Social Development

Peer Relationships Antisocial Behavior Social Skills Training

Peer Relationships in Middle Childhood

Important by middle childhood Cliques
voluntary social or friendship groups of three to nine members Form from influence (peer pressure) and selection (choosing to be part of the group)

Sociometry
Moreno (asking students to nominate peers to evaluate status)
Social preference being selected as popular/ positive Social impact being selected often, even if negative

Sociometric Categories
Popular High preference, high impact Good perspective-taking abilities High levels of self-regulation and selfcontrol Physically attractive Scholastic competence

Sociometric Categories
Rejected Low preference, high impact Rejected-aggressive
high levels of instrumental aggression; low levels of perspective-taking, self-control, poor social skills; hostile attribution bias (approx. 50%) Poor academic outcomes

Rejected-withdrawn
socially anxious, poor perspective-taking, general social ineptness (10-20%) Limited evidence for later internalizing problems

Sociometric Categories
Neglected Low preference, low impact Less aggressive than average Less sociability Not associated with developmental problems Average Moderate preference, moderate impact Not associated with developmental problems

Social Competence
Affective responses
empathy & valuing relationships

Cognitive processes
perspective taking & moral decision making

Social skills
Competence level of perspective taking ability Performance childs actual use of skills for getting along with others Can have competence without performance

Antisocial Behavior in Middle Childhood

Presence of aggression with the intent to harm Both overt and covert Early-starter model
Early oppositional behavior Poor outcomes

Adolescent-onset
Difficult or exaggerated reaction to adolescence

Origins of Antisocial Behavior

Temperament
difficult temperaments more bx problems at age 3 difficult temperaments + maladaptive parenting bx problems in late childhood

Effects of testosterone Neurological Deficits

Deficits in attention + impulsivity Difficulties with inhibition

Self-concept
Self-fulfilling prophecy

Origins of Antisocial Behavior

Environmental Influences
Distal influences
poverty, substandard housing, poor parent education, large family size, inadequate education, exposure to violence, frequent moves stress poor parenting

Proximal influences
Patterson: coercive family interaction
Parent command Child noncompliance + aggressive bx Parent backs down Child rewarded for negative bx

Origins of Antisocial Behavior

Social Information Processing
Encoding
selectively focusing on threats

Interpretation
hostile attributional bias

Clarification
use aggressive schemas to understand situation

Action
limited repertoire of available responses

Origins of Antisocial Behavior

Limited affective empathic abilities
focus on self rather than other

Result of harsh parenting?

Lack of role models No experience of empathy Lack of warmth No processing of empathic material

NOT low self-esteem

Interventions
Some define therapy as the process of building an awareness of how our actions affect other people Therapies that presume high levels of metacognitive development may strain the capabilities of young clients

Cognitive Therapy & Children

Less dependent on high levels of selfreflection and incorporate teaching specific skills Interventions are most successful when they take into account the transactional nature of these problems, considering what elicits the difficulty and what sustains it