whom were Native American. For children of every ethnicity, those from poor homes averaged four symptoms of mental disturbance, compared with only one symptom among the nonpoor.

Midway through the study, about 200 children suddenly were no longer in poor families, primarily because a new casino began paying each Native American adult about $6,000 per year. Among those children, the incidence of externalizing symp- toms fell, reaching the same low levels as among the children who were not poor when the study began (Costello et al., 2003). For these children, at least, no parent education was needed to change reactions and relieve the family stress.

Other research also suggests that reducing family financial stress directly ben- efits the children. In extended families that include several well-educated wage earners, the children are likely to become well educated and happy. Children in single-mother households do much better if their father pays child support (J. W. Graham & Beller, 2002) or if the nation subsidizes single parents (as Austria and Iceland do) (Pong et al., 2003).

In general, economic hardship (either chronic poverty or sudden loss of income) leads to anger and depression among the adults, which makes them hostile toward their partners and their children—and thus not the loving, firm, caring parents they could be (Conger et al., 2002; Parke et al., 2004). This is affected by ethnic- ity and culture, but the trends are universal. Economic distress impairs family functioning.

Harmony and Stability

The second crucial factor for school-age children is harmony and stability, each of which can be considered separately but which both work together (Buehler & Gerard, 2002; Khaleque & Rohner, 2002). Ideally, parents form a parental alliance, learning to cooperate and thus protecting the children. The need for harmony explains why blended families can be problematic (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002). Jealousy, stress, and conflict tend to arise when children have to share a home with other children and must adjust to the authority of another adult. In such situations, smooth parental alliances can take years to form.

In any family structure, children’s well-being declines if family members fight, especially if parents physically or verbally abuse each other. In contrast, children may learn valuable lessons from parental disagreements that result in compromise and reconciliation (Cummings et al., 2003). But if a fight escalates, or one parent walks out and the other sobs, that may harm a child.

Families and Children 349

The One-Parent Family Single parents are

of two types: never married and formerly

married. This divorcée is a pediatrician, so she

and her daughter have a higher income than

many other one-parent families. To combat

the other hazards faced by single parents—

including loneliness, low self-esteem, and

ongoing disputes with the former spouse—

she has established a divorce resource cen-

ter in her hometown in Michigan.

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Especially for Readers Who Are Not

Parents Should children call their parents by

their first names and wear whatever they

choose? Or should children be deferential

toward adults and be pushed to excel in

school?

Every family transition affects the children. They are more likely to quit school, leave home, use drugs, become delinquent, and have early love affairs if their fam- ilies change more frequently or drastically than average (McLanahan et al., 2005). Some family structures typically undergo multiple transitions as children grow. For instance, most unmarried mothers change jobs, residences, and romantic partners several times before their children are fully grown (Bumpass & Lu, 2000).

Changing homes is particularly hard for school-age children (who have a spe- cial need for continuity), yet each year about 16 percent of all U.S. children move from one home to another, a rate three times that of adults over age 50 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2007). Even a move that parents consider an improvement may upset school-age children who lose their friends. A move to another culture is obviously especially hard.

The problems associated with moving were shown by a study in Japan, where junior employees are often transferred for several years to strengthen company cohesiveness. If the employee is a father, about half the time his family moves with him. Researchers compared the children who moved to those who did not, expecting to find the benefits of daily contact with fathers. However, the school- age children did better if they stayed put, even with absent fathers (Tanaka & Nakazawa, 2005). (Their mothers, however, were more stressed, illustrating that each change affects family members differently.)

Worldwide, children are more likely to move as family income falls. Hardest hit are school-age children who are homeless or refugees. In the United States, homeless children move, on average, two to three times a year before moving into a shelter (Buckner et al., 1999), a major threat to their well-being.

Household harmony and continuity can be fostered by communities, as seems to be the case with some immigrant and African American communities. Children benefit when single mothers are not isolated, when men who aren’t part of the

household become “social fathers” to them, and when nearby grandmothers and other adults provide free and nur- turing child care.

By contrast, sometimes a child’s peace of mind is jeop- ardized by conflict in the family or neighborhood. Parents disturb a child’s development if they push their children to take sides in a marital dispute or if they give one child authority over another. Grandparents and parents fighting over child-rearing practices can also be harmful.

An intriguing study of 8- to 11-year-olds assessed three factors: conflict between parents, stress reactions in chil- dren, and each child’s feelings. By far the most important correlate with children’s problems was not the marital discord but the children’s feelings of self-blame or vulnera- bility. When children “do not perceive that marital conflict is threatening to them and do not blame themselves” (El-Sheikh & Harger, 2001, p. 883), they are much less troubled (see Figure 13.2).

SUMMING UP

Parents influence child development, with some families functioning better than others.

For school-age children, families serve five crucial functions: to provide basic necessi-

ties, to encourage learning, to develop self-respect, to nurture friendships, and to pro-

vide harmony and stability. Low income, conflict, and transitions interfere with these

functions, no matter what the family structure.

Especially for Parents Who Want to

Divorce and Remarry A couple want to

divorce each other and marry other people.

At what age is this least harmful to children?

350 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

10

8

6

4

2

0

-2 -1 SD Mean +1 SD

Verbal marital conflict

Internalizing

behavior

Parental Conflict, Children’s Self-Blame, and

Level of Internalizing Behavior in Children

Lower

self-blame

Higher

self-blame

Source: El-Sheikh & Harger, 2001.

FIGURE 13.2

When Parents Fight and Children Blame

Themselves Husbands and wives who

almost never disagree are below the first

standard deviation (−1 SD) in verbal marital

conflict. Couples who frequently have loud,

screaming, cursing arguments are in the

highest 15 percent (+1 SD). In such high-

conflict households, children are not much

affected—if they do not blame themselves

for the situation. However, if children do

blame themselves, they are likely to have

internalizing problems, such as nightmares,

stomachaches, panic attacks, and feelings of

loneliness.

➤Response for Readers Who Are Not

Parents (from page 349): This is a trick

question. The crucial factor in child rearing is

parents’ genuine warmth toward the child.

While neither approach mentioned in the

question reflects the ideal, authoritative style,

both can produce happy, successful children.

The nuclear, two-parent family is the most common, but a sizable minority of families

are headed by a single parent (including one-fourth of all families of school-age children

in the United States). Two-parent families tend to provide more income, stability, and

adult attention. Extended families, grandparent families, one-parent families, blended

families, and adoptive families can raise successful, happy children, although each of

these has its own vulnerabilities. No structure inevitably either harms children or guaran-

tees good family function.

The Nature of the Child We have now discussed peers and parents, the two most important social influ- ences on school-age children. However, each child is an individual, not simply a social being reacting to others. Table 13.3 shows some of the practical ways that children become much more responsible and mature over these years.

To delve more deeply into the nature of the school-age child, we turn first to psychoanalytic theory, which puts forth a very specific description. Then we look at current developmental research, which provides a different perspective.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory stresses that school-age children are eager to learn about their expanding social universe. Sigmund Freud described this period as latency, when emotional drives are quiet and unconscious sexual conflicts are submerged. Latency is a “time for acquiring cognitive skills and assimilating cultural values as children expand their world to include teachers, neighbors, peers, club leaders, and coaches. Sexual energy continues to flow, but it is channeled into social con- cerns” (P. H. Miller, 2002, p. 131).

Erik Erikson agreed that middle childhood is an emotionally quiet period. The child “must forget past hopes and wishes, while his exuberant imagination is tamed and harnessed to the laws of impersonal things,” becoming “ready to apply himself to given skills and tasks” (Erikson, 1963, pp. 258, 259). During Erikson’s crisis of industry versus inferiority, children busily try to master whatever abili- ties their culture values.

The Nature of the Child 351

TABLE 13.3

AT ABOUT THIS TIME: Signs

of Psychosocial Maturation

Between Ages 6 and 11

Children are more likely to have specific

chores to perform at home.

Children are more likely to have a weekly

allowance.

Children are expected to tell time, and

they have set times for various activities.

Children have more homework

assignments, some over several days.

Children are less often punished

physically, more often with disapproval or

withdrawal of privileges.

Children try to conform to peer standards

in such matters as clothing and language.

Children influence decisions about their

after-school care, lessons, and activities.

Children use media (TV, computers,

video games) without adult supervision.

Children are given new responsibility for

younger children, pets, or, in some

cultures, employment.

Celebrating Spring No matter where they

live, 7- to 11-year-olds seek to understand and

develop whatever skills are valued by their cul-

ture. They do so in active, industrious ways, as

described in behaviorism as well as cognitive,

sociocultural, psychoanalytic, and epigenetic

theories. This universal truth is illustrated here,

as four friends in Assam, northeastern India,

usher in spring with a Bihu celebration. Soon

they will be given sweets and tea, which is

the sociocultural validation of their energy,

independence, and skill.LIN D

S A

Y H

EB B

ER D

/ W

O O

D FI

N C

A M

P &

A S

S O

C IA

TE S

latency Freud’s term for middle childhood,

during which children’s emotional drives

and psychosocial needs are quiet (latent).

Freud thought that sexual conflicts from

earlier stages are only temporarily sub-

merged, to burst forth again at puberty.

industry versus inferiority The fourth of

Erikson’s eight psychosexual development

crises, during which children attempt to

master many skills, developing a sense of

themselves as either industrious or infe-

rior, competent or incompetent.

Children judge themselves as either industrious or inferior—that is, competent or incompetent, productive or failing, winners or losers. Being productive not only is intrinsically joyous but also fosters the self-control that is a crucial defense against emotional problems (Bradley & Corwyn, 2005).

Concerns about inferiority are evident in the schoolchild’s ditty: “Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me. I think I’ll go out and eat some worms.” This lament has endured for generations because it captures, with humor that children can appre- ciate, the self-doubt that many school-age children feel.

Self-Concept

The following self-description could have been written by many 10-year-olds:

I’m in the fourth grade this year, and I’m pretty popular, at least with the girls. That’s because I’m nice to people and can keep secrets. Mostly I am nice to my friends, although if I get in a bad mood I sometimes say something that can be a little mean. I try to control my temper, but when I don’t, I’m ashamed of myself. I’m usually happy when I’m with my friends, but I get sad if there is no one to do things with. At school, I’m feeling pretty smart in certain subjects like Language Arts and Social Studies. I got As in these subjects on my last report card and was really proud of myself. But I’m feeling pretty dumb in Math and Science, espe- cially when I see how well a lot of the other kids are doing. Even though I’m not doing well in those subjects, I still like myself as a person, because Math and Science just aren’t that important to me. How I look and how popular I am are more important. I also like myself because I know my parents like me and so do other kids. That helps you like yourself.

[quoted in Harter, 1999, p. 48]

This excerpt (from a book written by a scholar who has studied the develop- ment of children’s self-concept for decades) captures the nature of school-age children. As already explained, social comparison (“especially when I see how well a lot of the other kids are doing”), effortful control (“I try to control my temper”), loyalty (“can keep secrets”), and appreciation of peers and parents (“I know my parents like me and so do other kids”) are typical.

Note that the child’s self-concept no longer mirrors the parents’ perspective. Every theory and every perceptive observer notes that school-age children recog- nize themselves as individuals, distinct from what their parents and teachers think of them.

One study that confirmed this began by asking, “Who knows best what you are thinking? . . . how tired you are? . . . your favorite foods?” and so on (Burton & Mitchell, 2003). Unlike 3-year-olds who might answer, “Mommy,” and rely on a parent to tell them, “Oh, you are tired, it’s time for your nap,” school-age children become increasingly sure of their own minds. In this study, few (13 percent) of the 5-year-olds but most (73 percent) of the 10-year-olds thought that they knew themselves better than their parents or teachers did (Burton & Mitchell, 2003).

Increases in self-understanding and social awareness come at a price. Self- criticism and self-consciousness tend to rise from age 6 to 12, as self-esteem dips (Merrell & Gimpel, 1998), especially for children who live with unusual stresses (e.g., an abusive or alcoholic parent) (Luthar & Zelazo, 2003).

If children are already quite anxious and stressed, reduced self-esteem tends to lead to lower academic achievement (Pomerantz & Rudolph, 2003). This is partic- ularly true of children who are rejected by classmates (Flook et al., 2005). A loss of self-pride in middle childhood may foreshadow emotional uncertainty and psychic stress in adolescence—not the usual path, but the one often followed by children who feel inferior (Graber, 2004).

352 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

➤Response for Parents Who Want to

Divorce and Remarry (from page 350):

Children usually prefer that their parents stay

together, unless one parent is abusive. There

is no best age for children when it comes to

parents’ getting divorced. However, it is

probably worst if such major family transitions

occur just when children are undergoing major

transitions of their own, such as starting

school or beginning puberty.

As you can see, self-esteem is tricky. If it is unrealistically high, it may produce less effortful control and thus lower achievement (Baumeister et al., 2003), but the same consequences may occur if it is unrealistically low. Children who appre- ciate themselves and appreciate other children (i.e., when self and peers both fare well in social comparison) tend to have more friends and to be prosocial, able to defend a friend if the occasion arises. In contrast, children who like themselves but not their peers are more likely to be aggressive bullies (Salmivalli et al., 2005).

Cultural differences make self-esteem more complex. Many cultures expect children to be modest. For example, Australians say that “tall poppies” are cut down, and the Japanese discourage social comparison to make oneself feel supe- rior (Toyama, 2001). Although Chinese children often excel at mathematics, only 1 percent said that they were “very satisfied” with their performance in that sub- ject (Snyder et al., 2004). Does their dissatisfaction increase their achievement? Would this scarcity of self-esteem occur in other nations?

It is apparent that the combination of high self-esteem and low opinion of others is destructive; such children tend to have few friends, show more aggression, and be more lonely (Salmivalli et al., 2005). Academic and social competence are aided by realistic evaluation of objectively measured achievement, not by unrealistically high self-esteem (Baumeister et al., 2003). Achieving the proper balance is not easy, although each year of middle childhood tends to bring children closer to this goal.

Coping and Overcoming

As you have seen in these three chapters on middle childhood, the school-age child’s expanding social world and developing cognition can bring disturbing prob- lems. Some serious health impairments (e.g., obesity and asthma) affect psycho- social development, and children with special needs become painfully aware of their differences. Speaking a minority language may hinder academic learning and impair self-esteem. Some children are socially inept, rejected, or even victimized, and many have hostile or stressed parents and are in poor or unstable families.

Resilience and Stress

Surprisingly, some children seem unscathed by their problematic, stressful envi- ronments. They have been called “resilient” or even “invincible.” Those who are familiar with recent research, however, use these terms cautiously, if at all (see Table 13.4). As dynamic-systems theory reminds us, although some children cope better than others, none are impervious to their social context (Jenson & Fraser, 2006; Luthar et al., 2003).

Resilience has been defined as “a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity” (Luthar et al., 2000, p. 543). Note the three parts of this definition:

■ Resilience is dynamic, not a stable trait. That means a given person may be resilient at some periods but not others.

■ Resilience is a positive adaptation to stress. For example, if rejection by a parent leads a child to establish closer relationships with others, perhaps a grandparent or the parent of a neighbor child, that is resilience.

■ Adversity must be significant. Some adversities are comparatively minor (large class size, poor vision), and some are major (victimization, neglect).

One important discovery is that many small stresses that might be called “daily hassles” can accumulate to become major if they are ongoing. Each stress can make other stresses more likely to be harmful (Fergusson & Horwood, 2003; Hammen, 2003).

resilience The capacity to adapt well to sig-

nificant adversity and to overcome serious

stress.

The Nature of the Child 353

One example is the noise of airplanes overhead. If a child lives near an airport, that stress happens several times a day, but for just a minute at a time. A study of 2,844 children living near three major airports found that the noise impaired the reading ability of some (not all) (Stansfeld et al., 2005). A more chilling example comes from research on the children who survived Hurricane Katrina. Many expe- rienced several stresses (see Figure 13.3) and have a much higher rate of psycho- logical problems than they did before the hurricane hit (see Viadero, 2007).

Daily routines may build up stress. For example, a depressed mother may have little effect on her child if an emotionally stable and available father buffers her influence or if the mother herself functions well when she is with the child. How- ever, her depression may become a significant stress if the child must, day after day, prepare for school, supervise and discipline younger siblings, and keep friends at a distance because the mother wants quiet.

A key aspect of resilience is the ability of children to develop their own friends, activities, and skills. After-school activities are one arena for this; participation in extracurricular programs correlates with better emotional and academic function- ing (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2004).

To encourage resilience, community, religious, and government programs can develop extracurricular activities for all children, from 4-H to midnight basketball, from choir to Little League. Children who can choose their own activities from many possibilities are likely to find an area of competence and develop a view of themselves as industrious, not inferior.

This was apparent in a 40-year study in Hawaii that began with children born into poverty, often to parents who were alcoholic or mentally ill. Amazingly, about a third of these children coped well. By middle childhood, they were already finding

354 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

TABLE 13.4

Dominant Ideas About Challenges and Coping in Children, 1965–Present

1965 All children have the same needs for healthy development.

1970 Some conditions or circumstances—such as “absent father,” “teenage mother,”

“working mom,” and “day care”—are harmful for every child.

1975 All children are not the same. Some children are resilient, coping easily with

stressors that cause harm in other children.

1980 Nothing inevitably causes harm. Indeed, both maternal employment and preschool

education, once thought to be risk factors, usually benefit children.

1985 Factors beyond the family, both in the child (low birthweight, prenatal alcohol

exposure, aggressive temperament) and in the community (poverty, violence), can

be very risky for the child.

1990 Risk–benefit analysis finds that some children seem to be “invulnerable” to, or even

to benefit from, circumstances that destroy others. (Some do well in school despite

extreme poverty, for example.)

1995 No child is invincibly resilient. Risks are always harmful—if not in education, then in

emotions.

2000 Risk–benefit analysis involves the interplay among all three domains (biosocial,

cognitive, and psychosocial), including factors within the child (genes, intelligence,

temperament), the family (function as well as structure), and the community

(including neighborhood, school, church, and culture). Over the long term, most

people overcome problems, but the problems are real.

Today The focus is on strengths, not risks. Assets in the child (intelligence, personality), the family (secure attachment, warmth), the community (good schools, after-school programs), and the nation (income support, health care) must be nurtured.

Sources: Luthar, 2003; Luthar et al., 2000; Maton et al., 2004; Walsh, 2002;

Werner & Smith, 2001; Jenson & Fraser, 2006.

Resilience Is Real This table simplifies the

progression of ideas about resilience; some

older ideas are still valid, and some newer

ideas were first expressed decades ago.

Nonetheless, the emphasis has shifted over

the past 40 years, as research evidence and

thoughtful critiques have deepened under-

standing of resilience in children.

ways to avoid family stresses, choosing instead to achieve in school, to make good friends, and to find nonparental mentors. By adolescence, these chil- dren had distanced themselves from their parents. As adults, they left family problems behind (many moved far away) and established their own healthy relationships (Werner & Smith, 1992, 2001).

As was true for many of these children, school can often be an escape. An easygoing temperament and a high IQ help (Curtis & Cicchetti, 2003), but they are not essential. In the Hawaii study, “a realis- tic goal orientation, persistence, and ‘learned cre- ativity’ enabled . . . a remarkable degree of personal, social, and occupational success,” even for children with evident learning disabilities (Werner & Smith, 2001, p. 140).

Social Support and Religious Faith

A major factor that helps children deal with prob- lems—one we have already touched on—is the social support they receive. A strong bond with a loving and firm parent can see a child through many difficulties. Even in war-torn or deeply impover- ished neighborhoods, secure attachment to a parent who has been consistently present since infancy tends to foster resilience (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Yates et al., 2003).

Many immigrant children do well in their new culture, academically and emo- tionally, despite all their stresses, if their families and schools are supportive (Fuligni, 2001). Other research also finds that parenting practices can buffer stress even for impoverished children living in very adverse conditions (Wyman et al., 1999).

Compared with the small, homebound lives of younger children, the expanding social world of school-age children allows new possibilities for social support. A network of supportive relatives is a better buffer than having only one close parent (Y. Jackson & Warren, 2000). Friends help, too, as already shown with bullying. Grandparents, unrelated adults, peers, and even pets can help children cope with stress (Borland, 1998).

The Nature of the Child 355

Stresses Experienced by New Orleans Children

as a Result of Hurricane Katrina

Percent

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Had homes damaged

in the storm

Had moved

Had been separated from

a primary caregiver

Had transferred

to a new school

Had lost a family

member or friend

Had a parent who

was unemployed

Had been separated

from a pet

Source: Survey data gathered by Howard J. Osofsky et al.,

of Louisiana State University; reported in Viadero, 2007, p.7.

FIGURE 13.3

Enough Stress for a Lifetime Many children

experienced more than one kind of severe

stress during Hurricane Katrina and its after-

math. That disaster inflicted more stress on

the children of New Orleans than most adults

ever experience in their lifetime, and its long-

term impact will likely be dramatic.

Grandmother Knows Best About 20,000

grandmothers in Connecticut are caregivers

for their grandchildren. This 15-year-old boy

and his 17-year-old sister came to live with

their grandmother in New Haven after their

mother died several years ago. This type of

family works best when the grandmother is

relatively young and has her own house, as is

the case here.B C H

IL D

/ A

P PH

O TO

Especially for Religiously Observant

Adults A child you know seems much more

religious than his or her parents are, and the

parents are upset because the child believes

things that they do not. What should be done?

Children naturally try to deal with problems, a self-righting characteristic that seems evident in all humans, from the toddler who stands up after a tumble (Chapter 5) to the very old person who faces death with equanimity (Chapter 25). However, to right themselves, even well-equipped, well-intentioned school-age children must connect to at least one other person. One study concludes:

When children attempt to seek out experiences that will help them overcome adversity, it is critical that resources, in the form of supportive adults or learning opportunities, be made available to them so that their own self-righting potential can be fulfilled.

[Kim-Cohen et al., 2004, p. 664]

An example of such self-righting potential is children’s use of religion, which often provides social support via an adult from the same community. As the authors of one study explain, “The influences of religious importance and participation . . . are mediated through trusting interaction with adults, friends and parents who share similar views” (King & Furrow, 2004, p. 709).

The religious convictions of children are very diverse (Levesque, 2002), but faith itself can be psychologically protective, in part because it helps children rein- terpret their experiences. Parents can provide religious guidance, but by middle childhood, some children pray and attend religious services more often than their parents do. Research shows that church involvement particularly helps African American children in communities where social stresses and racial prejudice abound (Akiba & García-Coll, 2004).

Adults may not realize that many children (by age 8 but not at age 4) believe that prayer is communication, and they expect that prayer will make them feel better, especially when they are sad or angry (see Research Design and Figure 13.4) (Bamford & Lagattuta, 2007). Thus, religious beliefs become increasingly useful as school-age children cope with their problems.

In accord with their self-righting impulses, children try to develop competen- cies. They find social supports, if not in their families then among their friends or

356 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

–0.2

–0.4

–0.6

–0.8

–1 4-year-

olds

6-year-

olds

8-year-

olds

Adults

S a

m e

B e

tt e

r W

o rs

e

“How Would the Person in This Story Feel After He or She Prayed?”

Positive stories

Negative stories

Neutral stories

Source: Bamford & Lagattuta, 2007.

FIGURE 13.4

Help Me, God The numbers on this graph are the averages when people were asked

how characters in various scenarios would feel after praying. There were only three

choices: better (= 1), same (= 0) or worse (= −1). As you can see, virtually all the 8-year-

olds thought prayer would make a person feel better.

Research Design Scientists: Christi Bamford and Kristin

H. Lagattuta.

Publication: Not quite published! This

was a poster at the Society for Research

in Child Development conference, held

in Boston in April 2007. All the other

studies cited in this text are published,

but this one is included partly to inspire

young researchers.

Participants: A total of 100—20 each at

ages 4, 6, and 8, and 40 college students

at the University of California. Family

backgrounds were equally divided be-

tween those who considered themselves

very religious, somewhat religious, and

not religious.

Design: Participants were shown faces

depicting various emotions and picture

stories of children in various situations

who decided to pray.They were asked

when and why people might pray as

well as how they would feel afterward.

Major conclusions: Compared with

younger children, 8-year-olds were more

likely to believe that prayer is used for

gratitude and for making something

better.They also thought people would

feel better after they prayed.

Comment: Exploring the religious be-

liefs of children is an important topic,

but it is not often done in psychological

research.This study is a good begin-

ning, but culture (even for nonreligious

families) affects beliefs. Replication in

another nation is needed.

The Nature of the Child 357

The Peer Group

1. Peers are crucial in the social development of the school-age child. Each group of children has a culture of childhood, passed down from slightly older children.

2. School-age children are very interested in differentiating right from wrong. The culture of children is one source of school-age morality, and so is cognitive maturity. Kohlberg described three levels of moral reasoning, with children gradually gaining in moral wisdom.

3. Popular children may be cooperative and easy to get along with or may be competitive and aggressive. Much depends on the age and culture of the children.

4. Rejected children may be neglected, aggressive, or withdrawn. All three types have difficulty interpreting the normal give-and-take of childhood. Close friendships become increasingly important as children grow.

5. Bullying is common among school-age children and has long- term consequences for bullies and victims. Bullying is hard to stop without a multifaceted, long-term, whole-school approach.

Families and Children

6. Families influence children in many ways, as do genes and peers. The five functions of a supportive family are: to satisfy chil- dren’s physical needs; to encourage them to learn; to help them

SUMMARY

unrelated adults. School success, religious faith, after-school achievements—any or all of these can help a child overcome problems. As two experts explain:

Successful children remind us that children grow up in multiple contexts—in families, schools, peer groups, baseball teams, religious organizations, and many other groups—and each context is a potential source of protective factors as well as risks. These children demonstrate that children are protected not only by the self-righting nature of development, but also by the actions of adults, by their own actions, by the nurturing of their assets, by opportunities to succeed, and by the experience of success. The behavior of adults often plays a critical role in children’s risks, resources, opportunities, and resilience.

[Masten & Coatsworth, 1998, p. 216]

SUMMING UP

Children gain in maturity and responsibility during the school years. According to psy-

choanalytic theory, the relative quiet of the latency period makes it easier for children to

master new skills and to absorb their culture’s values. To Erikson, the crisis of industry

versus inferiority generates self-doubt in many school-age children.

Researchers have found that school-age children develop a more realistic self-concept.

They cope by becoming more independent, using school achievement, after-school activ-

ities, supportive adults, and religious beliefs to help them overcome whatever problems

they face.

A strength-based understanding of children moves our focus from problems (e.g.,

divorce, bullies) to assets (e.g., family harmony, social understanding). If low-income

parents are not overwhelmed, children will not be, either. Similarly, social skills can

prevent children from becoming bullies or victims. At every age, the characteristics of

the person interact with past developmental history and current conditions to produce

either a well-functioning, benevolent person or the opposite.

Adolescence, the subject of the next three chapters, is a continuation of middle child-

hood as well as a radical departure from it. Stresses and strains continue to accumulate.

Risk factors, including drug availability and sexual urges, become more prevalent.

Fortunately, for many young people, protective resources and constructive coping also

increase (Masten, 2001). Personal competencies, family support, and close friends get

most people through childhood (as we saw in this chapter), adolescence, and, eventu-

ally, adulthood. ■

Become Like a Child Although the particu-

lars vary a great deal, school-age children’s

impulses toward industriousness, stability,

and dedication place them among the most

devout members of every religious faith.

B IL

L A

R O

N /

P H

O TO

ED IT

, I N

C .

➤Response for Religiously Observant

Adults (from page 355): Because religious

beliefs are often helpful to children, because

respect for family is emphasized by virtually

all religions, and because maturation usually

makes people more tolerant, it may be best

to let the child develop his or her own beliefs

without interference. Of course, parents

should set a good example and protect

children from harm, no matter what the

source.

358 CHAPTER 13 ■ The School Years: Psychosocial Development

3. How would your childhood have been different if your family structure had been different, such as if you had (or had not) lived with your grandparents, if your parents had (or had not) gotten divorced, if you had (or had not) lived in a foster family?

4. The chapter suggests that school-age children develop their own theology, distinct from the one their parents teach them. Interview a child, aged 6 to 12, asking what he or she thinks about God, sin, heaven, death, and any other religious topics you think relevant. Compare the child’s responses with the formal doctrines of the faith of his or her parents.

1. Go someplace where school-age children congregate, such as a schoolyard, a park, or a community center, and use naturalistic observation for at least half an hour. Describe what popular, aver- age, withdrawn, and rejected children do. Note at least one po- tential conflict (bullying, rough-and-tumble, turf, etc.). Describe the sequence and the outcome.

2. Focusing on verbal bullying, describe at least two times when someone said a hurtful thing to you and two times when you said something that might have been hurtful to someone else. What are the differences between the two types of situations?

APPLICATIONS

social comparison (p. 333) culture of children (p. 334) deviancy training (p. 334) preconventional moral reasoning

(p. 336) conventional moral reasoning

(p. 336)

postconventional moral reasoning (p. 336)

aggressive-rejected (p. 338) withdrawn-rejected (p. 338) social cognition (p. 338) effortful control (p. 338)

bullying (p. 339) bully-victim (p. 340) family structure (p. 344) family function (p. 344) nuclear family (p. 346) single-parent family (p. 346)

extended family (p. 346) blended family (p. 347) latency (p. 351) industry versus inferiority

(p. 351) resilience (p. 353)

KEY TERMS

7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a stepparent family?

8. Why is a safe, harmonious home particularly important during middle childhood?

9. What is the psychoanalytic view of middle childhood?

10. What makes it more likely that a child will cope successfully with major stress?

1. How does a school-age child develop a sense of self?

2. The culture of children strongly disapproves of tattletales. How does this affect child development?

3. Why is social rejection particularly devastating during middle childhood?

4. Describe the personal characteristics of a bully and a victim.

5. How do schools, families, and cultures contribute to the inci- dence of bullying?

6. What is the difference between family function and family structure?

KEY QUESTIONS

develop friends; to protect their self-respect; and to provide them with a safe, stable, and harmonious home.

7. The most common family structure, worldwide, is the nuclear family, with other relatives nearby and supportive. Other struc- tures include single-parent, stepparent, blended, adoptive, and grandparent. Generally, it seems better for children to have two parents rather than one because a parental alliance can support their development. Structure matters less than function.

8. Income affects family functioning. Poor children are at greater risk for emotional and behavioral problems because the stress of poverty often hinders effective parenting. Conflict is also harm- ful, even when the child is not directly involved.

9. No particular family structure guarantees good—or bad—child development. Any change in family residence or structure, includ- ing divorce and remarriage, is likely to hinder school achievement and friendship formation.

The Nature of the Child

10. All theories of development acknowledge that school-age children become more independent and capable in many ways. In psychoanalytic theory, Freud described latency, when psychosex- ual needs are quiet; Erikson emphasized industry, when children are busy mastering various tasks.

11. All children are affected by any major family or peer problems they encounter. Resilience is more likely to be found in children with social support, independent activities, personal assets, and religious faith.

12. Children develop their self-concept during these years, based on a more realistic assessment of their competence than at earlier years.

BIOSOCIAL

A Healthy Time During middle childhood, children grow more slowly than they did

earlier or than they will during adolescence. Exercise habits are crucial for health and

happiness. Prevalent physical problems, including obesity and asthma, have genetic

roots and psychosocial consequences.

Brain Development Brain maturation continues, leading to faster reactions and better

self-control. Practice aids automatization and selective attention, which allow smoother

and quicker action. Which specific skills are mastered depends largely on culture, gender,

and inherited ability, all of which are reflected in intelligence tests. Children have many

abilities not reflected in standard IQ tests.

Special Needs Many children have special learning needs. Early recognition, targeted

education, and psychological support can help them, including those with autism spec-

trum disorders, specific learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorders.

COGNITIVE

Building on Theory Beginning at about age 7, Piaget noted, children attain concrete

operational thought, including the ability to understand the logical principles of classifi-

cation, identity, and reversibility. Vygotsky emphasized that children become more open

to learning from mentors, both teachers and peers. Information-processing abilities

increase, including greater memory, knowledge, control, and metacognition.

Language Children’s increasing ability to understand the structures and possibilities of

language enables them to extend the range of their cognitive powers and to become

more analytical in vocabulary. Children have the cognitive capacity to become bilingual.

Education Formal schooling begins worldwide, although the specifics depend on cul-

ture. International comparisons reveal marked variations in overt and hidden curriculum,

as well as in learning, between one nation and another. The United States, with the No

Child Left Behind Act, is moving toward more testing and increased emphasis on basic

skills. Other nations—notably Japan—are moving in other directions. The reading and

math wars pit traditional education against a more holistic approach to learning.

PSYCHOSOCIAL

Peers The peer group becomes increasingly important as children become less de-

pendent on their parents and more dependent on friends for help, loyalty, and sharing

of mutual interests. Moral development, influenced by peers, is notable during these

years. Rejection and bullying become serious problems.

Families Parents continue to influence children, especially as they exacerbate or buffer

problems in school and the community. During these years, families need to meet

basic needs, encourage learning, foster self-respect, nurture friendship, and—most

important—provide harmony and stability. Most one-parent, foster, or grandparent fam-

ilies are better than a nuclear family with two biological parents in open conflict, but

family structure does not guarantee optimal functioning. Household income and family

stability benefit children of all ages, particularly in middle childhood.

The Nature of the Child Theorists agree that many school-age children develop com-

petencies and attitudes to defend against stress. Some children are resilient, coping well

with problems and finding support in friends, family, school, religion, and community.

359

The School Years

PA R T I V The Developing Person So Far:

Adolescence

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

361

W ould you ride with an unskilled

driver? When my daughter

Bethany had her learner’s permit,

I tried to convey confidence. Not

until a terrified “Mom! Help!” did I grab the wheel to

avoid hitting a subway kiosk. I should have helped

sooner, but it is hard to know when children become

adults, able to manage without their mothers.

As an adolescent, Bethany was neither child nor

adult. A century ago, puberty began later: Soon after

puberty, many teenage girls married and boys found

work. Depending on customs and family income,

some married or entered the labor force even before

adolescence and some much later. Even today, in

some developing nations, by age 10 some boys are

working and some girls are betrothed.

It has been said that adolescence begins with

biology and ends with society. Today, adolescence

tends to begin earlier biologically and end later

sociologically than it once did. Growth is uneven in

both domains; some aspects of the brain mature at

puberty (emotional excitement) and some much

later (reflection). This led one observer to liken

adolescence to “starting turbo-charged engines

with an unskilled driver” (Dahl, 2004, p. 17).

In the next three chapters (covering ages 11–18),

we begin with biology (the growth increases of

puberty) and move toward society (the roles that

teenagers take on). Understanding adolescence is

more than an intellectual challenge: Those turbo-

charged engines need skilled guidance. Get ready

to grab the wheel.

PA R T V

Adolescence: Biosocial Development

T he body changes of early adolescence rival those of infancy in speed and drama but differ in one crucial way: Adolescents are aware. Even tiny changes (a blemish, a fingernail) matter when a person watches his or her own body transforming.

I once overheard a conversation among three teenagers, including my daughter Rachel. All three were past the awkward years, now becoming beautiful. They were discussing the imperfections of their bodies. One spoke of her fat stomach (what stomach? I could not see it), another of her long neck (hidden by her silky, shoulder-length hair), and my Rachel com- plained not only about a bent finger but also about her feet!

The reality that children grow into men and women is no shock to any adult. But for teenagers, heightened self-awareness often triggers surprise and even horror, joy, or despair. This chapter describes normal biosocial changes, including growing bodies, emerging sexuality, and maturing brains, and then two possible problems.

14

363

CHAPTER OUTLINE

c Puberty Begins

Hormones

When Will Puberty Start?

Too Early, Too Late

Nutrition

c The Transformations of Puberty

Growing Bigger and Stronger

Sexual Maturation

Brain Development

A CASE TO STUDY: What Were You Thinking?

ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS: Calculus at 8 A.M.?

c Possible Problems

Sex Too Soon

Drug Use and Abuse

Learning from Experience

That’s What Friends Are For Jennifer’s

preparations for her prom include pedi-

cure and hairstyle, courtesy of her good

friends Khushbu and Meredith. In every

generation and society the world over,

teenagers help their same-sex friends

prepare for the display rituals involved in

coming of age, but the specifics vary by

cohort and culture. M IK

E K

IN G

/ A

P PH

O TO

Puberty Begins Puberty refers to the years of rapid physical growth and sexual maturation that end childhood, eventually producing a person of adult size, shape, and sexual potential. The forces of puberty are unleashed by a cascade of hormones that produce external signs as well as the heightened emotions and sexual desires that many adolescents experience. The process normally starts between ages 8 and 14. The biological changes follow a common sequence (see Table 14.1).

For girls, puberty begins with growth of the nipples and initial pubic hair, then a peak growth spurt, widening of the hips, the first menstrual period (menarche), final pubic-hair pattern, and full breast development. The current average age of menarche among well-nourished girls is about 12 years, 8 months (Malina et al., 2004), although, as you will soon see, variation in timing is quite normal.

For boys, the usual sequence is growth of the testes, initial pubic hair, growth of the penis, first ejaculation of seminal fluid (spermarche), facial hair, peak growth spurt, voice deepening, and final pubic-hair growth (Biro et al., 2001; Herman-Giddens et al., 2001). The modal age of spermarche is just under 13 years, the same as for menarche.

Typically, physical growth and maturation are complete four years after the first signs appear, although some individuals (usually late developers) add height, and most (especially early developers) gain more fat and muscle in their late teens or early 20s.

Hormones

Just described are the visible changes of puberty. An invisible event begins the entire process, namely a marked increase in certain hormones, which are natural

puberty The time between the first onrush

of hormones and full adult physical devel-

opment. Puberty usually lasts three to five

years. Many more years are required to

achieve psychosocial maturity.

menarche A girl’s first menstrual period,

signaling that she has begun ovulation.

Pregnancy is biologically possible, but ovu-

lation and menstruation are often irregular

for years after menarche.

spermarche A boy’s first ejaculation of

sperm. Erections can occur as early as

infancy, but ejaculation signals sperm pro-

duction. Spermache occurs during sleep

(in a “wet dream”) or via direct stimulation.

hormone An organic chemical substance

that is produced by one body tissue and

conveyed via the bloodstream to another

to affect some physiological function. Vari-

ous hormones influence thoughts, urges,

emotions, and behavior.

364 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

TABLE 14.1

AT ABOUT THIS TIME: The Sequence of Puberty

Approximate

Girls Average Age* Boys

Ovaries increase production of

estrogen and progesterone†

Uterus and vagina begin to grow

larger

Breast “bud” stage

Pubic hair begins to appear; weight

spurt begins

Peak height spurt

Peak muscle and organ growth (also,

hips become noticeably wider)

Menarche (first menstrual period)

First ovulation

Voice lowers

Final pubic-hair pattern

Full breast growth

9

91⁄2

10

11

111⁄2

12

121⁄2

13

14

15

16

18

Testes increase production of

testosterone†

Testes and scrotum grow larger

Pubic hair begins to appear

Penis growth begins

Spermarche (first ejaculation); weight

spurt begins

Peak height spurt

Peak muscle and organ growth (also,

shoulders become noticeably broader)

Voice lowers; visible facial hair

Final pubic-hair pattern

*Average ages are rough approximations, with many perfectly normal, healthy adolescents as much as three years

ahead of or behind these ages.

†Estrogens and testosterone influence sexual characteristics, including reproduction. Charted here are the in-

creases produced by the gonads (sex glands). The ovaries produce estrogens and the testes produce androgens,

especially testosterone. Adrenal glands produce some of both kinds of hormones (not shown).

chemicals in the bloodstream that affect every body cell. Hormones regulate hunger, sleep, moods, stress, sexual desire, and much more.

At least 23 hormones affect human growth and maturation, several of which in- crease markedly in the months before the first signs of puberty. Technically, those first straggly pubic hairs are “a late event” in the process (Cameron, 2004, p. 116).

You learned in Chapter 8 that the production of many hormones is regulated deep within the brain, where biochemical signals from the hypothalamus signal another brain structure, the pituitary. The pituitary produces hormones that stimulate the adrenal glands, small glands located above the kidneys at either side of the lower back. The adrenal glands produce more hormones. This HPA axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal) is the route followed by hormones that reg- ulate stress, growth, sleep, appetite, and sexual excitement as well as puberty (see Figure 14.1).

Sex Hormones

At adolescence, the pituitary also activates the gonads, or sex glands (ovaries in females; testes, or testicles, in males). One hormone in particular, GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone), causes the gonads to enlarge and dramatically increase their production of sex hormones, chiefly estradiol in girls and testos- terone in boys. These hormones affect the entire body shape and function.

Estrogens (including estradiol) are considered female hormones, and andro- gens (including testosterone) are considered male hormones, but the adrenal glands produce both in everyone. Unlike those produced by the adrenal glands, the hormones produced by the gonads are sex-specific. After a decrease during childhood, testosterone skyrockets in boys—up to 20 times the pre-pubescent level (Roche & Sun, 2003). For girls, estradiol increases to about 8 times the childhood level (Malina et al., 2004).

The activated gonads eventually produce gametes (sperm and ova), whose mat- uration and release are heralded by spermarche or menarche, signifying that the young person has the biological potential to become a parent. (Peak fertility comes years later, but ovulation and ejaculation signify the possibility of pregnancy.)

Sudden Emotions

Remember that the HPA axis leads from brain to body to behavior. The behaviors that adolescents are best known for are emotional and sexual—moodiness and lust that overtake the formerly predictable, seemingly asexual, child. Hormones influence this. To be specific:

■ Testosterone at high or accelerating levels stimulates rapid arousal of emo- tions, especially anger.

■ Hormonal bursts lead to quick emotional extremes (despair, ecstasy). ■ For many boys, the increase in androgens causes sexual thoughts and a desire

to masturbate. ■ For many girls, the fluctuating estrogens increase happiness in the middle of

the menstrual cycle (at ovulation) and sadness or anger at the end.

pituitary A gland in the brain that responds

to a signal from the hypothalamus by pro-

ducing many hormones, including those

that regulate growth and control other

glands, among them the adrenal and sex

glands.

adrenal glands Two glands, located above

the kidneys, that produce hormones

(including the “stress hormones” epineph-

rine [adrenaline] and norepinephrine).

HPA axis The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal

axis, a route followed by many kinds of

hormones to trigger the changes of

puberty and to regulate stress, growth,

sleep, appetite, sexual excitement, and

various other bodily changes.

gonads The paired sex glands (ovaries in

females, testicles in males). The gonads

produce hormones and gametes.

estradiol A sex hormone, considered the

chief estrogen. Females produce more

estradiol than males do.

testosterone A sex hormone, the best

known of the androgens (male hormones);

secreted in far greater amounts by males

than by females.

Puberty Begins 365

Hypothalamus Hormones

Pituitary Adrenal glands

HPA axis

Growth spurt

Primary sex characteristics

Secondary sex characteristics

Gonads

(ovaries or

testicles)

Increase

in many

hormones,

including

testosterone

and estrogen

Growth

hormone

(GH)

Gonadotropin- releasinghormone < >

FIGURE 14.1

Biological Sequence of Puberty Puberty

begins with a hormonal signal from the hypo-

thalamus to the pituitary gland. The pituitary,

in turn, signals the adrenal glands and the

ovaries or testes to produce more of their

hormones.

Although adults experience these same hormonal effects, during puberty hor- mones are more erratic and powerful, less familiar and controllable, and they come in bursts, not a steady flow (Cameron, 2004; Susman & Rogol, 2004). Further, when adults experience hormonal changes (especially during pregnancy and birth), cognitive maturation helps control the effects.

Hormones sometimes make adolescents seek sexual activity and sometimes arouse excitement, pleasure, and frustration. But human thoughts and emotions not only result from physiological and neurological processes—they also cause them (Damasio, 2003). An adolescent’s reactions to how other people respond to breasts, beards, and body shapes evoke emotions that, in turn, affect hormones— just as hormones affect emotions—with the particular emotional reaction not di- rectly tied to specific hormones (Alsaker & Flammer, 2006).

This is clearer with an example. Suppose a 13-year-old girl hears a lewd remark, provoked by her developing breasts in a too-tight shirt. She might feel a surge of anger, fear, or embarrassment, but it is the remark, not her hormones, that arouses her. Her emotions might cause a rise in stress hormones and sexual ones as well.

Evidence for a complex link between hormones and emotions came from a study of 56 adolescents who were late to begin puberty (Schwab et al., 2001). Doctors prescribed treatment every 3 months: injections of hormones (low, medium, or high doses of testosterone or an estrogen) alternating with injections of a placebo (which had no hormones). Gradually, the outward signs of puberty appeared.

Every three months, other measures were taken: the level of sex hormones (measured via blood tests) and the emotions felt by the adolescents (via a ques- tionnaire). An emotional shift occurred, indirectly caused by the hormones. Over the two years, moods became more positive, not directly because of hormones in the body but presumably because the teenagers were happy with their physical development.

Surprisingly, happiness and sadness did not correlate with shifting hormonal levels. The teenagers did not seem emotionally aroused by the level of hormones in their systems—with one exception. Both boys and girls reported more anger

when they had had moderate amounts of hormones, not the highest levels of testosterone (for the boys) or estrogens (for the girls) (Sus- man & Rogol, 2004).

When Will Puberty Start?

Hormones cascading into the bloodstream always trigger the changes of puberty. However, age of onset varies. Age 11 or 12 is most likely, but a rise in hormones is still considered normal in those as young as age 8 or as old as age 14. This variation is not random but is affected by genes, body fat, and stress (Ellis, 2004).

Genes

The genes on the sex chromosomes markedly affect the onset of puberty. Among well-nourished children, at least one girl (XX) in a fifth-grade class has already developed breasts and begun to grow to adult height. Not until age 18 or so has her last male classmate (XY) sprouted facial hair and grown to man-size.

On average, girls are about two years ahead of boys in height. However, hormonally and sexually girls are ahead by only a few months, not by years (Malina et al., 2004), because the height spurt occurs about midway in female pubescence (before menarche) but is a late event (after spermarche) for boys.

Especially for Parents of Teenagers

Why would parents blame adolescent moods

on hormones?

366 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

S K

JO LD

P H

O TO

G R

A PH

S /

T H

E IM

A G

E W

O R

K S

Both 12 The ancestors of these two

Minnesota 12-year-olds came from northern

Europe and West Africa. Their genes have

dictated some differences between them,

including the timing of puberty, but these

differences are irrelevant to their friendship.

Genes influence the timing of puberty in other ways as well. Monozygotic twins are more alike than same-sex dizygotic twins (Roche & Sun, 2003). Ethnic varia- tions in pubertal timing are partly genetic (see Figure 14.2). In the United States, African Americans tend to reach puberty earlier than do European Americans or Hispanic Americans (see Figure 14.3). Asian Americans average several months later (Herman-Giddens et al., 2001; Malina et al., 2004).

Ages in Europe also vary, probably for genetic reasons. Northern European girls are said to reach menarche at 13 years, 4 months, on average, and southern Euro- pean girls do so at an average age of 12 years, 5 months (Alsaker & Flammer, 2006).

Body Fat

The genetic differences noted above are apparent only when every child is well fed. Puberty starts earlier in the cities of India and China than in the remote villages, probably because rural children are often hungry. In Poland and Greece, urban–rural differences are shown in that puberty occurs a year earlier in Warsaw

Puberty Begins 367

11.8

11.6

12

12.2

12.4

12.6

12.8

13Age (years)

Median Age of Menarche, by U.S. Ethnic Group

Median age at menarche

African American girls

Asian American girls

Mexican American girls

European American girls

Source: Chumlea et al., 2003.

FIGURE 14.2

Usually by Age 13 The median age of

menarche (when half the girls have begun to

menstruate) differs somewhat among ethnic

groups in the United States.

2

0

4

6

8

10

12

14Age (years)

Timing of Menarche, by U.S. Ethnic Group

Timing of menarche

African American girls

Mexican American girls

European American girls

Earliest 10 percent Latest 10 percent

Source: Chumlea et al., 2003.

FIGURE 14.3

Almost Always by Age 14 This graph shows

the age of menarche for the earliest and lat-

est 10 percent of girls in three U.S. ethnic

groups. Note that, especially for the slow de-

velopers (those in the 90th percentile), ethnic

differences are very small.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 368):

At first glance, ethnic differences seem

dramatic in Figure 14.2 but minimal in Figure

14.3. Why is this first glance deceptive?

than in Polish villages and 3 months earlier in Athens than in the rest of Greece (Malina et. al, 2004).

Worldwide, stocky individuals begin puberty before those with thinner builds. Some believe that hormones in the food supply cause earlier puberty, and others believe that hormones cause weight gain rather than vice versa (Ellison, 2002). Neither of these theories has been proven. Nonetheless, it is apparent that menarche occurs later in girls who have little body fat (because they are under- nourished or overexercised) and that most girls weigh at least 100 pounds (45 kilograms) before their first period (Berkey et al., 2000).

In both sexes, chronic malnutrition delays puberty. This probably explains why puberty did not occur until about age 17 in the sixteenth century. In the early twentieth century, menarche occurred on average at age 15 in Norway, Sweden, and Finland (Tanner, 1990), compared with age 12 or 13 today.

These are examples of the secular trend, a term that refers to earlier and greater growth of children over the last two centuries as nutrition and medical care have improved. Over the twentieth century, each generation experienced puberty a few months earlier than did the preceding one (Alsaker & Flammer, 2006).

The secular trend seems to have stopped in developed nations (Roche & Sun, 2003). This has a specific application. Probably, after considering the gender dif- ferential (men are on average about 5 inches taller than women), today’s young adults will be about as tall as their parents unless chronic illness or undernourish- ment as a child is a factor.

Stress

The production of many hormones is directly connected to stressful experiences via the HPA axis (Sanchez et al., 2001). Because stress affects reproductive hormones, many young women experience irregular menstruation when they leave home for college or take trips abroad, and many couples find it easier to become pregnant on vacation than when they are working.

Stress affects pubertal hormones as well, paradoxically by increasing (not decreasing) them. Puberty tends to arrive earlier if a child’s parents are sick, addicted, or divorced, or when the neighborhood is violent and impoverished (Herman-Giddens et al., 2001; Hulanicka, 1999; Moffitt et al., 1992).

Before concluding that stress causes early puberty, however, you need to know that not every scientist agrees that this is the case (Ellis, 2004). Since puberty is partly genetic, it could be that adults who reached puberty early are likely to marry and become parents young, which might make them more likely to be under- educated, depressed, angry, and divorced. Consequently, their children would live with conflicted, divorce-prone parents and thus experience early puberty not be- cause of the conflict but because of their genes.

However, at least one careful longitudinal study of 87 girls did find a direct link between stress and puberty (Ellis & Garber, 2000). Those girls who fought with their mothers and who lived with an unrelated man (stepfather or mother’s boyfriend) also had earlier puberty, even when genes and weight were taken into account. The longer a girl lived with a man who was not her father, the earlier she reached menarche.

Animal research also implicates stress. Mice, rats, and opossums under stress become pregnant at younger ages than do other members of their species (Warshofsky, 1999). Further, female mice reach puberty earlier if, as infants, they were raised with unrelated adult male mice (Caretta et al., 1995).

The evidence for the stress hypothesis is sufficiently strong to wonder why stress would trigger puberty. Logically, conflicted or stepfather families would benefit if the opposite happened—if teenagers looked and acted like children and

secular trend A term that refers to the ear-

lier and greater growth of children due to

improved nutrition and medical care over

the last two centuries.

368 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

➤Response for Parents of Teenagers

(from page 366): If something causes

adolescents to shout “I hate you,” to slam

doors, or to cry inconsolably, parents may

decide that hormones are the problem.

This makes it easy to disclaim personal

responsibility for the teenager’s anger.

However, research on stress and hormones

suggests that this comforting attribution is

too simplistic.

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 367): The major reason is the vertical

axis, which covers a total of 11⁄2 years in

Figure 14.2 and 14 years in Figure 14.3. In

addition, the outliers (top and bottom 10

percent) in Figure 14.2 show less variation

than the median in Figure 14.3

could not reproduce. But that does not happen. One explanation comes from evo- lutionary theory:

Over the course of our natural selective history, ancestral females growing up in adverse family environments may have reliably increased their reproductive success by accelerating physical maturation and beginning sexual activity and reproduction at a relatively early age.

[Ellis & Garber, 2000, p. 486]

In other words, in past stressful times, adolescent parents could replace them- selves before they died, passing on family genes. Natural selection favored genes that adapted to wars, famine, and sickness by initiating early puberty. Currently, early sexuality and reproduction lead to social disruption, not social survival, but the human genome has been shaped over millennia. Although many explanations are possible for the link between stress and early puberty, the evidence continues to find the correlation (Romans et al., 2003).

Too Early, Too Late

For most adolescents, only one aspect of timing is important: their friends’ sched- ules. No one wants to be early or late, with early particularly hard for girls, late for boys. Why?

Think about the early-maturing girl. If she has visible breasts in the fifth grade, the boys tease her; they are awed by the sexual creature in their midst. She must fit her womanly body into a school chair designed for younger children, and she may hide her breasts in large T-shirts and bulky sweaters and refuse to undress for gym. Early-maturing girls tend to have lower self-esteem, more depression, and poorer body image than later-maturing girls (Compian et al, 2004; Mendle et al., 2007).

Some early-maturing girls have boyfriends several years older, which adds status but more complications, including drug and alcohol use (Weichold et al., 2003). They are “isolated from their on-time-maturing peers [and] tend to associate with older adolescents. This increases their emotional distress” (Ge et al., 2003, p. 437).

Cohort is crucial for boys. Early-maturing boys who were born around 1930 often became leaders in high school and beyond (M. C. Jones, 1965). Early-maturing boys also tend to be more successful as adults (Taga et al., 2006). However, if early-maturing boys live in stressful urban neighborhoods (with poverty, drugs, and violence) and if their parents are unusually strict, they are likely to befriend law-breaking, somewhat older boys (Ge et al., 2002). For both sexes, early puberty currently correlates with early romance, sex, and parenthood, which lead to later depression and other psychosocial problems (B. Brown, 2004; Siebenbruner et al., 2007).

Late puberty may also be difficult, especially for boys. Ethnic differences in age of puberty can add to ethnic tensions in high school. Remember that Asian Amer- ican youth tend to experience later puberty. In one multiethnic high school, the “quiet Asian boys” were teased because they were shorter and thinner than their classmates, much to their dismay (Lei, 2003). This is a likely explanation for the greater peer discrimination experienced by the Chinese youth in another school (Greene et al., 2006; see Research Design). In a third multiethnic high school, Samoan students were small numerically but advanced in puberty. As a result, they were respected by their classmates of all backgrounds, able to moderate ten- sions between African and Mexican Americans (Staiger, 2006). Interactions among students in all three of these schools illustrate the importance of physical appearance for many adolescents. Puberty can enhance or diminish a person’s status with peers, depending partly on when it occurs.

Especially for Parents Worried About

Early Puberty Suppose your cousin’s 9-year-

old daughter has just had her first period, and

your cousin blames hormones in the food

supply for this “precocious” puberty. Should

you change your young daughter’s diet?

Puberty Begins 369

Research Design Scientists: Melissa L. Greene, Niobe

Way, and Kerstin Pahl.

Publication: Developmental Psychology

(2006).

Participants: A total of 136 high school

students at a multiethnic high school in

New York City.

Design: Six times over the four years of

high school, students answered ques-

tionnaires about discrimination, ethnic

identity, depression, and self-esteem.

Major conclusion: For all four ethnic

groups (Black, Asian American, Puerto

Rican, and other Latino), perceived peer

discrimination had a greater impact on

self-esteem than did perceived adult

discrimination.The Asian Americans

averaged higher levels of perceived

discrimination than any other group;

the Black Americans were second.

Comment:This study is a welcome step

toward multifaceted, multiethnic, longi-

tudinal research on adolescents. More is

needed to provide, as the researchers

write, “a thorough examination of the

impact of experiences of discrimination

on well-being.”

Nutrition

All the changes of puberty depend on nutrition, yet many adolescents are deficient in necessary vitamins or minerals. A five-year longitudinal study found that eating habits get worse throughout the teen years (N. I. Larson et al., 2006).

Diet Deficiencies

Fewer than half of all teenagers consume the recommended daily dose of 15 mil- ligrams of iron, found in green vegetables, eggs, and meat—all spurned in favor of chips, sweets, and fast food. Because menstruation depletes the body of iron, more adolescent girls are anemic than those in any other age or gender group (Belamarich & Ayoob, 2001). Adolescent boys also suffer from anemia, especially if they engage in physical labor or competitive sports, because muscles need iron (Blum & Nelson-Mmari, 2004).

Calcium is another example. About half of adult bone mass is acquired from ages 10 to 20, yet few adolescents consume enough calcium to prevent osteoporo- sis, which causes disability, injury, and death among older adults. Milk drinking has declined; most North American children once drank at least a quart a day. In 2005 among ninth-graders, only 14 percent of U.S. girls and 24 percent of boys drank even 24 ounces (3⁄4 liter) of milk a day. By twelfth grade, the rates were 10 and 18 percent (MMWR, June 9, 2006).

Nutritional deficiencies result from the choices young adolescents are allowed, even enticed, to make. There is a direct link between deficient diets and the availability of vending machines in schools (Cullen & Zakeri, 2004). Fast-food establishments cluster around high schools, if zoning permits, and many such places are hangouts for teenagers.

One reason is price. At least experimentally, 10- to 14-year-olds choose healthy foods if they are cheaper than unhealthy ones (Epstein et al., 2006), but milk and fruit juice are more expensive than fruit punch or soda, and McDonald’s charges more for a salad than a hamburger. Only 20 percent of high school students in 2005 ate five or more servings of fruits or vegetables a day (MMWR, June 9, 2006), worse than a decade ago (29 percent) (MMWR, August 14, 1998).

Body Image

Another reason for poor nutrition is anxiety about body image—that is, a person’s idea of how his or her body looks. Since puberty alters the entire body, it is almost impossible for teenagers to welcome every change. Unfortunately, their percep- tions are distorted; they tend to focus on and exaggerate the problems.

Girls diet because they want to be thinner, and they notice that boys tend to date thinner girls (Halpern et al., 2005). Many boys want to look taller and stronger, a concern that increases from ages 12 to 17 (D. Jones & Crawford, 2005). Children of ethnic minorities are bombarded with faces and bodies in films and advertisements that have features and shapes quite different from those their genes will produce.

Many stressed teenagers eat erratically or ingest drugs (especially diet pills or steroids), hoping to lose weight (the girls) or to gain muscles (the boys). Their obsession can backfire. Some adolescents give up, becoming flabby and fat instead of strong and thin. About 12 percent of all U.S. teenagers are overweight according to international standards, more than in any other nation that has been studied (Lissau et al., 2004). As bad as that is, almost two-thirds (62 per- cent) of all U.S. adolescent girls and almost a third of the boys are trying to lose weight, according to a nationwide U.S. survey of 14,000 high school students (MMWR, June 9, 2006).

body image A person’s idea of how his or

her body looks.

370 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

➤Response for Parents Worried About

Early Puberty (from page 369): Probably

not. If she is overweight, her diet should

change, but the hormone hypothesis is

speculative. Genes are the main factor; she

shares only 1/8 of her genes with her cousin.

Some social scientists believe that the epidemic of obesity (discussed in detail in Chapters 11 and 20) can be a direct result of the wish to be thinner (e.g., P. F. Campos, 2004). Adolescent obesity increases the risk of premature death, at least for women, partly because overweight women are more likely to be suicidal (van Dam et al., 2006). Girls are more likely than boys to be obsessed with weight, an obsession that can lead to extreme dieting. Eating disorders typically begin in early adolescence and grow worse by young adulthood. (Anorexia and bulimia nervosa are discussed in detail in Chapter 17.)

SUMMING UP

Puberty usually begins between ages 8 and 14 (typically at about 11)

in response to hormones deep within the brain, from the hypothala-

mus to the pituitary to the adrenal and sex glands. Hormones affect the emotions as

well as the physique, with adolescent outbursts caused by the combination of hormones

and sociocultural reactions to visible body changes. Many factors, including genes, body

fat, and probably stress, affect when puberty begins. Generally, puberty begins earlier

than in past centuries, although this aspect of the secular trend is stopping. Early

puberty (especially for girls) or late puberty (especially for boys) is problematic. All

adolescents are vulnerable to poor nutrition and body image worries. ■

The Transformations of Puberty Every body part changes during puberty. For simplicity, the transformation from a child into an adult is traditionally divided into two parts: growth and sexuality. We will use that division here and add a third aspect, the transformation of the brain. In actuality, however, every aspect of pubescent growth involves all three.

For example, suppose a young adolescent suddenly notices darker and thicker hair growing on his or her legs, which everyone experiences as part of puberty. If the child is a girl, she will probably shave her legs, feeling quite womanly when she nicks herself before developing a light touch or buying a depilatory. If the child is a boy, he may search for new hair on his upper lip, his chin, and his chest, to mark his manhood. Thus a sexless sign of maturity (hair on the legs) is seen as sex- ual, and thoughts and memories stored in the brain affect the adolescent’s proud reaction.

Growing Bigger and Stronger

The first set of changes during puberty is the growth spurt—a sudden, uneven jump in the size of almost every part of the body, turning children into adults. Growth proceeds from the extremities to the core (the opposite of the proximal- distal growth of the prenatal and infant periods). Thus, fingers and toes lengthen before hands and feet; hands and feet before arms and legs; arms and legs before the torso.

Because the torso is the last body part to grow, many pubescent children are temporarily big-footed, long-legged, and short-waisted, appearing to be “all legs and arms” (Hofmann, 1997, p. 12). If young teenagers complain that their jeans don’t fit, they are probably correct, even if those same jeans fit their shorter-waisted, thinner body when their parents paid for them a month before. (Parents had advance warning when they had to buy shoes for their children in adult shoe sizes.)

growth spurt The relatively sudden and

rapid physical growth that occurs during

puberty. Each body part increases in size

on a schedule: Weight usually precedes

height, and the limbs precede the torso.

The Transformation of Puberty 371

Does He Like What He Sees? During ado-

lescence, all the facial features do not de-

velop at the same rate, and the hair often

becomes less manageable. If B. T. here is typ-

ical, he is not pleased with the appearance of

his nose, lips, ears, or hair.

LA U

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D W

IG H

T

Sequence: Weight, Height, Muscles

As the bones lengthen and harden (visible on an X-ray) and the growth spurt begins, children eat more and gain weight. Exactly when, where, and how much weight is gained depends on heredity, diet, exercise, and gender, with girls gaining much more fat than boys. By age 17, the average girl has twice as much fat as her male classmate, whose increased weight is mostly muscle (Roche & Sun, 2003).

A height spurt follows the weight spurt, burning up some fat and redistributing the rest. A year or two after the height spurt, the muscle spurt occurs. Thus, the pudginess and clumsiness of early puberty is usually gone by late adolescence. On average, a boy’s arm muscles are twice as strong at age 18 than at age 8, enabling him to throw a ball four times as far (Malina et al., 2004). Arm muscles show the most sex difference (see Figure 14.4); other muscles are more gender-neutral. For instance, running speed increases over adolescence in both sexes, with boys not much faster than girls (see Figure 14.5).

Other Body Changes

For both sexes, organs grow and become more efficient. Lungs triple in weight, and adolescents breathe more deeply and slowly. The heart doubles in size and beats more slowly (which decreases the pulse), while blood pressure and volume both increase (Malina et al., 2004). These changes increase physical endurance, enabling many teenagers to run for miles or dance for hours.

Note that both weight and height increase before the growth of muscles and internal organs, which means that athletic training and weight lifting should be tailored to an adolescent’s size the previous year, to spare their immature muscles and organs. Sports injuries are the most common school accidents, increasing at puberty. One reason is that, because height precedes increases of bone mass, young adolescents are more vulnerable to fractures than are adults until old age (Roche & Sun, 2003).

372 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

Meters

6 8 12 14 16 1810

Age (years)

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Source: Malina et al., 2004, p. 221.

Throwing Performance of Boys and Girls, Age 6 to 18

Girls

Boys

Ball throw for distance

FIGURE 14.4

Big Difference All children experience an increase in muscles

during puberty, but gender differences are much more apparent

in some gross motor skills than others. For instance, upper-arm

strength increases dramatically only in boys.

Running time

(seconds)

6 8 12 144 16 1810

Age (years)

3

4

5

6

7

Source: Malina et al., 2004, p. 222.

Running Speed of Girls and Boys, Age 5 to 18

30-yard (27.4-m) dash

Girls

Boys

FIGURE 14.5

Little Difference Both sexes develop longer and stronger legs

during puberty.

Observation Quiz (see answer, page 374): At what age does

the rate of increase in the average boy’s muscle accelerate?

Only one organ system, the lymphoid system (which includes the tonsils and adenoids), decreases in size, thus making teenagers less susceptible to respiratory ailments. Mild asthma, for example, often switches off at puberty (Busse & Lemanske, 2005), and teenagers have fewer colds than younger children do.

Another organ system, the skin, changes in marked ways, making bodies oilier, sweatier, and more prone to acne. Hair also changes. During puberty, hair on the head and limbs becomes coarser and darker, and new hair grows under arms, on faces, and above sex organs (pubic hair, from which puberty was named). Visible facial and chest hair is sometimes considered a sign of manliness, although hairi- ness in either sex depends on genes as well as hormones.

Sexual Maturation

The second set of changes turns boys into men and girls into women. Sexual char- acteristics signify this transformation, as do many impulses and behaviors.

Sexual Body Changes

Primary sex characteristics are defined as those parts of the body that are directly involved in conception and pregnancy. During puberty, every primary sex organ (the ovaries, the uterus, the penis, and the testes) increases in size and ma- tures in function. By the end of the process, reproduction is possible.

At the same time as maturation of the primary sex characteristics, secondary sex characteristics develop. Secondary sex characteristics are bodily features that do not directly affect fertility (hence they are secondary) but that signify mas- culinity or femininity. One obvious secondary sexual characteristic is body shape, virtually unisex in childhood. At puberty, males grow taller than females (by 5 inches, on average) and become wider at the shoulders, while girls develop breasts and a wider pelvis.

Breasts and hips are often considered signs of womanhood; but neither is re- quired for conception, and thus both are secondary, not primary, sex characteris- tics. Secondary sex characteristics may be important psychologically, if not biologically. For example, many girls buy “minimizer,” “maximizer,” “training,” or “shaping” bras. Many boys are horrified to notice a swelling around their nipples— a normal and temporary result of the erratic hormones of early puberty.

A welcome secondary sex characteristic is a lower voice as the lungs and larynx grow, a change most noticeable in boys. Girls also develop lower voices, which is why throaty female voices are considered sexy.

The pattern of growth at the scalp line differs for the two sexes, but few people notice that. Instead, they notice gender markers in hair length and style, which can attain the status of a secondary sex characteristic. Adolescents spend consid- erable time, money, and thought on their visible hair—growing, shaving, curling, straightening, brushing, combing, styling, dyeing, wetting, drying . . .

Sexual Activity

The primary and secondary sex characteristics just described are not the only manifestations of the sexual hormones. Fantasizing, flirting, hand-holding, staring, displaying, and touching are all done in particular ways to reflect gender, availabil- ity, and culture. As already explained, hormones trigger thoughts and emotions, but the social context shapes thoughts into enjoyable fantasies, shameful preoccu- pations, frightening impulses, or actual contact.

Some experts believe that boys are more influenced by hormones and girls by culture (Baumeister et al., 2007). Perhaps. When a relationship includes sexual intimacy, girls seem more concerned about the depth of the romance than boys do

primary sex characteristics The parts of the

body that are directly involved in reproduc-

tion, including the vagina, uterus, ovaries,

testicles, and penis.

secondary sex characteristics Physical

traits that are not directly involved in repro-

duction but that indicate sexual maturity,

such as a man’s beard and a woman’s

breasts.

The Transformation of Puberty 373

C LE

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B R

YA N

T /

PH O

TO ED

IT

Male Pride Teenage boys typically feel serious

pride when they first need to shave. Although

facial hair is taken as a sign of masculinity, a

person’s hairiness is actually genetic as well as

hormonal. Further evidence that the Western

world’s traditional racial categories have no

genetic basis comes from East Asia: Many

Chinese men cannot grow beards or mus-

taches, but most Japanese men can.

(Zani & Cicognani, 2006). However, both sexes are influenced by hormones and society. All have sexual interests they did not previously have (biology), which produce behaviors that teenagers in other nations would not necessarily engage in (culture) (Moore & Rosenthal, 2006).

Cultural norms affect who is likely to be a person’s first sexual partner. Individuals might think that this is a very private and personal choice, but evidence suggests not.

For example, North American adolescents of both sexes tend to express sexual impulses with partners about the same age, which is also true in many European nations (Zani & Cicognani, 2006). However, in Finland and Norway, girls tend to become sexually experienced later than boys. In Greece and Portugal, the opposite is true (Teitler, 2002). Men in Nigeria are expected to seek inexperienced younger teens for sexual

partners and to give them gifts. By contrast, emerging adult males in Thailand are expected to seek older, experienced women (World Health Organization, 2005).

These generalities do not apply to everyone within those nations. Subgroups as well as cohorts always differ, again for cultural reasons. One specific was found in a survey of 704 adolescents in Ghana: More 16-year-old girls than boys were sexu- ally experienced, but those experienced girls usually had only one partner whereas the boys had several. Muslim youth were less often experienced than Christians, who were less experienced than those of neither faith (Glover et al., 2003).

As in Ghana, religious teachings affect sexual behavior for many teenagers worldwide; this was apparent in a study of adolescents in Israel and the United States, with many youth being influenced by their faith. For Muslim teenagers, romances seldom included sexual intimacy, even in thought (Magen, 1998). For example, one Arab Israeli boy reported on “the most wonderful and happiest day of my life”:

A girl passed our house. And she looked at me. She looked at me as though I were an angel in paradise. I looked at her, and stopped still, and wondered and marveled. . . . [Later] she passed near us, stopped, and called my friend, and asked my name and who I am. I trembled all over and could hardly stand on my feet. I used my brain, since otherwise I would have fallen to the floor. I couldn’t stand it any longer and went home.

[quoted in Magen, 1998, pp. 97–98]

Cohort as well as culture have notable effects on sexual activity. For most of the twentieth century, surveys in North America have reported increasing propor- tions of adolescents becoming sexually active. This trend reversed in 1990. For example, according to the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (MMWR, 2006), 62 percent of eleventh-graders in the United States had had intercourse in 1991, but only 51 percent had in 2005. The double standard (with boys expected to be more sexually active than girls) also declined, as male rates came closer to female ones (see Figure 14.6). Ethnic differences among high school students were also apparent. Rates of sexual experience for African Americans were down 13 per- centage points (from 81 to 68 percent), for European Americans down 7 percent- age points (from 50 to 43 percent), and for Latinos down 2 percentage points (from 53 to 51 percent).

374 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

A Woman at 15 Dulce Giovanna Mendez

dances at her quinceañera, the traditional

fifteenth-birthday celebration of a Hispanic

girl’s sexual maturity. Dulce lives in Ures,

Mexico, where many older teenagers marry

and have children. This was the expected out-

come of puberty in earlier decades in the

United States as well.

JO A

N N

A B

. P IN

N EO

/ A

U R

O R

A P

H O

TO S

➤Answer to Observation Quiz (from

page 372): About age 13. This is most obvious

in ball throwing (see Figure 14.4), but it is also

apparent in the 30-yard dash.

All these examples demonstrate that a universal experience (specifically, rising hormones) that produces another universal experience (specifically, growth of primary and secondary sex characteristics) takes many forms, depending on cohort and culture.

Brain Development

As with all the other changes of puberty, adolescent brain growth is the conse- quence of hormones, maturation, and experience, which together cause uneven yet rapid growth. The limbic system (fear, emotional impulses) matures before the prefrontal cortex (planning ahead, emotional regulation). Neuroscientists and developmentalists are working to understand exactly how emotions and logic con- nect, as the following explains.

The Transformation of Puberty 375

40

45

50

55

60Percent

1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

Year

Percent of U.S. Eleventh-Grade Students Who Say They Have Had Sexual Intercourse

Source: MMWR Surveillance Summaries, June 9, 2006.

Girls

Boys

FIGURE 14.6

Surprise! Two trends are apparent from this

graph. First, fewer adolescents are sexually

experienced than was the case 15 years ago.

Second, the gap between the sexes is shrink-

ing. This is confirmed by other data, including

the number of eleventh-graders who say

they have had four or more partners, which

showed a 10 percent male–female gap in

1991 and a 5 percent gap in 2005. Both

trends (decline and sexual convergence) are

found in other nations, and neither was pre-

dicted by researchers a few decades ago.

a case to study What Were You Thinking?

Laurence Steinberg is a noted expert on adolescent thinking.

He is also a father.

When my son, Benjamin, was 14, he and three of his friends de-

cided to sneak out of the house where they were spending the

night and visit one of their girlfriends at around two in the morn-

ing. When they arrived at the girl’s house, they positioned them-

selves under her bedroom window, threw pebbles against her

windowpanes, and tried to scale the side of the house. Modern

technology, unfortunately, has made it harder to play Romeo these

days. The boys set off the house’s burglar alarm, which activated a

siren and simultaneously sent a direct notification to the local

police station, which dispatched a patrol car. When the siren

went off, the boys ran down the street and right smack into the

police car, which was heading to the girl’s home. Instead of stop-

ping and explaining their activity, Ben and his friends scattered

and ran off in different directions through the neighborhood. One

of the boys was caught by the police and taken back to his home,

where his parents were awakened and the boy questioned.

I found out about this affair the following morning, when the

girl’s mother called our home to tell us what Ben had done. . . .

After his near brush with the local police, Ben had returned to

the house out of which he had snuck, where he slept soundly

until I awakened him with an angry telephone call, telling him to

gather his clothes and wait for me in front of his friend’s house.

On our drive home, after delivering a long lecture about what he

had done and about the dangers of running from armed police in

the dark when they believe they may have interrupted a burglary,

I paused.

“What were you thinking?” I asked.

“That’s the problem, Dad,” Ben replied, “I wasn’t.”

[Steinberg, 2004, pp. 51, 52]

Steinberg finds his son insightful. “The problem is not that

Ben’s decision-making was deficient. The problem is that it was

nonexistent” (Steinberg, 2004, p. 52). In his analysis, Steinberg

points out a characteristic of adolescent thought: When emotions

Caution Versus Thrills

Much more interdisciplinary research is needed to integrate neurology and psy- chology. Caution is needed, lest “incomplete brain development [becomes] an ex- planation for just about everything about teens that adults have found perplexing, from sleep patterns to risk taking and mood swings” (Kuhn, 2006, p. 59). The fMRI, the PET, and other measures are expensive and complex, and longitudinal, reliable, multifactorial research on the brains of typical 10- to 17-year-olds is not yet extensive. As one expert explains:

We stand at the edge of very exciting new research developments as new neuro- imaging technologies come online, but at present we are groping in the dark in many respects. . . . The work on adolescent development is particularly recent.

[Keating, 2004, p. 69]

With excitement tempered by caution, scientists trace many hallmarks of ado- lescent thinking and behavior to the brain. It is thrilling to learn that the frontal lobes are the last part of the brain to mature, with ongoing myelination from ages 10 to 25. In the words of a leading neuroscientist:

The frontal lobes are essential for . . . response inhibition, emotional regulation, planning, and organization, which may not be fully developed in adolescents . . . [which suggests that brain immaturity underlies much] troublesome adolescent behavior.

[Sowell et al., 2007, p. 59]

Uneven Growth

You learned in Chapter 11 that the brain functions well in middle childhood, as dendrites, myelination, and the corpus callosum allow “a massively interconnected brain” (Kagan & Herschkowitz, 2005, p. 220). Yet you just read that the immature prefrontal cortex may allow “troublesome adolescent behavior.” Is this a contradic- tion? Regression? Eight-year-olds would probably not sneak out at 2 A.M. to throw pebbles at a girl’s window. If the idea occurred to them, they would probably think twice and stay in bed.

Actually, there is no contradiction. Adolescents are quite capable of rational thinking. However, they don’t necessarily use that capacity to “think twice” before acting. As in the rest of the teenager’s body, brain growth is uneven. Myelination and maturation proceed from inside to the cortex and from back to front (Sowell et al., 2007).

376 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

are intense, especially with peers, the logical part of the brain

shuts down.

This is not reflected in questionnaires that require teenagers

to respond to paper-and-pencil questions regarding hypothetical

dilemmas. On those tests, teenagers think carefully and answer

correctly. They know the risks of sex and drugs. However,

the prospect of visiting a hypothetical girl from class cannot pos-

sibly carry the excitement about the possibility of surprising

someone you have a crush on with a visit in the middle of the

night. It is easier to put on a hypothetical condom during an act

of hypothetical sex than it is to put on a real one when one is in

the throes of passion. It is easier to just say no to a hypothetical

beer than it is to a cold frosty one on a summer night.

[Steinberg, 2004, p. 43]

Steinberg believes that, to understand how the brain actually

works, abstract questionnaires are inadequate. Adolescent think-

ing is more variable than earlier researchers believed (Kuhn,

2006). Now that scientists realize the limitations of prior

research, and neuroscientists have data from fMRI and other

brain scans, new discoveries about adolescent brain functioning

are on the horizon.

Ben reached adulthood safely. Some other teenagers, with

less cautious police or less diligent parents, do not. Ideally, re-

search on adolescent brains will help protect adolescents from

their own dangerous ones (Monastersky, 2007).

Especially for Parents Worried About

Their Teenager’s Risk Taking You

remember the risky things you did at the

same age, and you are alarmed by the

possibility that your child will follow in your

footsteps. What should you do?

Further, the hormones of puberty seem to affect the amygdala more directly than they affect the cortex, which is more influenced by age and experience. The combination of the sequence of brain maturation and the effects of early puberty mean that the limbic system (deep inside) matures years before the prefrontal cortex.

Since the amygdala specializes in quick emotional reactions—sudden anger, joy, fear, despair—and the prefrontal cortex (called the executive) coordinates, inhibits, and strategizes, this uneven maturation puts adolescents

at increased risk for emotional problems and disorders because the brain systems that activate emotions . . . are developed before the capacity for volitional effort- ful control of these emotions is fully in place.

[Compas, 2004, p. 283]

The maturing limbic system is particularly attracted to strong, immediate sen- sations, unchecked by the slowly maturing prefrontal cortex. For this reason,

Adolescents like intensity, excitement, and arousal. They are drawn to music videos that shock and bombard the senses. Teenagers flock to horror and slasher movies. They dominate queues waiting to ride the high-adrenaline rides at amusement parks. Adolescence is a time when sex, drugs, very loud music, and other high-stimulation experiences take on great appeal. It is a developmental period when an appetite for adventure, a predilection for risks, and a desire for novelty and thrills seem to reach naturally high levels.

[Dahl, 2004, pp. 7, 8]

Such intense experiences are sought because they short-circuit the emotional regulation of the prefrontal cortex.

When stress, arousal, passion, sensory bombardment, drug intoxication, or dep- rivation are extreme, the brain is overtaken by impulses that might shame adults. Teenagers brag about being so drunk they were “wasted,” “bombed,” “smashed,” describing a state most adults would try to avoid. Some teenagers choose to spend a night without sleep, a day without eating, or to exercise in pain.

The consequences may be especially severe in the twenty-first century, because puberty precedes adult employment and family life by a decade or more and because guns, drugs, and sex can turn a momentary lapse of judgment into a lethal mistake. It seems that the hormones that trigger the body changes of puberty do not also trigger the brain changes, which are more affected by birth date than body size.

Neurological Advances

With increased myelination, reactions become lightning fast. The white matter, which includes the axons and dendrites that link one neuron to another, increases throughout adolescence, again from

The Transformation of Puberty 377 B

O TH

IM A

G ES

C O

U R

TE S

Y O

F D

R . E

LI ZA

B ET

H S

O W

EL L,

U C

LA /

L A

B O

R A

TO R

Y O

F N

EU R

O IM

A G

IN G

Front Front

Back Back

(a) (b)

Twisted Memorial This wreck was once a

Volvo, driven by a Colorado teenager who

ignored an oncoming train’s whistle at a rural

crossing. The car was hurled 167 feet and

burst into flames. The impact instantly killed

the driver and five teenage passengers. They

are among the statistics indicating that acci-

dents, many of which result from unwise risk

taking, kill 10 times more adolescents than

diseases do.

D O

M IN

IC C

H A

V EZ

/ T

H E

D EN

V ER

P O

S T

/ A

P PH

O TO

The Prefrontal Cortex Matures These are composite scans of

normal brains of (a) children and adolescents and (b) adolescents

and adults. The red areas indicate both an increase in brain size

and a decrease in gray matter (cerebral cortex). The red areas in (b)

are larger than in (a) and are concentrated in the frontal area of the

brain, which is associated with complex cognitive processes. The

growth of brain areas as their gray matter decreases is believed to

reflect an increase in white matter, which consists of myelin—the

axon coating that makes the brain more efficient.

back to front (Sowell et al., 2007). Additional pruning occurs, and the dopamine system (neurotransmitters that bring pleasure) is very active.

Before these advances are complete (about age 25), new connections between one synapse and another ease acquisition of new ideas, words, memories, person- ality patterns, or dance steps (Keating, 2004). As you might imagine, values ac- quired during adolescence are more likely to endure than those learned later, after brain links are more firmly established.

Adolescent brain immaturity can be used positively or negatively. The fact that “the prefrontal cortex is still developing . . . confers benefits as well as risks. It helps explain the creativity of adolescence and early adulthood, before the brain becomes set in its ways. But it also makes adolescents more prone to addiction” (Monastersky, 2007, p. A17).

One expert bemoans “the deleterious consequences of drug use [which] appear to be more pronounced in adolescents than in adults, a difference that has been linked to brain maturation” (Moffit et al., 2006, p. 12). Another scholar celebrates adolescent passion that “intertwines with the highest levels of human endeavor: passion for ideas and ideals, passion for beauty, passion to create music and art” (Dahl, 2004, p. 21).

Thus, adolescent experiences can teach compassion or mistrust, political par- ticipation or isolation. Those who care about the next generation need attend to the life lessons that adolescents are learning, providing “scaffolding and monitor- ing” until brains and skills can function well on their own (Dahl, quoted in Monastersky, 2007, p. A18).

Body Rhythms

Brain rhythms affects body rhythms (Buzsáki, 2006). The hypothalamus and pitu- itary regulate hormones that affect stress, appetite, sleep, and so on. As you know, the brain of every living creature responds to natural changes.

Seasons affect reproduction (more births occur in spring), weight (gains in winter), and, in some species, migration and hibernation. Diurnal (daily) rhythms affect tiredness, hunger, alertness, elimination, body temperature, nutrient balance, blood composition, moods, and so on. (Some people wake up cheery and others

cranky, switching moods by nightfall.) All creatures have a day–night cycle. That’s why jet lag affects people

who fly east–west across the globe, changing time zones, but not those who fly the same distance north–south. Because of diurnal rhythms, people cannot get their recommended 60 hours of sleep per week by staying awake 24 hours for four days and then sleeping 20 hours on each of the other three. The diurnal rise and fall of body chemicals, melatonin among them, make sleep elusive sometimes and impossible to postpone at other times.

Puberty alters biorhythms. Hormones from the pituitary often cause a “phase delay” in sleep–wake patterns: Many teens are wide awake at midnight but half-asleep all morning. Because adult brains are naturally alert in the morning and sleepy at night, social patterns set by adults do not necessarily accommodate adolescent rhythms.

One consequence is sleep deprivation for many teenagers, who naturally stay up late but who nonetheless are forced to wake up early. Evidence for this is that teenagers seldom waken spontaneously on weekdays (see Figure 14.7) and often “sleep in” on weekends (Andrade & Menna-Barreto, 2002).

Uneven sleep schedules (more sleep on weekends, with later bed- times and daytime sleeping) are common among teenagers, yet this

378 CHAPTER 14 ■ Adolescence: Biosocial Development

Reasons for Waking Up on School Mornings

Percentage

of age group

100

75

50

25

0

Source: Carskadon, 2002a, p. 7.

10–11 12–13

Age group

14–18

Parent

Alarm clock

Spontaneous

FIGURE 14.7

Sleep Deprivation Humans naturally wake up once they’ve

had enough sleep. Few high school students wake up spon-

taneously, and many sleep later on weekends than on school

days. These facts suggest that most teenagers need more

sleep. Depression and irritability correlate with insufficient

sleep.

➤Response for Parents Worried About

Their Teenager’s Risk Taking (from page

376): You are right to be concerned, but you

cannot keep your child locked up for the next

decade or so. Since you know that some

rebellion and irrationality are likely, try to

minimize them by not boasting about your

own youthful exploits, by reacting sternly to

minor infractions to nip worse behavior in the

bud, and by making allies of your child’s

teachers.

Especially for Those Who Appreciate

Folk Wisdom What is meant by “The early

bird catches the worm” and “Early to bed

and early to rise, makes a man healthy,

wealthy, and wise”?

unevenness decreases well-being just as overall sleep deprivation does (Fuligni & Hardway, 2006). Girls are particularly likely to be sleep-deprived, which decreases their grades and happiness (Fredriksen et al., 2004).

The Transformation of Puberty 379

Calculus at 8 A.M.?

Biology designs teenage bodies to be alert at midnight and tired

all morning, perhaps falling asleep in school (see Figure 14.8).

School schedules reflect culture, not biorhythms.

Some parents fight biology. They command their wide-awake

teen to “go to sleep,” they hang up on classmates who phone

after 10 P.M., they set early curfews, and they drag their off-

spring out of bed for school. (An opposite developmental clash

occurs when parents tell their toddlers to stay in their cribs after

dawn.)

Data on the phase delay of adolescence led social scientists

at the University of Minnesota to ask 17 school districts to con-

sider a later starting time for high school. Most adults opposed

the idea.

Teachers generally thought that early morning was the best

time to learn. Many (42 percent) parents of adolescents thought

school should begin before 8 A.M. In fact, some (20 percent)

wanted their teenagers out of the house by 7:15 A.M., as did

only 1 percent of those with younger children. Bus drivers hated

rush hour; cafeteria workers wanted to leave by mid-afternoon;

police said teenagers should be off the streets by 4 P.M.; coaches

needed sports events to end before dark; employers hired teens

to staff the afternoon shift; community program directors

wanted to schedule the gym for nonschool events (Wahlstrom,

2002).

Despite the naysayers, one school district experimented. In

Edina, Minnesota, high school began at 8:30 A.M. (previously

7:25 A.M.) and ended at 3:10 P.M., not 2:05 P.M. After one year,

most (93 percent) parents and virtually all students approved.

One student said, “I have only fallen asleep in school once this

whole year, and last year I fell asleep about three times a week”

(quoted in Wahlstrom, 2002, p. 190). The data showed fewer

absent, late, disruptive, or sick students (the school nurse be-

came an advocate) and higher grades.

Other school districts reconsidered. Minneapolis, which had

started high school at 7:15 A.M., changed the starting time to

8:40 A.M. Again, attendance improved, as did graduation rate.

School boards in South Burlington (Vermont), West Des

Moines (Iowa), Tulsa (Oklahoma), Arlington (Virginia), and

Milwaukee (Wisconsin) voted in favor of later starting times,

switching on average from 7:45 A.M. to 8:30 A.M. (Tonn, 2006).

Unexpected advantages appeared: financial savings (more effi-

cient energy use) and, at least in Tulsa, unprecedented athletic

championships.

But change is hard. Researchers believe that “without a

strategic approach, the forces to maintain the status quo in the

schools will prevail” (Wahlstrom, 2002, p. 195). Few college stu-

dents choose 8 A.M. classes. Why?

issues and applications

5

0

10

15

20

25

30

35Percent

Fatigue Among Middle- and High School Students

Grades 9–12

Grades 6–8

Too tired to exercise

Asleep in school

Source: National Sleep Foundation, 2006.

FIGURE 14.8

Dreaming and Learning? This graph shows the percent of U.S.

students who, once a week or more, fall asleep in class or are too

tired to exercise. Not shown are those who are too tired overall

(59 percent for high school students) or who doze in class “almost

every day” (8 percent).

Sleep deprivation and irregular sleep schedules are associated with many other difficulties, such as falling asleep while driving, insomnia in the middle of the night, distressing dreams, and mood disorders (depression, conduct disorder, anxiety) (Carskadon, 2002b; Fredriksen et al., 2004; Fuligni & Hardway, 2006).