8. Families Flashcards
(110 cards)
1
Q
What is Bronfenbrenner’s 5 environmental systems?
A
1) microsystem
2) mesosystem
3) exosystem
4) macrosystem
5) chronosystem
2
Q
Describe the microsystem.
A
The settings in which the individual lives (eg. family, peers, school, work)
3
Q
Describe the mesosystem.
A
link between microsystems (eg. family and peer relations)
4
Q
Describe the exosystem.
A
Influences from another setting (eg. parents’ work) that the adolescent does not experience directly
5
Q
Describe the macrosystem.
A
Culture (eg. ethnic group, nation)
6
Q
Describe the chronosystem.
A
Sociohistorical circumstances (eg. increase in working mothers, divorced parents, gay and lesbian parents, multiethnic families)
7
Q
What is reciprocal sociaization?
A
the process by which children/adolescents socialise parents, just as parents socialise them. Bidirectional relationships rather than unidirectional parenting effect.
8
Q
What does the family comprise of?
A
Many subsystems defined in terms of generation, gender, role.
eg. dyadic (2 people); polyadic (>2 people)
9
Q
What defines each subunit in the family?
A
division of labor or attachment
10
Q
Give an example for direct and indirect effect of parent-child influence.
A
direct: parent’s behavior –> child
indirect: marital relationship between parents mediates the way parents act towards the child
11
Q
Describe the link between marital relationships and parenting.
A
- happily married parents are more sensitive, responsive, warm, and affectionate toward their children and adolescents
- greater intimacy and communication in marriage –> more affectionate to their children and adolescents
12
Q
What is the practical implication of the link between marital relationships and parenting?
A
programmes that focus on parenting skills might also benefit from including attention to participants’ marriages
13
Q
Why is maturation an important theme in parent-adolescent relationships?
A
Because it’s not only adolescents who mature but their parents also change in their adult years.
14
Q
Recall the 3 key types of adolescent developmental changes.
A
1) biological
2) cognitive
3) socioemotional
15
Q
How do biological changes affect parent-child relations?
A
puberty – conflict between parents and adolescents is most stressful during the apex of pubertal growth (especially between mothers and sons). stable expectations are lagging behind the period of rapid pubertal change.
16
Q
How do cognitive changes affect parent-child relations?
- idealistic thinking
- logical thinking
A
idealistic thinking – parents are now evaluated against an ‘ideal parent’. the inevitable negative interchanges will be compare to their schema of an ideal parent.
logical thinking – begin to question and seek rationales for parental demands. parents perceive this as resistance as it goes against their previously compliant behavior. parents often respond to lack of compliance with increased pressure for compliance
17
Q
What are 3 socio-emotional changes that occur for adolscents that may affect their relationships with their parents?
A
1) changes in schooling – transitioning from primary sch to sec sch. can be stressful due to increased workload and having to cope in an anonymous large environment with multiple teachers.
2) peers, friendships, dating. Adolescents want to spend more time with their peers and develop more sophisticated friendships
3) movement towards independence
18
Q
What are 4 types of parental changes that occur when their children become adolescents?
A
1) marital satisfaction
2) economic burdens
3) career reevaluation and time constraints
4) health and body concerns
19
Q
How does marital satisfaction change when their children become adolescents?
A
increases because children are now more independent, they have more time to spend with each other. increases further after adolescents leave home.
20
Q
How do economic burdens change when children are in adolescence?
A
they feel greater economic burden (paying for kids’ tuition fees, higher allowance)
21
Q
Describe how parents carry out career reevaluation when their kids reach adolescence.
A
peak of their career. reevaluate occupational achievement, deciding whether they have met their youthful aspirations of success. May look to the future and think about how much time they have remaining to accomplish their life goals. Contrast adolescents who look to the future with unbounded optimism.
22
Q
How do health and bodily concerns differ for parents and adolescents?
A
many parents perceive their body and sexual attractiveness to be deteriorating. In contrast,
adolescents are reaching the peak of their physical attractiveness, strength, and health. more positive outlook.
23
Q
What are multiple developmental trajectories?
A
Refers to the fact that adults follow one trajectory and adolescents follow another one.
24
Q
How does marital relationship vary with the timing of parenthood onset?
A
Later starting couples have more egalitarian relationships, with men participating more in childcare and household tasks. Older fathers as warmer, communicate better, and place fewer demands on their children, show less rejection with their children. But older fathers less likely to engage in physical play or sports with children.
25
How do parents act as managers to their children?
1) manage adolescents' opportunities. find information, make contacts, help structure choices, provide guidance. help adolescent avoid pitfalls and navigate through decisions.
2) monitor adolescents' social relationships. regulate opportunities for social contact with peers and adults.
26
What are family management practices and how does this lead to positive outcomes in the adolescent?
maintaining a structured family environment (eg. establishing routines for homework, chores, bedtime). positively related to students' grades and self responsibility.
27
What is parental monitoring?
supervising an adolescent's choice of social settings, activities, and friends
28
How does parenting styles influence adolescent's information disclosure?
responsive parenting and higher parental control (authoritative) --> higher willingness to disclose info
29
What are the 4 types of parenting styles? Which 2 dimensions do they vary on?
1) authoritative
2) authoritarian
3) permissive/indulgent
4) neglect
- warmth & behavioral control
30
Describe authoritative parenting.
High warmth, high control
- Encourage adolescents to be independent but still place limits and controls.
- verbal give and take
- positive outcomes: self-reliant, socially responsible
31
Describe authoritarian parenting.
- high control, low warmth
- little verbal exchange
- restrictive, punitive style
- negative outcomes: poor communication skills
32
Describe neglectful parenting.
- uninvolved; lack parental monitoring
| - negative outcomes: child lacks self control, socially incompetent (cannot handle their independence well)
33
Describe indulgent, permissive parenting.
- high warmth, low control
- some parents mistakenly believe that combining warm involvement with few restraints will produce a creative, confident adolescent, but is instead associated with social incompetence and a lack of self control
34
Why is authoritative parenting the most effective style? (3)
- appropriate balance between control and autonomy
- verbal give and take help adolescents express their views and understand social relationships
- warmth and parental involvement make adolescent more receptive to parental influence
35
Why might authoritarian parenting work well in Asian cultures?
Elements of authoritarian style may take on different meanings and have different effects depending on context. Asian parents tend to exert considerable control over their children’s lives. This control reflects concern and involvement in their children’s lives and is best conceptualized as a type of training
36
What are 3 critics of the parenting style approach?
1) don't account for reciprocal socialisation, influence is bidirectional
2) most parents use a combination of techniques depending on situation
3) concept is too broad. more research must be done by studying various components of each style.
37
How do mothers and fathers interact differently with their adolescents?
Mothers -- caregiving and teaching activities
| Fathers -- leisure activities
38
How do parents socialise their daughters compared to sons?
- socialise daughters to be more obedient and responsible than sons
- place more restrictions on daughter's autonomy
39
In what ways do fathers show more attention to son than daughters?
- engage in more activities with them
| - put in more effort to promote their son's intellectual development
40
How does social time spent with parents change from early to late adolescence?
declines
41
Which parent do adolescents spend the most time with?
same-sex parent
42
What are the negative outcomes of having an absent father in single-parent families? :(
- lower rates of high school graduation
- problems with socioemotional adjustment
- adult mental health problems
43
parent-adolescent conflict is a result of generation gap between values and attitudes between adolescents and parents. Is this accurate?
NOPE. Inaccurate stereotype. Most adolescents and parents share similar beliefs about the value of hardwork, achievement, and career aspirations. Also tend to hold similar religious and political beliefs
44
How do the amount of parent-adolescent conflicts change over time?
escalates during early adolescence, declines from early adolescence to late adolescence.
45
How does the nature of conflict resolution change over time?
initially mostly resolved by adolescents' giving in to parents but this declined with age. Learn to deal with their parents on an adult-to-adult basis, which requires a mutually respective form relating.
46
What is the typical kind of conflict adolescents have with their parents?
typically involves everyday aspects of family life (eg. phone usage, keeping bedroom clean, curfew) --> mothers in charge of it. hence they have more disagreements with mothers
47
High degree of conflict between parents and adolescents is associated with what negative outcomes?
higher adolescent anxiety, depression, aggression, lower self-esteem, and empathy
48
Whar is the difference between psychologically healthy families and psychologically unhealthy families in coping with the adolescent's push for autonomy?
psychologically healthy families --> treat adolescent in more adult ways and include them more in family decision making. appropriate adult reactions is very important.
unhealthy --> locked in power-oriented parental control, parents become more authoritarian
49
Why do adolescents' quest for autonomy create conflict with parents?
parents cannot anticipate and understand why adolescents are so determined to be independent and show that they are responsible
50
Is adolescents' autonomy from peer influences a good thing?
yes and no.
yes -- avoid problematic behavior
no -- difficulty establishing strong friendships in emerging adulthood
51
What does it mean for adolescents to gain emotional autonomy from parents?
can relinquish their childlike dependencies on parents. increasingly de-idealise their parents, perceive them as humans and become less dependent on them for immediate emotional support
52
What are some gender differences in autonomy granting?
boys given more independence than girls, especially in families with traditional gender-role orientation
53
What issues do adolescents face when they go away to college?
- homesickness
- newfound priviledges/independence which can be stressful to manage. freshmen show more psychological dependency on parents and poorer adjustment than upperclassmen.
54
Why might adolescents run away from home?
- parent or another adult physically or sexually exploits them
- live in danger daily
- parents as drug addicts or alcoholics
- impoverished family that can't take care of them
55
Are all runaway youths from the low SES tier?
Nope not always!
- teenage lovers who face rejection of their relationship
- middle SES teenagers who are done with their hypocritical parents -- try to make them live by an unrealistically high set of moral standards and ideals
- parents who constantly fight
56
Is running away a gradual or sudden process?
Gradual -- adolescents begin to spend less time at home, more time on streets or with peers.
57
How can adults guide adolescents in their desire to gain autonomy?
gradually relinquish control in areas where they can make reasonable decisions but continue to guide the adolescent in areas where their knowledge is more limited.
58
In adolescence, what are the negative outcomes of having insecure attachment to parents?
- linked to becoming depressed and remaining depressed. suicide attempts
- anxiety
59
What are the positive outcomes of secure attachment?
- positive peer relations
| - better emotional regulation capacities
60
What characterizes avoidant attachment between parent and adolescents?
parents and adolescents may mutually distance themselves from one another, which lessens the parents' influence
61
What characterizes ambivalent attachment between parents and adolescents?
adolescents are hypersensitive to attachment experiences because parents are inconsistently available. can result in high degree of attachment seeking behavior, mixed with angry feelings.
62
Attachment patterns with partners is linked to _________.
childhood attachment patterns with parents
63
How do adults' current attachment styles link to other aspects of their lives
- more satisfied with their close relationships
- relationships more likely to be characterized by trust, commitment, and longevity
- fewer sleep disruptions
64
Insecure attachment in adulthood is linked to what negative outcomes?
- greater infidelity (anxious attachment)
- disease and chronic illness (cardiovascular system problems)
- lower level of sexual satisfaction
65
What characterizes emerging adulthood?
a time for young people to sort out what t hey want to take with them from their family of origin, and what they will leave behind, and what they will create.
66
What are the positive and negative outcomes of helicopter parenting?
positively linked to parental involvement (guidance, disclosure, emotional support)
but negatively related to parental granting of autonomy and school engagement. intrusiveness my parent can slow down the process to which the children become responsible adults
67
Why are middle-aged adults seen as the "sandwich" generation?
must care for their grown children and ageing parents simultaneously. considered both a joy and burden.
68
What roles can siblings play? (3)
- emotional support, rivals, communication partners
69
What are 3 important characteristics of sibling relationships?
1) emotional quality of relationship (express intensely positive and negative emotions)
2) familiarity and intimacy of relationship (can provide support or undermine each other, depending on situation)
3) variation in sibling relationships
70
What is a major concern in sibling relationships?
equality and fairness
71
In what ways are siblings a strong socializing influence?
- can understand each others' problems and communicate more effectively with each other
- more influential in school-related issues, and discussing taboo-subjects (eg. sex)
72
What kind of sibling relationship is linked to fewer internalizing and externalizing problems?
- less sibling conflict
| - higher sibling warmth
73
In what situations are sibling conflicts especially damaging?
when combined with ineffective parenting
74
What is the nature of sibling relationships in emerging adulthood compared to childhood and adolescence?
- most siblings spend far less time with each other
| - conflicted sibling relationships become less emotionally intense as contact decreases
75
What are some characteristics of first borns?
- adult-oriented
- helpful
- conforming
- self-controlled
76
How big are the effects of birth order differences?
Not much. when all other factors are considered, birth order by itself shows limited ability to predict adolescent behavior. Many factors to consider -- number of siblings, age of siblings, age spacing of siblings, sex of siblings, temperament of siblings
77
What are some characteristics of the only child?
achievement-oriented and displays a desirable personality
78
What are some characteristics of later borns?
- better relations with peers
| - risk being overly dependent
79
Which 2 factors interact with each other to influence how siblings get along?
- easy temperaments + treated relatively equal by parents --> get along best
- difficult temperaments + unequal treatment --> get along worst
80
In a changing society, what kind of families are becoming more prevalent?
- divorced families
- stepfamilies
- dual working parents and latchkey adolescents
- adopted children families
- gay and lesbian parents
81
Generally agreed that children/adolescents from divorced families show ________ than those from nondivorced families.
poorer adjustment
- internalizing problems
- externalising problems
- problems with social relationships (decreased romantic competence
- academic problems
82
Do adolescents from divorced families cope decently?
Despite negative findings, most adolescents and emerging adults in reality cope successfully with their parents’ divorce and majority of them do not have significant adjustment problems.
83
What does the emotional security theory propose?
states that children appraise marital conflict in terms of their sense of security and safety in the family. Rooted in attachment theory.
84
Describe positive vs negative marital conflict.
positive -- calmly discussing each person's perspective and working together to reach a solution
negative -- hostile emotional displays, destructive conflict tactics
85
should parents stay together for the sake of their children and adolescents?
- if an unhappy conflicted marriage erodes the wellbeing of the children, then getting divorced might be advantageous.
- but if diminished resources and increased risks associated with divorce results in greater conflict in the family, the best choice would be to retain the unhappy marriage. But ultimately quite hard to anticipate the consequences
86
What can divorced parents do to benefit their children?
- have harmonious relationship with each other and use authoritative parenting
- agree on child-rearing strategies
- frequent visits by the noncustodial parent
87
When does disequilibrium and restabilization occur?
disequilibrium tends to occur 1 year following the divorce, but by 2 years, restabilization occurs and parenting skills improve
88
When the household is ridden with conflict and problems, what do adolescents do?
They tend to be disengaged from their families, spending as little time as possible at home and interacting with family members. This disengagement is higher for boys. If adolescent interacts with a caring adult outside the home, the disengagement can be a positive solution to the disruptive family circumstances.
89
What factors are involved in the adolescent's adjustment in a divorced family?
- their adjustment prior to divorce
- personality, temperament, intelligence
- their age at time of divorce
- gender
- custody (eg. father-custody, joint-custody)
90
Why might preschool children be at the greatest vulnerability for long-term problems after a divorce? (4)
1) inability to realistically appraise the causes and consequences of divorce
2) anxiety about the possibility of abandonment
3) self-blame for the divorce
4) inability to use extra familial protective resources.
91
In what situations does a joint-custody work best for children?
when both parents can get along with each other. joint-custody facilitates ongoing positive involvement with both parents.
92
How do divorces affect children/adolescents economically?
Income decrease typically accompanied by increased workloads and high rates of job instability
93
What are the 3 main types of stepfamilies?
- stepfather (mother has custody of children and remarries a stepfather)
- stepmother
- blended/complex (both parents bring children from previous marriages to live in the newly formed stepfamily)
94
Why is adjustment so difficult in stepfamilies compared to non-divorced or divorced families?
Boundary ambiguity
- boundaries are uncertain in stepfamilies about who is in or out of the family and who is performing or responsible for certain tasks in the family system. Takes time for stepparent to get to know stepchildren. New spouses must learn to cope with challenges in their relationship and parenting together.
95
Should stepparents discipline the stepchild?
Doesn't really work well. During early period, biological parent should do the disciplining of the child. Stepparent-stepchild relationships work best when stepparent spends time in the stepchild's favourite activities
96
Adolescents show better adjustment in ___ stepfamilies than ____ stepfamilies.
simple; complex
97
Most adolescents in long-established simple stepfamilies describe their relationships with stepparents as “close” or “very close”. What does this suggest?
suggests that long-established simple stepfamilies seem to benefit adolescents via the prescence of stepparents and resources provided by stepparent.
98
Why is early adolescence an especially difficult time fro the formation of a stepfamily?
problems occur because stepfamily circumstances exacerbate normal adolescent concerns about identity, sexuality and autonomy/
99
How does the nature of parents' work affect adolescents?
Parents with poor working conditions (eg. long hours, overtime work, stressful work, lack of autonomy at work) are likely to be irrirable at home and engage in less effective parenting. linked to more negative outcomes.
100
How do children's gender stereotypes change when their mothers are working?
Children (especially girls) of working mothers engage in less gender stereotyping and have more egalitarian views of gender.
101
What are latchkey adolescents?
Typically do not see their parents from the time they leave for school in the morning until about 6-7pm. Unsupervised for 2-4hours a day during the school week, or for entire days during summer months. Lack of adult supervision during after-school hours could be a major problem. Experiences of latchkey adolescents vary enormously. Some get into trouble more easily than others.
102
In recent decades, what characterizies adoptive parents and adoptive children?
Increased diversity. anyone can be a parent, anyone can be adopted (children from other countries, ethnicity, disabilities etc.) So diverse that it is difficult to generalize about the average adopted child or average adoptive parent.
103
What is a controversial issue surrounding adoption?
Should there by any connection with children's biological parents?
open adoption vs closed adoption
open -- sharing identifying information and having contact with biological parents
closed -- not sharing contact
104
What do research findings suggest about open vs closed adoption?
open adoption -- birth mothers and adoptive parents and children tend to be more satisfied with the arrangements. more optimal adjustment. birth models have less unresolved grief after placement.
105
What are some unique circumstances of adopted parents compared to biological parents?
Need to recognise the differences involved in adoptive family life, communicate about these differences, show respect for the birth family, and support the child’s search for self and identity
106
Should parents tell the kid about their adoption?
YES. Many children begin to question where they come from at 4-6 years old, so parents can naturally talk to their child about their adoption status in simple ways.
Some parents decide not to tell their children. But this secrecy may create psychological risks for the child if he/she later finds out about the adoption.
107
What is the difference between gay and lesbian parents compared to heterosexual parents?
lesbian and gay couples tend to share childcare more, with lesbian couples being the most supportive
108
What are the outcomes of children who grow up in homosexual families?
just as popular with their peers, no differences between adjustment and mental health, majority are heterosexual
109
What is the general culture change around the world when it comes to family structures?
- greater family mobility (can migrate, family members working or studying elsewhere)
- smaller families (more openness and communication)
- fewer extended family households (decreased support and guidance)
- increase in mothers employment
110
How to improve social policy targetted at families? (4)
1) schools, religious and youth organisations, healthcare agencies should involve parents in activities with adolescents
2) professionals (eg. teachers, psychologists, nurses etc) should work not only with adolescent but also the family (systemic approach)
3) workplace policies for parents with young children. Flexible work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, part-time work with benefits.
4) businesses, schools, and youth organisations should become more involved in providing after-school programmes. More high quality, community-based programmes for after-school, weekend, and vacation time periods.
