PSYC 2314Lifespan Development

Chapter 13

The School Years:

Psychosocial Development

Theories of School-Age Development

• Freud– Latency stage

• Erikson’s– Industry vs. inferiority

• Learning/Cognitive/Sociocultural– Acquisition of new skills, of self understanding

or of social awareness.

Theories of School-Age Development

• Epigenetic– School-age child’s independence is the result of

the species’ need to free parental efforts so that they may be focused on younger children and to accustom school-age children to their peers and the adults in the community.

Understanding Others

• Social Cognition: understanding of other people and groups

• Children’s theory of mind evolves into a complex, multifaceted view of others.

• Younger schoolchildren focus on observable behavior to explain others’ behavior. Older schoolchildren understand the motivation and origins of behavior.

Self-Understanding

• Social Comparison– Tendency to assess one’s abilities,

achievements, social status, etc. by measuring them against others, esp. peers.

– Self-criticism rises and self-esteem dips.

Peer Group

• Peer Group– A group of individuals of roughly the same age

and social status who play, work, or learn together.

• Society of Children– Children develop their own subculture, which

has its own vocabulary, dress codes, and rules of behaviors.

Friendship

• Personal friendship is more important to school-age children than is acceptance by the peer group.

• Middle schoolers tend to choose best friends whose backgrounds, interests, and values are similar to their own.

The Rejected Child

• Children who are actively rejected—who are unpopular most of the time—can be classified as either:– Aggressive-rejected– Withdrawn-rejected

Bullying

• Repeated, systematic attempts to harm a child through physical, verbal, or social attack.– Gender differences– Victims

Consequences of Bullying

• Bullied children are anxious, depressed and underachieving during the months and years of torment. Even years later, they still have damaged self-esteem and painful memories.

• Bullies usu. have friends who abet, fear, and admire them. They become more hostile. Their parents do nothing to stop them.

Intervention

• Change the social climate within schools– Provide educational materials– Evoke sympathy for victims– Train teachers for intervention

Family Support

• Families that function well nurture schoolchildren in five essential ways:– Meeting basic needs– Encouraging learning– Developing self-esteem– Nurturing peer friendships– Providing an environment of harmony and

stability

Family Styles

• Open style– Values contributions from every family

member.

• Closed-style– One parent, usu. the father, sets strict

guidelines, limits, and rules.

Divorce

• Although divorce does, in fact, eventually benefit many children, the disruption and discord surrounding the divorce always adversely affect the children for at least a year or two.

• Divorce may not harm children if the family income remains stable, if fights between the parents are few, and if caregiving by both parents is as good or better than it was before the divorce.

Joint Custody

• Although “joint custody” is theoretically the best decision following a divorce, in practice this often is not the case.– Custodial fathers sometimes do as well as mothers,

partly because they have more income, more authority over sons, and usu. choose to maintain active parenthood.

– Children whose fathers have custody have close relationships with their mothers more often than vice versa.

Variable Factors Impacting Stress

• Number of stresses the child is experiencing concurrently

• The degree to which these stresses affect the overall patterns of the child’s daily life

• How many protective barriers and coping patterns are in place

Coping with Stress

• Child’s Competencies

• Social Support