Impact of Ageism and Adultism SOCW 6051

Impact of Ageism and Adultism

Impact of Ageism and Adultism

Adultism refers to the oppression of young people by adults. The popular saying “children should be seen and not heard” is used as a way to remind a child of his or her place and reaffirm the adult’s power in the relationship. The saying suggests that children’s voices are not as important or as valid as an adult’s and they should remain quiet. Children are often relegated to subordinate positions due to socially constructed beliefs about what they can or cannot accomplish or what they should or should not do; this in turn compromises youth’s self-determination. This oppression is further highlighted when considering the intersection of age with race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. You will be asked to consider all of these when reviewing the Logan case and Parker case.

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Post by Day 3 an analysis of the influence of adultism in the Logan case.  (Logan Family (Episode 34) 

Then, explain how gender, race, class, and privilege interact with adultism to influence the family’s discourse related to Eboni’s pregnancy as well as other family dynamics.

The term “adultcentrism” refers to a paradigm of thought that leads adults to provide inadequate or distorted responses to children’s needs (Furioso, 2000), despite the belief of acting in children’s best interest. Our understanding of adult-child relationship could be subjected to such adultcentric bias, thus preventing the acknowledgement of the deeply reciprocal qualities of the encounter between the culture of adults and the one of children. Several authors have focused on the importance of making an effort in recognizing the partiality of such adult-centered perspective (Goode, 1986; Petr, 1992; Furioso, 2000; Mackay, 1973, 2003; Biancardi, 2002; Foti, 2004), but no research tools have been proposed so far.

The Adultcentrism Scale, a questionnaire of 27 items, has been developed and administered to 326 university students during a pilot study. Three factors emerged from ML EFA (Oblimin rotation): “Child as an empty box”, “Child without agency”, and “Competent Child”. The factorial structure resulted corroborated by CFA, with the exception of one item that has been therefore excluded. The final version of the Adultcentrism Scale has been administered to a sample of 910 parents of primary school-age children. Results indicate that the Adultcentrism Scale could help in the detection of the construct of adultcentrism in caregivers, particularly in large-scale studies. The three factors extracted and the tendency of response distributions appear consistent with the reference literature. Reflecting on adultcentrism can bring positive implications in designing interventions focusing on the improvement of adult-child relationship quality.

Impact of Ageism and Adultism References (use at least 2)

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castaneda, C., Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L., & Zuniga, X. (Eds.). (2013). Readings for diversity and social justice. (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge Press.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Logan Family (Episode 34) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu.

 

Discussion 2: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression

Think about the moment in which you became aware of your sexual orientation.  Do you recall making a conscious choice to be gay or straight? Some believe that gender identity and sexual expression is a choice, or more likely, that “people choose to be gay.” The counter to that belief is that one does not “choose” his or her sexual orientation; it simply is. This week you consider how people’s reactions to someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation impacts his or her environment and experience.

When adolescents question their sexual orientation or gender identity, they encounter various reactions from individuals in their environment. For this Discussion, consider how people’s reactions to someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation may impact his or her environment and experience.

Answer to the following questions:

• How might potential reactions to an adolescent’s questioning of their sexual identity, or gender role, impact their social environment, behavior and self-esteem?
• As social workers, what role can we play in assuring the best outcomes for these adolescents?

References (use at least 2)

Bos, H. M. W., Sanfort, T. G. M., de Bruyn, E. H., & Hakvoort, E. M. (2008). Same-sex attraction, social relationships, psychsocial functioning, and school performance in early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 59–68.