B1: Chp. 6 Infancy

I will be discussing Belsky social theory and how it affects infants. In Belsky social theory, circular influences, states that depending on how the parents of said child interact in their marriage has a lot do with how they interact with their child. If caregivers/parents have a bad relationship then it can cause stress which will then affect how they interact with child. Which might eventually affect the baby’s responses. Clarke-Stewart had a different but similar theory. He looked at circular influences in alternative approach. His theory was the mother’s participation with the infant enhances the infant’s growth. Then the infant increases the father partaking which in turn increases the mother’s attentiveness after seeing the father involved. Both believe that the mother is the key to the child’s development which I feel is true to a certain extent. I say that because currently in our society our social norms are constantly changing. Mothers were once the primary caregivers but now it is more common to see fathers also as primary caregivers, stay at home dads. If I had to choose sides I would have to agree more with Belsky social theory. When there is stress in families, parents can take it out on their child(ren). I don’t feel like the child’s attentiveness influences the father’s involvement. A father who WANTS to be there will be there regardless of how much their child interacts with them. I can imagine Belsky theory. The caregivers are too busy dealing with their own problems which causes them to revert their attention to the problems rather than attending child. Ashford, J., & LeCroy, C. (2013). Infancy. In Human behavior in the social environment: A multidimensional perspective (5th ed., p. 279). Belmont, CA: Jon-David Hague.