Exam 2 Flashcards
What is “no force” divorce?
Allows married couples to agree to disagree and disengage from marriage without pointing fingers
What is the intergenerational transmission of divorce
Phenomenon in which parental divorce is associated with an increased risk of offspring divorce
Where does divorce fall in relation to other stressors
Divorces is the #2 stressor, with the death of a spouse as #1
Explain traditional values
Values that were in place when divorces rates were infinitesimal compared to today
Who is Thomas Hardy
Argues that marriage should dissolve when one party is treated with cruelty, as death of either partner used to be the only way out for many
What is the average age for woman to marry
27.5
What is the average age for men to marry
29.5
How do longterm couples like Mike and Carol (the Brady Bunch) stay together for so long?
They have brain activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (positive illusions)
What is selection bias
A particular kind of problem that shows there is something about the people who get divorced that happened before they got into the current situation that makes them more likely to divorce; instead of independent variable to dependent variable, there is a third variable between the two
Explain resilience
Most children of divorce far just as well as children whose families stay together
What are sleeper effects
Difficulties emerge with age
What is prospective study
Starts a present exposure and moves forward in time to outcome (started before an divorces happened)
What is the worst family environment for a child to be raised in?
A distressed and married family
What is pre-disruption effects
Differences in marriage outcomes exist prior to divorce
What is post-disruption effects
Negative effects after divorce; cascade of negative life events
Distressed marriages
Utilize contempt, criticism, defensiveness, and stonewalling; more likely for women to be unhappy (domestic violence)
Explain fixed effects
Tells us if there are aspects of individuals that are not measured explicitly but that account for results
Why did fewer people get divorced during the recession?
Divorce became more selective because it was more expensive; as a result, there was an increase of intimate partner violence
Why are U.S. divorce rates so high in comparison to most other countries? (Cultural dimensions theory)
The U.S. is a highly individualistic society
What is individualism
Loose ties between individuals; everyone is expected to look after themselves and their immediate family; “I” identity
What is collectivism
Strong ties between individuals from birth; “we” identity; there may be out-groups, but in-group harmony is valued; competition between “tribes” or members of different groups
Why are divorce rates declining in the U.S.?
- Fewer people are getting married
- There is an increase in age of marriage and of cohabitations rates
- Divorce divide: Phenomenon that divorce rates among poor couples have increased, while divorce rates among affluent couples have decreased
What are micro-level reasons for divorce
- Extramarital affairs
- Domestic violence
- Substance abuse
- Conflict over money
- Lack of communications
- Annoying personality characteristics and habits
- Not being home enough and growing apart
What are demographic reasons for divorce?
- Parental divorce
- Age at marriage
- Premarital childbearing
- Cohabitation
- Gender (women file because of housework/gender roles)
- Race, ethnicity, religion
- Education
- Money (independence and dependence effect)
- Occupation (predictor of infidelity is opportunity
Which member of a stepfamily that is most likely to abuse the children?
The biological mother
blended/reconstituted/reformed
Words that are used to de-stigmatize step families, as it is commonly believed that they are bad for children (ex. Cinderella)
What is “simple” stepfamily
- Includes stepparent
- Biological parent
- Children from a previous union
What is “blended/complex” stepfamily
Each adult brings children to the household from previous relationship
Explain lesbian stepfamily
If it dissolves, only the biological mother can legally keep the child in many states (the stepmother has no rights to the biological mother’s child anymore)
What are LAT couples?
-Living apart together couples
How can a stepparent get legal rights over their stepchild?
The stepparent must adopt the stepchild with the consent of the biological parent, as it is a very vulnerable position to put themselves into
What was wrong with a lot of earlier stepfamily research
- It was very unsophisticated
- Since then, we’ve learned that “if… then” statements are necessary to draw conclusions about stepfamilies
What is the Normative adaptive approach
Assumes divorce and remarriage are normal lifestyle choices
When do stepfamilies work best?
When stepparents support the biological parents instead of taking over disciplinary roles
“Shamster” example
Showed that the different ways in which we interpret data can have severe effects on how certain products are advertised; the “drug” itself represented marriage (marriage doesn’t make people happier, they already are happier than single people before marriage, but not by a significant amount)
What is lifelines of Happiness study?
Suggests that if you’re not already happy, marriage won’t make you any happier; being single doesn’t mean you will descend into despair
Problems with Waite and Gallagher’s study
- Confirmation bias
- Their averages were problematic
- They cut out important data
- They skewed data to get answers they liked and they didn’t address 3rd variables