1. How are children with depressed parents affected emotionally and socially?
Source:
Downey, G., & Coyne, J. (1990). Children of Depressed Parents: An Integrative Review. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 50-76. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/108/1/50.pdf
L: What you learned
Physical
Cognitive
Emotional
Social
1. Physical (Obesity)
R (Review):
Obesity is becoming a rapidly growing problem in middle age children in the United States, as well as other Western Nations. What is obesity and what genetic and environmental factors contribute to the problem of obesity in middle childhood?
A (Apply):
Many obese children are self-conscious and embarrassed when participating in physical activities around their peers. How can schools encourage their students to participate in gym class and recess with out feeling uncomfortable in order to make sure that they are staying active and fighting against obesity?
R (Reflect):
When you were in middle school, did your teachers encourage participation in physical activity? If so, how did they go about it?
2. Cognitive
After a little bit of observation and research, I decided to narrow my inquiry question in order to make it more specific. There are so many causes to they different way that students act in school, so I decided to narrow it down to just one cause and how it can affect the student. I am curious to know how children with depressed parents are affected in their lives. Because it is so specific, it is hard to make direct connections from the book, but I was able to find possible outcomes that may occur when put under stress and trauma when in middle school. Chapter 11 talks a lot about what children go through when they hit adolescence and the different problems they may face along the way. It is not an easy time in a child's life, and not having the proper parental support can cause a variety of developmental and cognitive issues. A child may face extreme amounts of neglect and lack of attention if their parent is depressed, so they may not get the education or support they need when trying to figure out how they're changing. Because of this, their adolescent development may be skewed. Adolescents often times become moody when they reach that state, and children with depressed parents may experience more intense moodiness and agitation because it is most likely what they have learned from their parents who are also most likely very moody and irritable at times. I also thought that their deductive reasoning skills, which form at this time, may be harmed. Problem solving is a skill that most children first learn from how their parents handle situations, and if a child is experiencing poor problem solving from their parents because they are in a state of depression, then it will be hard for them to take upon those skills themselves, and may even acquire poor problem solving abilities.
3. Emotional
In chapter 8 of the textbook, Exploring Lifespan Development, by Laura E. Berk, the different stages of emotional development are described by explaining where a child's development emotionally should be, and at what age. For example, it talks about self regulation forming at ages 3 to 4, when children "begin to verbalize a variety of strategies for adjusting their emotional arousal to a more comfortable level" (200). I found this helpful to my inquiry question because before I can determine the causes of the differences in children's development, I need to first understand each stage of the process. Not only does it describe the stages, but it also goes into small detail about how the parents actions can lead to different personalities in their children, which set the stage for my first cause: Parental Effects. For instance, it states that if a parent is warm and patient with their child and helps them learn how to control their feelings can strengthen that child's ability to handle stress.
4. Social
Chapter 8 was all about emotional and social development in childhood, so this was a very helpful chapter in beginning my research for my inquiry question. Similarly to the emotional development, it goes through some of the stages that a child should be at socially, and again, talked about some of the influences that can affect a child's social development. The chapter split the influences into two sections: direct parental influences, and indirect parental influences. The example given for direct parental influences was how when a parent arranges informal play days or activities with a child's peers, it can lead to that child having a larger network of peers and become more skilled socially in the future. On the other hand, indirect parental influences could be early strong bond with peers of the same age, that help the child to learn how to be socially inclined through their school years.
St. Catharine of Siena is a very small, private, Catholic grade school in Cincinnati. St. Catharine is where I went to grade school for kindergarten through 8th grade. Between the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade there are only about 60 students. I have spent a lot of my college education observing larger inner city type environments, and I really wanted to go back to where I went to school and get a view from the other side. I wanted to get an idea of how the children act in different environments, so I am observing three different aspects of their day. I first am observing the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade during their lunch period. After that I follow them outside and watch how they interact with each other during recess. Finally, I wanted to see what things were like in the classroom, so I chose to observe 8th grade social studies after recess. I think observing a smaller group of students will be useful because I will be able to closer attention to details with each of the students.
At first, my inquiry question was about how to balance the different development stages in the classroom, and what factors may cause those differences. Children tend to act differently in different environments, so I thought observing three different environments would be great in order to get a sense of their different maturity levels and how they act when it is time to play and when it is time to be serious. I thought it would be interesting to compare their behaviors inside and outside of the classroom setting. After a while I decided to narrow my question down to how children with depressed parents are affected mentally and socially, and unfortunately my observation site was not the best place to discover these outcomes, but it helped a lot in making me think about why children choose to act out or retreat to themselves, which led to discovering my new curiosities. When I went to St. Catharine, it was not a very diverse school. It was predominately white, Catholic students. Over the past six years since I graduated middle school, its diversity has increased significantly. Although the majority is still white students, they have a gained a greater deal of African American, Indian, and Mexican students creating a more diverse environment.
C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting)
1stvisit: September 18th, 2013 (11:45-1:45)
I first observed the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders during their lunch period. When they first enter the lunch room they split into two groups: the buyers and packers. The buyers line up to get their lunch for the day, and the packers go directly to their tables. Once everyone sat down to eat their lunch, I noticed that they sat by gender and grades. It is an extremely small school, so all groups fit at one table. For example, all of the 8th grade boys fit at one table, and all of the 6th grade girls fit at one table. I found it humorous watching all of the students stare at me in confusion as to why I was watching them and writing things down. Within the grades themselves, they didn't appear to be very cliquey because they all sat together and from watching no one seemed left out. I remembered back to when I was in grade school, and realized that our grade was not full of cliques either. Our class was too small to form little groups. Although we did not all like each other, we were very good at putting up with everyone and learning how to respect each other because there weren't enough kids to have enemies. I think this is a good quality of having such a small group of kids. I decided to sit by the 6th grade girls because they stuck out as the bullies to me as I walked around. They were constantly arguing and talking about people, which I later came to find out were in different grades than them. The feuds did not seem to be between classes, but rather between grades.
After lunch, the students went outside to recess. The 7th and 8th grade boys played each other in football, and the 7th and 8th grade girls played each other in four square, which again showed the competitiveness between the different grades. It did not surprise me that the 6th grade girls sat against the wall of the school gossiping about other students in the school. I remember feeling cool at that age because I was finally in the junior high hallway and out of the little kid lunch and recess, so it made me wonder if they are just at a stage in their lives where they feel cool and powerful because they no longer feel like the little kids in the school. This can sometimes have an affect on the way children act towards each other. There are a few groups of students who do other activities, such as tetherball or volleyball. It seemed that these students tended to be the less competitive students of the group, who were more interested in just having fun at recess with their friends. The one and only 6th grade girl that does not participate in the wall gossip came up to me and started pointing out things she thought I might want to write down. I found it interesting that the first thing she pointed out were the girls who gossip by the wall. She said "they try to bully everyone, but everyone ignores them. They just think they are too cool for everyone, but thats okay", which was exactly the impression I had gotten from watching. Finally, the whistle blew and everyone rushed inside to homeroom to get their stuff ready for their next class.
Unfortunately, I did not feel like I received much insight from observing the 8th grade's Social Studies class. Social Studies always consists of a lot of lecturing, so all of the kids just kind of sat there looking bored the entire time. A handful of students raised their hands to answer questions, but the entire class was relatively calm and quiet. I have never in my life been in a social studies class that has not almost entirely been lecture, and I never understand why. To be honest, I even grew a little bored as the class continued. A few kids doodled in their notebooks, but everyone else just stared into space. I talked to the teacher after class, and she said this is the quietest group of 8th graders she has ever had, and she hopes that they start to open up more as the year goes on. She would like to do more with them, but she said sometimes it is difficult when they are so quiet.
2nd visit: September 25th, 2013 (11:45-1:45)
Similar to last time, I first observed the junior high lunch period. Lunch generally always has the same routine. Children split into their typical two groups: packers and buyers. I noticed that all of the kids sat at the exact same table in the exact same seats as they did the previous week, except for the 6th grade girls who tried to sit where the 7th grade girls sat the week before. Not to my surprise, this caused a large commotion in the lunch room. People tend to become very possessive of their seats. At this age, it seems to be extremely important where you sit and who you sit next to based on popularity and grade level. After almost a third of their lunch period of arguing, the 6th grade girls give up and go sit down at their usual table. I became very interested in one specific 6th grade girl who always seemed to start trouble with everyone around her. She was constantly putting others down and starting arguments. Some students reacted, while others stayed completely to themselves. This got me interested in what causes children at that age to not only act out like the bully girl, but also why some seem to retreat to themselves in a very hopeless manner. (first thought of changing inquiry question)
At recess, I had two of the 7th grade girls giving me the low down on all of the "grade school relationship drama", which I actually found to be very interesting. The behaviors of boys and girls when they like each other grow and mature so much as they get older, but I enjoyed being reminded how silly and innocent it all was at that age. The girls went over who was dating who and how long they have all been dating. Children in 7th and 8h grade are at that age where they date someone for a week at most, and then move on and like someone else. It showed how their interest in the opposite sex starts to form, and changes frequently because it is something still very new to them. I noticed some of the girls would try to act like tomboys and play football at recess to try and impress the boys they liked, and others would hide in the corner and just giggle about their crushes with their friends. I also came to realize that boys really do tease the girls they like in middle school. One boy kept kicking his kick ball at a group of girls playing jump rope, and after talking to him about why he was bothering them, I was surprised when he actually told me it was because he wanted her to notice him.
I was again shocked at how quite the 8th graders were in class. I remembered back to when I was in 8th grade, and I always felt like we were super loud and obnoxious by the last class of the day, but this class stayed dead silent. Like last time, most took their notes like they were supposed to, and answered questions when asked, but they all just seemed very dazed in boredom. They started to become a little more interested when they started a discussion on the living conditions of the tenements. Student's began asking their own questions and having actual conversations with the teacher. This was refreshing from how quiet they normally are. The teacher seemed very excited and allowed them to discuss this the rest of class. She was very good about figuring out what they are interested in and encouraging them to feed off of their interests.
3rd visit: October 2nd, 2013 (11:45-1:45)
On my third, and final visit at St. Catharines, I decided it would be fun to actually sit down at the lunch tables with some of the kids and see how they reacted with me sitting at their lunch table. I decided to sit down at the 8th grade boys table because I thought it would be interesting to hear what they talk about at lunch. The second I sat down, every single one of them immediately smiled and got extremely awkward and quiet. One boy leaned to another and said, "awkward, we will have to talk about this later." I was kind of bummed, but not all surprised, that they did not continue with the conversation they were having before I sat down at the table. I continued to sit there in hopes that they would eventually continue on with their lunch as normal. One boy tells his friend that his sandwich smells weird, and his friend got a very large look of embarrassment on his face and quietly put it back in his lunch bag. It amazed me how much the opinions of their peers truly means to them. I knew they mattered, but the fact that the boy wouldn't even continue to eat his sandwich because the boy next to him said he didn't like it really stood out to me. I wanted to take it out of his lunch box and eat it myself to show him the boy was just being stupid. Everyone continued to eat their lunch, and like boys do.. they began to make some weird concoction of all of their uneaten lunches. It ended up being a large bowl of milk, apple sauce, ketchup, crust, and who knows what all else they threw in there (it was hard to keep track of all of it). They then began passing it around daring each other to try it. Finally, one boy did and almost gagged.. so of course he passed it to another boy saying "ew thats disgusting, try it!" a few other boys tried it, and I sat there baffled as to what made any of them think it would be fun. It wasn't until they offered her the nasty soup, that I realized there was one girl sitting at the table as well. (She was the only smart one who said "why on earth would I taste that.") She hadn't really talked the entire lunch, but she commented on a few conversations here and there, but was mostly pretty quiet. The guys talk to her like she is "one of the guys".
After lunch, we went out to recess. I decided to pay closer attention to the boys football game today. The 8th graders always play the 6th and 7th graders. (there are only 3 6th grade boys so they team up with the 7th grade). They are funny to watch because they drag their teacher into being the ref. There is a lot of trash talking for it being just a game at recess, but most of it seems to be all in good fun. Both of the grades always ask the teacher which grade is better both on the football field and even in the classroom. This showed again just how competitive this school is between the different grade levels. Today at recess, for the first time I noticed a boy walking around completely by himself, and every time someone went up to talk to him to ask him to play a game, he snapped at them and retreated back to himself. This really caught my attention after reading an article for class on how children with depressed parents are affect, and this was one of the signs of depression (retreats to self, irritability). After reading the article, talking with Jennifer, and observing this boy, my inquiry question became extremely easy to narrow down. I continued to watch the boy walk around, and he finally sat down on a bench and played with his shoe laces for the remainder of recess.
I was really hoping that the students would be a little more active in social studies today, or that they would do some form of an activity, but as usual, they sat there and took notes. The teacher discussed doing skits soon, which I would have enjoyed seeing them do, but it was my last day to observe. I did notice the boy who was by himself at recess was in this class as well. He sat in the back left hand corner, and I never really noticed him before. Not that any of the students talk during class, but he seemed extremely checked out and just in a completely different world during the lecture. He had his note book and pencil out to take notes, but I don't think he wrote a single thing down the entire time. He switched back and forth from staring at the classroom door to his desk, but his focus did not seem to go anywhere else. I really wanted to know what was going on through his mind. After a few minutes of class, the teacher tried to call on him a few times to get him interactive with the class, but almost every time he sort of just shrugged his shoulders. He tried to guess a few times, but sounded a million miles away when he spoke. Nothing else really stood out to me during this class period. The teacher continued to lecture, while students filled in their notes.
D. Summarize and describe your experience in relation to the concepts in our textbook
Physical
While talking to the 7th grade girls at recess, I got to observe the different habits that children at this age have when they start to like each other. This is an age where children start to feel physically attracted to the opposite sex, which relates to chapter 11 in the text book where it talks about the role of physical attractiveness. When children begin going through puberty, their bodies begin going through a variety of changes, including hormonal changes. These hormonal changes are what cause children to start feeling physical attraction to their peers. Because of this, "crushes" and short-term relationships tend to quickly come and go. As the girls, gave me the low down on who was dating whom, and their crushes for the week, I began to make these connections to the book, realizing that they were starting to go through different hormonal changes causing them to have a spark of interest in boys.
Cognitive
Chapter 9, "Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood", talks about information processing and different memory strategies. Memory strategies are mental activities used to store and retain information. One strategy that I witnessed during my observations was the organization method. This method consists of grouping related items or information together (235). While I was observing the 8th grade's social study class, I noticed that one student was making note cards while she was taking notes. At first, I thought she was doing working for another class, but then a realized that she was making note cards for the vocabulary as she wrote down her notes. She separated the notecards into different piles based on what it was. For example, she put all of the people from the same time period into one category so it would help her remember who was from which era. She also kept all vocabulary that had to to do with the same concepts together. This was a great organizational method because not only will the flash cards help her learn the material, but because she grouped them she will be able to make connections between each vocabulary word and person, and know which go together to build the same concept.
Emotional
Chapter 12 talks about gender intensification: "increased gender stereotyping of attitudes and behavior and movement toward a more traditional gender identity" (324). It also talks a lot about identity and self-concept. During recess, one girl really stuck out to me that helped me make connections to these concepts in the book. Instead of playing jump rope or four square like most of the other girls, she always headed straight for the football field to play football with the boys. She went against the increased gender stereotyping by choosing not to care what the "typical female play" is, and did what she enjoyed to do at recess. Because she was so openly going against the gender stereotype, I found that she had a pretty high self-concept because she knew what she wanted, and she did it, regardless of the reactions of her peers. To me, a child at that age not being concerned about what his or her peers thinks shows a great path for high self concept, because a lot of the time your peers have a large impact on low self esteem and low self concept.
Social
Chapter 12 also talks about peer relationships, as well as cliques and crowds. Because of the small size of the school, the cliques and crowds in the junior high were not what you would typically expect. I could only pick out one actual clique out of all of the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, and that was a group of 6th grade girls. A clique is defined as a group of about five to seven members who are friends, and therefore, usually resemble one another in family background, attitudes, and values (328). This group of girls consisted of about 6 girls who were all of the african american descent. All of them appeared to have negative attitudes with that "tough girl" persona. They only hung out with each other, and were alike in many different ways. Everyone else seemed to be more categorized into crowds: a group based on reputation and stereotypes (328). For example, all of the boys who played football at recess seemed to form their own crowed, same with the girls who all played four square together. They seemed to all lurk around together both inside and outside of the classroom. Like mentioned in my observation summaries, the group of kids mostly separated themselves by grade level. Because the classes were so small, everyone tended to crowd together for the most part, so it mainly ended up being split up into groups of boys vs. girls depending on grade level.
Revisiting Your Curiosities
W: What you want to know (curiosities)
1.How are children with depressed parents affected emotionally and socially?
After an entire semester of learning through research, observations, and class discussions I was able to further my learning of how children with depressed parents are affected emotionally, socially, academically, and even physically. I learned more than I hoped and expanded my knowledge on the subject. I found that factors such as parent-child relationships, stress, and biological factors can causes children to experience vulnerability to depression, varied levels of psychological functioning, and clinical disorders by the time they reach the age of 20. I found it very interesting to discover all of the possible outcomes that can be correlated with depression that can lead to other problems in the future. For example, one can develop substance abuse problems, eating disorders, major depression and anxiety, and even disorders such as, bipolar and disorganized-insecure attachment. All of these things can be correlated with depression, low-self esteem, poor academic achievement, and lack of social abilities. As a teacher, it is important to be aware of outside factors that may harm their academic achievement and social success in school. The more you know, and the closer relationship you have with your students, the more you will be able to work around their problems to make sure they are reaching their goals.
4. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?
1. When getting to know your students and forming relationships, what is considered crossing the line?
2. How can you help a student get passed issues at home without crossing certain professional lines?
Children of Depressed Parents: An Integrative Review
In Geraldine Downey’s study, “Children of Depressed Parents: An Integrative Review”, she investigates the relationship between depression in parents and the causal outcome of their children. Depression is usually viewed as an issue that only affects the individual, but after some study, Geraldine suggests that it can have a large affect on the adjustment of the people surrounding the individual, especially their children. A child with a depressed parent may experience neglect, lack of support, and are exposed to common behaviors that are often connected with depression. Downey comes to find that when a child grows up with such experiences, they are likely to experience one or more of three major outcomes: different levels of psychological functioning, clinical disorders, or vulnerability to depression. Not only can the parent contribute to psychological setbacks, but they can also cause social development problems due to their lack of ability to participate in social situations. Depressed people tend to speak less, respond later, and are often more hostile and irritable. A child can very easily pick up on these behaviors and incorporate them into the way they socialize with their peers.
For my inquiry question, I am researching how children of depressed parents can be affected developmentally, both mentally and socially. This article gives a specific example of how a parent’s state of mind can have traumatic effects on their child’s mindset. Also, according to this article, depression can be genetic, so parental depression can very easily lead to their children experiencing depression at some point in time in their life. This article is what helped me narrow down my inquiry question because it gave me something very specific to focus on.
Handbook of Depression: Children of Depressed Parents
In Chapter 12 of Handbook of Depression, Constance L. Hammen discusses children of depressed parents and their outcomes. Several studies were conducted over 10-20 year timespans where they studied the different effects to children growing up in a household with parents suffering from depression. It was found that 78% of offspring of depressed parents were eventually diagnosed with major depression, substance abuse problems, or anxiety disorders between 10 and 20 years. These children also were found to have significantly higher levels of psychological impairment, social and academic impairment, and physical illnesses. According to Hammen, the three main causes to these developmental problems are biological factors, stressors, and parent-child relationships. Depression can be heritable due to different heritable traits that are risk factors for depression such as, temperament, expression of negative emotion, shyness and inhibition, and emotional regulation. Depression is not a transmittable disease itself, but the traits that define it can be very easily passed down from parent to child. Also, if a child is exposed to adverse conditions such as a depressed parents, they can form maladaptive neurobiological processes. If a parent is depressed it can cause the home environment to be highly stressful for the child. Stress is a large trigger for depression, so if a child is exposed to large amounts of uncontrollable stress they are more likely to form an emotional disturbance. Lastly, parent-child relationships have a huge impact on the behaviors of a child because they may experience great deals of disengaged behavior and neglect from their parents. Parents may also take a lot of frustration out on the child, sometimes leading to emotional child abuse problems. Depressed people tend to want a lot of alone time and personal space, so a parent may not want to be bothered with their child's needs, leaving them feeling alone at a young age.
This article helped me to organize the different factors that can contribute to a child's development issues due to having a depressed parent. I learned why it can be biological, as well as the different types of relationships that can have an effect. It directly correlated with my question because I am trying to understand how depression in an adult figure can be harmful to a child. I was also able to acquire specific statistics to back up the correlation between depression in parents and their children.
This article was based on a study of 131 newly admitted psychiatric patients who were said to have signs of depression. The goal of the study was to figure out a set definition of the word depression. They wanted to know what symptoms had a higher correlation with depression. They found five main syndromes that were almost always associated with depression: anxiousness, self-blame, depressive mood, functional impairment, and somatic symptoms. Patients were found to be extremely anxious, and often blamed themselves for how they were feeling. Guilt and shame often occurred with these symptoms. When a patient experienced functional impairment they felt unable to work, get started with their day, make easy decisions, and had a very hard time concentrating. Their ability to go on with normal day to day activities became difficult. Patients also experienced a loss of weight appetite, and interest in sexual activity when experiencing somatic symptoms. This became harmful to their physical health. Lastly, depressive moods were defined as sadness, loss of hope, suicidal thoughts, and a loss of interest in other people.
This article gave me a better understanding of depression actually is based on a study. Before understanding how children of depressed parents are effected, I found it important to have a good idea of what depression actually is, and how it can affect a person.
Lorr, M., Sonn, T., & Katz, M. (1976). Toward a definition of depression. Arch gen psychiat, 17, 183-186.
Article 4
What is Depression? What Causes Depression?
This article gives a very general definition of depression as "a medical illness that causes a constant feeling of sadness and lack of interest. It affects how the person feels, behaves, and thinks." It describes the different types of depression such as, major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, psychotic depression, postpartum depression, seasonal affective disorder, and bipolar disorder. These are categorized be the intensity of the illness and what triggers the problem. It also gives the most common symptoms of depression. These were listed as:
-A constant feeling of sadness, anxiety, and emptiness
-feelings of hopelessness
-restlessness
-irritability
-loss of interest in activities or hobbies
-loss of interest in sex
-lower energy levels, fatigues
-harder to concentrate, remember details, and make decisions
-sleeping too little or too much
-eating disorders may form, eating too little or too much
-suicidal thoughts may occur
This article gave a pretty common definition of depression to help me fully understand what outcomes come with this illness. Before figuring out how a depressed person can affect those around them, it is important to figure out what depression does to the person who first had the illness.
Name of Student: Rachel Lusheck
Table of Contents
Pre-Adolescence
W: What you want to know (curiosities)
1. How are children with depressed parents affected emotionally and socially?
Source:
Downey, G., & Coyne, J. (1990). Children of Depressed Parents: An Integrative Review. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 50-76. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/108/1/50.pdf
L: What you learned
1. Physical (Obesity)
R (Review):A (Apply):
R (Reflect):
2. Cognitive
After a little bit of observation and research, I decided to narrow my inquiry question in order to make it more specific. There are so many causes to they different way that students act in school, so I decided to narrow it down to just one cause and how it can affect the student. I am curious to know how children with depressed parents are affected in their lives. Because it is so specific, it is hard to make direct connections from the book, but I was able to find possible outcomes that may occur when put under stress and trauma when in middle school. Chapter 11 talks a lot about what children go through when they hit adolescence and the different problems they may face along the way. It is not an easy time in a child's life, and not having the proper parental support can cause a variety of developmental and cognitive issues. A child may face extreme amounts of neglect and lack of attention if their parent is depressed, so they may not get the education or support they need when trying to figure out how they're changing. Because of this, their adolescent development may be skewed. Adolescents often times become moody when they reach that state, and children with depressed parents may experience more intense moodiness and agitation because it is most likely what they have learned from their parents who are also most likely very moody and irritable at times. I also thought that their deductive reasoning skills, which form at this time, may be harmed. Problem solving is a skill that most children first learn from how their parents handle situations, and if a child is experiencing poor problem solving from their parents because they are in a state of depression, then it will be hard for them to take upon those skills themselves, and may even acquire poor problem solving abilities.
3. Emotional
In chapter 8 of the textbook, Exploring Lifespan Development, by Laura E. Berk, the different stages of emotional development are described by explaining where a child's development emotionally should be, and at what age. For example, it talks about self regulation forming at ages 3 to 4, when children "begin to verbalize a variety of strategies for adjusting their emotional arousal to a more comfortable level" (200). I found this helpful to my inquiry question because before I can determine the causes of the differences in children's development, I need to first understand each stage of the process. Not only does it describe the stages, but it also goes into small detail about how the parents actions can lead to different personalities in their children, which set the stage for my first cause: Parental Effects. For instance, it states that if a parent is warm and patient with their child and helps them learn how to control their feelings can strengthen that child's ability to handle stress.
4. Social
Chapter 8 was all about emotional and social development in childhood, so this was a very helpful chapter in beginning my research for my inquiry question. Similarly to the emotional development, it goes through some of the stages that a child should be at socially, and again, talked about some of the influences that can affect a child's social development. The chapter split the influences into two sections: direct parental influences, and indirect parental influences. The example given for direct parental influences was how when a parent arranges informal play days or activities with a child's peers, it can lead to that child having a larger network of peers and become more skilled socially in the future. On the other hand, indirect parental influences could be early strong bond with peers of the same age, that help the child to learn how to be socially inclined through their school years.
Observation Site Information
A. Site details:
B. Describe your setting
St. Catharine of Siena is a very small, private, Catholic grade school in Cincinnati. St. Catharine is where I went to grade school for kindergarten through 8th grade. Between the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade there are only about 60 students. I have spent a lot of my college education observing larger inner city type environments, and I really wanted to go back to where I went to school and get a view from the other side. I wanted to get an idea of how the children act in different environments, so I am observing three different aspects of their day. I first am observing the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade during their lunch period. After that I follow them outside and watch how they interact with each other during recess. Finally, I wanted to see what things were like in the classroom, so I chose to observe 8th grade social studies after recess. I think observing a smaller group of students will be useful because I will be able to closer attention to details with each of the students.
At first, my inquiry question was about how to balance the different development stages in the classroom, and what factors may cause those differences. Children tend to act differently in different environments, so I thought observing three different environments would be great in order to get a sense of their different maturity levels and how they act when it is time to play and when it is time to be serious. I thought it would be interesting to compare their behaviors inside and outside of the classroom setting. After a while I decided to narrow my question down to how children with depressed parents are affected mentally and socially, and unfortunately my observation site was not the best place to discover these outcomes, but it helped a lot in making me think about why children choose to act out or retreat to themselves, which led to discovering my new curiosities. When I went to St. Catharine, it was not a very diverse school. It was predominately white, Catholic students. Over the past six years since I graduated middle school, its diversity has increased significantly. Although the majority is still white students, they have a gained a greater deal of African American, Indian, and Mexican students creating a more diverse environment.
C. Describe what you did at the site (free-write/journal formatting)
1st visit: September 18th, 2013 (11:45-1:45)I first observed the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders during their lunch period. When they first enter the lunch room they split into two groups: the buyers and packers. The buyers line up to get their lunch for the day, and the packers go directly to their tables. Once everyone sat down to eat their lunch, I noticed that they sat by gender and grades. It is an extremely small school, so all groups fit at one table. For example, all of the 8th grade boys fit at one table, and all of the 6th grade girls fit at one table. I found it humorous watching all of the students stare at me in confusion as to why I was watching them and writing things down. Within the grades themselves, they didn't appear to be very cliquey because they all sat together and from watching no one seemed left out. I remembered back to when I was in grade school, and realized that our grade was not full of cliques either. Our class was too small to form little groups. Although we did not all like each other, we were very good at putting up with everyone and learning how to respect each other because there weren't enough kids to have enemies. I think this is a good quality of having such a small group of kids. I decided to sit by the 6th grade girls because they stuck out as the bullies to me as I walked around. They were constantly arguing and talking about people, which I later came to find out were in different grades than them. The feuds did not seem to be between classes, but rather between grades.
After lunch, the students went outside to recess. The 7th and 8th grade boys played each other in football, and the 7th and 8th grade girls played each other in four square, which again showed the competitiveness between the different grades. It did not surprise me that the 6th grade girls sat against the wall of the school gossiping about other students in the school. I remember feeling cool at that age because I was finally in the junior high hallway and out of the little kid lunch and recess, so it made me wonder if they are just at a stage in their lives where they feel cool and powerful because they no longer feel like the little kids in the school. This can sometimes have an affect on the way children act towards each other. There are a few groups of students who do other activities, such as tetherball or volleyball. It seemed that these students tended to be the less competitive students of the group, who were more interested in just having fun at recess with their friends. The one and only 6th grade girl that does not participate in the wall gossip came up to me and started pointing out things she thought I might want to write down. I found it interesting that the first thing she pointed out were the girls who gossip by the wall. She said "they try to bully everyone, but everyone ignores them. They just think they are too cool for everyone, but thats okay", which was exactly the impression I had gotten from watching. Finally, the whistle blew and everyone rushed inside to homeroom to get their stuff ready for their next class.
Unfortunately, I did not feel like I received much insight from observing the 8th grade's Social Studies class. Social Studies always consists of a lot of lecturing, so all of the kids just kind of sat there looking bored the entire time. A handful of students raised their hands to answer questions, but the entire class was relatively calm and quiet. I have never in my life been in a social studies class that has not almost entirely been lecture, and I never understand why. To be honest, I even grew a little bored as the class continued. A few kids doodled in their notebooks, but everyone else just stared into space. I talked to the teacher after class, and she said this is the quietest group of 8th graders she has ever had, and she hopes that they start to open up more as the year goes on. She would like to do more with them, but she said sometimes it is difficult when they are so quiet.
2nd visit: September 25th, 2013 (11:45-1:45)
Similar to last time, I first observed the junior high lunch period. Lunch generally always has the same routine. Children split into their typical two groups: packers and buyers. I noticed that all of the kids sat at the exact same table in the exact same seats as they did the previous week, except for the 6th grade girls who tried to sit where the 7th grade girls sat the week before. Not to my surprise, this caused a large commotion in the lunch room. People tend to become very possessive of their seats. At this age, it seems to be extremely important where you sit and who you sit next to based on popularity and grade level. After almost a third of their lunch period of arguing, the 6th grade girls give up and go sit down at their usual table. I became very interested in one specific 6th grade girl who always seemed to start trouble with everyone around her. She was constantly putting others down and starting arguments. Some students reacted, while others stayed completely to themselves. This got me interested in what causes children at that age to not only act out like the bully girl, but also why some seem to retreat to themselves in a very hopeless manner. (first thought of changing inquiry question)
At recess, I had two of the 7th grade girls giving me the low down on all of the "grade school relationship drama", which I actually found to be very interesting. The behaviors of boys and girls when they like each other grow and mature so much as they get older, but I enjoyed being reminded how silly and innocent it all was at that age. The girls went over who was dating who and how long they have all been dating. Children in 7th and 8h grade are at that age where they date someone for a week at most, and then move on and like someone else. It showed how their interest in the opposite sex starts to form, and changes frequently because it is something still very new to them. I noticed some of the girls would try to act like tomboys and play football at recess to try and impress the boys they liked, and others would hide in the corner and just giggle about their crushes with their friends. I also came to realize that boys really do tease the girls they like in middle school. One boy kept kicking his kick ball at a group of girls playing jump rope, and after talking to him about why he was bothering them, I was surprised when he actually told me it was because he wanted her to notice him.
I was again shocked at how quite the 8th graders were in class. I remembered back to when I was in 8th grade, and I always felt like we were super loud and obnoxious by the last class of the day, but this class stayed dead silent. Like last time, most took their notes like they were supposed to, and answered questions when asked, but they all just seemed very dazed in boredom. They started to become a little more interested when they started a discussion on the living conditions of the tenements. Student's began asking their own questions and having actual conversations with the teacher. This was refreshing from how quiet they normally are. The teacher seemed very excited and allowed them to discuss this the rest of class. She was very good about figuring out what they are interested in and encouraging them to feed off of their interests.
3rd visit: October 2nd, 2013 (11:45-1:45)
On my third, and final visit at St. Catharines, I decided it would be fun to actually sit down at the lunch tables with some of the kids and see how they reacted with me sitting at their lunch table. I decided to sit down at the 8th grade boys table because I thought it would be interesting to hear what they talk about at lunch. The second I sat down, every single one of them immediately smiled and got extremely awkward and quiet. One boy leaned to another and said, "awkward, we will have to talk about this later." I was kind of bummed, but not all surprised, that they did not continue with the conversation they were having before I sat down at the table. I continued to sit there in hopes that they would eventually continue on with their lunch as normal. One boy tells his friend that his sandwich smells weird, and his friend got a very large look of embarrassment on his face and quietly put it back in his lunch bag. It amazed me how much the opinions of their peers truly means to them. I knew they mattered, but the fact that the boy wouldn't even continue to eat his sandwich because the boy next to him said he didn't like it really stood out to me. I wanted to take it out of his lunch box and eat it myself to show him the boy was just being stupid. Everyone continued to eat their lunch, and like boys do.. they began to make some weird concoction of all of their uneaten lunches. It ended up being a large bowl of milk, apple sauce, ketchup, crust, and who knows what all else they threw in there (it was hard to keep track of all of it). They then began passing it around daring each other to try it. Finally, one boy did and almost gagged.. so of course he passed it to another boy saying "ew thats disgusting, try it!" a few other boys tried it, and I sat there baffled as to what made any of them think it would be fun. It wasn't until they offered her the nasty soup, that I realized there was one girl sitting at the table as well. (She was the only smart one who said "why on earth would I taste that.") She hadn't really talked the entire lunch, but she commented on a few conversations here and there, but was mostly pretty quiet. The guys talk to her like she is "one of the guys".
After lunch, we went out to recess. I decided to pay closer attention to the boys football game today. The 8th graders always play the 6th and 7th graders. (there are only 3 6th grade boys so they team up with the 7th grade). They are funny to watch because they drag their teacher into being the ref. There is a lot of trash talking for it being just a game at recess, but most of it seems to be all in good fun. Both of the grades always ask the teacher which grade is better both on the football field and even in the classroom. This showed again just how competitive this school is between the different grade levels. Today at recess, for the first time I noticed a boy walking around completely by himself, and every time someone went up to talk to him to ask him to play a game, he snapped at them and retreated back to himself. This really caught my attention after reading an article for class on how children with depressed parents are affect, and this was one of the signs of depression (retreats to self, irritability). After reading the article, talking with Jennifer, and observing this boy, my inquiry question became extremely easy to narrow down. I continued to watch the boy walk around, and he finally sat down on a bench and played with his shoe laces for the remainder of recess.
I was really hoping that the students would be a little more active in social studies today, or that they would do some form of an activity, but as usual, they sat there and took notes. The teacher discussed doing skits soon, which I would have enjoyed seeing them do, but it was my last day to observe. I did notice the boy who was by himself at recess was in this class as well. He sat in the back left hand corner, and I never really noticed him before. Not that any of the students talk during class, but he seemed extremely checked out and just in a completely different world during the lecture. He had his note book and pencil out to take notes, but I don't think he wrote a single thing down the entire time. He switched back and forth from staring at the classroom door to his desk, but his focus did not seem to go anywhere else. I really wanted to know what was going on through his mind. After a few minutes of class, the teacher tried to call on him a few times to get him interactive with the class, but almost every time he sort of just shrugged his shoulders. He tried to guess a few times, but sounded a million miles away when he spoke. Nothing else really stood out to me during this class period. The teacher continued to lecture, while students filled in their notes.
D. Summarize and describe your experience in relation to the concepts in our textbook
Physical
While talking to the 7th grade girls at recess, I got to observe the different habits that children at this age have when they start to like each other. This is an age where children start to feel physically attracted to the opposite sex, which relates to chapter 11 in the text book where it talks about the role of physical attractiveness. When children begin going through puberty, their bodies begin going through a variety of changes, including hormonal changes. These hormonal changes are what cause children to start feeling physical attraction to their peers. Because of this, "crushes" and short-term relationships tend to quickly come and go. As the girls, gave me the low down on who was dating whom, and their crushes for the week, I began to make these connections to the book, realizing that they were starting to go through different hormonal changes causing them to have a spark of interest in boys.
Cognitive
Chapter 9, "Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood", talks about information processing and different memory strategies. Memory strategies are mental activities used to store and retain information. One strategy that I witnessed during my observations was the organization method. This method consists of grouping related items or information together (235). While I was observing the 8th grade's social study class, I noticed that one student was making note cards while she was taking notes. At first, I thought she was doing working for another class, but then a realized that she was making note cards for the vocabulary as she wrote down her notes. She separated the notecards into different piles based on what it was. For example, she put all of the people from the same time period into one category so it would help her remember who was from which era. She also kept all vocabulary that had to to do with the same concepts together. This was a great organizational method because not only will the flash cards help her learn the material, but because she grouped them she will be able to make connections between each vocabulary word and person, and know which go together to build the same concept.
Emotional
Chapter 12 talks about gender intensification: "increased gender stereotyping of attitudes and behavior and movement toward a more traditional gender identity" (324). It also talks a lot about identity and self-concept. During recess, one girl really stuck out to me that helped me make connections to these concepts in the book. Instead of playing jump rope or four square like most of the other girls, she always headed straight for the football field to play football with the boys. She went against the increased gender stereotyping by choosing not to care what the "typical female play" is, and did what she enjoyed to do at recess. Because she was so openly going against the gender stereotype, I found that she had a pretty high self-concept because she knew what she wanted, and she did it, regardless of the reactions of her peers. To me, a child at that age not being concerned about what his or her peers thinks shows a great path for high self concept, because a lot of the time your peers have a large impact on low self esteem and low self concept.
Social
Chapter 12 also talks about peer relationships, as well as cliques and crowds. Because of the small size of the school, the cliques and crowds in the junior high were not what you would typically expect. I could only pick out one actual clique out of all of the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, and that was a group of 6th grade girls. A clique is defined as a group of about five to seven members who are friends, and therefore, usually resemble one another in family background, attitudes, and values (328). This group of girls consisted of about 6 girls who were all of the african american descent. All of them appeared to have negative attitudes with that "tough girl" persona. They only hung out with each other, and were alike in many different ways. Everyone else seemed to be more categorized into crowds: a group based on reputation and stereotypes (328). For example, all of the boys who played football at recess seemed to form their own crowed, same with the girls who all played four square together. They seemed to all lurk around together both inside and outside of the classroom. Like mentioned in my observation summaries, the group of kids mostly separated themselves by grade level. Because the classes were so small, everyone tended to crowd together for the most part, so it mainly ended up being split up into groups of boys vs. girls depending on grade level.
Revisiting Your Curiosities
W: What you want to know (curiosities)1. How are children with depressed parents affected emotionally and socially?
After an entire semester of learning through research, observations, and class discussions I was able to further my learning of how children with depressed parents are affected emotionally, socially, academically, and even physically. I learned more than I hoped and expanded my knowledge on the subject. I found that factors such as parent-child relationships, stress, and biological factors can causes children to experience vulnerability to depression, varied levels of psychological functioning, and clinical disorders by the time they reach the age of 20. I found it very interesting to discover all of the possible outcomes that can be correlated with depression that can lead to other problems in the future. For example, one can develop substance abuse problems, eating disorders, major depression and anxiety, and even disorders such as, bipolar and disorganized-insecure attachment. All of these things can be correlated with depression, low-self esteem, poor academic achievement, and lack of social abilities. As a teacher, it is important to be aware of outside factors that may harm their academic achievement and social success in school. The more you know, and the closer relationship you have with your students, the more you will be able to work around their problems to make sure they are reaching their goals.
4. What new questions emerge for you as a future teacher?
1. When getting to know your students and forming relationships, what is considered crossing the line?
2. How can you help a student get passed issues at home without crossing certain professional lines?
Poster Handout Rough Draft
Poster Handout Final
Article 1
Children of Depressed Parents: An Integrative Review
In Geraldine Downey’s study, “Children of Depressed Parents: An Integrative Review”, she investigates the relationship between depression in parents and the causal outcome of their children. Depression is usually viewed as an issue that only affects the individual, but after some study, Geraldine suggests that it can have a large affect on the adjustment of the people surrounding the individual, especially their children. A child with a depressed parent may experience neglect, lack of support, and are exposed to common behaviors that are often connected with depression. Downey comes to find that when a child grows up with such experiences, they are likely to experience one or more of three major outcomes: different levels of psychological functioning, clinical disorders, or vulnerability to depression. Not only can the parent contribute to psychological setbacks, but they can also cause social development problems due to their lack of ability to participate in social situations. Depressed people tend to speak less, respond later, and are often more hostile and irritable. A child can very easily pick up on these behaviors and incorporate them into the way they socialize with their peers.
For my inquiry question, I am researching how children of depressed parents can be affected developmentally, both mentally and socially. This article gives a specific example of how a parent’s state of mind can have traumatic effects on their child’s mindset. Also, according to this article, depression can be genetic, so parental depression can very easily lead to their children experiencing depression at some point in time in their life. This article is what helped me narrow down my inquiry question because it gave me something very specific to focus on.
Downey, G., & Coyne, J. (1990). Children of Depressed Parents: An Integrative Review. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 50-76. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/108/1/50.pdf
Article 2
Handbook of Depression: Children of Depressed Parents
In Chapter 12 of Handbook of Depression, Constance L. Hammen discusses children of depressed parents and their outcomes. Several studies were conducted over 10-20 year timespans where they studied the different effects to children growing up in a household with parents suffering from depression. It was found that 78% of offspring of depressed parents were eventually diagnosed with major depression, substance abuse problems, or anxiety disorders between 10 and 20 years. These children also were found to have significantly higher levels of psychological impairment, social and academic impairment, and physical illnesses. According to Hammen, the three main causes to these developmental problems are biological factors, stressors, and parent-child relationships. Depression can be heritable due to different heritable traits that are risk factors for depression such as, temperament, expression of negative emotion, shyness and inhibition, and emotional regulation. Depression is not a transmittable disease itself, but the traits that define it can be very easily passed down from parent to child. Also, if a child is exposed to adverse conditions such as a depressed parents, they can form maladaptive neurobiological processes. If a parent is depressed it can cause the home environment to be highly stressful for the child. Stress is a large trigger for depression, so if a child is exposed to large amounts of uncontrollable stress they are more likely to form an emotional disturbance. Lastly, parent-child relationships have a huge impact on the behaviors of a child because they may experience great deals of disengaged behavior and neglect from their parents. Parents may also take a lot of frustration out on the child, sometimes leading to emotional child abuse problems. Depressed people tend to want a lot of alone time and personal space, so a parent may not want to be bothered with their child's needs, leaving them feeling alone at a young age.
This article helped me to organize the different factors that can contribute to a child's development issues due to having a depressed parent. I learned why it can be biological, as well as the different types of relationships that can have an effect. It directly correlated with my question because I am trying to understand how depression in an adult figure can be harmful to a child. I was also able to acquire specific statistics to back up the correlation between depression in parents and their children.
Hammen, C. L. (2009). Handbook of Depression. (Second ed., pp. 275-293). New York, NY: Guilford Publications Inc. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=e82_MG5EsHIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA275&dq=children+of+depressed+parents&ots=c_Rb7Dxuux&sig=zLRL9UXtz40LK-BKhCzxGekqkt8#v=onepage&q&f=true
Article 3
Toward a Definition of Depression
This article was based on a study of 131 newly admitted psychiatric patients who were said to have signs of depression. The goal of the study was to figure out a set definition of the word depression. They wanted to know what symptoms had a higher correlation with depression. They found five main syndromes that were almost always associated with depression: anxiousness, self-blame, depressive mood, functional impairment, and somatic symptoms. Patients were found to be extremely anxious, and often blamed themselves for how they were feeling. Guilt and shame often occurred with these symptoms. When a patient experienced functional impairment they felt unable to work, get started with their day, make easy decisions, and had a very hard time concentrating. Their ability to go on with normal day to day activities became difficult. Patients also experienced a loss of weight appetite, and interest in sexual activity when experiencing somatic symptoms. This became harmful to their physical health. Lastly, depressive moods were defined as sadness, loss of hope, suicidal thoughts, and a loss of interest in other people.
This article gave me a better understanding of depression actually is based on a study. Before understanding how children of depressed parents are effected, I found it important to have a good idea of what depression actually is, and how it can affect a person.
Lorr, M., Sonn, T., & Katz, M. (1976). Toward a definition of depression. Arch gen psychiat, 17, 183-186.
Article 4
What is Depression? What Causes Depression?
This article gives a very general definition of depression as "a medical illness that causes a constant feeling of sadness and lack of interest. It affects how the person feels, behaves, and thinks." It describes the different types of depression such as, major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, psychotic depression, postpartum depression, seasonal affective disorder, and bipolar disorder. These are categorized be the intensity of the illness and what triggers the problem. It also gives the most common symptoms of depression. These were listed as:
-A constant feeling of sadness, anxiety, and emptiness
-feelings of hopelessness
-restlessness
-irritability
-loss of interest in activities or hobbies
-loss of interest in sex
-lower energy levels, fatigues
-harder to concentrate, remember details, and make decisions
-sleeping too little or too much
-eating disorders may form, eating too little or too much
-suicidal thoughts may occur
This article gave a pretty common definition of depression to help me fully understand what outcomes come with this illness. Before figuring out how a depressed person can affect those around them, it is important to figure out what depression does to the person who first had the illness.
Medical News Today. (2009, April 07). What is depression? What causes depression?. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8933.php
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