Exam Revision

Page 1

Development

Development - long term constancies and changes that a person experiences throughout the lifespan from conception to death

Discontinuous vs continuous change:

Transformational/Discontinuous -

- Qualitative

- Enduring

- Irreversible

- Sequential

- Complex change

Variational/Continuous -

- Quantitative

- Variable

- Reversible

- Linear

- Additive change

Lerner & Overton:

1. Development is always embedded in the context of their environment (cultural, social, geographic, economic)

2. Occurs over time

3. Changes in the person-environment interactions are always possible

4 Main Theories:

a) Erik Erikson - Psychosocial stages of development

b) Paul Baltes - Normative & non-normative influences

c) Robert Havighurst - Developmental tasks

d) Lerner & Overton - Dynamic systems theories

Erik Erikson - Psychosocial stages of development:

- Lifespan development occurs across 8 life periods, marked by a psychosocial crisis (psychological vulnerability linked to a social relationship) -> resolution (dialectical dilemma; acquire new skills to help with the next challenge) vs non resolution (stagnation; maladaptive outcomes, persisting issues, disapproval)

4 strengths:

1. Extends questions about development across the entire lifespan

2. Recognises active role of the person throughout their entire lifespan

3. Acknowledges the role of the person and their social environment

4. Recognises that at certain points in life, a person is qualitatively different from who they were earlier

4 limitations:

1. Descriptive rather than explanatory

2. Assumes discontinuous yet reversible change

3. Each crisis needs to be resolved before addressing next stage

4. Limited in developmental scope

Paul Baltes - Normative & Non-Normative Influences:

Development is:

- Lifelong

- Multidimensional

- Multidirectional - not one set pathway

- Gains and losses - learning something new at the detriment of another

- Contextual

Normative & Non-normative influences:

Normative age-graded - events that take place that are expected at a certain age

- eg. graduation, retirement, puberty, menopause

Normative history-graded - events that weren't expected in the past but are now

- eg. invention of Tv, internet, plague, diet and obesity

Non-normative - different from most people; psychosocial crisis outside of their age group

- eg. divorce, start-up business, career change, illness, mature-age student

Implications:

- Development is lifelong

- People's experience in each life period varies

- Erikson's psychosocial crises are normative-aged graded and environmental

- Other life periods = non-normative and environmental/physiological

Robert Havighurst - Developmental Tasks:

Development is:

-Lifelong

- Different age parameters around each life period

- Active

- Contextual

Developmental tasks:

- Arises at a specific life period

- Successful achievement = growth, happiness & further success

- Unsuccessful achievement = unhappiness, disapproval, difficulties with later tasks

Tasks can arise from:

- Physical maturation

- Personal values

- Societal pressures

Implications:

- Developmental tasks offer insight into the type of challenge that are expected in different life periods

Lerner & Overton - Dynamic Systems Model:

1. Any event comprises multiple systems

2. Those systems have their own aims, resources, rules of practice

3. Relationships between systems define each system

4. Substantial change to one system will affect other systems

Implications:

- As each system changes and develops, so do other systems; changes to either psychological/social experiences can affect a person's psycho-social experiences

Page 2

Childhood

Developmental Tasks of Childhood:

Robert Havighurst's Developmental Tasks:

- A developmental task is a task that arises at or about a certain period in life. Unsuccessful achievement of which leads to inability to perform tasks associated with the next period or stage in life

Infancy & Early Childhood (birth - 5 y.o):

- Learning to walk

- Learning to control bodily wastes

- Learning to talk

- Learning to form relationships with family members

Middle Childhood (6-12):

- Learning physical skills for playing games

- Developing school-related skills such as reading, writing and counting

- Developing conscience and values

- Attaining independence

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD):

Impairments in:

- Social interaction

- Verbal and non-verbal communication

- A restricted repertoire of activities and interest with repetitive behaviours and stereotypes

- Most prevalent in children 10-14

Study -1 Early Intervention for ASD (Granpeesheh):

- Looked at age and treatment intensity effects for behaviour improvement

- Each child's program was customised to address areas they lacked in

- Each intervention had the same structure, but varied in the number of treatment hours received

- Results showed that there was an increase in mastered behavioural objectives with increase treatment hours

- Intervention is more useful for younger age groups than older age groups

Benefits and Limitations of Monitoring Age-based Milestones:

Benefits:

- Early detection developmental problems

- Provides opportunity for early intervention

- Provide a guide for parental expectations and focus

Limitations:

- Emphasis on age-expectations can lead to misdiagnosis

- Individual differences in development exist

- Parental anxiety about achievement

Difference or Disorder?

- Unusual for Kenyan children to sit and talk with adult

- In English, children typically acquire adult levels of tense marking by age 5, but in non-speaking English communities, it wouldn't be a good indicator of impairment

- Hispanic culture, more emphasis on emotional importance of events

Study 2 - Parental Expectations for Achieving Milestones:

- Investigated Anglo-Australian and Malaysian parents' expectations for children's achievement of milestones

- Also asked about parenting styles

- Results showed that Anglo-Australians expected an earlier age of achievement of milestones in compliance, peer interaction and communication; more academic and manner based than Malaysians

- Malaysians placed stronger emphasis on parenting practices connected to family interdependence, cooperation, group harmony and delay of autonomy

- Anglo-Australian placed emphasis on independence and notion that "earlier is better"

Piaget's Cognitive Theory:

- Sensorimotor (0-2) - Children use their physical skills and their senses to explore the world

- Preoperational (2-6) - Children use symbols (words and images represent objects but doesn't reason logically)

- Concrete operational (7-12) - Children begin to think logically about concrete objects

- Formal operational (12+) - Children can think abstractly

- Interaction with the environment is not important in development

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory:

- Interaction with the environment is very important

Stages:

1. Thinking in unordered heaps - out of reach

2. Thinking in complex stage - Zones of proximal development/Learns through scaffolding

3. Thinking in concepts stage - Learns through scaffolding; from peers, teachers etc./Current understanding

4. Thinking in true concepts stage - Current understanding and can work unassisted

Social Learning Theory:

- Kids learn either via modelling or direct tuition

- Modelling: observer imitates behaviour of others

- Direct tuition: observer receives reinforcement for specific behaviours

Drawing Skill Development:

- Helps to express what children are feeling and thinking

- Helpful when verbal skills are limited

- Use their memory to recall what they know and extend their concentration and thought-processing skills

- Develop manipulative skills to write

- Used to interpret emotional state, but need to be cautious of interpretations can't base on drawings alone

Lowenfeld's Stage of Development:

- 2 = Scribbling

- 3-4 = Preschematic stage

- 6 = Schematic stage

- 8-10 = Dawning Realism

Study - Cultural influence on drawing development (Gernhardt):

- Preschool children's family drawings from 3 different cultural groups

Western Urban:

- Families understood as a system of separate individuals

- Socialisation is child-centred

- Value independence and identity

Rural (farm-based):

- Inseparable social unit with active roles and obligations

- Children learn to be a supportive and obedient member of the family

- Autonomy is action based

Play, Peers & Social Competence:

- Momentary physical interaction (3-6) - It's about proximity and playing with their friends; very egocentric and focused on the child's needs

- One-way assistance (5-9) - less egocentric but still do what they want to do

- Fair-weather cooperation 7-12) - introduce cooperation and they realise other people have needs and they need to contribute to that

- Intimate and mutual sharing (10-15) - develop sense of intimacy, loyalty and trust; moves away from individual needs and focuses on relationship

- Refer to image 1

Study 1 - Measuring Social Competence (Newcomb):

- Sociometric tests that indicate how children are viewed by other members in a peer group

- Asked children who they would or wouldn't play with

- Refer to image 2

Benefits of Social Competence:

- Stable friendships = increased emotion knowledge

- Conflicts result in less engagement with school

- Social play encourages increased prosocial behaviour and decreased social withdrawal and aggression

Study 2 - Snowball Effect (Bukowski):

- Measure of children being neglected/rejected/avoid social interaction

- Measure of depressed affect as a function of avoidance and exclusion

- Higher on the curve, higher chance of depressive mood aka high on both avoidance and exclusion

- Looking at the measure of depressed affect as a friendship status at 2 times and for participants who had high avoidance and exclusion the first time (does having a friend serve as a protective factor?)

- Friendless at both times had higher depressive affect for high on avoidance and exclusion

- Friended at both times had decreased depressive affect for high on avoidance, medium exclusion

- Having friend at time 1 only increased depressive affect for those on moderate exclusion and avoidance

- Overall, having just 1 friend is a protective factor and prevents development of internalised problems such as anxiety and depression

Play:

- Activities of non-serious nature, which are highly individual, are engaged in for pleasure and which may not be associated with reality (Hoffnung)

- Universal

- Engages and allows exploration

- Natural form of expression

- Helps children problem solve

- Stimulates development

- Strengthens self-concept

- Teaches cultural life forms, values and ideas

Parten's Categories of Play:

- Unoccupied play: Child wanders about, watching whatever is of momentary interest, but doesn't become involved in any activity

- Solitary play: Child plays alone with different toys and with no direct/indirect awareness of involvement with her children

- Onlooker play: Child watches other children play, but doesn't engage; may engage in conversation about play without actually joining in

- Parallel play: 2 or more children playing side by side in close proximity and with an awareness of each other's presence often with same toys or similar activity, but don't share toys, talk, or interact

- Associative play: Children engage in common activity and talk about it with each other, but don't assign tasks or roles to particular individuals; not clear about their goals

- Cooperative play: Children consciously forming groups to make something, attain a goal, or dramatize a situation; one or two members organise and direct the activity, with children assuming different roles and responsibilities

Grusec and Lytton's Typology:

- Extension of Piaget's theory

- Refer to 3rd image

Study 3 - Play in Maltreated Children:

- Compared social and cognitive aspects of play among maltreated and non-maltreated children and explored the relationship to social skills in both groups

- Found that maltreated and non-maltreated children didn't differ in play behaviours

- Didn't differ in play behaviour but differed in social skills

- Both maltreated boys and girls have lower assertion, cooperation, self-control than control group, but have increased problem behaviours

- Maltreated children have difficulty with initiating play and trust

Using Play in Therapy:

- Establish rapport between child and therapist

- Visually demonstrate therapeutic techniques

- Help children communicate thoughts and feelings

- Explore repressed thoughts and emotions

- Address unresolved trauma and experience personal growth

Can Adults Play?

- Environments that support play show a positive correlation between employee productivity and motivation

- Adults improvise in theatre, role play for job interviews, fantasy gaming, comicon, swordcraft, fantasy league, play with pets and children

Moral Development:

Altruism:

- Any behaviour that benefits another person, but doesn't benefit the actor

Pro-social Behaviour:

- Any behaviour that benefits another person and will also ultimately benefit the actor

Altruism vs Pro-social Behaviour:

From evolutionary approach:

- Altruism is impossible

- Pro-social behaviour is necessary; important survival, such as animals sending signals when a predator is nearby

From behavioural approach:

- Altruism = pro-social behaviour

- Any behaviour that benefits another person regardless of the motivations of or benefits to the actor

Limitations:

- Can't explore why people are prosocial, ie. cognitive processes

- Can't explore how altruism develops

From a psycho-analytic approach:

- Altruism: innate desire to engage in any behaviour that benefits another person regardless of further benefits to the actor

- Motivated by increasing pride, virtuousness, avoiding shame, guilt or fear

- Altruism and morality are internalised over time, which reflect self values rather than external drivers

From a social-cognitive learning approach:

- Altruism is impure: any behaviour that benefits another person

- Children learn it through observation, reinforcement, relieving empathetic stress and role-taking

Development of Pro-social and Moral Reasoning:

Piaget's Model of Moral Development:

- Pre-moral --> Heteronomous morality --> Autonomous morality

- Pre-moral: approximately 2-5 y.o and have little concern for rules sensorimotor and preoperational stage (Piaget's Cognitive Theory)

- Heteronomous morality: approximately 5-10 y.o, respect for rules as moral absolutes, favour expiatory punishments (make amends for), life is fair and just, preoperational and concrete operational stage, black and white thinking; little flexibility in thinking

- Autonomous morality: approximately 10+, respect for rules as social agreements, favour reciprocal punishments (punishment that fits the crime), life is not fair, concrete and formal operational stage, more abstract and flexible thinking

Einsenberg's Model of Development of Pro-social Moral Reasoning:

- Refer to image 1

- Emotion develops earlier

Kohlberg's Model of Moral Development:

- Refer to image 2

- Preconventional morality: rules are put into place by an external party; rules are policed and we follow them to avoid punishment

- Conventional morality: rules are maintained

- Postconventional morality: right and wrong are defined; law and morality are not always aligned

- Emotions develop later

Study 1 - Factors Contributing to Pro-social Behaviour:

- Children who pay higher attention and have lower emotional activity are better at engaging in pro-social behaviour and are better at regulating their emotions

- Children learn from their peers in terms of what is right or wrong (peer exposure)

- Difference in parenting style - warmth and persistence or obedience

- Prosocial behaviour involves helping, sharing, comforting and cooperating

- Empathy - ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another person

- Prosocial behaviour develops early

- Empathy is most relevant in preschool period, but sympathy is key in social actions

Study 2 - Parental Hostility and Warmth and Pro-social Behaviour:

- Examined relations between parenting practices, self-regulation and prosocial behaviour at two times (2-3) and (6-7)

- Asked parents about how hostile and affectionate they are

- Didn't find a direct relationship between hostility and prosocial behaviour

- Children have difficulty in emotional regulation when they have hostile parents

- Correlation with attentional regulation and prosocial behaviour but not a strong correlation

Anti-social Behaviour:

- Refers to intentional negative actions that are directed towards other people and harm others

Risk factors:

- Gender: Boys demonstrate more physical aggression

- Temperament: babies who are less able to regulate their physical and emotional states

- Parenting styles: both authoritarian (impulsive and harsh) and permissive (low levels of control) associated with aggression

- Media: violent video games associated with aggression (under 6 most influential)

Gender Development:

Terminology:

- Gender: socially constructed categories of feminine and masculine

- Sex: biological categories of male and female

- Transgender: someone whose gender identity doesn't match their sex assigned at birth

- Cis-gender: gender identity matches sex assigned at birth

- Gender fluid: who don't identity as having a fixed gender

Study 1 - Evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to promote gender equity and prevent gender bias among children aged 3-5:

- Gender equity - recognise genders as equally balanced

- Evidence of gender bias in preschool

- Preschool children apply stereotypical definitions

- Allow children to have knowledge of gender stereotypes without endorsing them

Recommendations:

- Avoid classifying according to gender

- Avoid the use of girls and boys in relation to activity

- Avoid comments that define what girls/boys do or should do

- Story time to introduce gender equity

Gender Identity:

- Internal sense of being male, female, or, for some people, a blend of both or neither regardless of biological sex

Cognitive-Developmental Theory (Kohlberg):

- Refer to image 1

Limitations:

- Study done in 1966 - gender variation/transgender was seen as deviation; abnormal; considered a life choice

- Age groups; doesn't take psychological aspect into account

- Doesn't take context or interactions with environment into consideration

Gender Schema Theory:

- Extension of CDT but believes that the process starts younger (18 months)

- Children develop their gender schemas through exposure to information about gender and their environment

- Use gender as a schema to organise and guide their view of heir future behaviour

- Refer to image 2

- Children have higher preference for toy that matches their gender

Study 2 - Whether children demonstrated preferences for novel objects when endorsed by unfmailiar people who differed in gender, race or age:

- Children chose objects endorsed by same gender peers over those endorsed by other-gender peers

Study 3 - Media and Marketing Influences:

- Examined relation between Disney princess engagement and gender stereotypical behaviour across one year time period in children (3-6)

- Girls were more likely to engaged with Disney princesses (61%)

- Princess engagement was related to higher levels of female gender sterotypical behaviour for both boys and girls

- Higher princess engagement was associated with increased female gender stereotypical behaviour one year later

- No effects on male gender-stereotypical behaviour

- Examined impact of children's superhero exposure and male stereotyped play (3-6)

- Boys viewed superhero programs more frequently than girls

- Superhero exposure was related ot higher levels of male stereotyped play (eg. fighting, wrestling, sports, ball games)

- Girls who frequently viewed superhero programs exhibited similar levels of male stereotyped play

- Same with boys; showed heightened gender stereotypes in terms of play and activity

- Can reduce bias by challenging gender stereotypes

Colour Associations with Gender:

- Masculine: Red, yellow, black, brown, green and blue are similar but lower than others

- Feminine: Purple, pink, grey, white

- Neutral: Orange, blue, brown, grey

- More girls, especially 3-5 y.os chose pink than boys

Atypical Gender Development:

- Increase in referrals to the RCH Gender Service as the years go by

- Refer to image 3

- 1 in 5 transgender children have autism

Gender Dysphoria:

- Condition where individuals experience a mismatch between their biological sex and the sex they feel they are

- Persistent, leads to severe distress and disruption in their life

- Occurs fairly early with children unhappy wearing clothes of their sex or playing games

- Many will identify as transder or opt for gender reassignment surgery (change the anatomy to match the gender they feel internally)

Study 4 - Gender Development in Transgender Preschool Children:

- Whether socially transitioned transgender children differ from gender-typical peers on basic gender development tasks (3-5)

- Aasked about gender constancy, peer, toy and clothing preferences

- Transgender children were just as likely to:

a) Show preferences for peers, toys and clothing culturally associated with their expressed gender

b) Dress in stereotypically gendered outfit

c) Endorse flexibility in gender stereotypes

d) Identify with their expressed gender both now and in the future

- In terms of gender constancy, transgender children tended to say that they were a different gender as an infant

Social Transition:

- Non-medical decision

- Allows the child to choose they express their gender through clothing, hairstyle, name, pronouns, use of bathrooms and facilities

Page 3

Adolescence

Identity and Sense of Self:

Features of adolescence:

- Either 12-18 or 9-21 (puberty can start as early as 9)

- Time of transition; child to adult

- Decision making; increased consequences of those decisions

- Physiological, social, legal and psychological changes

- Parameters set up for adulthood - work ethic, time management, financial freedom

Developmental Tasks of Adolescence:

Physical:

- Start puberty; when starting at the same time as others - feel more belonged and accepted

- Complete puberty

Cultural/Social:

- Progress through education

- Driving licence

- First job

- First romantic relationship

Psychological:

- Decision making

- Identity development

- Critical thinking

- If developmental tasks are achieved, leads to happiness and further success

- If unsuccessful achievement, there is disapproval and difficulties with other tasks

Domains of Identity Development:

Which issue is raising the question of who I am?

- Religious

- Moral

- Political: important for people who live in civil unrest

- Cultural: important for people living in minorities or multicultural environments

- Social: ingroup vs outgroup

- Career: implications and consequences of which career you align yourself with

- Gender: which gender they identify with

- Sexual: matters for who they engage in sexual activity with

- Intimate relationships: negotiating who you are in an intimate relationship with vs who you are outside of a relationship

- Decisions need to be made on whether these domains are important in shaping the identity of an individual, but young adolescents aren't skilled in doing so

- They are often influenced by media, family, self-concept, interests, values or world views

- Refer to image 1

Four Statuses of Identity Development:

- Refer to image 2

Exploration of identity:

- Identity achievement (crisis and commitment present): achieved a true sense of self ; requires self exploration

- Identity foreclosure (crisis absent, commitment present): individual has an identity but hasn't explored other options

- Identity moratorium (crisis present, commitment absent): person questions their choices and approaches identity achievement once these questions are resolved; active searching and exploring for alternatives in current situations

- Identity diffusion (crisis absent, commitment absent): not having many cares or attachment to their environment because they haven't fully defined an identity

Study 1 - How do adolescents transition along the identity statuses?

- Progressing patterns: D --> F --> M --> A

- Regressing patterns: A --> M --> F --> D

- Stable patterns: D-D, F-F, M-M, A-A

- Increase in achievement and moratorium but decrease in foreclosure and unknown for diffusion

- Hypothesis: A and M more present for older age groups (18-19) and D and F more present in younger age groups (13-14) - not supported because the change is not significant for 13-14 y.o

- Hypothesis: Moratorium = least stable; progression > regression

- 66% stayed in A; 53% in F; 36% in D and 34% in M

- 46% from M --> A and 13% from A --> M

- 7% from F --> D and 31% from D --> F

- 8% from M --> D and 18% from D --> M

- Identity development is not a linear progression - can be progressive, regressive or stable

- Progressive transition is more common

- Identity is not necessarily achieved by the end of adolescence; continues throughout life

Factors that contribute to identity development:

- Gender

- Family

- Peers

- Personality

- Disease/illness

- Societal factors: eg. being able to experience moratorium is more common for those in middle class; allowed to explore

Biopsychosocial Model:

- Personal experiences of gender and sexuality are influenced by the intersection between physical changes, psychological changes and social expectations

- Examples for early puberty and gender variation; refer to images 3-5

Cognitive Dynamic Model of Adolescence (Steinberg):

- Cognitive control network vs social emotional network

- CCN: planning, self regulation, learning --> over-riding pleasure seeking --> obtaining independence, socialisation and cultural custodianship --> strengthens steadily throughout adolescence

- SEN: risk-reward, social stimuli --> making judgments about risk vs reward --> obtaining independence, identity exploration, discovery of self --> fluctuates throughout adolescence; over-stimulated by social situations and strong emotions

- Relationship between these two pathways is never the same; one grows slowly over time (CCN) and the other one fluctuates (SEN)

- Changes to multiple neurological pathways influence a young person's decision making:

- Steadily changing executive function (cognitive processes that regulate , control and manage other cognitive processes - eg. planning, working memory, attention, problem solving, verbal reasoning, inhibition, initiation and monitoring of actions etc)

- Social and emotional arousal can limit decision making

- Implications: decisions made during adolescence affect adult pathways

- Education intervention is less effective than social and cultural intervention for social and emotional development

Family Relationships:

Parenting Styles (Baumrind):

- Refer to image 1 and 2

- Authoritarian: high demands, low responsiveness; high expectations with little feedback and punishment is often harsh; doesn't allow independence

- Authoritative: high expectations + nurturance; allows autonomy; consistent discipline

- Uninvolved: low expectations/control; low warmth/nurturance

- Permissive: "freedom without order"; low control, high warmth/nurturance; lack of discipline

Effect on Identity Development:

- Authoritarian = foreclosure - providing the rules of what the young person's life will be like; no questions asked therefore commit to identity

- Uninvolved = foreclosure - rent is absent, so the child needs to mature and make decisions for themselves without exploring other options

- Permissive = moratorium - allow individual to make choices without forcing anything upon them

- Authoritative = achievement - supporting young person to make decision and expect them to mature and eventually commit to the identity

- Interaction between parent and child matters

Power and Responsibility:

- Power --> decrease in parents' control and authority leads to increase in adolescents' self-control and autonomy

- Responsibility --> decrease in parents' regulation of adolescent leads to increase in adolescents' self regulation (health, safety, identity)

Definitions:

- Self regulation: ability to monitor and direct their behaviour to meet environmental demands

- Autonomy: having the freedom and ability to govern and regulate ones' thoughts, feelings, actions and decisions; independence and control over one's life

- Independence: freedom of the support, control, aid or influence of others

- Similarity between autonomy and independence is being able to make decisions without the support of others, eg. making all study decisions

- Difference is doing something for others that you don't necessarily want to do; internally driven, eg. grocery shopping (independence)

- Self autonomy and autonomy overlap where you are controlling your behaviour to enhance activities that are meaningful for you, eg. getting up early to go surfing

Implications for Developmental Tasks:

- Increase in power allows adolescent to practice self regulation and self awareness (identity)

- Increase in responsibility allows adolescent to have increased decision making capacity and ownership

Other relationships or experiences affect the power shift:

- Normative: school experiences, friendship groups, employment options

- Non-normative: low or high socioeconomic status, lifelong disorder/serious injury, family size

Study 1 - How does living with Spina Bifida affect adolescent's and parents' perceptions of responsibility:

- Over time, kids had more responsibilities but kids with higher socioeconomic status had more responsibilities than kids with low SES

- Having Spina Bifida and low SES had a critical impact on the level of responsibility

Implications of stronger SES than SB effect:

More of a limiting impact on adolescent's responsibility if they:

- Have less coping strategies

- Have impact on multiple domains of family life

- Are less familiar to the family (family have less expertise in overcoming low SES than managing SB due to lack of resources)

Communication, Conflict and Privacy:

- If parent want their child to be safe and free from harm then they must relinquish/let go control of their children

- If adolescents want independence and autonomy, then they must learn to make meaningful decisions

- Need to find balance

Reasons for conflict:

- Different views + lack of understanding or respect for others' view = conflict

- Refer to image 5 for ways to overcome conflict

- Parent child conflict is a non-normative experience; majority of parent child relationships are harmonious with minor conflicts

Experiences that increase frequency and severity:

- Early onset puberty

- Financial stress

- Divorce

- Difficult, disruptive and dangerous life events

- Early and mid adolescence

Theoretical changes to conflict:

- Positive problem solving - working with the other person to find a common resolution

- Conflict engagement - being aggressive, defensive and losing control of emotions

- Withdrawal - avoid conflicting emotions

- Conflict engagement and withdrawal peaks in mid adolescence; increasing from early adolescence

- Positive problem solving increases after mid adolescence towards late adolescence

Study 2 - Approach to Conflict:

- Positive problem solving increased over time for mother and adolescent, but mother perceived it to be lower

- Positive problem solving was perceived by father to increase over time, but adolescent perceived it to increase slightly

- For conflict engagement, adolescent perceived a temporary increase then decrease, whereas both parents reported a decrease

- For withdrawal, adolescent perceived higher withdrawal with father than mother, and fathers perceived the same, so there may be an increase in avoidance of issues

Implications:

- Increase in positive problem solving indicates change toward respectful, understanding and constructive relationship

- Temporary increase in conflict engagement is not perceived by parents and might be explained by adolescent emotional experiences

- Adolescent and father's increased withdrawal might be relative

Sibling Conflict and Sibling Rivalry:

- Sibling conflict is normal, frequent and important for learning conflict resolution - best when parent acts as a mediator rather than make a judgment or punishment

- Sibling coalition is caregiving, trust and respect, involves prosocial behaviour with peers and family negotiations

Study 3 - Effect of Siblings on Development:

Siblings influence behaviour:

- Social learning, modelling patterns of behaviour

- Normalising attitudes and behaviours

- Introduction to peer groups

- Differentiation - forming an identity outside of the sibling relationship

Activities learned from sibling:

- Substance use

- Sexual activity in terms of age

- Peer relationships

- Hobbies and interests

- Academic engagement such as performance or subject choice

- Identity development

Study 4 - Effect of Siblings on Identity:

- Those who had a younger sibling were quicker to explore and those with an older sibling were slower at exploration

- Need to take same or opposite sex and age gap into consideration

Implications:

- Different sibling roles present opportunities to explore or commit to one's identity

- Opposite sex siblings offer as many but different opportunities as same sex siblings

BUT:

- Researchers didn't account for quality of sibling relationships and didn't investigate identity development of both siblings

Peers and Technology:

Romantic Relationships:

Page 4

Young Adulthood

Page 5

Middle Adulthood

Page 6

Late Adulthood