Louisiana Snapshot

 

Louisiana is well-known for its vibrant and delicious food culture. For many in the Pelican State, learning this culture of preparing and sharing food starts in childhood. Taking elements from the cultural and culinary traditions that form the ethnic mix of the state—French, Spanish, Native American, and African—it has produced a unique cuisine relying heavily on local ingredients (crawfish, sassafras, cayenne, pecans, satsumas, watermelon, yams, et al.) that are transformed using the cooking styles known to native and enslaved peoples in addition to colonists and settlers. For children in Louisiana, learning to behave at a table with adults, mastering the basics of table etiquette, and learning from adults to appreciate the unique flavors and work that goes into preparing meals is a rite of passage for children. They are encouraged to learn to eat many of the same foods as adults, in smaller portions and perhaps less assertively seasoned. However, the same flavorings as those distinct flavors will guide their taste as they develop their future cooking skills as adults.

Introduction

Middle and late childhood spans early childhood and adolescence, ages 6 to 11. Children gain greater control over the movement of their bodies, mastering many gross and fine motor skills that eluded the younger child. Changes in the brain during this age not only enable physical development but also contribute to more significant reasoning and flexibility of thought. School becomes a big part of middle and late childhood, expanding their world beyond their family’s boundaries. Peers start to take center stage, often prompting changes in the parent-child relationship. Peer acceptance also influences children’s self-perception and may have consequences for emotional development beyond these years.

Think for a moment about children this age that you may know. What are their lives like? What kinds of concerns do they express, and with what activities are their days filled? If possible, would you want to return to this period of life? Why or why not? Early childhood and adolescence seem to get much more attention than middle and youth. Perhaps this is because growth patterns are slow; the id becomes hidden during the latent stage, according to Freud, and children spend much more time in school, with friends, and in structured activities. Parents may quickly lose track of their children’s development unless they stay directly involved in these worlds. I think it is essential to stop and give full attention to middle and late childhood to stay in touch with these children and to take notice of the varied influences on their lives in a larger world.

Physical Development

Growth Rates and Motor Skills

Rates of growth generally slow during these years. Typically, a child will gain about 5-7 pounds yearly and grow about 2-3 inches yearly (CDC, 2000). They also tend to slim down and gain muscle strength and lung capacity, making it possible to engage in strenuous physical activity for long periods. The beginning of the growth spurt, which occurs before puberty, begins two years earlier for females than males. The mean age for the onset of the growth spurt for girls is nine, while for boys, it is eleven. Children of this age tend to sharpen their abilities to perform gross motor skills, such as riding a bike, and fine motor skills, such as cutting their fingernails. Boys typically outperform girls in gross motor skills (involving large muscles), while with fine motor skills (small muscles), girls outperform boys. These improvements in motor skills are related to brain growth and experience during this developmental period.

Two major brain growth spurts occur during middle/late childhood (Spreen, Risser, and Edgell, 1995). Between ages 6 and 8, significant improvements in fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination are noted. Then, between 10 and 12 years of age, the frontal lobes become more developed, and progress in logic, planning, and memory is evident (van der Molen & Molenaar, 1994). Middle-to-late-childhood children can also better plan and coordinate activities using the brain’s left and right hemispheres and control emotional outbursts. Paying attention is also improved as the prefrontal cortex matures (Markant & Thomas, 2013).

Organized Sports: Pros and Cons

Middle childhood seems to be a great time to introduce children to organized sports. And in fact, many parents do. Nearly 3 million children play soccer in the United States (listen to NPR’s “Youth Soccer Coaches Encouraged to Ease Regimen” story from 5/24/06). This activity promises to help children build social skills, improve athletically, and learn a sense of competition. It has been suggested, however, that the emphasis on competition and athletic skill can be counterproductive and lead children to grow tired of the game and want to quit. In many respects, it appears that children’s activities are no longer children’s activities once adults become involved and approach the games as adults rather than children. The U.S. Soccer Federation recently advised coaches to reduce the amount of drilling engaged during practice and allow children to play more freely and choose their positions. The hope is that this will build on their love of the game and foster their natural talents.

New Concerns

Childhood Obesity

The decreased participation in school physical education and youth sports is just one of many factors that have led to an increase in children being overweight or obese. The current measurement for determining excess weight is the Body Mass Index (BMI), which expresses the relationship of height to weight. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children whose BMI is at or above the 85th percentile for their age are considered overweight. In contrast, children at or above the 95th percentile are considered obese. Excess weight and obesity in children are associated with a variety of medical and cognitive conditions, including high blood pressure, insulin resistance, inflammation, depression, and lower academic achievement (Lu, S., 2016)

Being overweight has also been linked to impaired brain functioning, which includes deficits in executive functioning, working memory, mental flexibility, and decision-making (Liang et al., 2014). Children who ate more saturated fats performed worse on relational memory tasks, while eating a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids promoted relational memory skills (Davidson, T. L., 2014). Using animal studies, Davidson et al. (2013) found that large amounts of processed sugars and saturated fat weakened the blood-brain barrier, especially in the hippocampus. This can make the brain more vulnerable to harmful substances, impairing its functioning. Another critical executive functioning skill is controlling impulses and delaying gratification. Children who are overweight show less inhibitory control than normal-weight children, which may make it more difficult for them to avoid unhealthy foods (Lu, S., 2016). Overall, being overweight as a child increases the risk for cognitive decline at one age. Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, to learn more about childhood obesity and overweight.

Behavioral interventions, including training children to overcome impulsive behavior, are being researched to help children achieve and maintain a healthy weight (Lu, S., 2016). Practicing inhibition has been shown to strengthen the ability to resist unhealthy foods. Parents can help their children the best when they are warm and supportive without using shame or guilt. Parents can also act like the child’s frontal lobe until it is developed by helping them make correct food choices and praising their efforts (Liang et al., 2014). Parents should take caution against emphasizing diet alone to avoid the development of any obsession with dieting that can lead to eating disorders. Instead, increasing a child’s activity level is most helpful.

Recall from earlier chapters that children in early childhood are in Piaget’s pre-operational stage, and during this stage, children are learning to think symbolically about the world. Cognitive skills continue to expand in middle and late childhood as thought processes become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete information. Children at this age understand past, present, and future concepts, allowing them to plan and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process complex ideas such as addition and subtraction and cause-and-effect relationships.

A Look at School Lunches

Many children in the United States buy their lunches in the school cafeteria, so it might be worthwhile to look at the nutritional content of school lunches. You can obtain this information through your local school district’s website. An example of a school menu and nutritional analysis from a school district in north central Texas is a meal consisting of pasta alfredo, a breadstick, a peach cup, tomato soup, a brownie, and 2% milk and complies with Federal Nutrition Guidelines of 108% of recommended calories, 24% protein, 55% carbohydrates, 27% fat, and 8% saturated fats, according to the website. Students may also purchase chips, cookies, or ice cream along with their meals. Many school districts rely on selling desserts and other items in the lunchrooms to make additional revenues. Many children purchase these additional items, so our look at their nutritional intake should also consider this.

Consider another menu from an elementary school in the state of Washington. This sample meal includes a chicken burger, tater tots, fruit and veggies, and 1% or nonfat milk. This meal also complies with Federal Nutrition Guidelines but has 300 fewer calories. And children are not allowed to purchase additional desserts such as cookies or ice cream.

Of course, children eat away from school as well. Listen to NPR’s Kids Have Easy Access to Junk Food to hear a story about how advertising and fast food restaurant locations may influence children’s diets.

Cognitive Development

Recall from our last lesson on early childhood that it is in the pre-operational stage, according to Piaget. During this stage, children are learning to think symbolically about the world. As children continue into elementary school, they develop the ability to represent ideas and events more flexibly and logically. Their thinking rules still seem very basic by adult standards and usually operate unconsciously. Still, they allow children to solve problems more systematically than before and, therefore, to be successful with many academic tasks. In the concrete operational stage, for example, a child may unconsciously follow the rule, “If nothing is added or taken away, then the amount of something stays the same.” This simple principle helps children understand specific arithmetic tasks, such as adding or subtracting zero from a number, and to do particular classroom science experiments, such as ones involving judgments of the amounts of liquids when mixed. Piaget called this period the concrete operational stage because children mentally “operate” on tangible objects and events.

Concrete Operational Thought

From ages 7 to 11, the school-aged child is in what Piaget called the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. This involves mastering the use of logic in concrete ways. The word concrete refers to tangible, that which can be seen, touched, or experienced directly. The substantial operational child can use logical principles to solve problems involving the physical world. For example, the child can understand principles of cause and effect, size, and distance.

The child can use logic to solve problems tied to their direct experience but has trouble solving hypothetical problems or considering more abstract issues. The child uses inductive reasoning, a logical process in which multiple premises believed to be accurate are combined to obtain a specific conclusion. For example, a child has one rude friend or another friend who is also rude; the same is true for a third friend. The child may conclude that friends are rude. We will see that this way of thinking tends to change during adolescence as deductive reasoning emerges. We will now explore three of the significant capacities that the concrete operational child exhibits.

Thought Becomes Multidimensional

Children who have developed past the point of concrete operational thought no longer focus on only one dimension of any object (such as the height of the glass). They can coordinate multiple dimensions simultaneously (such as the width of the glass). They are no longer limited by centration, which is why this gain is also known by the term “decentration”. Multidimensionality allows children to take multiple perspectives simultaneously, understand part-whole relationships, and cross-classify objects using various features.

• Multiple perspectives. Remember our discussion of pre-operational thought—when young children were asked to describe the Three Mountain display from the perspective of someone sitting across the table from them? They could only report on the view from one perspective—their own. With the emergence of connote operations, children now understand that people looking from different vantage points see other features. They can coordinate multiple perspectives. This skill is valuable and can be practiced while playing with peers and settling peer disputes.
• Part-whole relationships. Think back to pre-operational thought, where if you showed a child a bouquet of six daisies and three roses and asked them whether there were “red” daisies or flowers, they would typically answer “daisies.” They could not coordinate the two perspectives of “part” and “whole.” Now, in middle childhood, these questions seem silly—of course, there are more flowers, and flowers include daisies and roses. The correct answer is evident at this age—it’s a logical necessity.
• Classification. As children’s experiences and vocabularies grow, they build schemata and organize objects differently. They also understand classification hierarchies and can arrange objects into various classes and subclasses.

Thought Becomes Operational

A second major shift in cognitive development during middle childhood occurs when thought becomes operational, by which Piaget meant that it consists of reversible, organized systems of mental actions. These systems allow children to undo actions (reversibility) mentally and to understand that specific properties of objects (like their number, mass, volume, and so on) remain constant despite transformations in appearance (conservation).

• Reversibility. The child learns that some things that have changed can be returned to their original state. Water can be frozen and become liquid again, but eggs cannot be unscrambled. Arithmetic operations are also reversible: 2 + 3 = 5 and 5 – 3 = 2. Many of these cognitive skills are incorporated into the school’s curriculum through mathematical problems and worksheets about which situations are reversible or irreversible.

• Conservation. Remember the example in our last chapter of pre-operational children thinking that a tall beaker filled with 8 ounces of water was “more” than a short, wide bowl filled with 8 ounces of water? Concrete operational children can understand the concept of conservation, which means that changing one quality (in this example, height or water level) can be compensated for by changes in another quality (width). Consequently, each container has the same amount of water, although one is taller and narrower, and the other is shorter and wider.

Thought Becomes Logical

A third significant accomplishment of operational development is that thought becomes logical, and children can reason logically about factual events.

• They are inferring higher-order characteristics. Young children’s reasoning was focused on the perceptual. Children can now consider a variety of specific cues and use the power of inference to reach a logical conclusion about higher-order characteristics. This capacity is seen in children’s understanding of their and other people’s capacities. For example, after a child does well on multiple assignments in math, she may conclude that she is high in math ability.
• Identify defining features. At the same time, young children’s understanding was dominated by the most perceptually salient features of objects; with concrete operational thought, children in middle childhood focus instead on the defining features of particular objects or states. They are not distracted by the most salient features; they recognize the underlying defining characteristics. For example, young children might think bicycles and toasters are alive (a kind of thought called “animism,” remember?) because they move. By middle childhood, however, children understand that even though many mechanical devices (e.g., cars, fireworks) and natural objects (e.g., the sun, the tides) move, only plants and animals have a life force, which is the defining feature of being alive.
• Seriation. The concrete operational child now demonstrates systematically arranging items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight. For example, they can methodically put a series of different-sized sticks in order by size. This is a complicated task that requires multidimensional thinking because each object must be placed so that it is bigger than the one before it but smaller than the one after it. These capacities allow children to make social comparisons, estimating who is more significant or better along some attribute or capacity. Social comparison plays a role in the shift in children’s estimates of their capacities; they change from the rosy overestimates of early childhood (where everyone sees themselves as “good” at everything regardless of performance) to a more accurate view that corresponds to external referents (e.g., school grades) during middle childhood.
• Transitive inference. Understanding how objects are compared is referred to as transitivity or transitive inference. If one understands that a dog is a mammal and a poodle is a dog, then a poodle must be a mammal.

Limitations of Concrete Operational Thought

These new cognitive skills increase the child’s understanding of the physical world; however, according to Piaget, they still cannot think abstractly. Additionally, they do not believe in systematic scientific ways. For example, when asked which variables influence the period a pendulum takes to complete its arc and given weights they can attach to strings to do experiments, most children younger than 12 perform biased experiments from which no conclusions can be drawn (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958).

Information Processing Theory

Information processing theory is a classic theory of memory that compares how the mind works to computers storing, processing, and retrieving information.

There are three levels of memory:

1. Sensory register: Information first enters our sensory register. Stop reading and look around the room very quickly. (Yes. Please do it!) Okay. What do you remember? Chances are, not much. Everything you see and hear is entered into your sensory register. And although you might have heard yourself sigh, caught a glimpse of your dog walking across the room, and smelled the soup on the stove, you did not register those sensations. Sensations are continuously coming into our brains, yet most of these sensations are never really perceived or stored in our minds. They are lost after a few seconds because they were immediately filtered out as irrelevant. If the information is not perceived or stored, it is discarded quickly.

2. Working memory (short-term memory): If information is meaningful (either because it reminds us of something else or because we must remember it for something like a history test we will be taking in 5 minutes), it makes its way into our working memory. This consists of information of which we are immediately aware. All the things on your mind now are part of your working memory. A limited amount of information can be kept in the working memory at any time. So, if you are given too much information at a time, you may “lose” some of it. (Have you ever been writing down notes in a class, and the instructor speaks too quickly for you to get it all in your notes? You are trying to get it down and out of your working memory to make room for new information, and if you cannot “dump” that information onto your paper and out of your mind quickly enough, you lose what has been said.)

Information in our working memory must be stored effectively to be accessible to us for later use. It is stored in our long-term memory or knowledge base.

3. Knowledge base (long-term memory): This memory level is unlimited and stores information for days, months, or years. It consists of things that we know of or can remember if asked. This is where you want the information to be stored as concepts. The critical thing to remember about storage is that it must be done meaningfully or compellingly. In other words, if you try to repeat something several times to remember it, you may only be able to recognize the sound of the word rather than the concept’s meaning. So, you will be lost if you are asked to explain the word’s meaning or apply an idea somehow. Studying involves organizing information in a meaningful way for later retrieval. Passively reading a text is usually inadequate and should be considered the first step in learning material. Writing keywords, thinking of examples to illustrate their meaning, and feeling how concepts are related are all techniques helpful for organizing information for practical storage and later retrieval.

Children can learn and remember during middle childhood due to improvements in how they attend to and store information. As children enter school and learn more about the world, they develop more categories for concepts and learn more efficient strategies for storing and retrieving data. One significant reason is that they continue to have more experiences to tie into new knowledge. New experiences are similar to old ones or remind the child of something else about which they know. This helps them file away new experiences more efficiently.

They also have a better understanding of how well they are performing on a task and the level of difficulty of a task. They can adapt studying strategies to meet their needs as they become more realistic about their abilities. While preschoolers may spend as much time on an unimportant aspect of a problem as they do on the main point, school-aged children learn to prioritize and gauge what is significant and what is not. They develop metacognition or understanding of the best way to solve a problem. They gain more tools and strategies (such as “I before e except after c” so they know that “receive” is correct but “recieve” is not).

Language Development

Vocabulary

One of the reasons that children can classify objects in so many ways is that they have acquired a vocabulary to do so. By 5th grade, a child’s vocabulary has grown to 40,000 words. It grows at 20 words per day, which exceeds that of preschoolers. This language explosion, however, differs from that of preschoolers because it is facilitated by associating new words with those already known and accompanied by a more sophisticated understanding of the meanings of a word.

New Understanding

The child is also able to think of objects in less literal ways. For example, if asked for the first word that comes to mind when one hears the word “pizza,” the preschooler is likely to say “eat” or some word that describes what is done with a pizza. However, the school-aged child is likelier to place pizza in the appropriate category and say “food” or “carbohydrate.”

This sophistication of vocabulary is also evidenced in the fact that school-aged children can tell jokes and delight in doing so. They may use jokes involving plays on words, such as “knock-knock,” or jokes with punchlines. Preschoolers do not understand plays on words and rely on telling “jokes” that are literal or slapstick, such as “A man fell in the mud! Isn’t that funny?”

Grammar and Flexibility

School-aged children can also learn new rules of grammar with more flexibility. While preschoolers are likely reluctant to give up saying, “I goed there,” school-aged children will learn this rather quickly, along with other grammar. While the preschool years might be a good time to learn a second language by (being able to understand and speak the language), the school years may be the best time to be taught the formal rules of that second language (i.e., grammar).

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg (1963) built on the work of Piaget and was interested in discovering how our moral reasoning changes as we age. He wanted to find out how people decide what is right and what is wrong. Just as Piaget believed that children’s cognitive development follows specific patterns, Kohlberg (1984) argued that we learn our moral values through active thinking and reasoning and that moral development follows a series of stages organized into three levels of moral reasons. To study moral development, Kohlberg posed ethical dilemmas to children, teenagers, and adults, such as the following: a man is trying to obtain an expensive drug that his wife needs to treat her cancer. The man has no money; no one will loan him the money he requires. He begs the pharmacist to reduce the price, but the pharmacist refuses. So, the man decides to break into the pharmacy to steal the drug. Then Kohlberg asked the children to determine if the man was right or wrong in his choice. Kohlberg was not interested in whether they said the man was right or wrong; he was interested in finding out how they arrived at such a decision. He wanted to know what they thought made something right or wrong.

Level One: Pre-conventional Morality

The youngest subjects seemed to answer based on what would happen to the man due to the act. For example, they might say the man should not break into the pharmacy because the pharmacist might find him and beat him. Or they might say that the man should break in and steal the drug, and his wife will give him a big kiss. Right or wrong, both decisions were based on what would physically happen to the man due to the act. This is a self-centered approach to moral decision-making. He called this most superficial understanding of right and wrong pre-conventional moral development. Pre-conventional morality focuses on self-interest. Punishment is avoided, and rewards are sought. Adults can also fall into these stages, particularly under pressure.

Level Two: Conventional Moral Development

Middle-childhood boys seemed to base their answers on what other people would think of the man as a result of his act. For instance, they might say he should break into the store, and everyone would think he was a good husband. Or, he shouldn’t because it is against the law. In either case, right and wrong are determined by what other people think. A good decision gains the approval of others or one that complies with the law. This he called conventional morality; people care about the effect of their actions on others. Some older children, adolescents, and adults use this reasoning.

Level Three: Post-conventional Moral Development

Older children were the only ones to appreciate that this story has different levels of right and wrong. Right and wrong are based on social contracts established for the good of everyone or on universal principles of right and wrong that transcend the self and social convention. For example, the man should break into the store because, even if it is against the law, the wife needs the drug, and her life is more important than the consequences the man might face for breaking the law. Or, the man should not violate the principle of the right of property because this rule is essential for social order. In either case, the person’s judgment goes beyond what happens to the self. It is based on a concern for others, society as a whole, or an ethical standard rather than a legal one. This level is called post-conventional moral development because it goes beyond convention or what other people think to a higher, universal ethical principle of conduct that may or may not be reflected in the law. Notice that such thinking (the kind supreme justices do all day in deliberating whether a law is moral or ethical, etc.) requires being able to think abstractly. Often, this is not accomplished until a person reaches adolescence or adulthood.

Although research has supported Kohlberg’s idea that moral reasoning changes from an early emphasis on punishment and social rules and regulations to more general ethical principles, as with Piaget’s approach, Kohlberg’s stage model is probably too simple; for one, people may use higher levels of reasoning for some types of problems but revert to lower levels in situations where doing so is more consistent with their goals or beliefs (Rest, 1979). Second, it has been argued that the stage model is appropriate for Western, rather than non-Western, samples in which allegiance to social norms, such as children’s authority, may be paramount (Haidt, 2001). In addition, there is frequently little correlation between how we score on the moral stages and how we behave in real life.

Developmental Problems

Children’s cognitive and social skills are evaluated as they enter and progress through school. Sometimes, this evaluation indicates that a child needs special language assistance or learning to interact with others. Evaluation and diagnosis of a child can be the first step in helping to provide that child with the type of instruction and resources needed. But diagnosis and labeling also have social implications. It is important to consider that children can be misdiagnosed and that once a child has received a diagnostic label, the child, teachers, and family members may tend to interpret the child’s actions through that label. The label can also influence the child’s self-concept. Consider, for example, a child who is misdiagnosed as learning disabled. That child may expect to have difficulties in school, lack confidence, and, out of these expectations, have trouble indeed. This self-fulfilling prophecy or tendency to act in such a way as to make what you predict will happen come true calls our attention to the power that labels can have, whether or not they are accurately applied.   It is also essential to consider that children’s difficulties can change over time; a child with problems in school may improve later or live under the circumstances as an adult where the problem (such as a delay in math skills or reading skills) is no longer relevant. That person, however, will still be labeled as learning disabled. It should be recognized that the distinction between abnormal and normal behavior is not always clear; some strange behavior in children is relatively common. Misdiagnosis may be more of a concern when evaluating learning difficulties than in cases of autism spectrum disorder, where unusual behaviors are clear and consistent.

Considering these cautionary considerations, let’s focus on some developmental and learning difficulties.

Autism Spectrum Disorders

The estimate published by the Centers for Disease Control (2006) is that about 1 out of every 166 children in the United States has an autism spectrum disorder. Autism spectrum disorders include autism, Asperger’s disorder, and pervasive developmental disabilities. Many of these children are not identified until they reach school age. In 2003, about 141,000 children received special education through public schools (Centers for Disease Control, 2006). These disorders are found in all racial and ethnic groups and are more common in boys than in girls. These disorders are marked by difficulty in social interactions, problems in various areas of communication, and difficulty with altering patterns or daily routines. There is no single cause of ASDs, and the causes of these disorders are, to a large extent, unknown. In cases involving identical twins, if one twin has autism, the other is also autistic about 75 percent of the time. Rubella, fragile X syndrome, and PKU, which have been untreated, are some of the medical conditions associated with the risks of autism.

None of these disorders is curable. Some individuals benefit from medications that alleviate some of the symptoms of ASDs. However, the most effective treatments involve behavioral intervention and teaching techniques used to promote the development of language and social skills and to structure learning environments that accommodate the needs of these children.

Autism is a developmental disorder more commonly known than Asperger’s or pervasive developmental disorders. An autistic person has difficulty with and lacks interest in learning a language. An autistic child may respond to a question by repeating the question or might rarely speak. Sometimes, autistic children learn more complex words before simple words or complicated tasks before easier ones. The person has difficulty reading social cues, such as the meanings of non-verbal gestures such as a wave of the hand or the emotion associated with a frown. Intense sensitivity to touch or visual stimulation may also be experienced. Autistic children have poor social skills and are unable to communicate with others or empathize with others emotionally. An autistic views the world differently and learns differently than others. Autistic children prefer routines and patterns and become upset when routines are altered. For example, moving the furniture or changing the daily schedule can be very upsetting.

Some consider Asperger’s syndrome to be the same as high-functioning autism. Others suggest that Asperger’s disorder is different from autism in that language development is generally not delayed (Medline Plus, 2006). A person with Asperger’s syndrome does not experience cognitive development but has difficulty in social interactions. This person may be identified as strange by others, have difficulty reading or identifying with other people’s emotions, prefer routines, and become upset if routines are displaced. Many people with Asperger’s syndrome may have above-average intelligence and an intense focus of interest in a particular field. For example, a person may be interested in and knowledgeable about cars. Another might be very interested in the smell of people’s shoes.

Pervasive developmental disorder is a term used to refer to difficulties in socialization and delays in developing communicative skills. This is usually recognized before three years of age. A child with PDD may interact in unusual ways with toys, people, or situations and engage in repetitive movement.

Learning Disabilities

What is a learning disability? The spectrum disorders just described impact many areas of the child’s life. And if a child is developmentally disabled, that child is typically slow in all areas of learning. However, a child with a learning disability has problems in a specific area or with a particular task or type of activity related to education. A learning difficulty is a deficit in a child’s ability to perform an expected academic skill (Berger, 2005). These difficulties are identified in school because children’s intellectual abilities are tested, compared, and measured. Consequently, once academic testing is no longer essential in that person’s life (as when working rather than going to school), these disabilities may no longer be noticed or relevant, depending on the person’s job and the extent of the disability.

Dyslexia is one of the most commonly diagnosed disabilities and involves having difficulty in the area of reading. This diagnosis is used for several reading difficulties. For example, the child may reverse letters, have difficulty reading from left to right, or have problems associating letters with sounds. It appears to be rooted in some neurological problems involving the parts of the brain active in recognizing letters, verbally responding, or being able to manipulate sounds (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2006). Treatment typically involves altering teaching methods to accommodate the person’s problematic area.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is considered a neurological and behavioral disorder in which a person has difficulty staying on task, screening out distractions, and inhibiting behavioral outbursts. The most commonly recommended treatment involves using medication, structuring the classroom environment to minimize distractions, tutoring, and teaching parents to set limits and encourage age-appropriate behavior (NINDS, 2006).

Learning and Intelligence

Theories of Intelligence

Intelligence tests and psychological definitions of intelligence have been heavily criticized since the 1970s for being biased toward Anglo-American, middle-class respondents and inadequate tools for measuring non-academic intelligence or talent. Intelligence changes with experience and intelligence quotients or scores do not reflect that ability to change. What is considered intelligent varies culturally; most intelligence tests do not consider this variation. For example, in the West, being smart is associated with being quick. A person who answers a question the fastest is seen as the smartest. But in some cultures, being smart is related to considering an idea thoroughly before answering. A well-thought-out, contemplative answer is the best answer.

Multiple Intelligences

Gardner (1983, 1998, 1999) suggests that there are not one but nine domains of intelligence. The first three are skills that are measured by IQ tests:

• Logical-mathematical: the ability to solve mathematical problems, problems of logic, numerical patterns
• Linguistic: vocabulary, reading comprehension, function of language
• Spatial: visual accuracy, ability to read maps, understand space and distance

The following six represent skills not measured in standard IQ tests but talents or abilities that can also be important for success in various fields. These are:

• Musical: ability to understand patterns in music, hear pitches, recognize rhythms and melodies
• Bodily-kinesthetic: motor coordination, grace of movement, agility, strength
• Naturalistic: knowledge of plants, animals, minerals, climate, weather
• Interpersonal: understand the emotions, mood, and motivation of others; able to communicate effectively
• Intrapersonal: understanding of the self, mood, motivation, temperament, realistic knowledge of strengths, weaknesses
• Existential: concern about and experience of life’s more significant questions, meaning of life, or spiritual matters

Gardner contends that these are also forms of intelligence. A high IQ does not always ensure success in life or necessarily indicate that a person has common sense, good interpersonal skills, or other necessary abilities.

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Another alternative view of intelligence is presented by Sternberg (1997; 1999). Sternberg offers three types of intelligence. Sternberg provided background information about his theory of intelligence at a conference I attended several years ago. He described his frustration as a committee member charged with selecting graduate students for a psychology program. He was concerned that there was too much emphasis on aptitude test scores and believed there were other, less easily measured qualities necessary for success in a graduate program and the world of work. Aptitude test scores indicate the first type of intelligence: academic.

• Academic (componential): includes the ability to solve problems of logic, verbal comprehension, vocabulary, and spatial skills.

Sternberg noted that students with high academic abilities may still not have what is required to be a successful graduate student or a competent professional. He said that to do well as a graduate student, the person needs to be creative. The second type of intelligence emphasizes this quality.

• Creative (experiential): applying newly found skills to novel situations.

A potential graduate student might be academically strong and have creative ideas but still lack the social skills to work effectively with others or practice good judgment in various situations. This common sense is the third type of intelligence.

• Practical (contextual): the ability to use common sense and to know what is called for in a situation.

This type of intelligence helps people know when problems must be solved. Practical intelligence can help a person understand how to act and what to wear for job interviews, when to get out of problematic relationships, how to get along with others at work, and when to make changes to reduce stress.

Let’s apply these theories of intelligence to the world of children. To what extent are these intelligences cultivated at home and in the schools?

The World of School

Remember the ecological systems model that we explored in Chapter 2? This model helps us understand an individual by examining the contexts in which the person lives and the direct and indirect influences on that person’s life. School becomes an essential component of children’s lives during middle childhood, and one way to understand children is to look at the world of school. We have discussed educational policies that impact the curriculum in schools above. Now, let’s focus on the school experience from the standpoint of the student, the teacher and parent relationship, and the cultural messages or hidden curriculum taught in schools in the United States.

Parental Involvement in School:  Parents vary in their level of involvement with their children’s schools. Teachers often complain that they have difficulty getting parents to participate in their child’s education and devise various techniques to keep parents in touch with daily and overall progress. For example, parents may be required to sign a behavior chart each evening to be returned to school or be given information about the school’s events through websites and newsletters. Other factors need to be considered when looking at parental involvement. To explore these, ask yourself if all parents who enter the school with concerns about their child are received similarly. What would make a teacher or principal more likely to consider the parent’s worries if not? What would make this less likely?

Lareau and Horvat (2004) found that teachers seek a particular type of involvement from parents. While teachers thought they were open and neutral in their responses to parental involvement, teachers were most receptive to support, praise, and agreement from parents who were most similar in race and social class to the teachers. Parents criticizing the school or its policies were less likely to be given a voice. Parents with higher income levels, occupational status, and other qualities favored in society have family capital. This is a form of power that can be used to improve a child’s education. Parents who do not have these qualities may find it more difficult to be effectively involved. Lareau and Horvat (2004) offer three cases of African-American parents concerned about school discrimination. Despite evidence that such discrimination existed, their children’s White, middle-class teachers were reluctant to address the situation directly. Note the variation in approaches and outcomes for these “three families”:

• The Masons: This working-class African-American couple, a minister and a beautician, voiced direct complaints about school discrimination. Their claims were thought to undermine the authority of the school, and as a result, their daughter was kept in a lower reading class. However, her grade was boosted to “avoid a scene,” and the parents were not told of this grade change.
• The Irvings: This middle-class African-American couple was concerned that the school discriminated against Black students. They fought against it without using confrontation by staying actively involved in their daughter’s schooling and frequent visits to the school to ensure that discrimination did not occur. They also discussed their concerns with the child’s African-American teachers and parents.
• Ms. Caldron: This poor, single parent was concerned about discrimination in the school. She was a recovering drug addict receiving welfare. She did not discuss her concerns with other parents because she did not know the other parents and did not monitor her child’s progress or get involved with the school. She felt that her concerns would not receive attention. She requested spelling lists from the teacher several times but did not receive them. The teacher complained that Ms. Caldron did not sign forms sent home for her signature.

Working within the system without confrontation yielded better results for the Irvings, although the school’s discrimination issue was not thoroughly addressed. Ms. Caldron was the least involved and felt powerless in the school setting. Her lack of family capital and lack of knowledge and confidence keep her from addressing her concerns with the teachers. What would happen if she directly addressed the teachers and complained about discrimination? Chances are, she would be dismissed as undermining the authority of the school, just as the Masons, and might be thought to lack credibility because of her poverty and drug addiction. The authors of this study suggest that teachers closely examine their biases against parents. Schools may also need to look at their ability to dialogue with parents about school policies in more open ways. What happens when parents have concerns over school policy or view student problems as arising from flaws in the educational system? How are parents who are critical of the school treated? And are their children treated reasonably even when the school is being criticized? Indeed, any efforts to improve effective parental involvement should address these concerns.

Student Perspectives

Imagine being a 3rd-grader for one day in public school. What would the daily routine involve? To what extent would the institution dictate the day’s activities, and how much would you spend on those activities? Would you always be “on task”? What would you say if someone asked you how your day went? Or “What happened in school today?” Chances are, you would be more inclined to talk about whom you sat at lunch with or who brought a puppy to class than to describe how fractions are added.

Ethnographer and Professor of Education Peter McLaren (1999) describes the student’s typical day as filled with constrictive and unnecessary rituals that damage the desire to learn. Students move between various states as they negotiate the demands of the school system and their interests. Most of the day (298 minutes) occurs in the student state. In this state, the student focuses on a task or tries to stay focused on a task and is passive, compliant, and often frustrated. Long pauses before getting out the next book or finding materials sometimes indicate frustration. The street corner state is where the child is playful, energetic, and excited and expresses personal opinions, feelings, and beliefs. About 66 minutes a day take place in this state. Children try to maximize this by going slowly to assemblies or getting a hall pass. They are always eager to say “hello” to a friend or to wave if one of their classmates is in another room. This is the state in which friends talk and play. Teachers sometimes reward students with opportunities to move freely, chat, or be themselves. But when students initiate the street corner state independently, they risk losing recess time, getting extra homework, or being ridiculed in front of their peers. The home state occurs when parents or siblings visit the school. Children in this state may enjoy special privileges such as going home early or being exempt from specific school rules in the mother’s presence. Or it can be difficult if the parent is there to discuss trouble at school with a staff member. The sanctity state is when the child is contemplative, quiet, or prayerful and is a brief part of the day.

Since students seem to have so much enthusiasm and energy in the street corner state, what would happen if the student and street corner states could be combined? Would it be possible? Many educators feel concerned about the level of stress children experience in school. Some stress can be attributed to problems in friendships. Some can result from the emphasis on testing and grades, as reflected in a Newsweek article entitled “The New First Grade: Are Kids Getting Pushed Too Fast Too Soon?” (Tyre, 2006). This article reports a principal’s concern that students burn out as early as 3rd grade. In the book The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, Kohn (2006) argues that neither research nor experience supports claims that homework reinforces learning and builds responsibility. Why do schools assign homework so frequently? A look at cultural influences on education may provide some answers.

Cultural Influences

Another way to examine the world of school is to look at the cultural values, concepts, behaviors, and roles that are part of the school experience but are not part of the formal curriculum. These are part of the hidden curriculum but are nevertheless compelling messages. The hidden curriculum includes ideas of patriotism, gender roles, the ranking of occupations and classes, competition, and other values. Teachers, counselors, and other students specify and make known what is considered appropriate for girls and boys. The gender curriculum continues into high school, college, and professional school. Students learn a ranking system of occupations and social classes as well. Students in gifted programs or those moving toward college preparation classes may be considered superior to those receiving tutoring.

Gracy (2004) suggests that cultural training occurs early. Kindergarten is an “academic boot camp” in which students are prepared for their future student role of complying with an adult-imposed structure and routine designed to produce docile, obedient children who do not question meaningless tasks that will become so much of their future lives as students. A typical day is filled with structure, ritual, and routine, allowing little creativity or direct, hands-on contact. “Kindergarten, therefore, can be seen as preparing children not only for participation in the bureaucratic organization of large modern school systems but also for the large-scale occupational bureaucracies of modern society” (Gracy, 2004, p. 148).

What do you think? Let’s examine a kindergarten class schedule taken from a website found by going to Google and typing in “kindergarten schedule.” You can find more of these on your own. Most look similar to this one:

8:30 to 9:00 Morning Work/ Breakfast
9:00 to 9:10 Announcements/Movement/ Music
9:10 to 9:40 Whole group literacy
9:40 to 10:30 Literacy stations
10:30 to 10:40 Music/Movement/Math game
10:40 to 11:20 Whole group math
11:30 to 12:05 Lunch & Recess
12:05 to 12:30 Reading Aloud
12:30 to 1:10 Music
1:10 to 1:40 Rest/Read & Write
1:40 to 2:10 Science or Social Studies (alternate days)
2:10 to 2:20 Snack time
2:20 to 2:40 Recess
2:40 to 3:20 Learning stations (vary by day)
3:20 to 3:30 Clean-up & Dismissal

(Source: Differentiated Kindergarten)

To what extent do you think that students are being prepared for their future student role? What are the pros and cons of such preparation? Look at the curriculum for kindergarten and the first few grades in your school district. Emphasizing math and reading in preschool and kindergarten classes is becoming more common in some school districts. It is not without controversy, however. Some suggest that emphasis is warranted to help students learn math and reading skills needed throughout school and at work. This will also help school districts improve their accountability through test performance. Others argue that learning is becoming too structured to be enjoyable or effective and that students are being taught only to focus on performance and test-taking. Students learn that incivility or lack of sincere concern for politeness and consideration of others is taught in kindergarten through 12th grades through teachers’ “what is on the test” mentality. Students are introduced to accept routinized, meaningless information to perform well on tests. They are experiencing the stress felt by teachers, and school districts focused on test scores and taught that their worth comes from their test scores. Genuine interest, an appreciation of the learning process, and value for others are essential components of success in the workplace that are not part of the hidden curriculum in today’s schools.

Schools and Testing

Children’s academic performance is often measured with the use of standardized tests. Achievement tests are used to measure what a child has already learned. Achievement tests are often used to measure teaching effectiveness within a school setting and to make schools that receive tax dollars (such as public schools, charter schools, and private schools that accept vouchers) accountable to the government for their performance. In 2001, President George W. Bush signed into effect the No Child Left Behind Act, mandating that schools administer achievement tests to students and publish those results so that parents have an idea of their children’s performance and the government has information on the gaps in educational achievement between children from various social class, racial, and ethnic groups. Schools that show significant gaps in these performance levels are to work toward narrowing these gaps. Educators have criticized the policy for focusing too much on testing as the only indication of performance levels.

Aptitude tests are designed to measure a student’s ability to learn or to determine if a person has potential in a particular program. These are often used at the beginning of a study or as part of college entrance requirements. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) are perhaps the most familiar aptitude tests for students in grades six and above. Learning test-taking skills and preparing for SATs has become part of the training that some students in these grades receive as part of their pre-college preparation. Other aptitude tests include the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), and the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). Intelligence tests are also a form of aptitude test designed to measure a person’s ability to learn.

Theories of Intelligence

Intelligence tests and psychological definitions of intelligence have been heavily criticized since the 1970s for being biased toward Anglo-American, middle-class respondents and inadequate tools for measuring non-academic intelligence or talent. Intelligence changes with experience and intelligence quotients or scores do not reflect that ability to change. What is considered intelligent varies culturally; most intelligence tests do not consider this variation. For example, in the West, being smart is associated with being quick. A person who answers a question the fastest is seen as the smartest. But in some cultures, being smart is related to considering an idea thoroughly before answering. A well-thought-out, contemplative answer is the best answer.

Psychosocial Development

Erikson: Industry vs. Inferiority

According to Erikson, middle- and late-childhood children are very busy or industrious (Erikson, 1982). They are constantly doing, planning, playing, getting together with friends, and achieving. This is a very active time and a time when they are gaining a sense of how they measure up when compared with peers. Erikson believed that if these industrious children can be successful in their endeavors, they will gain confidence for future challenges. If not, a feeling of inferiority can be particularly haunting during middle and late childhood.

Self-Understanding

Self-concept refers to beliefs about general personal identity (Seiffert, 2011). These beliefs include personal attributes, such as age, physical characteristics, behaviors, and competencies. Middle- and late-childhood children have a more realistic sense of self than early-childhood children, and they better understand their strengths and weaknesses. This can be attributed to others’ significant experience in comparing their children’s experiences with that of others and greater cognitive ability. Children in middle and late childhood can also include other peoples’ appraisals of them in their self-concept, including parents, teachers, peers, culture, and media. Internalizing others’ appraisals and creating social comparisons affect children’s self-esteem, defined as an evaluation of one’s identity. Children can have individual assessments of how well they perform various activities and develop an overall global self-assessment. If there is a discrepancy between how children view themselves and what they consider to be their ideal selves, their self-esteem can be negatively affected.

Another critical development in self-understanding is self-efficacy, which is the belief that you can carry out a specific task or reach a particular goal (Bandura, 1997). Significant discrepancies between self-efficacy and ability can create motivational problems for the individual (Seifert, 2011). If students believe they can solve mathematical problems, they are likelier to attempt the mathematics homework the teacher assigns.

Unfortunately, the converse is also true. If a student believes they are incapable of math, then the student is less likely to attempt the math homework regardless of the student’s actual ability in math. Since self-efficacy is self-constructed, students can miscalculate or misperceive their basic skills, and these misperceptions can have complex effects on students’ motivations. It is possible to have either too much or too little self-efficacy, and according to Bandura (1997), the optimum level seems to be either at or slightly above actual ability.

Sexual Abuse in Middle Childhood

Being sexually abused as a child can have a powerful impact on self-concept. Childhood sexual abuse is defined as any sexual contact between a child and an adult or a much older child. Incest refers to sexual contact between family members. In each of these cases, the child is exploited by an older person without regard for the child’s developmental immaturity and inability to understand the sexual behavior (Steele, 1986). False self-training (Davis, 1999) refers to holding a child to adult standards while denying the child’s developmental needs. Sexual abuse is just one example of false self-training. Children are born to adult standards of desirableness and sexuality while their level of cognitive, psychological, and emotional immaturity is ignored. Consider how confusing it might be for a 9-year-old girl who has physically matured early to be thought of as a potential sex partner. Her cognitive, psychological, and emotional state does not equip her to make decisions about sexuality or, perhaps, to know that she can say no to sexual advances. She may feel like a 9-year-old in all ways and be embarrassed and ashamed of her physical development. Girls who mature early have problems with low self-esteem because of the failure of others (family members, teachers, ministers, peers, advertisers, and others) to recognize and respect their developmental needs. Overall, youth are more likely to be victimized because they do not have control over their contact with offenders (parents, babysitters, etc.) and have no means of escape (Finkelhor and Dzuiba-Leatherman, in Davis, 1999).

Researchers estimate that 1 out of 4 girls and 1 out of 10 boys has been sexually abused (Valente, 2005). The median age for sexual abuse is 8 or 9 years for both boys and girls (Finkelhor et. al. 1990). A male sexually abuses most boys and girls. Although rates of sexual abuse are higher for girls than for boys, boys may be less likely to report abuse because of the cultural expectation that boys should be able to take care of themselves and because of the stigma attached to homosexual encounters (Finkelhor et al. 1990). Girls are more likely to be abused by family members and boys by strangers. Sexual abuse can create feelings of self-blame, betrayal, and feelings of shame and guilt (Valente, 2005). Sexual abuse is particularly damaging when the perpetrator is someone the child trusts and may lead to depression, anxiety, problems with intimacy, and suicide (Valente, 2005). The topic of the sexualization of girls in media and society was of chief concern to the American Psychological Association in 2007, and their findings and recommendations to reduce this problem can be accessed here.

Industry vs. Inferiority

According to Erikson, children in middle childhood are very busy or industrious. They are constantly doing, planning, playing, getting together with friends, achieving. This is a very active time and a time when they are gaining a sense of how they measure up when compared with friends. Erikson believed that if these industrious children can be successful in their endeavors, they will gain confidence for future challenges. If not, a sense of inferiority can be particularly haunting during middle childhood.

The Society of Children

As toddlers, children may begin to prefer certain playmates (Ross & Lollis, 1989). However, peer interactions at this age “often involve more parallel play than intentional social interactions” (Pettit, Clawson, Dodge, & Bates, 1996). By age four, many children use the word “friend” when referring to specific children and do so with a fair degree of stability (Hartup, 1983). However, among young children, “friendship” is often based on proximity, such as living next door or attending the same school, or it refers to whomever they are playing with at the time (Rubin, 1980).

Friendships are essential to judge one’s worth, competence, and attractiveness in middle and late childhood. Friendships provide the opportunity to learn social skills, such as communicating with others and negotiating differences. Children get ideas from one another about how to perform specific tasks, how to gain popularity, what to wear or say, and how to act. This society of children marks a transition from a life focused on the family to a life concerned with peers. Peers play a crucial role in a child’s self-esteem at this age, as any parent who has tried to console a rejected child will tell you. No matter how complimentary and encouraging the parent may be, being rejected by friends can only be remedied by renewed acceptance.

Peer Relationships

Most children want to be liked and accepted by their friends. Some popular children are friendly and have good social skills. These popular-prosocial children are cooperative and friendly and do well in school. Popular-antisocial children may gain popularity by acting tough or spreading rumors about others (Cillessen & Mayeux, 2004). Rejected children are sometimes excluded because they are shy and withdrawn. The withdrawn-rejected children are easy targets for bullies because they are unlikely to retaliate when belittled (Boulton, 1999). Other rejected children are ostracized because they are aggressive, loud, and argumentative. The aggressive-rejected children may be acting out of a feeling of insecurity. Unfortunately, their fear of rejection leads to behavior that brings further rejection from other children. Children who are not accepted are more likely to experience conflict, lack confidence, and have trouble adjusting.

Family Life

Parchild’s Styles

As discussed in the previous chapter, parenting styles affect parents’ relationships with their children. During middle childhood, children spend less time with parents and more time with peers. And parents may have to modify their approach to parenting to accommodate the child’s growing independence. Using reason and engaging in joint decision-making whenever possible may be the most effective approach (Berk, 2007). However, Asian-American, African-American, and Mexican-American parents are more likely than European-Americans to use an authoritarian style of parenting. This autocratic style of parenting that uses strict discipline and focuses on obedience is also tempered with acceptance and warmth on the part of the parents. Children raised like this tend to be confident, booming, and happy (Chao, 2001; Stewart and Bond, 2002).

Family Tasks

One of the ways to assess the quality of family life is to consider the tasks of families.

Berger (2005) lists five family functions:

1. Providing food, clothing, and shelter
2. Encouraging Learning
3. Developing self-esteem
4. Nurturing friendships with peers
5. Providing harmony

In addition to providing food, shelter, and clothing, families are responsible for helping the child learn, relate to others, and have a confident sense of self. The family provides a harmonious and stable environment for living. A good home environment is one in which the child’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs are adequately met. Sometimes, families emphasize physical needs but ignore mental or emotional needs. Families often pay close attention to physical needs and academic requirements but may fail to nurture the child’s friendships with peers or guide the child toward developing healthy relationships. Parents might want to consider how it feels to live in the household as a child. The tasks of families listed above can be fulfilled in various family types, just intact, two-parent homes.

Living Arrangements

Indeed, the living arrangements of children have changed significantly over the years. In 1960, 92% of children resided with married parents, only 5% had divorced or separated parents, and 1% lived with parents who had never been married. By 2008, 70% of children lived with married parents, 15% had divorced or separated parents, and 14% resided with parents who had never married (Pew Research Center, 2010). In 2017, only 65% of children lived with two married parents, while 32% (24 million children younger than 18) lived with an unmarried parent (Livingston, 2018). According to the U.S. Census Bureau data, 3% of children did not live with their parents.

Most children in unmarried-parent households in 2017 were living with a solo mother (21%), but a growing share of households with cohabiting parents (7%) or a sole father (4%). The increase in children living with solo or cohabiting parents was thought to be due to the overall declines in marriage, as well as increases in divorce. Of concern is that living with only one parent was associated with a household’s lower economic situation. Specifically, 30% of solo mothers, 17% of lone fathers, and 16% of families with a cohabitating couple lived in poverty. In contrast, only 8% of married couples lived below the poverty line (Livingston, 2018).

Lesbian and Gay Parenting

Research has consistently shown that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as successful as those of heterosexual parents. Consequently, efforts are being made to ensure that gay and lesbian couples are provided with the same legal rights as heterosexual couples when adopting children (American Adoptions, n.d.).

Patterson (2013) reviewed more than 25 years of social science research on the development of children raised by lesbian and gay parents and found no evidence of detrimental effects. Research has demonstrated that children of lesbian and gay parents are as well-adjusted overall as those of heterosexual parents. Specifically, a study comparing children based on parental sexual orientation has not shown any differences in the development of gender identity, gender role development, or sexual orientation. Additionally, there were no differences between the children of lesbian or gay parents and those of heterosexual parents in separation-individuation, behavior problems, self-concept, locus of control, moral judgment, school adjustment, intelligence, victimization, and substance use. Further, research has consistently found that children and adolescents of gay and lesbian parents report normal social relationships with family members, peers, and other adults. Patterson concluded that there is no evidence to support legal discrimination or policy bias against lesbian and gay parents.

Divorce

Using families in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, Weaver and Schofield (2015) found that children from divorced families had significantly more behavior problems than those from a matched sample of children from non-divorced families. These problems were evident immediately after the separation and early and middle adolescence. An analysis of divorce factors indicated children have more externalizing behaviors if the family had fewer financial resources before the separation. It was hypothesized that the lower income and lack of educational and community resources contributed to the stress involved in the divorce. Additional factors contributing to children’s behavior problems included a post-divorce home that was less supportive and stimulating and a mother that was less sensitive and more depressed.

As you look at the consequences (pros and cons) of divorce and remarriage on children, keep these family functions in mind. Some negative consequences result from financial hardship rather than divorce per se (Drexler, 2005). Some positive effects reflect improvements in meeting these functions. For instance, we have learned that positive self-esteem partly comes from a belief in the self and one’s abilities rather than merely being complimented by others. In single-parent homes, children may be given more opportunities to discover their skills and gain independence, fostering self-esteem. If divorce leads to fighting between the parents and the child is included in these arguments, the self-esteem may suffer.

The impact of divorce on children depends on several factors. The degree of conflict before the divorce plays a role. If the divorce reduces tensions, the child may feel relief. If the parents have kept their conflicts hidden, the announcement of a divorce can come as a shock and be met with enormous resentment. Another factor that significantly impacts the child is the financial hardships they may suffer, especially if financial support is inadequate. Another difficult situation for children of divorce is the position they are put into if the parents continue to argue or fight, especially if they bring the children into those arguments.

Short-term consequences: In roughly the first year following divorce, children may exhibit some of these short-term effects:

1. Grief over losses suffered. The child will grieve the loss of the parent they no longer see as frequently. The child may also grieve about other family members that are no longer available. Grief sometimes comes in the form of sadness, but it can also be experienced as anger or withdrawal. Preschool-aged boys may act aggressively, while same-aged girls may become quieter and withdrawn. Older children may feel depressed.

2. Reduced standard of living. Divorce often means changing the amount of money coming into the household. Children experience new constraints on spending or entertainment. School-aged children, especially, may notice that they can no longer have toys, clothing, or other items to which they’ve grown accustomed. Or it may mean that there is less eating out or being able to afford satellite television, and so on. The custodial parent may experience stress at not being able to rely on child support payments or having the same level of income as before. This can affect decisions regarding healthcare, vacations, rents, mortgages, and other expenditures. And the stress can result in less happiness and relaxation in the home. Parents with more work may also be less available to their children.

3. Adjusting to transitions. Children may also have to adjust to other changes accompanying a divorce. The divorce might mean moving to a new home and changing schools or friends. It might mean leaving a neighborhood that has also meant a lot to them.

Long-term consequences: Here are some effects found after the first year.

1. Economic/occupational status. One of the most commonly cited long-term effects of divorce is that children of divorce may have lower levels of education or occupational status. This may result from lower income and resources for funding education rather than divorce per se. There may be no impact on financial status in households where economic hardship does not occur (Drexler, 2005).

2. Improved relationships with the custodial parent (usually the mother): In the United States and Canada, children reside with the mother in 88 percent of single-parent households (Berk, 2007). Children from single-parent families talk to their mothers more often than children of two-parent families (McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994). Most children of divorce lead happy, well-adjusted lives and develop stronger, positive relationships with their custodial parents (Seccombe and Warner, 2004). In a study of college-age respondents, Arditti (1999) found that increasing closeness and a movement toward more democratic parenting styles were experienced. Others have also found that relationships between mothers and children become closer and stronger (Guttman, 1993) and suggest that greater equality and less rigid parenting are beneficial after divorce (Steward, Copeland, Chester, Malley, and Barenbaum, 1997).

3. Greater emotional independence in sons. Drexler (2005) notes that sons raised by mothers only develop a touching sensitivity to others that is beneficial in relationships.

4. Feeling more anxious in their love relationships. Children of divorce may feel more nervous about their relationships as adults. This may reflect a fear of divorce if things go wrong, or it may result from setting higher expectations for their relationships.

5. Adjustment of the custodial parent. Furstenberg and Cherlin (1991) believe that the primary factor influencing how children adjust to divorce is how the custodial parent adjusts to the divorce. If that parent is changing well, the children will benefit. This may explain a lot of the variation we find in children of divorce. Adults going through a divorce should consider good self-care as beneficial to the children as self-indulgent.

Re-partnering and Blended Families

Re-partnering refers to forming new, intimate relationships after divorce. This includes dating, cohabitation, and remarriage. One in six children (16%) live in blended families (Pew Research Center, 2015). Most blended families today result from divorce and remarriage, and such origins lead to new considerations. Blended families differ from intact families and are more complex in several ways, posing unique challenges to those seeking to form successful blended family relationships (Visher & Visher, 1985). Children may be a part of two households, each with different rules that can be confusing.

Parental considerations about dating: Dating as a single parent can pose challenges. Time and money are considerations. A single mother may not have time for dating and may not have the money needed for child care while she is out. Children can also resent a parent taking time away to date. Parents may struggle with whether or not to introduce a date to the children or to demonstrate affection in front of the children. When a dating relationship becomes severe, a boyfriend or girlfriend might expect the parent to prove their concern for them above the children. This puts a parent in a very uncomfortable situation. Sometimes, this vying for attention does not occur until the couple begins to consider sharing a long-term relationship.

Parental considerations about cohabitation: Having time, money, and resources to date can be difficult. And having privacy in a dating relationship can also be problematic. Divorced parents may cohabit as a result. Cohabitation involves living together in a sexually intimate relationship without being married. This can be difficult for children to adjust to because cohabiting relationships in the United States are short-lived. About 50 percent last less than two years (Brown, 2000). The child who starts a relationship with the parent’s live-in partner may have to sever this relationship later. And even in long-term cohabiting relationships, once it’s over, continued contact with the child is rare.

Is remarriage more complicated than divorce? A parent’s remarriage may be a more difficult adjustment for a child than a parent’s divorce (Seccombe & Warner, 2004). Parents and children typically have different ideas of how the step-parent should act. Parents and step-parents are more likely to see the step-parent’s role as a parent. A more democratic parenting style may become more authoritarian after a parent remarries. Moreover, biological parents are more likely to be involved with their children jointly when neither parent remarries. They are least likely to be engaged together if the father has remarried and the mother has not.

Characteristics of Stepfamilies

About 60 percent of divorced parents remarry within a few years (Berk, 2007). Mainly due to high divorce rates and remarriage, we have seen the number of stepfamilies in America grow considerably in the last 20 years, although remarriage rates are declining (Seccombe & Warner, 2004).   Stepfamilies are not new. There were many stepfamilies in the 1700s-1800s, but they were created because someone died and remarried. Most stepfamilies today are a result of divorce and remarriage. And such origins lead to new considerations. Stepfamilies are different from intact families and more complex in many ways that can pose unique challenges to those seeking to form successful stepfamily relationships (Visher & Visher, 1985). Stepfamilies are also known as blended families, and stepchildren are considered “bonus children” by social scientists interested in emphasizing the positive qualities of these families.

1. 1. Stepfamilies have a biological parent outside the stepfamily and a same-sex adult in the family as a natural parent. This can lead to hatred on the part of a rejecting child. This can also lead to confusion on the part of the step-parent as to what their role is within the family.
   2. The child may be part of two households with different rules.
   3. Members may not be as sure that others care and may require more demonstrations of affection for reassurance. For example, step-parents expect more gratitude and acknowledgment from the stepchild than they would with a biological child. Stepchildren experience more uncertainty/insecurity in their relationship with their parent and fear the parents will see them as sources of tension. And step-parents may feel guilty for a lack of feelings they may initially have toward their partner’s children. Children who are required to respond to the parent’s new mate as though they were the child’s “real” parent often react with hostility, rebellion, or withdrawal, especially if there has not been time for the relationship to develop.
   4. Stepfamilies are born of loss. Members may have lost a home, a neighborhood, family members, or at least their dream of how they thought life would be. These losses must be acknowledged and mourned. Remarriage quickly after a divorce makes expressing grief more difficult. Family members are looking for signs that all is well at the same time that members are experiencing grief over losses.
   5. Stepfamilies are structurally more complex. There are many triangles and ways to divide and conquer the new couple.
   6. Sexual attractions are more common in stepfamilies. Members have not grown up together, and sexual attractions need to be understood and controlled. Also, a new couple may need to tone down sexual displays when around the children (can bring on jealousy, etc.) until there is greater acceptance of the new partner.

Sociologist Andrew Cherlin suggests that one reason people remarry is because divorce is so socially awkward. There are no clear guidelines for family/friends, how to treat divorcees, etc. As a result, people remarry to avoid this “displacement.” The problem is that remarriage is similarly ill-defined. This is reflected in the lack of language to support the institution of remarriage. What does one call their step-parent? Who is included when thinking of “the family”? For couples with joint custody, where is “home”? And there are few guidelines about how ex-spouses and new spouses or other kin should interact. This is especially an issue when children are involved.

In light of this incompleteness, here are some tips for those in stepfamilies. Most of these tips are focused on the step-parent. These come from an article entitled “The Ten Commandments of Step Parenting” by Turnbull and Turnbull.

1. Provide neutral territory. If there is a way, relocate the new family to a more neutral home. Houses have histories, and there are many memories attached to family homes. This territoriality can cause resentment.
2. Don’t try to fit a preconceived role. Step-parents must realize they cannot just walk into a situation and expect to fill a role. They must stay tuned with what works in this new family rather than being dogmatic about their new role.
3. Set limits and enforce them. Don’t allow children to take advantage of the parent’s guilt or adjustment by trying to gain special privileges due to the change. Limits provide security, especially if they are reasonable limits.
4. Allow the children to express their feelings for their natural parents. This tip is for the natural parent. Avoid the temptation to “encourage” the child to go against your ex-spouse. Instead, remain neutral when comments are made.
5. Expect ambivalence, not instant love. Step-parents must realize that their acceptance must be earned, and sometimes it is long coming. The relationship has to be given time to grow. Trust has to be established. One day, they may be loved; the next, hated. Adjustment takes time.

Developmental Stages of Stepfamilies

Stepfamilies undergo periods of adjustment and developmental stages that take about seven years to complete (Papernow, 1993). The early stages of stepfamily adjustment include periods of fantasy in which members may hope for immediate acceptance. This is followed by the immersion stage in which children must adjust to their parent’s date being transformed into a new stepfather or stepmother. A sense of betrayal toward the natural parent on the part of the children can accompany this acceptance. The awareness stage involves members becoming aware of how they feel in the family and taking steps to map their territory. Children may begin to feel like they’ve been set aside for other family members, and the couple may focus their attention on one another. Biological parents may feel resentful.

The middle stages include mobilization, in which family members begin to recognize their differences. Step-parents may be less interested in pleasing family members and more interested in taking a stand and being respected as family members. Children may start to voice their frustrations at being pulled in different directions by biological and step-parents. The next step is that of taking action. Now, step-couples and step-parents begin reorganizing the family based on more realistic expectations and understanding how members feel.

The later stages include contact between stepfamily members that is more intimate and genuine. A clearer role for the step-parent emerges. Finally, the stepfamily seems to have more security and stability.

Conclusions

Middle childhood is a complex period of the life span. New understandings and social situations bring variety to children’s lives as they form new strategies for the world ahead. We next turn our attention to adolescents.