Family Flashcards
Parents are seen as:
Direct instructors Social managers Indirect socialisers (learning through observation)
Two dimensions of parenting
Warmth & Demandingness
Authoritarian
Low warmth, high demandingness
Cold and unresponsive
Expect compliance
Threats and punishment
Outcomes:
Poor social skills
Low academic achievment
Low self-esteem
Authoritative
High warmth, high demandingness Warm and responsive Consistent in discipline Set limits Give autonomy
Outcomes: Psychological competence High self-esteem High academic achievment Popular with peers Low behavioural issues
Permissive
High warmth, low demandingness
Responsive to child’s needs
Lack of limits & discipline
Not consistent
Outcomes:
Impulsive
Lack of self control
Poor academic achievment
Neglectful
Low warmth, low demandingness
Focused on own needs
Unresponsive
No limits set
Outcomes:
Attachment issues
Internalising/externalising problems
Poor academic achievment
Significance of parenting styles in research
Only moderately associated
Most robust findings with neglectful & authoritative
Other factors affect outcome
Studies are correlational and don’t assume causation
Most research carried out in white, intact families
Other moderators of child outcome
Child temperament Culture/ethnicity Neighbourhood Social support Gender
Harris - parents don’t play a role in development
Parent child conflict adolescence
Follows U shape - highest in adolescence
Management aids successful transition to adulthood
Children find it more difficult to cope with conflict
Intense emotions - difficulty expressing negative ones
Function of conflict
Product of maturation (Freud)
Due to changes in parent/child relationship
Conflict during adolescence is exaggerated (Collins)
Topics of conflict
Talk to parents about school, future & social issues
Don’t disclose about dating
Girls disclose more to mothers
Boys disclose equally to both parents inc. sexual attitudes
Laursen et al. (1991) 3 aspects of conflict
Conflict rate + conflict affect = total conflict
Moderate decline in rate of conflict from early to late adolescence
Greater negative affect in mid than early adolescence
Less conflict but more heated in mid than early (less rate, more affect)
Conflict with mother decreases more than with father
More disclosure = positive outcomes
Concealment = mental illness and poor relationship
Smetana et al. (2006) - disclosure
15 + 17yo and parents
Measured 10 things e.g. stimuli, trust, disclosure, self-esteem.
RESULTS:
Both agree adolescents should control personal issues.
Both agree parents control pudential (safety), moral (justice) & conventional (manners).
Conflict occurs when adults see it as a personal issue and adolescents don’t.
Boh think prudential disclosed the most and pesronal the least.
Disclose more to mothers than fathers on personal
Mothers overestimate daughter’s discloser
Disclosure predicted by trust and perceived obligation to disclose.
Social domain theory
Children learn what is right and wrong from the experiences they have interacting with others.
Relevance of sibling relations
Important for learning normative rules, emotion understanding and conflict management.
Rivalry and conflict is essential (differ in age so have power imbalance)
Top conflict is sharing of personal possessions
Factors affecting sibling relationship
Parents acceptance of children
Parents relationship - better = children get on more
Divorce - better in non-divorced families
Parental differential treatment
Parental differential treatment
Differences in each child’s relationship with parents.
Less favoured child in early childhood = behaviour problems, low self-esteem and worry.
Begin to understand it in early adolescence
Developmental outcomes of sibling relationships
Sibling conflict linked with internalising/externalising issues in childhood.
Low quality relationship = social withdrawal, depression and anxiety.
Dunn et al. (1994) - sibling relations in middle school predicted adjustment in adolescence.
Parental non-intervention strategy
Parents ignoring or minimising sibling conflict.
Related to more sibling conflict in young children.
A lost opportunity for teaching conflict management
Sibling relations in adolescence
Become less intense both positively and negatively.
Same sex dyads closer than opposite sex ones.
Campione-Barr & Smetana (2010)
Aim: Examine frequency and intensity of adolescent sibling conflict and relationship quality.
Participants: 115 sibling pairs and their parents.
Method: 20 items on Likert scale (frequency/intensity) and trust/communication scales to assess relationship.
Results:
2 types of conflict - personal & domain
Frequent/intense conflict about invasion of personal domain
Age gaps = intense/frequent conflicts of personal domain
Conflict negatively associated with relationship quality
Sisters closer than brothers
Only children
Fablo & Polit (1986)
Receive more attention and resources
Talk more with parents and have positive relationship
Most studies show no differences between them and sibling children.
Kitzman et al. (2002)
Compared social competence of only children, 1st and 2nd borns.
6-12yo - peer ratings.
No difference in self concept or loneliness.
2nd borns most liked.
Only children least liked.
Rated as aggressive, victimised and withdrawn
Theory of Mind
Children with siblings perform better.
The more siblings the better.
