Family Structure and Parent-Child Relationships

Intact Families For many years, family structure was very consistent in Canada – the ‘intact’ family (meaning mom, dad and children) was the norm Over 90% of children were born into a 2-parent family Now, the percentage of children living in 1-parent (or lone-parent families) has increased

According to Statistics Canada, there were 1,132,290 female lone‐parent families in Canada in 2006, representing 80% of all lone‐parent families, and 12.7% of Canada’s 8.9 million families. Both the number and proportion of female lone‐parent families is considerably higher compared to the count taken 25 ago in the 1981 Census. In that year, lone‐mother families numbered 589,435. They accounted for 83% of all lone‐parent families and 9.3% of all families.

Gender plays a more important role in parental involvement than living arrangement Fathers tend to be less involved with their children, whether they were living with their children or not However, there is some debate because there seems to be some inaccuracy about proper ‘reporting’ of father’s involvements in the case of divorced couples

There is more of a trend now to see that more fathers of children born to single mothers are acknowledging their paternity by allowing their names to be put on the child's birth certificate Fathers who are doing this are usually living with the mothers at the time of the baby’s birth Children born into common law relationships are 3 times as likely to have to deal with the break up of their parents’ relationship than children born in married relationships

Systems Theory Removing the father from the home, or not having the father present from the beginning, has an affect on the family dynamics of the household If the relationship between the father and children changes (the ‘system’) , it affects the dynamics of the whole family structure and household This can create difficulty in a child’s life

Dynamics of Relationship Marital conflict has an influence on children’s development If a child is subjected to Destructive conflict, this can have a very negative impact on them for a couple of reasons: 1. parents will probably use the same method (angry, hostile conflict) on children 2. parents may not be as ‘emotionally available’ for their children – so children experience more tension and maybe even some kind of physical abuse

Constructive Conflict Children learn positive problem solving skills – parents are good role-models

How does child interpret conflict? Some children will ‘internalize’ the conflict and actually begin to feel that the conflict is their fault Children who become involved in the conflict suffer more maladjustment than those who distance themselves

Working Parents Parents are spending less and less time with their children Parents are having difficulty managing their time and many Canadian families are facing a ‘time crunch’ This is particularly true of families when mom works more than 20 hours per week (which is becoming a necessity in today’s economy)

Do Parents’ Jobs Affect Children? Parents who work in stressful job situations in which they see children at risk quite often become more ‘overprotective’ of their children – particularly when they reach the teenage years Parents bring the stress of their jobs home with them

Homework Questions 1. Read the Case Study on p. 334 and answer questions on p. 335 2. P. 336 #3 and 4