Declining/Enduring Families
Chapter 2
Approaches to family
Family Decline
• Approach that regards
recent changes in family life
as a sign that the overall
importance of family as a
social institution is eroding
Family Transformation
• Approach that maintains
that family – both as a living
arrangement and as a social
institution- is not
disappearing but instead is
becoming more diverse and
complex as it adapts to
changing social and
economic circumstances.
Drop in marriage
•
•
•
•
•
Delay in 1st marriage
Reduced tendency to remarry
Increase singlehood
Increase cohabitation
Increase in women working
Divorce
• Less stigma
• Increase in expectations
• Less influence of religion
Consequences for children
•
•
•
•
•
School performance
Deviance
Child abuse/neglect
Depression/Eating disorders
Generational poverty
History of Families
•
•
•
•
•
Colonial
19th Century
Early and Mid-20th
Baby Boom
60s and beyond
Myth of the Golden Age
• High rates of domestic violence
• High rates of depression
• Parents spent less time with children
Media Images
• Compare to content analysis
• Notion of the traditional family
– Reflection hypothesis – mass media reflect the
values of the general population
Gendered Expectations and Family
Roles
• Research shows that happy mothers = happy
kids
• Fathers more involved