FAMILIES

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FAMILIES
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Family Interactions

• Reciprocal Socialization. The process by which
  children and adolescents socialize parents, just
  as parents socialize them.
• Synchrony. The carefully coordinated interaction
  between the parent and the child or adolescent in
  which, often unknowingly, they are attuned to
  each others behavior.
• General Systems Theory and the Family

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Family Dynamics and Interaction

• Oftentimes, the quality of the family systems
  influence parent/child interactions
• Studies reveal that in many single-parent
  households, mothers are not always able to
  provide the same level of nurturing interaction
  with their children than in traditional
  households.
• Adolescents generally have more problems in
  single-parent families and tend to direct more
  anger and frustration to the mother.

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Developmental Construction of Relationships

• Developmental construction views are the believed
  that as individuals grow up, they acquire modes
  of relating to others.
• Continuity view. Emphasize the role of early
  parent-child relationships in constructing a
  basic way of relating to people throughout the
  life span. Child rearing interactions are a
  guide to determine future interactions with
  peers, intimate partners, community roles. Early
  experiences are critical.
• Discontinuity view. Emphasize change and growth
  in relationships over time. Children acquire
  different roles/ different boundaries in their
  relationship with others. Children move from
  family settings where expectations are passed to
  them to peer settings where they exhibit more
  control in their life.

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Maturation and Adolescent Perceptions

• Puberty
• Expanding Logical Reasoning
• Changes in School
• Peers/friendships
• Dating
• Independence
• Period of Stress and Storm. Increasing conflict
  with parents. Children become highly emotional
  and begin to interpret basic feedback as personal
  attacks.
• David Elkind The imaginary audience The
  personal fable
• Preadolescents are often compliant. However, by
  late adolescents they become more assertive
  (Maccoby, 1984).
• Children also begin to spend more time with peers
  and less time with parents.

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Parent and Child Dynamics

• Parent/child expectations begin to change and
  children begin to redefine their role in society.
• Question
• Considering family stress as a catalyst change,
  would children ever really be motivated to leave
  in the absence of stress or changing
  expectations?
• Could adolescent role development be a function
  of the cumulative internalization of the
  expectations of society handed down by parents
  and significant others? If so, do we really need
  to define maturation and adulthood from the
  standpoint of age?

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Parental Changes

• Rise of nontraditional families.
• Marital satisfaction. Marital dissatisfaction
  increases when offsprings become adolescents.
  WHY?
• Economic burdens. Parents feel greater economic
  stress in rearing adolescents.
• Career reevaluations.
• Time perspective.
• Health and body concerns. Parents of adolescents
  begin to develop a preoccupation with health and
  physical/sexual attractiveness. Generative vs.
  Stagnation
• Age of parents at childbearing. Today, with the
  onset of teen pregnancy, parents are parenting
  while still working to define themselves.
  Identity, Occupational commitments, Intimate
  commitments. In contrast, considerable of
  families delay until their thirties. These
  families tend to be more stable and tend to be
  traditional

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Sociocultural and Historical Changes

• Influence of social events like war, famine,
  depression affected the family
• Great Depression produced economic turmoil,
  discontent, clinical depression, marital
  conflict, inconsistent child rearing and
  unhealthy lifestyles (drinking, demoralized
  attitudes)
• The role of the elderly grandparents began to
  change
• Migration trends
• Technological changes. Media influence. Busy
  parents lead to children being socialized by TV

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Parent Child Dynamics

• Parents need to understand that the road to
  maturity is a long process. Change does not
  occur overnight.
• Parents, especially mothers, play a vital role
  towards accounting with kids. Ensuring that
  children follow appropriate routine and
  guidelines.

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Diana Baumrind

• Parenting Styles
• Authoritarian. Restrictive, punitive style in
  which the parent exhorts the adolescent to follow
  the parents directions and to respect work and
  effort. Firm limits and controls are placed on
  the adolescent, and little verbal exchange is
  allowed. This style generally produces socially
  incompetent behavior in adolescents.
• Neglectful. Parents are very uninvolved in the
  adolescents life. Associated with adolescents
  social incompetence, especially a lack of
  self-control.
• Indulgent. Parents are highly involved with
  their adolescents but place few demands or
  controls on them. This is associated with
  adolescents social incompetence, especially a
  lack of self-control
• Authoritative. Encourages adolescents to be
  independent but still places limits and controls
  on their actions. Extensive verbal give and take
  is allowed, and parents are warm and nurturant
  towards adolescent.

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Exploring Parent/Adolescent Conflicts

• Conflicts between parents and adolescents may be
  due to the generation gap.
• Biological Predisposition
• G. Stanley Hall.
• S. Freud
• Cultural Context
• Margret Mead. Somoa study
• Larson (1999). India study

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Adolescent Runaways

• Although adolescent runaway is not always
  motivated by parent/child conflict, many leave
  due to abuse and neglect issues in the home.
• Drugs
• Sexual exploitation
• Many adolescents hit the streets in search of
  emotional needsThis is often a setup for
  unhealthy outcomes and risk-taking behaviors.

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Bowlbys Attachment

• Secure . Infants use their primary caregiver,
  usually the mother, as a secure base from which
  to explore the environment. This type is an
  important foundation for psychological
  development
• Insecure. Infants either avoid the caregiver or
  show considerable resistance or ambivalence
  toward the caregiver. This type related to
  difficulties in relationships and problems in
  later development
• Dismissing/avoidant. Individuals deemphasize the
  importance of attachment. This category is
  associated with consistent experiences of
  rejection of attachment needs by caregivers
• Preoccupied/ambivalent. Adolescents are
  hypertuned to attachment experiences. This is
  thought to mainly occur because parents are
  inconsistently available to the adolescent.
• Unresolved/disorganized. Adolescent has an
  unusually high level of fear and is disoriented.
  Generally due traumatic experiences such as
  parents death or abuse by a parent.

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Divorced Families

• 40 of children born to married parents will
  experience their parents divorce. EFFECTS ARE
  ENORMOUS
• Psychological adjustment is compromised
• Academic performance/competence is compromised
• Delinquency is prevalent
• Depression/anxiety is increased
• Diminished self-esteem
• Poor social responsibility/school dropout
• Drug usage becomes a factor
• Poor decisions regarding sexual activity/intimate
  relationships
• Given what appears to be significant consequences
  for divorce, should struggling spouses stay
  together for the sake of the children?

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Gay and Lesbian Parents

• 20 of lesbians and 10 of gay men are parents,
  most of whom have children from a heterosexual
  marriage that ended in a divorce.
• Gay and lesbian parents may make up as many as
  one million parents in the United States today.
• QUESTION
• Does the sexual orientation of parents affect a
  persons ability to parent or positively role
  model through adoption?
• Should the sexual orientation of parents be a
  factor of consideration in custody decisions?