Families and Culture

The Influence of Culture and the socio-emotional development of behavior

Family Relationships

The Family as a System

· Older views saw child development as primarily the result of parents’ actions.

· Current views of child rearing view the family as a system with parents and children affecting each other.

· In addition, the family system is impacted by outside influences such as extended family, community, and even larger entities.

Parenting Styles (Baumrind, 1991, 2002)

Relationships

Dimensions & Styles of Parenting

· What do we know about the influence of parenting styles?

· Children of warm parents feel secure, happy, and are more well-behaved.

· Children of hostile or uninvolved parents may be anxious and less controlled.

· The dimension of control affects parenting effectiveness.

· Parents may be controlling, maintaining tight control over all aspects of the child’s life. Children of over-controlling parents may feel unable to develop standards of behavior of their own.

· A balance of good control, good communication, and warmth results in children with a good understanding of what is expected and invites dialogue.

· Authoritarian Parenting combines high control with little warmth.

o Hard work, respect, and obedience are encouraged. There is little give-and-take and parents do not explain their decisions.

· Authoritative Parenting combines more control with warmth and responsiveness.

o They explain rules and encourage decision.

· Indulgent-Permissive parenting provides warmth with little control.

o Use little punishment and accept their children’s behavior.

· Indifferent-Uninvolved parenting involves little warmth or control.

o Parents are not involved with their children except to provide for basic physical and emotional needs. They minimize their time with their children.

Styles of parenting have different effects on children’s development.

· Authoritative parents’ children tend to be more responsible, self-reliant, and friendly.

· Authoritarian parents’ children have lower self-esteem and are less skilled socially.

· Children of indulgent-permissive parents are often impulsive and easily frustrated.

· Children of indifferent-uninvolved parents often have low self-esteem, and are aggressive, impulsive, and moody.

Siblings

· As families grow, sibling relationships become more complex.

· Toddlers talk more to mothers than to older siblings.

· By 4 years old, children talk more to older siblings than to mothers.

· One effect of a sibling’s birth is that fathers interact more with older children.

· The birth of another child can be anxiously awaited by the older child, but it is stressful and may result in withdrawal or regression (acting more immature).

Adopted Children

2-4% of U.S. children are adopted.

· Adopted children are more likely to be prone to conduct disorders and adjustment problems in school.

· These problems are more likely the older the child’s age at the time of adoption, and is related to the quality of care before adoption.

· Most adopted children do quite well.

•Impact of Birth Order

•First-Born Children

· Parents are enthusiastic but inexperienced.

· Parents are demanding and have high expectations.

· Often have higher IQ scores, are more conforming, and are more likely to go to college.

•Later-Born Children

· Are less concerned about pleasing parents.

· Are more popular with peers and more innovative.

Only Children

Contrary to myth, are not more spoiled or egotistical.

Succeed more often in school and have higher levels of IQ, leadership, autonomy, and maturity.

Divorce and Remarriage

· In the first half of the decade (2000), 50% of all U.S. children experienced their parents divorce.

· After divorce, children tend to live with mothers.

· In research, mothers were less affectionate with children in the first months after divorce.

· Parents were less able to control their children.

· 2 years after divorce, mothers were more affectionate and better able to discipline.

· 6 years after divorce, mothers and daughters were closer, with mothers and sons in conflict.

Impact of Divorce on Children

· Research shows that school achievement, conduct, adjustment, self-concept, and parent-child relations faired poorly compared to children of intact families.

· Adolescents of divorced parents are more likely to become teen parents and to become divorced themselves.

· There is a small, but significant increase in emotional problems of adult children of divorced parents.

· Child development may be affected by loss of a parent role model, economic hardship, and parental conflict.

· Children are more affected during childhood and adolescence than preschool or college ages.

· Children who are more emotional may be more negatively impacted by divorce.

· Parents can reduce negative impact by warmth, support, communication. Parental cooperation and same-sex custody are positive in their impact.

Blended Families

· More than 2/3 of divorced men and women remarry, resulting in blended families.

· While school-age boys benefit from presence of a stepfather, girls do not adjust well to their mother’s remarriage.

· Research on children living with remarried father is sparse. Usually results in behavior problems, with children less likely to adjust well.

Parent-Child Relationships Gone Awry: Child Abuse

· Physical Abuse: Assault leading to physical injuries.

· Sexual Abuse: Fondling, intercourse, or other sexual behaviors.

· Psychological Abuse: Ridicule, rejection, or humiliation.

· Neglect: Inadequate food, clothing, or medical care.

Who Are Abusing Parents?

· Some countries’ culture does not allow for physical punishment. Countries that have culture that allows for spanking have higher rates of maltreatment.

· The stress of poverty is correlated with abuse as is social isolation.

· Infants, preschoolers, disabled and frequently ill children are more often abused.

Effects of Abuse on Children

· Abused children tend to have poor peer relationships.

· Children of abuse do poorly in school.

· Adults who were abused as children experience more depression and anxiety and are more likely to abuse their children.

Preventing Abuse & Maltreatment

· Reducing physical punishment can help.

· Maintaining social supports can give parents opportunities for venting and advise.

· Counseling and parenting skills training can help.

· Peers

· Consequences of Rejection

· Rejected children are more likely to drop out of school, commit juvenile offenses, and suffer from psychopathology.

· Causes of Rejection

o Parental behavior can result in imitation of poor social skills and conflict.

o Inconsistent punishment may result in aggressive and antisocial behavior.

Television: Boob Tube or Window on the World?

• • Influence on Attitudes & Social Behavior

  • “Bobo the Doll” study showed children imitated acts viewed when give similar situation.

  • Research shows frequent viewing of TV violence increases aggressive behavior.

  • 8-year-olds that were exposed to large amounts of TV violence had more extensive criminal records as 30-year-olds. Similar results were found for violent video games.

Stereotypes

· Some research suggests that exposure to TV may promote the acceptance of gender, race, and ethnic stereotypes by children.

· Shows on TV do not accurately portray the demographic texture of society. Minorities and women may be under represented and gender roles may be exaggerated.

· Children who are heavy consumers of TV may accept these misrepresentations as reality.

· Preschool children may perceive commercials as another form of entertainment.

· By 8 or 9, children begin to understand that commercials are meant to be persuasive and may not always be truthful.

· Children are affected by advertising, and studies show that most ask parents to buy items seen on TV.

· Television: Critically Literacy?

Guides for Children and TV Viewing

· Parents should set absolute rules concerning amount of TV to be watched.

· Children should not watch TV out of boredom.

· Adults should watch TV with children and discuss programs.

· Parents should model good TV viewing, avoiding shows that are inappropriate for young viewers.

Prosocial Behavior

· Children are more likely to act prosocially after watching brief films in which peers acted prosocially.

· Programs such as Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood were found to be effective in encouraging prosocial behavior, particularly in boys.

· While these studies show that TV can promote prosocial behavior, children may not watch the appropriate shows, which are limited in number.

Television and the Brain: Influences on Cognition

· Studies show that shows such as Sesame Street promote more proficiency at recognizing letters, numbers, counting, and vocabulary.

· These studies confirm that TV can be a positive influence on these abilities if parents promote good viewing.

Two major criticisms:

· TV promotes short attention spans because of high-interest short segments.

· TV promotes passive, lazy thinkers who are less creative.

Findings:

· No support for TV promoting short attention spans.

· Mixed findings on TV having negative impact on thinking and creativity.

Understanding & Describing Others

· By 7-years-old children describe others in concrete terms. By 10, they use more psychological traits. At 16-years, descriptions are integrated into a cohesive account.

· Children's descriptions begin to help them to predict how others will behave.

· Concepts of Tolerance

o Selman’s Five Stages of Perspective Taking (based on Piaget)

· Undifferentiated (3-6 years)

· Social-Informational (4-9 years)

· Self-Reflective (7-12 years)

· Third-Person (10-15 years)

· Societal (14 years to adult)

· Research Findings on Selman’s Theory

o Findings support prediction that children move through stages of development of perspective-taking.

· Children at higher stages of cognitive development are at higher levels of perspective taking.

· Children who are more advanced in perspective-taking are more well-liked by peers.

Prejudice

· When children learn that they belong to a particular group, they learn prejudice, a negative view of others based on their membership in a group.

· While prejudice decreases during elementary school, it increases again during adolescence.

· Children tend to view members of groups as more homogenous than they really are.

· Prejudice may be related to social status. The higher the status of the group, the more positive it is viewed.

· Prejudice may be reduced by discussions and role-play.