Chapter Introduction

CHAPTER 11
Middle Childhood: Biosocial Development

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What Will You Know?

  1. What would happen if more parents let their children “go out and play”?

    Besides physical fitness benefits, body movement improves brain functioning through improved cerebral blood flow and increased neurotransmitters. Neighborhood play is particularly beneficial because it is flexible. The play is active, interactive, and inclusive—ideal for children. It teaches ethics and cooperation. Many parents fear “stranger danger,” so they keep their children inside instead of allowing free play in the neighborhood. However, the risks of obesity are greater than the risk that a child would be abducted.

  2. Should the epidemic of childhood obesity be blamed on parents, schools, or policies?

    There are “hundreds if not thousands of contributing factors” for childhood obesity. Genetic factors contribute to metabolism, body type, and appetite. In addition to contributing their child's genes, parents play a role through feeding decisions (such as breast–feeding or not and allowing their children to drink soda or not), exercise patterns, and family size. Children play a role in their own body size by utilizing their pester power over food and physical activity. There are cultural factors that contribute to food choices and activity levels, as well. Schools that require significant homework may deprive children of opportunities for physical activity, and the food choices available in the cafeteria and vending machines influence children's diets. Policies that affect the prevalence of parks, bike paths, and sidewalks can encourage or discourage physical activity, and subsidies for certain food commodities can make healthy or unhealthy food more or less expensive and available. In short, a dynamic–systems approach is needed to explain the epidemic of childhood obesity.

  3. Why are IQ tests not used as often as they were a few decades ago?

    Because researchers have realized that IQ scores can change over time, many have lost confidence in IQ tests. Newer thinking focuses on the idea that intelligence is comprised of many abilities. Older IQ tests measured a single intelligence factor, g. More modern models, such as Gardener's theory of multiple intelligences, assert that there are a variety of skills that reflect intelligence. Another criticism of classic IQ tests is that they are culturally specific. A child who comes from another culture may score poorly because of his or her lack of cultural understanding rather than because of low intelligence.

  4. How helpful are diagnosis, special education, and medication for children with special needs?

    Specifics of diagnosis, prognosis, medication, and education are debatable; no child learns or behaves exactly like another, and no educational strategy always succeeds. Various strategies are apparent not only for children with disabilities but also for those who are unusually gifted and talented.

  1. A Healthy Time

    Slower Growth, Greater Strength

    Physical Activity

  2. Health Problems in Middle Childhood

    Childhood Obesity

    a view from science: What Causes Childhood Obesity?

    Asthma

  3. Brain Development

    Coordinating Connections

    Measuring the Mind

  4. Developmental Psychopathology

    Special Needs in Middle Childhood

    Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

    a case to study: Lynda is Getting Worse

    Specific Learning Disorders

    Autism Spectrum Disorder

  5. Special Education

    Labels, Laws, and Learning

    Gifted and Talented

My daughter seemed lonely in the early weeks of first grade. Her teacher told me that she was admired, not rejected, and that she might become friends with Alison, who was also shy and bright. I spoke to Alison’s mother, a friendly, big-boned woman named Sharon, and we arranged a play date. Soon Bethany and Alison became best friends, as the teacher had predicted, and their friendship has lasted for years.

Unpredicted, however, is that Sharon became my friend. She and her husband, Rick (an editor of a fashion magazine), had one other child, a pudgy boy two years older.

When my daughter and Alison were in fifth grade, I mentioned to Rick my interest in longitudinal research. He recalled a friend, a professional photographer, who took pictures of Alison and her brother every year. The friend wanted them for his portfolio; Rick was happy to oblige. He then retrieved an old album with stunning depictions of sibling relationships and personality development from infancy on. Alison was smiling and coy, even as an infant, and her brother was gaunt and serious until Alison was born, when he seemed to relax.

Rick was happy with my interest; Sharon was not.

“I hate that album,” she said, slamming it shut. She explained that she told the pediatrician that she thought her baby boy was hungry, but the doctor insisted she stick to a four-hour breast-feeding schedule and told her to never give him formula. That’s why she hated that album; it was evidence of an inexperienced mother heeding a doctor while starving her son.

Decades later, my daughter and I are still friends with Alison and Sharon, whose adult son is obese. His photo as a thin, serious infant haunts me now as well.

Did Sharon cause his obesity by underfeeding him when he was little, or by overfeeding him later on? Or did his genes and culture interact in a destructive way? Or was he rebelling against his father, whose profession glorifies appearance?

This chapter begins our description of middle childhood, which is usually a happy time. This chapter also describes some problems of this period, and the interaction of genes and environment that cause them. Consequences and solutions are complex: Sharon and Rick are not the only aging parents who still wonder what they could have done differently and how they can help their adult children now. I wonder, too.

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