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Family Characteristics (Applied Research Bulletin)

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Title: Family Characteristics (Applied Research Bulletin)


1
Family Characteristics (Applied Research
Bulletin)
  • Effect of parental separation on children's
    behavior
  • 13.8 of children born in 1983-84 experienced
    parental separation before age 6 years
  • 1987-88 increased to 15.9
  • Questions
  • Do children who experience parent separation have
    more emotional and behavioral problems?
  • Does the type of arrangement (mother only)
    affect behavioral and emotional problems?

2
  • Method
  • Used NLSCY data of children 2-11 years of age
  • Emotional and behavioral disorders anxiety,
    emotional disorder, hyperactivity, inattention,
    conduct disorder, aggression, unsocial.
  • Results Rates of Problems
  • More behavioral and emotional problems in
    children living with parental separation than
    those living with both parents.
  • Small difference 32.5 vs 28
  • Majority (2/3rds) of children have no problems

3
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4
  • Results
  • Gender, number of siblings, and SES are better
    predictors of behavioral/emotional problems
  • Being male increased chance of problems
  • Prevalence for girls 38 less than boys
  • More siblings increases chance of problems
  • Each additional sibling increases chance of
    problems by 7
  • Mothers education, age, and income are strongly
    related to problems
  • Those with no high school are 42 more likely to
    report problems in their children
  • Each year older the mother is, the odds of her
    child having a problems decrease by 8
  • Higher income associated with less problems

5
  • Results Custody Arrangement
  • Custody arrangement did not have an effect on the
    rates of problems
  • Conclusions
  • Conclude that behavioral and emotional problems
    are the result of a number of processes
  • Resiliency in children
  • Time since separation is important in healing

6
Children in Lone-Parent Families
  • Almost 16 of Canadian children live in single
    parent families
  • Research suggests they are at risk for mental and
    physical health problems, poorer well being,
    competence, and attainment.
  • US data indicates that they are 2x as likely to
    drop out of school and have kids before age 20,
    and 1.5x more likely to be out of work and school
    in late adolescence and early adulthood.
  • But, Canadian data suggests children in single
    parent families grow up healthy

7
  • Canadian researchers looked at outcomes of
    children from single parent families
  • Measured vulnerability (health, behavior,
    emotional and academic outcomes) among 2-11 yr
    olds.
  • Found that the majority of children in single
    parent families were not vulnerable to poor
    outcomes
  • Differences are due to a small number of children
    with extreme scores
  • Parenting style was most related to vulnerability
  • More than income, parental and community
    resources, and family characteristics

8
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9
Family Characteristics and School
  • How do family characteristics affect school
    success?
  • Researchers used NLSCY data of 4300 6-11 yr olds
    to see how families affect school achievement.
  • Family School Relationships (FSR) Model
    characteristics of the family that are most
    connected to school will have the greatest effect
    on school success
  • Childs personal characteristics have the largest
    effect, then what families do at home to promote
    school success

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11
  • SES directly positively related to achievement
  • Above and beyond family characteristics
  • SES associated with positive attitudes towards
    school, which is related to school achievement
  • SES associated with more social support, which is
    related to less depression, which decreases
    family dysfunction and ineffective parenting,
    which are associated with more positive school
    attitudes and higher achievement.
  • Policy implications improve SES
  • Target parents (psychological services, education
    programs, parenting classes)

12
Working Mothers and Learning
  • NLSCY 25 of Canadian preschoolers have some
    delays in vocabulary, 10 very low
  • At risk for school problems
  • Researchers hypothesize that both family labor
    force and income both predict vocabulary
  • Labor force leads to more income (positive), but
    reduces time mothers spend with children
    (negative)
  • Used NLSCY data for 3000 4-5 yr olds.
  • Vocabulary (PPVT), Labor (weeks a mother works
    per year), income (family income)
  • Amount a mother works has little effect on
    vocabulary
  • Those who work more have children with higher
    vocabulary scores

13
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14
  • Mothers who work more read just as much to their
    kids as those who work less
  • Reading correlated with vocabulary
  • Mothers education more important predictor of
    preschool vocabulary than income
  • Mothers with more education may talk more with
    their children and also have innate skills that
    they pass on to their children
  • Income not as strongly related to vocabulary, and
    mainly for the very poor, so increasing income
    for these individuals may make a difference

15
Parenting Teti Huang
  • For infants parenting competency can be defined
    by the security of the infant-mother attachment
  • Ainsworth attachment research parental
    sensitivity is the most important feature for
    having a secure attachment
  • Mothers ability to perceive and interpret signs
    in her infants behavior
  • Awareness of signals, alertness
  • Ability to interpret the signals (empathy and no
    distortion)
  • Responding to the signals promptly and
    appropriately

16
  • Instrumentally competent child independent,
    responsible, achievement, friendly, cooperation
  • Parenting Styles
  • Authoritarian high control and maturity demands,
    low nurturance and clarity of communication
  • Permissive high nurturance and clarity, low
    control and maturity demands
  • Authoritative high on all dimensions, nurturing
    but have firm consistent control, clear rules
  • Children from authoritative homes are the most
    instrumentally competent
  • Independent, assertive, achievement oriented,
    friendly, and cooperative

17
  • Authoritarian hostile, less achievement
    oriented, more dependent
  • Permissive dependent, poor self-control
  • Neither teach children how to cope with stress
    and adapt to life situations
  • Control and Discipline
  • Power assertion threat or use of force, physical
    punishment, and withdrawing privileges
  • Love withdrawal ignoring or showing
    disappointment
  • Reasoning/Explanation communicating to the child
    what was done wrong and showing how it affected
    others rights and feelings
  • Best for fostering internalization, but can be
    used with other methods

18
Spanking Children (Kazdin Benjet, 2003)
  • Spanking children is a broad area interest in
    many disciplines
  • Using corporal punishment for discipline in the
    home has been banned in some counties (Austria,
    Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden)
  • UN is against all forms of physical violence to
    children
  • In the US, there are laws against being hit by
    others for adults, some organizations lobby for
    the same laws for children

19
  • In the US 74 of parents say the spank their
    children (aged 17 and under).
  • Of those parents with 3-4 yr olds, 94 say they
    use corporal punishment
  • What is considered spanking?
  • hitting a child with an open hand on the
    buttocks or extremities with the intent to
    discipline without leaving a bruise or causing
    physical harm
  • What is Physical abuse?
  • corporal punishment that is harsh and excessive,
    involves the use of objects (belts, paddles) is
    directed towards parts of the body other than
    extremities, and causes or has the potential to
    cause physical harm

20
  • Views of Spanking
  • Pro-corporal punishment not supported in
    academic research writings, but occurs in
    society
  • Biblical quote spare the rod and spoil the
    child
  • Promotes spanking and states that negative
    consequences result from not spanking
  • Anti-corporal punishment Focuses on the negative
    consequences of corporal punishment
  • Violence begets violence, modelling and social
    learning
  • Morality of inflicting pain
  • Conditional corporal punishment spanking is not
    negative or positive, but depends on the
    conditions
  • Spanking varies across dimensions (frequency and
    intensity) and contexts. Does not advocate or
    refute.

21
  • Gershoff (2002) conducted a meta-analysis of 88
    studies on corporal punishment
  • Looked at relation between corporal punishment
    and child outcomes (compliance, moral
    internalization, aggression, criminal and
    antisocial behaviour, parent-child relationship,
    mental health, and abuse).
  • Spanking tended to lead to immediate compliance
    of the child, but
  • Associated with decreased internalization of
    morals, poorer parent-child relationships, poorer
    mental health of child and adult, more
    delinquency and antisocial behaviour.
  • At risk for abuse or abusing ones child or
    spouse
  • More angry, aggressive and stressed

22
  • The review had studies with more harsh
    punishments or even physical abuse and these
    studies had more negative outcomes
  • Another review (Larzelere, 2000) found that mild
    spanking, as a back up, may not be detrimental
  • Key Issues for Research
  • Different definitions of spanking
  • Most research on the effects of spanking on child
    outcomes are retrospective, with ratings
    completed by the same person (parent)
  • Difficult to say that spanking actually preceded
    the outcome (e.g. child deviance)
  • Spanking may be a proxy for other variables
    related to negative child outcomes.
  • Parents who spank tend to do less reading,
    playing, and hugging with children
  • They have more stress and major life events,
    marital dysfunction, mental illness and substance
    abuse

23
  • Goal of discipline is to decrease some behaviors
    (negative) and develop others (positive)
  • Not a lot of research to show punishment is the
    best strategy
  • Positive reinforcement techniques work
  • Child abuse has many serious negative effects
    (changes in the brain), but it is not clear if
    how the brain distinguishes between abuse
    spanking
  • Need research on how spanking affects other
    psychological processes (attachment, emotion reg)
  • Harsh frequent spanking has negative outcomes,
    but effects of mild occasional spanking are
    unclear
  • Caution against use of spanking other good
    methods and may lead to more harsh punishment
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