CHDEV 51 Chapter 2

Early Childhood Development: A
Multicultural Perspective, Fifth Edition
Jeffery Trawick-Smith
© 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
CHAPTER 2
Historical Perspectives and
Research in Early Childhood
Development

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Early Childhood Development: A Multicultural Perspective,
Fifth edition
Jeffrey Trawick-Smith
Understanding the Roots of Common
Beliefs and Practices Concerning
Young Children

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Fifth edition
How have our perspectives and
treatment of children changes
over history?

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Fifth edition
Middle Ages to 1600:
birth to age 7  infants have little value
after age 7‘little adults’ expected to act like adults
Renaissance to 1800:
children seen as distinctly different from adults
born ‘bad’ – needed to have ‘devil beat out of them’
harsh training – focus on ‘breaking the will’ of
children
EARLY WESTERN
(EUROPEAN) PERSPECTIVES

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Fifth edition
19th
and 20th
centuries in Europe and U.S.:
new emphasis on socialization (training)
Industrial Revolution 
public schools / child care / exploitation
1900 – 1950:
growing concern for children’s needs
prediction made of period of ‘helping’ to come
RECENT WESTERN
PERSPECTIVES

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Fifth edition
Since 1970s:
Increasing family stressors compromise
children’s well-being:
↑ exposure to violence
↑ child abuse and neglect cases
↓ family services
Many children’s needs are still not met
in modern America.

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The ways that children have been
thought of and treated has
changed dramatically throughout
history.
CRITICAL CONCEPT #1

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CRITICAL CONCEPT #2
Although we believe children are
treated more compassionately
now than in times past, many
children are still in great need in
America.

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PRACTICAL APPLICATION
As we understand past views of
children, we can better:
 Reflect on where our own ideas and
practices come from
 Learn from the past:
- borrow useful ideas
- question traditional practices
- replace outdated beliefs and
practices
 Advocate for children’s rights and needs

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Fifth edition
How do people from non-Western
cultures see children differently?
Not much historical information available
in child development texts
Use historical cultural beliefs and
practices to deduce non-Western views
of children and socialization practices

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African
- strong kinship and family bonds in family life
- strong mother-child relationships
- high concern and caring toward children
Native American
- close familial and tribal ties
- interdependence and respect for all life
- children highly cherished and protected
- clear division of labor and sense of social
responsibility
- collective child-rearing
- individual differences respected and nurtured

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Fifth edition
Asian (Chinese and Japanese)
- influenced by Confucius – focus on
interpersonal harmony
- children are inherently good
- education through observation, imitation,
question-asking
- infancy is a special period
- strong parent-child bonds are important
Puerto Rican
- historically close-knit and mutually supportive
families
- compadrazgo and hijos de crianza
- como de la familia

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Fifth edition
Slavery and oppression strongly
influenced childhood experience
Many non-dominant cultural groups are
affected and families:
- become collective with resources and child
care
- use firm and directive parenting for
protection
- are either respectful or resistant to
dominant Western values

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The beliefs about children and the
way they are treated in non-
Western cultures are a result of
their own particular cultural
histories – many of which include
slavery and oppression.
CRITICAL CONCEPT #3

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We should accept and appreciate
differences stemming from
historical oppression such as
parenting that is:
- directive
- protective
- focused on obedience
- firm

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Research on Young Children

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How have we learned what we know
about young children?
Earliest research was done to describe
‘normal’ development and its causes.
‘normal’ = acceptable by society
Locke and Rousseau wrote about:
- effect of environment on development
- origins of ‘goodness’ and ‘sinfulness’
↓
obeying Church teachings and society’s customs

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EARLIEST RESEARCHERS
Observed children to describe normal
development (emphasized current cultural
‘norms’)
Earliest = biographies and diaries with own children
- Pestalozzi and Darwin
Questionnaires with larger groups
- G. Stanley Hall
Charts developed to show milestones of growth
- Gesell and Shirley

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Fifth edition
NORMATIVE CHARTS
Definition:
Graphic representation of the stages or
milestones children pass through as they
develop
Limited by:
Only white middle-class children studied
Quantitative methods used

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Fifth edition
WAYS WE STUDY CHILDREN NOW
Individuals or groups
Correlational (descriptive) research
studies relationships among characteristics or
behaviors (factors)
Experimental research
studies causes of characteristics or behaviors
by treating one group differently than another
and testing both groups to see if the treatment
made a difference

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SETTINGS FOR STUDYING
CHILDREN
Laboratory setting
designed to control and elicit certain kinds of
behavior as needed for experimental
research
Naturalistic setting
looks at children in their everyday settings for
descriptive research
MOST COMMON TYPE USED TODAY

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Fifth edition
Cross-sectional studies
2 or more groups of children of different ages
are examined at the same time to determine
how they are different
Longitudinal studies
one group of children is examined over a long
period of time to determine how they are
different at different ages
WAYS TO STUDY CHANGE
OVER TIME

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LIMITATIONS OF QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
Cultural characteristics are not
represented if the group studied
only included children from the
dominant culture.
Results cannot be applied to
individual children because they
identify typical or average
information about development.

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Fifth edition
PROBLEMS WITH RESEARCH
Findings can be difficult to interpret accurately
because of:
Biases that were built into the study
(assumptions made that may not be true)
Confusion between correlation and
causation:
Related variables do not necessarily
cause one another !!!!

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Fifth edition
We have gained a lot of important
information about young children
from primarily quantitative
research; however, flaws and
biases exist in many research
findings.
CRITICAL CONCEPT #4

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 We need to understand research
methods so we can critically
evaluate the results
 We must be cautious in how we
interpret research findings
 Study findings ≠ truth
 Study findings = ‘good guess’

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How are qualitative and ethnographic
research used to help us understand
children?

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QUALITATIVE STUDIES
Results are ‘thick descriptions’ of children’s
development that capture all aspects of
their lives.
Rich and detailed narratives illustrate
children’s development.
Purpose is to describe individual behavior
or development within a particular
context.
Patterns or trends in behavior can be
identified.

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ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY
Definition:
A type of qualitative research that
uses methods from anthropology to
study development within a particular
group
Captures the rich complexity of the
individual, culture, and context
Gives us the most complete picture of
development within a particular culture

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Qualitative research methods have
been developed that provide more
accurate information about young
children that is less biased and
more useful.
A combination of these methods can
be used to answer pressing
questions about children’s
development.
CRITICAL CONCEPT #5

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Action research in the classroom
Quantitative observations can include:
Developmental checklists
Event sampling
Time sampling
Qualitative observations may use:
Anecdotal records
Case studies

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We can ask ourselves frequently:
“How can I use these methods to
discover what children in my care
need most to enhance their
development?”

CHDEV 51 Chapter 2

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CHDEV 51 Chapter 2