Discussion Questions
Identify either the five peer statuses or the six functions of friendships for children in middle and late childhood. Then, explain the long-term implications of either peer status or friendships for the socio-emotional health of children.
Children within the middle and late growth faces create significant associations amongst themselves and with other age groups because of the benefits attached to the relations. Children create friendships amongst themselves due to six purposes. The first function is physical support that encompasses elements such as giving attention and aid to one another. The second factor is also a form of support termed as ego sustenance that emanates from the association process and leads to the enhancement of one’s self-worth through the perception of an individual’s significance to the rest of the children (Human Kinetics (Organization), 2005). The third function is company that is very useful in emotional connection sessions or playing instances. Intimacy and love acts as the fourth purpose as relating children are able to institute trust amongst the friends circle mandated for comfortable personal disclosures towards helping each other.
The fifth function is identified as stimulation in that children are able to share humorous and intellectual information leading to balanced development. Lastly, friendships are instituted towards social assessment that aids with the contrasting element in appraising whether a child is normal or abnormal with regard to the rest. Amongst the given purposes, all six work together for balanced development with the intimacy element encompassing the rest within the long-term period. In the middle childhood phase, intimacy is mainly noted within the relaying of confidential information amongst the friends and this is heightened in late childhood due to the emotional factor noted in adolescents. The physical aspect begins shaping the sexual needs within the children and thus sustaining the emotional needs accompanying the same. Ego sustenance shapes a healthy self-esteem within the developing periods that acts as a notable determinant in the creation of healthy associations in the prospective periods like in dating instances (Human Kinetics (Organization), 2005).
Explain the concepts of gender stereotypes, gender similarities and differences, and gender-role classification with respect to their implications for the emotional and personality development of children during middle and late childhood.
Stereotyping with regard to gender, concerns subjective perspectives directed to males and females, as determined by the similarities and divergences that an individual attaches to the given sexes. Clear differences are only noted in terms of the biological elements with the socio-cultural elements being subjective in nature. For instance, males are more physically built as compared to women and therefore the emergence of the stereotype that some work occupations can only be filled by a given gender as opposed to the other. Gender-role classification centers on identifying the degree of masculinity or femininity, or both elements within a person (Shields, 2002). Individuals bearing both masculinity and femininity attributes bear a considerable benefit over those with singular inclinations in terms of adaptability, physical proficiency and intellectual state. Role classification is noted in work locations, learning needs and inter-gender associations. For instance, the view that women are less superior to males in mathematical abilities may inhibit women from the same field within the school and work settings.
Character and emotional development in middle and late growth phases are determined by the aforementioned gender elements. Rearing a child within a stereotyping setting has an adverse impact on the affected individual, as thought patterns are limited to a given perspective. A male child within a chauvinistic setting develops an unhealthy viewpoint towards females as noted by a subjugation character and unhealthy emotional relation to females (Shields, 2002). This of course advances to the youth and adult phases. The females in such a setting on the other hand acquire a low self-worth that inhibits most skills as noted in learning and working locations. Note that, this can be reflected by the inequity within the present society as reflected by feminists and gender lobby factions. To overcome this unhealthy perspective, children require a balanced setting that draws primarily on the similarities that exist within the given genders and in terms of role setting. For instance, although women are emotionally frail that men, it should not be used as a premise of subjugation during associating instances.
References
Human Kinetics (Organization). (2005). Introduction to recreation and leisure. Pudsey, UK: Human Kinetics.
Shields, S. A. (2002). Speaking from the heart: gender and the social meaning of emotion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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