Guilford Series on Social and Emotional Development – serie

From leading researchers, this book presents important advances in understanding how growing up in a discordant family affects child adjustment, the factors that make certain children more vulnerable than others, and what can be done to help. It is a state-of-the-science follow-up to the authors' seminal earlier work, Children and Marital Conflict: The Impact of Family Dispute and Resolution. The volume presents a new conceptual framework that draws on current knowledge about family processes; parenting; attachment; and children's emotional, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral development. Innovative research methods are explained and promising directions for clinical practice with children and families are discussed.

Highly readable and comprehensive, this volume explores the significance of friendship for social, emotional, and cognitive development from early childhood through adolescence. The authors trace how friendships change as children age and what specific functions these relationships play in promoting adjustment and well-being. Compelling topics include the effects of individual differences on friendship quality, how friendship quality can be assessed, and ways in which certain friendships may promote negative outcomes. Examining what clinicians, educators, and parents can do to help children who struggle with making friends, the book reviews available interventions and identifies important directions for future work in the field.

The ability to express, understand, and regulate emotions is a crucial element in individual functioning and interpersonal interaction. This important volume presents a fresh look at early child development by exploring the very beginnings of emotional competence in young children. What do toddlers and preschoolers understand about their own and other people's feelings? What are the connections between emotions, socialization, and healthy relationships? How do changes in other areas of development, like cognition, fuel emotional competencies? What problems ensue when emotional development is delayed, and how can they be ameliorated? Including numerous case studies, original findings, and an extensive review of the literature, the book sheds light on the emotional experience of the very young and points toward exciting directions for future research.

Synthesizing the latest research and theory with compelling narratives and case vignettes, this book explores the development of emotional competence in school-age children and young adolescents. Saarni examines the formation of eight key emotional skills in relation to processes of self-understanding, socialization, and cognitive growth. The cultural and gender context of emotional experience is emphasized, and the role of moral disposition and other individual differences is considered. Tracing the connections between emotional competence, interpersonal relationships, and resilience in the face of stress, the book also explores why and what happens when development is delayed.

Traditional approaches to cognitive development can tell us a great deal about the internal processes involved in learning. Sociocultural perspectives, on the other hand, provide valuable insights into the influences on learning of relationship and cultural variables. This volume provides a much-needed bridge between these disparate bodies of research, examining the specific processes through which children internalize the lessons learned in social contexts. The book reviews current findings on four specific domains of cognitive development--attention, memory, problem solving, and planning. The course of intellectual growth in each domain is described, and social factors that support or constrain it are identified. The focus throughout is on how family, peer, and community factors influence not only what a child learns, but also how learning occurs. Supporting her arguments with solid empirical data, the author convincingly shows how attention to sociocultural factors can productively complement more traditional avenues of investigation.

Traditional approaches to cognitive development can tell us a great deal about the internal processes involved in learning. Sociocultural perspectives, on the other hand, provide valuable insights into the influences on learning of relationship and cultural variables. This volume provides a much-needed bridge between these disparate bodies of research, examining the specific processes through which children internalize the lessons learned in social contexts. The book reviews current findings on four specific domains of cognitive development--attention, memory, problem solving, and planning. The course of intellectual growth in each domain is described, and social factors that support or constrain it are identified. The focus throughout is on how family, peer, and community factors influence not only what a child learns, but also how learning occurs. Supporting her arguments with solid empirical data, the author convincingly shows how attention to sociocultural factors can productively complement more traditional avenues of investigation.