Key Terms

benevolence – благожелательность, доброжелательность, благотворительность, щедрость, альтруизм

chores – повседневная работа по дому

coregulatory – регулирующий

deprivation of privileges – лишение привилегий

encompass – окружать, заключать, выполнять, осуществлять

equitable sharing – справедливое деление

fairness – честность, справедливость, законность, вежливость, красота

feedback – обратная связь, ответная реакция

unilateral – односторонний

intimacy – тесная связь, близость

latchkey children – дети, которые предоставлены сами себе, потому что их родители на работе (latchkey child – «ребенок с ключом на шее»)

nonempathic – неярко выраженный

poise – уравновешенность, самообладание

self-esteem – самооценка

social approval – социальное одобрение

Parents spend less time with children during middle and late childhood. Parents remain important socializing agents, and confront new parent-child issues and changing forms of discipline. These issues include modesty, bedtime, temper, fighting, eating, autonomy in dressing, and attention seeking. During the elementary school years, new issues such as chores, self-entertainment, and monitoring arise. In middle and late childhood, school-related matters take on central importance. Discipline changes during elementary school as it becomes easier to reason with children. Physical punishment gives way to deprivation of privileges, and appeals to self-esteem and guilt. Parents begin to transfer some control to children, although control is coregulatory rather than unilateral. Both children and parents increasingly label one another and make attributions about each other's motives. Both children and parents mature.

Two important societal changes in families include stepfamilies and latchkey children. Remarriage after divorce occurs often and can result in many different kinds of families, each with its own complications and conflicts.

Peer interaction increases during elementary school. By 7 to 11 years of age, children spend 40 percent of their time with peers. Peer popularity in school is related to reinforcing others' behavior, listening carefully to peers' conversations, being happy, showing enthusiasm and concern for others, and having self-confidence without conceit.

Social information-processing skills can affect peer relations. For example, misinterpreting another's intention or motive can lead some children to respond aggressively. Social knowledge, or availability of scripts for developing friendships, also affect a child's ability to develop peer relations.

Friendships are specific attachments to a peer and serve six functions: companionship, stimulation, physical support, ego support, social comparison, and intimacy/affection. The important aspects of friendship include intimacy and similarity.

By the time that they graduate from high school, children have spent more than 10,000 hours in school as members of a small society.

Going from a home-child to a school-child requires new roles. One concern is that schooling proceeds mainly on the basis of negative feedback to children, a factor that may impair self-esteem. It is desirable to have an integrated elementary school curriculum.

Teachers have important influence during middle and late childhood. Positive teacher traits are enthusiasm, planning ability, poise, adaptability, and awareness of individual differences.

In middle and late childhood, the child's ability to understand how he or she is viewed by others increases a dimension of self-concept. Children shift away from defining themselves in terms of external characteristic toward defining themselves in terms of social characteristics and social comparison.

Perspective taking is the ability to assume another's point of view and understand his or her thoughts and feelings. At age 3, children are egocentric; however, by adolescence they can take another's perspective.

Whereas self-understanding entails a cognitive representation of oneself, self-esteem that develops during this time encompasses an evaluative or affective self-appraisal. A recent trend is to move from describing self-esteem in global terms to evaluating its domain specificity.

Improving children's self-esteem requires: (a) identifying the causes, (b) providing emotional support and social approval, (c) encouraging achievement, and (d) promoting coping.

Altruism is an unselfish interest to help someone else. Up to 3 years of age, sharing occurs for nonempathic reasons. At about age 4, children begin to share as a results of empathic awareness and adult encouragement. Elementary school children begin to show an objective sense of fairness, and understand the principle of equality. By middle to late childhood, the principles of merit and benevolence are understood.