Transcript CHAPTER 15 THE FAMILY Learning Objectives • How is the family viewed by the family • • systems theory? How do individual family systems change? What social.

CHAPTER 15
THE FAMILY
Learning Objectives
• How is the family viewed by the family
•
•
systems theory?
How do individual family systems change?
What social trends emerged during the 20th
century and altered the makeup of the typical
family and the quality of the family
experience?
Understanding the Family
• Proponents of family systems theory view the
family as a system
– The family is a whole consisting of
interrelated parts, each of which affects
and is affected by every other part, and
each of which contributes to the functioning
of the whole
– The family is a dynamic system – a selforganizing system that adapts itself to
changes in its members and to changes in
its environment
Understanding the Family
•
•
•
The nuclear family typically consists of father,
mother, and at least one child
Every individual and every relationship within the
family affects every other individual and
relationship through reciprocal influence
The family system has subsystems
– Marital, parent-child, sibling, and co-parenting
subsystems
• Co-parenting refers to the ways in which
two parents coordinate their parenting and
function as a team in relation to their
children
Understanding the Family
• Many families live within an extended family
•
household in which parents and their children
live with other kin (grandparents, siblings,
etc.)
The family is also a system within other
systems
– The family is a system that is embedded in
and interacts with larger social systems
such as a neighborhood, a community, a
subculture, and a broader culture
•
Understanding the Family –
The Family as a Changing System
Scholars have developed a number of
concepts related to the family system
– Family life cycle theory outlined the eightstage sequence of changes in family
composition, roles, and relationships from
the time people marry until they die
• Each stage has a particular set of family
members who play distinctive roles
•
Understanding the Family –
The Family as a Changing System
Scholars have developed a number of concepts
related to the family system (continued)
– More recently, family researchers expanded on
the traditional family life cycle concept to describe
a wider variety of family life cycles
– Elder and his colleagues (Elder & Johnson, 2003;
Elder & Shanahan, 2006) proposed that we lead
linked lives – that our development as individuals
is intertwined with that of other family members
– Family researchers have embraced the concept
that families function as systems and that they,
like the individuals in them, develop and change
over the lifespan
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
The family is a system embedded in a world that
is ever changing
– During the second half of the 20th century,
several dramatic social changes altered the
makeup of the typical family and the quality of
family experience
• More single adults
– More adults are living as singles today
than in the past
– Often they are living with a partner or a
partner and children but are unmarried
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– More postponed marriages
• By 2009, the average age of first was 26
for women and 28 for men
– More unmarried parents
• In 2007, 40% of births were to unmarried
women
– Fewer children
• By 1998, 19% of women ages 40 to 44
were childless
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– More working mothers
• By 2005, 60% of married women with
children younger than 6 years of age
worked outside the home
– More divorce
• More than 4 in 10 newly married couples
can expect to divorce, and up to half of
children can expect to experience a divorce
at some point in their development
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– More single-parent families
• Because of more births to unmarried
women and more divorce, more children
live in single-parent families
–In 2008, 70% of children younger
than 18 years lived with two parents,
23% lived with their mothers only,
and over 3% lived with their fathers
only
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– More children living in poverty
• The higher number of single-parent families
has affected the proportion of children living in
poverty
– About 18% of children in the United States
live in poverty today
» 35% of African-American children are
poor
» 29% of Hispanic-American children are
poor
» 43% of children in female-headed
families are poor
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– More remarriages
• With more divorce has come more
remarriages
– Remarriages often result in reconstituted
families – also called blended families –
that consist of at least a parent, a
stepparent, and a child
– Sometimes reconstituted families
include multiple children from two
families into a new family
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– More years without children
• Because modern couples are compressing
their childbearing into a shorter timespan,
because some divorced adults do not remarry,
and mainly because people are living longer,
adults today spend more of their later years as
couples without children in their homes
– Men 65 and over are more likely than
women 65 and over to live with spouses
(73% vs. 42%)
– Older women are more likely than older
men to live alone (39% vs. 19%)
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– More multigenerational families
• Over the 20th century, three- and even fourgeneration families became more common
– More children today than in the past know their
grandparents and even their great-grandparents
– Parent-child and grandparent-child relationships
are lasting longer
– The different generations of a family typically do
not live together
» However, economic necessity has forced an
increasing number of Americans to live in
multi-generational households
•
Understanding the Family –
A Changing System in a Changing World
Social changes (continued)
– Fewer caregivers for aging adults
• More aging adults have fewer children to
provide care as a result of
– Smaller families with fewer children
– Increases in the numbers of adults living
alone
– Increased longevity
– Increased geographic mobility
– The large Baby Boom generation now
entering old age
Learning Objective
• How is the father-infant relationship similar to
and different from the mother-infant
relationship?
The Infant –
Mother-Infant and Father-Infant Relationships
•
Researchers have considered how mothers and
fathers interact with their children and contribute to
children’s development
– Researchers find that fathers and mothers are
more similar than different in the ways they
interact with infants and young children
• Fathers are no less able than mothers to feed
their babies effectively
• Both fathers and mothers provide sensitive
parenting, become objects of attachment, and
serve as secure bases for their infants’
explorations
– No basis exists for thinking that mothers are
uniquely qualified to parent or that men are
hopelessly inept around babies
The Infant –
Mother-Infant and Father-Infant Relationships
•
How mothers and fathers interact with their children and
contribute to children’s development (continued)
– Fathers and mothers differ in both the quantity and the
style of the parenting they provide
• Mothers spend more time with children than fathers do
– This gender difference is common across cultures
• When mothers interact with their babies, a large
proportion of their time is devoted to caregiving such
as offering food, changing diapers, wiping noses, and
so on
• Fathers spend much of their time with children in
playful interaction such as tickling, poking, bouncing,
and surprising infants
• Mothers hold, talk to, and play quietly with infants
• Fathers are able to adopt a “motherlike” caregiver role
if they have primary responsibility for their children
The Infant –
Mother-Infant and Father-Infant Relationships
•
Fathers contribute to their children’s development by
– Providing financial support (whether they live together or
not)
– Being warm and effective parents
• Babies are likely to be more socially competent if they
are securely attached to both parents than if they are
securely attached to just one
• Children whose fathers are warm and involved with
them are more likely than other children to become
high achievers in school
• A father’s tendency to challenge his young children
during play may foster a secure attachment style and
an eagerness to explore later in life
• Children generally have fewer psychological disorders
and problems if their fathers are caring, involved, and
effective parents than if they are not
The Infant –
Mother-Infant and Father-Infant Relationships
• Factors that influence the involvement of fathers
of babies born to unmarried mothers
– The quality of the relationship between the
mother and the father
– Whether the father lives in the same
household as the mother and the child
– Involvement in a constructive lifestyle that
include job training and religious participation
– Involvement in the life of the child before the
child is born
The Infant –
Mothers, Fathers, and Infants: The System at Work
• The family is a three-person system functioning
in a social context
– Parents have indirect effects on the children
through their ability to influence the behavior
of their spouses
• Indirect effects within the family are
instances in which the relationship or
interaction between two individuals is
modified by the behavior or attitudes of a
third family member
The Infant –
Mothers, Fathers, and Infants: The System at Work
• The family is a three-person system functioning
in a social context (continued)
– Fathers indirectly influence the mother-infant
relationship through the quality of the marital
relationship
• Mothers who have close, supportive
relationships with their husbands tend to
interact more patiently and sensitively with
their babies than do mothers who are
experiencing marital tension and who feel
that they are raising their children largely
without help
The Infant –
Mothers, Fathers, and Infants: The System at Work
• The family is a three-person system functioning
in a social context (continued)
– Mothers indirectly affect the father-infant
relationship through the quality of the marital
relationship
• Fathers who have just had pleasant
conversations with their wives are more
supportive and engaged when they interact
with their children than fathers who have
just had arguments with their wives
– Infant development is facilitated when
parents get along well and truly coparent, or
work as a team
Learning Objectives
• What are two basic dimensions of parenting?
• What patterns of childrearing emerge from
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these dimensions?
How do these parenting styles affect
children’s development?
How does social class affect parenting style?
•
The Child – Parenting Styles
Two dimensions of parenting contribute to the
concept of parenting style
– Acceptance-responsiveness refers to the extent to
which parents are supportive, sensitive to their
children’s needs, and willing to provide affection and
praise when their children meet their expectations
• Includes affection, praise, encouragement
• Less accepting and responsive parents are often
quick to criticize, belittle, punish, or ignore their
children and rarely communicate to children that
they are loved and valued
•
The Child – Parenting Styles
Two dimensions of parenting contribute to the
concept of parenting style (continued)
– Demandingness-control (sometimes called
permissiveness-restrictiveness) refers to how much
control over decisions lies with the parent rather than
with the child
• Controlling and demanding parents set rules,
expect their children to follow them, and monitor
their children closely to ensure that the rules are
followed
• Less controlling and demanding parents (often
called permissive parents) make fewer demands
and allow their children a great deal of autonomy
to explore, express opinions and emotions, and
make decisions
•
The Child – Parenting Styles
Four basic patterns of child rearing emerge from
crossing the acceptance and the
demandingness dimensions
– Authoritarian parenting
• This restrictive parenting style combines high
demandingness-control and low acceptanceresponsiveness
– Parents impose many rules, expect strict
obedience, rarely explain why the child should
comply with rules, and often rely on power
tactics such as physical punishment to gain
compliance
•
The Child – Parenting Styles
Four basic patterns of childrearing emerge from
crossing the acceptance and the demandingness
dimensions (continued)
– Authoritative parenting
• Authoritative parents are more flexible; they are
demanding and exert control, but they are also
accepting and responsive
• They set clear rules and consistently enforce them, but
they also explain the rationales for their rules and
restrictions, are responsive to their children’s needs
and points of view, and involve their children in family
decision-making
• They are reasonable and democratic in their approach,
but they are in charge
• They communicate respect for their children
The Child – Parenting Styles
• Four basic patterns of childrearing emerge
from crossing the acceptance and the
demandingness dimensions (continued)
– Permissive parenting
• This style is high in acceptanceresponsiveness but low in
demandingness-control
• Permissive parents are indulgent with
few rules and few demands
• They encourage children to express
their feelings and impulses and rarely
exert control over their behavior
The Child – Parenting Styles
•
Four basic patterns of childrearing emerge from
crossing the acceptance and the demandingness
dimensions (continued)
– Neglectful parenting
• Parents who combine low demandingnesscontrol and low acceptance-responsiveness
are relatively uninvolved in their children’s
upbringing
• They seem not to care much about their
children and may even reject them
• Or, neglectful parents may be so
overwhelmed by their own problems that they
cannot devote sufficient energy to expressing
love and setting and enforcing rules
Caption: The acceptance-responsiveness and
demandingness-control dimensions of parenting
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•
The Child – Parenting Styles
Warm, responsive parenting is associated with secure
attachments to parents, academic competence, high
self-esteem, good social skills, peer acceptance, and a
strong sense of morality
Lack of parental acceptance and affection contributes to
depression and other psychological problems
Diana Baumrind (1967, 1977, 1991) found that children
raised by authoritative parents were the best adjusted –
cheerful, socially responsible, self-reliant, achievement
oriented, and cooperative with adults and peers
– Children of authoritarian parents tended to be moody
and seemingly unhappy, easily annoyed, relatively
aimless, and unpleasant to be around
– Children of permissive parents were often impulsive,
aggressive, self-centered, rebellious, aimless, and
low in independence and achievement
•
•
The Child – Parenting Styles
Subsequent research has shown that the worst
developmental outcomes are associated with the
neglectful, uninvolved style of parenting
– Children of neglectful parents display behavioral
problems such as aggression and frequent
temper tantrums as early as age 3
– They tend to become hostile and antisocial
adolescents who abuse alcohol and drugs and
get in trouble
The link between authoritative parenting and
positive developmental outcomes is evident in most
ethnic groups and socioeconomic groups studied to
date in the United States and in a variety of other
cultures
The Child – Social Class, Economic Hardship,
and Parenting
• Researchers have found that social class
influences family socialization goals, values,
and parenting styles
– Compared with middle-class and upper-class
parents, lower-class and working-class
parents tend to stress obedience and respect
for authority more
• They are often more restrictive and
authoritarian, reason with their children
less frequently, and show less warmth and
affection
The Child – Social Class, Economic Hardship,
and Parenting
• What explains the influence of socioeconomic
factors upon parenting styles and child
outcomes?
– Low family socioeconomic status may be
associated with poor developmental
outcomes because of
• Economic stresses that result in
authoritarian, nonnurturant, and
inconsistent parenting
• Limited investment of resources, financial
and otherwise, in children’s development
• An orientation toward preparing children to
obey a boss rather than be the boss
The Child – Social Class, Economic Hardship,
and Parenting
•
What explains the influence of socioeconomic factors upon
parenting styles and child outcomes?
– Researchers describe a relationship among family
economic stress, patterns of parenting, and adolescent
adjustment
• Financial stresses have negative on parents
– Parents experiencing financial problems (economic
pressure) tend to become depressed, which
increases conflict between them
– Marital conflict, in turn, disrupts each partner’s
ability to be a supportive, involved, and effective
parent
» This breakdown in parenting then contributes
to negative child outcomes such as low selfesteem, poor school performance, poor peer
relations, and adjustment problems such as
depression and aggression
Caption: A model of the relationship among family
economic stress, patterns of parenting, and
adolescent adjustment
•
The Child – Social Class, Economic Hardship,
and Parenting
The influence of socioeconomic factors upon
parenting styles and child outcomes (continued)
– Parents living in poverty tend to be restrictive,
punitive, and inconsistent, sometimes to the point
of being abusive and neglectful
• In high-crime poverty areas, parents may also
feel the need to be more authoritarian and
controlling to protect their children from
danger
– Both parenting and child development may suffer
due to the stresses of coping with a physical
environment characterized by pollution, noise,
and crowded, unsafe living conditions and a
social environment characterized by family
instability and violence
The Child – Social Class, Economic Hardship,
and Parenting
• The influence of socioeconomic factors upon
parenting styles and child outcomes (continued)
– Another explanation is that low SES parents
have fewer resources to invest in their
children’s development, compared to high
SES parents
• Wealthier parents can invest in a good
education, books, computers and other
learning materials, and cultural
opportunities for their children
The Child – Social Class, Economic Hardship,
and Parenting
•
The influence of socioeconomic factors upon parenting
styles and child outcomes (continued)
– A third explanation is that high and low SES parents
have different socialization goals in preparing their
children for the world of work because they have had
different work experiences
• Kohn (1969) observed that parents from lower
socioeconomic groups tend to be authoritarian
and emphasize obedience to authority figures
because that is what is required in jobs like their
own
– Middle-class and upper-class parents may
reason with their children and foster initiative
and creativity more because these are the
attributes that count for business executives,
professionals, and other white-collar workers
Learning Objectives
• What effects do parents have on their
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children, and what effects do children have
on their parents?
What is the transactional model of family
influence?
What features characterize sibling
relationships across the lifespan?
How do siblings contribute to development?
What are relationships like between
adolescents and their parents?
The Child – Models of Influence in the Family
•
Researchers consider three models of
influence in the family
– The parent effects model
– The child effects model
– The transactional model
The Child – Models of Influence in the Family
•
The parent effects model of family influence
has guided most of the study of human
development
– This model assumes that influences occur
in one direction, from parent to child (and
particularly from mother to child)
The Child – Models of Influence in the Family
•
The child effects model of family influence
highlights the influences of children on their
parents
– As children develop, parenting shifts from (a)
parent regulation of the child to (b) parent and
child co-regulation of the child to (c) selfregulation by a more capable child
– Typically, parents become less restrictive as
their children mature and gradually, with
parental guidance, become capable of making
their own decisions
The Child – Models of Influence in the Family
•
In the transactional model of family influence,
parent and child influence one another
reciprocally
– Child problems develop when the
relationship between parent and child goes
bad as the two interact over time
– Optimal child development results when
parent-child transactions evolve in more
positive directions
The Child – Sibling Relationships
•
A family system is affected when a new infant arrives
– Researchers found that mothers typically pay less
attention to their firstborns after the new baby
arrives than before
– The child may resent losing her parents’ attention
and demonstrate difficult behaviors
• The child may become more demanding or
more dependent and clingy and may develop
problems with sleeping, eating, and toileting
routines
• Secure attachments can become insecure,
especially if firstborns are 2 years old or older
The Child – Sibling Relationships
•
Adjustment to a new sibling can be made easier
– If the parents’ marital relationship is good
– If the firstborn had secure relationships with both
parents before the younger sibling arrived and
continues to enjoy close relationships with them
– If the parents continue providing love and attention
to their firstborn
– If the parents maintain the child’s routines as
much as possible
– If the father increases his involvement in parenting
– If parents encourage older children to become
aware of the new baby’s needs and feelings and
to assist in her care
The Child – Sibling Relationships
• Sibling relationships typically involve both
closeness and conflict
– Sibling rivalry – the spirit of competition,
jealousy, and resentment between brothers
and sisters – is normal
– Siblings may be motivated to compete with
each other for their parents’ time and
resources
– Sibling conflict is most often about
possessions
The Child – Sibling Relationships
• Sibling relationships typically involve both
closeness and conflict (continued)
– Siblings conflict may occur because they live
in close proximity but lack mature social skills
and because they feel they are treated
differently by their parents
– Levels of conflict typically decrease when
adolescents begin to spend more time away
from the family
The Child – Sibling Relationships
•
Siblings have important functions in children’s development
– Siblings provide emotional support
• They are confidants and protect and comfort one
another
– Older siblings often provide caregiving services for
younger siblings
• In a study of 186 societies, older children were the
principal caregivers for infants and toddlers in 57% of
the cultures studied
– Older siblings also serve as teachers
– Siblings provide social experience
• In their interactions with siblings, especially in
skirmishes, children learn how to take others’
perspectives, read others’ minds, express their
feelings, negotiate, and resolve conflicts
The Adolescent –
Ripples in the Parent-Child Relationship
• Most parent-adolescent relationships are
close, and most retain whatever quality they
had in childhood
– It is rare for a parent-child relationship to
suddenly turn bad at adolescence
• A troubled parent-adolescent
relationship typically reflects a troubled
parent-child relationship and has been
shaped by both the parent’s parenting
and the child’s personality
The Adolescent –
Ripples in the Parent-Child Relationship
• The parent-child relationship shows signs of
change during adolescence
– Parent and child spend less time together
as adolescents become more involved with
peers
• Adolescents may feel less involved with
and supported by their parents
– A modest increase in parent-child conflict
is also common in early adolescence,
around the onset of puberty
The Adolescent –
Ripples in the Parent-Child Relationship
• The parent-child relationship shows signs of
change during adolescence (continued)
– Young adolescents assert themselves, and
they and their parents squabble more
• The bickering is mainly about relatively
minor matters such as disobedience,
homework, household chores, and
access to privileges
• The frequency of conflicts decreases
from early to late adolescence
The Adolescent –
Ripples in the Parent-Child Relationship
• A key developmental task of adolescence the
achievement of autonomy
– The capacity to make decisions
independently and manage life tasks
without being overly dependent on other
people
• A blend of autonomy and attachment, or
independence and interdependence, is most
desirable
The Adolescent –
Ripples in the Parent-Child Relationship
• In the achievement of autonomy, adolescents
assume more control of their lives, parents,
give up some of their power, and the parentchild relationship becomes more equal
– It is usually best for their development if
adolescents maintain close attachments
with their parents even as they are gaining
autonomy
• Gaining some separation from parents is
healthy; becoming detached from them
is not
The Adolescent –
Ripples in the Parent-Child Relationship
•
How can parents foster autonomy?
– Across cultures, adolescents are most likely to become
autonomous, achievement oriented, and well adjusted
if their parents
• Consistently enforce a reasonable set of rules
• Involve their teenagers in decision-making
• Recognize their need for greater autonomy
• Monitor their comings and goings
• Gradually loosen the reins
• Continue to be warm, supportive, and involved
– In some cultures and subcultures, a more authoritarian
style or a more permissive style can also achieve good
outcomes
Learning Objectives
•
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How does marriage influence development
during adulthood?
How does parenthood influence development?
What changes occur in the family as the children
mature and leave home?
What sorts of roles do grandparents establish
with their grandchildren?
How do various family relationships (e.g.,
spouses, siblings, parent-child) change during
adulthood?
The Adult – Establishing a Marriage
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•
•
In the U.S., almost 90% of adults choose to
marry at some point in their lives
Huston and his colleagues found that
perceptions of the marital relationship became
less favorable and marital satisfaction declined
during the first year of marriage
Huston and his colleagues (2001) found that
couples who remained married but were unhappy
had experienced relatively poor relationships all
along
– This finding disputes the escalating conflict
view that marriages crumble when negative
feelings build up and conflicts escalate
The Adult – New Parenthood
•
New parenthood is best described as a stressful life
transition that involves both positive and negative
changes
– New parents find that it is challenging to juggle
work and family responsibilities and the new role
of mother or father
– New parents lose sleep, worry, find they have less
personal time, and sometimes have financial
problems
– Even egalitarian couples often follow more
traditional gender-role patterns and divide their
labors along traditional lines of the “feminine”
caregiver/housekeeper and the “masculine”
provider/worker
The Adult – New Parenthood
•
New parents’ increased stress and sharper
gender-role differentiation have consequences
– Marital satisfaction typically declines
somewhat in the first year after a baby is born
• This decline is often steeper for women
than for men, primarily because childcare
responsibilities typically fall more heavily on
mothers and they may resent what they
regard as an unfair division of labor
The Adult – New Parenthood
• Influences upon new parents’ adjustments
include the following
– Characteristics of the baby
• A difficult baby creates more stress and
anxiety than a baby who is quiet,
sociable, and easy to love
• Adoption can mean parenthood with
only a few days notice
The Adult – New Parenthood
•
Influences upon new parents’ adjustments include the
following (continued)
– Characteristics of the parents
• Parents who have good problem-solving and
communication skills can more easily adapt to
accommodate a new baby
• Parents who are realistic about the impact of an
infant tend to adjust more easily
• Parents who remember their own parents as
warm and accepting are likely to experience a
smoother transition to new parenthood than
couples who recall their parents as cold or
rejecting
The Adult – New Parenthood
• Influences upon new parents’ adjustments
include the following (continued)
– Social support
• The most important form of social
support is partner support
• Social support from friends and relatives
can help new parents cope
The Adult – The Childrearing Family
•
•
The arrival of another child or other children to the
family means a heavier workload and additional
stress
When the firstborn child in the family reaches puberty,
marital love and satisfaction often decline
– Due to more frequent parent-child conflict and due
to parents’ conflicts with each other regarding how
to manage adolescent children
– Maturation of adolescents can cause parents to
engage in questioning about what they have done
with their lives and what comes next
– Parents can be affected by how well-adjusted their
children are and how successfully the children are
transitioning to adulthood
The Adult – The Empty Nest
• As children mature, the family “launches”
them into the world to work and start their
own families
– The term empty nest has been used to
describe the family after the departure of the
last child
• Most parents react positively to the
emptying of the nest
• The departure of the last child appears to
be associated with increased marital
satisfaction
The Adult – The Empty Nest
• Why are parents generally not upset by the
empty nest?
– This phase of the family life cycle has fewer
roles and responsibilities and less stress
– Couples may have more time to focus on the
marital relationship and more money to spend
on themselves
– The empty nest can confer a sense of
generativity
– The parent-child relationship does not end
• Most parents and children continue to have
a great deal of contact after the nest empties
The Adult – The Empty Nest
•
In recent years, the nest has not emptied or it has
emptied and then filled again
– Many adult children remain in their parents’ home
– Many adult children leave the nest and then return
in a boomerang effect
– Children who stay or who return are often
unemployed, have limited finances, have divorced
or separated, or have other difficulties getting their
adult lives on track
• Compared to adults who leave the nest on time,
those who stay or who leave and then return are
less likely to have experienced a secure parentchild attachment that allowed them room to
develop autonomy
The Adult – Grandparenthood
•
In a national survey of grandparents of teenagers,
Cherlin and Furstenberg (1986) identified three styles
of grandparenting
– Remote (29% of the sample)
• Remote grandparents were symbolic figures
seen only occasionally by their grandchildren
– Primarily because they were geographically
distant, they were emotionally distant as well
– Companionate (55% of the sample)
• Companionate grandparents saw their
grandchildren frequently and enjoyed sharing
activities with them
• They only rarely played a parental role
The Adult – Grandparenthood
•
Cherlin and Furstenberg (1986) identified three styles
of grandparenting (continued)
– Involved grandparents took on a parentlike role
• They often helped with childcare, gave advice,
and played other practical roles in their
grandchildren’s lives
• Some involved grandparents lived with and
served as substitute parents for their
grandchildren because their daughters or sons
could not care for the children themselves
• More grandparents today, especially in AfricanAmerican and Hispanic families, have custody of
their grandchildren and are the primary parent
figures
The Adult – Grandparenthood
•
Grandparents can make important contributions to
their grandchildren’s development
– A grandmother who mentors a teen mother and
coparents with her can help her gain
competence as a parent
– A close grandparent-grandchild relationship
can protect the child of a depressed mother
from becoming depressed
– In terms of developmental outcome, teenagers
who are raised by a single mother and at least
one grandparent resemble children raised by
two parents
The Adult – Grandparenthood
•
Serving as an involved grandparent can take a toll
on a grandparent
– When grandchildren move in and grandparents
become the primary parents, the older adults
may experience stress, depression, and
deteriorating health
• In Ross and Aday’s (2006) study of AfricanAmerican grandparents raising
grandchildren, 94% reported significant
levels of stress
– Grandparents’ own development and
well-being can suffer if they become
overwhelmed by their responsibilities
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Marital relationships
• Marital satisfaction dips somewhat after the
honeymoon period is over, dips still lower in
the new-parenthood phase, continues to
drop as new children are added to the
family, and recovers only when the children
leave the nest, especially for women
• Frequency of sexual intercourse decreases
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
• Family relationships develop and change with
time
– Marital relationships (continued)
• Psychological intimacy often increases
• The love relationship often changes to
one that is companionate
• Elderly couples are often even more
affectionate than middle-aged couples,
have fewer conflicts, and are able to
resolve their conflicts without as much
venting of negative emotions
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
• Family relationships develop and change with
time
– Marital relationships (continued)
• Happily married people are more emotionally
stable and vent negative feelings less often than
unhappily married people
• In happy marriages, the personalities of
marriage partners are similar, and are likely to
remain similar or even become more similar over
the years, as each partner reinforces in the other
the traits that brought them together
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Marital relationships (continued)
• Research shows that we lead linked lives – that
we influence and are influenced by our partners
in close relationships
• Couples fare best when both partners can count
on a good network of relatives and friends to
support them
• By age 65 or older, about 73% of men are
married and live with their wives, but only 42% of
women are married and live with their husbands
• Wives may suffer poor physical and mental
health and feel socially isolated when they must
care for a dying husband
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Sibling relationships
• The sibling relationship typically is the
longest-lasting relationship we have
– Share genes and experiences
• Relationships often improve when siblings
no longer live in the same home and once
their age differences do not matter as much
as they did in childhood
• Most adult siblings are in frequent contact
and have positive feelings toward one
another
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
• Family relationships develop and change with
time
– Parent-child relationships
• Usually the quality of a particular parentchild relationship stays much the same as
adolescents become adults
• A more mutual, friendlike relationship is
especially likely to develop if parents
were supportive, authoritative parents
earlier in the child’s life
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Parent-child relationships (continued)
• When children are middle-aged and their
parents are elderly, the two generations typically
continue to care about, socialize with, and help
each other
– Aging mothers enjoy closer relations and
more contact with their children, especially
their daughters, than aging fathers do
– Hispanic American, African American, and
other minority group elders often enjoy more
supportive relationships with their families
than European Americans typically do
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Parent-child relationships (continued)
• Most elderly people in our society prefer to
live close to but not with their children; they
enjoy their independence and do not want to
burden their children when their health fails
– Only when parents reach advanced ages
and begin to develop serious physical or
mental problems does the parent-child
relationship undergo a “role reversal” in
which the parent becomes the needy,
dependent one and the child becomes
the caregiver
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Caring for aging parents
• The terms middle generation squeeze and
sandwich generation have been used to
describe middle-aged adults who are
pressured by demands from both the
younger and the older generations
simultaneously
– About one-third of women ages 55-69
report helping members of both the older
and younger generations
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Caring for aging parents
• Typically spouses are first to care for frail
elders
• Most other caregivers of ailing elders are
daughters or daughters-in-law in their 40s,
50s, and 60s
– Daughters spend more time than sons
providing emotional support to aging
parents and in-laws
– Sons are about as involved as daughters
in providing help with practical tasks and
financial assistance
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
• Family relationships develop and change with
time
– Middle-aged adults who must foster their
children’s development while tending to
their own development and caring for aging
parents may experience caregiver burden
• Psychological distress associated with
the demands of providing care for
someone with physical or cognitive
impairments
The Adult – Changing Family Relationships
•
Family relationships develop and change with time
– Caregiver burden is likely to be perceived as
especially weighty if the elderly parent engages in
the disruptive and socially inappropriate behaviors
often shown by people with dementia
– The caregivers most likely to experience
psychological distress are those who
• Must care for parents or spouses with behavioral
problems
• Do not want to help or help out of duty rather
than love
• Lack personal resources such as good coping
skills
• Lack social and cultural support for caregiving
Learning Objectives
• What sorts of diversity exist in today’s
•
•
families?
What is the life satisfaction of people in these
different types of families?
How does divorce affect family relationships?
Diverse Family Experiences – Singles
•
The majority of adults aged 18 to 29 are
unmarried
• Cohabitation – living with a romantic partner
without being married – is on the increase
– Cohabitation can provide
• Convenience and an affordable living
arrangement
• Trial marriage
• Alternative to marriage
Diverse Family Experiences – Singles
•
•
Couples who live together and then marry tend to
be more dissatisfied with their marriages and
more likely to divorce overall than couples who
do not live together before marrying
– Probably because they are less conventional
in their family attitudes and less committed to
marriage as an institution
Marital problems are especially likely if partners
have had multiple cohabitation experiences
before they marry, live together before they make
a commitment to each other by getting engaged,
or have a child before they marry
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Childless Married Couples
A growing number of adults voluntarily decide to
delay having children or not have them at all
– Especially highly educated adults with high-status,
stable careers
– Marital satisfaction of childless couples tends to
be higher than that of couples with children during
the childrearing years
– Middle-aged and elderly childless couples report
being no less satisfied with their lives than parents
whose children have left the nest
– In some studies, middle-aged and elderly childless
couples have lower levels of depression than
parents
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Dual-Career Families
When a woman works outside the home, family
life and child development can be influenced by
the spillover effect
– Negative and positive ways in which events at
work affect home life and events at home
carry over into the workplace
• Stress at work can be associated by
withdrawal from family members and by
irritation and anger if provoked
• A rewarding, stimulating job can have
positive effects on a woman’s interactions
within her family
•
•
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Dual-Career Families
There is no evidence that a mother’s working, in
itself, damages children’s development
Children, especially girls, can benefit from the
positive role model that a working mother provides
Living in a dual-career family is likely to be good for
children when
– It means an increase in family income
– Mothers are happy with the choice they have
made and remain good parents
– Fathers become more involved
– Children receive high-quality daycare or afterschool care
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Gay and Lesbian Families
The family experiences of gay men and lesbian
women are diverse
– Parenthood through previous heterosexual
relationships, adoption, or artificial
insemination
• Raise children as single parents
• Raise children in families that have two
mothers or two fathers
– Gay men and lesbian women may live as
singles or as couples without children or within
a group of friends that constitute family
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Gay and Lesbian Families
Gay and lesbian families face diverse
challenges.
– Absence of recognition of marriage or of
family
– Discrimination
– Absence of full legal rights or legal status
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Gay and Lesbian Families
Gay and lesbian family relationships are
usually egalitarian
– Partners tend to share responsibilities
equally
– Partners work out a division of labor based
on who has ability or tolerance for doing
the tasks
•
•
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Gay and Lesbian Families
Researchers found that children who lived with two
parents of the same sex were better off in terms of
developmental outcomes than children living with a single
mother
Researchers found that children who lived with two
parents of the same sex were no different than children
living with two heterosexual parents
– These studies suggest that gay and lesbian adults who
raise children are as likely as heterosexual parents to
produce competent and well-adjusted children
Researchers found that children who lived with two
parents of the same sex were no more likely than the
children of heterosexual parents to develop a homosexual
or bisexual orientation
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Scholars have identified characteristics of couples at highest
risk for divorce
– Young adults, in their 20s and 30s
– Married for an average of 7 years
– Often with young children
– Married as teenagers
– Had a short courtship
– Conceived a child before marrying
– Low in socioeconomic status
• These factors that might suggest an unreadiness for
marriage and the high financial and psychological
stress that accompanies new parenthood
– Personality problems and problem behaviors such as
alcohol or drug abuse
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Couples typically divorce because they feel their
marriages lack communication, emotional fulfillment,
or compatibility
– Wives tend to have longer lists of complaints than
their husbands do and often have more to do with
initiating the breakup
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Most families experience divorce as a period of
disruption that lasts 1 to 2 years
– The wife, who usually ends up as the primary
caregiver for any children, is likely to be
distressed, such as angry or depressed, but she
also may be relieved
– The husband is also likely to be distressed,
particularly if he did not want the divorce and feels
shut off from his children
– Both individuals may feel isolated from former
friends and unsure of themselves as they try out
new romantic relationships
•
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Divorced women with children are likely to face
reduced income
– In one study, the standard of living of custodial
mothers declined by about a third on average,
whereas the financial situation of their former
husbands
Because of all the stressors they experience,
divorced adults are at higher risk than married adults
for depression and other forms of psychological
distress, physical health problems, and even death
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Children who experience their parents’ divorce are
often angry, fearful, depressed, and guilty, especially
if they fear that they were somehow responsible for
their parents’ fighting or for the divorce
– They are also likely to be whiny, dependent,
disobedient, and disrespectful
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Children’s behavioral problems make effective
parenting difficult, and deterioration in parenting style
aggravates children’s behavioral problems
– Hetherington and colleagues (1982, 2002) found
that stressed custodial mothers become less
accepting and responsive, less authoritative, and
less consistent in their discipline
• They may use authoritarian style of parenting,
but more often they fail to carry through in
enforcing rules and make few demands that their
children behave maturely
• Noncustodial fathers are likely to be overly
permissive, indulging their children during
visitations
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
As a result of the divorce-associated breakdown in family
functioning, children are likely to display not only
behavioral problems at home but also strained relations
with peers, low self-esteem, academic problems, and
adjustment difficulties at school
•
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Families typically begin to pull themselves back
together about 2 years after the divorce, and by the
6-year mark most differences between children of
divorce and children of intact families have
disappeared
However, some individuals may experience longlasting negative effects
– As adolescents, children of divorce are less likely
than other youth to perceive their relationships
with their parents, especially their fathers, as
close and caring
– Adults whose parents divorced are less likely
than adults from intact families to marry and more
likely to experience marital conflict and divorce if
they do
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
Several factors can help facilitate a positive adjustment to divorce
and prevent lasting damage
– Adequate financial support
• Families fare better after a divorce if the noncustodial parent
(usually the father) pays child support and the family has
adequate finances
• Adjustment is likely to be more difficult for mother-headed
families that fall into poverty and struggle to survive
– Good parenting by the custodial parent
• If the custodial parent can manage to remain warm,
authoritative, and consistent, children are far less likely to
experience problems
– Good parenting by the noncustodial parent
• Children may suffer when they lose contact with their
noncustodial parent
• The quality of parenting provided by the noncustodial parent
is critical
Diverse Family Experiences –
Divorcing Families
– Minimal conflict between parents
• Children should not experience their parents’ efforts to
undermine each other and should be protected from continuing
marital conflict after the divorce
• Children’s adjustment tends to be better when parents can
agree on joint custody
– Additional social support
• Divorcing adults are less depressed if they have close
confidants than if they do not
• Children benefit from having close friends and from peersupport programs in which they can share their feelings and
learn positive coping skills
– Minimal additional changes
• Generally families do best if additional changes (such as
moving) are kept to a minimum
– Personal resources
• Personal resources such as intelligence, emotional stability, and
good coping skills can facilitate a more positive trajectory after a
divorce
•
•
Diverse Family Experiences –
Reconstituted Families
Within 3 to 5 years of a divorce, about 75% of
single parents remarry
– The children acquire a step-parent and
possibly new siblings
About 60% of remarried couples divorce, and an
increasing number of adults and children
experience recurring cycles of singlehood,
cohabitation or marriage, conflict, and
separation or divorce
– The difficulties are likely to be worse if both
parents bring children to the family than if only
one parent does
Learning Objectives
• Why might family abuse occur?
• What can be done to reduce spouse abuse
and child abuse?
The Problem of Family Violence
• The most visible form of family violence is child
abuse
•
– Mistreating or harming a child physically, emotionally,
or sexually
Official U.S. statistics indicated in 2007 that 11 of every
1,000 children under age 18 experienced child
maltreatment
– Abuse and neglect of children’s basic needs
• 71% were neglected
• 16% physically abused
• 9% sexually abused
• 7% emotionally or psychologically abused
• 8% experienced other types of maltreatment
The Problem of Family Violence
•
Family violence takes many forms
– Children and adolescents batter (occasionally kill)
their parents
– Siblings (especially brothers) abuse one another,
especially if there is violence elsewhere in the family
– Spousal or partner abuse appears to be the most
common form of family violence worldwide
– Internationally about one-third of women are beaten,
coerced into sex, or experience emotional abuse
– In the U.S., 16% of experience some form of marital
violence each year
– Estimates are that 5% of elderly adults are neglected
or experience abuse
The Problem of Family Violence
• Child abusers come from all races, ethnic
groups, and social classes, but researchers
have identified certain characteristics
– Most often, the abuser is a young mother who
tends to have many children, to live in
poverty, to be unemployed, and to have no
partner to share her load.
– Only 1 child abuser in 10 appears to have a
severe psychological disorder
The Problem of Family Violence
• Characteristics of parents who abuse their
children
– Child abusers tend to have been abused as
children
• 30% of those who were maltreated abuse
their own children
–This is an example of a broader
phenomenon, the intergenerational
transmission of parenting, or the passing
down from generation to generation of
parenting styles
The Problem of Family Violence
•
Characteristics of parents who abuse their children
(continued)
– Abusive mothers are often battered by their partners
• Abusive mothers may have learned through their
experiences both as children and as wives that
violence is the way to solve problems, or they may
take out some of their frustrations about being
abused on their children
– Abusers are often insecure individuals with low selfesteem
• They may have developed negative internal working
models of themselves and others
– These adults often see themselves as victims,
feel powerless as parents, and find the normal
challenges of parenting stressful and threatening
The Problem of Family Violence
• Characteristics of parents who abuse their
children (continued)
– Abusive parents often have unrealistic expectations
about what children can do at different ages and do
not understand the normal behavior of infants and
young children
The Problem of Family Violence
•
Researchers have identified characteristics of children
who appear to be more at risk than others for abuse
– Children who have medical problems or who have
difficult temperaments are more likely to be abused
than quiet, healthy, and responsive infants who are
easier to care for
– There is evidence that the combination of a high-risk
parent and a high-risk child portends abuse
• For example, a mother who feels powerless to deal
with children, and who must raise a child who has
a disability or illness or is otherwise difficult, is
prone to overreact emotionally and to use harsh
discipline when the child cannot be controlled
The Problem of Family Violence
• Family violence occurs within an ecological
context
– More likely to occur when the parent is under
stress and has little social support
– Changes such as loss of a job or a move can
disrupt family functioning
– Neighborhoods characterized by poverty,
transient population, social isolation, and
absence of community services and social
support
The Problem of Family Violence
• Macroenvironmental factors influence family
violence
– In our society, the use of physical punishment
is common
– Parents who use physical punishment are
more at risk than those who do not to become
abusive if they are under stress
– Child abuse is less common in societies that
discourage physical punishment and
advocate nonviolent methods of resolving
interpersonal conflicts
The Problem of Family Violence
•
Child abuse has many negative implications for
development
– Intellectual deficits and academic difficulties are
common among mistreated children
– Social, emotional, and behavioral problems are
also common among physically abused and other
maltreated children
• Some children become explosively aggressive
youngsters who are rejected by their peers
• Even as adults, individuals who were abused
as children also tend to have higher-thanaverage rates of depression, anxiety, and
other psychological problems
The Problem of Family Violence
• Child abuse has many negative implications for
development (continued)
– Scholars Main and George (1985) observed
that one of the most disturbing consequences
of physical abuse is a lack of normal empathy
in response to the distress of others
The Problem of Family Violence
• Many maltreated children have positive
outcomes
– Factors associated with resilience include
• Genes that are protective against the
negative psychological effects of abuse and
possibly other negative life events
• Environmental conditions such as a close
relationship with at least one nonabusive
adult