Case Study (Preschoolers' Social Development)

Directions:  With reference to the appropriate information in your text and at least one other reference, answer the questions that follow the case study.  Be sure that your responses are written in complete sentences and in paragraph format. Use research-based information to support your responses. Your responses should reflect 1) knowledge and understanding of how children grow and develop;  2)  knowledge and understanding of theories and principles of development;  and 3) developmentally appropriate practices.  Be sure to use proper citation of references and include a reference list at the end of the case study.

Note: for questions 1-4 please be mindful to base your answers on research and not on personal values or opinions. ( question 5 can be answered freely)

Minimum page length: 3 WRITTEN pages(not including cover page and references)

Jim Bartell has been watching his son Jason carefully.  Because Jim runs a business 90 minutes from home, his wife Tessa, who works right in the neighborhood, has had primary responsibility for raising Jason, and Jim has been growing steadily more worried over the 4 years of Jason's life.

First, it was Jason's quiet voice and shy, gentle mannerisms.  Then it was his quiet insistence on getting a doll for Christmas at age 3, which Jim felt he had at least managed to sabotage by picking a G.I. Joe doll.  Of course, Jim's anxiety mounted when Jason spent more time dressing Joe in different outfits than making the action figure run around, blowing things up.  Then it was Jason's love of drawing and making clay models instead of playing with the neat toy guns and sports gear that Jim brought home for him.

Jim has long believed that his big mistake was letting Tessa place Jason in a local day care where all the other kids were mostly girls.  Jim is convinced that this environment has influences Jason's choices and made him more feminine.  He is hoping that next year Jason's kindergarten class will have more boys in it so his son can escape from the undue pressure to confirm to a girls' lifestyle.

1. Given what you know about gender differences in preschoolers, are Jim's worries about Jason's mannerisms and habits justified?  Why or why not?

2. Jim attributes Jason's behaviors to environmental influences.  Could genetics also be a factor?  Can the relative influence of nature and nurture be determined accurately?

3. If Jason attended an all-boys cay care, would his behavior and preferences necessarily be different?  Why or why not?

4. Which perspective - biological, psychoanalytic, social learning, or cognitive- provides the most satisfying explanation of Jason's behavior?  Why?

5. Do you think Jim is right that the exposure to boys in kindergarten will change Jason's behavior?  If so, how might this work.