Socioemotional Development in Middle
Childhood
Chapter 12
Social and Emotional Self
• Social Evaluations
– Self representations/Self Concepts—me self
– Self appraisals—judgment about self in light of
some standard of comparison
• Peers’ standards,
• Parents’ expectations,
• Teachers’ expectations
Perceived Self Efficacy (PSE)
• Realization that one can complete some task or
attain the knowledge and skills to do so
• Realistic appraisals of one’s PSE is more adaptive
than either extreme and unwarranted optimism OR
extreme pessimism
Perceived Self Efficacy (PSE)
• PSE can be enhanced or inhibited in middle
childhood by feedback from:
– Teachers
– Parents
– Peers
• Development of PSE:
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Enactive Mastery Experiences (succeed at tasks)
Verbal Persuasion (informative and encouraging feedback)
Vicarious Experiences (access to competent role models)
Positive Emotional Experience and Environment
(environment supports efforts and continued attempts
following failure at a task)
Emotional Development in Middle Childhood
• Cassidy, et al. (1992)—children of emotionally
expressive mothers are held in high regard by their
peers
• Koester, et al. (1990)—involved fathers and mothers
who restricted aggression and who were satisfied
with their roles had children who became more
empathic
• Zahn-Waxler & Robinson (1995)—depressed mothers
tend to have children who experience guild and
helplessness
Aggression
• Physical Aggression (use of force)
– historically males have engaged in greater frequency than
females
– females’ rates of physical aggression are increasing
– threats and intimidation with threats of physical violence
can be equally harmful emotionally
• assault is the threat of violence with means, opportunity, and
motive
• battery is the act of violence against another individual
• Both are crimes
Aggression
• Relational Aggression
– Use of social and emotional strategies to undermine
reputation, relationships, or status of another
– Typically females have higher frequency of relational
aggression, but males also use this
– May lead to self injurious behavior but unclear
relationship
Aggression
• Murray-Close, Crick & Galotti (2006):
– Asked 4th and 5th graders to rate relative harm and moral
status of physical and relational aggression
– Relational Aggression (RA):
• Girls more likely than boys to report RA
• Overall, children who rated relational aggression as wrong were
less likely to report or being reported as having committed RA
• Overall children’s reports of harmfulness of RA were more likely to
be reported by peers and teachers as having committed RA.
• 5th grades more likely to be reported by peers as having
committed RA than 4th graders.
Aggression
• Murray-Close, Crick & Galotti (2006):
– Physical Aggression (PA):
• Boys more likely to be reported by peers and teachers as being
involved in PA
• Overall, children’s ratings of harmfulness of PA were positively
related to peers’ and teachers’ ratings of PA
• Overall, children’s ratings of wrongfulness of PA were negatively
related to peers’ and teachers’ ratings of PA
– Social Conventions and Perception of Appropriateness of
aggression seemed to predict aggressive (relational or
physical) acts.
Divorce
• Te Puna Whakaaro (2004): Impact of family structure
and change on child outcomes
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Income declines for custodial parent
Paternal absence (usual case)
Poor maternal mental health following divorce
Interparental conflict
Compromised parenting practices and child parent
relations
Divorce
• Te Puna Whakaaro (2004): Impact of family structure
and change on child outcomes
• Selection effects
– Families that divorce may be different from the start
• Exhibit poor parenting styles
• High levels of marital conflict
• Suffer from persistent economic stress
– Exposure to these conditions can compromise children’s
wellbeing
• Economic
• Social
• Psychological (Furstenberg & Teitler, 1994)
Resiliency
• Succeeding when factors predict otherwise
• Resilient Children:
– Having caring, supportive and consistent relationship with
at least one adult
– Hearing a consistent, clear and high but realistic
expectations
– Having meaningful and numerous opportunities to shape,
influence, and control aspects of one’s environment (PCE)
Erikson’s Stages of Identity Development
• Industry vs. Inferiority
– Acquire skills and technologies of the culture
– Typically from more competent others (e.g. teachers, older
siblings, parents)
– Focus shifts from goal initiation to goal attainment
– Undue focus on perfection and harsh feedback can lead to
a sense of inferiority
• Self handicapping
• Resistance to attempt challenging tasks
Attribution and Motivation Orientation
• Attribution for success & failure
– Internal   External factors
• Forces within or outside the individual’s control
– Stable   Unstable factors
• Forces that are relatively permanent or relatively
malleable
Attribution and Motivation Orientation
Internal
Stable
External
Success—smart
Success—easy task
Failure—stupid
Failure—hard task
Unstable Success—Effort
Success—Lucky
Failure—effort
Failure—unlucky
• Females tend to attribute failure to Ability and
success to Luck or Task
• Males tend to attribute success to Ability and failure
to luck or effort
Attribution and Motivation Orientation
• task/mastery orientation
– the completion of the task and learning the material or mastering the
skill is key
• performance/ability orientation
– focus is on external evaluation; getting the grade;
• helplessness orientation
– no matter what actions are taken, the task is insurmountable
• what kinds of schools can overcome these problems?
– high participation—active learning
– high personalization—teacher interacts with students as individuals
– high investigation—students test ideas rather than simply accepting
them
Peer Status Groups (Coie, Dodge, et al)
• Two factors: Social Preference & Social Impact
– Social Preference
• positively related to cooperation, support,
attractiveness
• negatively related to disruption and aggression
– Social Impact
• Active and salient behaviors whether positive or
negative
• Rated high to low on each dimension
Peer Status Groups
• Popular
– positive preference & high impact
– attractive, athletic, academically successful
– school leader
• Average/amiable
– positive preference, mid-level impact
– friendly, dependable, academically average or above
average
– member of clubs, not leader
Peer Status Groups
• Rejected
– negative preference & high impact
– aggressive, threatening, low academic achievement
– associates with other in rejected group
• Neglected
– low preference & low impact
– isolated by own choice, quiet, unknown
– may be candidate for internalizing problems (depression)
• Controversial
– Positive and Negative preference and high impact
– rejected (disruptive, aggressive) & popular (social leaders)
– may be class clown; the kid your parents warned you
about