Chapter 7 - Family Relationships Flashcards
7.1 Describe the family systems principles of disequilibrium and subsystems.
Subsystems are relationships between two persons within the family, for example, mother and father or adolescent and younger sibling. The family systems approach is based on two key principles: that each subsystem influences the other subsystems in the family and that a change in any family member or subsystem—such as when parents reach midlife, adolescents reach puberty, or emerging adults leave home—results in a period of disequilibrium that requires adjustments.
7.2 Summarize general patterns of parents’ development in midlife and how these patterns influence their relations with adolescents and emerging adults.
For most parents, their children’s development during adolescence and emerging adulthood overlaps with their own development during midlife. Studies have found that, for most people in most respects, midlife is an especially satisfying and enjoyable time of life. People’s personalities also tend to become more flexible and adaptive when they reach midlife. Studies also suggest that adolescents’ growing autonomy may be welcomed by most parents because it gives parents more time to enjoy their own lives.
7.3 Identify the five common patterns of sibling relationships in adolescence.
In the caregiver relationship, one sibling serves parental functions for the other. In the buddy relationship, siblings treat each other as friends. They try to be like one another, and they enjoy being together. A critical relationship between siblings is characterized by a high level of conflict and teasing. In a rival relationship, siblings compete against each other and measure their success against one another. In a casual relationship between siblings, the relationship between them is not emotionally intense, and they may have little to do with one another.
7.4 Explain why relations with extended family members are often especially close for adolescents in traditional cultures.
In traditional cultures, young men generally remain in their family home after marriage, and young women move into their new husband’s home. Consequently, children in these cultures typically grow up in a household that includes not only their parents and siblings but also their grandparents, and often their uncles, aunts, and cousins as well. Because grandparents in traditional cultures often live in the same household as their children and grandchildren, adolescents tend to be as close to their grandparents as to their parents. Within American society, adolescents are closer to grandparents in minority cultures than in White families, although in White families the maternal grandfather’s role often becomes more important in the aftermath of divorce.
7.5 Summarize the parenting styles model, and explain how the styles represent custom complexes.
The two key dimensions of parenting styles are demandingness and responsiveness. Authoritative parents are high in demandingness and high in responsiveness. Authoritarian parents are high in demandingness but low in responsiveness. Permissive parents are low in demandingness and high in responsiveness. Disengaged parents are low in both demandingness and responsiveness. Parenting styles are custom complexes in the sense that they reflect cultural values concerning the degree to which it is desirable for adolescents to become more independent.
7.6 Outline how research has shown parenting styles to be related to aspects of adolescents’ development.
Authoritative parenting, which combines high demandingness with high responsiveness, has generally been found to be related to positive outcomes for adolescents in the American majority culture. Studies of non-Western cultures indicate that a parenting style that combines responsiveness with a stricter form of demandingness is most common in those cultures.
7.7 Explain how theory and research on reciprocal effects, differential parenting, and nonshared environments complicate claims of the effects of parenting on adolescents.
Adolescents not only are affected by their parents but also affect their parents in return. Scholars refer to this principle as reciprocal or bidirectional effects between parents and children. Research involving siblings indicates that adolescent siblings within the same family often give different accounts of what their parents are like toward them. This may be as a result of differential parenting, meaning that parents’ behavior often differs toward siblings within the same family. In addition, differential parenting results in nonshared environmental influences, meaning that the siblings experience quite different family environments, and the consequences of these differences are evident in adolescents’ behavior and psychological functioning.
7.8 Identify the limitations of applying the American parenting styles model to other cultures, and the distinctive practices of Asian and Latino cultures that are not included in this model.
The American ideal of authoritative parenting is rare in the rest of the world because it emphasizes explanation and negotiation in relationships with adolescents, whereas in most cultures the role of parent carries an authority that is not to be questioned. Parent–adolescent relationships are often close in traditional cultures because parents and children work alongside each other on a daily basis, but their closeness may not be expressed openly. In Asian cultures, the belief in filial piety promotes adolescents’ obedience to their parents, and in Latino cultures the concept of respeto signifies the obligation of adolescents to comply with their parents’ authority.
7.9 Summarize the two main forms of infant attachment and the evidence for their influence on adolescent development.
The two general types of attachment are: secure attachment, in which infants use the mother as a “secure base from which to explore” when all is well, but seek physical comfort and consolation from her if frightened or threatened; and insecure attachment, in which infants are wary of exploring the environment and resist or avoid the mother when she attempts to offer comfort or consolation. According to attachment theory, attachments formed in infancy are the basis for relationships throughout life. Although this claim appears to be overstated, studies of attachment involving adolescents and emerging adults indicate that attachments to parents are related to young people’s functioning in numerous ways and that autonomy and relatedness in relationships with parents are compatible rather than competing qualities.
7.10 Describe how conflict with parents changes during adolescence, and identify the main sources of the conflicts in the United States and around the world.
Research shows that conflict between parents and children tends to be highest during early adolescence, and many American parents experience their children’s adolescence as a difficult time. Major sources of conflict include puberty, which raises issues of possible sexual activity, and adolescents’ cognitive development, which makes them better at arguing their point of view. Also, parents often fear for their adolescents’ well-being, which leads to conflicts over the extent of adolescents’ autonomy. Parent–adolescent conflict tends to be lower in traditional cultures because of the greater economic interdependence of family members and because the role of parent in those cultures holds greater authority.
7.11 Explain why conflict with parents usually decreases from adolescence to emerging adulthood.
Emerging adults who move away from home tend to be closer emotionally to their parents because they no longer experience the conflicts that occur from sharing the same household. Whether they live with their parents or not, emerging adults are better than adolescents at taking their parents’ perspective and seeing them as people and not merely as parents.
7.12 Summarize the main changes that have taken place in adolescents’ family lives in Western countries over the past 200 years.
Smaller family size today means that adolescents have fewer sibling relationships and are less likely to have responsibilities for taking care of younger siblings. Longer life expectancy today means that adolescents are less likely to experience the death of a parent. Increased urbanization today means that adolescents are unlikely to grow up on a family farm and more likely to live in cities, where there are more opportunities. Families once had functions in many aspects of adolescents’ lives, from education to leisure, but today their function is mainly affective (love, support, and nurturance).
7.13 Name the main changes that have taken place in adolescents’ family lives in Western countries over the past 50 years.
Rates of divorce more than doubled from 1960 to 1975 before declining slightly in recent decades. Today about half of Americans experience their parents’ divorce by age 18, with the rate much higher when the parents have relatively low education. Single parenthood has also risen in the past 50 years, and currently 40% of White children and 70% of Black children are born to single mothers. In 1940, only 10% of mothers worked outside the home, but by 2010 the rate was over 70%.
7.14 Distinguish between family structure and family process, and use the concept of family process to explain variability in adolescents’ responses to divorce.
Parents’ divorce tends to be related to negative outcomes for adolescents, including behavioral problems, psychological distress, problems in intimate relationships, and lower academic performance. However, there is considerable variation in the effects of divorce, and the outcomes for adolescents depend not just on family structure but on family process. Family structure refers to the outward characteristics of the family—whether the parents are married, how many adults and children live in the household, whether there is a biological relationship between the family members (e.g., in stepfamilies), and so on. Family process refers to the quality of family members’ relationships, the degree of warmth or hostility between them, and so on. Following divorce, adolescents are less likely to experience negative effects if parents can maintain a civil relationship.
7.15 Explain why adolescents often respond negatively to parents’ remarriage even though it benefits the mother in many ways.
Adolescents tend to respond negatively to their parents’ remarriage, but a great deal depends on family process, not just family structure. Mothers and adolescents may have become close during the period following divorce, and the stepfather’s entry to the family may disrupt that closeness. The extent of the stepfather’s authority over his stepchildren is the major source of disagreement and conflict. However, many stepfathers and adolescents have healthy relationships.
