1. Chapter 15 Context of Development: The Family

2. UNDERSTANDING THE FAMILY
Most important function is socialization
Process by which children acquire the beliefs, motives, values, and behaviors considered appropriate in their society

3. UNDERSTANDING THE FAMILY
The Family as a Social System
Parents influence children
Children influence behavior of their parents
Families are networks of reciprocal relationships
Happily married mothers are more likely to have securely attached children
Children do best when couples coparent

4. Figure 15. 1. A model of the family as a social system
Figure A model of the family as a social system. As implied in the diagram, a family is bigger than the sum of its parts. Parents affect infants, who affect each parent and the marital relationship. Of course the marital relationship may affect the parenting that the infant receives, the infant’s behavior, and so on. Clearly, families are complex social systems. FROM BELSKY, 1981.

5. UNDERSTANDING THE FAMILY
Families are Developing Systems
Developmental change occurs within the family system
The family changes with the development of the family members
Families are embedded within larger cultural and subcultural contexts
Affect how family functions are carried out

6. Table 15. 1 Changing Family Systems in the United States
Table 15.1 Changing Family Systems in the United States. Data compiled from: Bengston, 2001; Cabrera, et al., 2000; Hetherington & Jodl, 1994; Hetherington et al., 1999; Meckler, 2002; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000; 2002.

7. UNDERSTANDING THE FAMILY
Conclusions about Understanding Families
Nuclear family with a breadwinning father, a housewife mother, and at least 2 children is a stereotype (12% of families)
Families as social systems include dual-career, single parent, blended, and multigenerational families

8. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Two Major Dimensions of Parenting
Parental acceptance/responsiveness
Amount of support and affection
Associated with secure attachment
Prosocial orientation
High self-esteem
Strong sense of morality

9. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Parental demandingness/control
Amount of regulation or supervision
Appropriate degree of regulation is tied to parental acceptance/ responsiveness

10. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Four Patterns of Parenting
Authoritarian
Very restrictive, expect obedience, do not explain why limits exist
Raise children with less favorable developmental outcomes

11. Figure 15. 2 Two major dimensions of parenting
Figure 15.2 Two major dimensions of parenting. When we cross the two dimensions, we come up with four parenting styles. BASED ON MACCOBY & MARTIN, 1983.

12. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Authoritative
Controlling but flexible, make reasonable demands, provide rationales for limits
Rational and democratic
Tend to raise highly competent, well-adjusted children

13. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Permissive
Accepting but lax, few demands, little monitoring
Raise children with less favorable developmental outcomes

14. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Uninvolved
Extremely lax and undemanding
May have rejected their children
May be overwhelmed and cannot devote energy to child rearing
Raise children who are aggressive, selfish, rebellious
Perform poorly in school
Are likely to abuse drugs

15. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Behavioral Control versus Psychological Control
Firm behavioral control tends to lead to well-behaved children
Psychological control – guilt, shame, or withholding affection
Poor developmental outcomes

16. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Parent Effects or Child Effects?
Parent effects model
Influences run from parent to child
Supported by research, suggests stressing “do’s” not “don’ts”
Child effects model
Children influence their parents
Also supported by research – difficult children alter caregiving

17. PARENTAL SOCIALIZATION DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Transactional model
Socialization is due to reciprocal influence
Research shows parenting influences children more than children influence parenting
Children do affect parents

18. SOCIAL CLASS AND ETHNIC VARIATIONS IN CHILDREARING
Social Class Differences in Child Rearing
Economically-disadvantaged and working-class parents
Stress obedience and respect for authority
Are more restrictive and authoritarian
Reason with their children less
Show less warmth and affection

19. SOCIAL CLASS AND ETHNIC VARIATIONS IN CHILDREARING
Differences due to
Increased psychological distress
Increased marital conflict
Loss of emotional security
Child adjustment problems
Negatively affects parenting
Also due to attributes viewed as successful in the workplace

20. Figure A model of the relationships among family economic distress, patterns of parenting, and child/adolescent adjustment. ADAPTED FROM CONGER ET AL., 1992; DAVIES & CUMMINGS, 1998.

21. SOCIAL CLASS AND ETHNIC VARIATIONS IN CHILDREARING
Collectivistic cultures tend to stress
Maintaining close ties to relatives
Strong respect for authority
Proper and polite behaviors
Different behaviors can be interpreted differently in other cultures
Middle-class authoritative parenting may not be optimal in all situations

22. THE INFLUENCE OF SIBLINGS AND SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS
Changes in the Family Systems when a New Baby Arrives
Mother devotes less warm and playful attention to the older child
Child may become difficult and disruptive
Sibling rivalry often develops

23. THE INFLUENCE OF SIBLINGS AND SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS
Sibling Relationships Over the Course of Childhood
Fairly quick adjustment to new sibling
Conflict is normal, and declines with age
Less if parents get along
Less if parents monitor children’s activities
Less if one child is not favored

24. THE INFLUENCE OF SIBLINGS AND SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS
Positive Contributions of Sibling Relationships
Older siblings provide caretaking services to younger brothers/sisters
Siblings as Providers of Emotional Support
With age, protect and confide in each other

25. THE INFLUENCE OF SIBLINGS AND SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS
Siblings as Models and Teachers
Younger siblings learn from older siblings
Direct instruction and modeling
Older siblings improve in academic aptitude from tutoring younger siblings

26. THE INFLUENCE OF SIBLINGS AND SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS
Characteristics of Only Children
Relatively high in self-esteem and achievement orientation
More obedient and slightly more intellectually competent
Likely to establish good relations with peers

27. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Adoptive Families
Sensitivity of parents predicts attachment classifications same as for biologically related children
Adoptees do have
More learning and emotional problems
Higher rates of delinquency
Environmental incompatibilities
Abuse/neglect prior to adoption

28. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Adopted children fare better in adoptive homes than foster care
Transracially adopted children also do well intellectually
Open adoption – information about or ability to contact birth parents
Positive outcomes

29. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Donor Insemination (DI) Families
Fertile woman receiving sperm from an unknown donor
Children were as well adjusted as biological or adopted children
Mothers were warmer, more sensitive
Fathers were less involved in discipline, but as involved in other aspects of parenting

30. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Gay and Lesbian Families
Parents are as mentally healthy as any other type of parent
No more likely to molest their children
Children are not at risk of being stigmatized
Children are no more likely to become homosexual

31. Figure 15.4 Sexual orientation of adult children raised by lesbian mothers, gay fathers, and single-parent heterosexual mothers. (Notice that children with homosexual parents are just as likely to display a heterosexual orientation as children raised by heterosexuals. ADAPTED FROM BAILEY ET AL., 1995; GOLOMBOK & TASSER, 1996.

32. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Family Conflict and Divorce
40-50% of marriages end in divorce
More than half of children will spend time in a single-parent home

33. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Before the Divorce: Exposure to Marital Conflict
Conflict produces distress
Anxiety, depression, conduct disorders
Direct effects
Indirect effects

34. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
After the Divorce: Crisis and Reorganization
1 year crisis period
Both parents experience emotional and practical difficulties
Psychologically distressed individuals are not the best parents
Mothers become more coercive
Fathers tend to be permissive

35. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Children’s initial reactions vary as a function of gender and age
Preschool/early grade school
Visible signs of distress
May think they caused divorce
Older children
Tend to withdraw
Become involved in delinquent behavior

36. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Impact of divorce tends to be stronger and longer lasting for boys
May do better if father is the custodial parent
Girls may experience more covert distress, more difficult to see
Girls may become involved in early sexual behaviors

37. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Long Term Reactions to Divorce
Most children show healthy patterns of adjustment
May still have lingering after-effects
Perceived loss of closeness with parents
Fear own marriages will be unhappy

38. DIVERSITY IN FAMILY LIFE
Better for a child to be in a stable single-parent home than a conflict-ridden two-parent home
Not all divorcing families experience all of the difficulties mentioned previously