Week 9: family, peers and personality development Flashcards
(68 cards)
What similarities are seen between individuals and the partners they choose?
Ethnicity
Age
Level of education
SES
What may the similarities between people and their partners be really due to?
May be reflective of how people meet
In Australia, most people are married by what age?
Mid-thirties
How many of marriages in australia end in divorce?
46%
What are the three types of marriage?
Equal partner relationship: both have equal roles
Conventional marriage: old fashioned, only the man works
Junior partnership: women are typically younger and are beautiful, the man typically has money
What are the top 10 characteristics for long term partners?
Warmth and kindness Expressiveness/openness Sense of humour Sexual passion Similarity in attitudes and values Exciting persoanlity Ambition Intelligence Similar interest in leisure activities Similar social skills
Explain the trends in the median age entering marriage?
Men, on average, are 2 years older than women - although this is narrowing
There has also been a reduction in marriage as people are getting married later
Explain the trends in the number of divorces?
They have increased steadily
massive spike in 1975 - no fault divorce laws came in and no longer had to prove their partner cheated etc,
Have again been decreasing because people arent getting married as much to begin with
How many couples in Australia cohabit prior to marriage?
3/4
Increasing numbers as a long-term alternative to marriage
Explain age trends in people living with their partner before marriage?
It is very common in young people - this drops off with age, people are waiting a lot longer to get married
What percentage of cohabitating couples are same-sex? and how many of these households have children present?
0.5% with only 11% having children
Same-sex couples that live together prior to marriage are more likely to….
Break up within 10 years
Having a child brings…
conflict to a couple
If mothers experience mismatches their experience, what happens?
They may have mood instability and experience declines in relationship satisfaction
In single parenthood, what are the main differences between families that thrive and those that struggle?
They:
- accept challenges and responsibilities
- give priority to the parenting role
- use consistent authoritative parenting strategies
- emphasise open parent-child communication
- foster individuality
- recognise the need for self-nurturance
- establish family traditions
What percentage of men may never marry?
27%
What percentage of women may never marry?
23%
Explain how childlessness has increased over generations?
There may be delays in childbearing and attitudes which allow couples to not have children
Infertility is also an issue
Explain early articulators and postponers in childlessness
Early articulators - emphasise early on that they do not want to have kids
Postponers - plan to have kids later on
How does late childbearing promote differences in family in middle adulthood?
Delated childbearing causes midlife parents to still have teenage or younger children at home
Other married people are happier, healthier and longer-lived than…
Than widowed or divorced people of the same age
Why are older widowed men more likely to remarry than older women?
Widowed women are happier - perhaps don’t have to do as much cooking and cleaning as before, as well as typically confiding in their adult daughters or female friends - men typically confide in their wife and have conventionally not had to do much cooking or cleaning
Women also live longer - there are more women available to get married to
What are vertical relationships?
Adult and child relationships
What are horizontal relationships?
Peer relationships
