8. Families Flashcards
What is Bronfenbrenner’s 5 environmental systems?
1) microsystem
2) mesosystem
3) exosystem
4) macrosystem
5) chronosystem
Describe the microsystem.
The settings in which the individual lives (eg. family, peers, school, work)
Describe the mesosystem.
link between microsystems (eg. family and peer relations)
Describe the exosystem.
Influences from another setting (eg. parents’ work) that the adolescent does not experience directly
Describe the macrosystem.
Culture (eg. ethnic group, nation)
Describe the chronosystem.
Sociohistorical circumstances (eg. increase in working mothers, divorced parents, gay and lesbian parents, multiethnic families)
What is reciprocal sociaization?
the process by which children/adolescents socialise parents, just as parents socialise them. Bidirectional relationships rather than unidirectional parenting effect.
What does the family comprise of?
Many subsystems defined in terms of generation, gender, role.
eg. dyadic (2 people); polyadic (>2 people)
What defines each subunit in the family?
division of labor or attachment
Give an example for direct and indirect effect of parent-child influence.
direct: parent’s behavior –> child
indirect: marital relationship between parents mediates the way parents act towards the child
Describe the link between marital relationships and parenting.
- 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
What is the practical implication of the link between marital relationships and parenting?
programmes that focus on parenting skills might also benefit from including attention to participants’ marriages
Why is maturation an important theme in parent-adolescent relationships?
Because it’s not only adolescents who mature but their parents also change in their adult years.
Recall the 3 key types of adolescent developmental changes.
1) biological
2) cognitive
3) socioemotional
How do biological changes affect parent-child relations?
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.
How do cognitive changes affect parent-child relations?
- idealistic thinking
- logical thinking
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
What are 3 socio-emotional changes that occur for adolscents that may affect their relationships with their parents?
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
What are 4 types of parental changes that occur when their children become adolescents?
1) marital satisfaction
2) economic burdens
3) career reevaluation and time constraints
4) health and body concerns
How does marital satisfaction change when their children become adolescents?
increases because children are now more independent, they have more time to spend with each other. increases further after adolescents leave home.
How do economic burdens change when children are in adolescence?
they feel greater economic burden (paying for kids’ tuition fees, higher allowance)
Describe how parents carry out career reevaluation when their kids reach adolescence.
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.
How do health and bodily concerns differ for parents and adolescents?
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.
What are multiple developmental trajectories?
Refers to the fact that adults follow one trajectory and adolescents follow another one.
How does marital relationship vary with the timing of parenthood onset?
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.
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.
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.
What is parental monitoring?
supervising an adolescent’s choice of social settings, activities, and friends
How does parenting styles influence adolescent’s information disclosure?
responsive parenting and higher parental control (authoritative) –> higher willingness to disclose info
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
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
Describe authoritarian parenting.
- high control, low warmth
- little verbal exchange
- restrictive, punitive style
- negative outcomes: poor communication skills
Describe neglectful parenting.
- uninvolved; lack parental monitoring
- negative outcomes: child lacks self control, socially incompetent (cannot handle their independence well)
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
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
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
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.
How do mothers and fathers interact differently with their adolescents?
Mothers – caregiving and teaching activities
Fathers – leisure activities
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
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
How does social time spent with parents change from early to late adolescence?
declines
Which parent do adolescents spend the most time with?
same-sex parent
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
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
How do the amount of parent-adolescent conflicts change over time?
escalates during early adolescence, declines from early adolescence to late adolescence.