Family and Parenting

1. Family and Parenting Analyzing Family Life The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Parenting Other Family Relationships

2. Marital relationship Child behavior and development Parenting Analyzing Family Life Direct and Indirect Interactions Between Parents and Children

3. 30 30 25 Percent 20 15 10 0 1970 2000 Year The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Percentage of Single Adults 30 to 34 Years of Age

4. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Cohabiting Adults • Dramatic rise in cohabiting before marriage: • Higher in countries other than the U.S. • Cohabiting tends to be short-lived in U.S.

5. 27 26 25 24 Age (years) 23 22 21 20 19 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2002 Year The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Married Adults • Marital trends: • Changing male-female equality in marriage has created more fragile, intense marital relationships • More adults remain single longer • U.S. still a marrying society; divorce rates slowing

6. Premarital education- Improves quality of marriage May reduce risk of divorce Linked to higher level of commitment to spouse and lower level of destructive marital conflict Benefits of a good marriage- Healthier lives Lower levels of depression, anxiety, anger The Diversity of Adult Life Styles What Makes Marriages Work

7. 10 8 6 Percent of divorcees 4 2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Years married The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Divorced Adults • If divorce occurs, it usually happens early in marriage: • Psychiatric disorders and hospital admission • Clinical depression and alcoholism • Psychosomatic disorders

8. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Divorced in Middle and Older Adults • Main reason for staying married: children • Main causes of divorce: • For men • No obvious problems, just fell out of love • Cheating • Different values, lifestyles • For women • Verbal, physical, emotional abuse • Alcohol or drug abuse • Cheating

9. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Remarried Adults • Complex histories and multiple relationships make adjustment difficult: • Men remarry sooner than women • Stepfamilies face unique tasks • Many remarry for financial reasons, not love

10. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Gay and Lesbian Adults • Similar in satisfactions and need to find balance as heterosexual couples: • Needs: romantic love, affection, autonomy, equality • More flexible in gender roles than heterosexuals • Prefer long term, committed relationships • Lesbians usually do not have open relationships • Increasingly creating families with children

11. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Amount of Same Sex Couples with Children

12. Restrictive, punitive style; parents exhort child to follow their directions and respect their work and effort Authoritarian Encourages children to be independent but still places limits and controls on their actions Authoritative Neglectful Parent very uninvolved in child’s life Parents very involved with children, place few demands/controls on them Indulgent Parenting Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

13. Parenting Punishment and Discipline • Historically, corporal punishment considered necessity and desirable for disciplining child: • Legal in all states; used by majority of parents • Favored most in U.S. and Canada • Corporal punishment by parents associated with: • Higher levels of immediate compliance • Increased aggression among children • Lower levels of moral internalization and mental health • Sweden outlawed physical spanking of a child in 1979: • Youth rates of delinquency, alcohol use, rape, and suicide dropped

14. Parenting Factors Linked to Child Abuse • Marital conflict and individual hostility linked to physical punishment • Child maltreatment: • Almost 900,000 in 2002 • 84% abused by parents • Mandatory reporting for professionals

15. Parenting Context of Abuse • No single factor is total cause: • Violence in American culture through media, etc. • Family member interactions • Perpetuating history: parents abused as children • Developmental consequences: • Emotional and relational/attachment problems • Personality problems and risk of suicide • Aggressive behaviors and substance use/abuse

16. Parenting Parent-Adolescent Conflict • Conflict with parents escalates in early adolescence: • Biological changes of puberty • Cognitive changes and idealism • Social changes and independence • Maturational changes • Violated expectations

17. Parenting Effects of Divorce on Children • Children: • More likely to show poorer adjustment • More likely to have academic and behavioral problems • Overall adjustment affected by social maturity, gender, temperament, custody situation, SES • Adjustment improves if: • conflicts reduced by divorce • parents harmonious and authoritative

18. Parenting Single-Parent Families in Different Countries

19. Parenting Divorce and Children’s Emotional Problems

20. Other Family Relationships Changing Profile of Grandparents • Increasing number are raising their grandchildren due to- • Divorce • Adolescent pregnancies • Drug use by parents • In 2000: 5.6 million children • Stress linked to raising grandchildren • Grandparents and great grandparents are living longer

21. Other Family Relationships Intergenerational Relationships • As children age, think more positively of their parents: • Mother-daughter conflicts lessen over life course • Family members maintain considerable contact • Parents and young adult children describe their relationship differently; relationship related to nature of earlier relationship