Chapter 9: Relationships Flashcards
How have marriages and partnerships changed ?
- fewer people are getting married
- people are getting married later
- family compositions are changing
- definitions of marriage and family are changing
What is the average age of 1st marriage?
- men: 31
- women: 28
- increasing
Gender differences in marriages and partnership?
men
- stay single longer, fewer remain unmarried, men have more option for remarriage
women
- less likely to remarry
What Is Cohabitation?
- living together before marriage
What is the Cohabitation Effect?
- people are more likely to separate once married
What is Serial Cohabitation?
- people who have lived with more than one partner in a cohabitating relationship
- especially likely to show separate once married
What is Living Apart Together?
- couples in long term committed relationships but choose to live apart
- 1 in 3 young adults
- 2% of 60+ are LAT
When was Same-sex Marriage Legalized?
- canada legalized in 2005
Same-sex couples are different how
- less daily strain reported
- more likely to separate when things aren’t working
- perceived discrimination leads to negative outcomes
What is the average length of marriage before divorce?
- 14 years
what are the disadvantages of not remarrying?
- economic disadvantage, especially for older adults
What is gender disparity in relationships/ divorce
- following divorce women experience advantage and men experience disadvantage
(access to resources)
How did the Divorce Act change relationships
- led to increase in divorce rates
How can divorce statistics be misleading
- divorce rate in a given year including those divorcing for the second or third time
Why are some people more prone to divorce
- history of intimacy problems
- infidelity (cheating)
- people who are more likely to contemplate divorce when their marriage is in trouble are more considered divorce- prone
What are the negative and positive emotional outcomes of divorce
- anxiety, depression and loss of trust
- may provide relief
- more positive outcomes if able to protect identity
How does divorce change when children are involved
- children are more likely to live with mom
- sometimes its better for kids than parents staying together
- many complexities
- mediation is becoming more common, no lawyers, uses co-operative dispute settlement
Late-life divorce
- 55+ increase in divorce and separation
- children more likely to distance with father than mother
- more relationship problems in adults with children
- kin-keepers: daughter more likely to be confidants and social directors
What is the average age of widowhood
- around 75 years
What are widowers
- widowed men
- people 65+ 10% of men
- more chances of remarry
What are Widows
- widowed women
- 65+ 33% of women
- 90+ 80% of women
- greater financial impact
What is the widowhood effect
- more likely to die sooner after
- loss of friends and social isolation
- resilient grief is associated with widowhood
What is the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
- people prefer long term relationships to maximize their positive affect , rather than forming new ones
(perspective of long-term marriages)
What is the similarity hypothesis
- couples who are similar are happier
perspective of long-term marriage
Social Exchange Theory in relationships
- relationships are evaluated according to costs and benefits
- long term parties feel equal exchange
- success-full
- global reciprocity?
(perspective of long-term marriage)
What are the pathways of long-term relationships
- enduring dynamics: couples interactions In early relationships characterizes course of relationship overtime
- emergent distress: relationship begins to develop problems overtime, made worse by poor conflict resolution
- disillusionment: couples start off happy and in love and develop problems over time (grow apart)
What is associated with happy marriages
- ability to adapt
- realize expectations change
- express few negative emotions
How have families changed
- less married couples
- more common law couples
- more lone-parent families
What is the transition to parenthood
- the addition of a child into the family
Biopsychosocial factors in parenthood
- biological: hormonal bond during child bearing
- Psychological: emotional ups and downs
- social: change in identity
Changes in parenthood
- more canadians living alone without children
- more young adults living with parents
- more children living with single fathers
- age of first child is later: around 29
- more variability in order of marriage, leave home, have children
Marital Satisfaction related to parenthood
- with kids (U shaped, high low high)
- without kids: more stable life satisfaction
Gender differences in marital satisfaction related to parenthood
- gender differences in roles
- with children: become more traditional
- women: more time on primary and secondary child care
- men starting to take more of a role
- women generally more negative than mens perception
What are Blended Families
( reconstituted families)
- families with at least one parent living with a child who is not biologically theirs
- more difficult for mothers and stepchildren
- complex
The Empty Nest
- small number of parents report negative emotions when kids leave
- children are a major source of parents identity
The Empty Nest: Failure to Launch
- children who take longer to leave parents house
- more men than women living longer with parents
What are Boomerang Children
- children aged 25-34 who returned back home after moving out
- seen as more negative than adult children who haven’t left yet
What is ‘Doing Gender’
- refers to the tendency of women and men to behave in stereotypically gendered ways
How have grandparents changed?
- could spend 40+ years as a grandparent
- there are fewer grandchildren than in the past
- more likely to be great-grandparents now
What is the average age for grandparents
- often in middle age
- average of 52 years
What are Weinsteins Major styles of grandparents
- Formal
- Fun Seeker
- Surrogate Parents - take on caregiver role
- Reservoir/ Dispenser of family wisdom (usually grandfather)
- distant
Factors in relationships with grandparents
- relationship influenced by middle generation
- may act as a mediator between grandchildren and children
- members of a couple may feel differently about grand-parenting
Raising Grandchildren
- Skip-generation households
- Kinship care
- increasing , usually dont have legal custody, takes its toll
- lack of support
How do Parent-Adult Child Relationships changes with age
- as they continue to adulthood they may appreciate and or resent parents
What are the 6 dimensions of the
Intergenerational Solidarity Model
(these are facts impacting how close family members are)
- Associational Solidarity: Frequency and pattern of interaction
- Affectual Solidarity : Positive sentiment
- Consensual Solidarity: agreed values
- Functional Solidarity: exchange services, practical or financial
- Normative Solidarity: perception re-enactment of norms
- Structural : Number of members, location, etc.
What is the Intergenerational Stake Hypothesis
- parents more affectionate solidarity to their kids than vice versa (value relationship more)
- parents try to resolve conflict as constructively as possible
What is the Developmental Schism
- the gap between two generations
- can appear in a variety of different ways
eg) mother sees daughter as confidante but daughter trying to seek approval from mother
What is Role Reversal
- when children take on more of a parent role to the parent
- intergenerational stake vs. contingency (need)
What are Sandwich Generations
- mid-life caregivers sandwiched between aging parents and teenaged children
What are Helicopter parents
- parents that are super involved
- effects can carry into adulthood and parents miss children tons
- not necessarily bad
Variability in sibling relationships
- relationships with siblings are especially important for older adults who are single and do not have children
- siblings have varying levels of closeness, involvement, contact, envy and resentment
When are sibling relationships the strongest
- in adolescents and later in life
- rivalry may turn to alliance
The importance of friendships in later life
- older friendships are important for maintaining life satisfaction and well-being
What is global reciprocity in friendships
- friendships typically have a give and take relationship
- agreement
What is Dyadic Withdrawal
- with age, couples tend to have less individual friends and more joint friendships
- with an increase in age, there is a decrease in social networks
- more ‘couple friendships’
What is Socio-emotional Selectivity in Friendships
- different motivation for social contact
- with age people tend to be more selective In their friendships
What are peripheral ties
- ties outside of known friendships
- ex) grocery store worker that u see and talk to every time you go to the store
- covid affected this with social isolation and everything moving online which makes less peripheral ties and can be detrimental for older adults health and social well being
What are the different friendship styles
- Independent : enjoy the odd thing, but does not make close or intimate friendships
- Discerning : extremely sensitive with their friend choices, they have a small number of close, intimate friendships
- Acquisitive : large social networks
Relationships with pets
- lots of anecdotal evidence
- meaning, purpose, control
- may lower risk of depression
- improved recovery from heart disease
- coping strategy for anxiety symptoms
- part of some long term homes and communities started bringing pets
