Family Flashcards
What defines a family
at least 2 generations: a parent generation caring for the offspring generation
- couple without children
- siblings without parents
mother-child, father-child, stepparent-child, foster parents
diversity in family life
- More divorces
- More single parents
- More stepfamilies
- More same sex couples raising children
- Problem in US: Child poverty and absence of fathers
Divorce rates
declining since 1990s until 2020
Father presence
For children:
- Academic
- Social life (peers)
- Mental health
For mother/couple:
- Better parenting
- Better physical and mental health
Intergenerational effect:
- Own fatherhood
The Family: Social Systems Perspective
Families are embedded systems
- Social factors external to the family influence family life: Economic crises, unemployment
- Family structures, parenting are subjected to social change
-> Decrease in childbearing in western societies
-> Increase in divorces and single parent families
–> Canada: about 16.4% single parent families
- Increase in remarriages, blended families
- Changes in dominant ideologies and beliefs about parenting
-> Parents are less authoritarian
Families are complex social systems
Reciprocal relationships between members
- Mother influences child, child influences mother
Indirect, third-party effects
- Relationship between two individuals in family is influenced by third family member
Every person and every relationship affects every other person and relationship in the family
Family systems develop
- Family as a “whole” living thing – needs to reorganize at each developmental transition
- Change is triggered by change of individual members
- Normative change: Foreseeable
- Non-normative change: Unforeseeable
Family Developmental Tasks
Phase: Couple (without children)
Developmental tasks: Developing a good spousal relationship
- Integrating couple into extended families
Phase: Childbearing families
Developing tasks: Caretaking for young baby
- Taking role as parent
Phase: Families with school-aged children
Developmental tasks: Providing optimal support for children
- Integrating school-life into family-life
Phase: Families with teenagers
Developmental tasks: Transformation of parent-child relationship
- Accepting increased autonomy of children
Phase: Families as launching centers
Developmental tasks: First child gone to last child leaving home
- Maintaining supportive relationship towards children
Phase: Middle-age parents
Developmental tasks: Empty nest to retirement
- Integrating children’s partners into family
Phase: Aging family members
Developmental tasks: Retirement to death of both spouses
- Coping with loss/death of relatives
Importance of early parent-child interaction
- Still face experiments by Edward Tronick
- Emotional attunement by Daniel Stern
3 stages of Emotional attunement by Daniel Stern
- the mother identifies her infants emotional state
- she conveys this same emotion back to the baby authentically without using imitation
- infants perceive the mothers response as referring to their own original emotion
Negative family interaction patterns influence child development
family negative expressiveness
↓
child’s emotion understanding
↓
peer relations
family negative expressiveness & low acceptance
↓
emotion regulation
↓
aggression
Mother’s behaviours predict onset of
depression (MDD) 6 years later
- more aggressive behaviour
- less positive behaviours
- mother’s negative responses to adolescents
Related to begin of major depression disorder up to 6 years later
Dimensions and patterns of parenting
- Parental warmth/responsiveness
- Extend to which parents are sensitive to and supportive of their children’s needs
-> Praising, encouraging children for their accomplishments
-> Low responsiveness: punishment, little warmth and concern for children - Demandingness
- Extend to which parents expect and insist on mature and responsible behavior
-> Set rules
-> Criticize
-> Communicate expectations
Dimensions and Patterns of Parenting
- authoritarian
What they do:
- adult-centered, rigid, strict rules, open communication discouraged, obedience and punitive punishment
effects on children:
- dependent, passive, less socially adept, less self-assured and less intellectually curious - indifferent
what they do:
- adult-centered, passive, few demands, poor or little communication, distant, withdrawn or absent
effects on children:
- impulsive, delinquent behaviour more likely as well as more
precocious experiments with sex, drugs and alcohol - authoritative
what they do:
- child-centered, democratic, flexible, engage in decision making, psychological autonomy, firm guidelines, verbal give and take
effects on children:
- more mature and responsible, self assured, creative, intellectually curious, socially skilled and academically successful - indulgent
what they do:
- child-centered, no guidelines, nurturing, warm, overinvolved, blurred roles, few rules or expectations
effects on children:
- less mature, less responsible, more conforming to peer
Outcomes of Parenting
Many studies document small but consistent advantages of authoritative parenting
- Higher academic and social competence
- Higher self-esteem, self-confidence
- Less problem behavior
However, finding might not generalize to other cultures
- Example: Asian concept of parental authority different from western notion
- Parental control has less negative connotations = concern
