Developmental psychology/Chapter 6/Challenges for Caregivers

We all know it is quite a challenge to take care of children. Here, we will review different types of caregiving. Diana Baumrind studied 100 white American children in California and came up with four massive parenting variations:

1. Warmth - Some parents are warm and welcoming, while others are cold and harsh.
2. Discipline - Parents differ on punishment.
3. Expectations for maturity - Parents expect different behavior (responsibilities, self-control) from their children.
4. Communication - Some parents listen, other wants silence.

Baumrind, thereby, came up with four parenting styles:

1. Authoritarian parenting - Strict, harsh and demands are set. This style raises children which may be obedient, but unhappy and being harsh on themselves when mistakes happen. They may rebel at a later stage.
2. Permissive parenting - Discipline is lacking, partially because expectations are low. Accepting and listening. This style raises children with a lack of self-control and may still rely on their parents for everything when they're older. They also exhibit immaturity.
3. Authoritative parenting - Set limits but can move around them. Their guides, rather than dictators or friends, of their children and punishment, is set to be a learning lesson vs. a cold response to an action. This style raises happy, likable children in society.
4. Neglective/Uninvolved parenting - Parents don't care about their children's behavior. This style raises immature, lonely children who may have problems that last up to adulthood.

Baumrind's findings are criticized because she didn't account for cultural variations and the child's temperament. Each child is different and may require different parenting styles. For example, a rowdy child may need authoritarian parenting. Although, neglective parenting is not good for any child.

Discipline

Punishment for children usually begins in early childhood, well off of infancy. Various punishments have their fair share of supporters and critics.

Physical Punishment

Otherwise known as corporal punishment. Young children are faced with spanking/slapping more in the USA (particularly in, southern USA and more so by religious Christian families) than in Europe. Longitudinal studies suggest that children who are hit develop into abusive adults with a lack of self-control. 53 nations in the world deem corporal punishment as illegal. In 22/50 US states, teachers can legally paddle their students. Physical punishment depended more on the school culture and physical punishment decreased over time, but suspensions increased. 85% of US adolescents who were children by the time the 20th century ended confirmed being spanked. In low SES-nations, 1/3+ of mothers believed physical punishments are a good way of raising children.

"Pro-spankers" have defended physical punishment, saying that rowdy children may have an extra variable or it is them vs. the punishment that causes their bad behaviour. Low SES maybe another variable, where if we increase education and reduce poverty (and not ban the act of spanking), we can see fewer parents spanking their children. Lastly, the severity of spanking is disputed.

On the other side, people against spanking argue that angry spankers become abusive parents, children's immature cognitive abilities may impair their understanding of the situation, spanking correlates to children having depression, low self-esteem, increased aggression, and loneliness.

Alternatives

• Psychological control - A parent using their child's guilt and love for their parents to control their behaviour, usually by threatening to stop loving them. But even this has negative features, as children's math scores were lower as the parents' belief increased in using psychological control (Finnish study).
• Time-out - Time out, a popular tool in the US, is liked by experts. An increase in timeout showed improved parental discipline. But there is criticism to this as time-outs may be seen as an enjoyable thing for a child, thereby reinforcing bad behaviours.
• Induction - This is basically a parent taking a child 1-on-1 and a dialogue ensues between both parties pertaining to the offending behaviour.

Most parents use more than one method of punishment, with time-out the most common and 1/2 of parents spank. Again, parenting depends on the specific child.

Sex & Gender

Sex differences is biological, while gender differences is cultural. A 2017 survey stated that 43% of men believed boys should not be encouraged to play with "girly" toys. By age 2, children use gender labels and by age 4, children determine which toys and roles are set for one gender. By age 6, children are known as gender detectives. Sexual discrimination is apparent in younger children.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud named this period from age 3-6 as the phallic stage. Boys become aware of their penis. The unconscious desire of a male child to replace their father and ultimately win their mother's love is known as the Oedipus complex. Freud believed that every boy had sexual/violent urges, but hid this behind a superego - quick to judge and punish. This marks the beginning of morality. For girls, it's the same thing: Electra complex.

Freud's findings have been dismissed as "unscientific".

Behaviorism

All roles and values are learned and distinctions between the sexes are reinforced/punished. Parents may unknowingly reinforce gender differences on their children. For example, a father may talk more about STEM-related topics with his son vs. artistic topics with his daughter. Adhering to the social learning theory, children will model themselves after their parents because they perceive them as strong and powerful.

Cognition

Cognitive scientists believe children create a gender schema, a child's model of gender differences. The genders are seen as opposites because children are egocentric. Appearance is the biggest thing children take note of. Overall, messages from the children and cultural differences modifies the child's simplistic thinking regarding gender differences.

Evolutionary Theory

Evolutionists believe that the strong desire to mate and procreate is what makes boys and girls adhere to their gender characteristics, looking to attract the opposite gender. Boys, being more rough and outgoing, and girls, being more soft and conserved, are what prepared mankind in the past: boys protected the family from predators while girls would stay back and care for the women and children.

• In terms of sex/gender, the debate ravages on.
• Gender Similarities Hypothesis - Because we focus way too much on the differences, we forget that men and women have a lot of psychological variables in common.

Morales

• Empathy - Understanding other people's emotions and feelings. Leads to prosocial behavior, helping others without any reward. Prosocial behavior, which is inborn but not automatic (emotional regulation comes into play), originates more from emotions vs. intellect.
• Antipathy - Hatred for one person. Leads to antisocial behavior, harming others. Anti-social behavior leads to less empathy and correlates with parents who express little/no emotions.
• These behaviors are affected by nurture (they way they're taught to regulate these behaviors). For example, 2 yr old's usually have a lot of trouble sharing crayons because they have a feeling of ownership. This feeling of ownership develops over time - either they don't have this feeling anymore and they are able to share with others, or other adults go as far as to killing others for taking what they "own".

Aggression

• Instrumental aggression - Harmful behavior aimed at another person for ownership of something (a toy or a turn on the swing). This is normal for 2-6 yr olds and displays egocentrism. As the cognitive ability of a child improves, this lessens.
• Reactive aggression - Impulsive comeback to a harm against them, whether verbally or physically. 2 year olds display this, showing a lack of emotional regulation. 5 year olds are better at this.
• Relational aggression - As children become more socially aware of others, they may personally attack someone verbally as a form of social rejection. This can be very hurtful and a sign of antisocialism.
• Bullying aggression - Indicating poor emotional regulation, this is when a child attacks another child without prior history.

Through this process, parents and teachers play a crucial role! Expecting children to know how to regulate their anger is backwards, but punishing the child harshly may lead to increased reactive aggression.