Children In Middle Childhood Research Articles

Transnational habitus: Educational, bilingual and biliteracy practices of Chinese sojourner families in the U.S.

Grounded in the perspectives of language socialization and transnational habitus, this one-year ethnographic case study explores two middle-class Chinese sojourner families’ educational, bilingual and biliterate practices after their arrival in the U.S. It addresses the process that their middle childhood children experienced, from the excitement of the new English-speaking environment to linguistic and social isolation, to their adaptation to the environment and, finally, to transnational uplift. The families’ transnational practices throughout the four phases are shaped by their economic, educational and sociocultural dispositions that link together their country of origin and the U.S. They tend to cross national borders in language, literacy and education as well as to circulate glocalized English–Chinese biliteracy. This study reveals the disjunction between the families’ “imagined world” of the U.S. and the reality of a language barrier and ideological conflicts underpinned in an English-only society. The families’ transnational migration is an educational practice with access to their children’s “imagined world”. This study suggests that ESL learning should be considered as a socialization practice, which is tied to and structured by transnational fields in today’s globalized world.

Exploring the play of middle childhood children in a poor community in the North West Province : caregivers’ experiences

Play is affected by the specific community and culture children live in. Through an explorative descriptive design this qualitative study explored the experiences of play of middle childhood children in a poor community in North West province. Eighteen participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data-collection methods included focus groups and collages. Findings illustrated different types of play, factors which influenced the children’s play, and the effects of poverty, resources, safety and supportive structures on play. It is recommended that professionals rendering services to children in this specific age group be aware of the games children prefer to play.

EXPLORING THE PLAY OF MIDDLE CHILDHOOD CHILDREN IN A POOR COMMUNITY IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE: CAREGIVERS’ EXPERIENCES

Play is affected by the specific community and culture children live in. Through an explorative descriptive design this qualitative study explored the experiences of play of middle childhood children in a poor community in North West province. Eighteen participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data-collection methods included focus groups and collages. Findings illustrated different types of play, factors which influenced the children’s play, and the effects of poverty, resources, safety and supportive structures on play. It is recommended that professionals rendering services to children in this specific age group be aware of the games children prefer to play.

Vztah mezi tělesnou zdatností a pohybovými dovednostmi u dětí středního školního věku

The main aim of the research was to test the gross motor skills and physical fitness among children of middle childhood children with TGMD-2 and Fitnessgram tests and assessment of relations between components of these two tests. A partial goal was to analyze gender differences. The research sample consisted of 51 boys and 49 girls aged 9–11 years. The results indicate that the sample of boys have better results in most subtests of physical fitness and a higher level of manipulative gross motor skills. Girls have a higher level of flexibility and locomotor gross motor skills. Relations between subtests TGDM-2 and Fitnessgram showed mainly a positive correlation between manipulative skills and cardiovascular fitness. For middle childhood children is important to choose physical activities developing cardiorespiratory fitness during their physical education classes. For girls it is especially important to choose a sports, which including manipulative gross motor skills.

Violin education in middle childhood

Abstract Title of Research: Violin education in middle childhood. Research Question: How can an optimal musical and violinistic development be achieved in the teaching of children in middle childhood? Summary of Results: In middle childhood (7-11/12 years) enter a new phase in the development of their cognitive functions, their motor skills and social behaviour. In this research I investigate how these developments should be understood from the perspective of violin teaching to children in this age group and how these developments can be used by the teacher to the benefit of their education to become all-round violinists and musicians. For this research I studied the relevant literature in the field of development psychology and the training of young talents and I compared the scholarly theories and insights with my personal experience as a violin and violin methodology teacher of more than 20 years. In this thesis I describe the great potential that violin teaching to children in middle childhood offers, provided that the teacher has a good understanding of the learning process of the child, a clear vision and long-term strategy for the teaching and tremendous patience. Central elements of this vision should be a clear overview and balanced approach of all the different elements that make an expert violinist and all-round musician, the flexibility to respond and adapt to the specific abilities and needs of each individual pupil and an approach that fully involves the child in his/her own learning process.

Times have changed: Parent perspectives on children's free play and sport

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine parents' perspectives of children's free play and sport using a socioecological lens. DesignQualitative, interpretive description. MethodData were collected using semi-structured interviews with 12 parents of children in middle childhood (ages 8–10). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed inductively according to interpretive description and deductively using a socioecological model. ResultsThe overarching theme, ‘times have changed’, captured the ways in which children's sport and free play have evolved since parents' own childhoods. Within this overarching theme, two primary themes were identified: 1) not so ‘free’ play and 2) the privileging of sport. ConclusionsBoth free play and sport were viewed as important to middle childhood, however, experiences gained in children's sport were seen to be of greater value to the overall development of children, and were therefore prioritized. Ultimately our findings demonstrate the complexity of parenting and the pressures exerted from various levels of influence on the decisions they make with regard to their children's wellbeing in the contexts of free play and sport. How to inform and best support parents in this process remains a significant challenge in moving forward.

School context influences the ethnic identity development of immigrant children in middle childhood

AbstractThe present paper describes a study investigating the ethnic identity development of Latino immigrant children (n = 155) in middle childhood (ages 8–11) in a predominantly White community. The study examined how ethnic identity was related to children's school context. School context was operationalized at the structural level, as the ethnic composition of the teachers and peers, as well as the schools' implicit messages about their valuing of multiculturalism; and the proximal interpersonal level, as children's perceptions of peer discrimination and teacher fairness. Results indicated that both the structural and proximal context predicted children's ethnic label choices, the importance placed on their ethnic identity, the positivity of their ethnic identity, and their American identity.

Local ecological knowledge among Baka children: a case of "children's culture" ?

Childhood is an extensive life period specific to the human species and a key stage for development. Considering the importance of childhood for cultural transmission, we test the existence of a 'children's culture', or child-specific knowledge and practices not necessarily shared with adults, among the Baka in Southeast Cameroon. Using structured questionnaires, we collected data among 69 children and 175 adults to assess the ability to name, identify, and conceptualize animals and wild edibles. We found that some of the ecological knowledge related to little mammals and birds reported by Baka children was not reported by adults. We also found similarities between children's and adult's knowledge, both regarding the content of knowledge and how knowledge is distributed. Thus, middle childhood children hold similar knowledge than adults, especially related to wild edibles. Moreover, as children age, they start shedding child-specific knowledge and holding more adult's knowledge. Additionally and echoing the gendered knowledge distribution present in adulthood, since middle childhood there are differences in the knowledge hold by boys and girls. We discuss our results highlighting the existence of specific ecological knowledge held by Baka children, the overlap between children's and adults' knowledge, and the changes in children's ecological knowledge as they move into adulthood.

Urban Children’s Familiarity and Feeling Towards Nearby Nature

Outdoor spaces within the neighbourhood areas are vital in supporting social systems of children. Children become comfortable, familiar and appreciative of their surrounding environment within their home proximity. The absence of conducive spaces, especially nearby nature for children to play and socialise can impact their psychological attitudes as they become adults. Playing in nearby natural surroundings in their neighborhood is found to reduce children’s stress and improve their physical functioning. This study explores children’s familiarity and use of nearby nature. It also reveals their feeling towards the natural environment in general. It gathered data from middle childhood children (n = 63) using interview survey designed in structured and semi-structured format. The study suggests that children in the neighbourhood of Kuala Lumpur city still have some degree of freedom to play outside and that they recognize the natural environment and regularly come in contact with it. Therefore, to nurture and encourage the activities, a children-friendly neighbourhood with good accessibility is vital to increase the children’s independent mobility. This study implies that the development of outdoor spaces for children in the neighbourhood areas should have more focus on sustainability and sensitivity towards social conditions of children.

Observed Mother– and Father–Child Interaction Differences in Families with Medically Assisted Reproduction‐Conceived Twins and Singletons

Increased medically assisted reproduction (MAR) use to treat infertility has resulted in a growing twin birth rate. Little is known about parent-child relationships for twin relative to singleton children in middle childhood. This study fills this gap by examining parent-child relationships in 57 families with eighty 6- to 12-year-old MAR twin and singleton children using observational data (warm and supportive communication, control, and hostility). Nested ANCOVAs indicate that while mothers exhibit similar interactional behaviors toward twins and singletons, fathers have less optimum behaviors toward twins relative to singletons. Twins displayed less engaged behavior with mothers and fathers relative to singletons. Given the vitality of parent-child relationships for family and child adjustment, future studies should examine determinants and outcomes of twin-singleton relationship differences to bolster twins' and their families' functioning.

The Development of Korean Children’s and Adolescents’ Concepts of Social Convention

Previous research in the United States has revealed that children’s and adolescents’ understandings of social convention go through a developmental trajectory that includes an early adolescent phase “negating” the importance of convention. This study examined whether this developmental pattern would generalize to children and adolescents from the more traditional East Asian culture of Korea. Specifically, among U.S. samples, children in middle childhood have an understanding of conventions based on a concrete understanding of social hierarchy; early adolescents “negate” their prior understandings and view conventions as “merely” the dictates of authority; and in middle adolescence, U.S. samples establish an affirmation of convention as constituent elements of a social system structured by shared norms. Our hypotheses were that Korean children would not exhibit the negation phase associated with early adolescence and might develop an understanding of the societal function of convention earlier than U.S. samples. To examine this, interviews were conducted using culturally appropriate situations with 64 Korean children and adolescents in three age groups of 10 to 11 years ( Mage = 10.1 years), 12 to 13 years ( Mage = 13.2 years), and 15 to 16 years ( Mage = 15.8 years). Findings revealed that, contrary to our expectations, Korean children go through the same developmental sequence of concepts about convention as observed with children in the United States. This implies that the developmental trajectories of understandings of the functions of social convention can be generalized to children in traditional East Asian cultural settings.

Personal initiative in middle childhood: Conceptualization and measurement development

Drawing on research on personal initiative in adults, this paper present the conceptualization of personal initiative in the middle childhood, and the development and validation of an eight-item teacher and parent rating scale of children's and adolescents' personal initiative. The psychometric properties and construct validity of the measure were tested in two samples of children in middle childhood (N=1069–1657) and middle childhood to adolescence (N=1533). Both the teacher and parent rating scale showed good item characteristics. Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported their hypothesized factorial structure. The agreement of teacher and parent ratings was satisfactory. Evidence on the construct validity of the scale was further derived from a nomological network comprising control cognitions, motivational orientations, and cognitive ability. The measures proved to be invariant across school years and raters. We discuss several avenues for future research on personal initiative in the fields of development and education.

Parent's psychological flexibility: Associations with parenting and child psychosocial well-being

Recent research has started to examine psychological flexibility both in normative samples and within the family context. The current study aimed to extend this research by testing a model examining associations between general psychological flexibility, psychological flexibility specific to the parenting role, adaptive parenting practices, and child internalizing and externalizing problems across three developmental stages. Participants (N=615; 55% female) were parents of children in young childhood (3–7 years; n=210), middle childhood (8–12 years; n=200), and adolescence (13–17 years; n=205). Parents reported on their general psychological flexibility, parenting-specific psychological flexibility, parenting practices, and their child's or adolescent's internalizing and/or externalizing problems. Findings were consistent across child age groups and demonstrated that higher levels of parenting-specific psychological flexibility were indirectly related to lower levels of youth internalizing and externalizing problems through adaptive parenting practices. Implications for promotion of well-being within the family context among normative samples are discussed.

Children’s spontaneous counterfactuals: The roles of valence, expectancy, and cognitive flexibility

The current set of studies examined whether 8- to 11-year-olds generate counterfactuals spontaneously and whether outcome valence and outcome expectancy affect counterfactual reasoning within this age group. The role of cognitive flexibility in such reasoning also was explored. In Study 1, relatively few children spontaneously generated counterfactuals, yet both outcome expectancy and outcome valence influenced counterfactual reasoning. In Study 2, the majority of children generated counterfactuals without an explicit prompt and outcome valence influenced reasoning. Cognitive flexibility accounted for unique variance in counterfactual reasoning. The findings suggest that in middle childhood children spontaneously engage in counterfactual reasoning and that some of the same factors influence counterfactual reasoning in childhood as in adulthood.

How differentiated do children experience affect? An investigation of the within- and between-person structure of children’s affect.

Research on the structure of children's affect is limited. It is possible that children's perception of their own affect might be less differentiated than that of adults. Support for the 2-factor model of positive and negative affect and the pleasure-arousal model suggests that children in middle childhood can distinguish positive and negative affect as well as valence and arousal. Whether children are able to differentiate further aspects of affect, as proposed by the 3-dimensional model of affect (good-bad mood, alertness-tiredness, calmness-tension), is an unresolved issue. The aim of our study was the comparison of these 3 affect models to establish how differentiated children experience their affect and which model best describes affect in children. We examined affect structures on the between- and within-person level, acknowledging that affect varies across time and that no valid interpretation of either level is feasible if both are confounded. For this purpose, 214 children (age 8-11 years) answered affect items once a day for 5 consecutive days on smartphones. We tested all affect models by means of 2-level confirmatory factor analysis. Although all affect models had an acceptable fit, the 3-dimensional model best described affect in children on both the within- and between-person level. Thus, children in middle childhood can already describe affect in a differentiated way. Also, affect structures were similar on the within- and between-person level. We conclude that in order to acquire a thorough picture of children's affect, measures for children should include items of all 3 affect dimensions. (PsycINFO Database Record

“My Culture Is Not a Costume”: The Influence of Stereotypes on Children in Middle Childhood

“My Culture Is Not a Costume”: The Influence of Stereotypes on Children in Middle Childhood

乳幼児・児童期の発達研究の動向と展望

本稿は, 2014年7月から2015年6月までの1年間に発表された, 日本における乳幼児期と児童期を対象とした研究を概観したものである。主に取り上げた研究は, 『日本教育心理学会第57回総会論文集』『教育心理学研究』『発達心理学研究』『心理学研究』『Japanese Psychological Research』で発表されたものである。日本教育心理学会第57回総会において, 乳幼児・児童の社会的発達に関する研究発表が比較的多かった。また, 子どもを取り巻く社会的問題との関係で, 全体に社会的発達への関心が高いことから, 本稿では「社会的な関わり」に着目した。それぞれの研究を, 社会的な関わりそのものの発達, 社会的な関わりを通した自己形成, 社会的な関わりを介した認知と学習の3つのカテゴリーに分類してレビューを行い, それぞれにコメントをした。最後に, 子どもの発達を社会・歴史的文脈でとらえることの重要性を述べて, 子どもの貧困問題などの社会的現実と向き合うことで, 発達理論を再考する必要性を論じた。

Educational Implications of Preterm Birth: A National Sample of 8- to 11-Year-Old Children Born Prematurely and Their Full-Term Peers

IntroductionPreterm birth remains a significant public health issue, with children born prematurely experiencing health and educational difficulties throughout childhood. The specific aim of this study was to evaluate the educational implications of actual or potential health risks of premature birth for children in middle childhood compared with children of the same age who were born at term. MethodsThis descriptive study is a secondary analysis of the 2011/2012 National Survey of Children's Health, specifically an 8- to 11-year-old subset, comparing children identified as being born premature and those born at term. Educational and health outcome variables were explored. ResultsPreterm birth negatively affects the educational experience of children born prematurely. Logistic modeling provides insight into predicting risk. DiscussionCollaboration between primary care providers, educators, and families is recommended to improve care coordination and address educational need of children born premature.

Drumming as a medium to promote emotional and social functioning of children in middle childhood in residential care

ABSTRACTThis study explores the potential of drumming to enhance emotional and social functioning of children in residential care. Fifteen children (aged 7–12) from a child and youth care centre in South Africa attended four months of weekly drumming sessions. Gestalt theory principles informed the workshops' theoretical foundation and interpretation of findings. Music activities were intended to enhance awareness and self-expression and promote positive forms of interaction such as collaboration and mutual exchange. A qualitative, collective case study design was used and thematic analysis applied. Focused observations concerned major areas of emotional functioning – affective state, personal agency and sense of self, and major areas of social functioning – positive social interaction and social regulation. Findings suggest substantial enhancement of children's emotional and social functioning during and immediately after sessions. Workshops markedly improved participants’ affective state and enhanced capacity for personal agency, mastery and self-expression, also enhancing social interaction and social regulation through facilitating inclusion and appropriate boundaries.

Negative life events, coping and mental health in middle childhood

<b>Background</b><br /> In the period of middle childhood, social experiences (both educational and social) may constitute a critical moment in time for the ultimate results of development in the case of an individual. Negative life events and coping skills may guarantee a positive or negative direction of development, exerting an influence on the mental health of children. In the study, a four-factor model of mental health was adopted, taking into consideration psychopathological symptoms within the scope of externalizing and internalizing disorders, the level of the performance of developmental tasks, and the sense of life satisfaction. The present study investigated the correlation between stress, coping and mental health in children in middle childhood.<br /> <br /> <b>Participants and procedure</b><br /> The study included 182 individuals aged between 9 and 12 years. The following aspects were subjected to assessment: the level of mental health, the number and severity of negative life events, and the strategies of coping with stress. In order to determine the strongest predictors of the four dimensions of mental health of children, hierarchical regression analysis was applied.<br /> <br /> <b>Results</b><br /> It was found that the strongest predictor of mental health of children in the period of middle childhood was individual and accumulated negative stress events. Lower significance was found for the subjective assessment of the severity of events being experienced. It was found that a factor protecting against disorders was active methods of coping.<br /> <br /> <b>Conclusions</b><br /> The study suggests that it is not only psychopathological symptoms that constitute the negative consequence of the effect of stress. Negative stress events influence the positive dimensions of mental health, including the level of performance of developmental tasks and the sense of life satisfaction in children in the period of middle childhood. The obtained results show the specific character of the discussed period of development. However, these issues still need to be explored further.