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From Priest, et al. (2014) Discuss how the socioeconomic status macrosystem influences parenting.
socioeconomic indicators such as educationlevel and income had an impact on the types of messages used (Caughy, O'Campo, et al., 2002; White-Johnson, Ford, &Sellers, 2010). African American mothers with a higher level of education tended to engage in more discussions on racialissues, and less on egalitarianism or negative racial messages, than mothers with a lower level of education (White-Johnsonet al., 2010). Using an observational measure, the Africentric Home Inventory Scale, African American families with lowerincomes tended to have less Africentric culturally relevant objects suggesting less opportunity for both implicit and explicitcultural socialization (Caughy, O'Campo, et al., 2002; Caughy, Randolph et al., 2002).Findings from studies that focus on parents/caregivers as a primary ethnic-racial socialization agent are also discussed inSection 3.3 as it relates to child-specific predictors of ethnic-racial socialization including the child's age and developmental level, ethnic-racial identity and gender.
Discuss the influence of socioeconomic status on families and children's socialization.
socioeconomic status: rank or position within a society, based on social and economic factors • All societies have their own ways of ranking people, and they differ in the criteria used for placing people in certain classes or statuses. • The term socioeconomic status (SES), generally refers to one's rank or position within a society, based on social and economic factors. o Some societies, however, include inherited factors and stratify members by ascribed status; that is, family lineage, gender, birth order, or skin color determines a person's class. o Other societies stratify members according to achieved status—that is, education, occupation, income, and/or place of residence determine an individual's class. Traditional societies, those that rely on customs handed down from past generations as ways to behave, tend toward ascribed status for stratification; modern societies, those that look to the present for ways to behave and are thus responsive to change, tend toward achieved status. ascribed status social class, rank, or position determined by family lineage, gender, birth order, or skin color residence achieved status social class, rank, or position determined by education, occupation, income, and/or place of • Sometimes, socioeconomic status (SES) is assumed to be related to ethnicity. However, SES actually exerts more influence on socialization than does race (Lareau, 2002; Patterson & Hastings, 2007). For example, o Lareau (2002) found both white and black middle-class parents made deliberate and sustained effort to stimulate children's cognitive and social development; whereas both white and black lower-class parents viewed children's development as spontaneously unfolding as long as they were loved and cared for Theories on socioeconomics must agree on an operational definition (one that contains terms that are identifiable and can be researched). Oakes and Rossi (2003) propose that SES be defined in terms of: 1.Material, or financial, capital (economic resources)—exemplified by the financial resources the parent provides for the child's well-being, including enriching educational experiences. 2. Human capital (knowledge and skills)—exemplified by the advanced education of the parents, which may influence their approach to socialization both the priority placed on academic achievement and the assistance they provide for schoolwork. 3. Social capital (connections to, and the status and power of, individuals in one's social network)—exemplified by the parents' occupational statuses, which may increase their capacity to be mentors for success in the world of work, as well as serve as links to important social resources in the community. o Social Selection Theoretical Model of Socioeconomics: This theoretical model hypothesizes that individual characteristics of parents, based on genes, personality dispositions, and physical traits, will predict their degree of achievement in terms of educational attainment, occupational status, and income (the major indicators of social class). In other words, it is the parents' genes, rather than SES, that ultimately influence the life experiences of the children (Mayer, 1997). o Social Causation Theoretical Model of Socioeconomics: The other group of theories can be categorized as having a social causation perspective. It has been documented that social class affects the socialization strategies of parents and, consequently, impacts the development of children (Conger & Dogan, 2007). There are two major social causation models to study the effects of SES and develop ways of mediating them. o One is the family stress model (FSM) which proposes that economic difficulties have an adverse effect on parents' emotions, behaviors, and relationships, which in turn negatively influence their socialization strategies (Conger & Conger, 2002). The FSM analyzes the stress-inducing properties of low socioeconomic statuses and their consequences. o The second approach is the extended investment model (EIM) which focuses on the ways in which the resources possessed by families of higher socioeconomic statuses increase the tendency and ability of parents to promote the well-being and abilities of their children. The EIM assumes that parents from higher, compared to those from lower, socioeconomic statuses, have greater economic (such as income), social (such as occupational status), and human (such as education) capital
List and explain three factors that affect socialization processes
• Biological factors: (genetics, evolution, hormones) are thought to influence basic neural circuitry of the brain during early development. These neural connections, referred to as experience-expectant, develop under genetic influence independent of experience, activity, or stimulation (Bruer & Greenough, 2001). For example, our brains are equipped at birth to receive visual, auditory, tactile, and other stimuli from the environment. One-month-old infants can distinguish diferent speech sounds and prefer to listen to sounds falling within the frequency range of the human voice (Aslin, Jusczyk, & Pisoni, 1998; Gerkin & Aslin, 2005) • Sociocultural factors: are also thought to influence the development of brain neural circuitry. These neural connections, referred to as experience-dependent, develop in response to experience. This mutual facilitation between the environment and the brain is thought to be significant in learning to adapt (Bruer & Greenough, 2001). For example, a child's language development depends on being spoken to and participating in conversation, beginning with eye contact, then babbling, single words, and finally sentences. • Interactive factors: such as individual life history, include the child's receptivity to socialization. For example, a child with a difficult temperament may react rebelliously to parental demands for compliance (Dodge & Pettit, 2003). For another example, a child exposed to extreme stress, such as maltreatment, war, or natural disaster, may be at risk for developmental problems (Chisholm, 1998; Wilson, 2003), or children may be resilient in the face of adversity (Rutter & O'Connor, 2004) due to their biology or supportive social networks in their lives.
From Hughes, et al. (2006) Name and explain child characteristics that predict racial socialization.
• Child gender o Several studies, all based on African American samples, have found that boys are more likely to receive messages regarding racial barriers, whereas girls are more likely to receive messages regarding racial pride. • Child's age o Studies suggest that parents' ethnic-racial socialization messages are not static or constant throughout childhood but, rather, shift according to children's cognitive abilities and their experiences. As children get older, they move from a rudimentary to an adult-like understanding of race (Aboud, 1988 Quintana, 1998). Thus, parents with young children, who lack the cognitive maturity to understand race as a social category, may be less likely than parents of older children to discuss racial or ethnic issues with them, especially discrimination. Moreover, adolescents' identity-seeking processes, their ability to reflect on their experiences, and the greater likelihood that they will encounter racial bias may prompt them to initiate discussions about race with their parents • Youths discrimination experiences o Children's experiences of discrimination also prompt parents to discuss discrimination with them. For instance, adolescent girls and boys report more frequent ethnic-racial socialization overall when they have experienced discrimination (Miller & MacIntosh, 1999), and adolescent girls report fewer mainstream messages if they have experienced discrimination (Stevenson, Cameron, et al., 2002). In Stevenson et al. (2005), relationships between discrimination and preparation for bias were especially strong among boys living in diverse neighborhoods.
Define the chronosystem and give examples of chronosystem effects relating to the past, present, and future.
• Chronosystem: temporal changes in ecological systems or within individuals, producing new conditions that affect development o Past: how ecological change over time can have varying impacts on a child's socialization depending on other variables, such as the age and gender of the child, the existing family relationships, and the socioeconomic status of the family before the change, thereby illustrating the multiplicity of variables interacting to affect socialization Elder Great Depression Study: Elder and colleagues compared the life-course development of children whose families had experienced a change in their socioeconomic status during the Great Depression (a period of widespread economic insecurity in the United States) and those who had not..He found that the long-term consequences of the Depression varied according to the age of the child at the time o Present: Sept 11 (health, economic, political effects) One study (Chemtob et al., 2010) found that preschool children directly exposed to the attacks (seeing the planes crash or buildings burn) whose mothers had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression due to the attacks, exhibited higher rates of clinically significant behavior problems. The mothers' psychological well-being affected how competently they helped their children cope with the disaster. The second study (Gershof, Aber, Ware, & Kotler, 2010) found that 12- to 20-yearolds who had direct exposure to the attacks had higher levels of PTSD and depression • Thus, significant events can have lasting consequences even years after the event occurred, thereby exemplifying chronosystem effects. While the events associated with September 11, 2001, were unexpected, they forced us to think about the future and develop preparatory strategies. • Future: Biotechnology, reconceptualization of societal and individual responsibilities, information technology, globalism/nationalism, shifts in decision making responsibility, information intermediaries Socialization must pass on cultural heritage to the next generation while also enabling that generation to become competent adults in society. Thus, every socializing agent engages in preparing children for both stability and change. Training for stability, which is implemented by passing on the cultural heritage and the status quo to children, involves making their behavior predictable and conforming; but paradoxically, preparation for change, enabling children to become competent for a future society, very likely involves disrupting some stable patterns and encouraging new ways of thinking and behaving
Define ecology and discuss how it relates to child development.
• Ecology: the science of interrelationships between organisms and their environments. o Allows us to analyze children as they grow in an everchanging world • Human ecology: involves the biological, psychological, social, and cultural contexts in which a developing person interacts and the consequent process. o As humans develop, they must continually adapt to change on a personal, social, and societal level. o Development is a dynamic process
Describe the caregiver's legal role in protecting the child from maltreatment.
• If the family doesn't do this, then the government must. Child protection laws have been enacted, such as the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974, which was amended and reauthorized as the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003. This act defines maltreatment and lists professionals who must report suspected cases to their local child protective agency. o Caregivers and educators are among the mandated reporters.
Explain developmentally appropriate caregiving, including the importance of collaborative care.
• Maturation refers to developmental changes associated with the biological process of aging. o There are individual diferences within the average ages at which children reach certain developmental milestones---Maturation is a significant factor in being ready to learn. • Caregivers or teachers who implement developmentally appropriate practices "must know about child development and the implications of this knowledge for how to teach, the content of the curriculum—what to teach and when—how to assess what children have learned, and how to adapt curriculum and instruction to children's individual strengths, needs, and interests. Further, they must know the particular children they teach and their families and be knowledgeable as well about the social and cultural context" o Some aspects of developmentally appropriate caregiving involve observation, sensitivity to children's needs, and responsiveness. o Teachers create a stimulating environment, plan engaging activities, enable children to initiate learning, and facilitate self-regulatory behavior in children. In order to enhance children's development, ongoing assessment of their learning must take place and be reflected in the planned activities. Collaboration with families is essential
From Hughes, et al. (2006) Name and explain parental characteristics that predict racial socialization.
• Parents' Socioeconomic Status o Parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds and with different occupational and educational histories may have different ideas about ethnicity and race and about experiences related to them. For instance, higher income and better educated Blacks perceive more prejudice and discrimination than do their lower income and less well-educated counterparts (Williams, 1999), as do socioeconomically advantaged immigrants (Portes, Parker, & Cobas, 1980). Thus, one might expect that socioeconomic status (SES) differences in experiences vis-a`-vis ethnicity and race would be reflected in differences in ethnic-racial socialization. Consistent with this, several studies have found that higher SES parents report more ethnic-racial socialization than do their lower SES counterparts. • Parents' Immigration Status o Among immigrant groups, perspectives on what it means to be an ethnic group member and on the types of cultural knowledge that children need for effective functioning are likely to shift with the length of time in the United States and according to other social processes, including acculturation. For recent immigrants, socialization about ethnicity occurs naturally as families participate in the routines and practices of their home country. Among later generations, parents may need to make deliberate efforts to promote children's identification with their ethnic group (Waters, 1990). Immigrants' understanding of U.S. systems of racial stratification may also shift across immigrant generations influencing messages about ethnicity and race. Not surprisingly, studies have shown that parents' immigration status is associated with the type and frequency of ethnic-racial socialization messages parents transmit to children. • Region Neighborhood o Regions of the country vary in their racial histories, racial composition, and patterns of intergroup relations, and these differences may shape the nature of parents' ethnic-racial socialization messages. men in the Northeast were more likely to report ethnic- racial socialization than were men in the South, although no regional differences were evident among women. In a separate analysis combining men and women, respondents in the West were less likely than those in the South to report socialization as related to being a member of a minority group (Thornton, 1997). Neighborhoods, like regions, vary in their racial composition and in patterns of intergroup relations. Thus, one might expect ethnic-racial socialization to vary according to aggregate characteristics of neighborhoods, especially ethnic composition. For instance, preparation for bias and promotion of mistrust may not be very common among parents rearing children in neighborhoods in which intergroup relations and discrimination are not salient. In contrast, egalitarian messages may be especially functional among parents living in neighborhoods in which children need to relate across groups, such as when children are in a numerical minority. Studies have only recently begun to examine neighborhood context as an important determinant of, or moderator of, ethnic- racial socialization. The few studies that exist have found greater preparation for bias in integrated as compared with predominantly Black or predominantly White neighborhoods. • Parents' Racial Identity o Parents' ethnic-racial identity shapes the frequency and content of ethnic-racial socialization messages, because parents for whom race and ethnicity are more salient may have stronger convictions regarding the particular types of racial, cultural, and ethnic knowledge they want their children to develop. parents, those with greater attachment to their ethnic group have been more likely than their counterparts to emphasize cultural socialization. In Hughes's (2003) study, relationships between parents' ethnic identity and cultural socialization were more pronounced among parents of older (10 -17-yearold) than among parents of younger (6 -9-year-old) children. Stronger ethnic identity has also been found to predict more frequent preparation for bias among Latino parents • Parents' and Youths' Discrimination Experiences o Studies of parenting have documented that parents try to inculcate in their children the skills that they themselves have needed to function effectively across contexts (Kohn & Schooler, 1978). Accordingly, one might expect that parents who experience discrimination will be more likely than others to anticipate that their children will also experience it and to provide their children with tools for coping with it. Findings from several studies are consistent with this expectation. Hughes and Chen (1997) found that African American parents' messages regarding discrimination (preparation for bias) were significantly associated with their perceptions of interpersonal prejudice at work. Parents' cautions and warnings about Whites (promotion of mistrust) were associated with their perceptions of institutional-level discrimination at work. These relationships were evident among parents of children 9-12 years of age but not among parents of children 4-8 years of age. In Hughes (2003), parents' community-based discrimination experiences predicted preparation for bias, although these relationships were only evident among African American and Dominican parents of children 10-14 years of age
From Hughes, et al. (2006) 21. Define racial socialization. Name and explain three socialization practices about race/ethnicity
• Racial socialization and ethnic socialization are each used broadly to refer to the transmission from adults to children of information regarding race and ethnicity mostly has referred to African American individuals • its current conceptualization includes exposure to cultural practices and objects, efforts to instill pride in and knowledge about African Americans, discussions about discrimination and how to cope with it, and strategies for succeeding in mainstream society. • Moreover, parents from all ethnic and racial groups probably transmit messages to children about issues such as cultural heritage and group social status, including discussions about the prevalence of stereotypes and discrimination based on phenotypic characteristics, language competencies, and other group characteristics.
Discuss the influence of religious orientation on families and children's socialization.
• Religion is a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, uniting into a single moral community all those who adhere to those beliefs and practices o Religion is a macrosystem in that it influences patterns of gender roles, sexual behavior, marriage, divorce, birthrates, morals, attitudes, and child rearing. It also may afect one's dress, dietary habits, alcohol consumption, health care, and social interactions, including ethic o Generally, religion provides people with "a way of facing the problems of ultimate and unavoidable frustration, of 'evil,' and the generalized problem of meaning in some nonempirical sense, of finding some ultimate why o Religion influences socialization in that it has been one of the major influences on human thought and behavior throughout history. It has profoundly afected individuals, families, communities, and culture o Not only does religion influence families and their socialization of children, but it influences the community as well, in respect to values and behavior. The dominant religious group in the United States (Protestants) has undoubtedly influenced the political and economic foundations of our country (Weber, 1930). The Protestant ethic is a religiously derived value system that defines the ideal person as individualistic, thrifty, self-sacrificing, eficient in use of time, strong in personal responsibility, and committed to productivity. By following this value system, believers feel one can reach salvation
List reciprocal factors (biological and socialization) related to developmental outcomes.
• Socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life. It is a reciprocal process in that when one individual interacts with another, a response in one usually elicits a response in the other. It is also a dynamic process in that interactions change over time, with individuals becoming producers of responses as well as products of them (Maccoby, 2007). These reciprocal dynamic processes become more complex throughout development (see Figure 1.2) due to changes in the child and in the socialization agents. Throughout development, children play a role in their own socialization Biological factors 1. Genetics: parents pass on genes + provide environments, context for development o genotype, the total composite of hereditary instructions coded in the genes at the moment of conception. Because children inherit genes from their parents, children are "prewired" or predisposed to be affected by the environments their parents provide. This type of genotype-environment interaction is referred to as passive evocative, meaning an individual's genotype will tend to evoke, or elicit, certain responses from the environments in which he or she interacts active, meaning an individual's genotype will tend to motivate that person to seek out environments most compatible with his or her genetic "prewiring. 2. Temperament: the innate characteristics that determine an individual's sensitivity to various experiences and responsiveness to social interaction Children's physiological responses fall into three broad temperamental categories: "easy," "slow-to-warm-up," and "difficult How caregivers respond to their children's temperaments influences the socialization process. If there is a "goodness of fit" between the child's temperament and his or her caregivers, then socialization is likely to proceed smooth... If, on the other hand, the fit between the child's temperament and the caregivers' is poor, socialization is likely to be rough 3. Maturation refers to developmental changes associated with the biological process of aging. Newborn humans come into the world with inherited characteristics and with certain needs and abilities that change as they mature. As children mature, their needs and abilities elicit changes in parental expectations for behavior Socialization Agents 1. Agent's biological factors 2. Socializing aims & methods
Define socialization and discuss how it relates to child development.
• Socialization: the process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, skills, and character traits that enable them to participate as effective members of groups and society (happens: over time, through interaction with significant others, by means of communication, in emotionally significant contexts, and leads to certain outcomes that are shooed by various social groups.) o Socialization begins very explicitly but becomes more implicit as children develop o Socialization takes place in the family, school, peer group, and community, as well as via the media. While socialization enables a person to participate in social groups and society, it also enables the very existence of a society and its consequent social order
Name two characteristics of the brain that make socialization unique to humans.
• Thought (Internalization is the process by which externally controlled behavior shifts to internally, or self-regulated, behavior.) Children internalize the attitudes of their parents in the form of role taking. They incorporate parental and significant adult expectations into their behavior, thereby becoming socialized as a "generalized other." They, in turn, have similar expectations of others with whom they interact. These expectations for people to behave appropriately form the foundation for a society • Language enables humans to develop the abilities to reason and a characteristic pattern of behavior. It is reason and behavior that enable us to internalize the attitudes of others.
Describe the socialization outcomes of five different nonparental child care curriculum models.
• curriculum the goals and objections of an educational program, the teacher's role, the equipment and materials, the space arrangement, the kinds of activities, and the way they are scheduled
Define the different types of nonparental child care and list the components of quality care.
• nonparental child care: day care the care given to children by persons other than parents during the parts of the day that parents are absent Extended day care: the care provided for children before or after school hours or during vacations • The most significant predictors of positive classroom dynamics and child outcomes—to be: o The size of the overall group o The caregiver-child ratios o Whether the caregiver had specialized training in child development or early childhood education In classrooms that had smaller groups and whose teachers had specialized training, teachers could engage in more social interaction with the children. As a result, the children were more cooperative, more involved in tasks, more talkative, and more creative. They also made greater gains on cognitive tasks. High-quality programs: 1. Promote positive relationships for all children and adults 2. Implement a curriculum that fosters all areas of child development—cognitive, emotional, language, physical, and social 3. Use developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate and efective teaching approaches 4. Provide ongoing assessments of child progress 5. Promote the nutrition and health of children and staff 6. Employ and support qualified teaching staff 7. Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with families 8. Establish and maintain relationships and use resources of the community 9. Provide a safe and healthy physical environment 10. Implement strong program management policies that result in high-quality service.
List the five agents of socialization, describing a major role of each.
1. Family The family is the child's introduction to society and has, therefore, borne the major responsibility for socializing the child Passes on SES, cultural experiences, The family functions as a system of interaction, and the way it conducts personal relationships has a very powerful effect on the psychosocial development of children The family into which a child is born is the child's first reference group. A reference group is one whose values, norms, and practices a person adopts and refers to in evaluating his or her own behavior 2. School and child care The school acts as an agent of society in that it is organized to perpetuate that society's knowledge, skills, customs, and beliefs. Yet all education springs from some image of the future. The social order of society is communicated to the child in the classroom—a setting in which children are evaluated by the teacher's comments, report cards, marks on papers, charts, classmates' judgments, and self-judgments 3. Peers The peer group comprises individuals who are of approximately the same age and social status and who have common interests The peer group functions as a socializing agent in that it provides information about the world and oneself from a perspective other than that of the family (Ladd, 2005; Rubin, Bukowski, & Laursen, 2009). It is a source of social comparison. From the peer group, children receive feedback about their abilities. Through interaction with their equals, people find out whether they are better than, the same as, or worse than their friends in sports, dating, grades, and other areas of life. Within the peer group the child can experiment with various roles—leader, follower, clown, troublemaker, or peacemaker—and discover how the others react Peers also serve as a support group for the expression of values and attitude 4. Mass media mass media refers to the form of communication in which large audiences quickly receive a given message via an impersonal medium between the sender and the receiver Unlike other agents of socialization, the mass media do not ordinarily involve direct personal interactions; the interactions are of a more technical nature. The mass media must be considered socializing agents, not only because of their prevalence, but also because they reveal many aspects of the society and elicit cognitive processes in children that cultivate their understanding of the real world 5. Community community a group of people sharing fellowship and common interests; a group of people living in the same geographic area who are bound together politically and economically The size, population, and mobility pattern of a community determine the pattern of human interaction One function of such community groups is to give children different perspectives on life—to broaden their range of experience and give them new statuses or roles A community can offer an informal social support system Formal support systems in a community usually emerge through the process of advocacy
Name and define the four core ecological systems involved in socialization.
1. Microsystem: activities and relationships with significant others experienced by a developing person in a particular small setting such as family, school, peer group, or community 2. Mesosystem: linkages and interrelationships between two or more of a person's microsystems (for example, home and school, school and community. 3. Exosystem: settings in which children do not actually participate, but which affect them in one of their microsystems (for example, parents' jobs, the school board, the city council) 4. Macrosystem: the society and subculture to which the developing person belongs, with particular reference to the belief systems, lifestyles, patterns of social interaction, and life changes • Society: a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests
Define and explain a sociocultural method of socialization.
A. Group Pressure: sociocultural method of socialization because it involves conforming to certain norms Communities are made up of social groups, including family, neighborhood, religious community, peers, clubs, and school. The groups to which one belongs influence one's behavior. Because humans have a need to affiliate with other humans, and because social approval determines whether or not one is accepted by the group, humans will tend to conform to the group's expectations Individuals are influenced by group pressure because they desire social identity, seek social approval, and/or believe the group's opinions are probably correct (Bugental & Grusec, 2006; S. T. Fiske, 2009). The influence of the social group varies according to several psychological factors (Bukowski, Newcomb, & Hartup, 1996): 1. Attraction to the group: The more people want to belong to a group, the more likely they will be to conform to group pressure. In elementary school and junior high school, attraction to the group becomes very important. Children of this age may have the same hairstyles, wear the same kind of shoes, and even talk alike. 2. Acceptance by the group: The role or status a person has—leader versus follower—in a group affects the degree of influence. A follower is more subject to group pressure than is a leader. One study found that boys who were anxious, dependent, and not sure where they stood in the group were more susceptible to group influence (Harrison, Serafica, & McAdoo, 1984). 3. Type of group: The degree of influence a group has depends on the affective relationships among the members. Groups in which the ties are very close, such as family or friends, exert a stronger influence than groups in which the affective ties are more distant, such as Scouts or Little League. Children who are part of the "cool" group are more likely to be influenced by their friends than are children in "nice" groups (Ellis & Zarbatany, 2007). B. Tradition: customs, stories, and beliefs handed down from generation to generation Because tradition represents humans' ways of having solved certain problems in the past, through socialization the offspring of each generation receive a "design for living" from their ancestors—how to get shelter, how to feed themselves, how to dress, how to get along with one another. Traditional beliefs, attitudes, and values are also transmitted—the belief in God, the attitude that children should be protected, the value of hard work. Tradition also sets the patterns by which people interact with one another. Social interaction refers to who does what in the society (roles) and how it is done (behavior) C. Rituals and Routines: Ritual: a ceremonial observation of a prescribed rule or custom Routines: repetitive acts or established procedures Rites of passage: rituals that signify changes in individuals' status as they move through the cycle of life o Rituals connect us with our past, define our present, and give us a future direction o The symbols or symbolic actions embrace meaning that cannot always be easily expressed in words o The ritualization of behavior is a way of creating respect for tradition o The most common rite of passage occurs at puberty to acknowledge passage from the state of childhood to adulthood and celebrate the transformation. Symbols: acts or objects that have come to be generally accepted as standing for something else o The significance of symbols as socializing mechanisms is that they are powerful codes, or shorthand, for representing aspects of the world (Hewitt, 2003) that trigger certain behaviors individuals have learned to associate with them
Define and explain an operant method of socialization.
• Operant: producing an effect A. Reinforcement: an object or event that is presented following a behavior and that serves to increase the likelihood that the behavior will occur again o Positive reinforcement: a reward, or pleasant consequence, given for desired behavior o Shaping: the systematic, immediate reinforcement of successive approximations of the desired behavior until the desired behavior occurs and is maintained Using reinforcement as a socializing technique has several problems, besides having to wait for the desired behavior to occur: 1. Individuals respond differently to reinforcers. For some children, a toy is an effective reinforcer; for others, adult approval is more effective. It is sometimes difficult to find the best one. 2. The child may become bored with the reinforcer, so its effectiveness¬¬ diminishes. 3. Being human, it is difficult for adults to continually reward children's desired behavior, even during the initial stages. If parents want to train a child to urinate in the toilet, they must be present as well as ready to put the child on the toilet at certain intervals. They also must wait patiently for the desired behavior to occur. B. Extinction: the gradual disappearance of a learned behavior following the removal of the reinforcement o must be used in conjunction with reinforcement to be effective as a socializing method. Annoying behaviors such as tantrums, dawdling, and tattling respond well, but more complex or deep-seated behaviors such as aggression, stealing, and overeating do not. Timeout is a type of extinction in which all reinforcement is removed C. Punishment: physically or psychologically aversive stimuli or the temporary withdrawal of pleasant stimuli when undesirable behavior occurs o Research has found that the quality of the early parent-child attachment relationship moderates the influence of punishment For punishment to be useful as an effective socializing technique, the following summary applies (Martin & Pear, 2010): Timing. The closer the punishment is to the behavior, the more effective it will be. Reasoning. Punishment accompanied by an explanation is more effective than punishment alone. "We do not play in the street because cars might hurt us." Consistency. If children are consistently punished for repeating a behavior, they are more likely to stop it than if they are sometimes punished, sometimes ignored, and sometimes rewarded. Aggression is an example of a behavior sometimes handled inconsistently. It may be punished at home or at school when the child is caught, yet may be rewarded in the peer group. Attachment to the person doing the punishing. The more nurturant the relationship between the punisher and the punished, the more effective the punishment will be. A child whose parent denies a privilege for undesired behavior, such as coming home late, is less likely to repeat that behavior than if an acquaintance, such as a babysitter, administers the punishment. The use of punishment as an effective technique in modifying behavior has been criticized for the following reasons (Martin & Pear, 2010): Punishment may stop the undesirable behavior immediately, but by itself it does not indicate appropriate or desired behavior. Punishment may merely slow the rate at which the undesirable behavior occurs, rather than eliminate it entirely. Or it may change the form in which the undesirable behavior occurs. People who stop smoking often report they begin eating more. Children who are punished for physical aggression may engage in verbal aggression ("I hate you," "You big doody head"). Punishment by an adult may have an undesirable modeling effect on the child. Parents who abuse their children are likely to have been abused by their parents. The emotional side effects of punishment (fear, embarrassment, shame, low self-esteem, and tenseness) may be psychologically more damaging than the original behavior. D. Feedback: evaluative info, both positive and negative, about ones behavior o The effects of feedback on performance can be summarized as follows (Good & Brophy, 1986): Feedback generally increases motivation. Feedback usually improves subsequent performance. Generally, the more specific the knowledge of performance, the more rapidly performance improves. Feedback given punctually is usually more efective than feedback given long after a task has been completed. Noticeable decreases in feedback often result in a marked decline in performance. When knowledge of results is not provided, individuals tend to develop substitutes. For example, they may compare their performance to that of peers to determine whether it is better or worse. E. Learning by doing: Sometimes socialization occurs through experiencing and interacting Offering developmentally appropriate choices, meaningful activities that create opportunities for children to succeed, enables children to learn by doing because they can experience what works and what doesn't self-efficacy: the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes
Define and exemplify an affective method of socialization.
Affective: having to do with feelings or emotions o Affect emerges from person-to-person interaction, which leads to attachment. The socialization of the child, whether intentional or unintentional, is accomplished through person-to-person interaction. When people are attached to one another, they interact often; thus, attachment and interaction are bidirectional, or reciprocal (Laible & Thompson, 2007). Reciprocal parent-child relations are foundations for socialization (Russell, 2011 Attachment: an affectional tie that one-person forms to another person, binding them together in space and enduring over time o An outcome of attachment, in addition to being a reference for future social interactions, is the feeling of competence. The more securely attached children are to a nurturing adult, the more willing they are to separate to explore the environment; the more insecurely attached they are, the less likely they are to separate and try out new things
Define and explain an apprenticeship method of socialization.
Apprenticeship: a process in which a novice is guided by an expert to participate in and master tasks o all the methods of socialization discussed so far are imparted in the child's macrosystem by means of various apprenticeships. In other words, the child, or novice, is guided to participate in various social activities and master tasks by someone who has more expertise. This person could be a parent, a sibling, a relative, a teacher, a peer, a coach, or some other member of the community.
Discuss the influence of ethnic orientation on families and children's socialization.
One's ethnic heritage is an ascribed, or inherited, attribute that includes race, religion, nationality, and culture (culture can be viewed as the shared, learned values of an ethnic group). Tonnies (1957), a German sociologist, compared the cultural values of diverse ethnic groups that shared a common heritage, explaining that diferences in behavior are related to how each group adapts to political, social, and economic changes in society. He classified groups according to gemeinschaft characteristics (corresponds to low context) on one end of the spectrum, and gesellschaft characteristics (corresponds to high context) on the other. Gemeinschaft groups: o Interpersonal relationships—Communal, cooperative, close, intimate, and informal. o Authority patterns: Autocratic, established hierarchy with ascribed rights and obligations dispenses social sanctions and has political control; customs of the community are adhered to and respected; personal opinions and beliefs are private. Gesellschaft groups o Interpersonal relationships—associative, practical, objective, and formal. o Authority patterns—Democratic, public discussions and social sanctions are established by consensus; political control, fairness, and equal rights are emphasized. Part of one's cultural orientation involves norms—the rules, patterns, or standards that express cultural values and reflect how individuals are supposed to behave
List and explain five aims of socialization.
1. Develop a self-concept Self-concept an individual's perception of his or her identity as distinct from others As you got older, your concept of self—your identity, your understanding of who you are—was influenced by significant others (such as family, teachers, friends, coaches). If your needs were met consistently and you were given opportunities to discover things on your own, you developed a sense of autonomy, or self-regulation and control. If, on the other hand, your needs were not met consistently, and you did not get to explore your environment, you developed a sense of doubt. 2. Enable Self-Regulation Self-regulation: the ability to control one's impulses, behavior, and/or emotions until an appropriate time, place, or object is available for expressing them Early relationships, especially attachment to parents, play a significant role in the development of emotional regulation (Bridges & Grolnick, 1995; Waters et al., 2010) and "emotional intelligence" (Goleman, 1995). As the child progresses from infancy to childhood, emotional and behavioral regulation gradually shifts from external socializing agents to internal, self-induced mechanisms (Eisenberg, 2006 3. Empower Achievement Socialization furnishes goals for what you are going to be when you become an adult These goals provide the rationale for going to school, getting along with others, following rules, and so on. In other words, socialization gives meaning or purpose to adulthood and to the long process a child has to go through to get there Significant adults and peers influence one's motivation to succeed 4. Teach Appropriate Social Roles In order to be part of a group, one has to have a function that complements the group. We have many social roles throughout life, some of which occur simultaneously, and we must assume the appropriate behavior for each at the appropriate time 5. Implement Developmental Skills Socialization aims to provide social, emotional, and cognitive skills to children so that they can function successfully in society.
List the seven indicators of well-being for children
1. Family and social environment indicators: document the number of children as a proportion of the population, racial and ethnic composition, number of non-English-speaking children, family structure and children's living arrangements, births to unmarried women, child care, and child maltreatment. 2. Economic circumstance indicators: document poverty and income among children and basic necessities such as housing, food, and health care. 3. Health care indicators: document the physical health and well-being of children, including immunizations and probability of death at various ages, dental care, and number of children with health insurance. 4. Physical environment and safety indicators: document the number of children living in counties with excess concentration of pollutants, children living in communities with substandard water, children with elevated blood lead levels, housing problems, crime, injuries, and death 5. Behavior indicators: document the number of youths who are engaged in illegal, dangerous, or high-risk behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs, having sex, or committing violent crimes. 6. Education indicators: document success in educating the nation's children, including preschool, reading, overall achievement, completion of high school, and college attendance. 7. Health indicators: document the number of infants with low birth weight, children with emotional or behavioral difficulties, children who are overweight, and children with asthma.
From Priest, et al. (2014) Name and describe agents of racial socialization.
1. Parents and caregivers Primary agent Predictors of ethnic-racial socialization behaviors gender, parent beliefs and attitudes, own experiences of discrimination For parents, ethnic-racial socialization messages used with their children were related to their ethnic-racial socializationbeliefs and attitudes and personal experiences of ethnic-racial socialization and discrimination. Supporting Bronfenbrenner's(1979) socio-ecological model, parent perceptions about broader societal factors also influenced ethnic-racial socializationbehaviours such as the extent to which parents encouraged their children to establish out-group relationships. Non-parentcaregivers/adults were also reported to be important sources of ethnic-racial socialization among African/Black Americansand Mexican Americans, thus highlighting the need for research that includes a broader socializing environment as well asexamining the extent to which broader familial and non-familial socialization is important for other ethnic minority groupsand majority groups 2. Other family member, teachers, and community members Among studies of African American adults, other family members rather than just parents were found to be importantagents of ethnic-racial socialization who not only used more ethnic-racial socialization messages but also were reportedby participants to have been more influential for their ethnic-racial identification (Sanders Thompson, 1994). Similarly,among Mexican American adolescents, family ethnic-racial socialization was found to have a significant impact on ethnicidentity (Reinhard, 2010). Significantly, one study found that despite 13 of 50 participants reporting no primary ethnic-racial socialization from parents, they still received some from other family members 3. Peers Results regarding the contributionof peers to types and frequency of messages received varied by study population and setting. Those with a higher percentage of Black peers tended to receive more ethnic-racial socialization messages frompeers. Peer ethnic-racial socialization messages included cultural pride and preparation for bias (Barr, 2010). Adolescentgirls (14-19 years old) of mainly White American and Latina backgrounds also identified friends as the primary agent andthen parents and siblings as support agents to discuss experiences with discrimination (Ayres, 2008). 4. Neighborhood and community Neighbourhood and community contexts were considered by relatively few studies (n = 8). However, across these studies,there were mixed findings according to neighbourhood racial and ethnic composition. In terms of neighbourhood diversityand neighbourhood experiences of racism, African American male adolescents who had more experiences of racism andlived in more culturally diverse neighbourhoods were more likely than female adolescents living in neighbourhoods witheither low or high levels of cultural diversity to report receiving higher levels of cultural coping with antagonism mes-sages (preparation for bias messages, including coping with experiences of racism and alertness to neighbourhood dangers)
Discuss five purposes of child care based on macrosystem influences and mesosystem influences.
1. Social service. The first day nurseries were established to care for the children of immigrants to the United States during the mid-19th century. Day nurseries were also established to care for the children of women who worked in factories and hospitals during wartime. The motivation to establish these day nurseries was social service to care for neglected children, and the care provided was essentially custodial 2. Enrichment. The first cooperative nursery school purpose was to give the children of faculty opportunities to play in a supervised environment where they could develop impulse control, verbal skills, and knowledge about the world. Parent participation was required. Such nursery schools were popular with middle-class families from the 1930s to the 1960s. In the late 1960s, as a result of child development research and political pressure for the United States to compete globally—specifically to keep pace with Russian scientific advances—a new purpose was incorporated into nursery school programs: to stimulate intellectual growth 3. Parent employability. Child-care services are used to enable women to seek job training and/or employment outside the home. Economic necessity, including increases in the cost of living and in the number of single-parent families, has led to a growing reliance on nonparental care. Recent welfare reforms to increase employability have also contributed to this trend. The 1996 welfare law allows recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to collect federally funded benefits for a maximum of 60 months. States can modify requirements with state funds. Recipients of TANF must be engaged in work-related activities (training, job search, job) within their state's time limit. The immediate efect of the imposed time limit for welfare was to increase the demand for available, accessible, afordable child care. Today, part of welfare reform is government funding of child care for qualifying families so that mothers of young children can be employed. 4. Intervention. In the 1960s, civil rights groups demanded equal opportunities in education, jobs, and housing. The Economic Opportunity Act, passed in 1964, funded preschool programs designed to compensate for the physical, social, and academic disadvantages of children who came from low-income families, were members of cultural minorities, had various disabilities, or were identified as abused. The purpose of such intervention was to provide children with skills they would be unlikely to get at home, enabling them to succeed in school and avoid poverty in adulthood. Intervention programs are usually comprehensive, including health and nutrition services, social services, and parental involvement. An example of a federally funded comprehensive preschool intervention program is Head Start. Its goal is to enable children from qualified families to enter school ready to learn. The philosophy is that public money spent to enhance the early childhood years is more beneficial than public money spent to correct a deficiency in later childhood. 5. Readiness. Those who advocate that child care should be synonymous with early childhood education also believe the period in a child's life from birth to age 5 is a critical time for developing the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills they will need for the rest of their lives. That the formation of neural connections in the brain is most susceptible to stimulating experiences in the early years has been documented by scientific research (Shonkof & Phillips, 2000). Such findings have influenced political policy. Some examples are: (1) the Head Start preschool program, originating under the leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, to break the cycle of poverty through education; (2) the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, passed under the leadership of President George W. Bush, to give public schools incentives to teach students what they need to know to be successful in life; and (3) the "Good Start, Grow Smart" Initiative, also passed during the Bush administration, to help states and local communities fund programs that will ensure young children are equipped with skills they will need to be ready to learn in school, such as prereading and language skills.
List and explain seven outcomes of socialization.
1. Values: qualities or beliefs that are viewed as desirable or important 2. Attitudes: tendencies to respond positively (favorably) or negatively (unfavorably) to certain persons, objects, or situations 3. Motives & attributions: Motives: needs or emotions that cause a person to a Attributions: explanations for one's performance on a task o mastery motivation: the inborn motive to explore, understand, and control one's environment o achievement motivation: the motivation to achieve mastery of challenging tasks 4. Self-esteem: value one places on one's identity 5. Self-regulation: is the process of bringing emotions, thoughts, and/or behavior under one's control o Behavior: what one does or how one acts in response to a stimulus 6. Morals: an individual's evaluation of what is right and wrong 7. Gender roles: the qualities that an individual understands to characterize males and females in his or her culture
Define and explain a cognitive method of socialization.
A. Instruction: provides knowledge and information and is a useful socializing mechanism. For instruction to be effective, however, the child must be able to understand the language used, as well as remember what was said. In other words, instruction must provide specific information at a child's level B. Setting Standards: Standard: a level or grade of excellence regarded as a goal or a measure of adequacy o Standards are set by many socializing agents C. Reasoning: giving explanations or causes for an act The purpose of giving reasons in the process of socialization is to enable the child to draw conclusions when encountering similar situations, thereby internalizing self-regulatory mechanisms. The problem with giving reasons is that children may not understand the words used (for example, "spreads germs," "is rude"), and often they are not able to generalize a reason to another situation. This is because, according to Piaget (1974), children under age 3 are egocentric o For reasoning to be effective as a socializing method with children under the age of 3, it must be combined with other techniques such as an emotional reaction Altruism actions that are intended to help or benefit another person or group of people without the actor's anticipation of external reward To use reasoning efectively with young children over age 3, some knowledge of their cognitive development is necessary. Children between age 4 and 7 are moving away from egocentrism and toward sociocentrism—the ability to understand and relate to the views and perspectives of others. These children may be able to understand how another person feels or views things but may not be able to generalize the reason to another situation. At this age, a child's ability to reason is transductive (connecting one particular idea to another particular idea based on appearance rather than logic) rather than inductive (connecting a particular idea to a more general idea based on similarities) or deductive (connecting a general idea to a particular idea based on similarities and differences) o Reasoning as a socializing mechanism is most effective when children exhibit the ability to think logically and flexibly. This occurs after age 11 or 12, as the child enters adolescence
Define and explain an observational method of socialization.
A. Modeling: a form of imitative learning that occurs by observing another person (the model) perform a behavior and experience its consequence It enables us to learn appropriate social behavior, attitudes, and emotions vicariously or secondhand. The models can be parents, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers, coaches, or television characters. Modeling (observational learning) involves the ability to abstract information from what is observed, store it in memory, make generalizations and rules about behavior, retrieve the appropriate information, and act it out at the appropriate time. Thus, modeling enables one to develop new ways of behaving in situations not previously experience According to Albert Bandura (1965, 1989, 2001), the psychologist responsible for originating social learning theory, the probability that children will imitate a model is a function of their (1) attention, (2) level of cognitive development, (3) retention, (4) type of activity being observed, (5) motivation, (6) ability to reproduce the behavior, and (7) repertoire of alternative behaviors.
Discuss the mesosystem influences of school and community, as well as government and business, involvement in nonparental child care.
Meso • The challenge of the future will be for society to provide more choices in quality childcare services because of the increased need. Links with school, community, government, and business must occur on a greater scale to increase the availability, accessibility, and afordability of child-care options o The most common types of care (excluding self-care) for school-age children (ages 6 to 12) are family day-care homes and relatives. A most striking trend, however, is the substantial growth in use of center-based care for children of all ages, especially by mothers who are employed full-time o One way to increase child-care options is for the elementary school to extend the hours it is normally in session and to extend its services to include children younger than age 5. o At school, extended day care can be an efective link among child, family, and school. It can complement, support, and extend the school's educational purposes to the family in its education and nurturance of children o Community support-- YMCA • government and business o In some societies—for example, China, France, and Belgium—the government totally supports child care, through tax funds, to enable parents to work. In contrast, the current oficial policy in the United States is that the government will pay for child care (intervention programs) for disadvantaged families, defined by specific criteria, and will give tax credits to other families up to a maximum set by Congress. Some American businesses have become involved in supporting child-care services to attract and keep their employees o Nine government-funded early intervention programs, including the Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti, Michigan o The federal government has committed to expanding existing programs, such as Head Start, to include more children