School Age Children - Lecture Six

Question 1

What is the main objective of development in school-age children (ages 6 to puberty)?

Answer 1

To build their sense of self: having preferences, identifying things they are good at or that make them feel good, and developing more one-on-one friendships.

Question 2

What are key capacities of school-age children?

Answer 2

Sustained concentration, belief in practice, keeping a purpose in mind despite distractions.

Question 3

What overlapping advances happen during this stage?

Answer 3

Improved self-regulation using cognitive strategies, internalization of conscience and moral development, advances in reality testing and cognitive development, increased ability to substitute thinking, words, and fantasy for impulsive actions, and increasing peer orientation.

Question 4

How does physical growth occur in school-age children?

Answer 4

Steady growth, boys slightly larger than girls, girls hit puberty about one year earlier, increase in childhood obesity, gross motor skills well developed, with an emphasis on sports and achievement.

Question 5

What changes occur as children enter school?

Answer 5

More structure and separation from parents, relationships with adults shift from caregivers to teachers, increasing importance of peer relationships, gender differences, and socioeconomic status differences.

Question 6

What individual differences affect school entry?

Answer 6

Variations in development rates, struggles with awareness of having a conscience.

Question 7

How does attachment change during school age?

Answer 7

Reliance on attachment decreases, with needs transferring more to peer relationships for emotional security. Children still want physical closeness with parents. School transition often activates attachment behaviors. Children rely on knowing they can access attachment figures when needed.

Question 8

What is social perspective-taking in school-age children?

Answer 8

They realize multiple ways to view a situation and can imagine how their own ideas appear to others, holding opposing viewpoints simultaneously.

Question 9

What characterizes prosocial behavior?

Answer 9

Firm presence of altruistic behavior, ability to set aside own needs, supported by moral internalization, cognitive development, and decreased egocentrism.

Question 10

How do gender differences affect prosocial behavior?

Answer 10

Girls show more prosocial behavior, identify more with caregiving roles, receive more support for conflict resolution, and are socialized to be attuned to emotions.

Question 11

What are typical friendship patterns in school-age children?

Answer 11

Same-sex friendships are the norm. Friendships evolve from common interests to shared values. Children become aware of social status hierarchies.

Question 12

What happens to social reputation during middle childhood?

Answer 12

Social reputation becomes important; children compare themselves and their performance to peers.

Question 13

What happens to children with social challenges?

Answer 13

They are often rejected by peers and tend to attribute failures to internal, stable causes.

Question 14

How are peer groups organized?

Answer 14

Around gender, sex roles, racial/ethnic identification, common interests, and social status, with hierarchies of popularity and dominance.

Question 15

What social concerns increase in older school-age children?

Answer 15

Popularity becomes a major concern; relational aggression is common in girls.

Question 16

What role do parents’ modeled values play?

Answer 16

Prosocial values modeled by parents tend to prevail.

Question 17

How does physical aggression change?

Answer 17

It greatly diminishes during middle childhood.

Question 18

What characterizes aggression in school-age children?

Answer 18

Reflects animosity or reaction to provocation; more likely to forgive accidents but retaliate against hostile intent.

Question 19

How do bullies and victims behave?

Answer 19

Bullies use aggression to control peers and maintain status; victims tend to be bullied repeatedly.

Question 20

What are key language developments by age 10?

Answer 20

Receptive vocabulary of about 40,000 words; improved verbal skills allow understanding metaphors, jokes, riddles, etc.

Question 21

How does language influence self-regulation?

Answer 21

Language helps control impulses and refrain from acting on feelings.

Question 22

How is language used socially?

Answer 22

Verbal aggression such as teasing, insults, and gossip.

Question 23

What language challenges do immigrant children face?

Answer 23

Overrepresentation in special education and problems adjusting to unfamiliar culture.

Question 24

How does play evolve?

Answer 24

Fantasy play remains important but is increasingly replaced by organized, rule-governed games and sports.

Question 25

What orientation develops in school-age children?

Answer 25

A work orientation emphasizing intellectual mastery and physical competence.

Question 26

What role does fantasy play?

Answer 26

Provides breaks from reality demands, pleasure, wish fulfillment, exploration of reality, rehearsal of plans, and understanding others’ emotions; usually only continue to engage in this with their best friends

Question 27

How do school-age children develop game skills?

Answer 27

Younger children struggle with roles in complex games; by 10-12 years, they enjoy strategic games. Spontaneous play becomes ritualized and rule-governed.

Question 28

What hobbies do school-age children engage in?

Answer 28

Collecting, craft projects, and sports.

Question 29

What are Piaget’s concrete operations in school-age children?

Answer 29

Learning reality by mentally manipulating objects, shifting from action to thought, reversibility (thinking back and reworking perceptions), and decentration (moving away from egocentric logic).

Question 30

What cognitive advances occur transitioning to middle childhood?

Answer 30

Improved spatial and time orientation, seriation (ordering objects by size, weight, length), visual organizational ability, part-whole discrimination, auditory processing, and voluntary attention by age 8.

Question 31

How does self-regulation improve?

Answer 31

More logical thinking about experiences reduces anxiety, improves reality testing, and decreases vulnerability to unknown fears.

Question 32

What strategies support self-regulation?

Answer 32

Representational competence (describing experience), cognitive control of emotional arousal, internal emotional monitoring, and use of defense mechanisms such as repression, sublimation, reaction formation, displacement in fantasy, isolation, undoing, and turning against the self.

Question 33

How do school-age children develop morality?

Answer 33

They recognize others' needs, internalize parental models, accept rules and authority, value fairness, and conform to social norms.

Question 34

What is Kohlberg’s authority and social order orientation?

Answer 34

Children follow rules because their peers do and stigmatize those who do not conform.

Question 35

How does the sense of self develop?

Answer 35

Based on comparisons with others, more accurate self-assessment, adopting real people as role models, and motivation for achievement and self-esteem.

Question 36

What supports healthy self-esteem?

Answer 36

Developmentally appropriate achievement expectations, warm supportive relationships with parents, clear but realistic expectations, involvement in learning, and sensitive response to failure.

Question 37

How do children answer “What are you good at?”

Answer 37

They begin to develop capacity for self-observation and can answer this question.

Question 38

How do gender roles influence behavior?

Answer 38

Children adopt gender-specific behaviors, learning social expectations from peers.

Question 39

What are gender differences in social behavior?

Answer 39

Girls value relationships and nurturance; boys emphasize autonomy and competition.

Question 40

How do girls and boys differ in conversation?

Answer 40

Girls express acknowledgment and take turns; boys interrupt, tell jokes, make demands, and compete for attention.

Question 41

How are children who play with opposite-sex peers treated?

Answer 41

They are often stigmatized.

Question 42

Kohlberg - What is the Punishment and Obedience stage about?

Answer 42

Morality is based on avoiding punishment; children obey rules to avoid negative consequences.

Question 43

Kohlberg - What happens in the Instrumental Relativist stage?

Answer 43

Morality is guided by self-interest and reciprocal benefits—“you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

Question 44

Kohlberg - What defines the Interpersonal Concordance stage?

Answer 44

Morality centers on being “nice” and gaining approval by living up to others’ expectations and maintaining relationships.

Question 45

Kohlberg - What is the focus of the Law and Order stage?

Answer 45

Morality means following laws, rules, and authority to maintain social order.

Question 46

Kohlberg - What happens in the Social Contract stage?

Answer 46

Right and wrong determined by personal values.

Question 47

Kohlberg - What is the Universal Ethical Principle stage?

Answer 47

Morality is guided by internalized universal ethical principles, even if they conflict with laws or social rules.

Question 48

At which stages are most school-age children typically functioning?

Answer 48

Usually at the Punishment and Obedience and Instrumental Relativist

Question 49

How does understanding these stages help in moral development?

Answer 49

It helps identify where a child is in their moral reasoning and how to support their growth toward more advanced ethical thinking.