Chapter 7
Family: Early and Enduring Influences
Chapter Outline
FAMILY: EARLY AND ENDURING INFLUENCES
THE FAMILY SYSTEM
THE COUPLE SYSTEM
How Does the Couple’s Relationship Affect Children?
Learning from Living Leaders: E. Mark Cummings
And Baby Makes Three: The Impact of a New Baby on the Couple System
Into Adulthood: Transition to Parenthood
THE PARENT-CHILD SYSTEM
How Parents Socialize Children
Differences in Socialization Approaches
Parenting Styles
Learning from Living Leaders: Diana Baumrind
Why Parents Have Different Parenting Styles
Research up Close: Transmission of Hostile Parenting across Generations
Socialization: From Bidirectional to Transactional
Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting
Bet You Thought That . . . Parenting Is a Brain Drain, not a Brain Booster
THE COPARENTING SYSTEM
THE SIBLING SYSTEM
Insights from Extremes: When Is a Family TOO Large?
How Are Siblings Affected by Birth Order?
Birth Order and Parent-Child Interactions
Birth Order and Sibling Interactions
THE FAMILY UNIT: STORIES, RITUALS, AND ROUTINES
Real-World Application: “Let’s Have Dinner”
FAMILY VARIATION: SOCIAL CLASS AND CULTURE
DIFFERENCES IN FAMILY VALUES AND PRACTICES RELATED TO SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
Learning from Living Leaders: Vonnie C. McLoyd
CULTURAL PATTERNS IN CHILD REARING
Learning from Living Leaders: Raymond Buriel
Cultural Context: How Effects of Parenting Vary across Cultures
THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY
PARENTAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Working Mothers
Work Stress and Children’s Adjustment
PARENTING AFTER THIRTY
NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
ADOPTION: ANOTHER ROUTE TO PARENTHOOD
GAY AND LESBIAN PARENTS
PARENTING ALONE
DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
Effects of Divorce on Children
Learning from Living Leaders: E. Mavis Hetherington
Who Is Affected Most?
Divorce and the Single-Parent Household
Does Custody Matter?
Remarriage
Chapter Summary
Key Terms
At the Movies
Learning Objectives
1. Define the process of socialization.
2. Define what a family system is and describe the characteristics of a well-functioning family
system.
3. Describe the effects of the couple system on the child (i.e., direct and indirect effects of
conflict).
4. Describe the effects of a new baby on the couple system.
5. Discuss how parents socialize children and differences in socialization approaches.
6. Define the four different parenting styles as studied by Baumrind and others (authoritative,
authoritarian, permissive, uninvolved).
7. Explain how the four different parenting styles are associated with child characteristics and
behaviors.
8. Discuss the sources of different parenting styles (e.g., marital satisfaction, circumstances in
which families life, child behavior).
9. Explain what is meant by socialization being a transactional (vs. bidirectional) process.
10. Describe father involvement in parenting and how it differs from mother involvement.
11. Describe the coparenting system and the different forms of coparenting (cooperative, hostile,
unbalanced).
12. Discuss how the different forms of coparenting are related to children’s social development.
13. In discussing the sibling system, describe how siblings are affected by birth order in terms of
parent-child interactions and sibling interactions.
14. Discuss the role of the family unit – namely stories, routines, and rituals – in the socialization
process.
15. Describe differences in family values and practices as they are related to socioeconomic
status and cultural patterns in child rearing.
16. Describe how families in the U.S. today are different from those in previous decades.
17. Discuss changes in maternal employment and its relations to child social development.
18. Describe the role of parental work stress in child adjustment.
19. Describe parenting strategies among parents who have delayed parenting until after age 30.
20. Summarize the findings on new reproductive technologies, adoption, gay and lesbian
parenting, and parenting alone.
21. Discuss the effects of divorce on children.
22. Describe the characteristics that help to explain individual differences in children’s reactions
to divorce.
23. Explain the factors related to growing up in a single-parent postdivorce household that help
account for the effects of divorce on children (e.g., diminished parenting, loss of home and
lifestyle, relationship with nonresidential parent, custody).
24. Describe the effects of remarriage on children.
Student Handout 7-1
Chapter Summary

Families are social units in which adult spouses or partners and their children share economic,
social, and emotional rights and responsibilities as well as a sense of commitment and
identification with each other. Families are also systems for socialization, which means that
family members channel children’s impulses into socially accepted outlets and teach children
the skills and rules they need to function in society.
The Family System
 The family is a complex system involving interdependent members and subsystems whose
functioning may be altered by changes in the behavior or relationships of other members.
The functioning of the couple system, parent-child system, and sibling system are interrelated
and influence children’s social well-being.
 The couple subsystem is often regarded as the basis of good family functioning. Increased
parent-child involvement and positive parent-child relationships have been found when
spouses are mutually supportive.
 Conflict between the parents, which can affect children directly or indirectly, is associated
with negative feelings and behaviors directed toward the children and with problems in
children’s social development. Particularly when conflicts are unresolved, children are likely
to react with negative emotions. The effects of conflict are reciprocal, with children and
parents influencing each other over time.
 Children have an impact on the couple relationship. The birth of the first child is associated
with a shift toward more traditional masculine and feminine roles. Both mothers and fathers
report declines in marital satisfaction following the birth, but fathers are slower to express the
decline. Temperamentally difficult or handicapped children may be enough to destroy an
already fragile marriage.
 Although socialization begins when an infant is born, it becomes more deliberate as children
develop. Parents teach social rules directly and serve as models whom the child may imitate.
 Parents’ relationships with their children can be categorized along the dimensions of emotion
and control.
 Authoritative parenting, involving warmth and consistency and firm control, leads to the
most positive social and emotional development in children. Authoritarian parenting (low
warmth and high control) leads to conflicted and irritable children.
 Many factors influence the use of these parenting styles including the couple’s relationship,
the parents’ mental health, and the children’s temperaments and behavior.
 During socialization, children and parents influence each other in mutually interlocking
interactions that are best described as transactional.
 Fathers and mothers make unique contributions to their children’s development by their
distinctive interactive styles: Mothers are more verbal, fathers more physical.
 A cooperative coparenting system can contribute to positive social development; competitive
or imbalanced coparenting can lead to poor social outcomes.
 The number, gender, and spacing of the children affect a family’s functioning. As family size
increases, parents and children have less opportunity for extensive contact, but siblings
experience more contact with each other.


Firstborn children often show emotional and behavioral problems after the birth of a sibling,
but the mother’s reaction, efforts to include the firstborn, and the father’s involvement
moderate this. Firstborns are more adult oriented, helpful, self-controlled, conforming, and
anxious than later-born siblings.
Families share stories, routines, and rituals that transmit values, teach family roles, and
reinforce the family’s uniqueness.
Family Variation: Social Class and Culture
 Each family is embedded in a larger social system termed the macrosystem in
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory.
 Parents with lower SES tend to be more authoritarian; those with higher SES reason with
their children and present more choices.
 Parents’ socialization practices are influenced by their culture, their workplace experiences,
and their neighborhood.
The Changing American Family
 Effects of maternal employment depend on the mother’s reason for working, her satisfaction
with her role, the attitudes of and demands placed on other family members, and the quality
of substitute care provided for the children. Work-related stress for working parents can
negatively affect couples and children.
 People are becoming parents later today than in the past. Later parenthood has some positive
aspects, for example, parents may be better established in careers and be more flexible about
family roles.
 New reproductive technologies offer hope for couples who cannot conceive a child.
 Although the risk of birth defects in infants conceived through these methods is higher than
natural conception, the children do not have abnormal levels of psychological problems.
 Adoption can protect infants and children by removing them from adverse rearing
environments. Adopted children are at risk for psychological problems, but age, gender, and
prior living conditions determine the level of risk.
 Gay and lesbian parents are becoming increasingly common. Evidence suggests that children
in these families develop normally.
 Parenting alone is also becoming more common. In general, children do more poorly if their
single mothers are younger, poorer, and never married.
 In the first year following divorce, children tend to be disturbed, but in the long run, most are
able to adapt to their parents’ divorce. Family interactions immediately following divorce are
characterized by inept parenting and distressed, demanding, noncompliant children.
 Children of different ages vary in their understanding of divorce and reactions to it. Effects
are more negative for preadolescent sons and adolescent daughters. Children who have an
easy temperament and other psychological resources adapt to divorce more easily than
children with psychological problems before the divorce.
 Most children reside with the mother after divorce, although contact with both parents is
valuable for children’s adjustment. Joint custody works best when conflict between parents is
minimal and children don’t feel caught in the middle.
 Children’s responses to remarriage vary depending on their previous family experience and
their age when the remarriage occurs. It is particularly difficult for adolescents.
Student Handout 7-2
Key Terms
GLOSSARY TERMS
authoritarian parenting
Child-rearing style that is harsh, unresponsive,
and rigid and tends to use power-assertive
methods of control.
authoritative parenting
Child-rearing style that is warm, responsive,
and involved and sets reasonable limits and
expects appropriately mature behavior from
children.
coparenting
How parents work together as a team; can be
cooperative, hostile, or unbalanced.
extended family
A unit of people that includes relatives such as
grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and
nephews as well as members of the nuclear
family.
family system
A group of people composed of interdependent
members and subsystems; changes in the
behavior of one member of the family affect
the functioning of the other members.
joint legal custody
A form of postdivorce child custody in which
both parents retain and share responsibility for
decisions regarding the child’s life, although
the child usually resides with one parent.
joint physical custody
A form of postdivorce child custody in which
parents make decisions together regarding their
child’s life and also share physical custody so
that the child lives with each parent for about
half the time.
nuclear family
Parents and their children living together.
permissive parenting
Child-rearing style that is lax and inconsistent
and encourages children to express their
impulses freely.
rituals
Family activities involving formal religious
observances and family celebrations.
routines
Day-to-day activities such as making dinner or
washing the dishes.
socialization
The process by which parents and others teach
children the standards of behavior, attitudes,
skills, and motives deemed appropriate for
their society.
sole custody
A form of postdivorce child custody in which
the child is exclusively with either the mother
or the father.
uninvolved parenting
Child-rearing style in which parents are
indifferent and neglectful and focus on their
own needs rather than those of their children.
OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER
bidirectional
coercive parenting
collectivist culture
conditional spanking
cooperative co-parenting
corporal punishment
family stories
family unit
gatekeeping
hostile co-parenting
imbalanced co-parenting
in vitro fertilization
individualistic culture
open adoption
transition to parenthood
work stress
Practice Exam Questions
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. The process by which parents and others teach children the standards of behavior, attitudes,
skills, and motives deemed appropriate for their society is: (a) *socialization (b) coparenting (c)
routines (d) all of the above
2. When parents are mutually supportive: (a) they are often less involved with their children (b)
*they are often more competent in their childrearing practices (c) their relationships with their
children are less responsive (d) all of the above
3. The indirect effect of parental conflict occurs when: (a) the child overhears the conflict (b) the
conflict centers on the child’s behavior (c) *the conflict affects parents’ childrearing practices
(d) all of the above
4. The birth of a couple’s first child typically: (a) precipitates a shift toward more egalitarian
division of household tasks (b) increases marital satisfaction (c) *affects the couple more if
they had problems before the child’s birth (d) all of the above
5. A child-rearing style in which parents are warm, responsive, and involved, set reasonable
limits, and expect appropriately mature behavior from children is labeled: (a) permissive (b)
*authoritative (c) uninvolved (d) authoritarian
6. Which of the following statements is accurate regarding child characteristics and parenting
style? (a) children with difficult temperaments experience increasingly detached socialization
strategies from their parents (b) *children with behavior problems provoke increasingly
coercive socialization strategies from their parents (c) children with fearful temperaments are
less accepted by their parents (d) all of the above
7. Any tendency toward sibling rivalry precipitated in the first born child by the birth of sibling
can be attenuated if: (a) the mother maintains her responsiveness to the firstborn (b) the father
becomes more involved with the firstborn (c) the firstborn has close friendships (d) *all of the
above
8. Day-to-day activities at home, such as making dinner or washing the dishes, are labeled: (a)
family rituals (b) family socialization (c) * family routines (d) all of the above
9. On average, European American parents are more authoritative and less authoritarian than: (a)
Latino parents (b) Asian parents (c) African American parents (d) *all of the above
10. Available evidence on children of gay parents suggests that compared with children of
heterosexual parents: (a) *they show no appreciable differences in terms of emotional or social
problems (b) they show appreciable differences in terms of gender roles (c) they describe their
relationships with their parents are less warm and supportive (d) all of the above
11. After divorce, children’s contact with their nonresident parent: (a) *is linked with positive
adjustment if the parents can agree on childrearing methods and maintain a cordial relationship
(b) remains helpful even if the nonresident parent becomes a casual adult pal instead of
maintaining the parental role (c) remains helpful even if the nonresident father has a history of
antisocial acts (d) remains helpful especially when the child serves as a go-between for the
custodial and nonresidential parents
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Divorce can have a major detrimental impact on children, but some factors may modify this risk.
What are four factors that may moderate the risk associated with divorce?
2. Describe three differences between Latino and European American families.
3. Discuss the advantages of authoritative parenting for children’s social development.