Middle Childhood and Adolescence by Tanvi Mehta

Tanvi Mehta

University of Phoenix

Human Growth & Development PSY/280

April 11th 2022

Functional and Dysfunctional Family Dynamics

Family structure is the genetic and legal connections with individuals in a family. Family function is how the family members interact with one another. Some families function in a healthy manner and some do not: a dysfunctional family. Family function is more significant than family structure; the structure can influence function but not determine it. A supportive family fulfils their child’s physical needs, creates opportunities for learning, encourages healthy relationships, provides stability and a safe peaceful home. The effects of a family function can reflect in one’s adulthood, both psychologically and financially. Each type of family structure has its benefits and flaws. With extended families, one advantage is that whilst the single parent is working the grandparent can care for the children. On the other hand, that grandparent can also provide criticism and create conflicts such as, teaching the parent how to parent their child. With single-parents the financial burden and responsibilities are all on one person, causing stress in the environment. There are also higher rates of change and instability with single-parent families (Berger, 2019, p. 546).  

Shared environment is defined as being in the same environment and nonshared environment consists of the differing experiences for an individual. Siblings growing up together do not share the same home environment. This can be explained by considering the different events that take place growing up, as each sibling although may be in the same house, but the difference in age and development periods make them experience events very differently. Shared and nonshared environments are crucial to understand what contributes to one’s happiness, psychopathology and overall development.

In every culture, ethnicity and structure, low income and high conflict are two key factors that affect family function. These factors negatively impact a family as they add stress to the parents who then become less patient and may remove their frustration out on their children, according to the family-stress model (Masarik & Conger, 2017). Family conflicts, fights amongst adults and witnessing abuse can all be harmful to children. However, some children can develop resilience. Resilience is a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity (Luthar et al., 2000).

Impact of Peers in Middle Childhood and Adolescence 

As one develops in the middle childhood, their perception about themselves evolves: their identity, personality, background and intelligence. Social comparison especially with their peers also influences this idea of self-concept. Social skills and academics both can be learnt from peers (Bagwell and Schmidt, 2011). Friendships become an integral part of the middle childhood years. As children want to be liked, they make friends with anyone their age who would play with them. This way they learn faster and feel more content. These friends and their personalities also influence how the child’s adult personality will develop. (Wrzus et al., 2016). Bullying is common among school children and is usually done by popular children which makes the bullying difficult to be stopped. The bully and the bullied face issues with social cognition, relationships and school achievements. There is a positive correlation between popularity and bullying, in middle childhood and early adolescence (Pouwels et al., 2016). The probability of a child developing a serious psychological disorder by age 18, is four times more if they were bullied both by school peers and siblings at home (Dantchev et al., 2018).

During adolescence, parental control decreases, and adolescents start to become more independent, more self-conscious and more self-critical. Peers and the media have strong influence on adolescents with regards to behavior, sexual needs and interactions, drug use and eating disorders. The increase in hormone levels causes sexual maturation. To explore sexual needs, adolescents get involved in romantic engagements whose nature is affected by their peer group. Peer approval is of great importance, even more than in middle childhood. Peer pressure can lead to addictive and damaging habits such as experimenting with drugs, alcohol and the use cigarettes or e-cigarettes. Sometimes, smoking and consuming alcohol can start as early as before age 15, thereby increasing the chances of depression, sexual abuse, later addiction and bullying (Merikangas & McClair, 2012; Mennis & Mason, 2012). During adolescence, the developing brain is particularly affected and harmed by all psychoactive drugs as it also has a negative impact on impulse control. 

Moral Values

According to Piaget and Kohlberg, cognitive development during middle childhood may affect moral development and moral reasoning. During middle childhood, moral values can be introduced and taught by mentors using moral dilemmas to expand on moral understanding whilst developing the underlying moral skills of emotional regulation and empathy (Hinnant et al., 2013). Peers can also teach bullies that their actions are not applauded as bullies are usually low on empathy. Parents and teachers can engage children in discussions that raises moral issues as to advance their understanding on morality. Children are loyal to their peers and choose their peers over adult standards of moral values and behavior. 

Adolescents’ brains and hormones are more attuned to value friendships and social amiability over long term consequences (Crone & Dahl, 2012) and adult approval. For example, a 14-year-old may choose to smoke a cigarette under peer pressure and the need of peer approval, ignoring the risks of cancer along with the fact that it is an illegal activity to engage in at that age. During this developmental period, rejection from classmates and friends is especially painful, and can be equivalent to the hurting when adults break up in romantic relationships. Thus, peer approval is more important to them, and so they tend to overlook any moral guidelines. 

Conclusion

Human development is complex and multifaceted. Factors such as genes, physical environment, socioeconomic status, family, peers and the kind of relationships they share with them, all influence an individual’s growth mentally, physically and emotionally. A child’s interpretation of their family situation or how they feel at school determines how it would affect them. Human beings are social animals, and therefore peers during middle childhood and adolescence play an integral role in the future development.

References

Bagwell, Catherine L. & Schmidt, Michelle E. (2011). Friendships in childhood & adolescence. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 

Berger, K. S. (2019). Invitation to the Life Span. 

Crone, Eveline A. & Dahl, Ronald E. (2012). Understanding adolescence as a period of social–affective engagement and goal flexibility. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 13(9), 636–650.

Dantchev, Slava; Zammit, Stanley & Wolke, Dieter. (2018). Sibling bullying in middle childhood and psychotic disorder at 18 years: a prospective cohort study. Psychological Medicine, (In Press).

Hinnant, J. Benjamin; Nelson, Jackie A.; O’Brien, Marion; Keane, Susan P. & Calkins, Susan D. (2013). The interactive roles of parenting, emotion regulation and executive functioning in moral reasoning during middle childhood. Cognition and Emotion, 27(8), 1460–1468.

Luthar, Suniya S.; Cicchetti, Dante & Becker, Bronwyn. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71(3), 543–562. 

Masarik, April S. & Conger, Rand D. (2017). Stress and child development: A review of the Family Stress Model. Current Opinion in Psychology, 13, 85–90. 

Mennis, Jeremy & Mason, Michael J. (2012). Social and geographic contexts of adolescent substance use: The moderating effects of age and gender. Social Networks, 34(1), 150–157. 

Merikangas, Kathleen R. & McClair, Vetisha L. (2012). Epidemiology of substance use disorders. Human Genetics, 131(6), 779–789. 

Pouwels, J. Loes; Lansu, Tessa A. M. & Cillessen, Antonius H. N. (2016). Participant roles of bullying in adolescence: Status characteristics, social behavior, and assignment criteria. Aggressive Behavior, 42(3), 239–253.

Wrzus, Cornelia & Neyer, Franz J. (2016). Co-development of personality and friendships across the lifespan: An empirical review on selection and socialization. European Psychologist, 21(4), 254–273.