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| 1. Describe at least two benefits that a younger child might experience by having an older sibling and at least one benefit than can accrue to older siblings by having a younger brother or sister. Are only children denied all these benefits of having a sibling? Why or why not? |
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Definition
a)Benefit of Older Siblings
-Security-Stewart’s Strange Situation variation. Securely attached kids went to older sibling and sibling provided comfort
-Support- children confide in each other more. Children with bad parents cope better when they have siblings. Good tie to sibling can minimize anxiety and adjustment to school (esp. if being excluded)
-Social Skills- develop together- leads to being better with peers.
-Teachers- teach new skills by modeling and providing instruction. Younger siblings look to and respect older siblings and older siblings feel the responsibility.
b) Benefit of Younger Siblings
-learn to get along despite rivalry and high conflict (56 skirmishes per hour) deal with conflict, still love and care for one another.
-Finally have another playmate.
c) Only Child, denied benefits? No
-Only children are high in self esteem and achievement motivation, more obedient and more intellectually competent than children with siblings
-likely to establish good relationships with peers.
-China has not produced spoiled, self-centered brat who behave like little emperors.
-through friendships, only children are able to gain the same benefits from peer alliances. |
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| 2. Beverly is about to remarry and is happy that her 8-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter will have a father figure. Based on available research, which of Beverly’s children is likely to adjust best to having a stepfather? List two reasons for making this prediction. |
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Definition
-after an initial period of disruption and confusion that occurs as new family roles iron themselves out
-boys often seem to benefit more than girls by gaining a stepfather.
-stepfathers who are warm and accepting offer relief from the coercive cycles that boys may have experienced with a custodial mother so that these stepsons often enjoy a boost in self esteem and will eventually overcome many adjustment problems they displayed before their mothers remarries.
-relationships are worse with girls because no matter how hard stepfathers try, their stepdaughters remain cool and aloof. girls view stepfathers as threats to their relationships with their mothers and may resent their mothers for remarrying and becoming less attentive to their needs.
-older children tend to withdraw and act antisocially |
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Term
| 3. Describe the two theories discussed in the text that make opposing predictions about the effects of televised violence on children’s aggressive behavior. Evaluate the merits of these two theories based on the evidence available to date. |
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Definition
1) Catharsis Hypothesis: violent media provides fantasy material that viewers can use for cathartic purposes (draining away aggressive energy). Exposure to media violence should reduce aggression
2) Social Learning Theory: people are emotionally aroused by violence they view which can trigger aggression. TV actors = aggressive models. Media violence if left unpunished, may communicate that violence is acceptable. Stories rarely show the effects (short and long term) of violence for victims, their families, and even the perpetrators. Viewing violence can cause people to access violent thoughts more easily and interpret ambiguous events as aggresive
--Correlational Surveys:
-media violence is positively associated with a child’s exhibited hostility and aggression.
-a reciprocal relationship that preferences for violent TV at age 8 predicts adult aggressiveness and criminality at age 30
Experiments:
--Laboratory Experiments
-exposing children to violent programming and then giving the child a chance to perform aggressive acts. 16 out of 18 experiments found children to be more aggressive after watching TV violence
-arguments that laboratory experiments are nothing like the real world experiences. Children have undivided attention to them and tailor made opportunities to perform violent acts.
-it is possible that TV violence is short lived and are a problem only in laboratory settings where they are encouraged to be aggressive
HOWEVER: boys who watch an unedited and highly violent program designed for children subsequently become more aggressively inclined when they interact with peers in their natural environment.
--Field Experiments
-Preschoolers were exposed to either batman/superman for a month or mr. rogers. Violent vs. nonviolent. Children who watched violent programming were more aggressive in their interactions at school than those who who did not watch violent shows.
aggressive behavior was only statistically significant for youngsters who had an initial baseline measure of "initially aggressive", children who were by no means extreme or deviant.
-Belgian adolescent delinquents saw a different violent movie for a week while the other half saw nonviolent movies. compared to baseline levels of aggression, inmates who watch violence became more physically aggressive whereas those who watch nonviolent movies did not. violence promoted larger increases in aggression among inmates who were already high in aggression.
-argue field experiment arguments are very weak. strongest effects come from captive audiences: the group that you would expect to be more influenced by programming.
--Correlational Studies:
longitudinal correlational is more indicative.
-after controlling for children's aggressive behavior in grade school, SES, and parent child rearing practices, both boys and girls who watched more TV violence in grade school were more aggressive 15 years later as young adults
aggressiveness in childhood was only weakly related to adults preference for violent television, thus implying that early exposure to TV violence is more closely linked to later aggression than early aggression is to later viewing habits.
-Heavy childhood exposure to TV violence was closely related to physical aggression for adult males but related to both physical and relational aggression for adult females.
-Children who interpreted TV violence as real, as in an accurate depiction of everyday life, and those who identified more strongly with same sex perpetrators of aggression were the individuals most heavily influenced by their exposure to TV violence.
--Televised Violence as a Desensitizing agent
instills mean world beliefs: view world as a violent place. 7-9 year olds who show the strongest preferences for violent television are the ones most likely to believe that violent shows are an accurate portrayal of everyday life.
prolonged exposure to tv violence can desensitize children, make them less emotionally upset by violent acts and more willing to tolerate them in real life.
-The response of younger children is more obvious but older children still suffer |
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Term
| 4. You read an article by Hart and his colleagues regarding cross-cultural comparisons of withdrawn behavior subtypes. Describe the findings obtained in this study and their application to the ideas of universal and cultural variations in child development. |
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Definition
-China didn’t see withdrawal behaviors as withdrawal- In Chinese culture solitary passive, solitary active and reticence did not denote withdrawal the way it did in US and Russia
-This is possibly because they focus on the group more than individuals
-US and Russia are more focused on individuals
-Other parts of Chinese culture may be contributin- Confucionism- avoid extremes. Chinese teachers may have found it inappropriate to highlight the outgoing actions of a child.
-In all three cultures reticence (behavior that seemingly departs from the norm) was viewed negatively in terms of sociometric ratings by peers in all three cultures.
-In Western Cultures reticence can be a failure to exert yourself individually while in Eastern cultures it is a failure to conform to the group
-Universally, there are many similarities across these unique cultures in regard to peer contact patterns, parenting practices, withdrawn behavior subtypes and related child outcomes
- Culturally, however there are cultural nuances stemming from governmental policy, cultural norms, and neighborhood features in this data |
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Term
| 5. Describe the immediate effects of divorce. Describe these challenges and effects both generally and specific to each family member and his/her interactions with others--parents (custodial, noncustodial) and children (boys and girls, young children and adolescents). Finally, cite two of the possible ways to ease the burden of divorce. |
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Definition
Immediate Effects of Divorce:
Crisis Period (about a year)
Effects on children varies by age, but all children suffer: there is not a lot of longitudinal data regarding divorce's effects on children.
-younger children tend to take responsibility
-older children understand more but develop problems trusting and therefor turn to things like drugs, sex and other delinquent behaviors to cope.
-Temperamentally difficult children have more difficulties than easygoing children
-Boys manifest their suffering overtly; girls experience covert distress.
-The attitude of parent and child can feed off of each other negatively
-As children get older they still report negative affects and fear of divorce
Parents
-Mothers become angry and coercive in their parenting
-Father’s become overly permissive
-Father doesn’t usually get custody so he is stressed that he’ll be pushed out of the picture
Easing the Burden of Divorce:
-Adequate financial support.
Women can be just as bad as men when it comes to failing to pay child support. Sometimes the father is required to pay, but sometimes the mother.
-Adequate parenting by the custodial parent
-Social/emotional support from the non custodial parent
you do not put down your ex in front of your children, otherwise they experience constant negatives from each side.
-Extra-familial support
having the ability to potentially move into parents house for a time being.
Minimizing additional stress:
-Trying to minimize other transitions. Try to not move out of the ward or move schools etc.
-Parents need to be warm and authoritarian. |
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Term
| 6. The article by Ladd and colleagues refers to the correlation between school adjustment and social competence. Briefly describe the different dimensions of their interpersonal model of school adjustment and refer to studies which suggest that peer acceptance, friendships, and teacher-child relationships are associated with school adjustment. |
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Definition
-Longitudinal data, kindergarten through 5th graders
-structural model in which chronic peer exclusion and chronic peer abuse were hypothesized to mediate the link between children’s early peer rejection, later classroom engagement, and achievement.
-Peer exclusion and abuse were expected to predict changes in 2 forms of school engagement (classroom participation and school avoidance), and changes in both forms of engagement were expected to predict changes in achievement.
-The model fit the data well and lent support to the premise that distinct forms of peer maltreatment and classroom engagement mediate the link between early peer rejection and changes in children’s achievement.
-Early peer rejection was associated with declining classroom participation and increasing school avoidance, but different forms of chronic peer maltreatment mediated these relations.
-chronic peer exclusion principally mediated the link between peer rejection and classroom participation
-chronic peer abuse primarily mediated the link between rejection and school avoidance. -Children’s reduced classroom participation, more than gains in school avoidance, anteceded decrements in children’s achievement. |
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Term
| 7. In class, we talked about friendships and how some children actually face victimization from best friends. According to the results of the Crick & Nelson, 2002 study, how prevalent is victimization within best friendships, how does this experience vary by gender, and what kinds of effects coincide with friendship victimization? |
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Definition
-Children rated their best friend's engagement in physical or relational aggression toward them.
-Girls were more likely to be relationally victimized by the friend, whereas boys were more likely to be physically victimized by the friend.
-For boys, physical victimization was a much better predictor of maladjustment problems than relational victimization. For girls the inverse was true
-Boys 25% and girls 17%
-In past research, relational and physical victimization ->associated with social–psychological maladjustment.
-These forms of victimization, although studied primarily within the group peer context, also occur within dyadic relationships such as friendships.
-Friend victimization was related to adjustment difficulties for both boys and girls
- boys, physical victimization –
a)social anxiety b) social avoidance c) loneliness d) psychological distress peer rejection e) internalizing problems f) externalizing difficulties.
- girls,
friend physical victimization was significantly associated with relatively high levels of social anxiety, social avoidance, loneliness, and externalizing difficulties, low levels of self restraint
For boys, friend relational victimization contributed little to the prediction of adjustment once physical aggression was taken into account whereas for girls, friend relational victimization added significantly to friend physical victimization in the prediction of adjustment. |
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Term
| . 8. What are the central points learned from consideration of Harlow’s studies of “mother-only” and “peer-only” monkeys? How are these findings paralleled by Freud and Dann’s consideration of “peer-only” orphans of war? |
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Definition
"Mother-only" Monkeys: failed to develop normal patterns of social behavior. when exposed to age mates, the peer deprived youngsters preferred to avoid them. When they did approach a peer, they tended to be highly aggressive, and their antisocial tendencies persisted into adulthood.
• avoid peers
• highly aggressive
• antisocial tendencies persist into adulthood
"Peer-only" monkeys: cling to one another and form strong mutual attachments. their social development was somewhat atypical in that they became highly agitated over minor stresses or frustrations and as adults they were unusually aggressive toward monkeys from outside their peer groups.
Human Parallel
• six three year olds in nazi germany who were only around each other and helped raise one another. Became very agitated and violent when they were separated, but loved being together and were extremely prosocial with one another including sharing food before they fed themselves. Shows that parents and peers play an important role. |
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Term
| 9. What does the “Robber’s Cave” study tell us about (a) the formation and functioning of children’s peer groups and (b) the reduction of intergroup hostilities? |
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Definition
Peer Groups:
• interact on a regular basis
• defines a sense of belonging
• formulates its own norms that specify how members are supposed to dress, think, and behave
• develops a structure or hierarchical organization, leader and other roles that enable group members to work together toward the accomplishment of shared goals.
• clearly identify with their groups, and it is a source of personal pride.
Working together to achieve an overall goal can bring groups together
Taken from off line:
ARRIVAL PHASE 1
In this experiment twenty-two 11 year-old boys were taken to a summer camp in Robbers Cave State Park, Oklahoma, little knowing they were the subjects of an experiment.
-housed separately, unaware of each other
- bonded within groups
-Eagles and Rattlers
NAME CALLING PHASE 2
-the groups find out about each other
-name calling and derogatory songs
-competitions- Rattlers won and rubbed it in
-planted a flag on the ball field
-wouldn’t eat together.
MAKING PEACE PHASE 3
-Tried some activities like watching a movie or setting off firecrackers- didn’t work
-water supply problem. Worked together to solve it.
-the groups had to come together to pay for and pick a movie, they ate all together that night.
- a series of problems came up over the next few days and the boys solved them together
-rode back together on the bus
CONCLUSION
Groups naturally form cultures, boundaries, structure,
Like countries
Focusing on superordinate goal (stretching beyond the groups themselves) can bring peace. |
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Term
| 10. Describe the changing nature of children’s peer groups from the grade-school period through adolescence. How are the various peer confederations thought to contribute tochild/adolescent development? |
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Definition
| CHILDHOOD, -peer interactions are mostly with the same sex. there are many changes that go on through adolescence. between ages 6 and 10 children are exposing themselves to a potent social context, the peer group, where they are likely to discover the value of teamwork, develop a sense of loyalty and commitment to shared goals, and learn a number of other important lessons about how social organizations pursue their objectives. EARLY ADOLESCENCE youngsters spend more time with peers, particularly with small groups of friends known as cliques than with parents., siblings, or any other agent of socialization. early peer cliques which initially form late in childhood, usually consist of four to eight same sex members. Membership in early same sex cliques is often unstable and children or young adolescents, boys especially, are likely to be members of more than one clique. MIDADOLESCENCE boy cliques and girl cliques begin to interact more frequently, eventually forming heterosexual cliques. Once formed, cliques often develop distinct and colorful dress codes, dialects, and behavior norms that set cliques apart from each other and help clique members to establish a firm sense of belongingness or a group identity After cliques is the development of crowds: a large reputationally based peer group made up of individuals and cliques that share similar norms, interests, and values. |
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Term
| 11. Compare and contrast the fundamental aspects and relative effectiveness of behavioral,social-cognitive skills, and contextual (school and family) intervention approaches that we discussed in class, starting with the least effective and proceeding to the most effective. |
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Definition
Behavioral Intervention
• Enhancing prosocial behavior through rewards
o Behavioral changes
do not reach normative levels:
do not persist once treatment is concluded
do not readily generalize to new settings
o may disrupt ongoing social interaction: interrupting social interaction to give a reward can mess up the social interaction
o When you stop giving the reward they will stop doing well
o inhibiting aggressive behaviors through punishment
corporal punishment is largely ineffective: stops for a little while, but it comes back.
reprimands and time out strategies may work, however the same shortcomings as those stated above for use of rewards.
• Operant procedures also fail to change peer judgements about rejected children: To be effective, you have to start from very early because peers will be able to accept the change in the child. If it doesn't happen until later on, the peers will not forgive him and give him another chance to change
o Everyone knows he is only being good because he is getting a prize.
Social-Cognitive Skills training Intervention
• Underlying cognitive process
o social problem solving training
o anger coping training
o coaching
• Treatment effects are small, though statistically significant.
• often no change in peer acceptance. happens because the effects are small, so peers are not picking up on them
• Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Social Skills of ADHS children
o ADHD children and social skills training
like teflon--nothing sticks! later results are much more effective
o Ritalin can do wonders for increasing attentiveness and decreasing hyperactivity, but it cannot assuage the tendency to engage in negative cognitions. This needs to be a two step process
o Even when medicated, hyperactive children continue to be rejected by peers at increased levels, relative to their normal peers.
o In short, Ritalin has remarkable short term advantages but it fails to bring about long term gains in social adjustment. This is a group that struggles the most because they cannot focus in school but also in social settings.
Interventions: Family and School
• Many children in need of intervention come from families in disarray
• Interventions that focus simultaneously on parent-child, teacher-child, and peer-child interaction have the greatest long-term gains
• Very time-consuming, and very expensive!
o FAST Track Program-a multi-site, multi-million dollar effort with not so impressive results
Single parent families
"...we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets." |
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Term
| 12. We talked in class about cyberbullying. Describe what sorts of tactics are associated with this recent trend in the manifestation of aggression, and explain how these strategies coincide with the traditional definition of relational aggression. |
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Definition
Taking back-stabbing and social cruelty to new heights with technology
• Using camera phones
o to capture incriminating or unflattering photos and then post on the internet (or threaten to do so—blackmail)
• Image alteration software
• Three-way calling
o attempting to lure an unsuspecting third party into saying something bad about the other party
• Text messaging and instant messaging
o spreading rumors or confronting others
• Blogs and message boards
o A reservoir of rumors, name-calling, and resentment (virtual bathroom wall graffiti)
• Stealing another’s identity online and wreaking havoc
o Launching fights, spreading rumors, pitting people against each other, cutting off a person’s relationships
• Virtual polling stations
o To vote on the ugliest, most boring, most disgusting, most hated, etc.
• Hacking myspace.com accounts or using those accounts as a forum to belittle others
• Posting false information on the internet
o placing sexually explicit ads |
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Term
| 13. In class, we talked about four different mechanisms by which marital conflict may impact children’s social development. Briefly describe each of these mechanisms. |
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Definition
•This is the number one predictor of childhood behavioral problems. It is a predictor of externalizing behavior for children, especially for boys. In marriages where husbands are angry and withdrawn from conflict, children have internalizing problems.
• How marital conflict impacts child outcomes
o Children may model inter-parental aggression, believing it is acceptable: they become distressed and the likelihood that children wil have hostile, aggressive interactions with siblings and peers goes up.
o Children may be prone to hostile attributional basis and accordingly act more aggressively.
o Background anger serves as a family stressor, which negatively impacts all relationships, including those with peers
o Marital conflict undermines parenting and the parent-child relationship, which negatively impacts children's behavioral regulation. |
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Term
| 14. We talked in class about how it is often difficult, in today’s society, to come to a consensus on what constitutes abuse. Describe and discuss the nature of these difficulties. Be sure to mention how the concept of children’s resilience (in response to abuse) complicates perceptions of abuse. |
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Definition
• It is all in the eyes of the beholder, and people will define abuse according to their culture and circumstance.
• You have to find the balance between being safe and being overboard.
• Maybe if children are resillient, abuse isn't that wrong.
o only 30% of physically abused children abuse the next generation
o 20-49% of victims show few signs of behavioral or mental health problems.
o iatrogenic effect: parent tells the child that they should be doing worse than they really are.
• Just because a child doesn't show negative effects doesn't mean that they do not get hurt.
• Some even question if the child remembers sexual abuse.
• Resillience: interplay between genes and environment:
o a variation of 5-HTT as a potential buffer against adversity (Moffitt & Caspi)
o 5-HTT helps regulate seratonin in the brain and comes in three variants:
two-long: protect against depression in response to stress
One-long, one-short: moderate protection
two-short: no protection
o Caveats
in the absence of adversity, 5-HTT is not expressed (not a "depression gene")
good support ameliorates the effects of abuse and genotype
o Other research shows that even if you do not have the 5-HTT gene, and you have someone who you love, look up to, and trust, you have someone to talk to, you have similar effects as if you had the 5-HTT gene. |
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Term
| 15. Describe at least three commonly found differences between children’s interactions with their friends and their interactions with children who are only acquaintances. How might these differences help to explain why having positive, high-quality friendship is correlated with a child’s later positive development? |
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Definition
1. friends display more advanced forms of pretend play than acquaintances do-as well as more affection and more approval.
2. Friends often do nice things for each other, and many altruistic behaviors may first appear within these early alliances of the preschool era.
1. Frederick found that 3-6 yr. olds were generally willing to give up their own valuable play time to perform a dull task if their efforts would benefit a friend. this self sacrifice was never made for an acquaintance.
3. young children express more sympathy in response to the distress of a friend than to that of an acquaintance, and they are more inclined to illeviate that friend's distress as well.
• when children have friends, they socialize prosocial behavior with one another. when friends are supportive and prosocial, they choose to pursue more prosocial goals themselves, and become more prosocially inclined over time.
• sixth graders are much more chill and relaxed, according to cortisol levels, when they are with friends rather than when they are with acquaintances. casual interactions are more stressful between acquaintances than with fiends.
Advantages to having friends:
1. Friends are providers of security and social support.
1. they reduce loneliness and victimization of unpopular children who are excluded from the larger peer group.
2. close friendship provides a context for improving an isolated child's poor social skills while functioning as an emotional safety net--a security that eases the distress arising from poor peer relations.
3. as time goes on, peers are as important as parents in social development.
2. contributors to social problem solving skills
1. friendships are positive relationships and they are rewarding. Children are likely to resolve conflicts because there is high motivation to do so.
2. friends are more likely to argue, but they are likely to try to work things out together.
3. Friendships are a preparation for adult romantic relationships.
1. close friendships increase in intimacy and mutuality from middle childhood through adolescence.
2. these intense emotional ties could be necessary for the development of later love relationship.
3. a strong sense of self worth is established through friendships which is necessary to intimate love relationships in later life. |
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Term
| 16. Compare and contrast behavioral and psychological control in terms of theirmanifestations and outcomes, and explain why an understanding of psychological control is important, especially with reference to issues of adolescent development. |
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Definition
Book:
• Behavioral Control: attempts to regulate a child's or an adolescent's conduct through firm discipline and monitoring of his or her conduct
• Psychological control: attempts to regulate a child or adolescent's conduct by such psychological tactics as withholding affection and or inducing shame or guilt
• as early as preschool, parents who rely on firm behavioral control without often resorting to psychological guilt trips tend to have well behaved children and adolescents who do not become deviant and generally stay out of trouble. However, parents who have a heavy use of psychological control is often associated with poor developmental outcomes such as anxiety or depression, poor academic performance, deviant peer affiliation, and antisocial conduct.
o behavioral control may be associated with supportive but firm (authoritative) guidance, whereas those who use psychological control rely on harsh discipline and attempt to thwart the child's autonomy.
• this is important in adolescence because it is a time for developing autonomy and individuality. It can be hard to do so when you have a parent constantly saying that you are not good enough or who is manipulating your decision making through difficult threats and other negative influences.
Slides:
Psychological Control (Barber’s Definition)
• “. . . a rather insidious form of control that potentially inhibits or intrudes upon psychological development through manipulation and exploitation of the parent-child bond (e.g., love-withdrawal and guilt induction), negative affect-laden expressions and criticisms (e.g., disappointment and shame), and excessive personal control (e.g., possessiveness, protectiveness.”
Elements of Psychological Control:
• Constraining Verbal Expressions
o Changing the subject, interrupting, speaking for the other, lecturing, dominating the conversation, ignoring others’ comments, showing disinterest
• Invalidating Feelings
o Discounting, misinterpreting, or assigning a value (good/bad, right/wrong) to expressed feelings; mind reading; sarcasm and teasing about feelings
• Personal Attack
o Reminding another of responsibilities to the family, questioning another’s loyalty, bringing up another’s past mistakes or embarrassing behaviors, blaming, being condescending or patronizing
• Guilt Induction
o Laying guilt trips on others, playing the role of the martyr, saying that if others really cared, they would do as you instruct
• Love Withdrawal
o Threatening to withdraw love or attention if another does not act as required; looking or turning away, making disgruntled facial expressions or physically leaving when displeased with another
• Erratic Emotional Behavior
o Vacillating between caring and attacking expressions—hot and cold
Negative effects of psychological control
• Psychological control intrudes upon the process of self-formation and establishing autonomy
• Psychological control predicts
o Internalizing problems
anxiety, depression, low self-esteem
o Externalizing difficulties
impulsivity, aggressiveness, acting out
• Psychological control has consequences for children of all ages (not just adolescents!)
• Psychological control and the development of relational aggression
• Comparing and contrasting parent-child dyads |
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Term
| 17. Briefly explain the process of conducting a sociometric nominations technique, the two dimensions which result, and, accordingly, how the five sociometric status groups are defined. |
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Definition
Sociometric techniques:
• asking children to identify peers they like or dislike or to rate their peers form desirability as companions. used to measure children's peer acceptance or nonacceptance. children's responses correlate closely with teachers ratings signifying that there is validity in the child responses.
Five categories
1. popular children: liked by many peers, disliked by few
2. rejected children: disliked by many liked by few
3. neglected children: few nominations for like or dislike. low on social impact and invisible to peers
4. controversial children: liked by many peers and disliked by many others.
5. average students: the remaining 1/3 of students where there are an average number of likes and dislikes.
Slides:
• Popularity is associated with
o Friendly approaches
o Nurturance and social reinforcement
o Cooperative play and social conversation
o Appropriate rough-and-tumble play
o Group dramatic and rule-oriented play
• Rejection is associated with
o Aggressive and disruptive behaviors
o Physical/relational, proactive/reactive, instrumental/ hostile
o Inappropriate rough-and-tumble play
o Withdrawn behavior
o Reticence, solitary passive, solitary active
o Victimization status |
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Term
| 18. What is the link which Harry Stack Sullivan proposed between preadolescent friendships and intimate relationships in adulthood? Why did he believe that there might be such a link? What research is cited by Shaffer in support of Sullivan’s theory? |
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Definition
Sullivan found that many of his mentally ill patients failed to form close friendships when they were young. he oncluded that close reciprocal bonds that develop between same sex friends during preadolescence provide the foundation for a strong sense of self worth and the growth of caring and compassionate attitudes that a person needs to establish and maintain intimate love relationships in later life.
preadolescents who have estblished intimate same sex friendships are more likely than friendless peers to have broken through the gender segregatoin barrier and begun to forge closer ties with the opposite sex. |
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Term
| 19. Much controversy surrounds the issue of gay and lesbian parenting. Describe the supportive evidence cited by Shaffer. What are the implications of the idea that there are no differences in child outcomes for heterosexual versus homosexual rearing environments? Finally, describe the research findings and empirical issues overlooked by Shaffer which contradict or throw doubt on the “no differences” hypothesis. |
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Definition
Shaffer's Summary
Children raised by homosexual parents are no more likely to be homosexual than those raised by heterosexual parents
Children of gay and lesbian parents are just as well adjusted as children of heterosexual parents
Gay and Lesbian parents have parenting skills comparable to their heterosexual counterparts
IN SUM, there is no evidence to warrant any concerns about gay and lesbian parents raising children.
Implications that there are no differences in child outcomes for heterosexual vs. homosexual:
Children need neither a mother or a father to be successfully be raised to adulthood--simply being surrounded by two caring adults is sufficient
Same-sex attraction and behavior is immune to the effects of family environment or social influence (because it is inborn!)
Contradictory research against Schaffer: Golombok & Tasker: longitudinal 9.5 years through early 20s
Significantly more young adults from lesbian families stated that they previously considered, or thought it was a future possibility, that they might experience same-gender attraction in such a relationship.
Young adults raised in lesbian families are more likely to have had one or more homosexual relationships.
Lesbian mothers who were more open in sharing physical affection with their partner or had a greater number of lesbian relationships were more likely to have young adults who expressed homosexual interest.
Researchers ignore these findings even though they suggest possible socialization effects.
Contrary Evidence
Homosexual relationships, especially those of gay men, tend to be relatively unstable
18 months to 3 years, non-monogamous for men
5-7 years for lesbian relationships
These studies suffer from severe methodological flaws and therefore cannot be relied on to inform legislation or legal cases
Inadequate sample sizes which limit statistical power to detect differences
High attrition rates in longitudinal studies
Biased samples (self-selected and interested in putting their best foot forward)
Biased researchers
Inadequate measures of outcomes
In short, failing to find differences does not mean that differences don’t exist! |
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Term
| 20. The common phrase "cycle of abuse" implies that parents who were themselves abused as children are highly likely to abuse their own children. Given the context of abuse or other negative family patterns of interaction, define the title, “transitional character,” and explain the possible impact of such an individual on future generations. |
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Definition
The "cycle of abuse" is not the norm: only 30% of physically abused children abuse the next generation.
Transitional Character: “. . . one who, in a single generation, changes the entire course of a lineage. The individuals who grow up in an abusive, emotionally destructive environment and who somehow find a way to metabolize the poison and refuse to pass it on to their children. They break the mold. They refute the observation that . . . ‘the sins of the fathers are visited upon the heads of the children . . .’ Their contribution to humanity is to filter the destructiveness out of their lineage so that generations downstream will have a supportive foundation upon which to build productive lives.” -(Broderick, 1988, p. 14) Responding to Child abuse Removing a child from a home Balancing vigilance with fairness Often construed as parental rights vs. child rights Current system: Guilty until proven innocent Some use this to “work the system” against others Part of “parental alienation syndrome:" effective way to make sure your ex spouse doesn't see your kids. It is very difficult to stop the system once the wheels begin to turn Foster homes sometimes fail as safe havens and may expose the child to additional abuse or difficulty |
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