Premium
Children's reasoning about authority in home and school contexts
Author(s) -
Laupa Marta
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9507.1995.tb00047.x
Subject(s) - sibling , psychology , local authority , delegated authority , developmental psychology , social psychology , home education , position (finance) , traditional authority , pedagogy , law , political science , business , public administration , finance
The study investigated the development of children's concepts of authority at home and at school. Subjects (35 m, 35 f) in grades 1–6 were asked to evaluate persons issuing two types of commands to children: one which resolves a turn‐taking dispute and one which enforces a conventional rule. Persons of varying ages and with varying positions in the family (parent, older/younger sibling, neighbor) were presented issuing commands at home and a parent was presented issuing commands at school. Results show that children's judgments of authority in the home are based more on authority position than adult status; younger siblings with delegated authority positions are accepted as authorities by more children than knowledgeable adults without delegated authority. Children's authority concepts become increasingly more differentiated with respect to the social‐organizational positions and functions of persons in authority across grades one to six.