Chapter 11: The Family

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Chapter 11 The Family

• Functions
• The Family as a Social System
• Parent-Child Socialization
• Siblings
• Diversity in Families

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1. Functions of the Family

• Socialization
• LeVines parenting goals
• Survival goal
• Economic goal
• Self-actualization goal

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2. The Family as a Social System

• Types of families and their effects
• Nuclear families
• Direct effects
• Indirect effects
• Coparenting

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2. The Family as a Social System

• Families develop, too.
• Families are embedded in larger contexts.

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2. The Family as a Social System

• How are families changing?
• More single adults.
• Postponing marriage by choice.
• Decreasing s of children.
• More working women
• More divorce.
• More single-parent families.
• More children living in poverty.
• More remarriage.

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3. Parent-child socialization.

• Two major dimensions
• Acceptance/responsiveness
• Demandingness/control
• Four patterns
• Baumrind

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3. Parent-child socialization Baumrind.
CONTROL
High Low
WARMTH
High Low
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3. Parent-child socialization.

• Outcomes of the Baumrind styles for kids in the
  US
• Authoritative
• Authoritarian
• Permissive
• Disengaged

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3. Parent-child socialization.

• Social class variations
• Working-class parents tend to
• Stress obedience and respect for authority.
• Be more restrictive more power-assertive
  discipline.
• Talk to and reason less frequently.
• Show less warmth and affection.

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3. Parent-child socialization.

• Ethnic variations
• Ruth Chaos work in China

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4. Siblings.

• Welcoming a new baby
• Rivalry
• Positive contributions
• Attachment
• Modeling and teaching
• Social cognition
• Only children What are some stereotypes?

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4. Siblings.

• Only children
• Relatively high in self-esteem and achievement
  motivation
• More obedient
• Slightly more intellectually competent
• Likely to establish good relations with peers
• Evidence is that this is NOT a result of parental
  preference
• One-child family policy in China

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The Content of Sibling Interactions

• Dr. Maynards work in Chiapas
• Found that siblings were good at scaffolding by
  age 8
• Content varied across families
• In 1997, siblings in commerce-oriented families
  played store, but siblings in farming families
  did not
• and vice versa
• By 2003, siblings in both groups played store
• Rabain-Jamin, Maynard, Greenfield (2003)
• Chiapas and Senegal
• We find that both engage in sibling caretaking.
• In Chiapas, more cooperation.
• In Senegal, more negotiation.

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5. Diversity in family life.

• A. Adoptive families
• Usually have secure attachments
• Caregiver sensitivity predicts attachment quality
• Desire to be a parent is more important than the
  biological tie
• Still, there can be incompatibilities.
• Many adoptees have been neglected or abused prior
  to their adoptions
• Adoptees display more learning difficulties, more
  emotional problems, and higher rates of
  delinquencythan nonadopted peers

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5. Diversity in family life.

• Adoptive families, contd.
• Kids do better if adopted than if going through
  foster care system
• More open adoptions are occurring now than ever
  before
• Can share information and have contact with birth
  mothers
• Does not confuse children or undermine their
  self-esteem

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5. Diversity in family life.

• B. DI families (Donor insemination)
• Two parents
• Worrries/concerns
• Stress associated with infertility may lead to
  dysfunctional parenting
• Father is not genetically-related and may be more
  distant and less nurturant
• Two-parent families The Reality
• Children adjust as well as other children (no
  greater problems)
• Mothers more sensitive than in adoptive families,
  or naturally conceived children
• Fathers less involved in discipline, but just as
  involved in other aspects

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5. Diversity in family life.

• DI families (Donor insemination)
• One parent
• Not a lot of research on this cant make
  conclusions yet

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5. Diversity in family life.

• C. Gay and lesbian families
• Several million gay men or lesbians are parents
• Through previous heterosexual marriage, adoption,
  or DI
• Equally good at parenting as heterosexuals equal
  knowledge and skill as parents
• Does not change probability that someone will
  grow up to be homosexual
• Children are just as cognitive, emotionally, and
  morally mature, on average, as children of
  heterosexual couples
• Virtually indistinguishable

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5. Diversity in family life.

• D. Divorce
• 40-50 of todays marriages will end in divorce
• Before the divorce conflict
• Hetherington Better to divorce than stay
  together and miserable, esp. if fighting a lot
• Staying together for the sake of the children
  may actually not pay off for anyone.

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5. Diversity in family life.

• Divorce
• After the divorce Immediate effects
• A crisis period of one year or more
• Usually a decrease in SES, esp. for mother
• Parents need to agree on how to co-parent
• There will be new roles and responsibilities for
  each person
• Single parents may feel isolated from married
  peers

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5. Diversity in family life.

• After the divorce factors
• Age
• Some findings that younger is worse
• Sex of child
• Some findings that its worse for boys
• E.g., Hetherington finds there may be a
  steeling effect for girls

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5. Diversity in family life.

• After the divorce factors
• Long-term reactions
• Wallerstein finds some feel impact 20 years
  later, after a divorce of parents in childhood
• Problems with her data
• Very small sample
• People who go to therapy and claim to be upset
• leaving out the vast majority who are not in
  therapy, have adjusted normally, and are not
  upset.

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5. Diversity in family life.

• Poor adjustment outcomes from parents divorce
  include
• antisocial behavior
• low self-esteem
• peer rejection
• drug use
• depression
• poor academic performance
• deviant peer associations
• These increase with number of marital
  transitions, e.g., from intact to single-parent,
  from that to stepparent, and beyond

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5. Diversity in family life.

• After the divorce factors
• Overall
• Researchers find that children in stable,
  single-parent or stepparent homes are usually
  better adjusted than those in conflict-ridden
  homes.

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5. Diversity in family life.

• Remarriage
• 70-75 of divorced people remarry
• Mother/stepfather family
• Best if stepfather is warm and accepting
• Boys benefit more than girls from gaining a
  stepfather
• Father/stepmother family
• Girl may relate to new woman figure
• Stepmothers typically play a more active role
  than stepfathers.

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5. Diversity in family life.

• Remarriage, contd.
• The ownness effect
• men and women display more warmth and support
  with their biological children than with
  stepkids.
• Early adolescence is a more difficult time to
  adjust than childhood or later adolescence.
• Again, the vast majority of kids are O.K.
• Perfectly normal teenagers without prolonged
  problems

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5. Diversity in family life.

• How to smooth the road to recovery
• Adequate financial support
• Good parenting by custodial parent
• Social/emotional support from noncustodial
  parents
• Additional social support for all
• Minimize additional stress

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5. Diversity in family life.

• E. Working mothers
• Their children may
• have higher self-esteem
• be more independent
• have higher aspirations
• have less stereotyped views of gender roles

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6. Child abuse

• A breakdown of parenting
• Abuse includes any extreme maltreatment
• Physical battering, sexual molestation,
  psychological insults such as persistent
  ridicule, rejection, and terrorization, and
  physical or emotional neglect.
• Most abuse in US is neglect, but multiple kinds
  of abuse are often present.
• One million cases a year are substantiated by
  Child Protective Services. (out of 3 million
  reported)

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6. Child abuse

• Who are the abusers?
• 20-40 of abusers have an alcohol or drug problem
  that precipitates abuse
• 30 become abusers themselves
• Many are emotionally insecure themselves
• Think that children are disrespectful or are
  rejecting them, and they act out against
  children.
• Not understanding what children are capable of.

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6. Child abuse

• Ecological influences
• High-risk neighborhoods
• Typically lacking in social services, socially
  isolated, poor, transient, lacking in parks,
  preschool, rec. centers
• Culture?
• Some cultures favor physical punishment over
  others.
• Approval of coercive methods and use of corporal
  punishment
• What constitutes abuse is debated

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6. Child abuse

• Consequences?
• Intellectual deficits, academic difficulties,
  depression, social anxiety, low self-esteem,
  troubled relationships with teachers and peers
• Neglected children are worse off academically
• Tend not to get any stimulation
• Hostility, overt aggression are common among
  physically abused kids.
• Sexual abuse
• Anxiety, depression, acting out, behavioral
  withdrawal, academic difficulties
• 1/3 have PTSD