McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Chapter Ten l Children and Parents

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-2 What Are Parents Supposed to Do for Children? l Parents supply: l love, nurturing, and care to develop sense of trust l assistance towards autonomy l guidance, discipline and support l Socialization is shaped by: l ethnicity l gender l social class

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-3 Socialization as Support and Control l Types of Parenting (Baumrind) l Authoritarian  low support and coercive attempts at control l Permissive  some support with low or no control l Authoritative  high levels of emotional support and inductive control

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-4 Socialization and Ethnicity l Baumrind’s classification more likely to apply to middle-class whites l Primary task of socialization is to familiarize child with his/her culture l Teaching of norms and values l Norm = a widely accepted rule l Value = a goal or principle that is held in high esteem by a society

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-5 Socialization and Social Class l Differences related to social classification l Social class and parental values l Working class are highly supervised at work l More likely to focus on authority, conformity, and good manners l Middle class are less supervised at work l More likely to focus on independence, self- direction, curiosity, and initiative

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-6 l Differences in obedience and independence l Educational level for population increased in 20th century l More importance put on individual autonomy in the last part of 20th century l Both middle and working-class families have drifted toward greater emphasis on autonomy and self-direction Historical Trends in Social Class Values

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-7

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-8 Socialization and Gender l Treating daughters and sons differently l Distinctions parents make may reflect biologically based differences l Sociological emphasis on conscious social learning l Boys and girls may develop different senses of self due to unconscious psychoanalytic processes of merging and separating from primary caretakers

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-9 l Material and physical support l support, food, clothes, shelter l Emotional support encouraging: l security, ability to love l Control l consistent, firm but moderate l Androgynous behavior l behavior that has characteristics of both genders l may be helpful in today’s society What is Important?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Concern about father absence l Encouragement for fathers to participate more in child-rearing l Fathers relate to young children differently than mothers – “Rough and tumble” play l Father’s influence is often indirect What Difference Do Fathers Make?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Father’s influence shows up in long term and day-to-day life l Influence on daughters may be different than on sons l Quality of interaction, not time spent, is what is important for nonresident fathers l Fathers do have a significant effect l But not as great as mother’s effect– much more involved in childcare What Difference Do Fathers Make?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved What Prevents Parents From Doing What They Are Supposed to Do? l Unemployment and Poverty l Can affect the way parents act toward each other and children l Unemployment l Fathers under economic pressure are more irritable and hostile to wives and children l Children became more sullen, depressed and aggressive

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Living in poverty l Similar to feelings of unemployed and their children l Misbehavior of child may cause parent to threaten harsh punishment l Child gets little consistency in emotional support and discipline What Prevents Parents From Doing What They Are Supposed to Do?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Large portion of African-American children live with persistent poverty l Parental distress may be consequential to their development l More likely to be raised by grandmother l Quality of parenting in a three- generation household may be lower What Prevents Parents From Doing What They Are Supposed to Do?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Divorce and Remarriage l Most common way in which child comes to live in single-parent family is when parents divorce l First two years after separation, children are distressed l Mother ends up with lower economic status l May be depressed and angry, not able to give consistent support or supervision

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l In the long-term, most children do not suffer substantial harm l Remarriage does not appear to increase well-being of children l Similar to children with unmarried, divorced parents Divorce and Remarriage

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Single-Parent Families l Studies show that single parents do not monitor children as well as married or cohabitating parents do l If incomes are adequate, they usually provide good care l All things being equal, it is better for children to be in two-parent families

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Family day care homes are most common form of childcare l Day care centers are second most common l Increase in children in care outside the home has alarmed some observers l Typical arrangements do not seem to cause harm Non-Parental Childcare

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-19

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Lesbian and Gay Parents l New birth technology l Questions raised by researchers about how children develop sexual identities l Studies of children in lesbian families l No significant differences from those in heterosexual families l Does not appear to alter sexual identity

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved The Well-Being of American Children l Has their well-being declined?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved l Typical standard of living much lower in first half of 20 th Century l Health care l Poverty l Changes in the family l Intact families l Divorce rate l Single parents Compared to When?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-23

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Which Children?

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Which children? l Well-being related to socioeconomic status l Children with three of the four characteristics have poor prospects for adulthood l an unmarried mother l a teen mother l a mother without a high school degree l a family income below the poverty line

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Which children? l Children with three of four characteristics have good prospects for adulthood l a married mother l a mother 26 or older when child was born l a mother who completed college l a family income 4x poverty level l Children who fall between two groups have an average prospect

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Which children? l By Race and Ethnicity l Black children, in general, are more likely to live in poverty at some point in their lives l Also more likely to live in a single-parent family l Single-parent families more likely to live in poverty, regardless of ethnicity l , increase in Hispanic children in poverty - related to immigration l 1999, number dropped

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved 10-28

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Summing Up l Poor and Wealthy Children l Poor children may be getting less supervision l More difficult to start and maintain two parent family l Wealthy children appear to be more fortunate and have fewer risks

McGraw-Hill © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Summing Up l Children in the middle l Downward drift since the 1960s l More divorce, more single-parent families l Youth more at-risk of dropping out of school, teen pregnancy l Most do not suffer long-term harmful effects l Changes in families may have contributed to the moderate deterioration of the well-being of children l Real crisis is for those of lowest income level