CHAPTER EIGHT SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

CHAPTER EIGHT

SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education Canada 8-2

I. THEORIES OF SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Freud and Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective offered key insights into the emotional components of development in the early childhood years

Modern theorists have focused on the role of cognition


A. Psychoanalytic Perspectives Freud described two stages during the preschool

years:– The anal stage, is dominant between ages one

and three– The phallic stage occurs between ages three and

five, during which the Oedipus conflict occurs, resulting in identification with the same-sex parent

– Healthy personality development required the presence of both parents in the home

– Freud suggested that to successfully resolve the Oedipus conflict, relationships between the child and both parents had to be warm and loving

(continued)


Psychoanalytic Perspectives (continued)

Erikson’s stage of autonomy versus shame and doubt centres around the toddler’s new mobility and the accompanying desire for autonomy

Both Freud and Erikson suggest that the key to this period is the balance between the child’s emerging skills and desire for autonomy, and the parents’ need to protect the child and control the child’s behaviour

For Hartup, attachment relationships are necessary to provide the child with protection and security, but in reciprocal relationships, children practice social behaviour and acquire those social skills that can only be learned in a relationship between equals—cooperation, competition, and intimacy


B. Social-Cognitive Perspectives

Social-cognitive theory: the theoretical perspective that asserts that social and personality development in early childhood are related to improvements in the cognitive domain

Assumes that social/emotional changes are the result of, or at least facilitated by, the enormous growth in cognitive abilities that happens during the preschool years

Person perception: the ability to classify others according to categories such as age and gender

(continued)


Social-Cognitive Perspectives (continued)

Understanding Rule Categories– Young children use classification skills to

distinguish between social conventions and moral rules

Understanding Others’ Intentions– Young children understand intentions to some

degree

– Children understand that intentional wrong-doing is deserving of greater punishments than unintentional rule transgressions


II. FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Family relationships constitute one of the most, if not the most, important contributing factor to early childhood development

These relationships reflect both continuity and change in that the preschooler is no less attached to his or her family than the infant but, at the same time, is struggling to establish independence


A. Attachment

Attachment quality predicts behaviour during the preschool years—children who are securely attached to parents experience fewer behaviour problems

Four- and five-year-olds who are securely attached to their parents are more likely than insecurely attached peers to have positive relationships with their preschool teachers


B. Parenting StylesDiana Baumrind focuses on four aspects of

family functioning:

– Warmth or nurturance– Level of expectations– Clarity and consistency of rules– Communication between parent and child

(continued)


Parenting Styles (continued)

Maccoby’s Parenting Styles:– Authoritarian parenting style: a style of parenting

that is low in nurturance and communication, but high in control and maturity demands

– Permissive parenting style: a style of parenting that is high in nurturance and low in maturity demands, control, and communication

– Authoritative parenting: style a style of parenting that is high in nurturance, maturity demands, control, and communication

– Uninvolved parenting style: a style of parenting that is low in nurturance, maturity demands, control, and communication. This style produces the most consistently negative outcomes

(continued)


Maccoby and Martin’s Expansion on Baumrind’s Theories



Canadian Parenting Styles– About 33% are authoritative

• They scored above average on all key measures of parenting practice

• Only 1 in 5 children had behavioural problems

– 25% were authoritarian

– 25% were permissive

– 15% scored low – similar to uninvolved• Almost half of these children had behavioural

problems

(continued)



Parenting and Child Discipline – Discipline: training, whether physical, mental or

moral, that develops self-control, moral character and proper conduct

– Two problems make if hard to identify effective discipline:

• Difficult to establish the effects of the discipline• Intensity and frequency of discipline are hard to

measure– Different styles of discipline work on different

temperaments of children

(continued)



Policy Question: How Should We Discipline Our Children?

Research is equivocal: some studies link childhood spanking with adult problems, others do not

When is discipline assault?– Recent court cases have found care givers guilty of

assault for ‘spanking’January 2004: Supreme Court of Canada rules that

physical force can be applied within ‘reasonable limits’ as a form of discipline, but does not allow:– Hitting with objects– Delivering slaps or blows to the face or head– Using physical punishment on children under 2 years or

over 12


C. Ethnicity, Socio-Economic Status, and Parenting Styles Parenting style may be dependent upon the cultural

context in which parents and children live, so that as the cultural context changes the best corresponding type of parenting style changes with it

Canadian studies have shown that parenting style is a better predictor of poor outcomes in a child than is a parent’s socio-economic status

Good parenting practices are common in all SES levels, as are hostile/ineffective parenting practices

Children raised in lower SES families are more likely to experience a greater number of risk factors and this, coupled with ineffective or hostile parenting practices, results in proportionally higher levels of vulnerability


Risk Factors Associated with Problems at Age 2-3


Lone-parent Income and Negative Outcomes


III. FAMILY STRUCTURE AND DIVORCE

It is important to examine how the structure of children’s families may influence their development


A. Family Structure

Despite increases in the number of single-parent households, the majority pattern in Canada continues to be the two-parent family

The proportion of single-parent families in Canada exceeds that of some other industrialized societies

Families are far more diverse than in the pastThe impact of lone-parenthood has different

outcomes depending upon the age of the childOther Types of Family Structures

– Research on Grandparents raising children is limited– Children raised in gay and lesbian families show no

differences in cognitive or social development compared to other family structures


High Stress, by Household Type


B. Divorce

Divorce is generally traumatic for childrenChildren are probably affected by a multitude of

divorce-related factors such as:– Parental conflict

– Poverty

– Disruptions of daily routineChildren whose parents separate or stay in

conflict-ridden marriages, even if they do not actually divorce, may experience many of the same effects


C. Understanding the Effects of Family Structure and Divorce

Non-intact families seem to have negative effects for three key reasons:– Single parenthood or divorce reduces the financial and

emotional resources available to support the child– Any family transition involves upheaval during which the

parents often find it difficult to maintain good monitoring and control over the children

– Single parenthood, divorce, and step-parenthood all increase the likelihood that the family climate or style will shift away from authoritative parenting towards less optimal forms

Extended families seem to serve a protective function for children who are growing up in single-parent homes


Proportion of Children with Emotional or Behavioural Problems pre/post Divorce


IV. PEER RELATIONSHIPS The child’s family experience is a central

influence on emerging personality and social relationships, particularly in early childhood when a good portion of the time is still spent with parents and siblings

Over the years from ages 2 to 6, relationships with non-sibling peers become increasingly important

This is the critical period when brain development and function is most sensitive to social skills development


A. Relating to Peers Through Play

Relating to Peers Through Play– Solitary play

• Parallel play – All ages of children

• Parallel play– 14 – 18 months

• Cooperative play– 3 – 4 years old

– Social skills: a set of behaviours that usually lead to being accepted as a play partner or friend by peers


B. Aggression Physical Aggression (PA) Peaks at age 2Indirect Aggression (IA) increases to age 11

– Most children show declining levels of PA with low level IA between 2 and 8 years

– Most who are low on PA to begin with remain low on IA

– Boys and girls with high early PA levels usually show increasing IA over time

– A small percentage show declining PA with rising IA

– PA and IA almost always occur togetherThe strongest predictor for high levels of PA and

IA is a hostile parenting style(continued)


Aggression (continued)

Initial physical aggression shifts to indirect aggression– As verbal skills improve– As egocentrism declines– As dominance hierarchies emerge

• Strayer shows that pecking orders of leaders and followers emerge as early as 3 or 4 years

• Knowing who can win or lose a fight reduces the actual amount of physical aggression

Frustration makes aggression more likely, and toddlers and preschoolers are often frustrated; as life control increases, frustration decreases

Modelling plays a key role in aggressionHarsh, punitive parenting is linked with aggressionAggressive behaviour tends to run in families


Physical and Indirect Aggression of Boys and Girls Across Childhood


Child Behaviours: Witnessing Fights at Home


Changing Parental Practices Changes Behaviour


C. Prosocial Behaviour & Friendships Prosocial behaviour: behaviour intended to

help another personProsocial behaviour becomes evident by 2 or 3

years of ageThe role of empathy:

– One study shows girls to be more prosocial than boys

– Empathy is an important predictor of interpersonal closeness for both genders

(continued)


Prosocial Behaviour & Friendship (continued)

Parental Influences on Prosocial Behaviour– Parents of altruistic children:

• Create a loving and warm family climate • Provide prosocial attributions—statements about

the cause of an event or behaviour • Look for opportunities for their children to do

helpful things• Model thoughtful and generous behaviour, that is,

they demonstrate consistency between what they say and what they do

(continued)


Prosocial Behaviour & Friendship (continued)

Friendships– An important change in social behaviour during

early childhood is the formation of stable relationships:

• 18 months: early hints of playmate preferences or individual friendships

• Age 3: 20% of children have a stable playmate• Age 4: more than half spend 30% or more of their

time with one other child– Having a stable friend in early childhood is related

to social competence during the elementary years


V. PERSONALITY AND SELF-CONCEPT

As young children gain more understanding of the social environment, their temperaments ripen into true personalities

At the same time, their self-concepts become more complex, allowing them to exercise greater control over their own behaviour


A. From Temperament to Personality Temperament is reasonably stable over time

– 3- or 4-year-olds with difficult temperaments are more likely to show heightened aggressiveness, delinquency, or other forms of behaviour problems in school, as teenagers, and as adults

– Shy preschoolers are at risk of developing emotional difficulties later in childhood

Inborn infant temperament constitutes the foundation of personality in later childhood and adulthood

Transition to personality is influenced by parental responses to temperament


B. Self-Concept

Categorical Self: – The self-concept (and the concept of others)

tends to focus on his or her own visible characteristics

Emotional Self:– The acquisition of emotional control is central to

this stage– Acquiring emotional control involves shifting

control slowly from the parents to the child– Parents who expect age-appropriate behaviours

increase the switch to self control

(continued)


Self-Concept (continued)

Social Self: – The toddler now begins to develop a variety of

social “scripts” – Sociodramatic play provides opportunities to take

explicit roles, helping the child become more independent

– Children adjust to school in several different ways


VI. THE GENDER CONCEPT AND SEX ROLES

Gender concept: understanding of gender, gender-related behaviour, and sex roles

Sex roles: behaviour expected for males and females in a given culture


A. Explaining Gender Concept & Sex-Role Development Social Learning Explanations:

– Theorists emphasize the role of parents in shaping children’s sex-role behaviour and attitudes

Social-Cognitive Explanations:– Kohlberg’s gender constancy theory asserts

that children must understand that gender is a permanent characteristic (gender constancy) before they can adopt appropriate sex roles

Gender schema theory: – an information-processing approach to gender

concept development that asserts that people use a schema for each gender to process information about themselves and others


B. The Gender Concept

Gender identity: the ability to correctly label oneself and others as male or female

Gender stability: the understanding that gender is a stable, life-long characteristic

True gender constancy is the recognition that someone stays the same gender even though she or he may appear to change by wearing different clothes or changing their hair length


C. Sex-Role KnowledgeThe content of adult stereotypes is remarkably

similar in cultures around the world– Women are associated with gentleness,

weakness, appreciativeness, and soft-heartedness

– Men are associated with aggression, strength, cruelty, and coarseness

By age 3 or 4, children can assign occupation, toys, and activities to the stereotypic gender

By age 5, children begin to associate certain personality traits with males or females

Five- to six-year-olds, having figured out that gender is permanent, are searching for a rule about how boys and girls behave


D. Sex-Typed Behaviour Sex-typed behaviour: different patterns of

behaviour exhibited by boys and girlsSex-typed behaviour develops earlier than ideas

about sex rolesBoy-boy and girl-girl interactions vary in qualityMaccoby describes girls’ enabling style and

boys’ constricting/restrictive styleCross-gender behaviour is tolerated more in

girls than boysSex-typed behaviour results from much more

than just cultural modelling and reinforcement

Documents

CHAPTER EIGHT SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD