Child and Adolescent Development - Middle Childhood PDF

10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective CHAPTER SIX MIDDLE CHILDHOOD La...

10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective CHAPTER SIX MIDDLE CHILDHOOD Lauren Wild CASE STUDY My name is Mpumelelo. I live in Maranathi. I live with my grandmother, my sister Malibongwe, my sister Senzelwe, and my cousin, my mother, my grandfather, my aunt, and my uncle. I go to school at Okhayeni. I am in grade five. I am 10 years old. I am not slim. I don’t have skinny legs. I am good-looking. I am dark in complexion. I have short hair. I have got a small mouth, and my friends at school are Scelimpilo and Sonnyboy. I only like to rear goats. There’s nothing else that I could imagine myself rearing. I like goats because they don’t wander too much. What I like is keeping domestic animals and what I hate is when you’re a boy who minds livestock and yet you don’t have a goat. I like goats because if there is a ceremony/ritual that is being performed I bring them and they slaughter them and then we all eat meat at home. I also take care of them; I play with them, especially those that are black and white. (Abaqophi BakwaZisize Abakhanyayo children’s radio project (2010). Umfana nembuzi yakhe/A boy with a goat. © Children’s Institute, UCT; Zisize Educational Trust, & Okhayeni & Ntabayengwe Primary Schools). LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this chapter you should be able to: Summarise the physical changes associated with middle childhood Describe the advances that take place in children’s thinking, learning, and memory Explain how the school, family, and peer contexts influence development Understand the changes that occur in children’s moral reasoning Discuss the development of children’s self-concept and self-esteem. Introduction Between the ages of six and eleven, children’s bodies become taller, slimmer, and stronger. Their baby teeth fall out and permanent teeth replace them. But it is not just their bodies that are changing; their minds are changing too. Children are better at remembering things during middle childhood than they were in early childhood, and their thinking is more logical. They can follow complex instructions, and need less help from adults. In all cultures, the new physical and cognitive abilities that appear around the age of six or seven lead adults to start to make new demands of children, and children are ready to benefit from these experiences. Like Mpumelelo in the opening case study, they begin to learn skills that will be important in the adult world, whether these be reading and writing, or taking care of livestock or younger children. In South Africa and many other countries, this is when children first go to school. They are now exposed to a wider range of influences, including teachers and peers. These new contexts of development stimulate further cognitive and social development, and have an important influence on how children think about themselves. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 1/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective ACTIVITY Can you remember what you were like between the ages of six and eleven? Perhaps you can find some photographs or other mementos to help jog your memory, as you think about the following questions: 1 What did you look like in middle childhood? For example, how tall were you? 2 When did you lose your first teeth? 3 What new physical or mental skills did you learn during this period? 4 What were some of the difficulties or stresses that you faced? 5 In what places did you spend most of your time? What did you do there? 6 Who were the most important people in your life? How would you describe your relationships? Physical development Physical development in middle childhood is relatively slow, but steady. Children’s bodies and brains continue to grow, leading to improvements in attention, thinking, and motor skills. Nutrition and physical exercise play an important role in physical development during the middle childhood years. Body growth As children enter middle childhood, their height and weight increase steadily, although more slowly than they did during infancy and early childhood. During the primary school years, children grow about five to eight cm per year, and add about two to three kilograms per year. By the age of nine, girls are typically taller than boys. Yet even within each sex, some children are bigger than others. Both genetic influences and environmental influences contribute to size differences among children. Nutrition is one of the most important environmental influences on growth. Both undernutrition and overnutrition are problems in South Africa. Motor development During middle childhood, children become stronger and their coordination, balance, and flexibility improve dramatically. This means that their gross motor performance improves as well (recall that Chapter four discussed gross motor skills and defined them as physical skills that involve movement of large muscles and the arms, legs or whole body). Children become skilled at physical activities like running, climbing, skipping, bicycle riding, swimming, and playing sports. Fine motor development also improves during middle childhood (recall that Chapter four discussed fine motor skills and defined them as physical skills that involve the small muscles and precise movements of the hands and fingers). Children’s writing becomes clearer and easier to read, and their drawings become more organised and detailed. Gender differences in motor skills increase during middle childhood (Thomas & French, 1985). Boys tend to do better than girls on most gross motor skills, particularly those that require power and force (for example throwing and kicking). Girls tend to be better at fine motor skills such as writing and drawing, and at activities that combine movement with balance (for example skipping). This is partly due to physical differences between the sexes. For example, boys are usually stronger than girls because they have more muscle cells. However, gender differences in motor skills are also influenced by cultural expectations and gender stereotypes: widely held beliefs or generalisations about what males and females are like. For instance, boys tend to get more encouragement to play sports than girls. But read the box headed ‘Exercise and obesity’, and you will see that physical activity in middle childhood is important for the growth and development of both sexes. Figure 6.1 During middle childhood, improved physical coordination, strength, balance, and flexibility combine to enhance many gross motor skills https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 2/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Exercise and obesity Physical exercise during middle childhood: Improves strength and stamina Helps build healthy bones and muscles Reduces depression, anxiety and stress Increases self-confidence Helps to control weight Reduces the risk of developing obesity. Obesity the condition of having excessive body fat ‘Obesity’ is a term for excessive body fat. It is assessed using a measure called the body mass index (BMI), which estimates a person’s proportion of body fat by dividing their weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres. The World Health Organization defines obesity as a BMI of >30 kg/m2, and overweight as a BMI >25kg/m2. Body mass index a measure of a person’s proportion of body fat; it is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres Obesity is a growing problem among both adults and children in South Africa. Data collected from 2001 to 2004 showed that among South African children aged between eight and eleven years, 12% of boys and 21% of girls were overweight or obese. 11 times more boys and 22 times more girls were obese than was the case in 1994 (Armstrong, Lambert, & Lambert, 2011). Being overweight during childhood can have serious consequences. Overweight children are more likely to become obese adults (Whitaker, Wright, Pepe, Seidel & Dietz, 1997), and obesity in adulthood is associated with a variety of illnesses and an increased chance of early death. Obese children are also more vulnerable https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 3/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective to a number of serious health problems during childhood. These include heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, asthma, disrupted breathing during sleep, and problems involving the bones and joints (commonly known as orthopaedic disorders). In addition, obese children often have social and psychological problems. Compared to normal-weight children, obese children tend to be less popular with their peers and to have fewer friends, and are more likely to be depressed (Daniels, 2006). Why do children become fat? Genetic factors play a role: children are more likely to become obese if their parents are obese. Children who were underweight at birth are also at risk of later obesity. But even children who are biologically predisposed to becoming overweight will become obese only if they eat more calories than their bodies need. Obese children tend to: Eat diets with a high percentage of calories from fats Be less active Watch more television than children of normal weight (Anderson & Butcher, 2006; Goedecke et al., 2006). Increased urbanisation means that many South Africans are moving to a Western diet that has more fat and sugar and less fibre than a traditional African diet (Steyn et al., 2006). In addition, findings of the Birth to Twenty study conducted at the University of the Witwatersrand suggest that most South African children are not getting nearly enough exercise. Less than half of the nine year olds studied took part in physical-education classes at school. Children from poorer households and those living with single parents and less educated mothers tended to do less exercise and watch more television than others. These findings are important, because these children are at risk for later health and social problems (McVeigh, Norris & de Wet, 2004). Brain development Two major growth spurts take place in the brain during middle childhood. The first begins around the age of 6, and the second begins around the age of ten (Somsen, Van’t Klooster, Van der Moolen, Van Leeuwen & Licht, 1997). Both spurts involve the development of new synapses, creating more connections among neurons. Myelination also continues, particularly in the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex (recall that earlier chapters discussed myelination and defined it as a process in which the neurons become covered with a fatty substance called myelin, which increases the speed with which they can communicate with other neurons). These changes in brain structure result in greater coordination between the frontal lobes and other areas of the brain. The changes make it easier for children to control their attention and play an important role in the more organised and complex thinking that children become capable of during the primary school years (Fischer, 2008). CHECK YOUR PROGRESS How do children’s bodies, brains, and motor skills change during middle childhood? How do the motor skills of boys and girls differ during this period? Why do these differences come about? Explain why the low levels of physical exercise in South African children are a cause for concern. Cognitive development Along with the physical gains of middle childhood, between the ages of six and eleven children show dramatic improvements in learning, memory, and problem-solving. Their thinking, in turn, becomes more rational, complex, and adult-like. Piaget’s concrete operational stage Piaget used the term ‘operation’ to refer to the mental activity that a person carries out ‘inside his or her head’ to reach a logical conclusion. Operations allow people to imagine what might happen if something else were to https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 4/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective occur. Around the age of seven, children start to use operations in solving problems (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). Operation Piaget’s term for the mental activity a person carries out ‘inside his or her head’ or in his or her imagination to reach a logical conclusion Piaget called this stage of cognitive development ‘concrete operational’ because during middle childhood, children can think logically only if the problem or object they are thinking about is real, practical, and concrete, and if they can check what they are doing using actual objects. This means that primary school lessons are most likely to be successful if they focus on concrete things rather than abstract ideas, and if children are given the opportunity to try things out themselves. In Chapter one, you saw how Mr Abel taught children in Grade 6 about fractions by cutting up apples. Similarly, if you teach children in primary school how to measure the area and perimeter of a rectangle, you will probably be much more effective if you start with concrete examples (How many tiles do we need for the bathroom? How long a fence do we need to surround the soccer field?) than if you simply give them a rule or formula and expect them to apply it. As children’s thinking becomes more rational during middle childhood, so they become less egocentric, and have less difficulty than younger children have in recognising a point of view other than their own. During middle childhood children become capable of considering more than one aspect of an object or situation at a time – what Piaget referred to as decentration. For example, children of primary school age can understand that the length and width of a rectangle determine its area. Egocentric the difficulty that young children have in recognising a point of view other than their own Decentration the ability to focus on two or more aspects of an object or situation at the same time This ability to focus on two or more dimensions of a problem at the same time means that concrete operational thinkers acquire a skill known as conservation. This means that they realise that certain characteristics of objects – such as quantity, volume, weight, and so on – cannot be judged just on appearances. For example, they realise that the volume of water doesn’t change when they pour it from a short, broad jar into a tall, thin jar, even though it ‘looks’ different. Look at Figure 6.2, which illustrates some common tests of conservation. Conservation the realisation that certain characteristics of objects, such as quantity, volume and weight, stay the same when the outward appearance of the object is changed The ability to conserve shows that children are learning some very important mathematical principles. These include: Identity: A = A and A + 0 = A. Something equals itself, and anything plus zero still equals itself. For example, if there were nine Jelly Tots in a row before, and somebody didn’t add any (or eat any), then there are still nine https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 5/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Jelly Tots there. It doesn’t matter if somebody spreads them out or moves them closer together; even if it looks as if there are more or less, the number of Jelly Tots has not changed. Figure 6.2 Some common tests of conservation Source: Adapted from Sigelman & Rider (2006, p. 180) and Santrock (2005, p. 210) Reversibility: A − B + B = A. When somebody does something, whether it is squash a ball of clay flat or subtract a number, the person can do it in reverse and end up where he or she was before, with the same thing that the person had to begin with. For example, in the conservation-of-liquid experiment using the different- shaped jars, a child who is capable of reversibility knows that there would still be the same amount of liquid if the contents of the tall jar were poured back into the short jar. A preschool child, in contrast, shows irreversibility of thinking, and might insist that the water would overflow from the short jar if it were poured back. Compensation: (A − 1) + (B + 1) = A + B. Changes in one aspect of a problem can balance or make up for changes in another aspect of the problem. For example, in the conservation of volume experiment, a concrete operational thinker can understand that the increased height of the new container is compensated for by its smaller width: it is taller, but it is also thinner. Memory Many researchers believe that children’s new ability to consider two or more aspects of a problem at once is due to increases in their memory abilities. Older children can learn faster and remember more than younger children can. For example, tests of visual memory show that five year olds can remember the colour of one or two blocks they have just seen, whereas ten year olds can keep the colour of three or four blocks in mind (Riggs, McTaggart, Simpson & Freeman, 2006). But why do these improvements occur? John Flavell and Henry Wellman (1977) put forward four major explanations which, taken together, seem to explain why learning and memory improve in middle childhood: Changes in working memory capacity Changes in memory strategies Increased knowledge about memory Increased knowledge about the world. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 6/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Changes in working memory capacity Theorists who adopt an information-processing approach believe that in order to understand the human mind, it is useful to compare it to a computer. A computer’s hardware refers to the machine itself – its keyboard, its storage capacity, and so on. Similarly, the mind’s ‘hardware’ is the brain. One reason that older children can remember more than younger children is that older children have more advanced hardware than young children have – just as today’s computers have greater capacity than those of the past. As children get older, their brains have more space in working memory (so they can keep more information in mind at once), and they can process information more quickly. Information-processing approach an approach to cognitive development in which the human mind is studied by comparing it to the workings of a computer Changes in memory strategies In addition to its hardware, a computer has software – programs for word processing, analysing statistics, and so on. The mind also has ‘software’ – rules, strategies, and other mental ‘programs’ for taking in information, storing it in memory, and getting it out again. Older children have better ‘software’ than younger children. They have learned to use effective methods for getting information into long-term memory, and for retrieving the information when they need it. To learn more about memory strategies, do the activity below. ACTIVITY The following is a memory task. Look at Figure 6.3, which contains 12 objects. Give yourself two minutes to memorise these objects. Now shut your textbook, and write down as many objects as you can remember. Figure 6.3 https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 7/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Source: Adapted from Sigelman & Rider (2006, p. 263) When you did the memory-task activity, what tricks or strategies did you use to make your task easier? Perhaps you helped yourself to remember the items in the picture by simply saying their names over and over, for example, ‘Apple, chair, grapes …’ Repeating items like this when trying to learn and remember is called rehearsal. Preschoolers rarely use rehearsal to move items into long-term memory, but most school-age children use this strategy (Flavell, Beach & Chinsky, 1966). Rehearsal memory strategy involving repeating items Another way you may have helped yourself to remember the items in the picture is by sorting them into meaningful groups such as ‘food’, ‘animals’, and ‘furniture’, and then rehearsing each of the groups. This memory strategy is known as organisation. Another organisational strategy, called chunking, is used when a long number (for example 0216854364) is broken into manageable sub-units (for example 021-685-4364 – a telephone number). The number of children using this strategy increases steadily through the primary school years (Kron- Sperl, Schneider & Hasselhorn, 2008). Organisation memory strategy involving sorting the items into meaningful groups or chunks The last strategy that children learn to use involves creating meaningful links between the items to be remembered by adding either words or images. This strategy is known as elaboration. For instance, you could help yourself to remember two of the items in the Figure 6.3 by picturing a horse eating a pear. Another example of elaboration would be children helping themselves to remember the location of the points of a compass by using a little rhyme such as ‘Noddy Eats Silk Worms’. Elaboration memory strategy involving creating meaningful links between the items to be remembered by adding either words or images Increased knowledge about memory Older children may be able to remember more than younger children because they know more about memory than younger children know (Ghetti, Lyons, Lazzarin & Cornoldi, 2008). For example, older children know how much time and effort they must put in to learn things thoroughly, which strategies best fit different kinds of memory tasks, and so on. Knowledge of memory and memory processes is called metamemory. Metamemory is one aspect of metacognition, or a person’s ability to think about his or her own thought processes. Metamemory knowledge of memory and memory processes Metacognition a person’s ability to think about his or her own thought processes Increased knowledge about the world https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 8/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Older children know more about the world in general than young children know. Because school-aged children have an increased knowledge base, they are more likely to be familiar with the material to be learned, and familiar material is often easier to learn and remember than unfamiliar material. For example, imagine that you are reading a book about jazz. If you already know a lot about jazz, you can read quite quickly because you are able to link the information to what you already know. All you really need to do is to check for any new information, or for information that contradicts what you already know. Learning about a highly unfamiliar topic is much more difficult. Knowledge base how much a person knows about the content area to be learned Even young children appear to develop very effective memory strategies in areas that they know a lot about, whether the topic is, for example, dinosaurs or chess (Chi & Ceci, 1987). So it may be that older children can remember more words or numbers in lists than younger children simply because they are more familiar with language and numbers than young children are. Problem solving The development of children’s memory is closely related to their ability to solve problems, as a person must draw on stored information in order to select appropriate problem-solving strategies (Zheng, Swanson & Marcoulides, 2011). How do children’s problem-solving skills change as they get older? Piaget offered one answer to this question by arguing that children progress from one way of thinking to more complex ways of thinking as they mature. The information-processing theorist Robert Siegler, however, was not satisfied with this explanation. Siegler argued that cognitive development goes on all the time, not just during the shift from one stage to another. Siegler (2000) proposed that children of all ages use a variety of problem-solving strategies. For example, given a subtraction problem such as 12 − 3, children sometimes count down three steps from 12 until they reach 9, but other times count up from 3 until they arrive at 12. Siegler’s ‘rule assessment’ approach assumes that when children fail to solve problems, it is because they failed to take in all the important aspects of the task, or because they were following faulty rules. As they get older, they use less adaptive strategies less, and more adaptive strategies more, and occasionally totally new strategies may appear. Thus, cognitive development works much as evolution does, through a process of natural selection in which many ways of thinking are available, and the most adaptive survive. Other cognitive development Several other advances in thinking help children to carry out the everyday activities they are expected to perform during middle childhood: During middle childhood, children’s ability to control their attention increases (Rebok et al., 1997). They can concentrate on a task more fully, and for longer. School-age children are more able than preschool children to plan in order to reach goals (Parrila & Das, 1996). They are better at deciding what to do first and what to do next in an orderly manner. Metacognition increases during middle childhood. This increase allows older children to weigh up how difficult a problem is and to choose appropriate strategies for solving it (Flavell, Green & Flavell, 1995). Children’s language abilities increase strikingly during middle childhood. The average six or seven year old understands about 10 000 words; this increases to approximately 40 000 words by the time children are ten or eleven (Anglin, 1993). Children also become better at keeping a meaningful conversation going. They also become better at taking into account the knowledge or viewpoint of the person to whom they are talking. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis&… 9/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Classification skills also improve during middle childhood. At about age seven or eight, children first understand the principle of class inclusion, the awareness that lower categories (known as subordinate classes) are included in larger, higher categories (known as superordinate classes) (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). For example, school-age children understand that leopards are included in the class of mammals, and mammals are included in the class of animals. Preschool children understand that leopards are also animals, but they do not yet fully understand the relationship between the classes. Class inclusion the awareness that lower categories are included in larger, higher categories Schooling and cognitive development During middle childhood, children in South Africa spend much of their time in school. As in other countries, instruction in South African schools focuses on learning two basic symbol systems: written language and mathematics. The South African school curriculum is based on a learner-centred educational philosophy. Learner- centred education is based mainly on the work of Lev Vygotsky, but also draws on the ideas of Jean Piaget and John Dewey. The main ideas of learner-centred education are as follows: Children play an active role in their own learning. Learning builds on prior knowledge and experiences, which in turn are determined by the social and cultural context. Language is central to learning and cognitive development (Chisholm & Leyendecker, 2008). What effects does schooling have on children’s cognitive development? Researchers typically use one of two techniques to answer this question: The school-cut-off strategy: This technique involves comparing children of about the same age whose birth dates fall before and after the cut-off date for beginning school. Cross-cultural research: This technique examines the consequences of schooling in cultures where not all children go to school. Overall, the results of these studies suggest that the basic cognitive developments associated with middle childhood (such as concrete operations) occur regardless of whether or not children go to school. However, schooling does improve children’s logic, memory, and metacognitive skills by: Increasing their knowledge base and familiarity with certain tasks Teaching them specific strategies for remembering Increasing their ability to reflect upon and talk about their thought processes (Cole & Cole, 2001). But perhaps the most significant effect of schooling on children’s later lives is that it opens doors to more highly paid jobs and increased social status. Mastering academic skills is therefore very important for children’s future prospects. Almost all South African children aged between seven and thirteen years go to school. However, nearly one out of four South African children has to repeat Grade 1, and many learners drop out of school (Amoateng, Richter, Makiwane & Rama, 2004). Learning outcomes are also poor, on average, both in comparison to other developing countries and in relation to the goals of the South African curriculum (Chisholm, 2004). What are the factors that influence school achievement? The following sections will discuss the influencing factors under the following broad headings: School characteristics Child characteristics https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 10/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Parenting practices. School characteristics International research has often approached the problem of what makes a school good or bad by identifying unusually effective schools. An effective school is defined as one in which learners show one or more of the following characteristics at higher rates than would be predicted, given the kind of families or neighbourhoods they come from: High scores on tests Good attendance at school Low rates of disruptive behaviour in the classroom and delinquency A high rate of later university attendance or college attendance High self-esteem. When these successful schools are compared with others in similar neighbourhoods that have less impressive track records, certain common themes appear (Rutter & Maughan, 2002). Effective schools have clear goals and rules, good control, good communication, and high expectations for their students. They care about the overall well- being of the child, as well as having a focus on academics. Principals of effective schools provide clear and strong leadership, and they are dedicated to effective teaching. Teachers in these schools work well together and share the same goals. A large proportion of parents are involved in school activities. Many primary schools in South Africa – particularly in informal settlements – do not meet these criteria of effective schools, and are of poor quality. Linda Chisholm (2004, 2011) has identified the following specific problems that need to be addressed: The small number of well-qualified teachers, particularly in maths and science Poor school leadership and management A lack of resources such as textbooks High levels of violence, sexism, and racism. Children who are abused or harassed at school often have difficulty concentrating, lose interest in school, and perform below their potential on their schoolwork. The language of teaching and learning. Although 90% of learners in South Africa attend schools in which English is the language of learning and teaching, English is the home language of only 9% of the population. Children who lack adequate English language skills – and whose teachers often also lack such skills – are likely to experience a delay in their academic achievement, sometimes with long-term effects (De Wet, 2002). Such problems mean that while the goals of learner-based education are widely accepted in South Africa, they are often not reflected in actual classroom practice (Chisholm & Leyendecker, 2008). Child characteristics Children with specific learning disabilities do poorly in school, despite having normal intelligence test scores. The most common learning disability is dyslexia (difficulty learning to read). In South Africa, poor performance at school is also related to problems such as malnutrition, stunting, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders which are common in poor communities (Fleisch, 2008). Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) also tend to perform poorly at school because they have difficulty concentrating on their schoolwork. Read the box headed ‘Case study: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,’ which describes the symptoms of ADHD. A child’s success in school can also be influenced by his or her beliefs about his or her own abilities. Learners who have a mastery orientation – who believe that they have the ability to succeed at schoolwork and control their own learning – are more likely to do well at school than students who doubt their abilities (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). Children who believe in their own abilities are more likely to set challenging goals and to use appropriate strategies to achieve them. They try hard, do not give up when they face difficulties, and ask for help https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 11/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective when necessary. In contrast, learners with a helpless orientation are more likely to become frustrated and depressed, and to give up when they experience difficulties, which in turn makes success harder to achieve. Mastery orientation tendency to seek challenges and to persist in the face of failure Helpless orientation tendency to avoid challenges and to give up in the face of obstacles or failure Case study: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder By Mareli Fischer Sipho is ten years old and in Grade 4. This was the first year of his school career that he had to write formal examinations for all of his subjects. He is very worried that he might have failed his exams, and that he will have to repeat the grade. Sipho has always struggled to focus and concentrate on his schoolwork, and this is especially true of the subjects that he dislikes or finds boring. When Sipho had to do revision of the year’s work for his exams, he struggled to be organized, and also realized that he misplaced many of his important notes and study aids. He even forgot to take a calculator to his mathematics exam. Throughout his school career, he has been in constant trouble for talking to his friends during lesson time, and for his inability to sit and listen quietly. He would much rather be running around outside and climbing trees. He is always spending Friday afternoons in detention. All his academic and behaviour problems are negatively affecting Sipho’s self esteem. Sipho’s mother is very worried about her son’s school performance, and she is also concerned about his impulsive, disruptive behaviour that often lands him in trouble at home and at school. She knows that he is an intelligent boy, who is currently not reaching his full academic potential. She takes him to the Red Cross Children’s hospital, where he is seen by a paediatrician and a psychologist, who diagnose him with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The DSM-5 (APA, 2013) classifies symptoms of ADHD into two categories, namely inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Sipho was displaying symptoms that fit into both of these categories. ADHD is one of the most common childhood disorders, that affects children academically, socially and in terms of their future career success. It also causes financial difficulties and other stressors for families (Carroll et al., 2006). Numerous research studies (e.g. Foley, 2011) suggest that ADHD results from particular gene- environment interactions. In other words, a child is born with the genetic predisposition to develop symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention, and this predisposition is most likely to manifest in the presence of certain environmental factors, like low socio-economic status and negative or punitive parenting practices. ADHD is a lifelong disorder, but research suggests that children’s ADHD symptom patterns change as they grow older. Older children are less likely to exhibit overt hyperactive behaviors, such as jumping on furniture or walking around the classroom, but inattentive symptoms seem to decline less over time. Younger children also exhibit more externalizing and aggressive behaviours, and older children are diagnosed more frequently with symptoms of anxiety and depression (Valo & Tannock, 2010). The mental health professionals explain to Sipho’s mother that his behaviour and difficulties at school are symptoms of ADHD, and that he is not misbehaving or performing badly on purpose. Research indicates that the most successful interventions for ADHD use a combination of medication and behavioural therapy (Loren et al., 2013). The doctor prescribes stimulant medication that will help Sipho’s brain to perform optimally, and make it easier for him to concentrate and control his behaviour. The psychologist will see Sipho for a few sessions of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, where she will help him to stop and think before he acts, and also to help him be more organized. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 12/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective REFERENCES Carroll, A., Houghton, S., Taylor, M., Hemingway, F., List-Kerz, M., Cordin, R., & Douglas, G. (2006). Responding to interpersonal and physically provoking situations in classrooms: Emotional intensity in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 2, 209-227. Foley, M. (2011). A Comparison of Family Adversity and Family Dysfunction in families with children with ADHD and families of children without ADHD. Journal for Specialists in Paediatric Nursing, 16, 39-49. Loren, R.E.A., Vaughn, A.J., Langberg, J.M., Cyran, J.E.M., Proano-Raps, T., Smolyanksy, B.H., Tamm, L., & Epstein, J.N. (2013). Effects of an 8-session behavioural parent training group for parents of children with ADHD on child impairment and parenting confidence. Journal of Attention Disorders, published online 18 April 2013. Valo, S. & Tannock, R. (2010). Diagnostic instability of the DSM-IV ADHD subtypes: effects of informant source, instrumentation, and methods for combining symptom reports. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 39, 749-760. Parenting practices Parents of children who are high in mastery motivation and do well at school tend to be authoritative (warm and caring, but also firm and consistent) rather than authoritarian or permissive. These authoritative parents encourage their children by praising them for ability and hard work, and are supportive without being overcontrolling (Ginsburg & Bronstein, 1993). Children whose parents encourage and support their academic learning in a positive manner are likely to enjoy new challenges and feel confident that they can handle them. How, according to Piaget, is children’s thinking in middle childhood different from their thinking in early childhood? Outline four major explanations for why memory improves during middle childhood? Explain how a child’s success in school can be influenced by characteristics of the school, the child, and the child’s parents. The family As important as school is in middle childhood, it is not the only significant influence in children’s lives. During middle childhood, children occupy a much wider range of contexts than they did in early childhood, and spend more time unsupervised by adults and with peers. Nevertheless, the family’s influence on their development remains very powerful. Changing relations with parents As children get older, their relationships with their parents change. By the age of seven, children often start to avoid open shows of affection with their parents in public, and parents in turn expect their children to behave in more responsible ways. Eleanor Maccoby (1984) points out that the issues that come up between parents and children also change; in middle childhood, parents worry more about children’s work and behaviour at school, household chores, and their social lives and activities away from home. Research findings suggest that, as was the case in early childhood, authoritative parenting tends to be associated with good cognitive and social skills in middle childhood, at least within middle-class communities (Kaufmann et al., 2000). However, as children develop, parents use new and more indirect techniques to influence or correct their children’s behaviour. Such techniques include appealing to reason, humour, self-esteem, or guilt. Maccoby (1984) has given the name coregulation to these techniques, in which control of the child’s behaviour relies on cooperation and a sharing of responsibility between parents and children. Coregulation https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 13/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective the process in which control of the child’s behaviour during middle childhood relies on cooperation and a sharing of responsibility between parents and children The influence of siblings Sibling relationships in middle childhood are often ambivalent ‘love–hate’ relationships in which frequent conflict and rivalry exist alongside a great deal of affection, companionship, and kindness (Dunn, 2002). Although researchers have given far less attention to sibling relationships than to parent–child relationships, Gene Brody (2004) has shown that brothers and sisters can have important direct and indirect influences on each other’s development. Sibling a brother or sister Direct contributions of siblings to development According to Brody (2004), most of the contributions that siblings make to development are positive. One of the most important functions of siblings is to provide emotional support. Brothers and sisters confide in one another and can protect and comfort one another during hard times. In addition, older siblings often provide caregiving services for younger siblings. In many rural communities, older girls are the main caregivers for infants and toddlers, and are responsible for feeding them, comforting them, disciplining them, and so on. In other societies, older siblings play less of a role in caregiving, but girls particularly are often asked to babysit their younger siblings. Older siblings who take on a caregiving role learn more quickly to balance their own interests with others’ needs than do older siblings who do not take care of their younger siblings. However, excessive caregiving duties may interfere with the older child’s time spent on homework or school activities. Older siblings also serve as teachers of new behaviour. Interactions with older siblings promote young children’s language and cognitive development, and school-aged children who tutor their younger siblings may benefit as well: they score higher on tests of academic achievement than individuals who have not had these tutoring experiences. The mixture of closeness and conflict that often exists in sibling relationships can also play an important role in helping children to learn to understand other people’s feelings and points of view. Figure 6.4 Sibling rivalry is common in middle childhood – nevertheless, brothers and sisters also provide one another with emotional support and practical help https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 14/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Sibling influences can also be negative, however. Younger siblings growing up with aggressive older siblings are more likely to develop behaviour problems and school difficulties, and to have less positive peer relationships. This is particularly likely to be the case if they live in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where there are high levels of poverty and unemployment. Indirect contributions of siblings to development Brody (2004) discovered that siblings can also influence each other’s development indirectly in the following ways: There is evidence that parents’ positive or negative experiences with older siblings can influence what they expect from younger children, and what parenting strategies they use. Children who believe that they receive less warmth and more negative treatment from their parents than their siblings receive are more likely to develop emotional and behavioural problems. Adjustment problems are particularly likely if the child has a bad or distant individual relationship with his or her parents, and if the child perceives this differential treatment to be unfair. Children are less likely to be negatively affected by differential treatment if their parents treat them well (even if the sibling receives more positive treatment). If they understand why parents treat siblings differently from one another, they are also less likely to interpret differences in treatment as evidence that they are not valued or worthy of love. Possible reasons for parents treating siblings differently include differences in age, personality, and special needs. Variety in family life The research on parent and sibling influences on development assumes that most children grow up in a nuclear family consisting of a mother, a father, and their children. However, this nuclear family has never been the most common family form in many parts of the world, and nowadays it is increasingly rare. Children are growing up in a greater variety of families than ever before, including, for example: Extended families like those of Mpumelelo (from the case study at the start of this chapter), in which relatives such as grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins live in the same household as parents and their children Single-parent families Lesbian- and gay-headed families Reconstituted families with stepparents and stepchildren Families with parents who are unmarried but live together https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 15/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Sibling-headed families. As a result of fostering or adoption, children are also growing up with parents to whom they are not biologically related. Families also change over time, and sometimes dissolve through separation, divorce, or death. What are the most common family forms in South Africa? Data from the General Household Survey in 2012 suggest that the vast majority of children in South Africa live in one of two family types: Extended family households (55% in 2012) Nuclear family households (nearly 37% in 2012). White South Africans are more likely to live in nuclear families. Extended families are more common in African, Asian, or coloured communities (Amoateng et al., 2004). While the majority of children in South Africa live with their biological mothers, most do not live with their biological fathers. In 2002, the fathers of 11,5% of South African children under the age of sixteen were deceased. And in 2002, 45,8% of South African children under the age of sixteen had biological fathers who were alive but absent from the household. Again, there are differences among population groups: less than 40% of all African children aged fifteen years or younger were reported as living with their fathers in 2002, compared to almost 90% of white children (Posel & Devey, 2006). Single-parent families in South Africa The vast majority of children in single-parent families in South Africa live with their mothers. According to the General Household Survey, about 39% of children lived only with their mother in 2012, in comparison to 3% of children who lived only with their fathers at that time (Statistics South Africa, 2013). Many single mothers were never married to their child’s father. The 1996 census in South Africa found that 32% of births among African people occurred outside marriage, compared to 24% among coloured people, 3% among Indian people, and 2% among white people (Amoateng & Richter, 2003). In other cases, these mothers became single as a result of divorce. In 2012, there were almost 22 000 divorces in South Africa. More than 12 000 of these divorcing couples had children under the age of eighteen years (Statistics South Africa, 2015). The divorce rate was highest among African people, followed by white people, and lowest among Indian people. In South Africa, marriages are more likely to dissolve through death than through divorce. In recent years, increased numbers of adult deaths as a result of Aids have led to a rapid rise in the number of children who have experienced the death of one or both of their parents. According to information obtained in the 2012 General Household Survey in South Africa, 3,2 million children (18%) had lost one or both of their biological parents. 11% of all children had lost their biological father only and 3% had lost their biological mother only. A further 4% had lost both biological parents (Statistics South Africa, 2013). Does it make a difference to children if they grow up with only one as opposed to two parents, or if they lose contact with a parent as a result of divorce or death? Because these issues touch many people personally, people often have very strong – and sometimes opposing – views about these issues. But if the aim is to improve children’s lives, it is vital that decisions about what is in their best interest are based on evidence, and not just on personal beliefs. The next section will therefore look at the research that has focused on the outcomes for children who are raised by unmarried single mothers, whose parents separate or divorce, and who experience the death of a parent during childhood. Family structure and developmental outcomes Most of the research on children raised in single-parent families has been conducted in the USA and Western Europe. This research suggests that the outcomes are similar for children whose parents divorce and for those whose parents were never married. On average, children born outside marriage and children whose parents divorce are more likely than children in two-parent families to have emotional and behavioural problems. They are less likely to perform well at school and to have good relations with their peers than children in two-parent https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 16/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective families. Many of these difficulties apparently continue into adulthood. Children raised by single parents are more likely to have a lower educational level, to be unemployed or in low-status jobs, and to experience marital difficulties and symptoms of depression (Amato, 2005). The international research findings on the effects of parental death on child adjustment suggest that experiencing the death of a parent also places children at risk for certain problems, although not as much as divorce or being born to an unmarried mother (Amato, 2005). South African research suggests that children whose parents have died from an Aids-related illness may be particularly vulnerable to developing emotional problems (Cluver, Gardner & Operario, 2007). In order to understand these research results, it is important to note that the differences between children from single-parent and children from two-parent families are small, and average differences do not mean that all children in single-parent families are worse off than all children whose parents are, and remain, married. Overall, the research suggests that most children from single-parent families do not have psychological problems. However, more children from single-parent families are likely to have problems than those of continuously married parents. As a result, many researchers believe that rather than asking whether growing up in a single- parent family is harmful to children, they should rather be asking what factors in single-parent families contribute to children’s adjustment difficulties, and what factors help children to adapt well. Why might children do worse in single-parent families? Paul Amato (2005) has discussed three possible explanations as to why growing up in a single-parent family poses risks to children’s well-being: Economic hardship Exposure to stress Less effective parenting. Economic hardship Most children whose parents are unmarried, divorced, ill or deceased are economically disadvantaged. They often live in communities with high rates of crime, poor-quality schools, and few services. Exposure to stress Stress occurs when the demands of the environment exceed a person’s ability to cope with them. Children living in single-parent families often face a series of stressful experiences. In addition to economic difficulties, these may include the following: The painful feelings associated with the loss of contact with a parent Having to move away from their home and familiar friends and neighbourhoods Disrupted schooling New routines and schedules Increased household chores and work responsibilities Stigmatisation and social isolation. In many cases, these stresses do not have a clear beginning or end. For example, orphaned children may have had to deal with the physical and psychological effects of living with (and often caring for) an ill and dying parent; children whose parents are living with HIV and Aids have shown similar adjustment problems to those of orphans (Bauman et al., 2006). Similarly, children whose parents separate or divorce may be exposed to increased conflict between their parents both before and after one of the parents leaves the home. In fact, several researchers have suggested that it is conflict between a child’s parents, rather than divorce itself, that poses the greatest risk for children. There is evidence that living in a conflict-ridden two-parent family can be more harmful to a child’s development in the long term than living in a stable single-parent family (Harold, 2000). Less effective parenting https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 17/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective The stresses associated with single parenthood, divorce, and the illness and death of family members can also have a negative impact on the quality of parenting. Single parents who have to cope with financial difficulties and other responsibilities without the support of a partner or other relatives are at risk of becoming stressed and depressed. And adults who are stressed and depressed are often not the most effective parents. They may become irritable, impatient, and less sensitive to their children’s needs. They may also be inconsistent in their discipline – sometimes they tend to be too strict, and at other times too lenient. It doesn’t help that children who are going through their parents’ divorce, illness or death are usually not the easiest of children, because they are also suffering. They may become clingy or disrespectful and disobedient, which makes effective parenting even more difficult (Hetherington, Bridges & Insabella, 1998). Figure 6.5 Although divorce is stressful for children, living in a high-conflict twoparent family can be more harmful in the long-term than living in a low-conflict single-parent family What can improve the outcomes for children in single-parent families? Overall, the research evidence suggests that a parent’s marital status is less important for children’s well-being than what happens within families. The most important factor influencing children’s adjustment is the nature of the relationships among all family members, and the quality of the care and support that children receive. For example, parental separation or divorce is unlikely to be damaging to children if parents can control their anger with one another, avoid exposing the child to arguments, and cooperate in providing the child with supportive, authoritative parenting (Kelly & Emery, 2003). Another factor that can help single-parent families to fare better is adequate finances: research shows that children raised by single parents do better at school and have fewer behavioural problems when fathers pay child support (Amato, 2000). Social support from people such as relatives, friends, and school staff can also be very important (Amato, 2000). As was noted above, many children in South Africa live in extended families. In households where biological fathers are not present, other men may assume the social role of father, or act as father figures. Support from extended family members and broader social networks is thought to play an important role in helping people to cope with stress. This type of support is also thought to help people to gain access to material resources and other https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 18/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective opportunities such as jobs (Amoateng et al., 2004). Currently, however, very little is known about the effect of extended family members on child development in South Africa. CHECK YOUR PROGRESS How do children’s relationships with their parents change in middle childhood? Outline the positive influences and negative influences of siblings on development. Explain why growing up in a single-parent family increases the risk of negative outcomes for children. Discuss the factors that help to promote positive outcomes in children growing up with single parents. Peer relationships As important as family relationships are to development, some theorists argue that relationships with peers are at least as significant. Peers are people of approximately the same age and developmental level. Peer relationships are quite different from parent–child relationships. While parents have more power than their children do, peers are usually equals. This means that peers must learn to see things from each other’s point of view. They also have to negotiate, compromise, and cooperate if they are to get along. Some theorists therefore believe that relationships with peers are particularly important for the development of many personal and social skills. Peer a person who is of similar age and developmental level; a social equal ACTIVITY In 1998, Judith Rich Harris published a controversial book, The Nurture Assumption, in which she argued that parents do not have any important long-term effects on their child’s personality, and that peers are in fact far more important in influencing how children turn out (Harris, 1998). Her critics have argued that while she makes important points about the fact that parents are not the only important influence on children, her conclusion is simply wrong. What do you think? Do you feel that your parents or your peers had a greater influence on the person you are today? During middle childhood, children typically spend more and more time with their peers – particularly same- sex peers. Boys spend most of their time playing in groups, whereas girls mostly prefer to play with just one or two other girls at a time. Not all children prefer to spend time with members of their own sex, but this is the most common pattern in all cultures during middle childhood (Maccoby, 1990). As children spend more time playing together, three aspects of peer relationships become increasingly significant: Peer acceptance and popularity Friendship Bullying. Peer acceptance and popularity Some children in the peer group are better liked than others. Researchers study peer-group acceptance through sociometric techniques, in which children in a group are asked to state their feelings about other members of the group. For example, in a nomination procedure, a researcher might ask children in a classroom to choose three classmates whom they especially like and three whom they dislike. The researcher can then work out how popular each child in the group is by counting the number of times the child has been nominated as a ‘liked’ or ‘disliked’ individual. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 19/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Another way of measuring peer popularity is to use a rating scale. For example, a researcher will ask children to rate all of their classmates in terms of one or more dimensions, such as how nice or friendly they are, or how much they like to play with them. By finding out who is liked and who is disliked in a group, researchers can classify children into these four different categories of social status (Coie, Dodge, & Coppotelli, 1982): Sociometric techniques methods for studying peer group acceptance (who is liked or disliked in a group) The popular (liked by most and disliked by few) The rejected (disliked by most and liked by few) The neglected (children who are neither actively liked nor disliked but seem instead to be invisible to their classmates) The controversial (children who are liked by many but also disliked by many). Children who do not fall into any of the above groups are usually averagestatus children who are liked (or disliked) by a medium number of peers. ACTIVITY Think back to your years in primary school. Can you remember children who were popular? Rejected? Neglected? Controversial? What characteristics do you think contributed to the person’s social status, in each case? Why are some children more popular than others? Evidence from a number of studies reviewed by Rubin, Bukowski and Parker (1998) suggests that positive social behaviours and negative social behaviours are the most important influence on children’s social status in middle childhood. The kinds of behaviour that are associated with popularity may vary to some extent from one culture to another, depending on what kinds of behaviours are valued or seen as ‘good’ within that society. At least within Western cultural contexts, however: ‘Popular’ children tend to be those who are socially skilled, friendly, and cooperative. ‘Rejected’ children, in contrast, are often aggressive and disruptive, although some rejected children are extremely shy and withdrawn. ‘Neglected’ children are less sociable than their peers, but they are not aggressive. They tend to be fairly passive and unassertive, so other children don’t really notice them. ‘Controversial’ children tend to have many of the characteristics of both popular and rejected children. For example, they may be aggressive and disruptive, but also helpful, cooperative, and good leaders. Does peer status in childhood have long-term consequences? Most children with poor peer relationships do not develop later adjustment problems. Nevertheless, children who are rejected by their peers are more likely to experience scholastic and psychological difficulties later in life than children who were accepted by their peers. Rejection by peers in childhood – particularly when related to aggression – has been linked to an increased risk of later academic problems, truancy, and school dropout. Adolescents with a history of peer rejection are also more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, to have psychological problems, and to be involved in delinquent or criminal behaviour (Rubin et al., 1998). Why are poor peer relationships in childhood linked to later psychological problems? https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 20/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective The long-term problems shown by children who were rejected by their peers are probably not only or directly due to their poor relationships with peers. For example, children whose parents are harsh and punitive are more likely to have both peer difficulties and emotional difficulties (Kawabata, Alink, Tseng, Van IJzendoorn & Crick, 2011). Also, temperamental characteristics may play a role in social behaviours such as empathy, aggression, and conscience, which are responsible for poor relationships with peers and for other difficulties such as being in trouble with the law (Rothbart, 2007). However, it does seem that in many cases a negative peer reputation (for example ‘He is always hitting’, ‘She’s mean’) can set up a pattern of interactions that causes this reputation to be maintained or to get even worse (Mikami, Lerner & Lun, 2010). For example, imagine nine-year-old boys named Sipho and Lindela. Sipho has good social skills. As a result, his peers like him and he finds it easy to make friends. Through his friendships, he develops his understanding of other people, and improves his social skills further. This, in turn, should make him even more effective with – and usually more valued by – his peers. Lindela, in contrast, has less good social skills than Sipho to begin with. He is sometimes aggressive when he doesn’t get what he wants. Even when he is not aggressive, Lindela’s peers tend to avoid him and to exclude him from their games because they have come to expect negative behaviours from him. As a result, Lindela will probably have few opportunities to learn more socially appropriate patterns of behaviour. He is also likely to come to expect negative behaviour from his peers, which in turn is likely to encourage him to behave in negative ways towards them. A vicious circle then develops between Lindela and his peers, and his reputation is likely to get worse and worse. ACTIVITY Mpumelelo’s self-description in the case study at the beginning of this chapter includes mention of two school friends. Think back to your middle-childhood years. Can you remember a significant friend from this time? What was special about this relationship that made it different from those with people you would not refer to as friends? Did the friendship last? Why or why not? How do you think you were influenced by this friendship at the time? Do you think this friendship has had any long-term effects on your life? Friendship Friendship is generally described as a voluntary relationship involving an affectionate bond (Ladd, 1999). Before age eight or so, friendships tend to be based around enjoying similar activities: a good friend is somebody who is fun to be with. For example, a preschooler might say, ‘Andiswa is my friend, because she lives next door and she plays with me.’ Between the ages of eight and ten, however, children begin to describe friendships based on mutual loyalty, respect, kindness, and affection (Rubin et al., 1998). For example, a nine year old might say ‘Andiswa is my friend, because we like each other and stick by each other no matter what.’ Children in the middle-childhood years want their friends to be psychologically similar to themselves. They emphasise that friends must be sensitive to each other’s point of view. In the context of these friendships, children share private jokes, develop secret codes, talk about their families, gossip, set out on adventures, and help each other in times of trouble. They also fight, threaten, break up, and make up. Friendship voluntary relationship involving an affectionate bond Friendships of the middle-childhood years can be very close and affectionate. They are important for giving children a sense of belonging and social acceptance. In fact, close friends are the most important peers a child has. Popular children are more likely than unpopular ones to have friends, but even most unpopular children manage https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 21/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective to find at least one friend. And regardless of whether they are popular or unpopular, children who have friends tend to be happier and more competent than those without friends, especially if their friends are well adjusted and supportive (Hartup & Stevens, 1997). Bullying Bullying is another aspect of social interaction that tends to appear in middle childhood. Bullying refers to repeated, intentional and organised acts of aggression that are directed towards particular peers (victims). The aggression may be physical (for example hitting), verbal (for example name-calling) or relational. Relational aggression (sometimes it is called covert, indirect or psychological aggression) involves harming another child’s friendships, harming their reputation or deliberately leaving them out of the group. Physical bullying is more common among boys, while girls more often resort to relational bullying. Bullying repeated, intentional, and organised acts of aggression directed towards particular peers (victims) Relational aggression behaviour intended to harm someone by damaging their friendships or reputation or deliberately excluding them from the group Bullies are children who act aggressively without being provoked, in order to dominate other children. Unlike other aggressive children, they are most likely to use force unemotionally, rather than in the heat of an argument. Bullies actually seem to have quite a good understanding of social interaction, but use this knowledge in an antisocial way, to control other people and get what they want (Olweus, 1995). Why do some children become bullies? Dan Olweus (1995), a Norwegian psychologist who is a world expert on bullying, has found that children who are violent towards peers at school are likely to have: Been exposed to violence at home Had few limits placed by parents on aggressive behaviour Had insufficient love and warmth from their parents. Bullies also tend to: Hold positive views of violence Show aggression towards both adults and children Have a strong need to dominate and feel more powerful than other children Feel little empathy for those they are bullying. There is little evidence for the commonly held view that bullies are actually ‘anxious and insecure’ under the surface. It is true, however, that some children may turn to violence a way of defending themselves against others of whom they are afraid. On average, it seems that around 1 in 10 schoolchildren are subject to persistent bullying. The victimised (children who are selectively and actively harmed, psychologically and physically, by bullies) tend to be: Anxious Insecure Lacking in self-esteem and self-confidence https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 22/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective Isolated from the remainder of the peer group (Olweus, 1995). Victims children who are selectively and actively harmed, psychologically and physically, by bullies These personality traits of victimised children are likely to be both a cause and a result of bullying. Children who are cautious, sensitive, and (in the case of boys) physically weak from an early age are likely to find it difficult to assert themselves in the peer group. At the same time, repeated harassment by peers must have considerably increased their anxiety, insecurity, and low self-esteem. It is, however, important not to exaggerate the ‘typical’ characteristics of victims or bullies. Sometimes children can be both victim and bully, depending on the circumstances. Effects of bullying Until quite recently, adults tended to see bullying as playing or teasing which occasionally gets out of hand, or as an inevitable fact of school life, which children will eventually grow out of. However, bullying is now recognised as a serious problem and seen as a form of violence against children. Bullying can have very damaging (and sometimes long-lasting) consequences. Being bullied can lead to a loss of self-esteem and confidence, depression, and, even, suicide (Olweus, 1995). And bullies, in turn, are at risk of becoming involved in criminal behaviour in later life. What can be done to stop bullying? Psychologists who specialise in studying bullying believe it is not enough just to protect the victims and rehabilitate the bullies. Rather, interventions must change the social climate of the entire school. All members of the school community – including educators, learners, and parents – should be made aware of what bullying is and how to respond to it. This whole-school approach has led to important reductions in bullying in a number of cases. However, it is not always effective. More research is therefore needed to determine how, and under what conditions, interventions are likely to be successful (Smith, Schneider, Smith & Ananiadou, 2004). CHECK YOUR PROGRESS What are the four basic categories of social status? How does peer acceptance or rejection in middle childhood influence children’s later lives? What are the characteristics of typical bullies? Psychosocial development As children move from early childhood to middle childhood, the changes that take place in their cognitive capacities and in their social lives contribute to important developments in the way they think about themselves and the world around them. Moral development One of the aspects that reveal these developments is children’s thinking about moral issues. The term ‘morality’ implies an ability to tell the difference between right and wrong and to act on this distinction. But how do people actually decide whether something is right or wrong? Does children’s thinking about moral issues change as they grow older? The American psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg, developed the most comprehensive and best-known https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 23/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective theory of how moral reasoning develops. Chapter five introduced you to this theory; the following sections restate the basic stages of Kohlberg’s theory, and also explain it in further detail. Kohlberg’s theory Kohlberg studied moral reasoning in adolescents and adults as well as in children. Kohlberg’s technique of studying moral reasoning was quite simple. He began by giving people a moral dilemma or problem, usually in the form of a story. Then he asked them questions about this dilemma. Kohlberg’s moral dilemmas were problems that had two or more solutions, each of which is somehow ‘wrong’. In each story, the listener has to make a choice between either obeying a law or rule or someone in authority, or doing something that conflicts with the rules but supports some deserving person whose needs were not being met. Kohlberg’s best-known story goes as follows: A woman is near death from cancer. A pharmacist has discovered a drug that doctors believe might save her. The pharmacist is charging 2 000 dollars for a small dose – ten times what the drug costs him to make. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, borrows from everyone he knows but can scrape together only 1 000 dollars. He begs the pharmacist to sell him the drug for 1 000 dollars or let him pay the rest later. The pharmacist refuses, saying, ‘I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.’ Heinz, desperate, breaks into the man’s store and steals the drug. Should Heinz have done that? Why or why not? (Colby, Kohlberg, Gibbs & Lieberman, 1983, p. 77). Kohlberg carried out a number of studies on moral reasoning. He concluded that the way people look at moral issues reflects cognitive development. As Chapter five explained, he proposed that there are three broad levels of moral reasoning, which he referred to as: Preconventional morality Conventional morality Postconventional morality. Each of these three broad levels is divided into two stages. Kohlberg argued that the sequence of stages is the same for every individual; stages cannot be skipped or reversed. However, different individuals will progress through the stages at different speeds, and some individuals will never reach the later stages. As children’s ability to take (understand) the perspectives of others improves during middle childhood, so some children make a gradual shift from preconventional moral reasoning to conventional moral reasoning. The following sections will take a closer look at these two levels of moral reasoning, and the two stages within each level. Chapter seven will discuss postconventional moral reasoning. As you read about Kohlberg’s theory, it is important to remember that Kohlberg was interested in how and why people decide what to do when faced with a moral dilemma, not what they actually do. In other words, the reasoning underlying a person’s response to a moral dilemma, not the answer itself, is what indicates the stage of moral development. Level one: Preconventional morality For most children up to the age of about ten or so, the personal consequences of an action determine whether the action is judged good or bad: what is right is what the child can get away with, or what is personally satisfying. Moral reasoning at this level focuses on concrete factors such as reward and punishment, and is self-interested or egocentric. Stage one: Punishment-and-obedience orientation In the first stage of moral reasoning, the goodness or badness of an act depends on whether the act is rewarded or punished. Children obey rules in order to avoid punishment, but they might not consider an act wrong if it won’t be punished. An example of a stage-one response to Kohlberg’s ‘Heinz dilemma’ is: ‘He shouldn’t steal the drug because the police might catch him and he would have to go to jail.’ Stage two: Instrumental hedonism https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 24/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective A person at the second stage of moral development bases moral judgements on whether the consequences result in benefits for themselves or for their loved ones. The person obeys the rules in order to gain rewards or to satisfy personal needs. For example, a child at Kohlberg’s stage two of moral reasoning might argue that Heinz should steal the drug because he wants his wife to live, or because some day he might have cancer and will want someone to steal the drug for him. Level two: Conventional morality Towards the end of middle childhood, some children become capable of a more sophisticated form of moral reasoning that Kohlberg referred to as conventional morality. At the conventional level, moral reasoning is guided by doing what family, society, or people in power expect. Children who are capable of conventional moral reasoning have internalised the standards of authority figures. In other words, they have made the moral principles that they have learned their own, and they follow these moral principles even when authority figures are not there to enforce them. Stage three: ‘Good boy’ or ‘good girl’ morality In this stage of moral reasoning, a child tries to be a good person in his or her own eyes and the eyes of others. At this stage, what is right is that which pleases, helps, or is approved of by others. An action is acceptable if the person involved has good intentions, but an action is wrong if the person is acting for selfish reasons. An example of stage-three moral reasoning in relation to Heinz’s dilemma would be: ‘He should steal the drug. That is what a good husband should do. You can’t blame him for doing something out of love for his wife. You’d blame him if he didn’t love his wife enough to save her.’ Stage four: Authority and social-order-maintaining morality At this stage of moral reasoning, the individual believes that moral people are those who do their ‘duty’ to keep society going and avoid the breakdown in the social order ‘if everyone did it’. At this stage, what is right is what upholds the laws of society. An act is always wrong, regardless of motive or circumstances, if the act violates a rule or harms others. In terms of Heinz’s dilemma, a stage-four response might be as follows: ‘Heinz should not steal the drug, because stealing is always wrong. It’s natural for him to want to save his wife, but he still knows that he’s stealing and taking a valuable drug from the man who made it.’ Evaluating Kohlberg’s theory Was Kohlberg correct? Research has supported some aspects of Kohlberg’s theory but questioned other aspects. Kohlberg and his colleagues followed a group of American boys through adulthood and found that they all progressed through Kohlberg’s stages in order, and none of them skipped a stage (Colby et al., 1983). However, Kohlberg’s theory has also been criticised on the following grounds: His stage model is too rigid. It is biased against females. It says a lot about moral reasoning, but little about how people actually behave when faced with moral dilemmas of their own. The rest of this section will consider these criticisms. The criticism that Kohlberg’s stage model is too rigid Some critics of Kohlberg’s theory have argued that moral development may be gradual, rather than occurring in ‘all or nothing’ stages. For example, there is evidence that a person’s stage of moral reasoning might vary depending on the topic. There is also evidence that young children are not trapped in preconventional thinking, but are sometimes capable of quite advanced forms of moral reasoning (Dawson & Gabrielian, 2003). The criticism that Kohlberg’s theory exhibits gender bias https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 25/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective An ex-student of Kohlberg’s, Carol Gilligan, was concerned by the fact that Kohlberg’s theory was developed from data provided only by male participants, and that some early studies found that most girls were at a lower stage of moral reasoning than boys. Gilligan (1982) suggested that perhaps what Kohlberg was actually measuring was a special kind of ‘masculine’ morality, and that his theory was therefore biased again women. She conducted her own experiments on morality and discovered that when she told the story of Heinz stealing the drug for his dying wife to male and female children, they had different perspectives. For example, Jake (aged eleven) said Heinz should steal ‘because human life is worth more than money’. Amy (aged eleven) said that Heinz should not steal the drug ‘because he might have to go to jail and then his wife might get sicker … They should talk it out to find some other way to get the money.’ Gilligan concluded that there are two basic approaches to moral reasoning: The ‘justice’ perspective: In this perspective, illustrated by Jake’s answer, moral reasoning is based on a set of abstract, universal moral principles; this perspective is based on logic and rights. The ‘care’ perspective: In this perspective, illustrated by Amy’s answer, moral reasoning is tied to concrete, specific situations with an emphasis on relationships, communication, and caring for others. Because stereotypical women are tender and caring and stereotypical men are logical and rational, the justice perspective has been viewed as ‘masculine’ and the care perspective as ‘feminine’. This has led to a lot of interest and research on whether men and women use different kinds of moral thought. At this point, however, the evidence suggests that any gender differences in moral orientations are small: both males and females bring a concern for caring and relationships and abstract ideas about right and wrong into their reasoning about real-life moral dilemmas. Moreover, there is little support for the claim that Kohlberg’s theory is biased against women: more recent studies indicate that women reason just as complexly (or even more complexly) about moral issues as men do when their answers are scored by Kohlberg’s criteria (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000). Nevertheless, Gilligan’s theory and research have been important for broadening psychologists’ view of morality by showing that both men and women often think about real-life moral issues in terms of their responsibilities for the welfare of other people. This is something that Kohlberg’s model ignored. The criticism that Kohlberg’s theory fails to explain the relationship between moral reasoning and behaviour Research has found that people who have higher levels of moral reasoning tend, in general, to behave more morally. But this relationship between moral reasoning and behaviour is not a very strong one: almost everyone has at some point done something that they knew to be wrong. Kohlberg’s theory has been criticised because it does not explain how people actually behave in the ‘real world’ when faced with moral dilemmas of their own (Gibbs, 2003). Critics claim that a cognitive approach to moral development gives too little attention to other factors that influence moral behaviour, for example: Emotion: The feelings that surround and motivate right or wrong actions, such as greed, hatred or guilt Experience: Has the child previously been rewarded or punished in similar situations? How has the child seen influential models such as parents and peers behave? Empathy: Does the child have the ability to take another person’s perspective and understand that person’s feelings? Does the child care about other people’s troubles? Ability to think ahead: Can the child foresee and take into account the long-term consequences of his or her actions? Kohlberg himself did recognise that non-cognitive factors such as emotional development and life experiences influence moral judgment. Moral thought is a very important part of children’s moral development, but there is also a need to know something about how individuals actually behave when faced with moral dilemmas of their own. Kohlberg’s theory is therefore most useful when it is combined with other theories that focus on the feeling or behavioural aspects of morality. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE0Nzc2NzFfX0FO0?sid=aa415877-f42d-449a-96df-0b346e56468d@redis… 26/29 10/28/24, 12:43 PM Child and Adolescent Development Second Edition : A South African Socio-cultural Perspective A new sense of self The cognitive developments and social influences associated with middle childhood affect not only children’s thinking about moral issues: they also have important implications for the way children think about themselves. Some researchers think that middle childhood is a particularly important time for the development of the self- concept, and that experiences during this period can have a major impact on children’s self-esteem. Changes in self-concept Susan Harter has studied the development of the self-concept for more than 20 years. Harter (1998) provides evidence that when preschool children are asked to describe themselves, they tend to focus on concrete, observable characteristics (saying, for example, ‘I’m six years old’, ‘I play soccer’, ‘I’m Muslim’, ‘I have two sisters’). Older school-aged children begin to describe themselves in terms of more general, stable traits. Instead of saying, ‘I can kick a ball far,’ they begin to emphasise both positive and negative characteristics and skills (saying, for example, ‘I am good at sports’, ‘I get upset easily’). Note how ten year old Mpumelelo – introduced in the case study at the beginning of this chapter – describes himself as ‘good-looking’. At some time between the ages of about eight and eleven years, children also start to compare themselves to other children (saying, for example, ‘I’m taller than most kids in my class’, ‘I’m not as pretty as my sister’). A major reason for this change in children’s self-descriptions is that school-aged children often make social comparisons, judging their appearance, abilities, and behaviour in relation to those of others. Why does social comparison begin to play a significant role in children’s sense of themselves during middle childhood? For two reasons: Social comparison