Sociology Quiz 3

Social Policy Regarding Child Care and Early Childhood Education

In the United States, all prekindergarten children are often lumped together, irrespective of age, in debates about nonparental care - As of 2013, more than 77% of kindergarteners were enrolled in some type of full-day program (Child Trends, 2015a; Kena et al., 2016; National Center for Education Statistics, 2015)• However, this statistic does not tell the whole story as there is variation due to geography, income, and other factors• Many parents have to pay for half of the day, some children qualify because their families have very low income, and some school districts provide full-day programs even though they receive no money from their states to do so (Children's DefenseFund, 2012)• As is a common pattern for many programs and policies for young children, it is working-class families and children who are most negatively affected. - The biggest difference between the United States and WesternEurope is the extensiveness and overall quality of early education programs for 3- to 6-year-olds - Almost all European countries offer quality programs at a low cost with participation rates over 90% (Bos, Fain, Rein, Weinberg, & Chavez, 2016) In countries such as France and Italy, more than 98% of all 3- to 6-year-olds attend government-supported programs, and parents pay very low fees—primarily to cover the costs of meals (see Clawson & Gerstel, 2002; Corsaro & Molinari, 2005)• In the U.S., day care and early education policies have several general features:"parent responsibility for selecting and paying for care, local government and market forces for regulation, limited government financing, and market forces to regulate supply" (Haskins, 1992, p. 279).

Introduction to Children, Social Problems, and the Family

In this chapter, we'll examine social problems children face, identify positive trends and set backs in our attempts to improve the quality of children's lives, and consider some real-life examples, which put a human face on the difficult challenges many children encounter every day We will focus on social problems of children related to their being members of families We will examine the effects of socioeconomic change and accompanying changes infamily structure and children's lives, the effects of divorce on children, and child abuse

Children, Social Problems, and the Family

Introduction to Children, Social Problems, and the Family Changing Family Structures and Children's Lives Work, Families, and Childhood Working Mothers and Young Children Social Policy Regarding Maternity and Family Leave Social Policy Regarding Child Care and Early Childhood Education Divorce and its Effects on Children• Patterns in Divorce and Economic Consequences for Women and Children• Social and Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children• Child Abuse in the Family

Discussion and Debate among Italian Preschool Children

Italian preschool children, much like adults in their communities, frequently engage in highly stylized and dramatic discussions and debates. Discussion is highly valued in Italian children's peer cultures for several reasons. It provides an arena for participation in and sharing of peer culture where the children debate things that are important to them (friendship, play activities, ghosts, werewolves, and so on)and in the process develop a shared sense of control over their social world• It is a highly communal activity that has a participant structure that has relatively easy entry requirements (for example, simple agreements, denials, or repetition), but it also has the attraction of multiple opportunities for embellishment and individual creativity• It often accompanies and, at times, even takes over teacher-directed activities such as drawing, playing with materials, and eating at snack time and lunchtime. In this way, the initiation and continuation of a discussion of their choosing gives the children a sense of power and control over their environment and caretakers

Effects and Processes of Media Use in the Lives of Preadolescents and Adolescents

Livingstone (2007), in an important article, laid out two differing positions in most theorizing and research on media and children and youth - On one side, there are those who see the media as a social problem negatively affecting children in various ways (leading to aggression and violence, early sexuality, obesity, and so on), and they set out to identify these effects - On the other side, there are those who do not begin with the assumption that a grave social problem exists - Instead these process theorists and researchers (who take a constructivist or cultural studies approach much in line with interpretive reproduction) stress the agency of children and argue that media use must be evaluated in social and cultural context. - Many scholars who do work on electronic media and children and youth point to what they call moral panics (Buckingham, 2000; Critcher, 2008;Kowert & Quandt, 2016) - Such panics center on the belief that media expose and corrupt youth with their violent content.These panics are often spurred on by extensive news coverage of violent acts by children and youth such as the Columbine High School shootings - Sternheimer (2003) pointed to the fact that as video game play among children and youth increased dramatically in the 1990s, rates of violent crime decreased. It is interesting, however, that in arguing it is not the media that are the cause of violence in this case (or at least not video games or films)• Geeking out involves even more investment in play, with structured kinds of social arrangements such as guilds, teams, clans, clubs, and so on• This type of gaming is more common among older teens and young adults, developing out of competitive game playing. It also involves what is called "augmented game play" or engagement with the wide range of secondary productions that are part of the knowledge networks surrounding play (for example, cheats, fan sites, modifications, hacks, walk-throughs, game guides, and various websites and blogs. - A recent study of American teen texting raises cautions about its addictive compulsive aspects (Lister-Landman, Domoff, & Dubow,2015)• - The authors found that teen girls can become preoccupied with texting, leading them to skip sleep and not fin

Disputes, Conflict, Friendships, and Gender

Many activities that bring preadolescent children together and build friendships are often the source of disputes and conflicts - Rizzo (1989), for example, found that as first graders developed best friendships, they set higher expectations for their friends' behaviors - We have to be careful, however, not to accept the adult perspective regarding conflict among young children too readily—most especially the middle-class American adult perspective - Middle-class adults in the United States are often uncomfortable with disputes and conflicts among children - As we saw in our earlier discussion of the peer cultures of preschool children, there is wide variation in the nature and evaluation of conflict and argumentation across cultures and across subcultural groups within American society

Race and Race Differentiation

Many researchers assume that children have temporary or naive views about race and ethnicity until at least age 7 or 8, and thus they argue that racial issues are not relevant to the peer cultures of young children (Sacks,2001; Tynes, 2001) - Robyn Holmes (1995) discovered that children construct race in their own language and interactions - She found that skin color is a dominant feature in how kindergartners see themselves Also, she found that "White" is the default race, even among children, as White children rarely mention skin color whereas Black children clearly stress their black skin Based on their interpretive research on preschool children aged 3 to 5, Debra Van Ausdale and Joe Feagin (2001) found that even very young children use race and ethnicity as identifying and stratifying markers and that they are salient features of children's cultures - Van Ausdale and Feagin found that rather than using an adult-based understanding of race, children develop, through social interaction, their own intricate constructions and uses of race and ethnicity based on the color of their skin, the languages they speak, and how they understand their parents' color and race - like Holmes (1995), who concluded that kindergartners' racial categories are fixed and unconditional, Van Ausdale and Feagin found that among preschoolers, ideas of race are more fluid and flexible and the children try to understand not only single race markers but also their peers of "mixed" heritage Not all children fit into one category or the other; rather, there are multiple categories, and children move from one to another depending on the situation. - Van Ausdale and Feaginalso found that adults did not believe that the children had made the negative racial remarks and slurs that the researchers had recorded, and they denied that children had any real understanding of such speech - They argued that many adults misunderstand and underestimate young children's understanding and use of racial attitudes because they believe that children cannot be racist However, seeing children as simply racist misses the point Given the pervasive racism that exists in American society, it is not surprising that young children—in line with an interpretive ap

Child Abuse in the Family Part 2

Numerous and interrelated factors contribute to child abuse and neglect, including poverty, parental substance abuse, social isolation, and a lack of experience in caring for young children - Although abuse occurs in families from all social classes, it occurs in a larger proportion of poor families, in which parents face a multitude of challenges and in which many have drug and other substance abuse problems - City and state agencies that are supposed to care for and protect abused and neglected children are often overwhelmed by caseloads and lack of money - Many state welfare officials are concerned about the fact that state governments are almost totally responsible for administration of the child abuse programs -These concerns are related to the ups and downs of state economies and budgets. As noted earlier, in the severe recession of 2008 to 2010 and in the slow recovery, many states cut backon child welfare services• There is a clear need for the federal government to take on more of a leadership role in dealing with better social services for our children. - According to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2016), 50 States reported a total of 1,546 fatalities - Based on these data, a nationally estimated 1,580 children died from abuse and neglect in 2014. - This number translates to a rate of 2.13 children per 100,000 children in the general population, which was a 1.3% increase from the 2010 estimate of 1,560• Children younger than 1 year old accounted for 44.2% of fatalities, and 89.1% of fatalities were children younger than 4 years of age• In 2014, parents, acting alone or with another parent, were responsible for 64.8% of child abuse or neglect fatalities (28% were perpetrated by the mother acting alone, 15% by father acting alone, and 21.8% by the mother and father acting together)• Nonparents (including partner of mother or father, kin, and childcare providers, among others) were responsible for 15.7% of child fatalities, and child fatalities with unknown perpetrator relationship data accounted for 5.0% of the total. - Some research has been done on the short- and long-term effects of sexualabuse on children's mental health• It has been found that children who have bee

Preadolescent Peer Cultures

Peer Cultures in Preadolescence• Friendship Processes in Preadolescent Peer Cultures• Social Participation and Friendships• Social Differentiation and Friendships• Social Differentiation, Friendship, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity• Gender and Peer Relations• Autonomy and Identity in Preadolescent Peer Cultures• Verbal Routines, Games, and Heterosexual Relations• Routines, Verbal Play, and Humor• Games, Secrets, Self, and Interpersonal Relations• Disputes, Conflict, Friendships, and Gender• Verbal Disputes and Conflicts in Peer Relations• Borderwork in Cross-Gender Relations• Challenging Adult Authority and Norms• Generation M: Electronic Media in the Lives of Preadolescents and Adolescents• Patterns in Media Use• Effects and Processes of Media Use in the Lives of Preadolescents and Adolescents

Introduction to Conflict and Differentiation in Initial Peer Cultures

Peer cultures are not always the picture of peace, joy, and community spirit• Young children argue, fight, push, kick, and sometimes even bite• Although physical aggression is rare, verbal conflicts and disputes are common features of children's cultures• Here, we will examine disputes, conflict, and social differentiation in early childhood peer culture

Games, Secrets, Self, and Interpersonal Relations

Preadolescent children like to play a variety of games in a wide range of informal and formal settings - Although studies have documented such games and how children's participation influences their cognitive, emotional, and social development, studies of children actually playing games are rare Perhaps some of the best work on children's games as situated activities is that of Goodwin (1985, 1990, 2006) and Evaldsson (1993) - By situated activities, these researchers mean games that are produced in real settings with real children who often have long interactional histories - Evaldsson studied two programs for 6- to 10-year-old children over an 8-month period• - She found that the children repeated games day after day; the children in the Panda center preferred to play and trade marbles, whereas the children at the Bumblebee center often engaged in jump rope. - Evaldsson found that the children's selves were intimately related to status, which was linked to the possession and negotiated value of marbles as things - In other words, as the children increased and decreased their status in relation to their possession of the valued objects, they used talk to negotiate the value of the objects(1993, p. 133)• - The whole process was made even more complex by shifting alliances of children in judgments and negotiations during both the playing and the trading of marbles• -Jump rope, like marbles, is rule-governed, and participants are expected to have a particular orientation to one another during play - Evaldsson (2003) found that many of the games were gender-integrated, and several of the girls were active participants who could play as well as or better than the boys.In her analysis, Evaldsson presented descriptions and visual data that clearly challenge the notion of "throwing like a girl." - In addition to participating in organized games, preadolescent children also create their own cultural artifacts to organize and share their activities - For example, children at this age often separate themselves from others through the sharing of secrets - Sharing secrets involves activities ranging from verbal whispering to the writing and passing of notes, the establishment of secret clubs, and the production of comple

Routines, Verbal Play, and Humor

Preadolescent children often mark allegiance to friendship bonds through participation in sharing routines - These routines are similar to the general celebration of simply playing together that we saw among preschool children - Other activities in preadolescents' peer cultures possess creativity and collective solidarity, especially those related to verbal games and humor - For example, preadolescents produce and embellish a wide range of children's lore—games ,jokes, chants, rhymes, riddles, songs, and other verbal routines that are created and transmitted by children over time and across societies - Like the preschool children who laugh over and over again at the mere mention of certain bodily functions, preadolescents like to repeat their jokes again and again and laugh uproariously at the punch line - They are often unconcerned when the joke's recipient gets the right answer and laugh just as loud at his or her statement of the punch line

Social Differentiation and Friendships

Preadolescent children's alliances are often linked to changes of positions in friendship groups, providing the children with opportunities to test a series of social identities - Children's social identities "are thus oriented towards alliances with other children in activities that also separate the children" (Evaldsson, 1993, p. 258) - In Ann-Carita Evaldsson's study of the play of Swedish 7- to 10-year-olds in after-school centers, the children formed more stable friendship groups that revolved around different activities in the two centers - In one center, the children highly valued possession of things, skills in acquiring these possessions, and competence in disputes and discussions about these valued objects - In the second center, the children's identities and friendship processes were more relational and emotional. - Instead of centering on physical activities, skills, and talk about such activities and skills, the children in the second center were more concerned with appearances, romances, and involvements in secret activities - We will return to Evaldsson's study to look more closely at the nature of these play activities and games in the next section because they nicely illustrate how children address ambiguities, concerns, fears, and conflicts in peer culture• What is of particular interest here, however, is that gender was not a central factor in the differentiation of friendship groups at the two centers she studied• This finding is quite different from the findings of studies of friendship processes among American White, middle- and upper-class preadolescents

Verbal Routines, Games, and Heterosexual Relations

Preadolescents often engage in play routines that involve communal sharing - Because they have increased language and cognitive skills have more control over when and how such routines might occur - In addition to more loosely structured play routines, preadolescents often participate in formal games both spontaneously and in organized settings - Children of this age also talk about their play and games in a reflective way, and they can appreciate the subtle and symbolic aspects of play routines both during and after their enactments - Preadolescent children often address concerns about appearance, self-presentation, and heterosexual relations within play routines and games - In this sense, they use the "as-if" or pretend frame of play and games as a secure base for addressing sensitive and potentially embarrassing concerns, desires, and ambiguities

Challenging Adult Authority and Norms

Preadolescents see adults as having ultimate power over their everyday lives• - They have increased autonomy on the one hand and a lack of adult status on the other, preadolescents continually find themselves at odds with adults• Their challenges to adult authority are at once more subtle and more direct than those of preschoolers, and these challenges are shared and evaluated more reflectively in their peer cultures• Preadolescents often mock adult rules and imitate and exaggerate adults' communicative styles in rule enforcement• They are especially sensitive to what they see as adult hypocrisy and injustice and band together to demand their rights.

Friendship Processes in Preadolescent Peer Cultures

Preschoolers spend a great deal of time creating and protecting the shared play and peer routines that provide them with a sense of excitement and emotional security• Things are different for preadolescents - Children 7 to 10 years of age easily generate and sustain peer activities, but they now collectively produce a set of stratified groups; and issues of acceptance, popularity, and group solidarity become very important

Formation of Status Hierarchies

Researchers have identified dominance hierarchies in which higher ranked children consistently win out over those at lower ranks in aggressive conflicts (LaFrenier & Charlesworth, 1983; see alsoStrayer & Strayer, 1976)• Group size is important because the larger the group is, the more opportunities children have to avoid the aggressive behavior of some children and seek affiliation with others - More important, differentiation within groups of children is highly complex and cannot be understood by focusing only on physical dominance - Children frequently compete with and attempt to control one another using a wide range of interpersonal and communicative skills, and status hierarchies are often fluid and constantly changing - Such fluidity and complexity is increased when competition itself (through physical contests, verbal dueling, and narrative skills) is valued more than actually winning

Conflict Resolution and Achieving Peace in Italian Preschools

Sociologist M. P. Baumgartner (1992) has argued that children seldom negotiate compromises in their conflicts because they have ceded control of their disputes to adults, who have greater power and authority• Children's conflicts and disputes across cultural and subcultural groups vary considerably, however, and in groups in which kids are given more opportunity to settle their own conflicts, complex negotiated settlements occur

Conflict and Peer Relations

Studies of children's friendships have documented what seems to be a contradictory fact: conflicts frequently emerge in friendship relations• When we look closely at conflict in children's peer interaction, most especially verbal debates, and arguments, we find that such conflict often serves to strengthen interpersonal alliances and to organize social groups• Children's social relations and friendships are embodied in the everyday discursive practices—that is, the talk that occurs—in the peer cultures and communities

Gender and Peer Relations

- Although there is extensive gender segregation in peer relations in this period, it is rarely complete; most studies show consistent mixed-sex grouping and cross-sex interaction (usually on the order of from 10% to 20%) even in the preadolescent period (Thorne, 1993) - What is more important for our understanding of peer cultures is not simply the gender segregation that surely occurs in the preadolescent period but the nature of interactive patterns and interpersonal processes within the segregated groups - There is a growing debate about whether girls and boys have different peer cultures. - Thorne argued that a familiar storyline runs through the literature on children and gender• - "The story opens," noted Thorne, "by emphasizing patterns of mutual avoidance between boys and girls and then asserts that this daily separation results in, and is perpetuated by, deep and dichotomous gender differences" (1993, p. 89) - These differences are seen as both affecting and being affected by the structure and nature of activities in gender-segregated groups - Adler and Adler (1998) discussed how the nature of these different activities contributes to popularity within the peer cultures of preadolescent boys and girls - They defined popular children as those who are the most influential in setting group opinions and who have the greatest impact on determining the boundaries of membership in the most exclusive social groups. - They found that boys' and girls' popularity or rank in the status hierarchy was influenced by several factors - Boys' popularity revolved around athletic ability; a cult of masculinity or being tough; sophistication in social and interpersonal skills; a culture of coolness or detachment; and in later preadolescence, success in their relations with girls - Girls' popularity centered on family background, physical appearance, social skills, precocity or adult-like concerns and style, and good academic performance - Adler and Adler also identified a rigid clique structure in each age and gender group they studied, with four main strata: the high, wannabe, middle, and low ranks (social isolates) - Kids in the highest strata to be extremely manipulative and controlling in their relations with peers

Autonomy and Identity in Preadolescent Peer Cultures

- Everyday activities in peer cultures enable preadolescents to negotiate and explore a wide range of norms regarding friendship processes, personal appearance, self-presentation, heterosexual relations, personal aspirations, and relations with adult authority figures• - By participating in organized and informal games, verbal play routines, and collaborative storytelling, preadolescents explore developing norms and expectations about themselves and their place in peer and adult culture without the risk of direct confrontation and embarrassment

Patterns in Divorce and Economic Consequences for Women and Children

A major change in family structure in the industrialized world has resulted from the dramatic increase in the number of divorces during the period from the 1960s to the late 1980s - In the United States the number of children directly experiencing divorce rose from 463,000 in 1960 to 1,174,000 in 1980 (U.S. Census Bureau, 1992) - The divorce rate peaked in the 1980s and dipped slightly in the early 1990s, with the number of children experiencing divorce dropping to 985,000• This slow but steady decline in the divorce rate has continued (with a slight uptick in2010)—from a peak rate of 5.3 divorces per 1,000 population in 1980, to 4.7 in 1990,to 4.4 in 1995, to 4.0 in 2001, to 3.6 in 2007, to 3.6 in 2010, to 3.4 in 2012, and to 3.2in 2014 (CDC/National Center for Health Statistics, 2013, 2015; Tejada-Vera &Sutton, 2008; U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). - Several factors attributed to the increase in the divorce rate between 1960 and 1985, including the entrance of women into the workforce, changing values and increasing individualism, liberalization of attitudes and laws regarding divorce, and economic pressures and family stress (Cherlin,2009; Furstenberg & Cherlin, 1991)• Other factors have been offered to explain the recent decrease in the divorce rate in the U.S., Wilcox (2009) pointed to three;• First, the increase of age at first marriage has risen from 20.8 for women and 23.2 for men in 1970 to 25.6 for women and 27.5 for men in 2007• A second factor is that many couples marry when they finish their educations and have more financial stability• A third factor offered by Wilcox is in line with his conservative stance on divorce and is more debatable• He argued that social science data about the consequences of divorce have moved many scholars across the political spectrum to warn against continuing what he called the "divorce revolution." - In any case, regardless of the recent decrease in divorce and possible factors contributing to it, the divorce rate in the U.S. is still much higher than those in other industrialized countries - Andrew Cherlin (2009) called "The Marriage-Go-Round." Cherlin, comparing the United States with several other Western nations (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Fran

Core Groups and Rejected, Neglected, and Controversial Children

A number of researchers have noted the emergence of higher status or core groups in the peer cultures of preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school children (R. Best, 1983; Fernie et al., 1995; Paley, 1992; Thorne, 1993) - Members of these core groups often work together to resist the entry of new members - When stable core groups emerge in peer cultures, children are most often rejected simply because they are not members of the group; the rejection often has nothing todo with the protection of interactive space - Most children do not accept rejection from core groups without a struggle - They may eventually gain acceptance by adopting core group values and play preferences, or they may work with other rejected children to develop their own core groups (Fernie et al., 1995). -Some children may play at the periphery of these core groups yet remain active participants in peer culture• Other children, however, are continually rejected; still others make little effort to enter peer play - Many clinical psychologists and educators argue that isolation from the peer group can have serious long-term effects on emotional development. - Three types of low-status children have been identified in the research literature: rejected, neglected, and controversial children - Rejected children usually fall into two main groups:• aggressive-rejected children, whose aggressive behavior leads others to resist their inclusion in play, and• withdrawn-rejected children, who withdraw when they fail in their attempts to gain access to playgroups Neglected children are not consistently rejected, but they fail to become active participants in peer culture. They are often loners or "the quiet children who are content in their roles as minor players in the social arena" (Ramsey, 1991, p. 86)• Controversial children are what some might call "characters" often active, enthusiastic, and humorous children but are seldom fully integrated into peer cultures.

Patterns in Media Use

A recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Rideout, Foehr, &Roberts, 2010) examines media in the lives of a nationally representative sample of 2,032 third- through twelfth-grade students, ages 8 through 18. It also includes a subsample of 694 respondents who volunteered to complete 7-day media use diaries - Victoria Ride out and her colleagues noted that during the 5 years between the two studies, "young people have increased the amount of time they spend consuming media by an hour and seventeen minutes daily, from 6:21 to 7:38" - If we assume children and youth sleep 7 to 8 hours a day, these findings indicate they are linked to electronic media in some way or another more than 65% of their waking hours each day! - The Kaiser study finds that on a typical day, 64% of 8- to 18-year-olds use a computer for entertainment purposes (with 11- to 18-year-olds spending 1 hour and 45 minutes a day on computers, about an hour more than 8- to 10-year-olds) - All age groups spend a considerable amount of time playing computer games and visiting websites on the Internet, especially the video website YouTube - Children's video game playing is found to have increased in the study; but most of the increase is away from console players, which are still the most popular, to play on hand held games and on cell phones (49% play on consoles such as Wii, PlayStation, or Xbox; 29% play on handheld players; and 23% play on cell phones) - The study finds that listening to music increases by age from a little more than an hour a day for 8- to 10-year-olds, to 2 hours and 22 minutes for 11- to 14-year-olds, to a little more than 3 hours for 15- to 18-year-olds. - An important finding was that children who spend more time with media ("heavy users") report lower grades and lower levels of personal contentment compared with moderate and light users• However, it should be noted that the study "cannot establish whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media use and grades, or between media use and personal contentment. And if there are such relationships, they could well run in both directions simultaneously" (Rideout et al., 2010, p. 4).

Social Differentiation in Initial Peer Culture

Although social participation and friendship are central processes in the peer cultures of young children, differentiation in peer relations begins in early childhood and increases dramatically as children move into preadolescence• Social differentiation in young children's peer cultures is related primarily to gender, race, and status. We shall discuss each in turn

Resistance of Status Hierarchies

Berentzen (1983) and Best (1984) found clear patterns of ranking among the boys, girls in these studies resisted explicit rankings and relied on more subtle methods for controlling one another - Corsaro (1985) found no pattern of clear and stable status hierarchies among either boys or girls in my observations of American andItalian preschool children - Mary Martini's (1994) study of mixed-age and gender playgroups ofPolynesian children of the Marquesas Islands adds further insight into complex processes of status negotiations among young children. - Mary Martini's (1994) study of mixed-age and -gender playgroups of Polynesian children of the Marquesas Islands adds further insight into complex processes of status negotiations among young children - Children are required to be restrained and compliant when dealing with adults, but peer relations are based on reciprocity (Martini, 1994) - This reciprocity is based on both "a continual willingness to share what one has with others" and status rivalry (Howard, 1974, p. 206; Martini, 1994, p. 77) - For example, Martini discovered a complex dominance hierarchy of (usually) older children (6- and 7-year-olds) in the roles of noisy and quiet leaders, 3- to 5-year-olds in the role of initiate members, and toddlers as peripheral members of the group - The use of the term dominance hierarchy can be misleading here because the children worked together in specialized roles to coordinate group activity.

Borderwork in Cross-Gender Relations

Borderwork refers to activities that mark and strengthen boundaries between groups• When gender boundaries are activated, "other social definitions get squeezed out by heightened awareness of gender as a dichotomy and of 'the girls' and 'the boys' as opposite and even antagonistic sides" - Another type of border work, chasing, is also competitive, but this activity is more symbolic in its affirmation of boundaries between girls and boys - Cross-gender chasing is very similar in structure to the approach-avoidance routines of preschool children that we discussed in Chapter 6 - For example, boys may taunt and tease girls, leading the girls to run after the boys and threaten to catch and kiss them - These routines are generally referred to as "chase-and-kiss," "kiss-chase," and "kissers and chasers" (Richert, 1990; Thorne, 1993) or "having cooties". - The final type of border work, "invasions", have much to do with power and dominance of boys over girls - Thorne found a pattern, which has been observed repeatedly in similar studies of preadolescent children's activities on playgrounds - The boys in Thorne's study would, individually or in groups, deliberately disrupt the activities of groups of girls (Thorne, 1993, p.76; also see Grant, 1984; Voss, 1997) - Boys ran under girls' jump ropes, kicked their markers from hopscotch grids, and taunted and teased the girls in attempts to disrupt their play. - Although boys much more frequently invaded girls' space, there were some interesting exceptions to this pattern - First, although some boys specialized in disruptive behavior, the majority of the boys were not drawn to the activity• Thorne suggested that the frequent disrupters may have acted like bullies in their behaviors with peers more generally - Second, Thorne described a small number of fifth- and sixth-grade girls who organized themselves into what she called "troupes" and roamed the playground in search of action• These girls would often chase boys. The leaders of these troupes were often tall, well-developed girls who somewhat intimidated the boys. - Thorne argued that border work does create a space where preadolescent girls and boys can come together to experiment and reflect on how to relate to one anot

Introduction to Preadolescent Peer Cultures

Childhood is a social construction that is clearly related to, but not determined by, physical maturation, cultural beliefs about age, and institutional age grading - When does childhood end? In our text book childhood includes preadolescence, which is generally defined as the period from 7 to 13 years of age - We will discuss preadolescent peer cultures and note the similarities and differences between these and initial peer culture - We will consider adolescents and adolescent peer culture in regard to the role electronic media play in adolescents' lives - However, we will not be able to discuss the transition to adolescence or adolescent peer culture in detail

Gender Differentiation 2

Children use terms like "tomboy" and "tomgirl" to differentiate children who are playing with different gendered children doing activities associated with that children as a way of highlighting the"tom girl/boys" difference and the conflict between their sex and activities - - Dramatic role play was important to gender differentiation - Although mainly girls engaged in domestic role-play, both girls and boys often participated in types of role-play that blurred and stretched gender stereotypes(Corsaro & Molinari, 2005) - The most common was animal family role-play wherein both boys and girls pretended to be wild dogs, lions, or tigers - Bronwyn Davies (1989) work stresses children's active role in their construction of gender identities and is a clear break from traditional functionalist notions of socialization and gender - Davies argued that masculinity and femininity are not inherent properties of individuals but rather structural properties of society - Social actors are constrained but not determined by these properties. Through our use of discursive practices (how we speak and act), we contribute to reproduction and change in society - Therefore, "as children learn the discursive practices of their society, they learn to position themselves correctly as male or female, since that is what is required of them to have a recognizable identity within the existing social order" (Davies, 1989, p. 13) - The rigidity of such positioning, however, can often be problematic and constraining, and children soon realize that minor refinements and even genuinely different positionings are possible and desirable

Conflict and Differentiation in Initial Peer Cultures

Conflict and Peer Relations• Discussion and Debate among Italian Preschool Children• Conflict Resolution and Achieving Peace in Italian Preschools• Oppositional Talk in a Head Start Center• Conflict and Friendship in American Upper- Middle-Class Preschool• The Contextual Nature of Conflict and Community• Social Differentiation in Initial Peer Culture• Gender Differentiation• Race and Race Differentiation• Status Differentiation• Formation of Status Hierarchies• Resistance of Status Hierarchies• Core Groups and Rejected, Neglected, and Controversial Children• Sharing and Exclusion Among Peers

Social Policy Regarding Child Care and Early Childhood Education Part 2

Haskins (1992) believed the government does a lot by providing early education for poor children through Head Start programs, tax creditsto help offset childcare costs (including the Earned Income TaxCredit for low-income families), and various block grants to states,which can be used to support daycare and before- and after-school programs - It should be pointed out, however, that many of these programs, like Head Start, have been under serious threat of cutbacks intended to balance the federal and state budgets, and most are highly limited in meeting the needs of low-income and poor families• Head Start served 1.1 billion children ages birth to 5 and pregnant women throughout the 2014−2015 program year with nearly $8.6 billion in funding provided through the regular federal government appropriation - Head Start reaches only around 50% of eligible preschool-age children and 5% of eligible infants and toddlers (NationalWomen's Law Center, 2016) - The biggest problem with Head Start and most other moderately priced private daycare and early education programs is the quality of such programs As we noted earlier, such programs in the United States are primarily market-driven - A case could be made that the overall supply of daycare in the United States is sufficient; however, the contention that the quality of affordable daycare is adequate is extremely hard to defend - Numerous studies have pointed to problems with minimal safety standards, limited educational curricula, low staff pay, and high staff turnover in both family day care in private homes and larger daycare centers• Not surprisingly, these low salaries are directly related to high teacher turnover, which is more than 30% per year. - We see a pattern where in the United States has developed some policies and programs to aid middle- and upper-class families in dealing with these problems - Such families are given a period of unpaid family leave and moderate support (mostly through tax credits)—enough to buy adequate- to high-quality childcare and early education• Working-class and low-income families, on the other hand, face much more difficult challenges (Gould & Cooke, 2015; Gornick & Meyers,2003; Polakow, 2007)• Mothers must quickly return to work

Oppositional Talk in a Head Start Center

Head Start is a federally sponsored, compensatory, preschool education program for economically disadvantaged children in theUnited States• Here, peer interaction and play routines often included oppositional talk• This is playful teasing and confrontational talk that some African American children frequently use to construct social identities, cultivate friendships, and both maintain and transform the social order of their peer cultures• Children seldom reacted negatively to oppositional talk of this type or ran to complain to the teachers• In fact, oppositional talk and teasing were valued (much like the Italian children's discussion) as part of the verbal enrichment of everyday play• Clever oppositions or retorts were often marked as such with appreciative laughter and comments like "good one" or "you sure told her" by the audience and, at times, by the target child - In addition to producing stylized oppositional talk in brief exchanges, the African American kids also engaged in extended group debates These debates often grew out of one or more kids' opposing the stated beliefs or opinions of another kid• Consider the debates in the chapter about Cable TV and Jesus This oppositional talk or verbal dueling sent dual messages that (a) a particular child could hold their own ground and (b) participation in oppositional talk signified allegiance to the values and concerns of the peer culture Ultimately what emerged among the often-vying voices of the Head Start children were assertive and competitive friendship relationships that led to a mutual respect and group solidarity

Changing Family Structures and Children's Lives

Here we consider these changes in the family as social problems of children; that is, we want to estimate how the various changes mayor may not negatively affect children's lives and the nature of their childhoods - We concentrate on Western industrialized societies because there has been a good deal of social research on how children in these societies are affected by changes in family structure, as well as much political debate and some policy formation related tothese changes - Three types of structural changes in the family are seen as the most potentially harmful to children: (a) the increase in the number of families in which both parents are working, (b) trends in divorce, and (c) the growing number of single-parent families

Working Mothers and Young Children

In 2015, 64.2% of American women with children younger than 6 years old were working outside the home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016)• There has been a similar increase in working mothers in most industrialized countries The major result of this structural change in families for children is that they spend increasingly more time in nonparental care - A series of studies in the 1980s raised questions about the effects of infant childcare on the security of children's attachments - In these studies, in what has been called the "strange situation experiment," secure attachment was measured by children's responses to their mothers' return after brief separations - In this experiment, an infant is brought by her mother to a playroom setting in a laboratory - The mother engages the child in play with some toys and then leaves her alone with a female researcher -The infant's responses to her mother's brief absence and then to her return are seen as indicators of the child's attachment to the mother - Attached children are expected to show anxiety during the mother's absence and relief upon her return. Later research on the effects of childcare raises concerns for parents - This study followed up on the earlier National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study when the original children were 4 and a half years of age and again when they were in kindergarten -The researchers found that regardless of the quality and type of childcare, the more time children spent in any non maternal care arrangements during the first 4 and a half years of life, the more externalizing problems (i.e., acting out) and conflict with adults they manifested at 54 months of age and in kindergarten - These negative behaviors were reported by parents, caregivers, and teachers (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2003)• These effects were only modestly significant, and no such negative effects were reported by trained observers of the children in preschool and kindergarten. - A modern outgrowth of attachment theory can be seen in recent workin neuroscience that argues for a crucial period in brain development in the first three years of life - This work and the general gr

Divorce and its Effects on Children

In discussing divorce and its effects on children, we will look first at patterns in divorce rates in industrialized societies - We then will consider how laws regulating divorce and child support affect the economic security of women and children - Finally, we will review research on the social and psychological consequences of divorce for children and youth.

Sharing and Exclusion Among Peers

In her book You Can't Say, You Can't Play, Vivian Paley (1992)presented her viewpoint regarding children's attempts to exclude peers from play - Rather than taking the view that children's attempts to exclude peers derive from a need to protect interactive space, she viewed such attempts as examples of rejection and considered them hurtful - Paley proposed the general rule, "You Can't Say, You Can't Play," or you can't tell another child that they can't join in and play - Most of the children were against the rule, protesting that they wanted to play with their friends or that some kids didn't play right - Other children, especially those frequently rejected, generally supported the rule, saying it hurt their feelings to be left out - The "You Can't Say, You Can't Play" rule was established, and despite some rough spots, it worked pretty well• There was less exclusion, and the kids were generally nicer to one another.

Work, Families, and Childhood

In looking at work, families, and childhood in the United States, we first consider the possible effects that the increase in the number of working mothers of young children has on the children themselves• - We then discuss what the United States and other industrialized countries are doing to support working families and their children

Social Participation and Friendships

In preadolescence, the primarily nonverbal play routines of early childhood (for example, approach-avoidance and other play routines)are gradually replaced by verbal activities that involve planning and reflective evaluation - T. Chin and Phillips (2003) argued that in the study of preadolescents' play, we need to determine the intensity of children's involvement in their activities and not just identify their various activities - In short, T. Chin and Phillips argued that kids don't just play; they are collectively involved in their activities, from being absorbed in watching television to the point of knowing and talking about complex plot structures in soap operas, to being engaged in complex socio dramatic play, to exploring novel interactive settings with peers and adults - Thomas Rizzo (1989), in his work in a first-grade classroom, found that developing best friends was a key aspect of peer culture - He reported that first-grade children appeared to have an internalized concept of friendship that serves multiple functions in peer relations - Rizzo found that the children "attempted to determine the existence of friendship by comparing the internal concept with specific features of interactions with frequent playmates, to act in accordance with this concept when with friends, and to object when their friends failed to live up to their expectations" (p. 105) - Many times, however, the children found that their friendship bids (asking to be one's friend or being nice to someone) were not accepted and were at times actively rejected - In Rizzo's study, the most enduring friendships were the result of what could best be termed "local circumstances" of play and peer relations• Children became involved in types of play they enjoyed, and like the preschoolers we discussed earlier, they verbally marked and agreed that they were friends• The first graders would maintain these patterns of shared play with certain children over time and come to mark the relationships as special—by considering themselves to be best friends - Best friends often tried both to protect their friendships from the possible intrusions of others and to expand their friendship groups• It is not surprising that these two processes came into

Conflict and Friendship in American Upper- Middle-Class Preschool

In private upper-middle-class preschools, the emphasis was on individual expression and recognition of the uniqueness and rights of others Teachers' interactions and style of discourse reflected a great deal of patience and respect for the children's individual needs• Younger children used the word friend to attempt to gain access to play, to protect shared activities from intruders, to build solidarity and mutual trust in the playgroup, and to attempt to control the activity of playmates• Conflict frequently developed regarding the nature of play, for example, children might use the"denial of friendship" strategy, where they use phrases like "I'm not your friend" or "We aren't best friends anymore" to end behavior they do not like in play• Such disputes not only helped the children obtain a better understanding of what they could expect from each other as friends but also brought about intrapersonal reflection, resulting in the children's development of unique insight into their own actions and roles as friends

Verbal Disputes and Conflicts in Peer Relations

The chief cause may be the increased differentiation in friendship groups in preadolescence; but conflict, especially arguments and teasing, can also bring children together and help organize their activities - In this sense, cooperation and competition are not mutually exclusive and often coexist within the same activities - Research on peer conflict among elementary school children shows how disputes area basic means for constructing social order; cultivating, testing, and maintaining friendships; and developing and displaying social identity. - An especially impressive example of research on children's dispute routines is Goodwin's (1990) analysis of gossip disputes amongBlack female preadolescents - Unlike males, in their direct competitive disputes (Goodwin, 1990; Labov, 1972),Black females frequently engage in gossip disputes during which absent parties are evaluated - The airing of such grievances frequently culminates into "he-said-she-said" confrontations. - A he-said-she-said confrontation can be defined as a type of gossip routine that is brought about when one party to a dispute gossips about the other party in his or her absence. - When children who have spent most of their time in different sociocultural groups come together for play, they often mis interpret each other's styles Middle-class White girls, for example, often find the teasing, oppositional style ofLatina and African American girls to be threatening, bossy, and mean; whereas African American and Latina girls see the mitigated and polite style of middle-class White girls as patronizing (Rosier, 2000; Schofield, 1982) - These findings show the value of research on differences in interpersonal interaction and play styles across sociocultural groups - The identification of sources of misinterpretations can be a first step in improving cross-cultural relations.

Gender Differentiation

The first sign of social differentiation in young children's peer relations is increasing gender separation, with children as young as age 3 showing preference to play with other children of the same sex Berentzen (1984) found that the children constructed their peer cultures primarily around gender contrast... both girls and boys followed the self-imposed rule that "girls/boys don't play with boys/girls," with few exceptions (p. 158) Girls and boys also organized their activities around different concerns• The boys valued competition and toughness, whereas the girls were concerned mostly with affiliation or establishing best friends - Martin (1998) also looked at how teachers affected the construction of gender in preschools• Martin discovered a "hidden curriculum" in the schools she studied that controlled children's bodily practices in line with gender differences and stereotypes• Martin's study is important because it focuses on how children use and are told to use their bodies, which is often overlooked in theories and research on the construction of gender and the nature of childhood - Thorne (1993) has pointed out, studies tend to exaggerate gender differences and ignore similarities - Boys and girls do play and work together in educational settings, especially in more structured and group projects Although instances of boys and girls playing together in free play are rare, they do occur and merit careful analysis - Recent comparative research shows that children of various cultures differ in their construction of gender concepts and behaviors - Goodwin (1990, 2003, 2006) found that African American boys and girls often engaged in playful, cross-sex debates and teasing when in each other's presence - Kyratzis and Guo (2001) found cross-cultural differences in the gendered speech patterns of preschoolers in the United States and China - Corsaro (Aydt & Corsaro 2003) found much more gender segregation among older children (5-to 6-year-olds) as compared to younger children (3- to 5-year-olds) - However, gender segregation and different activity preferences by gender were greater forAmerican upper-middle-class children than for African American or Italian children -

Social and Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children

There are several interrelated challenges in estimating the social and psychological effects of divorce on children - First, most studies measure effects at one point in time; however, divorce and its consequences are processes that unfold during a long period of time (Furstenberg &Cherlin, 1991) - For example, many studies estimate the short- and long-term consequences of divorce by way of interviews or surveys that estimate psychological well-being or through the collection of behavioral measures (school grades, drug use, sexual activity, criminal behavior) during a separation or after divorce - The second problem is that some studies include matched groups of children who have not experienced divorce, but many studies do not• The issue here is that certain psychological and behavioral problems of the children may themselves have contributed to family instability, family conflict, and the eventual dissolution of the marriage. Without matched samples, there is no way to sort out such effects. - With these cautions in mind, we can turn to a summary of findings about the consequences of divorce for children - Let's consider the findings reviewed in the book Divided Families by Furstenberg and Cherlin (1991) - In terms of short-term psychological effects, Furstenberg and Cherlin pointed to two types of disorders that may result from divorce: externalizing disorders ("acting out"behaviors such as aggression, disobedience, and lying) and internalizing disorders (depression, anxiety, or withdrawal) - Boys in high-conflict families (whether these conflicts lead to divorce or not) tend to show more aggressive and antisocial behavior• For girls, the findings are less consistent. In studies of divorced families, girls seem to do better after marital disruption; however, they may develop internalizing disorders that become apparent several years later. - in the Wallerstein, Lewis, and Blakeslee study, Wallerstein, a clinical psychologist, and other clinicians carried out intensive interviews with children and parents of 59 divorced families over 25 years, aswell as interviews with 44 adults who had grown up in intact families - Like the participants in the Hetherington and Kelly study, the families were primarily

Generation M: Electronic Media in the Lives of Preadolescents and Adolescents

There is a digital divide between generations• - Preadolescents are now growing up with increased access to media and technology than previous generations - This can impact kids both positively and negatively

Social Policy Regarding Maternity and Family Leave

Until 1993, the U.S. was the only industrialized country in the world, except South Africa, with no formal policy for maternity leave - The Family and Medical Leave Act, which was passed in 1993, in the initial months ofthe first Clinton administration, mandates that employers of 50 or more employees provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to employees for certain family and medical reasons - Although the Family and Medical Leave Act was clearly a step in the right direction, especially because of its guarantee of job protection, the fact that the leave is unpaid is a major shortcoming. Most working-class and low-income families (especially single-parent families) cannot afford to take more than a few weeks or so off work because of the lost income. - The overwhelming majority of 41 countries provide paid maternity leave at 40% to 100% of earnings (most Western European countries from 80% to100%) for 12 weeks to 1 year - Many countries provide additional family leave time (normally during the child's 1st year) at some percentage of earnings or at a flat fee, and 31 of the 41 countries provide some (often modest) paid leave for fathers (Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth and Family Policies, 2013; Gornick & Meyers, 2003; OECD Family Data Base, 2016b)• Sweden has a highly complex and generous system of maternity and family leave - Families (mothers, fathers, or some combination) are entitled to full parental leave for 480 days when a child is born or adopted. Fathers are also entitled to 10 days of paternity leave at full pay upon the birth of a child. For 390 of the days, parents are entitled to nearly 80% of their normal pay pro-rated to income. The remaining 90 days are paid at a flat rate. Parental leave can be taken up until a child turns eight. - Italy, whose policies fall in the middle range of West European countries, provides 21 weeks of maternity leave, at 80% of earnings, and up to 26 weeks of additional family leave at 30% of earnings - Fathers receive a modest three days of fully paid leave at the birth of a child Finally, Greece, on the low end of the West European scale, provides 43 weeks of maternity leave for mothers, but at only about 54% of earnings w

The Contextual Nature of Conflict and Community

We see that peer relations and friendships reflect the values and practices of the local and more general communities and cultures in which they emerge. Comparative analysis demonstrates the importance of viewing friendship as a collective and cultural process. In this view, culture is not simply a force or variable that affects how children come to be or have friends Instead, friendship processes are seen as deeply embedded in children's collective, interpretive reproduction of their cultures

Child Abuse in the Family

When children are abused by caretakers, they not only are physically and emotionally harmed but often blame themselves for the failings of those they trust and love. The consequences of abuse are doubly tragic and often long-lasting, in some cases, they even perpetuate more abuse; the abused child herself also becomes a child abuser - Some parents believe in administering corporal punishment to their children - A number of European countries have passed laws against physical punishment inthe home, and most countries in the industrialized world now forbid it in schools (except for Australia and the United States—in the United States it is banned in 31 states and in the District of Columbia). - Any society's attempt to define and control child abuse immediately runs up against issues of family privacy and the belief that people have the right to bring up their own children without government interference or regulation - Most agree, that there are limits to parental authority; and most child abuse laws and regulations revolve around the determination of misuse of parental authority - Most laws are generally in line with a definition offered by Landau: "Parental authority and power are misused when they are employed to damage the child either physically or emotionally or administered in any manner that reduces or limits the child's opportunity for normal growth and development" (1994, p. 116) - Child neglect, the most common form of child abuse, is best defined as an omissionor failure of the parents to meet their children's needs in regard to health, development, and physical safety. - One of the few comparative studies of child abuse relied on a measure developed by the World Health Organization (2002)• This measure focused on child abuse that resulted in deaths in infancy - Clearly the measure underestimates abuse, but we can at least be somewhat confident of its accuracy because statistics about death are normally carefully collected and reported inindustrialized countries - The World Health Organization (2002) measured combined infant homicides with infant deaths from undetermined external causes - This measure was recently used to rank 23 countries in terms of the number of deaths per 100,000 live birth

Status Differentiation

Young children's resistance to adult rules leads them to develop a sense of "we-ness" or a group identity, which is a central feature of peer cultures Emerging after and existing alongside this dynamic of affiliation, however, is another more contentious, competitive one This competitive dynamic leads to the emergence of subgroups and status hierarchies within subgroups of peers, especially during kindergarten and the early elementary grades.