Families
• Adolescents’ Families
– Historically
– Today
• Impact
–
–
–
–
–
Conflict
Parenting Style
Attachment
Siblings
Divorce
Historical Change
Patterns over Two Centuries
Three changes over the past two centuries have influenced
family life
1.
Lower birth rate
•
•
2.
Longer life expectancy
•
•
3.
In 1800, women in the U.S. had an average of 8 children
Today the average number of children is 2
Up until 1900, the average life expectancy was about 45
Now the average human life expectancy is over 70
Movement from rural to urban residence
•
•
•
As recently at 1830, 70% of children lived in farm families
By 1930, this figure had dropped to 30%
Today it is less than 2%
Historical Change – The Last 50
years
The most dramatic changes have been in the following three
areas:
1.
Divorce Rate

2.
Single Parent Households


3.
The current rate is so high that nearly half of the current generation
of young people are projected to experience their parents’ divorce by
the time they reach their late teens
Mothers represent 90% of custodial parents (parents who lives in the
same household as the children)
Besides divorce there has been a rise in the proportion of children
born outside of marriage
Dual-Earner Families

Employment among women with school-aged children has increased
from about ¼ to over ¾
Changes in Families
Fewer than 15% of
today’s teens live
with both biological
parents in a
household where the
father is the only
breadwinner.
Dual
Career
Stay-atHome
mom
Age of
Parents
DIVERSITY
Family
Income
Only Child
Number of
Siblings
Changes (cont’d)
• High rates of divorce and high rates of
childbirth outside of marriage
– Majority of adolescents born during 1990’s
will spend some of childhood/adolescence
in a single-parent household
– Half of teens whose parents divorce will
spend time in a stepfamily
• Therefore: many factors that could
impact adolescents’ development
The Changing Functions of the
Family
Function
Performing Institution,
1800
Performing Institution,
2000
Educational
Family
School
Religious
Family
Church/Synagogue
Medical
Family
Medical Profession
Economic Support
Family
Employer
Recreational
Family
Entertainment Industry
Affective
Family
Family
The family in our time has mainly emotional or affective functions
To provide love, nurturance and affection above all else.
Extended Family
Relationships
• Traditional Cultures
– Young men generally remain in their family home after marriage and
young women move into their new husband’s home
– This practice has been remarkably resistant to the influence of
globalization
– This pattern is typical in India, China and most traditional cultures in
Asia and Africa
– In these cultures children typically grow up in a house that includes
parents, siblings as well as grandparents and often uncles, aunts and
cousins
– Similar patterns of closeness to grandparents have been found among
adolescents in American minority cultures
Extended Family Relationships
• American Majority Culture
– Adolescents’ contact with extended family members is relatively
infrequent
– Extended family members often live many miles away
– American adolescents have significantly less contact with their
extended family members as compared with adolescents in
European countries because European extended family are
more likely to live in close proximity
– An exception to this pattern occurs among adolescents in
divorced families who tend to have increased contact with
grandparents during adolescence (especially with their maternal
grandfather)
Family Systems Approach
• To understand family functioning one must
understand how each relationship within the
family influences the family as a whole
• The family system is composed of a variety of
subsystems
EXAMPLE: The subsystems in a family consisting of
two parents and an adolescent would be:
1. Mother and adolescent
2. Father and adolescent
3. Mother and father
Family Systems Approach
•
Based on 2 key ideas:
1. Each subsystem influences every other
subsystem in the family
2. A change in any family member or family
subsystem results in a period of
disequilibrium until the family system
adjusts to the change
Adolescents’ Families
• Beginning of adolescence a time of family
transformation
– Renegotiation of power and responsibility
• Often coincides with parents’ own “midlife
crisis”
– Increased concern about bodies and physical
attractiveness
– Beginning to feel that the possibilities for change
are limited; occupational plateau
Changes in Family Relationships:
Family Needs
• Changes in the family as a whole unit
• Changes in economic circumstances
– Large anticipated expenditures (e.g., college)
– Parents belong to “Sandwich generation”
• Changes in family’s relationship to other social
institutions
– Increasing importance of peers
• Changes in family functions
– Family’s role during adolescence less clear than infancy
or childhood
Transformations in
Family Relationships
• Changes in the balance of power
– Shift from an asymmetrical relationship toward a
more equal relationship with parents
• The role of puberty
– Biological/cognitive maturation at puberty throws
the family system out of balance
• Violations of Expectations
– Cognitive changes in views of family expectations
Changes in Family
Relationships: The Parents
• Parents of adolescents
– Increased concern about bodies, physical
attractiveness, and sexual appeal
– Midlife crisis (most are in 40s)
– Beginning to feel that the possibilities for change are
limited
– Occupational plateau
• Mental health of parents
Sex Differences in
Family Relationships
• Minimal differences between sons and daughters in family
relations
– Similar degrees of closeness, types of rules, patterns of activities
• Sex of the parent may be a more important influence than
sex of the teen
– Teens tend to be closer to their mothers, have more intense
relationships
– Fathers rely on mothers for information about adolescent,
perceived as distant authority figures
Families (cont’d)
• Overall: get along well, feel close to parents (particularly
mother), respect parents’ judgments
– Tend to disagree over mundane issues
– Disagreements stem from different perspectives
– Part of problem: method of conflict resolution
• Similar beliefs about fundamental attitudes and beliefs
– Differ in opinions of personal taste (dress, leisure)
Families (cont’d)
• Progressively less time spent together
– 5th graders: 25-30% of waking hours
– 12th graders: 12-15% of waking hours
Parent-Adolescent Conflict
– G. Stanley Hall (1904)
– Anna Freud (1946)
– Both researchers made it sound as though it was
universal and inevitable that ALL adolescents rebel
against their parents and that ALL parents and
adolescents experience intense conflict for many years
How accurate are these early theories?
Is There A Generation Gap?
• Popular advice for parents of teens
– Emphasizes nonnormative development, stereotypes of strained
relationships
– Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Research indicates
– Very little emotional distance between teens and parents
– Parents and teens have similar beliefs about core values
• If generation gap, it exists in matters of personal taste
(e.g., style of dress, music preferences, leisure activities)
Parent-Adolescent Conflict
• Few scholars on adolescence believe this anymore!
• Adolescents and their parents agree on many of
the most important aspects of their views of life
• Studies in the 1960’s (which were the first to dispel
the stereotype of ‘storm and stress’) found that
– a great majority of adolescents like their parents, trust
and admire them
– when disagreement does occur it was usually over
seemingly minor issues (e.g. clothes, curfews)
Conflict Details
• Conflict with parents increases sharply in
early adolescence and remains high for
several years
• Conflict in adolescence is especially frequent
and intense between mothers and daughters
• It is only in late adolescence and emerging
adulthood that conflict with parents
diminishes substantially
Reasons for Conflict in Early Adolescence
• Biological Changes
– Adolescents become bigger and stronger physically
making it more difficult for parents to impose their
authority by virtue of their greater physical presence
• Cognitive Changes
– Increased abilities for thinking abstracting and with
more complexity make adolescents better arguers
and it becomes more difficult for parents to prevail
quickly in arguments with their children
What Do Parents and Teens
Fight About?
• Mundane issues, not big ones (e.g.,
curfew, leisure time, cleaning room)
• Disagreements stem from different
perspectives on issues
– Parents see issues as a matter of right or
wrong (social conventions or moral
issues)
– Teens see issues as a matter of personal
choice (e.g., how to dress)
Culture and Conflict with Parents
• Conflict is not universal and “natural”
• Biological and cognitive changes take place
among adolescents in all cultures
• Parent-adolescent conflict is not typical in all
cultures
T
H
E
R
E FORE
Culture can take the raw
materials of nature and shape
them in highly diverse ways

Conflict in Traditional Cultures
• It is rare for parents and adolescents to engage in the
kind of frequent, petty conflicts typical of parentadolescent relationship in the American majority
culture
• Reasons:
– Economic: In non-industrialized traditional cultures, family
members tend to rely a great deal on each other
economically
– Culture: Cultural beliefs about parental authority and the
appropriate degree of adolescent independence
Is There Emotional Distance
Between Teens and Parents?
• Very little emotional distance
between parents and
adolescents (unlike
stereotypes)
• Most Teens
–
–
–
–
Feel close to parents
Respect parents’ judgment
Feel loved by parents
Respect parents as individuals
• 20% say their top concern is not
having enough time with
parents
Parents and Emerging Adults
• Typically relationships between parents and
emerging adults improve once the young person
leaves home
• Emerging adults report greater closeness and fewer
negative feelings toward their parents after moving
– Those who had moved at least an hour away by car from
their parents reported
• highest levels of closeness to their parents
• valued their parents’ opinions most highly
– Those who remained home
• Poorest relations with their parents in these respects
Parenting Styles
•
Baumrind’s classification:
–
Parental responsiveness (warmth)
•
•
–
The degree to which parents are sensitive to their
children’s needs and the extent to which they express
love, warmth, and concern for their children
Degree to which parent responds to child’s needs in an
accepting, supportive manner
Parental demandingness (control)
•
•
•
The degree to which parents set down rules and
expectations for behavior and require their children to
comply with them
Degree to which parent expects/demands mature,
responsible behavior from the child
Parental monitoring vs. psychological control
Styles (cont’d)
Demandingness
High
Low
High
Authoritative Indulgent
Low
Authoritarian Indifferent
Responsiveness
The Interaction of
Demandingness and
Responsiveness
High
Demandingness
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Low
Responsiveness
High
Responsiveness
Indifferent
Indulgent
Low
Demandingness
Styles (cont’d)
• Authoritative parents - warm but firm
– Emotional autonomy granting
• Authoritarian parents - obedience and conformity
• Indulgent parents - benign, passive
• Indifferent parents - minimize time and energy spent
interacting with their child
How parents might sound?
Authoritarian
“Do it my way
because I said so!
Don’t argue with
me … it’s my house
and my rules”
Adolescent: “Mom are
you home … mom {no
answer} … I guess I’m
in charge of dinner
again
Indifferent
Authoritative
“No you can’t go to the mall
today. You know the family
made plans to go to see your
sick aunt. How about we drop
you off at your friend’s house
on the way home. Good
enough compromise?”
“Sure you can have a party in
the house while we’re away –
the key to the liquor cabinet
in is you father’s sock drawer”
Indulgent
Styles (cont’d)
• Authoritative: linked with positive
outcomes
– Self-esteem, social skills, intellectual
growth, development of autonomy &
identity, healthy peer relationships
• Older adolescents (Weiss & Schwarz, 1996)
– Personality (more agreeable, openness)
– Academic achievement, less drug and
alcohol use, positive adjustment
Styles (con’t)
• Why is authoritative parenting effective?
– Balance between restrictiveness and
autonomy
– Gradually acquire independence and build
up self-reliance
– Enabling interactions or discussions rather
than constraining
– Sets stage for strong attachment
Parenting and Temperament
Adolescents who
differ in
temperament are
affected in
different ways by
the same
parenting
Styles (con’t)
Self-Reliance
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Indulgentpermissive
Indifferentuninvolved
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
Styles (con’t)
Grade-Point Average
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Indulgentpermissive
Indifferentuninvolved
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
Styles (con’t)
School
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Indulgentpermissive
Indifferentuninvolved
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
American Parenting Styles
• What beliefs are reflected in the parenting styles?
– Research on child rearing goals shows that American parents
tend to value independence highly as a quality they wish to
promote in their children
– Authoritarian parenting clearly discourages independence but
the other three parenting styles which account for 85% (shown in
the previous graph) reflect parents’ beliefs that it is good for
adolescents to learn autonomy
A More Complex Picture
of Parenting Effects
• Reciprocal or Bidirectional Effects
Adolescents not only are affected by their parents but
also affect their parent in return
• Complexity of Siblings
Most research on the effects of parenting styles involves
only one adolescent per family
The few studies that have included more than one
adolescent per family have shown that adolescent
siblings within the same family often give very different
accounts of what their parents are like toward them
A More Complex Picture of
Parenting Effects
• Differential Parenting
– Parent’s behavior often differs toward siblings within the same
family
• Non-shared Environmental Influences
– Differential parenting can result in non-shared environmental
influences meaning that the adolescents experience quite
different family environments and the consequences of these
differences are evident in adolescents’ behaviour and
psychological functioning
Parenting in Other
Cultures
•
The most striking difference in parenting styles is how rare the authoritative parenting
style is in non-Western cultures
•
Parents expect that their authority will be obeyed, without question and without
requiring an explanation
•
The role of the parent carries greater inherent authority than it does in the West
•
Parents are not supposed to provide reasons why they should be respected and
obeyed
Does this mean that the typical parenting styles
in traditional cultures is authoritarian?
No. The fact is they do not fit very will into the parenting scheme presented.
They are generally closest to authoritative parents because like them they tend
to be high in demandingness and high in responsiveness. However their
demandingness is very different from authoritative parents in American or
Western cultures
Traditional Parenting Style
Two Examples
• Asian Americans
– Chao (2001) argues that White
researchers misunderstand
Asian American parenting and
mislabel it as authoritarian
– Asian adolescents show none of
the negative effects typically
associated with authoritarian
parenting
– They have higher educational
achievement, lower rates of
behavioural problems and
lowers rates of psychological
problems
•
Latino Americans
– Latino parents in American
society have also typically
been classified as
authoritarian
– The Latino cultural belief
system places emphasis on
respecto (respect and
obedience to parents and
elders – especially fathers)
– Latino cultural beliefs also
believe is familismo (love,
closeness and mutual
obligations of Latino family
life)
Ethnic Differences in
Parenting Styles
• Authoritative parenting is less prevalent
among African-American, Asian-American,
or Hispanic-American families than among
white families
• Beneficial effects are found for all ethnic
groups
Ethnic Differences in
Parenting Styles
• Authoritarian parenting is more prevalent
among ethnic minority than among white
families (even when SES is taken into
account)
• Adverse effects are greater for white
adolescents than for ethnic minorities
– May carry benefits for ethnic minorities who
live in dangerous areas
American Parenting Styles
Authoritative parenting was
somewhat more common
in middle-class families and
White families
Authoritarian parenting
was more common in
minority families than in
White families
Autonomy and Attachment in the
Family
• Adolescents who are permitted to assert their own opinions
within a family context that is secure and loving
– develop higher self-esteem
– develop more mature coping abilities
• Adolescents whose autonomy is squelched
– at risk for developing feelings of depression
• Adolescents who do not feel connected
– more likely than their peers to develop behavior problems
Attachment
• Quality of relationship between parents
and child/adolescent
– Related to: competence, fewer feelings of
depression, better mental well-being,
identity development, less problembehavior
• Sets stage for other healthy
relationships as well with peers, siblings,
romantic partners
Attachment Theory
• Originally developed by John Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980)
• Attachments between parents and children have an
evolutionary basis in the need for vulnerable young
members of the species to stay in close proximity to
adults who will care for and protect them
• Mary Ainsworth (1967, 1982) described two general
types of attachment:
– Secure attachment
• In which infants use the mother as a ‘secure base form which to
explore’ but seek physical comfort and consolation from her if
frightened or threatened
– Insecure attachment
• Infants are wary of exploring the environment and resist or avoid the
mother when she attempts to offer comfort or consolation
Research on the Effects of Secure
Attachment in Adolescence and Emerging
Adulthood
Secure attachment to parents in adolescence is
related to a variety of favorable outcomes
• Effects on Adolescents
– Adolescents’ well being
– Higher self-esteem
– Better psychological and
physical health
– Tend to have closer
relationships with friends
and romantic partners
– More autonomous and selfreliant
• Effects on Emerging
Adults
– Higher educational and
occupational attainment
– Lower psychological
problems
– Lower drug use
Positive Parenting
• Warm, affectionate, caring, supportive, emotionally
attuned and emotionally literate
– positive attention, no door mats
• Clear and appropriate boundaries and supervision,
backed up by positive discipline
– negotiated rules, consistency, agreed sanctions for
inappropriate behaviour, no hitting or shouting, allowing
children their own space, handling conflict helpfully
• Age appropriate expectations, responsibility and
challenges
– providing opportunities to try new things, but not over
stimulation, encouragement for trying, not for succeeding
Outcomes of unhelpful
parenting
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
antisocial behaviour
delinquency
criminality
violence
poor social competence
poor peer relationships
poor educational outcomes
Odds of poor mental health age 26 yrs according to
relationship with parents age 16 yrs
Nagging/complaining
***
Strict/bossy
**
Don’t understand me
***
***
Treat like child
***
Overprotective
***
Generous
Helpful
Loving/ caring
**
Can talk to them
*
Allow me freedom
***
0.5
1
1.5
1970 Birth Cohort : adjusted for sex, social class and mental health age 16 years
Odds of poor general health age 26 yrs according to
relationship with parents age 16 yrs
Nagging/complaining
Strict/bossy
Don’t understand them
***
Don’t understand me
Treat like child
Overprotective
Generous
*
Helpful
Loving/ caring
*
Understanding
*
Allow freedom
0.5
1
1.5
1970 Birth Cohort : adjusted for sex, social class and mental health age 16 years
Behavioral Genetics:
Why Are Siblings So Different?
 Siblings may have very different family experiences
 Treated differently by parents
 Perceive similar experiences in different ways
 Unequal treatment often creates conflict among
siblings, but most (75%) treatment is not differential
 If all siblings are treated well, research shows that
differential treatment can actually be a good thing
 Leads to siblings getting along better
 Less sibling rivalry
 Sibling deidentification
 Trying to distinguish self from sibling can also diminish
feelings of competition
Sibling Relationships
• Adolescent’s relationships with siblings
– become more equal
– become more distant
– become less emotionally intense
• Quality of sibling relationships are affected by
quality of parent-child relationship
• Quality of adolescent-sibling relationship affects
adolescent’s relationships with peers
Gene-environment
Correlations
1. Passive
2. Reactive (Evocative)
3. Active (Niche-picking)
Common Sense
Gene-Environment Correlation
Child’s
Genes
Child’s
Phenotype
Child’s
Environment
Passive
Gene-Environment Correlation
Child’s
Genes
Child’s
Phenotype
Parents’
Genotype
Child’s
Environment
Reactive (Evocative)
Gene-Environment Correlation
Child’s
Genes
Child’s
Phenotype
Parents’
Genotype
Child’s
Environment
Reactive (Evocative)
Gene-Environment Correlation
Riggins-Caspers et al. (2003)
Biological Risk
For Problem
Behaviors
Adolescent
Oppositional
and Conductdisordered
Problems
Parents’
Genotype
Coercive/Abrasive
Interactions and
Harsh Discipline
From Adoptive
Parents
Active (Niche-picking)
Gene-Environment Correlation
Child’s
Genes
Child’s
Phenotype
Parents’
Genotype
Child’s
Environment
Gene-Environment Correlation
Evocative Gene Environment Correlation for
Popularity and 5-HT2A Polymorphism
Mean Evoked Popularity (Z-score)
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1
Sample 1
Sample 2
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
AA genotype
GA and GG genotypes
5-HT 2A Genotype
Gene-Environment Correlation
Ge et al (1996)
Evocative Correlation Between Genetic
Predisposition
Adoptive Father's Parenting Behaviors
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
Hostility
Warmth
Harsh/Inconsistent Discipline
Nurturant/Involved Parenting
-2
-2.5
-3
No Disorder
Single Disorder
Biological Parents' Psychological Status
Multiple Disorder
Divorce
• Process of going through a divorce, not resulting
family structure, matters most
• Adverse consequences of divorce are linked to
exposure to marital conflict and disorganized
parenting
• “Sleeper effect” for adolescents
• More problems if a remarriage occurs during early
adolescence rather than childhood
Changes in Divorce Rate
Americans have the highest
divorce rate of any country
in the world
Effects of Divorce – Family Process
•
Family process is the quality of family members’ relationships, how
much warmth or hostility there is between them, and so on
•
Three factors of family process with regard to the effects of children
and adolescents of divorce
1.
Exposure to conflict between parents
–
2.
Affects on parenting practices
–
3.
Exposure to parents’ conflicts, more than the specific event of divorce
is especially damaging
Divorce is stressful and painful to most of the adults who experience it
and it affects their role as parents
Increases in economic stress
–
–
Money is tight in mother-headed households
Income in mother-headed households decreases by an average of 40%
to 50%
The Changing Family: Divorce
The Longer-Term Effects of Divorce
– Individuals whose parents divorce during
preadolescence and adolescence often
demonstrate adjustment difficulties later
Effects of Divorce
• Young people whose parents have divorced are
at higher risk for a wide variety of negative
outcomes:
– Behavior problems
– Psychological distress
– Lower academic achievement
– Higher rates of drug and alcohol use
– Initiate sexual intercourse at an earlier age
– Depression and withdrawal
– Anxiousness
– Less likely to attend college
Effects of Divorce
• In emerging adulthood, the effects of parental
divorce are evident in:
– Greater problems in forming close romantic relationships
– Wariness of entering marriage
– Their determination to avoid divorce
Interesting Footnote: The risk of divorce is
higher for young people from divorced families
The Changing Family: Divorce
• Custody, Contact, and Conflict
following Divorce
– It is the quality of the relationship
between the adolescent’s divorced
parents (not which one he or she lives
with), that matters most
Effects of divorce on the development of emotional problems:
A long-term study of British individuals (Cherlin et al, 1998)
Family in a Changing Society
• Implications of high divorce rates and high
rates of childbirth outside of marriage
– Most American adolescents born during 1990s
will spend some of their childhood or
adolescence in a single-parent household
– Half of teens whose parents divorce will spend
time in a stepfamily
Effects of Single Parenthood
• Just as in divorced families, adolescents in never-married,
single-parent households are at greater risk for a variety of
problems
–
–
–
–
–
Low school achievement
Depression
Anxiety
Substance use
Early initiation of sexual activity
Interesting Footnote: African American families
have a long tradition of extended family household and
an extended family structure has been found to
provide important assistance to single parent families
The Changing Family: Economic
Strain and Poverty
• Parents under
financial stress are
harsher, more
inconsistent, less
involved
• Adolescents living in
these conditions
have greater risk of
– psychological
difficulties
– problem behaviors
Effects of Dual-Earner Families
The effects of dual-earner families depend on the
gender of the adolescent
• Effects on Girls
– Often quite positive
– Tend to become more
confident
– Have higher career
aspirations
• Effects on Boys
– More negative than the
effects on girls
– Have more arguments with
their mothers and siblings
– Poorer school performance
for boys in middle-class and
upper-middle-class families
The Changing Family: Remarriage
• 75% men and 67% women remarry after
divorce
• Adolescents growing up in stepfamilies often
have more problems than their peers
• African-American teens more likely to
experience parental divorce and less likely
to experience parents’ remarriage
Effects of Remarriage
• Adolescents typically take a turn for the worse when their
mothers remarry
• Adolescents in stepfamilies have a greater likelihood for
a variety of problems:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Depression
Anxiety
Conduct disorders
Lower academic achievement
More likely to engage in delinquent activities
More problems adjusting to the remarriage
– Girls tend to have an especially negative reaction to their
parents’ remarriage
The Importance of the Family in
Adolescent Development
• Adolescents who feel that their parents or
guardians are “there” for them – caring,
involved, and accepting – are healthier,
happier, and more competent than their
peers
• Despite growing importance of peers,
adolescents still need love and support of
adults who care about them