Development During Middle Childhood The Years From Six to Twelve (1984) / Chapter Skim
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10 Conclusion: The Status of Basic Research on Middle Childhood
10 Conclusion: The Status of Basic Research on Middle Childhood
Pages 398-421
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From page 398... ...
In psychology the amount of information available is relatively large but varies across subareas of the field. Many studies of cognitive development have involved children ages 6-12, but little research addresses the nature of changes in middle childhood in the development of the self and selfregulation.
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From page 399... ...
Finally, an attempt is made to characterize some general considerations for the future study of children ages 6-12. THE NATURE AND TASKS OF MIDDLE CHILDHOOD Any division of human development into age periods is arbitrary from the perspective of current knowledge about developmental change.
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From page 400... ...
Behavior disorders appear to become more resistant to change in the course of middle childhood (Chapter 9~. Recent research indicates that status as a rejected child also becomes increasingly intransigent in middle childhood; the 5'year stability of rejection in sociometric studies (a standard paradigm for assessing which children are preferred socially by other children)
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From page 401... ...
The ability to monitor one's own activities and mental processes also increases substantially in middle childhood (Brown et al., 1983~. Thus, children ages 6-12 often manifest more mature, independent organization of school tasks and other tasks than do preschool children.
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From page 402... ...
Television is a major source of information about social A, Ices, and behaviors at all ages te.g., Collins and Korac, 1982; Comstock et al., 1980; Maccoby and Roberts, 1983) , and children ages 6- ~ 2, particularly preteen youngsters, spend more time viewing iV than do either younger children or adolescents.
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From page 403... ...
The growth of cognitive concepts and knowledge of cultural norms and expectations for performance are major influences. In addition, the wider variety of social contexts and the changing relationships encountered by school-age children stimulate comparisons between self and others and provide sources of evaluative feedback about skills and abilities.
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From page 404... ...
Peer group activities are less extensively supervised by adults than they were in early childhood, and more autonomy and independence are expected in tasks at school and at home. Children ages 6-12 are increasingly responsible for interacting with health care personnel and for mastering and acting on information and instructions about medication, specific health practices, and evolving life-style issues with implications for
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From page 405... ...
For example, the school's role in management and control of children ages 612 appears to have increased in the past two decades, relative to parents' influence. The nature of this change, its impact, and the extent to which it occurs evenly across social strata need to be determined.
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From page 406... ...
To some degree these patterns undoubtedly reflect the shift in late middle childhood to forr~al-operational thought, although the growth of knowledge about social conventions, interactions, and specific strategies must also play a role. These dimensions of peer relationships are known to affect interactions with peers in adolescence.
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From page 407... ...
Yet a number of interesting questions concern how middle childhood experiences may contribute to a wider range of outcomes. For example, what is the developmental impact of middle childhood experiences on adult health, educational and career achievement, work roles, and productivity' Methodologies recently applied to the study of psychopathology might well be extended to the study of links between middle childhood status and experiences and a variety of outcomes in later periods.
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From page 408... ...
Several dimensions of individual differences in children ages 6-12 deserve special attention in future research. Increased expectations for self-regulation make issues of emotional development and expressiveness, coping capacities, and the various components of self-management skills especially important topics for study.
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From page 409... ...
I More research is needed on the effects of the rapid acquisition of knowledge on cognitive growth, skill development, and performance, especially the tasks characteristically required of children ages 6-12.
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From page 410... ...
The third addresses the interrelatedness of aspects of development that may be compromised by arbitrary segmentations in the fields of developmental study. The Problems of Studying Children Ages 6-12 Before discussing conceptual issues, it should be acknowledged that research on middle childhood presents special methodological problems compared with earlier periods of development.
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From page 411... ...
However, the nature and impact of environments are rarely specified in research on children ages 6-12. A fully adequate analysis of relevant environmental supports and con' straints in development is relatively rare in the study of children of any age.
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From page 412... ...
Available demographic data (see Chapter i) indicate that children ages 6-12 from different ethnic backgrounds encounter environments that differ markedly in terms of family
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From page 413... ...
In the relatively small number of studies on children's lives outside school, children from different sociocultural backgrounds vary in activity patterns ranging from exposure to television to characteristic leisure-time social involvements. Children also experience different amounts of contact with adults according to sociocultural background, and family settings and parental behavior vary widely as a function of social class and ethnic groups (Chapters 1 and 5~.
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From page 414... ...
Studies of the expectations normally held by adults in the United States for the behavior and competences of children at different ages between 6 and 12, including subcultural variations, and how these expectations are typically communicated to children and perceived by them may reveal a great deal about the ecocultural niche constraints encountered by children in this age period. The Child's View of En vironmen is Research is also needed on children's views of common experiences.
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From page 415... ...
Both the nature and the function of social systems and the ways in which they are linked to one another are potentially significant factors in research on children ages 6-12. Social Contexts of Middle Childhood The study of middle childhood has long included examination of family, peer, and school influences, but societal changes and other factors continue to make salient new issues about which information is needed.
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From page 416... ...
Questions concerning the nature of these experiences and their impact on the child are central to an understanding of middle childhood development, but at present information is sparse and based on indirect assessment of peer influences. An example of recent research on a developmental change experienced by many children ages 6-12 indicates the importance of social-system influences.
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From page 417... ...
Hartup ~ 1979) recently suggested that the family system serves a gating function for smooth, successfut peer relationships.
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From page 418... ...
Aspects of middle childhood development about which information is especially needed are emotional understanding and expression and its interrelationships with other domains of functioning. At present, most information about children ages 6-12 in this area pertains to their developing knowledge of emotions and rules for emotional expression, but little is known about the functions of emotional expressions and implications for social relationships, coping, and self-concept.
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From page 419... ...
CONCLUSION The study of children ages 6-12 has yielded considerable information about the processes of development. A number of significant questions remain, but the basic research now available is a promising foundation from which new evidence can be generated.
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From page 420... ...
In M.Perlmutter, ea., Social Cognition: Min press nesora Symposia on Child Psychology.
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From page 421... ...
A Collins, ea., The Concept of Development: Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology.
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