4

 Introduction

How are childhoods influenced by nature and nurture?  This week we will consider how family society and culture influence the lives of children.  You will explore how the natural sciences (biology) and social sciences (anthropology, psychology, social work, and sociology) study these influences on children. We will use an interdisciplinary approach to learn more about the topic of sexuality. I like to use  Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory to illustrate how the influences of nurture impact childhood.   Watch Urie Bronfenbrenner Ecological Theory explained on You Tube on Blackboard to learn more about this model.  How might Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological theory help you study your research question or childhood in general?

Ecological Systems Theory – used often in Social Work

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) developed the ecological systems theory to explain how everything in a child and the child’s environment affects how a child grows and develops. The theory is illustrated in the figure below.  This chapter will concentrate on the the Micro and Mesosystem levels.  I find this model helpful in understanding the influences of nurture on childhood.

The microsystem is the small, immediate environment the child lives in. How these groups or organizations interact with the child will have an effect on how the child grows; the more encouraging and nurturing these relationships and places are, the better the child will be able to grow. Furthermore, how a child acts or reacts to these people in the microsystem will affect how they treat her in return. Each child’s special genetic and biologically influenced personality traits, what is known as temperament, end up affecting how others treat them.

The mesosystem, describes how the different parts of a child’s microsystem work together for the sake of the child. For example, if a child’s caregivers take an active role in a child’s school, such as going to parent-teacher conferences and watching their child’s soccer games, this will help ensure the child’s overall growth.

The exosystem includes the other people and places that the child herself may not interact with often herself but that still have a large effect on her, such as families workplaces, extended family members, the neighborhood,.

The macrosystem, which is the largest and most remote set of people and things to a child but which still has a great influence over the child. The macrosystem includes things such as the relative freedoms permitted by the national government, cultural values, the economy, wars, etc.

Chronosystem developmental processes vary according to the specific historical events that are occurring as the developing individuals are at one age or another. Moreover, cultures also are continually undergoing change.

As you read and explore the topics in the chapter, think about how the influences impact children.

Nature and Nurture Shape Childhood

Now, let’s use the concept of sexuality to see how nature and nurture are interconnected.

Nature and nurture, biology and culture, work together to shape human lives. Nature and nurture are intertwined, processes.

• Do you assume biology (nature) is destiny that may be minimally modified by culture (nurture, or environment) throughout childhood?
• Do you assume environment (nurture) is a more important factor in shaping individual psychology than biology (nature)?
• Specifically, what is the relationship between biology and culture with respect to sexuality?

The biological features of sex and sexuality are determined by chromosomes and hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone.  Biologically, there are more than 2 sexes – chromosomes which can be XX, XY, XXX, XXY, XO, XYY.  XX is female and XY is male;  usually if the Y exists the person is generally seen as male.  O produces ambiguous sexual features. Hormones and sex are apparent at seven weeks in utero.

The difference between sex and gender is: that sex is male or female and is biological. Gender is meaning given to biological sex by culture.  We develop a gender identity which is how an individual identifies as masculine or feminine.  Gender is a spectrum.  We learn gender roles during childhood, such as appropriate behaviors and work or division of labor

• Can a male be a female?
• Is it only one or the other?
• Are gender and sexuality fluid over a lifespan?
• Can they change? Is sex a spectrum like gender?
• Did you know the Navajo have four genders?
• women
• men
• nadleehi (born male functions in women roles)
• Dilbaa (born female functions in the male role)

I challenge you to reflect on gender and sexual diversity.  Imagine you have a child who is born with intersex anatomy [XXX, XXY, XO, XYY] You read up on diagnostic testing and the recommendations of the Intersex Society of North America, that suggest you give your child a binary gender assignment (girl or boy). Do you follow the advice of the ISNA? Why/why not?  If not, what do you name your child? How do you dress your child?
As your child acquires language, what pronouns do you use for your child? Would you use he, she, ze, or they? You inform yourself and read about current possibilities at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center’s article on Gender Pronouns
What is ‘competency’?

Families should help children mature and become competent.  The concept of competency is related to the concept of agency discussed in Chapter 2.   Listening to children and respecting their opinions can contribute to their personal development. A supportive environment can lead children to make better decisions, prepare them to participate in society, and strengthen their accountability. Children’s competency or abilities may be recognized, ignored, encouraged, or inhibited. The supporting adults’ willingness to respect children’s decisions will determine whether the children’s choices are honored  Figure 1, described by Alderson (1992) and illustrated by Orr (1999), illustrate the internal and external variants that may influence a child’s competency. (van Rooyen, Water, Rasmussen, & Diesfeld, 2015)

Cultural Relativism

Families are the first to have the power to act on behalf of the child and ensure their rights are respected. Hopefully,  their objectives are to protect the child and to secure the child an education, development, security, health and morality.  To achieve these objectives, a family should provide supervision by controlling the child’s comings and goings, relationships, and communications. For example, they may forbid the child from maintaining relationships with certain persons that they believe are not in his or her best interest.  Families make educational decisions including religious and sex education and decide on the health care to give their child.  Families are responsible for the needs of the child, such as food, clothing, shelter, educational costs, vacations (if possible), and health coverage.  What happens to children when families find it difficult to provide basic needs?  Families often struggle with finding time, money and resources to effectively parent.  In the US, families may have difficulty earning a living wage, finding social support, securing affordable housing, high-quality child care, and paid family leave.  It can be difficult to provide a nurturing environment all children need and may result in a neglectful or abusive environment.

Did you know that in 2016 the relative poverty rate for children 0-5 in the U.S. was more than 25%; for ages 0-18 years the rate was about 22%?  In other words about 1 out of 4 young children in the United States live in poverty.  What changes in the US might lower the child poverty rate?  How can we create environments that enrich the lives of all young children and their families, allowing them the opportunity to realize their full human potential?

A former student shared:  So I definitely think that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) needs to be more pro-active in checking in on families, especially families living under the poverty line, to ensure they are receiving assistance if needed and that the child is living in a stable home where he/she is healthy and can thrive.  I agree with the student that all children deserve a safe and healthy environment and our society should support them.  I wonder why income often is the only resource considered when giving families assistance.  To help you think about interacting with diverse families, please read the following scenario:

You are a teacher in the 4-year-old room at Kids Place child care center. Daequan and Mathew are two children in your class. Both were born at 30 weeks’ gestation and had hospital stays of about 6 weeks. Both are in generally good health and are monitored for respiratory illnesses. For the most part, the boys are reaching their developmental milestones, with slight delays in language/emotional development.

At the present time, Daequan and his mother, Shania, are living in a homeless shelter. Their home burned down 2 weeks ago and they had nowhere else to go. Matthew is part of an intact family. Ralph and Sue are his parents, and he has an older brother, Nick. The family lives in an affluent community a mile from Kids Place.

• Which child would appear to be experiencing a greater number of risk factors that can affect his development?
• With which family would it appear to be easier to develop a partnership? Why?

Then you learn:

Daequan and his mother have a number of extended family members available for support and will be moving into an apartment within a month’s time. Shania has contacted a number of local agencies for assistance to rebuild her and her son’s lives.

Matthew’s father travels 3 weeks out of the month. Sue is on medication for depression and has recently started drinking around the boys during the evenings and weekends. She turns down offers of help from her friends and family and tells them everything is fine with her marriage and her ability to raise her sons.

What questions might you or others ask to find out “the whole story”?  Ruby Payne (2009)  describes the nine resources by which one negotiates their environment.  Poverty is when you need too many of these resources, not just financial.

1. Financial
2. Language (ability to speak formally)
3. Emotional
4. Mental
5. Spiritual
6. Physical
7. Support systems
8. Relationships/role models
9. Knowledge of middle class rules

How do you and others discover what resources are available to children and families?  How do you build on a families strengths. Everything that improves the economic security, safety, and peace of mind of families improves parenting—and increases children’s chances of growing into healthy, compassionate, and responsible adults. These include living wages and reliable hours, secure housing, high-quality childcare, paid family leave, safe neighborhoods, flex time, desegregation, and social inclusion.   Which disciplinary perspectives might help you understand family influences on childhood?  

Friendships

Besides family and other adults in the culture, peers can be an influence on childhood.   Recent research shows the importance of friendship and its impact on mental and physical health. Preschool friendships are helpful in developing social and emotional skills, increasing a sense of belonging, and decreasing stress. (Yu, Ostrosky, & Fowler, 2011). People who feel lonely or socially isolated tend to be more depressed, have more health issues and may have a shorter lifespan. (Lewis, 2016).  Having a support system can help us handle hardships.

Selman and colleagues identified five successive stages in how children view friendships.  The chart below illustrates the theory.   Why might it be helpful to understand the stages of friendship?  How would it inform possible work with children and families? 

Play

Play in one way in which families and peers interact with the child.  Play is essential to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth and is one of the rights in the UNCRC.  Article 31 of the UNCRC states:

1. Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

2.  Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.

A wonderful resource to learn more about play is available on the National Association for the Education of Young Children website.  After reviewing the information on the website reflect on these questions:

How can we enhance the opportunities for balance in children’s lives that will create the optimal development to prepare them to be academically, socially, and emotionally equipped for future growth? How can we make sure we play enough?

Conclusion

Genes make us human, but our humanity is a result of the complex interplay of biological and cultural factors. This week you read about of the influences of family, society, and culture as they bear on the lives of children. As you discuss, try to answer:  How are interactions between children and adults shaped, modified, and redefined by overlapping institutional and organizational forces such as the economy, family, education, politics, religion, and so on? What is the impact of experiences in childhood later in life?  

Challenge

References

Lewis, T. (2016). This common characteristic may be as big a risk to your health as smoking.  Business Insider Website available at:  http://www.businessinsider.com/how-social-isolation-affects-your-health-2016-1

Selman, R. (1981). The child as a friendship philosopher. In S. A. Asher & J. M. Gottman (Eds.), Development of Children’s Friendships. (pp. 250-251). (Original work published 1978) Retrieved from http://books.google.com

van Rooyen, A., Water, T., Rasmussen, S., and Diesfeld, K. (2015). What makes a child a ‘competent’ child? The New Zealand Medical Journal, 128, (1426).  Available at https://www.nzma.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/46110/van-Rooyen-1628FINAL1426.pdf 

Yu, S. Y., Ostrosky, M. M. & Fowler, S. A. (2011).  Children’s Friendship Development: A Comparative Study.  Early Childhood Research and Practice, 13, (1).