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1 Introduction
Pages 1-23

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From page 1... ... Historically, in many cultures the age of 6 or 7 was the time at which children were absorbed into the world of adults, helping shoulder family responsibilities and fill work roles alongside their elders. Only in recent centuries have changing concepts of the family and the advent of formal schooling removed children of this age from wide participation in adult society (Aries, 1962~. Read the entire page →
From page 2... ... Toward this end, the chapters of this volume represent distillations of research findings from studies of children ages 6-12 and assessments of the status of knowledge in a number of areas. The panel's primary goal was to assess what is known about the distinctive characteristics physical, behavioral, social, and emotional and development of children across the age span from 6 to 12. Read the entire page →
From page 3... ... THEORETICAL VIEWS OF MIDDLE CHILDHOOD The body of research concemed with children ages 6-12 encompasses disciplines ranging from psychology and sociology to medicine and public health. Surprisingly, few theoretical formulations have included extensive treatments of this age group, in contrast to the amount of theoretical at Read the entire page →
From page 4... ... Whereas preschool children are inordinately tied to the concrete, readily perceptible characteristics of tasks, the thoughts of children ages 6-12 are more fully logical and more systematic. Thus, in Piaget's view the significant psychological accomplishments of middle childhood are in the realm of intellectual competence. Read the entire page →
From page 5... ... National averages often mask important differences between subgroups racial differences and regional differences, for exampleand national surveys often inadequately report information about minority groups (Zill et al., 19831. In this overview we focus on racial differences Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... Number Percentage Racial and Ethnic Origins `,f Children Ages 5-14 (1980) White 27,491 78.7 Black 5,163 15.8 American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut 302 Asian and Pacific Islander 582 Other 1,400 Children elf Hispanic origins Total 3,012 34,938 Children Ages 5-13 by Type `,f Hispanic Origin (1979) Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... Children ages 6-12 were fairly well distributed across the country in 1981, but the geographical distribution varied by race (Table 1-2~. More than half of black children, compared with less than a third of white children, live in the South. Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... Furthermore, as Table 1-7 shows, there is a greater likelihood for black parents to have more children, spanning a wider range of ages. Black children ages 612 are likely to have more siblings in general and more siblings close to Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... SOURCE: Unpublished data from Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, 1982. TABLE 1 4 Type of Dwelling of Children Ages 6-12, 1981 White Black Total Single-family dwelling Weighted N26,8572,91529,772 Unweighted N8774631,340 Percentage83.9%60.9%80.9% Two-family unit; duplex Weighted N1,4794621,941 Unweighted N4757104 Percentage4.6%9.6%5.3% Apartment; project Weighted N1,7881,0552,843 Unweighted N56181237 Percentage5.6%22.0%7.7% Mobile home; trailer Weighted N1,3642041,568 Unweighted N433376 Percentage4.3%4.3%4.3% Other Weighted N504152656 Unweighted N121224 Percentage1.6%3.2%1.8% SOURCE: Unpublished data from Panel Study Research, Ann Arbor, 1982. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... Table 1-8 shows that, while 83 percent of white school-age children lived with two parents in 1981, only 51 percent of comparably aged black children TABLE 1-6 Family Composition of Children Ages 6 - 12, 1981 Number of Children Who Live in Families: Weighted White Black Total With head and immediate N 30,313 4,081 34,394 family only Percentage 94.5% 85.1% 93.3% In which family unit includes N 928 413 1,311 other people related to head Percentage 2.9% 8.6% 3.6% In which family unit includes people unrelated to head who N 233 27 260 pool resources Percentage 0.7% 0.6% 0.7% Other N 522 273 865 Percentage 1.8% 5.7% 2.3% Total N 32,066 4,794 36,860 SOURCE: Unpublished data from Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, 1982. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... . TABLE 1-8 Marital Status of Parents of Children Ages 6 - 12, 1981 11 White Black Total Married or permanently Weighted N26,6622,45729,119 cohabiting Unweighted N8904011,291 Percentage83.1%51.3%79.0% Father absent; mother present, Weighted N256720976 single, never legally married Unweighted N7113120 Percentage0.8%15.0%2.7% Widowed Weighted N164215379 Unweighted N51116 Percentage0.5%4.5%1.0% Divorced Weighted N3,5386074,145 Unweighted N8798185 Percentage11.0%12.7%11.2% Separated Weighted N8057701,575 Unweighted N26112138 Percentage2.5%16.1%4.3% Mother absent; father present Weighted N64125666 Unweighted N221234 Percentage2.0%0.5%1.8% SOURCE: Unpublished data form Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Research, Ann Arbor, 1982. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... In contrast, one~third of black children lived with their mothers alone because they were single and never married and one-third because their parents were separated. According to Census Bureau estimates, approximately 72 percent of Hispanic children live with two parents (Bureau of the Census, 1981) Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... As Table 1-10 shows, mothers of black children ages 6-13 are much more likely to be in the labor force than mothers of white or Hispanic children. They are also more likely to be unemployed. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... Among children ages 6-14 living with their single mothers, 40.8 percent of white children and 64.8 percent of black children had family incomes below the poverty level. The greater financial need of black families is also reflected in the amount of transfer monies they receive. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... Black children represent 15 percent of the total population of children ages 6-12, but they represent 36 percent of all children in families that receive AFDC monies. The population of children ages 6-12 thus is marked by physical, economic, and social variations that almost certainly constrain the nature of the experience and the course of the development of individual children. Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... Private school enrollment, two-thirds of which is in Catholic schools, is less strongly tied to population growth than is public school enrollment. Private school enrollment reached a peak of 15 percent of school children in 1964 and 1965 and declined to about 11 percent in 1980. Read the entire page →
From page 17... ... constituted a relatively small per TABLE 1-13 Percentage of Children Ages 6-13 Below Modal Grade of Enrollment Race Boys Girls White Ages 6-9 17.9 13.2 Ages 10-13 23.7 16.3 Black Ages 6-9 18.2 16.0 Ages 10-13 37.7 24.4 SOURCE: Bureau of the Census ( 1982) Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... centage of children's daily time in the urban area in which the research was conducted. For most children ages 6-12 in the United States, television viewing constitutes the largest single portion of free time on a typical weekday. Read the entire page →
From page 19... ... The impact of participation in out-of-school activities has been studied very little. Because of the increased number of children involved and the opportunities available, however, these activities should be considered a significant dimension in the expanding social worlds of children ages 6-12. Read the entire page →
From page 20... ... The intellectual capabilities of children ages 6-12 have been extensively studied, and these studies are a major source of knowledge about the distinctiveness of middle childhood ant! its links to other developmental periods. Read the entire page →
From page 21... ... In contrast to the extensive adult regulation of children's behavior in early childhood, children ages 6-12 must assume a larger share of responsibility for their own behavior in coordination with parents, peers, and others. The impact of a dramatically shifting social context transformations in relationships with parents, more extensive involvement with peers in terms of both time and the number of contacts, ant] Read the entire page →
From page 22... ... Since many Western nations include diverse subcultural and socioeconomically varied groups, Weisner's approach should be a useful framework for careful formulation of further research on children ages 6-12 in their social contexts. The health of school-age children and Tong-term implications for healthy functioning are addressed by Thomas M Read the entire page →
From page 23... ... W Andrew Collins describes what is known about children ages 6-12 and their development and attempts to characterize some general issues that face future research on middle childhood. Read the entire page →

From page 1...

... Historically, in many cultures the age of 6 or 7 was the time at which children were absorbed into the world of adults, helping shoulder family responsibilities and fill work roles alongside their elders. Only in recent centuries have changing concepts of the family and the advent of formal schooling removed children of this age from wide participation in adult society (Aries, 1962~.

1 Introduction Pages 1-23

1 Introduction
Pages 1-23