Four Factors That Influence Attitudes and Beliefs of School Aged Children

Factor that influence the development of attitudes and beliefs in school aged children are: family, peers, mass media and school community. Family members are the people who children spend the most time with and have the most influence on attitudes of children. Children's attitudes toward academic achievement, physical activity, and risk taking are all influenced by parents. For example, if a parent doesn't care about what kind of grades a child receives as long as they're passing, the child may learn not to value education. If a parent lets a child eat whatever they want with no thought tow whether or not it's healthy, a child won't be careful about what kinds of food they eat.

Peers and a child's circle of friends have a large influence on children's attitudes and beliefs. Children spend a majority of their day with peers and friends and therefore attitudes and beliefs of this group impact children's attitudes and beliefs. Children have a tendency to compare their behavior with behavior of friends. They understand the difference between classmates within the in-group and out-group. Peer influences increase as children get older which is why it's important for children to be part of a group that accepts them as equals.

Mass media affects children's attitudes and beliefs and they are flooded with messages  daily which cause a child to change their attitudes and beliefs to reflect the message they see and hear on TV, radio and print. Video games can effect attitudes and beliefs and what messages these send depend on the types of video games children play.

School community can develop attitudes and beliefs because of gender roles and stereotyping that can happen in schools. For example, if  a school makes it a requirement for girls to take a class on cooking and sewing and not boys the school has taught these skills are only for girls. If a school requires boys to take a class on Technology but doesn't require girls to, the school has taught these skills are only for boys.

It is important to be careful of the messages we send children through the attitudes we teach and show by example and the beliefs we share with them. We also remember we need to remember beliefs and attitudes come from other places other than home to discuss why a behavior may not be good or a belief is different from ours while also teaching our children those beliefs are just different from ones we may have but that doesn't make them wrong.






















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