child dev chapter 10
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecologies of Childhood
-Bronfenbrenner (1979) developed an influential ecological theory that
describes the context of children’s development as a dynamic and complex system
-As a systems theory, Bronfenbrenner’s work focuses on how the whole (the entire
context of children’s lives) and its parts (various levels of context) are related to one
another (organized) and change and interact over time
According to this model children’s contexts are organized through different nested and interacting systems with the child at the center Each level (or context):
1) Provides resources for positive growth and development
2) Presents challenges and risks to children’s health and well-being
Microsystems:
The “face-to-face” settings and relationships the child inhabits on a daily
Basis, is the innermost part of the child’s entire ecological system; it extends outward from the face-to-face settings of home, school, and peer groups, to the values, and customs.
-The influences are bi-directional
Mesosystems:
The context linking face-to-face settings to one another (e.g., parent’s involvement in school) and that influences children’s experiences
Exosystems:
Settings that affect, but do not include the child
Macrosystems:
The values, customs, beliefs, hazards, and resources of the larger culture.
John and Beatrice Whiting: Studying Different Kinds of Families
-One early and influential study of the relevance of the family as a context for children’s lives was conducted by John and Beatrice Whiting (1975) in six communities of vastly different cultures
-This work is still a useful demonstration of how various levels of context affect the
ways parents treat and socialize their children
The Whitings emphasized a number of ways in which family contexts varied:
1) Cultural beliefs
2) Cultural practices
3) Economics
4) Physical environments
Gusii Families in Kenya
-The Whiting’s work was conducted in the 1950s when the Gusii were agriculturalists
-The family unit was large and included many generations, and polygyny was the traditional marriage form
-Women were engaged in farm work and children were left in the care of older siblings or other relatives
-Children’s labor was an important economic activity and often began around 3 or 4
-Researchers reported that Gusii children were more likely to offer help and support to others and also more likely to reprimand other children.
“Orchard Town” in New England
-The community of “Orchard Town” was drastically different in the ways in which the
family was organized, and in terms of the behaviors this promoted among children
-Men were the major wage earners and “nuclear” families lived together in single-family dwellings, most mothers were “homemakers”
-Children divided their time between playing and school (they rarely did chores)
-In this community children were more often observed seeking rather than giving
help and attention, as well as playing with other children amiably
-Less nurturing and responsible behavior among children may have stemmed from less
economic contributions and more time in competitive schools
-Higher intimacy behaviors may stem from close bonds in small families
The Different “Structures” of Families
Developmental researchers have described many different forms of family structure
Nuclear families:
Families consisting of parents (including single parents) and their children.
Extended families:
Families in which other “kin” share a household (could include
grandparents, cousins, nieces, and nephews, or more distant family members)
-In North American societies the proportion of extended families has been rising in recent
decades
-Some researchers suggest this may be an adaptive strategy for dealing with a changing society.
Historical Explanations:
Emphasize how the “nuclear family” is unique to industrialized societies With industrialization, close and intimate relationships between parents and children took on a new importance, and children were exposed to different roles and patterns of relationships (larger houses in the country had more people in different roles).
Evolutionary Explanations:
The involvement of extended kin provides essential resources (food, income), as well as assistance (help with caregiving, emotional support) Several studies have found that allo-caregiving (non-parental care) increases the likelihood that
families will have more children
-Studies of cooperative breeding (people other than parents provide resources) in both humans and other animal species have found relationships between more numerous births, larger and healthier offspring, and more prolonged periods of childhood dependency.
-provides opportunities for parents to have more kids and further their education and get better jobs to support their families.
The Goals of Being a Parent
-The anthropologist Robert Levine suggested that in all parts of the world, parents
share three major goals related to raising children:
1) The survival goal: ensuring their children’s survival
2) The economic goal: ensuring they will be economically productive adults
3) The cultural goal: ensuring their children is sharing the group’s values
He proposed that many of the different ways that parents raise their children in
different communities reflect the extent to which certain goals are threatened in a
local ecology
-When there is high infant mortality, parents keep infants close and are highly responsive
-When infant mortality is low, parents focus more on emotional development and ensuring
future success
The survival goal:
ensuring their children’s survival
The economic goal:
ensuring they will be economically productive adults
The cultural goal:
ensuring their children is sharing the group’s values
Different Parenting Styles
-One of the most well-known research programs on parenting practices is Diana Baumrind’s (1970) research on different parenting styles
-On the basis of research with mostly white American families, she reports that a majority of
the parenting behaviors she observed fit into three categories…
Authoritarian-
demanding and controlling, stress obedience over independence, favors physical punishment
Authoritative-
demanding but reciprocal relationship, encourage independence, favor reasoning over physical punishment
Permissive (also sometimes separated into permissive and neglectful)-
neither independence nor obedience is stressed.
Additional Research on Parenting Styles
Emotional warmth: Parental expressions of caring and acceptance
Behavioral control: Parental efforts to monitor and control child behavior
Autonomy support: The extent to which parents support and respect a child's feelings and
Perspectives
Emotional warmth:
Parental expressions of caring and acceptance
Behavioral control:
Parental efforts to monitor and control child behavior
Autonomy support:
The extent to which parents support and respect a child's feelings and perspectives
No-Nonsense Parenting:
Parenting characterized by a mix of high parental control—
including punishment—and warmth.
-This style of parenting has been reported among some African American and Latino families in the US, especially in the inner city and among well-educated and single African American mothers
-Researchers have suggested that this form of parenting can be adaptive and protective
from threats in the particular environments where many minority children in the US grow
up
-It teaches children to avoid potentially harmful situations and that responsibility is highly important to the success
The role of siblings
-older siblings can influence younger siblings
-relationships between siblings change between sex
-Sisters have the most intimate relationships
-Sibling intimacy and conflict have been associated with children's mental health. Bad relationships between siblings cause bad mental health and later adjusting issues in society
-age 14 in peak conflict age and decline after that age
Family Diversity
-Worldwide, families are becoming increasingly diverse through immigration and changes in
family composition
-Immigration has led to increases in family diversity in many Western countries (Canada, UK, US, Europe)
-In Canada on the 2016 census close to 2.2 million children or 37.5% of the total population of children, had at least one foreign‑born parent.
-Approximately 25 percent of children in the United States have immigrant parents. 40 percent of children in immigrant families in the US have at least one parent born in Mexico.
-Research with Immigrant Families
-Research with immigrant families in western
Research with Immigrant Families
-Research on immigrant families in western countries has reported:
-A wide diversity in backgrounds Many immigrant families value education
- Immigrant families report exposure to persistent forms of racism and negative
outcomes
-Unique dimensions of beliefs, values, and practices that can support children’s
development (e.g., the dimension of familism in Latino families)
Risk and Protective Factors in Children's Contexts
-Many researchers focused on the contexts of development try to understand how different risk factors and protective factors influence children’s development
Risk Factors:
Personal or community characteristics increase the probability of negative outcomes for children.
Protective Factors:
Environmental and personal factors that are the source of children’s
resilience in the face of hardship
-Both risk factors and protective factors apply to groups or populations, not
individuals
- As a group children who have depressed parents are more likely than the general
population to be depressed, but this does not mean a particular child is necessarily at risk. Risk factors are not a direct cause of behavior
-Developmental studies have demonstrated that most problems are associated with
combinations of risk factors interacting over a long period of time
Neighborhoods As Contexts
-As children mature their spheres of experience expand to include different settings within their
neighborhoods and communities
-Neighborhoods and communities differ drastically in the resources they provide to children and families
-Neighborhoods influence numerous aspects of children's and families' lives including who
they interact with, the activities they engage in, the health services available to them, and
the food they eat,
Social capital
consists of the wide variety of resources in children’s lives that can support
their well-being including social structures and institutions, expectations for behavior as well
as the level of trust and cooperation among community members
Research on social capital in communities provides insight into our understanding of children’s
development, well-being, and resilience and can provide important avenues for intervention.
Media,
violence in the media causes violence in children
Prevention science=
An area of research that examines the biological and social processes that lead to maladjustment as well as those that are associated with healthy development.
Protective factors=
Environmental and personal factors are the source of children’s resilience in the face of hardship.
Family Reunification
Families whose members live in different countries should be allowed to move between those countries so they can remain in contact, or be reunited as a family.
Respect for child’s views and opinions
Adults should seek and take into account children’s opinions and ideas when making decisions that affect children.
Freedom of thought, speech, and religion
Children have the right to think and believe what they want and to express their thoughts and beliefs, as long as they do not interfere with the rights and freedoms of others.
Access to Information and Mass Media
Children have the right to get information that is important to their health and well-being. Governments and mass media should provide such information in ways that children understand, including in languages that minority and indigenous children can understand.
-Protection from all Forms of Violence and Abuse
Children have the right to be protected from being physically or mentally hurt or mistreated. They should be protected from violence, sexual exploitation, cruel punishment, and participation in war and armed conflicts.
-Juvenile Justice
Children accused of breaking the law have the right to legal help and fair treatment. Governments should have a justice system that respects children’s rights and sets a minimum age below which children are not held criminally responsible for their behavior.
Health and Health Services
Children have the right to health care, safe drinking water, nutritious food, and a clean and safe environment. More wealthy countries need to help less wealthy countries achieve this.
Education
Children have the right to free, primary education. Wealthy countries should help less wealthy countries achieve this. Education should respect the dignity of all students and should encourage students to respect others, understand human rights, and protect the environment. It should also promote learning about other cultures, and how to live peaceably.
Special Protections
Children who have disabilities, or cannot be looked after by their own family, or are refugees who have been forced to leave their homes and live in another country, have the right to special care, protection, and help from people who respect their ethnic group, religion, culture, and language.
Public policies-
Governmental laws and programs are designed to promote the welfare of children and families.
Risk Factors in Neighborhoods
-Many developmental researchers have focused on how growing up in a distressed or challenging neighborhoods influences children’s development
Research on economic disadvantage:
-At the level of neighborhoods, studies have suggested that economic disadvantage influences
children’s development and well-being over and above the impact of a family's income level
-Additional risk factors include a lack of decent housing and health care services, lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, excessive noise and crowding, few parks, natural settings, and recreational activities
Neighborhood physical disorder:
The problem in distressed communities, including both physical deterioration and chaotic activity, garages on streets, graffiti, crowding, and high noise levels.
Social disorganization-
associated with poor child-parent relationships and more child-parent conflict. involving weak social cohesion, high levels of fear in a community and
perceived racism are all associated with lower mental health and quality of life among children
-Children do better in school when their housing situation is better
Schools and the Processes of Cultural Inheritance
-During the early and middle childhood years school becomes a major context that
influences children’s development
-Schools are also settings where children experience cultural inheritances
Three major social processes involved in cultural inheritance
Social Enhancement: children use cultural resources because another person’s activity has
enhanced the child’s immediate environment by making these resources available
Imitation: Children learn to use their cultures resources by observing and copying the
behaviors of others in their community
Explicit Instruction: Children are purposefully taught to use the resources of their culture
Social Enhancement:
children use cultural resources because another person’s activity has enhanced the child’s immediate environment by making these resources available
Imitation:
Children learn to use their cultures resources by observing and copying the behaviors of others in their community
Explicit Instruction:
Children are purposefully taught to use the resources of their culture.
Apprenticeship and Explicit Instruction
-Formal education is the most structured type of explicit instruction
Through formal instruction adults instruct children in the specialized knowledge and skills of
their culture
-In many communities around the world children’s education is often not best
understood as a process of formal education but one of the apprenticeship
-Children learn valued skills by spending an extended period of time with an adult who has
mastered that skill children are not in a specific setting organized for teaching, rather instruction and productive labor are combined
-The apprentice/master relationship is also part of a larger organization of relationships
within the community, such that the education of children and community building are
intricately related
Differences Between Formal Education and Apprenticeship,
Developmental researchers have suggested that formal education and apprenticeship differ in four main ways and these differences promote different forms of intellectual skills
Motivation:
Apprentices get to see the results of their work early when
compared to children in schools.
Social Relations:
School teachers are rarely kin to the students and may not
live in the immediate community
Social Organization:
Apprentices often learn with people of diverse ages and
have more than one person to turn to, children in school learn with people of the same age, with one adult instructor, and are taught to work independently
Medium of Instruction:
Apprentices are instructed orally in the context of
production, children in schools are instructed orally with a special kind of speech associated with writing.
Different Kinds of Tools for Different Kinds of Challenges
-Many researchers have suggested that children learn particular forms of skills within school contexts
-These skills are useful for particular kinds of problems that are relevant in schooled societies
-Schools focus on solving increasingly abstract problems with specialized tools
To figure out the distance between two locations
children are taught to use scientific tools (a ruler)
and systems of measurement (centimeters)
-In community life, problem-solving is often undertaken in service of a particular goal
- In pursuit of these goals, children work with others to find tools relevant to the problem, which can be negotiated with others.
For many researchers using the Early Development Instrument (EDI) school readiness is conceptualized to involve:
1) Physical well-being and appropriate motor development,
2) Emotional health,
3) Age-appropriate social knowledge and competence,
4) Age-appropriate language skills
5) Age-appropriate general knowledge and cognitive skills
Getting Children Ready for School...
-A major area of research in developmental science in North America involves the concept of school readiness
Entering the Classroom
-Children come to school with vastly different personal experiences
-They come with different feelings and expectations about school
-Expectations create different levels of motivation among children
-Schools, classrooms, and instructional approaches are structured in different
ways that shape children’s early experiences
-These approaches interact with diverse feelings, expectations, and motivations
that children bring with them to school.
Different Forms of Instruction in...
-School developmentalism has described different approaches that are often taken to curriculum design.
Bottom-up approaches:
Start with teaching basic skills, then once these have been mastered
moves to more complex skills. Often seen in the standard classroom format involving the teacher as an authority figure and the use of instructional discourse Use of the known-answer question.
Top-down approaches:
Focuses on using skills to accomplish meaningful tasks. Often focused on making children active members of the educational process (drawing from Piagetian and
Vygotskian Theories). Reciprocal teaching: A method of teaching reading where teachers and children take turns reading a text (integrates decoding and comprehension skills)
School as a Cultural Context
-Schools can have vastly different cultural styles that influence classroom practices
-Researchers have been concerned about potential problems that might occur when traditional
practices clash with those children are learning in school
Creating Culturally Relevant Classrooms
-Research with a number of different cultural communities supports the idea
that it is possible to organize more effective classroom contexts by incorporating local cultural practices
-Boykin and Cunningham (2001) hypothesized that African American children inherit a rich tradition of using expressive movement in communication
-African American children listened to stories under different conditions
emphasizing aspects of African storytelling traditions (e.g., involving music, the
ability to clap and dance) and then answered questions about the stories
-Children scored significantly better on memory questions when the stories
included culturally-relevant components
-Research suggests that there is not one “right way” to do this, many creative approaches that highlight and employ particular forms of cultural practices.
-poverty makes it hard for parents to parent their children and leaves everlasting effects on children.
Why do adults abuse?
-parents are more likely to abuse their children if they were themselves victims of child abuse. Another major contributor to abuse is stress on the family, including chronic poverty, recent job loss, marital discord, and social isolation
-The likelihood of abuse is also higher when the mother is very young, is poorly educated, abuses drugs or alcohol, or receives little financial support.
Who gets abused?
-infants under the age of 1 are at considerably higher risk compared to other age groups,
-girls are slightly more likely than boys to be abused, and African American children,
-American Indian and Alaska Native children, are more likely to experience abuse compared to those from other ethnic backgrounds.
Home childcare=
Child care is provided in the child’s own home, primarily by a grandmother or other family member, while the parents are at work.
Family childcare=
Child care is provided in the home of a relative or someone else.