chapter 8: middle childhood
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Chapter 8: Middle Childhood. HN 144: Human Behavior Instructor: Jamie C. Sherman, MA. 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! - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
HN 144: Human BehaviorHN 144: Human Behavior
Instructor: Jamie C. Sherman, MAInstructor: Jamie C. Sherman, MA
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!
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
Chapter 8: Middle Childhood
Seminar 5 complete! Any questions?
Chapter 8: Middle Childhood