Lecture 12 - Developmental Contexts

Question 1

(reading):

Siegler, R., Saffran, J., DeLoache, J., Gershoff, E. T. & Eisenberg, N. (2017). How Children Develop. Chapters 9 & 16.

Answer 1

(reading):

Question 2

(lecture summary):

This lecture provides an overview of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of child development in which the child is at the centre of a series of concentric circles containing different socialising influences. It forms a backdrop to my next 4 lectures. We will discuss factors that may exert direct or indirect effects on the child depending on proximity e.g. government policy is a distal influence that exerts effects via impacts on, for example, education, family finance and social housing. Students are encouraged to think about the psychosocial processes that may explain how these effects operate. The model has been criticised for not elaborating the role of the child in determining development e.g. how children’s changing psychological and behavioural functioning alters the effect of exposure to different environments. As a systems theory it is also open to criticisms relating to circularity.

Learning objectives:

1. Distinguish between the relative role of different social relationships in middle childhood and adolescence.
2. Justify the relevance of systems theory to understanding children’s psychological functioning in relation to social contexts.
3. Demonstrate how microsystem elements (e.g. family; peers) combine to shape child development.

Answer 2

(lecture summary):

Question 3

(study question):

Critically evaluate Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) model of child development.

Answer 3

(study question):

Question 4

(lecture):

Describe the bioecological model of children’s development.

Answer 4

(lecture):

See slides 6-8

Question 5

(lecture):

Read slides 9 + 10

Answer 5

(lecture):

Question 6

(lecture):

Describe a microsystem.

Answer 6

(lecture) :
- Activities, roles and relationships that the child participates in directly in a particular setting.
- Becomes a more complex system over time as the child becomes more active and interactive.

• Relationships are bidirectional:
  > E.g. Parent to child; child to parent
• Negative: Hostile parenting; peer rejection; conflict; poor teaching practices
• Positive: Supportive parenting, positive peer relations, effective teachers

Question 7

(lecture):

Describe a mesosystem.

Answer 7

(lecture) :
- Connections among microsystem elements.
- Parents and teachers e.g. common goals
- Peers and teachers
- Adaptive connections theorised to foster child well-being.

Question 8

(lecture):

Describe an exosystem.

Answer 8

(lecture):

Indirect effects

• Parents’ work e.g. hours of work, stress, day care arrangements.
• Job loss
• Neighbourhoods
• Extended family
• Educational systems.

Question 9

(lecture):

Describe a microsystem.

Answer 9

(lecture):

The other levels are embedded in values, customs and laws of the wider society in which the child exists.

• General culture
• Subculture
• Social class
• Ideologies

E.g. industrialised society:

• Generation of wealth.
• Orients societal structures e.g. from work to school and, in turn, daily life:
• Exosystem (e.g. work) and microsystem (e.g. daycare).

Question 10

(lecture):

Describe a chronosystem.

Answer 10

(lecture):

• Societies change over time with implications for child development
  e.g. exposure to multimedia
  > Mobile phones, access to the internet
  > How have these potential influences changed since your childhood?
• Children change over time: more active in shaping their development.
• Child development should usually be viewed in a temporal context.

Question 11

(lecture):

Describe some limitations of the bioecological model of children’s development.

Answer 11

(lecture):

See slide 16-18

Watch lecture back around 25 mins in.