Family and Parenting

Analyzing Family Life

The Diversity of Adult Life Styles

Parenting

Other Family Relationships
Analyzing Family Life
Direct and Indirect Interactions Between
Parents and Children
Marital
relationship
Child
behavior and
development
Parenting
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Percentage of Single Adults 30 to 34 Years of
Age
30
Percent
30
25
20
15
10
0
1970
2000
Year
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Cohabiting Adults

Dramatic rise in cohabiting before marriage:
◦ Higher in countries other than the U.S.
◦ Cohabiting tends to be short-lived in U.S.
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Married Adults

Marital trends:
◦ Changing male-female equality in marriage has created more fragile, intense
marital relationships
◦ More adults remain single longer
◦ U.S. still a marrying society; divorce rates slowing
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
1950
1960
1970
1980
Year
1990
2002
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
What Makes Marriages Work

Premarital education◦ Improves quality of marriage
◦ May reduce risk of divorce
◦ Linked to higher level of commitment to spouse and lower level
of destructive marital conflict

Benefits of a good marriage◦ Healthier lives
◦ Lower levels of depression, anxiety, anger
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Divorced Adults
If divorce occurs, it usually happens early in marriage:
 Psychiatric disorders and hospital admission
 Clinical depression and alcoholism
 Psychosomatic disorders
10
8
Percent of
divorcees

6
4
2
0
5
10
15
20
Years married
25
30
35
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Divorced in Middle and Older Adults

Main reason for staying married: children

Main causes of divorce:
– For women
– For men
• Verbal, physical,
emotional abuse
• No obvious problems,
just fell out of love
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Cheating
• Cheating
• Different values,
lifestyles
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Remarried Adults

Complex histories and multiple relationships make
adjustment difficult:
◦ Men remarry sooner than women
◦ Stepfamilies face unique tasks
◦ Many remarry for financial reasons, not love
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Gay and Lesbian Adults

Similar in satisfactions and need to find balance as
heterosexual couples:
◦ Needs: romantic love, affection, autonomy, equality
◦ More flexible in gender roles than heterosexuals
◦ Prefer long term, committed relationships
◦ Lesbians usually do not have open relationships
◦ Increasingly creating families with children
The Diversity of Adult Life Styles
Amount of Same Sex Couples
with Children
Parenting
Baumrind’s Parenting Styles
Authoritarian
Restrictive, punitive style; parents
exhort child to follow their directions
and respect their work and effort
Authoritative
Encourages children to be
independent but still places limits
and controls on their actions
Neglectful
Parent very uninvolved in child’s life
Indulgent
Parents very involved with children,
place few demands/controls on them
Parenting
Punishment and Discipline

Historically, corporal punishment considered necessity and desirable for
disciplining child:
◦ Legal in all states; used by majority of parents
◦ Favored most in U.S. and Canada

Corporal punishment by parents associated with:
◦ Higher levels of immediate compliance
◦ Increased aggression among children
◦ Lower levels of moral internalization and mental health

Sweden outlawed physical spanking of a child in 1979:
◦ Youth rates of delinquency, alcohol use, rape, and suicide dropped
Parenting
Factors Linked to Child Abuse


Marital conflict and individual hostility linked to
physical punishment
Child maltreatment:
◦ Almost 900,000 in 2002
◦ 84% abused by parents
◦ Mandatory reporting for professionals
Parenting
Context of Abuse

No single factor is total cause:
◦ Violence in American culture through media, etc.
◦ Family member interactions
◦ Perpetuating history: parents abused as children

Developmental consequences:
◦ Emotional and relational/attachment problems
◦ Personality problems and risk of suicide
◦ Aggressive behaviors and substance use/abuse
Parenting
Parent-Adolescent Conflict

Conflict with parents escalates in early
adolescence:
◦ Biological changes of puberty
◦ Cognitive changes and idealism
◦ Social changes and independence
◦ Maturational changes
◦ Violated expectations
Parenting
Effects of Divorce on Children

Children:
◦ More likely to show poorer adjustment
◦ More likely to have academic and behavioral
problems
◦ Overall adjustment affected by social maturity,
gender, temperament, custody situation, SES

Adjustment improves if:
◦ conflicts reduced by divorce
◦ parents harmonious and authoritative
Parenting
Single-Parent Families in
Different Countries
Parenting
Divorce and Children’s
Emotional Problems
Other Family Relationships
Changing Profile of Grandparents




Increasing number are raising their grandchildren
due to◦ Divorce
◦ Adolescent pregnancies
◦ Drug use by parents
In 2000: 5.6 million children
Stress linked to raising grandchildren
Grandparents and great grandparents are living
longer
Other Family Relationships
Intergenerational Relationships

As children age, think more positively of their parents:
◦ Mother-daughter conflicts lessen over life course
◦ Family members maintain considerable contact
◦ Parents and young adult children describe their
relationship differently; relationship related to nature of
earlier relationship