Middle childhood is the least understood developmental period in the attachment literature, likely due to active reorganization of the attachment system during this stage. Coinciding with increased cognitive and socioemotional competencies, middle childhood attachment begins to transition from relationship-specific attachment to general attachment representations. While parents continue serving as the primary attachment figure used as a secure base and safe haven, noticeable shifts occur in terms of the need for availability over proximity to attachment figures and the child's involvement in maintaining the attachment relationship. Currently, there is no dominant conceptual or methodological approach for studying attachment in middle childhood. The present study sought to develop and validate an observational coding system examining middle childhood attachment using a dimensional approach. The Middle Childhood Behavioral Attachment Dimensions (MCBAD) system demonstrated mixed reliability and validity compared to other established attachment measures. Compared to traditional categorical attachment measures, this study provides evidence for the utility of an anxiety-avoidance dimensional attachment scale in childhood. Additionally, the MCBAD is the first observational system that examines both nonverbal and verbal attachment behaviors in an unstructured separation-reunion episode, and findings suggest a need for further examination of verbal attachment during this developmental stage.

The purpose of the research study was to describe girls' engagement with computers during middle childhood and to delineate the factors that initiated and sustained the engagement. The research questions were: 1) What patterns distinguish how girls engage in web page development during middle childhood? 2) What roles do environmental and personal factors play in the girls' engagement in the activity of web page development? 3) What are the perceived reasons for the girls' achievement in creating web pages? The research design followed a qualitative case study approach with descriptive methods of data collection. Four participants were selected through nomination by their elementary school principal based on their computer attitude and aptitude. The data collected included interviews, observations, artifacts, and interviewer's reflective notes. The data were analyzed through coding assisted by NUD*IST computer software. Overall, the access to computers, the relationships with powerful others, and the girls' perceptions of their ability to control influential factors, all worked together as antecedents for engagement with computers. The roles performed and the necessary social interaction sustained the engagement. The product, an educational web page, demonstrated successful achievement. The researcher provided recommendations for educators to create conditions for girls to achieve using computers, which impacts middle childhood girls' perceptions of future career options. / Ph. D.

The current study investigated the association of interparental conflict, parent-child attachment, and children's behavior problems in middle childhood. Although the effects of interparental conflict have been studied extensively, there has been little research done in the developmental period of middle childhood. This study examined the potential mediating role of the attachment relationship between parents and children in a community sample consisting of 86 two-parent families with at least one child between the ages of 8-11. Path modeling procedures indicated that attachment security serves as a mediator between interparental conflict and child behavior problems based on child reports. In particular, child-reported attachment security to the mother significantly mediated the association between children's perceptions of threat from interparental conflict and child-reported internalizing and inattentive/hyperactive symptoms. Child-reported attachment security to the father was not a significant mediator and mediation was not supported in parent-report models. The current findings have implications for families experiencing conflict and speak to the importance of attachment in the parent-child relationship when explaining the association between instances of interparental conflict and child behavioral outcomes. In particular, parents who engage in conflict can prevent the damaging effects of that conflict by making the conflict less overt, explaining to children the reasons for the conflict, and providing children with some assurance that a secure parent-child and interparental relationship is still present, despite the conflict.

This study is part of an inter-university project, for which co-workers from Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education and University of the Free State gathered the data during 2000. The population consisted of children in their late middle childhood (grade 4 to grade 7) from schools in the Vaalpark and Bloemfontein (Free State), Potchefstroom (North West), Badplaas (Mpumalanga), Krugersdorp and Kempton Park (Gauteng), Kimberley (Northern Cape) and Durban (Kwazulu Natal) regions. A random sample, which was representative of the different race and socio-economic strata, was drawn from these children. The literature study indicated that little is known about the nature of locus of control in younger children and its relationship to creativity in the South African context. The aims of this study are therefore to determine the nature of locus of control in middle childhood; to examine locus of control in different age groups and to establish the relationship between locus of control and creativity. By using a single cross-sectional design, creativity was measured with subscales of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and locus of control with the Nowicki-Strickland questionnaire. In conclusion the current study suggests that locus of control in late middle childhood has become slightly more externally orientated than it was 30 years ago. Cultural factors and the South-African context are much different in this study population though, and care must be taken not to make direct comparisons. With regard to the differences in the locus of control between the two age groups there is a definite statistical difference, with a shift to a more internal orientation in the older group. However, no practical significance was found. The hypothesis that externally orientated students would be less creative could not be validated and no correlation between locus of control and creativity could be discerned. These results seem to confirm a more dual dimensional view of some authors, in that a "bilocal" person strikes a healthy balance between beliefs in internal and external control, resulting in a more effective coping style. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This study is part of an inter-university project, for which co-workers from Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education and University of the Free State gathered the data during 2000. The population consisted of children in their late middle childhood (grade 4 to grade 7) from schools in the Vaalpark and Bloemfontein (Free State), Potchefstroom (North West), Badplaas (Mpumalanga), Krugersdorp and Kempton Park (Gauteng), Kimberley (Northern Cape) and Durban (Kwazulu Natal) regions. A random sample, which was representative of the different race and socio-economic strata, was drawn from these children. The literature study indicated that little is known about the nature of locus of control in younger children and its relationship to creativity in the South African context. The aims of this study are therefore to determine the nature of locus of control in middle childhood; to examine locus of control in different age groups and to establish the relationship between locus of control and creativity. By using a single cross-sectional design, creativity was measured with subscales of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and locus of control with the Nowicki-Strickland questionnaire. In conclusion the current study suggests that locus of control in late middle childhood has become slightly more externally orientated than it was 30 years ago. Cultural factors and the South-African context are much different in this study population though, and care must be taken not to make direct comparisons. With regard to the differences in the locus of control between the two age groups there is a definite statistical difference, with a shift to a more internal orientation in the older group. However, no practical significance was found. The hypothesis that externally orientated students would be less creative could not be validated and no correlation between locus of control and creativity could be discerned. These results seem to confirm a more dual dimensional view of some authors, in that a "bilocal" person strikes a healthy balance between beliefs in internal and external control, resulting in a more effective coping style. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Negatively biased facial affect discernment may prompt socially inhibited behavior. Characterizing normative patterns of facial affect discernment across emotions and expression intensity during middle childhood will help to identify subtle, yet meaningful, deviations that may emerge for individuals and potentially negatively impact their social behavior. Facial affect discernment for happy, sad, and angry expressions across low, medium, and high intensities and parent-reported socially inhibited behavior were measured in this study in a sample of 7-10 year-old children (N = 80; 53% female). Discernment accuracy improved with increased expression intensity for all emotions. Specifically, we found a quartic effect for the association between intensity and accuracy for anger and negative quadratics effects with decelerating positive rates of changes for associations between intensity and accuracy for happiness and intensity and accuracy for sadness. Additionally, discernment accuracy for happiness was generally better than for sadness and anger; discernment accuracy for anger was generally better than for sadness. However, at low intensity, discernment accuracy for sadness was comparable to accuracy for happiness but better than for anger. Neither misidentification of neutral and low intensity faces as negative nor discernment accuracy of happiness at low intensity was significantly associated with socially inhibited behaviors. Although accurate discernment of anger and sadness at low intensity was not significantly related to socially inhibited behavior, better discernment accuracy of anger and sadness at medium intensity was significantly related to more socially inhibited behavior. Overall, these results enhance understanding of normative facial affect discernment and its relation to maladaptive social behaviors in middle childhood, a developmental stage at which intervention efforts may prove effective at heading off detrimental outcomes associated with socially inhibited behavior such as loneliness, low self-esteem, peer victimization, social anxiety, and depression that increase in late childhood and adolescence.

The South African society is characterised by high levels of risk factors which can have a significantly negative impact on the development of children. The impact of risk factors from an early age can hinder intellectual and emotional growth during the critical stage (middle childhood) of development. Middle childhood can be described as the relatively tranquil period during which patterns and routines are embedded and cognitive-, social-, emotional- and self-conceptualisation are formed. Children are daily exposed to risks and stressful events that can lead to negative outcomes. The impact of risks and adversity sets challenges for the child that test his/her coping abilities and perseverance within a given period and situation. The idea behind resilience is to accept these challenges through utilising protective factors and decreasing the effects of risk factors. The Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist of Ayers and Sandler (1999) was used to assess resilience and The Resilience and Youth Development Module (RYDM) of WestEd (1999 & 2002) to measure participants’ perceptions of the school, home, environment and peer group as external protective domains as well as participants ability in seven psychosocial internal assets and their experience of certain risk factors. A biographical questionnaire was used to gather demographic information of the learners. The findings indicated positive coping abilities (resilience), protective perceptions of external and internal assets and low levels of risk experience (resilience) in the majority of participants. Significant differences were found between boys and girls and between the age groups 10 and 13 years. Theoretically, these findings indicate resilience in the majority of this group of learners who reside in a socio-economically deprived milieu characterised by risk factors. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

The South African society is characterised by high levels of risk factors which can have a significantly negative impact on the development of children. The impact of risk factors from an early age can hinder intellectual and emotional growth during the critical stage (middle childhood) of development. Middle childhood can be described as the relatively tranquil period during which patterns and routines are embedded and cognitive-, social-, emotional- and self-conceptualisation are formed. Children are daily exposed to risks and stressful events that can lead to negative outcomes. The impact of risks and adversity sets challenges for the child that test his/her coping abilities and perseverance within a given period and situation. The idea behind resilience is to accept these challenges through utilising protective factors and decreasing the effects of risk factors. The Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist of Ayers and Sandler (1999) was used to assess resilience and The Resilience and Youth Development Module (RYDM) of WestEd (1999 & 2002) to measure participants’ perceptions of the school, home, environment and peer group as external protective domains as well as participants ability in seven psychosocial internal assets and their experience of certain risk factors. A biographical questionnaire was used to gather demographic information of the learners. The findings indicated positive coping abilities (resilience), protective perceptions of external and internal assets and low levels of risk experience (resilience) in the majority of participants. Significant differences were found between boys and girls and between the age groups 10 and 13 years. Theoretically, these findings indicate resilience in the majority of this group of learners who reside in a socio-economically deprived milieu characterised by risk factors. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

Parental socialization of emotions has been a topic of interest in developmental research for decades because of the importance of understanding how children learn about their emotions. The influence of the sex of both parent and child, however, are often not considered, and research on parent emotion socialization has often focused on infants and young children. Not considering these constructs during middle childhood ignores the importance of this developmental period, during which children have a more established gender identity and thus might recognize a shared identity with a parent. Emotion socialization from both parents during this developmental period has the potential to differentially inform children’s expectations of gender norms related to emotions. Men and women interpret and express their emotions differently and may differentially socialize their children regarding emotions along these patterns. The current study examined parental emotion coaching and elaboration observed during discussions of positive and negative emotions between 44 children with their mothers and fathers, with specific focus on the sex of the parents and children. I expected that mothers would engage in more emotion coaching and use a more elaborative style than fathers. Additionally, I expected that parents of girls would be more encouraging of positive emotions than parents of boys and that parents of boys would be more discouraging of negative emotions than parents of girls. Children between the ages of 6 and 9 visited the Children’s Emotions Lab with their mothers and fathers on separate occasions and participated in an emotion talk task with each parent. Each pair discussed a time when the child was happy and a time when the child was upset; each discussion lasted two and a half minutes each. I found a significant emotion valence by child sex interaction: parents were more elaborative and encouraging when discussing positive emotions with daughters than with sons and that parents were more elaborative and encouraging when discussing negative events with sons than with daughters. There was also specific parent gender by child sex interaction: mothers were less elaborative and encouraging with daughters than sons and that fathers were less elaborative and encouraging with sons than daughters. Findings from this study suggest that parents’ experiences with their own emotions influence their emotion socialization practices with their children. Recommended practices for future studies and interventions are suggested. / M.S. / Emotion socialization refers to the ways we come to understand the rules, expectations, and understanding of emotions. Research often looks at the ways that parents socialize, or teach, emotions to their children by examining parent attitudes about children’s emotions, parents’ reactions to children’s emotions, and parent-child discussions of emotions. However, often this research is limited in scope, examining only mothers’ parenting, only examining socialization of negative emotions, or using only parent-report data. Research has previously found that boys and girls are socialized differently when it comes to emotions, and I want to build on established research to examine these differences further. For this study, I have observed parent-child conversations about positive and negative emotions, including both mothers and fathers. Forty-four children participated with both their mothers and fathers. I looked at parental elaboration, which is how parents ask for and provide information within a conversation, and parental encouragement of emotions, which relates to how parents validate children’s emotions and help children to understand cause and consequences of their emotions. I hypothesized that mothers would be more elaborative, that is ask for and give more information in conversations, and encouraging, that is helping children to accept, understand and respond to their emotions, than fathers. I also hypothesized that parents of daughters would be more elaborative and encouraging when talking about positive emotions and that parents of sons would be less encouraging of negative emotions. Only parts of my hypotheses were supported by the data from my study. Mothers and fathers did have different strategies of emotion socialization, and fathers of daughters were more encouraging of positive emotions. However, parents of sons were more encouraging of negative emotions. Further, parents were less elaborative and encouraging of their same-sex children’s emotions. These findings suggest that parents’ own experiences, and possibly even the ways their own parents socialized them, is related to the ways they socialize their children.

Episodic memory refers to context based explicit memory and shows vast improvements during middle childhood. In this study, episodic encoding was manipulated using stimuli that were hypothesized to require active or passive processing. Nine to eleven-year-old children were presented with a recall task using lower resolution (active processing) and clear (passive processing) images. It was hypothesized that children would recall more low resolution images than clear images. Executive function ability was also assessed to investigate possible contributions to performance. Furthermore, this study investigated whether frontal and temporal brain electrophysiology predicted unique variance in recall performance. Results suggested that overall there were no performance differences between low resolution and clear images; however, differences may exist within task blocks. Electrophysiology at temporal scalp locations and executive functions predicted unique variance in memory task performance. Specifically, set-shifting and working memory predicted a unique amount of variance in memory task performance. The results suggest that explicit memory may require certain executive processes more than others, and that active and passive processing may enhance this effect. / Master of Science