UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS
Graduate School
Baguio City
PSYCH213: Psychology of Family Relations
Module 7.2: Current Issues of Families
I.
TEACHING-LEARNING OUTCOMES
A. Teaching-Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
1. Describe the current issues of families.
2. Integrate latest research findings regarding identified issues of families.
B. List of Topics
a. Combining Work and Family
b. Families, Violence, and Abuse
c. Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Family Psychology: A Systemic, Life-Cycle
Perspective
II. TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITIES
I.
COMBINING WORK AND FAMILY: FROM CONFLICT TO COMPATIBLE
➢ The prototypical family with two parents, a stay-at-home mother, breadwinning
father, and a couples of kids was idealized in some sitcoms in the early era of
television, but this family type is becoming increasingly rare.
➢ Profound changes in the nature of how and where we work and the needs and
desires of the contemporary workforce have affected the structure of families,
making work-family issues an important topic for employers, families, communities,
and public policy makers (Halpern, 2005a, 2005b).
➢ Working families are facing new challenges as they struggle to find ways to
provide care for children, older adults, and anyone who is sick, while at the same
time, employers are concerned with meeting the needs of their employees – a
business concern that must be addressed, because no business can remain
successful by ignoring dramatic changes in the workforce.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 1
A. THE CHANGING NATURE OF FAMILIES
➢ Families are changing; many more families are living in “non-traditional” family
arrangements, thus making the “traditional” nuclear family with heterosexual
parents and children, while still the modal family structure, only one among many
different types.
➢ The number of single parents, cohabitants, same-sex families, and stepfamilies has
dramatically increased in the last several decades, and in all industrialized
countries, couples are marrying later, having children at older ages, having fewer
children, and living longer, especially among the best-educated adults.
1. FAMILY ACCOMMODATIONS
➢ Women are full and equal participants in the formal and informal economy.
➢ Although increasing female employment outside the home may be leveling off,
there is no indication that there will be a substantial reversal with women returning
to full-time positions in the home.
➢ Employers cannot ignore the changes in the workforce or insist that employed
mothers fit into a worker mold cast when being employed meant you were male
with a wife at home to handle the work of the house and the family.
➢ Working families must adapt to new family and workplace structures by rewriting
the rules regarding housework and family care when adults in the household are
employed outside the home.
o
Adaptations include increased father involvement in child-care and care for
other family members (e.g., parental care or sibling care), non-parental childcare, work restructuring, and family-friendly work policies (Gottfried &
Gottfried, 2008).
2. PARENTAL PARTICIPATION
➢ With the dramatic rise in dual-earner families, there is concern that parents
(especially mothers) are spending less time with their children and that this
decreased in detrimental to children’s development. Working mothers do spend
less time with their children overall than do stay-at-home mothers.
➢ Research has shown that working mothers spend about the same amount of time
per day in primary care of their children as their stay-at-home counterparts of the
1920s (Bryant & Zick, 1996).
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➢ Modern women, however, spend twice as much time per child on direct childcare, primarily because they have fewer children and are better educated, than
mothers in the 1920s. Since then, expectations about the role parents should play
in their children’s lives and the amount of time dedicated to childrearing have
risen dramatically.
➢ In earlier generations and today in the majority world, women spend more time
on fundamental household chores, which includes carrying water long distances,
chopping wood, boiling clothes to clean them, churning butter, and so on. The
idea that women should dedicate full-time to child-care is relatively new and only
exists in industrialized countries (Boydston, 1990).
➢ The number of children in a family is an important determinant of the time parents
spend on child-care activities.
o
Smaller families may contribute to less adult time invested on children in total;
thus, the per-child investment time has actually increased because child-time
is spread across fewer children (Bryant & Zick, 1996).
o
Although some believe that children of working mothers suffer because of
decreased time spent with the mothers, research has not substantiated this
claim. In fact, data indicate that working mothers compensate for their
absence by the proportion of direct interaction and the amount of time they
devote during non-work hours and weekends (Easterbrooks & Goldberg, 1985).
➢ Balancing parental roles through an increase in father participation (Gottfried &
Gottfried, 2008).
o
Fathers spend more time on child-care activities when both parents are
employed (Sayer, Bianchi, & Robinson, 2004). Families balance parenting roles
in this way to better accommodate the needs of both working parents.
➢ Children benefit by having both parents involved in child-care activities.
o
There are multiple positive child outcomes when fathers are more involved,
such as more mature social adjustment and higher academic achievement
(Parke, 2002).
o
This is not to say that there is equal division of household chores among men
and women; women are still doing more of the housework and child-care than
men (Bond, et al., 2003), but fathers are doing more than their won fathers
probably did.
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➢ In married dual-earner families, 30% of fathers report that they take equal or
greater responsibility (Bond et al., 2003).
o
Families have made accommodations so that the total time that children
spend with parents has not decreased when mothers are employed; rather the
time is more equally distributed among both parents thanks to the increased
involvement of fathers.
3. CHILD-CARE
➢ When parents work, families must make accommodations for their children’s care
during their working hours, child-care has become an increasingly critical and
controversial issue as a result of the rise in maternal employment and the dualearner family.
➢ Findings have maintained that child-care is unrelated to the attachment of
children to their mothers (National Institute of Child Health & Human Development,
1997).
o
Some studies have reported negative cognitive and social outcomes from the
relation with early maternal employment in the child’s first year of life.
o
Child-care can be a risk factor in children’s development and in their
attachment to their mother (Belsky, 1998).
➢ The quality of child-care that children receive is positively related to preschool
children’s developmental outcomes.
o
High-quality child-care is related to fewer reports of problem behaviors, higher
cognitive performance, higher language ability, and higher levels of school
readiness than those of children in low-quality care, and low-income children
in home care (Peisner-Feinberg & Burchinal, 1997).
o
Preschool attendance is associated with higher rates of school completion
and lower rates of juvenile arrest (Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, & Mann, 2001).
o
Children who participate in good-quality preschool programs perform better
on tests of cognitive and social skills, while disadvantaged children receive
greater benefits than other children (Peisner-Feinberg & Burchinal, 1997).
➢ Children who were in daycare for long periods of time (i.e., long days or more than
40 hours per week) exhibited slightly more problem behaviors up through sixth
grade, but the proportion of children to whom this applies is small.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 4
o
These same children also exhibited higher vocabulary scores when they were
in high-quality day-care centers and when parents provided effective care.
o
Positive developmental outcomes, such as enhanced social skills, socioemotional functioning, and reading, math, and vocabulary achievement, are
evident when both daycare and parenting were higher quality.
o
Positive benefits result from quality daycare and the slight increase in
behavioral problems was found only when both daycare and parenting were
inadequate.
B. THE CHANGING NATURE OF THE WORKPLACE
➢ With the rise of technology and an increasing globalization of work, employees
also need to adjust to changes in the nature of work and the workforce.
➢ The growing use of computers, email, and mobile phones has meant that work
can be performed almost anywhere, allowing it to become more global (PerryJenkins et al., 2000). With the advancement of technology has also come the
expectation that a dedicated employee should be readily available and
accessible at all times.
➢ Although the proportion of men and women in the workforce is now nearly equal
(Bond et al., 2002) many jobs remain segregated by gender, and many other job
categories are shifting from primarily male to female (e.g., psychology, law,
medicine, and accounting).
o
There are still very few women in the top leadership positions in the corporate
world and in governments throughout the world.
o
Fewer women are moving into jobs that require manual labor, and even fewer
men are moving into many of the traditionally female jobs such as clerical work
and child-care, so we can expect sex segregation in many blue-collar job
categories to continue.
➢ As working families have changed and continue to change, so have the needs of
the workforce.
o
Working mother, older workers, and other non-traditional employees require
flexible working schedules to balance work and family.
o
Yet, despite all the research, employees, especially women who work at lowerlevel jobs, have little flexibility in their work schedules (McCrate, 2002).
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 5
o
In fact, job hours have increased and much of the work has become more
demanding (Bond et al., 2002). Single mothers, especially, have rigid
schedules, because they cannot afford to hold out for better jobs, while having
to balance all the responsibilities of work and family without spousal support.
➢ FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORK POLICIES
o
As a result of changing workforce demographics, many employers and
organizations have created family-friendly policies to help support their
employees’ family responsibilities.
o
Components of family-friendly policies in the workplace varies widely since
there is no uniform definition and offerings differ from employer to employer.
▪
o
Family-friendly policies benefit not only employees but also employers.
▪
o
Such policies may include dependent care support, flexible work options
which can include different starting and ending times for the workday,
family leave, telecommuting, and job sharing.
Employees afforded more family-friendly policies exhibit higher levels of
work commitment, increased job satisfaction, and reduced absenteeism
and turnover, which leads to better productivity.
USAGE OF POLICIES
▪
The decisions to use these policies is based on perceptions of the workplace
culture. Many employees do not use such policies because they are
concerned that they use of family-friendly policies, such as parental leave
and flexible work schedules, may be perceived as a lack of job
commitment and negative impact their career advancement (Eaton,
2003; Rogier & Padgett, 2004).
▪
When the workplace culture support family-friendly policies, it is associated
with increased productivity and organizational commitment (Eaton, 2003).
▪
Gender has been found to be a factor in policy usage decisions because
of long-standing gender inequality in the labor marker (Catalyst, 2002).
•
Despite the increased involvement of fathers in families, women
continue to be the primary caregivers. Thus, family responsibility
continues to shape women’s work lives and usage of family-friendly
policies.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 6
•
However, mothers, more than fathers, are often judged as less
committed to employment despite their actual commitment and
competency (Fuegen, Biernat, Haines, & Deaux, 2004). Female
employees on a flexible schedule are perceived as less dedicated and
less motivated for job advancement (Rogeier & Padgett, 2004). The
traits of an ideal worker are often in contrast to those of a good mother
(Halpert, Wilson, & Hickman, 1993).
C. FAMILY FINANCES
➢ For many families, a dual-earner household is critical to making ends meet.
However, working mothers are often judged negatively. There is a persisting belief
that employed mothers are in the workforce to satisfy their desire for extra luxuries.
➢ TWO-INCOME TRAP
o
Families require two incomes to cover the cost of necessities (e.g., health
insurance, health care, and mortgage payments), which cost
disproportionately more than only a few decades ago, making it difficult to
support a family on one salary. (Warren & Tyagi, 2003)
➢ Home prices have risen more than three times as fast for couples with young
children because they want homes in the neighborhoods with good schools
(Warren & Tyagi, 2003).
o
Family incomes have not increased at the same pace.
o
The average father’s income (adjusted for inflation) has increased by less than
1%, making it nearly impossible for the average family to live on one income, if
they want to purchase a home in desirable neighborhoods (Tyagi, 2004).
o
Thus, for many families, the dual-earner family is not a choice, but a necessity.
➢ THE MOMMY WAGE GAP
o
Women earn less money than men.
o
“Mommy Gap” which continues to widen rather than narrow (Waldfogel,
1998), working mothers earn 60% if what working fathers earn (Crosby, Williams,
& Biernat, 2004) and is estimated that the wage penalty for motherhood is
approximately 7% per child (Budig & England, 2001).
o
Associated with the work patterns of mothers.
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▪
Men tend to follow a linear path, primarily because they rarely need to take
time off for childbirth.
▪
Women’s work patterns, on the other hand, exhibits significant movement
in and out of the workforce, consisting of many starts and stops,
interruptions and detours, as they accommodate and adapt to the needs
of their family (Hynes & Clarkberg, 2005).
▪
When women take time off from paid employment they lose out on
promotions and routine pay increases (Barnett & Rivers, 1996).
▪
The job interruption that women experience due to childbirth can have
long-lasting financial effects (Budig & England, 2001); research suggests
that women who maintain employment continuity during childbirth have
higher pay than those who do not (Waldfogel, 1997).
D. CHILD AND ELDER CARE AS COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. CHILD-CARE
➢ Child-care has positive implications in keeping parents employed and off welfare.
Mothers are more likely to be employed and stay employed if they use formal
child-care (Boushey, 2002).
➢ Child-care assistance plays a pivotal role in increasing the employment of lowincome mothers by assisting families to stay off welfare and allowing them to work
(Mezey, 2004).
➢ Single mothers with young children who receive child-care assistance are 40%
more likely to remain employed after two years than those who do not receive it
(Children’s Defense Fund, 2003). However, child-care, especially quality, formal
child-care, is expensive, so many low-income families rely on informal child-care
arrangements, such as relative care and family day care, which are not often
eligible for child-care assistance (Boushey &Wright, 2004).
2. ELDER CARE
➢ Elder care is not a woman’s problem or a child-care problem – it is a universal
problem that impact everyone.
➢ Family caregivers often face financial impediments, as well as emotional and
physical health problems, as negative consequences of their caregiver roles.
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➢ Family caregivers experience a great deal of emotional stress, most evident when
caregivers feel that they have had no choice in assuming the role of a caregiver
(National Alliance for Caregiving, 2004).
➢ Caregivers struggle to meet the demands for their multiple responsibilities and
experience physical, emotional, and financial hardships as a result (Halpern, Tan,
& Carsten, 2008).
➢ Caregivers often have no paid time off, meaning no paid sick leave or vacation
time to take off to care for their elderly family members.
II. FAMILIES, VIOLENCE, AND ABUSE
A. THE CHALLENGES OF DEFINING MALTREATMENT
➢ Both research and clinical services for partner abuse and child maltreatment suffer
from the lack of standardized definitions.
➢ Clinicians’ thresholds for abuse are often based on their own opinion and
researchers’ thresholds are typically lower than those used in legal or CPS contexts.
1. DEMOGRAPHIC RISK FACTORS
➢ LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS is a risk factor for all types of maltreatment and
having a larger family may be a risk factor for child physical abuse (Connelly &
Straus, 1992), emotional abuse, and neglect (Chaffin et al., 1996).
➢ Living in an area with HIGHER community violence appears to be a significant risk
factor for partner and parent-child violence (Lynch & Ciccheti, 1998).
➢ Younger couples have a higher risk for partner maltreatment (Connelly & Straus,
1992). Parents’ youth is a risk factor for endorsement of minor acts of physical
aggression and neglectful omissions (Chaffin et al., 1996).
o
There is found to be association between neglect and young age of parents
in the general population, Zuravin (1987) found that maltreating mothers were
significantly older than non-maltreating mothers.
2. VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY OF ORIGIN
➢ Maltreatment in the family of origin modestly increases the risk that parents will
abuse their own children.
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➢ A recent meta-analysis by Stith and colleagues (2000) found a small but significant
effect size for the relationship between violence on the home of origin and
becoming a perpetrator and/or a victim of partner violence as an adult.
➢ History of childhood abuse and witnessed violence do not automatically result in
the intergenerational transmission of violence; 70% of parents with a history of
childhood abuse do not become perpetrators of child abuse as adults
(compared to 95% of the general parent population) (Kaufman & Zigler, 1987).
➢ Similarly, although the biggest risk factor for becoming a perpetrator of sexual
abuse is having experienced sexual abuse or another form of abuse oneself, most
sexually abused individuals do not go on to perpetrate acts against others (Wilcox,
Richards, & O’Keeffe, 2004).
3. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIORS
➢ Factors differentiating men arrested for partner violence from non-violent men
include psychological distress, anger, hostility, personality disorders, attachment/
dependency problems, alcohol abuse, poor social and communication skills,
head injuries, lack of social support and resources, feelings of powerlessness,
inability to cope with stress, and witnessed/ experience of violence in their family
of origin.
➢ Substance abuse has been identified as a risk factor for male-to-female partner
physical abuse (Thompson & Kingree, 2006) and child physical abuse and neglect
(Kelleher, Chaffin, Hollenberg, & Fischer, 1994).
➢ Physically abusive mothers score higher on measures of emotional distress and
rigidity (Caliso & Milner, 1992) and neuroticism (Lesnik-Oberstein, Koers, & Cohen,
1995).
o
Abusive and neglectful mothers tend to be more impulsice (Rohrbeck &
Twentyman, 1986), have lower self-esteem (Christensen, Brayden, Dietrich, &
McLaughlin, 1994), perceive themselves as having less social support, and
report more daily stress (Williamson, Borduin, & Howe, 1991).
o
Physically abusive parents report beliefs that physical force is a necessary
means of discipline (Dibble & Straus, 1980), and tend to blame their children’s
misbehavior on stable, internal factors (Larrance & Twentyman, 1983).
➢ Parents’ perceptions that behavior problems (e.g., conduct disorder, aggression,
attention problems) are children’s faults put their children at greater risk for
physical abuse and neglect (e.g., Larrance & Twentyman, 1983; Whipple &
Webster-Stratton, 1991).
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o
Children with physical or mental illnesses or disabilities or learning disabilities are
up to three times more likely to experience emotional abuse and neglect than
are children without such handicaps (Sullivan & Knutson, 2000).
4. CONSEQUENCES
➢ Partner physical abuse increases the likelihood of negative physical and mental
health outcomes for the victim, including injury, functional gastrointestinal
disorders, chronic pain, major depressive disorder, and posttraumatic stress
disorder.
➢ Victims are more likely to experience housing instability, low life satisfaction, daily
activity disruption, increased alcohol and drug use, and parenting distress that
results in poor parenting behavior.
➢ In children and adolescents, maltreatment has been shown to have a negative
impact on social and academic performance (Iwaniec, Larkin, & Higgins, 2006).
o
Victims of maltreatment are more likely to be reported as acting out, being
defiant, and engaging in deviant behavior.
o
Child victims and witnesses of physical abuse often develop hostile models of
interpersonal interactions (Cichetti & Lynch, 1995) as well as poor self-esteem
(Okun, Parker, & Levendosky, 1994).
5. RESILIENCE AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS
➢ Social support and access to community resources, higher levels of self-esteem,
and financial independence from abusive partners all appear to protect against
the negative effects of partner abuse and re-experiencing abuse.
➢ For children, higher intelligence and more years of education appear to buffer
against the negative effects of maltreatment.
o
Sense of personal control and ego-resiliency predict better outcomes for
maltreated children.
o
Children’s self-confidence and feelings of acceptance created by supportive
environments and relationships with trusted individuals can mitigate the
negative impact of maltreatment, especially in the case of sexual abuse when
the child discloses about the abuse.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 11
➢ For sexual abuse, the immediacy of disclosure as well as the child’s relationship to
the perpetrator, the nature and extent of the abuse, and whether they blame
themselves or the perpetrator for the abuse all contribute to successful coping.
➢ Congruent with a diathesis-stress model, the more problems that accumulate as
a result of the abuse, the less effective protective factors are at buffering the
effects of abuse (Jaffee et al., 2007).
➢ Biological factors that protect against the negative impact of maltreatment, the
genotype for high levels of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) was found to protect
against antisocial behavior in males who were neglected, physically or sexually
abused, and were rejected by their mothers (Caspi et al., 2002).
B. TREATMENT
1. PREVENTION OF PARTNER VIOLENCE
➢ Participation in premarital relationship skills enhancement program may reduce
the risk for physical aggression in the early years of marriage.
➢ For dating adolescents, participation in prevention programs has been found to
reduce both aggression perpetration and victimization.
2. INTERVENTION FOR PARTNER VIOLENCE
➢ DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COUPLE’S TREATMENT (Stith et al., 2005)
o
Demonstrated completion rates of 70% and significant reductions in physical
and psychological aggression for both partners up to 2 years post-treatment.
o
Although DVCT and other programs have produced significant reductions in
aggression following intervention, they too often do not result in complete
cessation of aggression and do not necessarily show better results than
gender-specific approaches (Stith, Rosen, & McCollum, 2003).
➢ Stith, Rosen, McCollum, & Thomsen (2004) found lower rates of recidivism for a
multi-couple group treatment and comparison groups.
➢ Emotionally maltreating couples that paused mid-argument to write about their
own anger or role in a conflict reported increased marital satisfaction and
decreased fighting (Lange, van der Wall, & Emmelkamp, 2000).
➢ Couples’ treatment aimed at reducing substance abuse has also been found to
reduce IPV and improve relationship satisfaction.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 12
3. PREVENTION OF CHILD MALTREATMENT
➢ Home visitation programs designed to prevent child maltreatment attempt to
educate parents about the transition to parenthood, foster realistic expectations
for the development of their children, and strengthen and provide social support
during this transition.
o
These programs show lower levels of abuse and neglect immediately upon
completion, as well as continued positive effects up to 15 years later (Olds et
al., 2004).
4. INTERVENTION FOLLOWING CHILD MALTREATMENT
➢ The goal of many targeted programs is to prevent future perpetration or
victimization and reduce the harms caused by the previously committed acts of
abuse (Tolan & Gorman-Smith, 2002).
➢ Treatments often involve parent perpetrators and child victims (Kolko, 2000) and
focus on parent training to improve management of child behavior, change
distorted and irrational expectations for child behavior and development, and
build strategies for anger management (Azar, Wolfe, Mash, & Barkley, 2006) as well
as relieving child symptoms.
➢ Behaviorally oriented parenting programs tend to improve childrearing practices
more than non-behavioral programs do; however, non-behavioral programs fare
better at improving parenting attitudes (Lundahl et al., 2006).
III. LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSEXUAL FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY: A SYSTEMIC, LIFECYCLE PERSPECTIVE
➢ A systemic approach recognizes that individuals are influenced by their families,
friends, communities, and workplaces, as well as broader societal institutions and
ideologies (Whitechurch & Constantine, 1993).
➢ Individuals exist within, are shaped by, and interact with multiple intersecting
contexts. Further, these interactions necessarily shift throughout the life cycle as
individuals develop, form relationships, and create their own families and
communities.
➢ A systemic approach is particularly useful in the study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual
individuals, whose lives and relationships are increasingly visible in society, and yet
who continue to be vulnerable to discrimination in many settings (Herek, 2006).
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A. COMING OUT AND DISCLOSURE
➢ A process that is unique to the life experience and life cycle of sexual minorities is
the process of COMING OUT, or the process of ACCEPTING AND DISCLOSING one’s
sexual orientation to oneself and others.
➢ CASS MODEL (1979)
o
Individuals move from confusion regarding their feelings of same-sex
attraction, to acceptance, and tolerance of their sexual orientation, to
experiencing a sense of pride and synthesis of their LGBT identity.
➢ While the coming-out process was initially conceived of as a series of linear and
continuous stages, contemporary scholars suggest that coming out is an ongoing
process that is often marked by contradiction and change, and both pride and
shame (Oswald, 2002).
➢ In deciding whether to disclose their sexual orientation, LGBT people must consider
their immediate social context and potential threats associated with disclosure
(e.g., harassment, job loss), how well they know the individual at hand, and the
ease of concealment.
➢ BROADER CONTEXTUAL FACTORS
o
Characteristics of one’s family and community.
o
Individuals from highly religious and/or politically conservative families may be
particularly cautious about coming out for fear of lack of support.
o
Social class and occupation
▪
o
Working-class sexual minorities who are employed on male-dominated
blue-collar workplaces may experience less freedom to be “out” at work
than their middle-class counterparts (McDermott, 2006).
Race and ethnicity
▪
Black sexual minorities often experience double discrimination, facing
homophobia within their own families and communities, and confronting
racism in the gay community (Greene, 2000).
➢ The coming-out process may precede or unfold in tandem with the formation of
same-sex relationships. While sharing many commonalities with heterosexual
relationships, same-sex relationships are characterized by certain unique factors,
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 14
including the stigmatized nature of the relationship, and thus, potential barriers to
relationship development.
B. CREATING AND MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS
➢ Attitudes about gay rights (e.g., pertaining to marriage and adoption) have
become increasingly positive over the past several decades, although negative
attitudes about the rights of sexual minorities continue to exist (Herek, 2006).
➢ Increased dating opportunities for LGBT persons have occurred alongside these
changes. Until fairly recently, opportunities for gay men and lesbians to meet and
congregate were relatively restricted, and the gay/lesbian bar represented one
of the few options for socialization.
➢ The growing visibility of LGBT persons, however, has led to the development of gay
political organizations, gay cruises, gay church groups, and many other
opportunities for interaction (James & Murphy, 1998).
➢ Sexual minorities (particularly gay men) are also increasingly turning to online
dating as a means of meeting potential partners (although, notably, the internet
may increase risk for HIV in that it is anonymous and facilitates increased numbers
of sexual meetings).
➢ As Peplau (2003) points out, the differences between lesbians and gay men
regarding sexual exclusivity are at least in part a function of gender:
o
Men, in general, demonstrate higher levels of sexual desire and have more
permissive attitudes about sex.
o
Women, in general, prefer sex in the context of a committed relationship.
o
These findings may reflect both biological sex differences (men are hormonally
predisposed to experience greater sexual arousal) and gender socialization
effects (i.e., desire and arousal are socially constructed).
➢ Societal discourses influence couples’ sexual relationships:
o
Gay men are aware of romance scripts that prescribe sexual exclusivity, but
they are also influenced by the attitudes that characterize gay male culture
(e.g., sexual consumerism).
➢ Regardless of whether relationships are open or closed, many sexual minorities are
in committed, satisfying same-sex relationships (Bryant & Demian, 1994; Mackey,
Diemer, & O’Brien, 2004).
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 15
o
The fact that so many lesbians and gay men are able to sustain lasting
relationships in spite of non-support from family members, the legal system, and
society is particularly remarkable.
C. RELATIONSHIP QUALITY
➢ Many studies have found few differences between same-sex and heterosexual
couples in terms of relationship quality and satisfaction, although some studies
have found that lesbian couple report higher relationship quality than
heterosexual couples (Kurdek, 2003).
o
Reflect the absence of structural barriers that govern heterosexual
relationships, the lack of institutionalized barriers to leaving their relationships
(e.g., marriage, which confers legal, social, and religious validation and
support) may lead couples to end their unions during times of crisis or
dissatisfaction.
o
Gay and lesbian couples were more likely to separate than were heterosexual
married couples with children (i.e., couples with multiple institutionalized
barriers to leaving). (Kurdek, 2006).
D. PSYCHOLOGICAL INTIMACY AND AUTONOMY
➢ INTIMACY
o
Merging of the self and the other.
o
According to Kurdek (1998), because lesbian couples are made up of two
women who have been socialized to orient themselves to relationships and to
value connection, their relationships should benefit from “a double dose of
relationship-enhancing influences”.
▪
Lesbians’ relationships tend to be characterized by higher levels of
psychological intimacy than those of heterosexual partners or gay male
partners, in turn, psychological intimacy is a powerful contributor to
relationship satisfaction in all three types of couples (Mackey et al., 2004).
➢ AUTONOMY
o
The degree to which one maintains a sense of self separate from the
relationship, is another focus of study.
▪
Men are socialized to value independence and separateness in their
relationships (Gilligan, 1982), which suggests that gay male couples should
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 16
report greater autonomy because they experience a “double dose of
individual-enhancing influences”.
▪
Gay male partners have higher levels of autonomy than heterosexual
partners, although some have also found that lesbian partners have higher
levels of autonomy than heterosexual partners (Kurdek, 1998).
▪
Lesbians’ socialization: Women’s awareness that they will never be reliant
on men to support them may foster emotional and financial
independence, which are characteristics of autonomy.
➢ “Too Much” intimacy, which may be characteristic of lesbian couples, and “too
much” autonomy, which may be characteristic of gay couples can have
detrimental effects:
o
High levels of psychological intimacy, combined with lack of support from the
outside world, can result in fusion, a state of psychological unity between
people in which individual ego boundaries merge (Burch, 1985).
o
FUSION has been blamed for contributing to low sexual desire and infrequent
sexual activity in lesbian relationships (Blumstein & Schwarz, 1983).
o
The double dose of autonomous influences that characterizes gay male
relationships may have implications for commitment processes (insofar as
commitment implies mutual dependence) such that gay male couples
demonstrate lower levels than heterosexual couples.
E. EQUALITY AND POWER
➢ Given their common socialization (e.g., experiences of inequity in contexts such
as the workplace), lesbian partners might be especially likely to desire equality in
their relationships.
o
Lesbians tend to highly value equality in their appraisals of “ideal” relationships
and are more likely to perceive equal power in their relationships than are
heterosexual couples (Kurdek, 1998) and gay couples (Kurdek, 2003).
➢ Higher perceived equality in the relationship has in turn been linked to higher
relationship satisfaction among both gay and lesbian couples (Kurdek, 1998).
➢ DIVISION OF LABOR
o
In heterosexual couples, women often perform more unpaid work and men
perform more paid work.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 17
o
Given that gay and lesbian couples cannot rely on sex difference as a guide
in the division of labor, it is perhaps unsurprising that gay men and lesbians
share housework more equitably with their partners than do heterosexual
couples, although lesbian partners tend to share tasks while gay male partners
are more likely to specialize in certain tasks (Kurdek, 1993).
F. SOCIAL SUPPORT AND RECOGNITION
➢ The degree of support that same-sex couples received from their families of origin,
their communities, and their state and national governments necessarily impacts
their relationships and the families that they create.
➢ Lesbian and gay partners perceive less social support from family members than
do heterosexual couples (Kurdek, 2003) and may have more contact with friends
than family, compared to heterosexual couples (Kurdek, 2006). Social support
from friends is more consistently linked to relationship quality for gay men and
lesbians (Elizur & Mintzer, 2003).
➢ Racial and ethnic minority lesbians and gay men may be especially vulnerable to
deficiencies in support from their families and communities.
o
Gay men and lesbians in interracial relationships may experience low levels of
support (Greene, 2000).
o
Interracial relationships among sexual minorities are met with notable
challenges, including the heightened visibility of the relationship, antagonism
from both families, disapproval within the gay community, and gay couples
in which one or both partners is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are vulnerable to the
dual stresses of coping with a terminal illness as well as possible rejection by
their families of origin.
➢ At a broader level, same-sex relationships are impacted by widespread lack of
social and legal recognition.
o
Same-sex couples are denied many of the legal protections and supports that
are afforded to heterosexual couples (Herek, 2006).
o
Enactment of marriage amendments halts the possibility of obtaining a range
of legal and financial rights, including eligibility for public housing, the ability to
make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner, and the ability to file
joint income tax returns (Pawelski et al., 2006).
➢ Solomon et al., (2004) found that lesbians in civil unions, and gay men in civil unions
were closer to their families than gay men not in civil unions.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 18
o
Couples that are more “out” are more oriented toward seeking legal
recognition for their relationships; alternatively, obtaining legal recognition
may lead to greater visibility.
o
54% of same-sex couples reported changes in their love and commitment for
each other as a result of having had a civil union, which suggests that the
execution of legal documents may have a protective and stabilizing function
with regard to relationships. (Herek, 2006)
➢ Alderson (2004) interviewed married fay men and lesbians in Canada and found
that many couples felt that marriage brought greater depth and completion to
their relationships.
o
Marriage was also perceived as providing couples with a greater sense of
security.
G. FORMING FAMILIES
➢ Up until the past several decades, the main way that LGBT people became
parents was in the context of heterosexual relationships.
➢ The most common routes to parenthood (other than heterosexual marriage) are
artificial insemination and foster care/adoption. Additionally, some lesbians may
engage in heterosexual sex to become parents.
o
Some lesbians and gay men pursue surrogacy, whereby a woman carries a
baby who will be raised by the couple.
➢ TRANSITION TO PARENTHOOD
o
Lesbians who pursue insemination face a range of subsequent decisions,
including who should carry the child, what type of donor to use (known/
unknown), and desired donor characteristics (Goldberg, 2006).
o
Lesbians and gay men who pursue adoption must decide what type of
adoption to pursue (private domestic, private international, public), desired or
acceptable child characteristics (e.g., with respect to drug exposure, race,
age), and whether to be “out” during the adoption process (Goldberg,
Downing, & Sauck, 2007)
➢ BARRIERS THROUGHOUT THE INSEMINATION/ ADOPTION PROCESS
o
Although social change combined with the increasing visibility of lesbian
mothers has facilitated greater awareness of lesbians who seek donor
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 19
insemination, reports of insensitive treatment by healthcare providers continue
to appear in the literature.
o
Fertility support services are often targeted to heterosexual women, clinic forms
are often inappropriate for lesbian/ bisexual patients, and healthcare
providers often fail to acknowledge the non-birthing partner (Ross & Steele,
2006).
o
Adoption agencies may overtly or covertly discourage openness about sexual
orientation, agency applications forms may focus on heterosexual applicants
only, and social workers are sometimes suspected of trying to match the “least
desirable” children with the “least desirable” applicants.
H. PARENTING
➢ Same-sex couples’ parenting experiences are similar to those of heterosexual
couples in many ways; however, they are also necessarily shaped by the context
of heterosexism, as well as partners’ shared gender and the biological and/or
legal inequities within the couple.
1. SOCIAL SUPPORT
➢ Several studies suggest that lesbian and gay parents may experience increased
support from family members once they become parents.
➢ Goldberg (2006) found that lesbians’ perceptions of support from their own and
their partners’ families increased across the transition to parenthood (although
women reported the highest levels of support from friends).
➢ Gatrell et al. (1999) found that many lesbian mothers felt that having a child had
enhanced their relationships with their own parents. Thus, family members may
push their feelings about homosexuality aside once a child enters the picture.
➢ Family support, however, may depend on the parent’s biological and/or legal
relationship to their child:
o
Family members of non-biological lesbian mothers appear to be less involved
with the child than family members of biological lesbian mothers (Patterson,
Hurt, & Mason, 1998).
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 20
2. THE DIVISION OF LABOR
➢ The division of labor becomes more challenging in the context of parenting:
parenthood introduces a new form of labor to be negotiated (child-care) which
often prompts renegotiation of roles and responsibilities.
➢ For example, during early parenthood, lesbian biological mothers tend to perform
more child-care than non-biological mothers, particularly if they are breastfeeding
(Goldberg & Perry-Jenkins, 2007).
➢ Some lesbian couples struggle with issues of jealousy and competitiveness around
bonding (Gartrell et al., 1999; Goldberg & Perry-Jenkins, 2007).
o
Such feelings may be especially salient for non-biological lesbian mothers,
lesbian stepmothers, gay stepfathers, whose parental status is particularly
undervalued by the broader societal context.
o
As children develop, parents’ division of labor may become more equal, and
feelings of jealousy may dissipate (Patterson, Sutfin, & Fulcher, 2004) (although
at least some research finds that labor continues to be somewhat polarized,
with birth mothers performing more child-care and non-biological mothers
performing more paid work (Bos, van Balen, & van den Boom, 2007).
3. PARENTING ABILITIES AND CHILD OUTCOMES
➢ The sexual orientation of gay parents is presumed to negatively affect children in
both indirect and direct ways: e.g., via deficiencies in their parenting abilities, via
inappropriate “modeling” of their sexual orientation, and via exposing their
children to homophobia.
o
Research suggests that sexuality is not relevant to men and women’s parenting
capacities, thereby challenging stereotypes of gay and lesbian parents as
unfit.
➢ Studies comparing lesbian and heterosexual mothers have found that the two
groups do not differ in terms of parenting skills or parenting stress (Bos et al., 2007;
McNeill, Rienzi, & Kposowa, 1998) and studies of lesbian, gay, and heterosexual
parents have found few differences in the quality of their parent-child relationships
(Bigner & Jacobsen, 1989; Golombok et al., 2003).
➢ Sexual minorities may have less conventional parenting values than heterosexual
women and men. Lesbian mothers appear to be less interested in fostering
conformity in their children (Bos et al., 2007) and tend to have more gender-
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 21
neutral preferences for their children’s play, than do heterosexual mothers
(Hoeffer, 1981).
➢ CHILD OUTCOMES
o
Children of LGBT parents do not appear to differ from children of heterosexual
parents in terms of self-esteem, depression, behavioral problems, or social
functioning (Chan, Brooks, Raboy, & Patterson, 1998; Golombok et al., 2003;
Tasker & Golombok, 1997).
o
Some research suggests that children tend to demonstrate better adjustment
when their lesbian mothers divide child-care more equally (Chan et al., 1998),
and that adolescents who perceive less stigma in their environments
(associated with being a child of lesbian parents) may experience higher selfesteem l(Gershon, Tschann, & Jemerin, 1999).
o
Daughters with lesbian mothers may have higher aspirations to non-traditional
gender occupations (Green, Mandel, Hotvedt, & Smith, 1986), and sons of
lesbian mothers may behave in less traditionally masculine ways (Golombok,
Spencer, & Rutter, 1983), possibly as a function of having two women as
parents.
4. AGING
➢ Aging among LGBT adults is understudied but important, in that LGBT adults’
midlife experiences may differ in certain ways from those of heterosexual adults
(Kimmel & Sang, 2003).
➢ The work trajectories of lesbians and heterosexual women may diverge in midlife,
with lesbians being more likely to continue to work into their older age, out of
financial necessity, and because work is a core aspect of their identity (Hall &
Gregory, 1991).
➢ The LGBT community may represent an important source of affiliation as LGBT
adults age (Kimmel & Sang, 2003), especially for adults who lack support from their
families of origin.
o
Involvement in the community, then, may serve a protective function with
regard to physical and mental health.
o
Gay men experience increasing isolation as they age, if they have lost a
significant proportion of their social networks to AIDS.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 22
➢ LGBT parents’ relationships with their own aging parents and with their adult
children have rarely been studied.
III. ANALYSIS/ ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITY: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND THE COVID-19
PANDEMIC (40 POINTS)
INSTRUCTION: Write a reflection paper on domestic violence during the Covid-19
pandemic. Consider the following guide questions:
a. What are your insights on domestic violence in general?
b. What are the risk factors for domestic violence that you observe in the community
that could worsen abuse among members of the family? Support your answer.
c. What could be possible protective factors that help prevent domestic violence
and promote peace within the family?
d. What are some steps that community leaders and government officials can
undertake to prevent domestic violence in their community?
IV. APPLICATION: REFLECTION ON LGBT FAMILIES IN THE PHILIPPINES (30 POINTS)
INSTRUCTION: Read the attached article regarding some stories of LGBT families in the
Philippines.
Casal, C. (2019). ‘Ang pamilya ay pagmamahalan, walang pinipiling gender’: Five
LGBTQ+ families on what it means to build and raise a family in the Philippines. CNN
Philippines. Retrieved from https://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2019/6/26/LGBTQfamily.html?fbclid=IwAR2.
➢ What are your insights from the presented article? (10 points)
➢ What do you think are the characteristics of Filipino families that promote
acceptance of children and/or parents who are members of the LGBTQ+
community? (10 points)
➢ What do you think are the individual, interpersonal, and environmental factors that
hinder the acceptance and recognition of LGBTQ+ families? Support your answer.
(10 points)
REFERENCES:
Bray, J.H. & Stanton, M. (2013). The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of family psychology. West
Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Psych213| Psychology of Family Relations| Module 7.2| Current Issues of Families| hmspa2021 | 23