Developmental Psychology Lecture Notes PDF

# Developmental Psychology Lecture Seven - Contexts - Parents, Peers, + Relationships ## Learning objectives - Describe the effect of context on development - Develop awareness of some relevant theoretical frameworks, and some of their limitations - Explain the role theorised to be played by paren...

# Developmental Psychology Lecture Seven - Contexts - Parents, Peers, + Relationships ## Learning objectives - Describe the effect of context on development - Develop awareness of some relevant theoretical frameworks, and some of their limitations - Explain the role theorised to be played by parental relationships, and peer relationships ## What do we mean by context? A 'context' is “The situation within which something exists or happens, and that can help explain it." - Cambridge Dictionary. It can be: - Person - Place - Time - Resource - Cultural norm ## The ecological context ### Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (1979) **Individual** - **Microsystem** - Work - School - Friends - Family - Neighbours - **Mesosystem** - Exosystem - Local governments - Parents - Friends - Mass media - Extended family - **Macrosystem** - Social norms - Economic system - Political systems - Culture - **Chronosystem** - Time ### Bronfenbrenner - Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory revolutionised understanding of child development - Emphasises the role of the environment in shaping a child's growth and development - Consists of five interconnected systems ### The five interconnected systems - **Microsystem** - The child's immediate surroundings - family, school, peers - **Mesosystem** - The interactions between the child's microsystems - relationship between home and school - **Exosystem** - Indirect influences on the child - parent's workplace, community resources - **Macrosystem** - The broader cultural and societal context - values, customs, and laws - **Chronosystem** - Changes over time, both within the child and their surrounding environment ## Significance of Ecological Systems Theory - Understanding these systems is crucial for those working with young children, in terms of creating nurturing and supportive environments which foster learning and wellbeing - By understanding the complex interplay between these systems, those working in education can create supportive environments which nurture children's development ## The Bioecological Model - Bronfenbrenner expanded their theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) - Emphasises the role of the individual child in their **own development** - Four key concepts: - **Process** - dynamic, reciprocal interactions between a child and their environment (e.g. child-parent interactions, aka proximal processes - primary drivers of development) - **Person** - child's individual characteristics (e.g. temperament, abilities, personality) influences their interactions with the environment - **Context** - the nested systems of the Ecological Systems Theory, provides the setting for development - **Time** - historical, generational, and day-to-day time frames within which development occurs ## The role of relationships in development - Bronfenbrenner's theories highlight the crucial role of relationships in child development. - Quality and stability are essential. - Parent-child relationships - Peer relationships - Teacher-child relationships ## The role of parents - Parents are children's first and most enduring educators - Factors that affect parenting styles are complex: - Number of children in the family - The parent's ages - First time or experienced parents - Employment status - Housing - Support available ## Parenting styles - Each parent's particular approach to socialising and teaching their child is what we'd define as their parenting style - Baumrind's (1967) typology of parenting styles - Based on degrees of support/responsiveness (supportive + unsupportive) and demanding/control (demanding + understanding) - Features defining “Support” - acceptance + involvement - Features defining “Demand” - control + autonomy - Research involved parental interviews and observations of white/western parents interacting with children at home and in the lab ### Authoritative style - Acceptance - high - Involvement - high - Control - adaptive - Autonomy - appropriate ### Authoritarian style - Acceptance - low - Involvement - low - Control - high - Autonomy - low ### Permissive style - Acceptance - high - Involvement - significantly low or high - Control - low - Autonomy - high ### Uninvolved style - Acceptance - low - Involvement - low - Control - low - Autonomy - indifferent ## Strengths of Baumrind's typology of parenting styles - Consistent evidence in Western contexts to support Authoritative versus other styles - Promotes: - Academic attainment (Dombusch et al., 1987) - Self-esteem and life satisfaction (Milevsky et al., 2007) - School integration and well-being (Shucksmith et al., 1995) ## Limitations of Baumrind's typology of parenting style: - Are there really neat `boxes' or messier `dimensions`? - Highly culturally specific (Chao et al., 1994) - Not necessarily consistent - e.g. styles can vary by sibling too (Dwairy et al., 2006) ## Beyond ethnocentric perspective? - `Parents` is not singular - Parents living together can have different styles - Extended and `non-nuclear` families and household - Multi-generational households - Single parent families - Step-parents - Same-sex parents ## Peer relationships - In middle childhood, 30% of a child's social interactions involve peers - 3 times more than in early childhood (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 1998) This trend continues throughout adolescence: - The generation you're born into is a developmental context and you share it with your peers - Peers socialise and influence each other's behaviour - Imitation (as a means of learning) and conformity matter, especially during certain developmental periods (e.g. adolescence) ## Friendship in early childhood - In early childhood a friend is: - Someone you play with or share some activity - Friendships are: - Transient in nature - Rooted in proximity - With others of similar age and background ## Friendship in middle childhood - In middle childhood, peer relationships still tend to be with those who are similar - However, there is evidence that children become increasingly similar to their friends as they interact (Hartup, 1996) - 'Fair-weather friends' are common in this age group - due to conflicts and disagreements ## Friendship in adolescence - By the end of middle childhood, friendships are becoming intimate, and by adolescence they are more stable - Though still may be disrupted by changing class or moving schools - More likely to be maintained at this age - Characterised by enduring sense of trust, loyalty, and collaborative negotiation, openness, and warmth ## Popularity - Defined by the number of children who name a target child as `liked`, `disliked`, `friend`, or `best friend` (Newcomb, Bukowski, & Pattee, 1993) - Children with most `liked` nominations are popular - Children with most `disliked` are rejected - Children with very little or no nominations are neglected - Children who are both nominated frequently, and actively disliked by others are controversial ## Levels of acceptance and implications - **Socio-metric classification** - Popular - Average - Neglected - Controversial - Rejected (aggressive; non-aggressive) - Neglected, controversial, and rejected are particularly at-risk groups - **Implications of peer-rejection?** - Negative effects of social isolation - loneliness - Often given early intervention - groups-based, social skills, or reducing aggression ## Does popularity matter? - Popularity or social status is a central concern for most adolescents - It has been suggested that young people's relative powerlessness in school renders them prone to focus on status hierarchies - While the end of adolescence and the end of compulsory education brings with it a change in social status and context ## Summary - We've explored Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory and later theoretical developments - We've discussed the role of different types of relationships in a child's development, with a focus on parents and peers - We described and evaluated parenting styles - And examined friendships at different stages of development