Chapter 7: Family: Early and Enduring Influences

Question 1

What is a family

Answer 1

• social unit in which adult spouses/partners share economic, social and emotional rights/responsibilities and a sense of commitment and identification
• family structure varies but similar functions:
  earliest and most sustained source of social contact
  offer most intense and enduring of bonds
  share memories of past and expectations for the future
  standard against which other relationships judged

Question 2

Family system

Answer 2

• a group of people composed of interdependent members and subsystems; changes in the behavior of one member of the family affect the functioning of other members
• system for socialization: process by which parents and others teach children the standards of behavior, attitudes, skills and motives appropriate for society

Question 3

Direct effects

Answer 3

ex. spouses praising/criticizing each other, parents hugging/spanking children, children talking back/clinging

Question 4

Indirect effects

Answer 4

mother modifies quantity and quality of father-child interaction, affecting child’s behavior

Question 5

Well-functioning family system

Answer 5

Parents have a good relationship w each other, caring and supportive of their children, children are cooperative and repsonsible and care for their parents

Question 6

Dysfunctional family system

Answer 6

parents have unhappy marriage, irritable with children, children exhibit antisocial behavior which intensifies problems in parents’ relationship

difficult to change bc systems resist change
more adaptive fam can be, better functioning it will be

Question 7

How does the couple’s system affect children

Answer 7

• when parents mutually supportive, more involved with children, more competent in child-rearing, more affectionate and responsive
• children are well adjusted and positive

Question 8

Parents in conflict

Answer 8

• lash out with hostility, contempt, inflict problems on children
• ## infants may develop insecure attachment to parents; older children may become aggressive or depressed

Question 9

Direct effects of parental conflict (cummings et al)

Answer 9

• children’s level of distress increased as intensity and destructiveness of parents’ fighting increased
• intense and destructive conflicts bw parents related to child emotional insecurity, depression, anxiety, behavior problems, relationship difficulties, poor emotion regulation

Question 10

constructive conflict

Answer 10

respect for each others’ opinions, expressing mutual warmth and support, modeling effective conflict negotiation strategies

• lessons harmful effects on children
• not the conflict but the nature of the conflict

Question 11

Indirect effects of parental conflict

Answer 11

• affects child’s development when marital difficulties affect child-rearing
• angry and intrusive parenting styles, children display anger when interacting with parents/other children

Question 12

Theories of effects of parental conflict on children’s social development

Answer 12

Social learning theory -> children learn how to interact with people and resolve conflicts by watching their parents

Attachment theory -> exposure to conflict leads to emotional arousal, distress and sense of emotional insecurity, which contributes to later problems in social interactions

Cognitive processes -> impact of parental conflict depends how children understand the conflict

Poor parental mental health -> parental depression could mediate impact of marital distress on adolescents’ depressive symptoms

Genetic explanation - stronger link bw marital conflict and adolescent conduct problems in families in which mothers or fathers are identical twins vs fraternal twins; parent psychopathology has cumulative or mediating effect

Question 13

Reciprocal and transactional links

Answer 13

links bw parental conflict and child adjustment are reciprocal and transactional, not a one-way influence from parents to children; marital discord predicts child behavior but child maladaptive behavior also predicts marital discord

Question 14

What can we do about effects of parental conflict on children’s social development

Answer 14

intervention programs to better manage parental conflict associated with fewer behavior problems in children

teaching couples about effects of constructive and destructive marital conflict

parents participating in a professionally led group discussions on parenting or marital issues

Question 15

How parents socialize children

Answer 15

• socialization more deliberate as children achieve greater mobility and begin to use langauge
• socialization efforts increase through preschool years
• socialization goals include having chidlren behave politely, get along w others, value honesty and hard work
• parents use learning principles to teach social rules:
  reinforcement (praise/punish), modelling to demonstrate behaviours

Question 16

Differences in socialization approaches

Answer 16

• emotional involvement -> warm and loving vs. cold and rejecting
• level of control -> permissive and undemanding vs. demanding and restrictive
• physical punishment -> linked to negative outcomes, especially increases in children’s aggression; depends on type of physical punishment; most negative when: physical punishment is predominant disciplinary tactic, punishment is severe including shaking and spanking that is anger driven and out of control

Question 17

Parenting styles

Answer 17

• authoritative: warm/responsive, restrictive/demanding
• authoritarian: rejecting/unresponsive, restrictive/demanding
• permissive: permissive/undemanding, warm/responsive
• uninvolved: permissive/undemanding, rejecting/unresponsive

Question 18

Baumrind’s research

Answer 18

• energetic-friendly children more socially competent in every way, more likely to have authoritative parents
• conflicted-irritable children - fearful and moody, likely to have authoritarian parents
• impulsive-aggressive children - uncontrolled, noncompliant, aggressive behavior, more likely to have permissive parents

Question 19

Uninvolved/disengaged parenting

Answer 19

• parents indifferent to children
• do whatever to minimize costs of having children (time, effort)
• focus on their own needs
• children tend to be impulsive, aggressive, noncompliant, moody

Question 20

Why parents have diff styles

Answer 20

• relationships bw each parent, personality, perspective-taking ability, adaptability to stress, mental health, education, fam of origin, circumstances, children’s behaviour

Question 21

Socialization: bidirectional to transactional

Answer 21

• process of socialization more complex than bidirectional
• transactional - developmental socialization process in which children act, parents react, and children react back resulting in changes in both partners

Question 22

Fathers’ parenting

Answer 22

• spend less time
• sig contribution to social development beyond mothers
• diff play styles
• fathers more physically arousing play even with adolescents
• moms play conventional games, interact w toys, talk more
• fathers do this to increase salience of interactions despite limited time; men may be more physical (but fathers physical play not necessarily universal)

Question 23

Coparenting system

Answer 23

• how parents work as a team, cooperative, hostile or unbalanced
• 3 systems:
  cooperative, cohesive, child centered
  hostile
  imbalanced involvement w children; one parent may engage in ‘gatekeeping’ and limit one parent’s invovlement

Question 24

sibling system

Answer 24

most children spend more time interactng w sibling
opportunity for children to learn positive and negative ways of interacting and may be more emotionally intense exchanges

Question 25

Birth order effects

Answer 25

first born - adult oriented, helpful, self-controlled later-born - less fearful and anxious, more self-confidence and social poise only child - high achievers, personal control, maturity, leadership

Question 26

Birth order and parent-child interactions

Answer 26

- parents have substantial influence over how older children react to a new sibling - fathers more involved w older child - child's friends can serve as a buffer when new sib arrives - parents may treat sibs diff - nonshared experience - differential treatment: sibling rivalry, externalizing problems, low self-esteem (but if children understand reason for differential treatment, then neg effects reduced)

Question 27

Birth order sib interactions

Answer 27

- older sibs caregivers - older sibs resources for younger sibs in times of stress - older sibs teachers - older sibs not always pos

Question 28

Association bw friendship quality and parent-reported aggressive-disruptive behavior as function of sibling relationship quality in sharing task

Answer 28

- low quality friendship and low sib quality = most aggressive-disruptive behavior - low quality friendship, high quality sibling protective against aggressive-disruptive behaviour - sibs become more alike with age, relations change; rivalry and ambivalence diminish and intimacy increases

Question 29

Family unit: stories, rituals, routines

Answer 29

- storytelling, routines and rituals are powerful methods parents and children use to create family climate - stores transmit family values - routines; day-day activities - rituals: family activities involving formal religions observances - research: adolescents who participate in fam mealtime less likely to use substance, held even after controlling for fam circumstances; routines contribute positively to child development above and beyond fam relationships

Question 30

Family variations

Answer 30

Socioeconomic status; education, income, occupational status SES assoiciated with: parents' use of language, parenting style, responsiveness, discipline

Question 31

Cultural patterns in child rearing

Answer 31

- parents in traditional cultures less repsonsive/affectionate than parents in modern, tech advanced cultures - predominantly individualistic cultures value autonomy, competition, self-actualization, dominance, open expression of emotion - collectivist cultures value interrelatedness and connectedness, value harmony, cooperation, empathy, accommodation, sometimes deference to authority

Question 32

Parental employment and child development

Answer 32

- work stress and children's adjustment: stress at work takes toll on children, parents, marriages - fathers who experience work stress less sensitive and engaged w children and wives - mothers may withdraw from children and husbands - positive work experiences can enhance quality of parents; behavior

Question 33

Adoption

Answer 33

- children have higher risk of psychological problems than biological nonadopted children - if adoption removes child from adverse conditions, can be beneficial - depends on age of adoption, younger is better - children of open adoptions display fewer problems

Question 34

Parenting alone

Answer 34

- children from single-parent families fare worse on developmental measures - depends on type of single-parent family; more neg when mother was never married (income of never-married half of divorced mothers, usually younger and less educated)

Question 35

Divorce and remarriage

Answer 35

- children from divorced families have more behavioral and emotional problems; not large diff, but stronger effect on children's problem behavior and psychological stress than race, illness, birth order, death of family member or parents' low education

Question 36

Who is affected most (divorce)

Answer 36

- fewer effects for very young or adult children - all ages can be affected; infants from divorced more likely to be insecure and disorganized, less positive and engaged in play with parents - preschool: confused, fearful, anxious - school-age: understand concepts of divorce/separation but shocked, worried, sad - adolescence: increased awareness and understanding, more likely to engage in risky behaviors and feel abandoned, anxious and depressed - worse for boys than girls - boys - externalizing; girls; internalizing - girls suffer more before, boys after the divorce; stronger rxn for young boys and adolescent girls - children psychologically happy/healthy/confident adjust better than children w probs before divorce - intelligent children adapt better than less intelligent - temperament: children w difficult temp at higher risk

Question 37

Remarriage

Answer 37

- children in stepfamilies have more emotional problems than children in intact families or divorced families - depends on age - younger children adjust more easily but teens have difficult time accepting

Question 38

concluding thoughts

Answer 38

fam is complex system made of several subsystems interrelated and influence child's social wellbeing aspects of fam system that can be influential: parental conflict, parenting styles, fam structure, birth order, fam rituals/routines - fams vary in social class and culture - fam has undergone many changes which have varying degrees of influence on children's social development