ECE133: Growth & Development of Children

Topic 10: THEORIES EXPLAINING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

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What is Social Development?

• We use the word ‘social’ so often. Do you know what is mean? Social relates to activities in which a person spends time with other people.
• Generally, humans are social beings who like to meet and spend time with other people.
• What is social development? Social development discusses how a child from birth until adulthood learns to interact with others and form healthy relationship.
• It is generally agreed that by giving infants lots of love and by attending to their needs, parents establish a bond with their baby, which allows them to grow in a comfortable, confident and socially healthy atmosphere.
• Children need to learn to interact with their peers and with adults in a socially acceptable way.

What is Social Development?

• Social development is about creating environments that enable children to thrive and not merely survive
• The manner in which adults interact with young child establishes the building blocks for healthy social development.
• As children develop improved language skills; social development plays an important role in their lives, as they become more involved with the people around them.
• For example, young children often play with same-sex friends, and begin forming 'best friend' bonds with certain peers (see Figure 10.1).

What is Social Development?

• In early childhood, children increasingly value companionship, attention, and approval.
• They move from playing mainly with parents to playing alone or with peers, though they still need an adult nearby for materials or to settle disputes.
• Social skills can be hard because children must learn to compromise, take turns, and share.
• Preschool play often centres on sharing toys; children interact more with friends but their play is usually not highly organized or goal-directed. With adult guidance, they can follow rules. Friendships tend to involve only a few children, and humour and laughter become ways to express happiness.
• Early learning programmes support social development by giving children chances to work together, compromise, share, take turns, and empathize.
• Nursery and kindergarten also encourage friendships and social skills through play, especially dramatic/imaginary play.
• At this stage, children also learn gender roles—behaviours typically expected of girls or boys—and become aware of physical differences between boys and girls.

Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

a) What is difference between Self-Concept & Self-Esteem?

• Do you know yourself? It may sound easy but surprisingly it is not that easy to answer.
• Oftentimes this is defined as “self-understanding”.
• What then is self-understanding? 4 Santrock (2008) defines it as the “the individual’s cognitive representation of the self, the substance and content of self-conceptions” (p. 135).
• Simply put, self-understanding is what an individual understands is representative of himself or herself.
• For example, a 13-year-old girl understands that she is a student, a netball player, a family member and a rap music fan.
• For example, a 15-year old boy understands that he is a member of the prefect board, the eldest child in his family, a football player and a guitarist in a band. As they grow older, their understanding of their self deepens.

• In sum, self-esteem deals with the whole package, that is, the overall judgment of an individual‘s perception about him/herself, while self-concept refers to the evaluations of an individual about his/her own mastery in a specific field.

b) Can Self-Esteem Be Measured?

• It is not easy to measure self-esteem or self-concept.
• One of the early efforts to measure self esteem was conducted by Susan Harter in 1989 who developed the Self Perception Profile for Adolescents which assessed EIGHT dimensions: academic competence, athletic competence, popularity, physical appearance, conduct, close friendship, romantic pull, job competence, and global self-worth.
• The adolescent measurement differs from the one she developed for children as it had three extra dimensions; i.e. close friendship, romantic appeal and job competence.
• Table 8.1 is an example of a test measuring self-esteem.

b) Can Self-Esteem Be Measured?

• Self-esteem can also be measured by observing and rating the behaviour of children.

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• Peers, teachers, parents, and even strangers can be asked to help rate the self-esteem of children and teenagers.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE A PERSON’S SELF-ESTEEM

Life Changes

• There is evidence to suggest that self-esteem tends to decrease during ―life changes or transitions when individuals require a period of adjustment to the new environment. Usually, this tends to relate to schooling and work.
• For example, self-esteem tends to decrease when children transition from primary to lower secondary, and then from lower secondary to upper secondary school (Twenge & Campbell, 2001).
• It also tends to decrease then individuals make the transition from secondary school to college or university, and from college or university into the working world.

Academic Performance

• Initially, studies seem to indicate academic high achievers tend to have a positive self-esteem.
• However, research findings also show that self-esteem do not always correlate with academic performance (Davies & Brember, 1999).
• There is some truth that individuals with high self-esteem tends to show greater initiative; but they can just as easily be proactive in a positive or negative manner.
• In other words, they can be more motivated to do well in school, or more motivated to rebel against scholarly activities altogether.

Physical Appearance

• Another significant predictor of self-esteem is physical appearance; especially among adolescents (Harter, 2006).
• The strong correlation between self-esteem and physical appearance is global, spanning across all cultures, and also holds throughout one‘s entire life.
• Increasingly young people are victimised by obsession with beauty and when these impressionable teenagers and young adults cannot meet the standards of beauty that their self-esteem decreases.

Peer Approval

• This is most significant in later primary and secondary school children. In fact, the correlation between peer approval and a teen‘s self-worth grows more significant during adolescence (Harter, 1999).
• Teens seek approval from their peer group such as classmates, school mates and team members.

Emotional Support

• A child‘s self-esteem is based on a positive relationship with parents and eventually teachers. Adults who foster the can-do attitude in their children with a ―Wow! or a―That‘s great!
• Every time they accomplish a feat can have an effect on their self-esteem. But praise and positive reinforcement alone will not make children feel better automatically.
• Providing them with lots of love, care, and understanding is equally significant.
• Children who are happy and confident may still experience low self-esteem because they do not feel loved.
• Likewise, children who are loved and pampered at home may still feel inadequate and incompetent, thus ending up with low self-esteem.
• Hence, a balance of both should be present.

Teacher Behaviour

• Teachers play a significant role in affecting a child‘s self-esteem. Children spend a lot of time at school and are exposed to their behaviours. Teachers will positively impact a child‘s self-esteem if they:
• Do not embarrass children when they make mistakes or having trouble grasping what is taught
• Make themselves approachable
• Gain trust and who trust
• Are respectful of the children‘s differences and encourage respect for all children towards each other’s differences
• Show understanding of the challenges school may bring
• Listen to children when they express concerns or ideas
• Are fun (Martinez, 2011)

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CONSEQUENCES OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM

Feeling of Inadequacy

• Persons will low self-esteem tend to feel that they are inadequate and incapable of doing things others can do easily.
• They may feel that they are un-liked.
• This feeling would give them the idea that they will likely be rejected. They may also feel that they are inferior to other people and thus choose to be alone than in a group.
• They feel that everything they do is wrong that others will criticise.
• As a result, they choose to stay away from the places where activities are happening. They also tend to be not trust other people.

Eating disorder

• Low self-esteem has been associated with depression, suicide, eating disorders, delinquency, and other adjustment problems (Santrock, 2008).
• This low self-esteem consequence is more common among girls. Since society hails slim models girls, girls tend to experience eating disorder because of the desire to belong.
• And most of the time, they fail. Nonetheless, low self-esteem in women is becoming evident through eating disorder. Anorexia, an eating disorder characterised by voluntary vomiting or starving is common.
• Lack of self-confidence – A person with low self-esteem would turn out to be lacking the ability to confidently prove to others that he has the ability to do certain things.

• Lack of self-confidence – A person with low self-esteem would turn out to be lacking the ability to confidently prove to others that he has the ability to do certain things.
• Poor performance – Children with low self-esteem lack self-confidence leading to poor performance. The result would be for them to perform poorly on the tasks in front of him. They tend to just settle on the present and would not want to explore things beyond their comprehension.
• Poor social life – Children with low self-esteem lacks the capability to interact with people normally. They cannot join groups due to the fear of failure and criticism. They do not want become part of something out of their comfort zone. Thus, they choose to be alone for it is safer for them. Low self-esteem would not let them open up with other people.

Erik Erikson’s Theory of Social Development

Erik Erikson’s Theory of Social Development

Erik Erikson’s Theory of Social Development

• According to Erikson a person passes through these eight distinct stages and successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and successful interaction with others.
• Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self.

Social Attributes

• Early childhood educators have traditionally given high priority to enhancing young children's social development.
• Research evidence seem to provide convincing evidence that unless children achieve minimal social competence by about the age of six years, they have a high probability of being at risk throughout life.
• Hartup (1992) suggests that peer relationships contribute a great deal to both social and cognitive development and to the effectiveness with which children later function as adults

Social Attributes

The Social Attribution Checklist

• The Social Attribution Checklist (see Table 8.4) which is based largely on research identifying elements of social competence in young children, and on studies in which the behaviour of well-liked children has been compared to that of less well-liked children (Katz and McClellan, 1991).
• It is suggested that the Checklist should be used by preschool teachers every 3 to 4 months.
• Consultations with parents and other caregivers help make the attributes and assessments realistic and reliable.
• In using the checklist, teachers should pay attention to whether the attributes are typical. This requires sampling the child's functioning over a period of about three or four weeks.
• Any child can have one or two really bad days, for a variety of reasons; if assessments are to be reasonably reliable, judgments of the overall pattern of functioning over a period of about a month is required.

Healthy social development

• Healthy social development is not about being a “social butterfly”; the quality of friendships matters more than quantity. Shyness is normal and should not be forced, since it often fades with sensitive handling unless severe. A child’s social growth is best judged by whether positive traits usually appear, allowing for occasional temporary difficulties.
• Teachers and caregivers should observe children across situations, gather input from parents, and let children try resolving conflicts before intervening. If a child does well on most checklist items, occasional problems likely need no intervention.
• If a child struggles on many items, adults should use strategies to help build more satisfying relationships. The checklist is a guide, not a prescription for “correct” behavior.
• Children also vary in social behavior due to temperament, family relationships, and culture. Those from different backgrounds may need help bridging differences and learning to enjoy one another’s company.

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Children Understanding Other People

Understanding Ethnicity & Social Class:

• Person perception also includes making sense of diversity and inequality among people.
• For example, children at 3-4 years of age begin to form concepts of ethnicity and studies have shown that they begin to distinguish skin colour (Aboud, 2003).
• Children at this age are not able to distinguish social class (such as education & occupational prestige).
• However, some children are able to distinguish rich from poor on the basis of physical characteristics such as clothing, residence and possessions (Ramsey, 1991).
• As children grow older, understanding ethnic differences becomes more evident which may be reinforced in the home, the media (advertising, movies, internet) and their surroundings.

Children can be trained

• to enhance their weak social problem-solving skills in several ways.
• For example, in some preschools, puppets are used to show how conflicts in the classroom are resolves with the teacher verbally acting out :
• To point out consequences How do you think Zainal feels if you hit him?
• To think of alternative strategies Can you think of a different way to solve the problem?

Helping the Social Development of Children

• Some children make friends easily, while others need to learn social skills.
• When teachers understand what a child is experiencing, they can help them develop those skills and enjoy others’ company.
• Good social relationships support all areas of development, but they are learned gradually, so adults should avoid expecting too much and should praise new friendship skills.

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Some things teachers can do:

• Smile at a child across the room
• Make little gestures to support children’s social interactions
• Get down to their level to talk and make eye contact
• Show you are interested by commenting on what you see them doing without judging or adding your own suggestions.

Teach Social Skills

• Do not just expect children to know how to be a friend or join a group just from modelling.
• Staff may teach social skills using puppets and asking the children to solve the puppets’ problems. This helps all the children in the group to understand what they need to do about things like sharing and what is fair
• Talking about stories is another way to help children think about being a friend
• Involve children in activities that help others
• Involve children in making rules about how to treat others
• Providing extra support for children who appear to be experiencing difficulty getting along with others
• Observe what is happening and what friendship skills the child or other children might still need to learn (e.g., if a child is feeling left out or excluded)
• Coach children in the skills they need to develop and provide them with feedback when they do well
• Talk with parents and carers to share information and find out if there is anything worrying the child at that time
• Assure parents and carers you are observing and will help and let them know how their child’s relationships are developing
• Children with additional needs also need relationships and may need extra help

How school staff can help

• School teaches children about society and helps them learn to find their place in it.
• All the experiences children have at school help them to learn about social rules and relationships.
• Having clear and positive rules and policies, providing an integrated social and emotional learning curriculum, and supporting children’s social needs and relationships are some of the important ways that schools can support children’s social development.

Teach by example

• Children learn a great deal about the most appropriate ways to behave by observing the actions of those around them.
• When teaching social values it is especially important not to just talk about them, but to show through your actions the kinds of caring, respectful and responsible behaviours you expect of students.

‘Do’ rather than ‘don’t’

• Classroom and school rules are most effective when they are stated in clear and positive ways that children can understand.
• They are best kept simple and few.
• Discuss rules and expectations with students and show them the kinds of behaviours you regard as appropriate.
• Involving children in discussing your rules and encouraging them to suggest rules themselves are important ways for teaching staff to support children’s social and moral development.

Be firm, fair and flexible

• Being firm and consistent in applying rules that are framed positively and have been well-taught helps school staff establish and maintain respectful relationships which enables the classroom to function well and can also be transferred to other areas of the school.
• It also helps students to know where they stand.
• Being fair in applying the rules rather than singling out students for more severe punishment or favouring others is very important.
• School staff who are seen to be fair are more readily respected and are more effective at supporting all students’ social development and wellbeing.
• Being consistent and fair does not mean being rigid. It is also important to be flexible and take into account individual circumstances that may impact on a child’s ability to meet expectations, for example by checking if there is a reason why a child is late before deciding whether there should be a consequence.

Set the scene for classroom cooperation

• Cooperative classrooms support both social development and academic success.
• School staff encourage cooperation in the classroom when they structure cooperative learning activities where children work together on a specific task or project and teach children the skills to work together effectively.
• Providing opportunities for all students to take on particular roles and responsibilities also helps to build a cooperative classroom environment and encourages children to take pride in their contribution to school life.

Appreciate social and cultural diversity

• Find out about the social and cultural backgrounds and values of your students and their families and look for ways you may be able to accommodate their needs and perspectives.
• Be open to adjusting your style of teaching and communication and ensure that common classroom practices are clear and appropriate for all students.
• Create opportunities to include different perspectives and encourage children to explore and appreciate the differences.

Deal promptly with discrimination and harassment

• Teach children about stereotyping and discrimination and make it clear that these are unacceptable behaviours.

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• When discrimination, harassment or bullying occur ensure that you take action based on your school’s policies.