Chapter 8: Middle Childhood

1. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood HN 144: Human Behavior Instructor: Jamie C. Sherman, MA

2. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Middle childhood is ages 6-12 • Erickson’s stage? Industry vs. Inferiority • Focus on developing rules, ensuring fairness, and creating penalties for rule-breaking! • Successful adaptation to friendships and peer groups are major developmental task for this age group!

3. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Biophysical Growth and Development • Boys and girls exhibit slow but consistent growth pattern • Girls retain fat tissue longer; boys develop muscle tissue more quickly • Continued development in large and small muscle groups enhances coordination, agility, and smoothness • Boys develop better gross motor development, girls develop better fine motor skills

4. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Biophysical Strengths, Hazards, and Risks • Major developments occur in both cognitive and physical capacities • Advanced reasoning, increased vocabulary, and interest in reading develops • Environmental conditions can once again impact development; poverty and lack of food can be damaging • Physical activity can drop off significantly during childhood/adolescence causing obesity • Why overweight? Lack of knowledge, athletics become more competitive, parents stop signing up children for activities, academic demands take over, etc.

5. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Cognitive Development and Information Processing • Piaget says concrete operational thought! This means that thought is governed by rules of logic • Children now becoming less egocentric, can show reversible thought, and conservation skills • Information processing is also relevant to a child’s social relationships • Skill deficits in how children process information may influence behavior interactions • IQ tests measured by dividing mental age/chronological age and multiplying by 100 • Multiple types of IQ tests available (such as Stanford-Binet) • Concerns with IQ tests include: labeling and classifying children as well as cultural biases

6. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Communication • Period of linguistic refinement • Communication becomes increasingly important for the social life of children; therefore deficits in communication have social consequences (speech disorders like stuttering, ones associated with other disabilities, etc) • The controversy over bilingual education (students tend to outperform but most people feel English is the most important language) • Language abilities can be influenced by cultural experiences

7. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Attitudes and Emotions • Emotional development becomes prominent, esp. in regards to social interactions • Middle-age children are often seen as more irritable, cranky, and more easily provoked • Emotional competence includes: experiencing emotions, expressing emotions, and understanding emotions

8. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Social Cognition and Regulation • Social role-taking is the reduction of egocentric thought • Role-taking ability-to see things from another person’s perspective-changes around 12 years of age (child can think of him/herself AND someone else) • A child’s interpersonal awareness, involvements in friendships and peer groups can be seen as a series of steps that a child progresses through • Peer relationships/friendships can help children adjust to other difficulties throughout life

9. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Psychological Strengths, Hazards, and Risks • One of the most important strengths during this time is development of self-esteem/self-worth • How other people see them and how they see themselves develops into their thoughts/feelings about who they are (but can also depend on the situation) • ADHD affects 8-10% of children (3 boys for every 1 girl), impacts attention and activity levels • Cause ADHD is most likely imbalance in brain’s neurotransmitters • Can treat with medication but may also need combination of behavioral treatment/interventions

10. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Groups, Families, Communities, and Support Systems • Children now prefer to spend time with peers, can lead to development of cliques • Friendships provide for unique learning of critical social skills, children who are rejected by peers are at risk for adjustment problems • Although children of this age prefer to spend time with friends, its important that parents still provide for a safe, authoritative structure • DISCIPLINE! • Power-assertive-physical discipline, threat of punishment (tends to increase aggressive tendencies) • Love withdrawal-withdrawing love when a child’s behavior is inappropriate (can create fear) • Induction-use of explanation and rationality in attempting to influence child’s reactions (helps to develop internal moral standards, helps children to exercise self-control)

11. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • School! • Major socializing agent • As much as 10% of children experience school phobia (anxiety and fear related to school) • PL 94-142 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is the amended Pl94-142)-addresses educational rights of students with disabilities, also addressed transition services • Under this law, children must be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary team to develop objectives and create an IEP that is specific to that particular child’s needs • Many professionals within the school are involved in the IEP process

12. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Multicultural and Gender Considerations • Racial identity begins to form in middle childhood • Families who identify with their ethnic roots are more likely to teach their children about their ethnic background • Rites of passage and mentoring programs are helping young African-American men cope with the difficulties they face from stereotyping and other societal pressures. These programs reinforce values such as self-respect, responsibility, and dedication to family, community, and one another • Children also begin sex-typed behavior and become aware of sex-role stereotypes

13. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Social Strengths, Hazards, and Risks • Neighborhoods and communities provide social context for child’s development • Witnessing violence in the harm can lead to negative effects-children may repeat same patterns • Bullying occurs most frequently between the 6th and 8th grades, depression and anxiety are factors • Divorce rates impact children-girls tend to fare better following divorce • Five factors help adjustment to divorce-financial support, adequate parenting by the custodial parents, emotional support from the noncustodial parent, additional social support, and a minimum of stressors

14. Chapter 8: Middle Childhood • Seminar 5 complete! • Any questions?