Social emotional development

Attachment Attachment refers to the strong bond that individuals develop with special people in their lives. Though we can have attachment relationships with significant others in adulthood, such as marital partners, most humans’ first and most influential attachment is with their primary caregiver(s) as infants. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth first delineated and tested attachment theory as an evolutionarily informed process in which the emotional ties to a caregiver are adaptive for survival. Their research supported the presence of four stages of attachment formation: • Undiscriminating social responsiveness (0–3 months) – Instinctual infant signals, such as crying, gazing, grasping, help facilitate caregiver interactions with infants. Infants do not consistently discriminate with whom they signal or how they respond. • Preferential social responsiveness (3–6 months) – Infants now clearly respond differently to primary caregiver(s) than strangers. Infants have learned that this caregiver will consistently respond to their signals. • Emergence of secure-base behavior (6–24 months) – Young children use their attachment figure as a “secure base” from which to explore the world and a “safe haven” to return to for reassurance or comfort. When the attachment figure is not available, children may exhibit separation anxiety. • Partnership (24 months and older) – Children develop an internal working model about the availability and responsiveness of attachment figures that can impact their future behavior and relationships. Early attachment is considered foundational to later social-emotional development, and is predictive of many outcomes, including internalizing problems, externalizing problems, social competence, self-esteem, cognitive development, and achievement. Emotion regulation Emotion regulation can be defined by two components. The first, “emotions as regulating,” refers to changes that are elicited by activated emotions (e.g., a child's sadness eliciting a change in parent response). The second component is labeled “emotions as regulated,” which refers to the process through which the activated emotion is itself changed by deliberate actions taken by the self (e.g., self-soothing, distraction) or others (e.g., comfort). When mothers responded to their infants with facial expressions signaling encouragement and happiness, most infants crossed over the cliff. In contrast, if mothers displayed fear or anger, most infants did not cross. As infants age, their social referencing capacity becomes more developed. By 14 months, infants are able to use information gained from social referencing to inform decisions outside of the immediate moment. Throughout this period (18–30 months), children become more adept and need fewer cues to engage in helping behavior. These back and forth exchanges mimic the turn-taking that occurs in conversations. Joint attention Joint attention refers to the ability of individuals to share a common point of reference or attention. In children, this common point of reference often is an object in the environment, such as a toy. The development of joint attention initially starts with the infants' ability to respond to joint attention bids (e.g., looking where their parent looks), and eventually develops with age to the ability to initiate joint attention by directing the attention of another to shared point of reference. These episodes of joint engagement were predictive of later vocabulary and word learning, especially when the joint attention was focused on an object that the infant was initially attending to, such as when an infant picks up a ball, then the mother engages in a joint attention episode with the infant using the ball as the shared point of reference. At later ages, when initiating joint attention, the frequency that a child combines one word with a gesture (e.g., pointing to the plane and saying "plane") is associated with earlier onset of multi-word utterances, and more complex speech overall at 3.5 years old. == Preschoolers (3–6 years old) ==

Self-concept Self-concept refers to the set of attributes, abilities, attitudes, and values that one identifies as defining who he or she is. and self-labeling of their gender, this period involves several advances in this domain. By 42 months, children are able to describe their likes and dislikes, suggesting a developing awareness of what elicits positive and negative emotions in themselves. Social interactions Play is a central building block to children's development, so much so that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has declared it to be a human right of all children. The complexity and diversity of play increases immensely in the preschool years, most notably with the onset of cooperative play, where children work toward a common goal, and socio-dramatic play (a type of cooperative play), where children act out make believe scenes. Cooperative play and socio-dramatic play both bring about increased social interactions, as compared to solitary play and parallel play, where children play similarly next to each other without significant interaction (e.g., two children building their own towers). It is here where play becomes intertwined with social emotional development. The characteristics of socio-dramatic play allow children to practice cooperation, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills, as well as engage in role-playing that promotes perspective taking. As such, socio-dramatic play has been associated with all of these social emotional skills in children. == Middle childhood (7–12 years old) ==

Self-concept Between 8–11 years old, children begin to use self-evaluations and competencies to define their sense of self. At the end of the preschool period, most children reliably comprehend the meaning of around 40 emotion words; by the time they are 11 years old, most children see a sevenfold increase to understanding almost 300 emotion words. Display rules Emotional display rules are culturally bound norms that dictate when, how, and with whom individuals can express emotions. Accordingly, the ability to enact display rules relies on children's capacity for emotional expression and emotion regulation. Socialization toward these display rules begins in infancy, and children show some capacity in the preschool period. However, children's use of display rules and understanding of their value become increasingly complex in elementary school. As children age from 1st to 7th grade, they are less likely to outwardly express anger or sadness. Children also report using display rules to control their emotional expressions more with teachers than with peers, as previously relied upon methods (e.g., seeking support from parents, moving away/avoiding an emotionally activating stimuli) become less effective. In middle childhood, children implement more complex distraction techniques, cognitive appraisal strategies (e.g., choosing to focus on the positive), and problem solving methods. At 10 years old, children's emotion regulation involves a balance of problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping strategies. Problem-focused coping represents a change driven strategy, focused on attempting to eliminate the source of stress through proactive action (e.g., if a child feels worried about a test, choosing to study to regulate that worry). In contrast, emotion-focused coping is acceptance based and can be more effective when the stressor can not be easily changed or removed (e.g., if a child is disappointed about their grade on the test, using strategies to reduce disappointment in the moment: "this will help me know what to study for the final"). And although diversification of emotion regulation strategy use occurs at this age, school aged children continue to strengthen their use of previous regulation strategies as well. Notably, school age children continue to seek out regulation support, but not just from their parents, but increasingly from teachers and peers in this period. Children also show a developmental progression in differentiation of whom to go to for emotional support given then specific situations. Thus on the whole, by the beginning of adolescence, children have become more skilled emotion regulators. == Adolescence (13–18 years old) ==

Self-concept Identity development As adolescents navigate an increasingly diverse social world, their self-concept shifts to create and accommodate an organized understanding of how situational factors may influence their behavior (e.g., how and why behavior is different with friends as compared to with parents). • Identity achievement: a status characterized by a past period of exploration, and subsequent commitment to values and goals • Moratorium: a status characterized by continued active exploration, without commitment • Foreclosure: a status characterized by strong commitment to a prescribed identity (e.g., by teachers, parents), without a previous period of self exploration • Diffusion: a status characterized by both a lack of exploration and a lack of commitment Past research suggests that over the course of high school, the distribution of identity statuses changes, such that many adolescents begin high school in a Diffusion status, but many adolescents reach Identity Achievement status at the end of high school. In general, Identity Achievement and Moratorium statuses appear to be associated with positive psychological adjustment, including higher self-esteem, goal-oriented behavior, self-efficacy, and openness. At the same time, there is a developmental shift occurring in the quality and nature of friendships in this period. Adolescents' friendships are characterized by increased emotional support, intimacy, closeness, and loyalty. This is contrasted to friendships in early childhood, which is built upon time spent in joint activities, and middle childhood, which is defined by reciprocity and helping behavior. popular, average, rejected, neglected, and controversial. These patterns of acceptance can become self-perpetuating throughout childhood and adolescence, as rejected children are excluded from peer interactions that promote relationship skills, such as perspective taking and conflict resolution. This is supported by data that indicates that the importance of peer group membership to youth increases in early adolescence, followed by a decline in later adolescence. Peers and peer groups at this age become important socialization agents, contributing to adolescents' sense of identity, behavior, and values. From early to late adolescence positive and negative emotions tend to become more stable. Adolescent mental health problems have been associated with more variable and less intense positive emotions and more intense anxiety and heightened sadness variability. == Assessment of social-emotional development ==

The assessment of social emotional development in young children must include an assessment of both child-level factors, such as genetic disorders, physical limitations, or linguistic and cognitive developmental level, as well as contextual factors, such as family and cultural factors. Of particular importance for young children is the caregiving context, or the parent-child relationship.''''' • Appropriate for children ages 6–60 months • Screening measure: produces one score, with high scores indicating possible need for further evaluation • Brief Infant and Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) • Appropriate for children ages 12–36 months • Screening measure: produces Problem and Competence scores, combined cut-off point determines concern • Child Behavior Checklist ages 1.5-5 (CBCL) • Appropriate for children ages 18 months – 60 months • Comprehensive measure: produces specific DSM-oriented scale scores, as well as Internalizing, Externalizing, Total Problems standardized t-scores Later Childhood Assessment The Social Thinking Methodology is a developmental, language-based and thinking-based (metacognitive) methodology that uses visual frameworks, unique vocabulary, strategies, and activities to foster social competence for children ages 4 – 18 years old. The methodology has assessment and treatment components for both interventionists and social learners. The methodology includes components of other well-known and evidence based interventions such as Social Stories, Hidden Curriculum, 5-point scale, and others, etc. Social thinking shares ideals with executive functioning, central coherence issues, and perspective-taking. The assessment itself is multi-faceted, pulling information from a variety of sources and contexts. A thorough assessment of social skills includes: (a) observing the student with his peers and in different environmental contexts; (b) the diagnostician relating with the student without facilitating the student's social success; (c) a battery of informal assessment tools; (d) administering carefully considered standardized measures; (e) interviewing teachers and parents with regard to the students social cognition and social behaviors. == Social emotional learning & development in schools ==

Social and emotional learning in schools involves 5 key abilities: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. These skills are seen as the foundation upon which people can build all other relational skills. These core skills allow people to regulate and process emotions, think critically, maintain positive relationships, collaborate, and communicate effectively. Social and emotional learning also has a clear connection with and is positively linked to academic success. It promotes active learning within a community setting, providing the emotional support many need to grow academically. Social and emotional learning recognizes that learning is a social activity and is most productive through collaboration. Social emotional development in Latin America In Mexico, efforts to promote social emotional development are challenged by the cultural stigma against mental health. Beginning in 2013, the Mexican government implemented programs of emotional pedagogy, like psicoeducacion, to raise self-knowledge and disseminate mental health information in many domains of public life in order to address this stigma. Mexico's secretary of health defines psychoeducacion as the teaching of expression, feelings, and behavior. Efforts have even been made to work with religious organizations to replace previous language for mental illness with more clinical terms. In the global mental health sector, there is concern that Western psychology is crowding out traditional understandings and treatments of mental illness, leading to some backlash against mental health care - such as, for example, amongst indigenous groups in Mexico. To address this, some organizations advocate a close collaboration with indigenous communities. Western experts are studying how specific terminology used in indigenous communities corresponds with common mental health syndromes recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. By Western standards, the treatment and diagnosis of community "healers" is inconsistent and therefore devalued. Trained mental health experts express frustration, for example, towards those who wait until their symptoms are severe before seeking professional help. == Notes ==