1. Child Development Its Nature and Course Child Development
Fifth Edition
Ganie B. DeHart
Its Nature and Course
State University of New York at Geneseo
Robert G. Cooper
L. Alan Sroufe
San Jose State University
University of Minnesota
Slides by Travis Langley
Henderson State University

2. Chapter 2: The Contexts of Development
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3. Introduction
Human development is strongly influenced by the context in which it occurs.
Extreme deprivation leads to abnormal development as in several known cases:
Victor, “the wild boy of Aveyron”
Genie
some institutionalized children
Within more typical ranges, differences in developmental contexts produce varying developmental paths.
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4. Bronfenbrenner describes developmental contexts as a series of concentric rings.
Cultural Context
Social and
Economic Context
Immediate
Environment
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory outlines the complexity of contextual influences on development by means of a model depicting three concentric rings around the child at the center, where each ring influences all the rings inside of it.
The rest of this chapter is devoted to a closer examination of Bronfenbrenner’s model.
Child’s
Biological Makeup
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5. The Child’s Biological Makeup

6. The Child’s Biological Makeup
At the center of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the child’s biological makeup includes three components:
evolutionary heritage shared by all humans
the child’s individual genetic inheritance
biological results of interactions between genes and environment
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7. The Human Evolutionary Heritage
We have a fairly precise timetable for many developmental milestones.
We have a strong disposition to act upon the environment, to be curious rather than passive.
We have an innate propensity for learning simple (e.g., sucking) and complex (e.g., language) skills.
Children also inherit a predisposition to be social, to interact and form bonds with others of their species.
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8. Individual Genetic Characteristics
Individual genetic differences have allowed our species to meet environmental challenges over hundreds of thousands of years.
There are direct and indirect effects of individual genetic makeup.
Direct: Effects on mental & physical development.
Indirect: Effects on the expectations of others (e.g., when people treat a child with Down’s syndrome differently).
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9. Interactions Between Genes and Environment
Canalization:
The extent to which genes constrain environmental influences on particular traits.
For some capacities (e.g., dispositions), canalization is relatively weak early in life, and constraints become more rigid with age.
For other capacities (e.g., institutionalization effects at 4-12 months), strong canalization exists early, but later there is increased openness to environmental influences.
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10. The Child’s Immediate Environment

11. The Child’s Immediate Environment
The child’s immediate environment includes all settings, people, and objects that touch the child’s daily life.
family
day-care
peer group
neighborhood
school
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12. The Family as a System Bidirectional effects:
Two-way developmental influences between family members.
Transactional model:
Sameroff’s model describing the cumulative effects of ongoing two-way influences between children and parents.
The family is the dominant part of a child’s immediate environment, forming first social relationships and providing models for behavior.
Researchers have moved beyond a focus on maternal caregiving to now include fathers, siblings, and the extended family.
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13. Characteristics of Family Systems
Family systems are complex, made up of many subsystems:
relationships between siblings
between parents and children
between mother and father
All these subsystems are joined together in a coherent, interlocking network.
A family is a dynamic, open system, subject to both change and continuity.
They are subject to cyclical influences that can be repeated across generations.
The family is an interconnected system—each member’s behavior depends in part on the behavior of the others.
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14. Fathers in the Family System
Direct effects:
emotional attachment
involvement intensifies in toddler period, especially for boys
sex-role learning
cognitive development
achievement motivation
personality development
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15. Fathers in the Family System
Indirect effects:
impact on the behaviors of mothers or siblings
marital harmony or disharmony
Children of single mothers can benefit from their mothers’ relationships with men, even men who are not their biological fathers.
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16. Siblings in the Family System
Older siblings can be companions, teachers, and models.
Children help take care for younger siblings.
Older siblings can learn from new roles and interpreting younger child’s behavior.
Siblings influence one another through their impact on parents.
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17. Immediate Contexts Outside the Family
Day-care
1 in 4 children are cared for by grandparent or other relative.
1 in 5 are cared for by father at home.
About 1 in 5 are cared for by a nonrelative such as an individual babysitter or a family day-care provider.
Researchers have noted no negative effects of full-time day care for toddlers and preschoolers.
It can promote cognitive and social development if high quality.
The debate continues regarding day care for those under one year of age.
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18. Immediate Contexts Outside the Family
Peer group
Teaches how to interact in equal-status, or symmetrical relationships.
Reinforces values, beliefs, and behavior standards that are part of the child’s culture.
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19. Immediate Contexts Outside the Family
Neighborhood
condition of houses, streets, etc.
facilities
businesses
people
activities
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20. Immediate Contexts Outside the Family
School
Instructor in cultural norms and values.
How the school is run and how teachers interact with students can affect how positive the school experience is for children.
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21. The Social and Economic Context

22. Family Changes Caused by Social and Economic Factors
The majority of married women with children now work outside the home.
Number of single-parent families has increased, due to
divorce and
birth to unmarried mothers.
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23. Maternal Employment and Its Effects
Depends on:
The child’s age
Amount of time mother spends at work
Quality of shared time remaining
Quality of substitute care
Strength of the parent-child relationship
Meaning of the woman’s employment to both herself and her husband.
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24. Maternal Employment and Its Effects
Mothers unhappy with their situation, especially dissatisfied nonworking mothers, have more problems child rearing than those who are satisfied.
If a husband is displeased with wife’s employment, he may have more negative feelings toward his children and parenting responsibilities.
Employed single mothers show better mental health, parenting, social support,and coping skills than those receiving welfare.
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25. Single Parenting and Its Effects
Children of unmarried adolescent mothers often show:
developmental problems
higher rates of school failure
delinquency
early sexual activity
pregnancy
Social support, family support, and finishing high school are important for reducing potential developmental problems.
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26. Divorced Parents
Every year 1 million U.S. children are involved in divorce.
Outcome issues depend on:
child’s age, gender, personality
quality of home life and parenting
resources available
whether conflict continues
contact with noncustodial parent
stepparents
Divorce that ends parental conflict is generally better for children than a conflict-based marriage.
Divorce with continued conflict is worse than marriage with conflict. Children’s adjustment to parental remarriage can take several years.
Conflict is higher between children and stepparents, especially stepmothers.
Adjustment to stepparents is more difficult for adolescents.
Ongoing contact with the noncustodial parent generally reduces the negative consequences of divorce.
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27. Other Nontraditional Families
Adult career women who choose to become mothers outside marriage
Single adoptive parents
Homosexual parents
Homosexual parents are as involved with their children as are heterosexual parents.
Being raised by homosexual parents results in no obvious differences in gender identity, sex-role behavior, sexual orientation, and does not appear to place the child at risk for psychological problems.
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28. Socioeconomic Status and the Family
Socioeconomic status (SES):
The grouping of people within a society on the basis of income, occupation, and education.
Differences in parenting styles have been noted between working-class and middle-class parents.
Poor quality child care cuts across socioeconomic lines.
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29. Poverty and Child Development
11.6 million American children lived in poverty in 2000.
1 in 6 children in the U.S. overall.
The rate is twice as high for African-American and Hispanic children.
About 40% of the children in single-mother households.
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30. Poverty and Child Development
Poor families experience much more stress:
more negative events
job loss
eviction
illness
criminal assault
housing problems
dangerous neighborhoods
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31. Poverty and Child Development
Results of poverty and greater stress:
can make parents depressed, irritable, distracted
more punitive, erratic behavior
can become self-perpetuating cycle
lack of opportunities
These children score lower on IQ, vocabulary, and achievement tests.
They are more likely to repeat grades, be placed in special education, drop out of high school, have higher rates of behavior problems and delinquency.
Intervention programs like Head Start can make a difference.
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32. Homelessness
Single mothers with young children are the most rapidly growing segment of the homeless population.
Receive less prenatal care.
Higher rates of low birth weight and infant mortality.
Homeless children suffer more health problems.
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33. Unemployment and Family Relationships
Negative impacts on parents’ functioning.
Associated with increased family conflict.
Increased anxiety and depression throughout family.
Decreased self-esteem.
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34. The Cultural Context

35. Culture:
A system of beliefs, attitudes, values, and guidelines for behavior shared by a group of people.
Socialization:
The process by which children acquire the rules, standards, and values of a culture.
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36. Cultural Influences Adults in all cultures must:
Provide for infants with basic nurturance needed for development.
Prepare children to function as adults in their particular social world.
Pass on rules, standards, and values of the culture via socialization.
Socialization occurs by means of explicit and implicit instruction.
The values of a culture are often reflected in the structure of the settings in which children spend their time (e.g., Chinese vs. U.S. nursery school environments).
Children’s behavior also reflects the values and demands of their culture (see Madsen’s study on competition vs. cooperation in a game).
Children in nonindustrialized cultures show more nurturant and responsible behaviors while those in industrialized cultures are more dependent and self-centered.
Egoism may be an asset in cultures that depend on personal profit for economic growth.
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37. Cultural Change and Child Development
Parenting practices have changed over the decades and centuries as economic life patterns have changed.
Technology has steadily raised the average standard of living and life expectancies.
China is a recent example of rapid cultural change (family-centered to state-centered shift).
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38. Subcultures
Groups whose beliefs, attitudes, values, and guidelines for behavior differ in some ways from those of the dominant culture.
Sometimes a child’s subculture clashes with that of the dominant culture, which can result in difficulties in the classroom, for example.
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39. Development as Context
Development provides a context in two ways:
It gives each person a developmental history.
It provides context for future development.
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40. Contexts in Interaction
Central message of this chapter
Human development always occurs within a set of contexts:
biological makeup
immediate environment
broader social & economic context
cultural context
child’s own developmental level & history
None of the contexts exists in isolation.
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41. Child Development Its Nature and Course Child Development
Fifth Edition
Ganie B. DeHart
Its Nature and Course
State University of New York at Geneseo
Robert G. Cooper
L. Alan Sroufe
San Jose State University
University of Minnesota
Slides by Travis Langley
Henderson State University