Socialization Agents and Their Impacts on Children

Running head: SOCIALIZATION AND THEIR IMPACTS 1

Socialization Agents and Their Impacts on Children

Allie Brown

ECE 31: Child, Family, School, Community

Dr. Laurie Daly

September 8, 2014


Socialization Agents and Their Impacts on Children

Some parents might find the agents of socialization irrelevant to child development, but

parents don’t realize the affects they have on their children's growth: physically, mentally, and

cognitively. Through these agents children absorb their own norms and values, which can be

good or bad, depending on how they are presented to the child. It is vital to focus on these agents

from the period of the baby's birth, all the way to adolescence. Family, media, and school/peers

are three agents vital to child development; throughout this paper I will demonstrate in personal

examples, and my professional knowledge and research how the different socialization agents

affect children.

Family

Family is the first agent of socialization a child experiences, and the most significant of

them all. An example of how family can affect a child is if there is fighting going on in the home

of the child. My whole life my parents have fought like cats and dogs and it had a huge impact

on me and my siblings lives; it caused depression and stress as we watched our parents yell and

throw things. Ackerman and Pickering state, "Families under stress produce children under

stress" (1989). I agree with this statement because of the high stress inflicted on me and my

siblings causing negative effects on us mentally and physically.

All members of a family have a vast impact on children's lives, providing them with their

habits, beliefs, and values. As a child I would mimic my mother's every move, and still do at age

19! I have taken in my mother morals and values for my own. I don't drink, smoke, or cuss

because I have always strived to be just like her. Children tend to do this with their parents from

infancy all the way to adolescence and that's why it is vital for you to portray good morals and


values in the home of a growing child. Socialization through the family continues throughout the

child's whole life. In my family, media has always been a big deal.

Media

Media can be affective through TV, internet, video games, books, magazines, etc. In my

family, it was always the video games; I grew up in a family of video game lovers! We had two

TV's in our living room (and one in all of our rooms), one for my brother to play Call of Duty on,

one for my dad, as well as my parents having two computers in their room for when they'd play

Star Wars online. My families love for video games has always affected my family; I didn't

realize it when I was younger, but it caused fighting throughout my family, influenced our values

and morals, our language, the way we dressed, what kind of music taste we had, etc. For

example, my dad's addiction to video games has caused him to not have a job for years, this not

only affected my family's financial state which caused my parents to argue, but started my 5 year

old brothers addiction as well. My brother plays violent video games such as "COD", aka Call of

Duty, all day long and I've notice an increase in aggression over the years and an alter in his

morals. For example, while losing at one of these games he get extremely aggressive and will

yell and throw things. Friedlander says, exposure to violence has been implicated as one cause

of subsequent aggression and violence: It is believed that repeated exposure to real-life and to

entertainment violence may alter cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes (1993). Media is

a increasing problem in the development of young children today.

Peers and School

According to Giodano, a peer group is a group in which young people associate with

others who are approximately their age, and who often enjoy a similar social status (2003). For


instance the kids a child chooses to hang out with at school is their peer group. Because children

are going through that "mimic" stage and are trying to figure out what is normal and what they

like, the children they surround themselves with most of the time are going to have a major

influence on how your child develops. A child's peers can influence a child's choice of: clothing,

language, places they go, music they listen to, etc. For example, my freshman year of high

school I liked to surround myself with the "popular crowd" (my peer group) and because of this I

got pressured into going to parties, dressing in expensive clothing, and talking a certain way. My

family did not have money because of my dad not having a job, but I still would cry if I didn't

get certain clothes because I didn't "fit in" with the other kids I surrounded myself with. Peer

Pressure has a big involvement in negative paths for children causing them to get involved in bad

things in school, or at an older age get involved in crimes, just like I was peer pressured to go to

parties, even if I didn't like to. Not only does the kids in a school affect you but the curriculum

does as well. There is the "formal" curriculum which includes Math, English, History, etc, then

there's the "hidden" curriculum which teaches children morals such as, not to lie, cheat, hit, how

to use proper manners, etc.

Conclusion

Family, media, and peers continue to be an issue in the development of children. In order

to assist children in a positive developmental path parents should surround their kids in a positive

environment and limit the media a child takes in, along with making sure the media is positive

and not violent; instead take them on bike rides or to the park! Also, make sure you are being a

superior role model for your children in order for them to understand what it is good morals and

values. In addition to the morals and values of children, make sure they are surrounding

themselves with the proper peers who will illustrate what good morals and values are.


References

Ackerman, R and Pickering, S (1989). The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children. Retrieved

from http://www.acadv.org/children.html

Friedlander, L (1993). Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the

internet: is there desensitization? Retrieved from

http://wpmedia.blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2010/06/study_2.pdf

Schaefer, R (2010). Agents of Socialization: Peer Group. Retrieved from Sociology, A brief

Introduction.

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Socialization Agents and Their Impacts on Children