Middle Childhood: Contexts of Development

Abstract

In 1981, the National Research Council organized the expert Panel to Review the Status of Basic Research on School-Age Children, which produced a seminal volume, Development During Middle Childhood: The Years From Six to Twelve (Collins, 1984). The panel concluded that middle childhood is a time of marked change in capacities and typical behaviors that have long-term implications for adolescent and adult patterns. Although several chapters dealt with family, school, peer, and cultural influences on development, most of the research reviewed was designed to understand normative developmental patterns rather than individual differences. The panel noted gaps in available knowledge about what characteristics of middle childhood environments influence developmental change and about the range of environments experienced by children in the different "ecocultural niches" that are defined by such characteristics as ethnic group, socioeconomic characteristics, family structure, and geographic location (Weisner, 1984). Because "Middle childhood behavior and performance have repeatedly been found to predict adolescent and adult status … more reliably than do early childhood indicators," the panel recommended additional research on the processes by which middle childhood contributes to later development (Collins, 1984, p. 409).