Transcript Family Relationships • Family Systems approach • Dyadic, triadic, quadradic relationships, all influencing each other • Change causes disequilibrium • Adolescence a time of normal disequilibrium • Less closeness.

Family Relationships
• Family Systems approach
• Dyadic, triadic, quadradic
relationships, all
influencing each other
• Change causes
disequilibrium
• Adolescence a time of
normal disequilibrium
• Less closeness with
parents, esp. mom
Parents at midlife
• Midlife is generally a
happy and positive
stage of life – often
much stress with
teens, though
• Once children leave
home, generally
parents’ happiness
improves
Sibling relationships
• Types: caregiver, buddy, criticism, rival, casual
• “traditional” cultures – caregiver type most
common
• U.S. - Typically more conflict between sibs than
other dyads – level of closeness reported as fairly
low
• Traditional cultures – conflict low – established
status differences
• Typically very important relationships, and source
of emotional support
Extended family
• Traditional cultures – males remain in home,
females move out into home of husband
• Traditional cultures – live with extended
family in same home
• Closeness to grandparents facilitated by the
fact that they are not the child’s disciplinarian
• More important in lives of American
“minority” groups
Parenting Styles
• Diana Baumrind
• Demandingness,
responsiveness
• Authoritative, Authoritarian,
Indulgent, Indifferent
• Class origins; middle class
promotes autonomy, working
class promotes obedience
4,000 U.S. adolescents age 14-18
Outcomes
• Authoritarian – too much control, little warmth dictator approach – you must obey me!
– low grades, self-esteem, social skills, dependent,
passive, conforming
• Indulgent – caring but too permissive
– low grades, impulse-control, irresponsible, conforming,
immature
• Indifferent – little care and control
– low self-esteem, impulse-control, impulsive,
delinquent, early sex, drugs
• Authoritative – teaches self-control through
positive discipline – and provides much warmth
– high grades, self-reliance, control, social skills,
independent, creative, self-confident, socially skilled
Parenting effects cont’d
• Probably follows style used in childhood
• Parents are not exactly the same
• Inconsistency between parents predicts poorer outcomes in
teens
• Reciprocal or bidirectional effects
• Authoritative parenting rare outside the U.S.
• Respect, power, go with age and generational status in most of
the world (this is why many cultures have difficulty with the
exportation of our culture through TV throughout the world)
• Baumrind now calls the typical non-western parenting style
traditional parenting – high demandingness (obedience),
high responsiveness
• India – emphasis on self-sacrifice; little discussion of rules
(would be an affront to parental authority – contrast with
“Bend it Like Beckam”)
Parenting Styles
• Diana Baumrind
Attachment to parents
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Bowlby, Ainsworth
Secure, insecure
Internal working model - Secure base
S.A. in adolescence associated with secure
relationships with peers and others,
autonomy, lower rates of depression,
Parent-adolescent conflict
• Lots of disagreements over trivial things
• Mostly tied to parents “letting go” or having
difficulty with this
• U.S. – teens gain power in family hierarchy
• More conflict in early adolescence, and among
early maturing adolescents
• Conflict over responsibility for decisions
• Biologically, late adolescents are meant to be out
on their own, making their own decisions
• Non-western cultures – ties to family are
more likely economic, promoting
interdependence; petty conflicts more rare
than in U.S.
– Collectivistic ethnotheory
• Rise of divorce rate, single-parent families,
dual-worker families
Emerging adults’ relationships
with parents
• Leaving home in
U.S. usually
improves
relationships
• Remaining in the
home in Europe
usually results in
good relationships
Family Disruption
• Divorce, remarriage, etc
• Children of divorced parents more likely to
experience problems
• Related to trust, internal working model
• Exposure to family conflict
• Divorce during early adolescence
• Divorce affects quality of parenting
• Affects parents directly
• Burden usually falls on mother
• Remarriage usually not better – more problems
Physical and Sexual abuse
• Majority who abuse were abused
• But majority who were abused don’t abuse their own
children
• Abusers more likely to experience parental conflict, harsh
discipline, or loss of parent
• Best predictors of abuse are parental stress and poverty,
psychological problems, and substance abuse
• Boys = physically abused, girls=sexually abused
• More likely by stepfathers
• Physical abuse leads to aggression, antisocial behavior,
substance abuse, depression, academic problems
• Sexual abuse = difficulty trusting others, impulsive
sexuality, depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, substance
abuse