Family Diversity Flashcards
What patterns have changed in family life
Increasing amounts of
- Lone-parent families
- Reconstituted families
- Singlehood
- Same-sex relationships
- The extended Family
What trends and patterns exist within Lone-parent families?
In 2012 approx. 2 million lone-parent or one-parent families in Britain making up 26% of all families
This type of family has grown rapidly over the last decade -Number of one-parent families with dependant children tripled from 2% in 1961 to 7% in 2010
About 26% of people under the age of 19 live in one-parent families
90% of single parent families are headed by Women of this
- 33% are a product of Divorce
- 17% are a product of Separation
- 4% are a product of Death
- 46% are a product of births to unmarried mothers
What are the reasons for lone parent families?
Since 1970’s there has been a dramatic increase in Divorce and Separation has been the most important cause although recently there has been a sharp increase in the number of never-married women having children
Why are lone-parent families usually female headed?
Several reasons - include widespread belief that women are by nature suited to an expressive or nurturing role, the fact divorce courts usually give custody of children to mothers and the fact men may be less willing than women to give up work to care for children
Many lone-parent families are female-headed because the mothers are single by choice, they may not wish to cohabit or marry or the may wish to limit fathers involvement
How did Renvoize contribute to the explanation of female headed lone families?
Professional women were able to support their child without the father’s involvement
How did Cashmore contribute to the reasons for lone parent families?
some working class mothers with less earning power chose to live on benefits without a partner because they had experienced domestic violence. Feminists ideas and greater career opportunities for women have also encouraged an increase in numbers of never-married lone parents
What have Attitude Surveys contribute to the reasons for lone-parent families?
Suggest that younger age groups are much more accepting of parenthood outside marriage than older people, it is no longer regarded as necessary to legitimise a baby by having a ‘shotgun wedding’ before a child is born to an unmarried couple. There is much less shame and stigma attached to illegitimacy in 2012
How do New right and Functionalists view Lone-parent families according to Ford and Millar? (arguments against lone parent families)
Inherently second rate and imperfect family type for a number of reasons
What reasons do New right thinkers believe lone-parent families to be second rate and imperfect? (arguments against lone parent families)
- They are concerned about the cost of one-parent families to the welfare state. Public expenditure on such families increased fourfold in the 1990’s
- Suggested lone-parent families can lead to a range of negative consequences for children doing less well in education and children being more likely to become delinquent or to use drugs. Believe children from one parent families lack self-discipline and can be emotionally disturbed because of the lack of a firm father figure in their lives
- Charles Murray sees the growth of lone-parent families as resulting from an over generous welfare state which he claims resulted in perverse incentives that rewards irresponsible behaviour such as teenage pregnancy. Murray claims this has created a dependancy culture in which people presume that state will support them
What is the New Right perspective on Teenage pregnancy? (arguments against lone parent families)
Created moral panics over teenage pregnancy. UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe. NR have claimed that girls are getting deliberately getting pregnant in order to obtain council housing or state benefits.
What is the Under class and how does Murray use it ? (arguments against lone parent families)
Murray suggested single parents are at the heart of a so-called ‘underclass’ that has appeared in the inner-cities and which allegedly socialising it children into a culture revolving around crime and delinquency, anti-authority, anti-work and anti-family life
What is Murray’s solution to the dependancy culture? (arguments against lone parent families)
Abolish welfare benefits in order to reduce the dependancy culture that encourages births outside of marriage.
What criticisms are there of the New right position? (defending lone-parent families)
- Under 16 contraception rate has actually fallen considerably compared to the 1960s and remained reasonably stable throughout the 1990s at 8.9 per 1000 girls. Only about half of these pregnancies proceeded to the birth of a child
- Critics of NR point out that welfare benefits are much more likely to be in poverty than other family types, this is because of lack of affordable child care that prevents w/class working consequently 60%of lone-parents are unemployed. Benefits paid to lone parents are though to be inadequate and certainly do not act as an incentive.
What evidence is there about Teenage Pregnancy?
defending lone-parent families
Little evidence teenage pregnancy is a major problem. Rate of teenage pregnancy in 2012 is half the rate it was pre-1970’s and only 3% of unmarried mothers are actually teenagers. Average age of a single mother in the UK is 34 according to National Council for 1 parent Families
Little evidence is cited in support of the view that young women are deliberately getting pregnant in order to obtain benefits or council housing
What is Ford and Millar criticism of the New Right Position?
defending lone-parent families
Suggest Poverty may be partly responsible for some lone parenthood. Single women from poor social backgrounds living on council estates with higher than average rates of unemployment are more likely than others to become single mother. However studies show this is nothing to do with perverse incentives to acquire benefits. Many of these mothers see motherhood as a valued goal which provides them with purpose and an alternative to long term unemployment. these types of single mother show that children are a great source of love, pride and satisfaction.
How did a qualitative survey by Burghes and Brown benefit Ford and Millars criticism of the New Right Perspective? (defending lone-parent families)
Study of 31 mothers who were teenagers at conception and who have never been married.
Found that although most of the pregnancies were unintended most of the mothers reported a mixture of hard work and enormous joy, for the most part mothers preferred to be at home caring for their children, all mothers intended to resume training or employment once their child was in school, marriage was also a long term goal
Why is lone parenthood exaggerated? (defending lone-parent families)
Official statistics on cohabitation are not collected by the government, however on examination of birth certificates it reveals that 4/5 births outside of marriage are registered to both parents and 3/4 of these are living at the same address, most births outside of marriage therefore are probably to cohabiting couples
How are one parent families negativley labelled? (defending lone-parent families)
familial ideology causes problems as it emphasizes the nuclear family ideal - this may leave single parents scapegoated for educational underachievement and inner-city crime.
How did Popay support the argument of one parent families being negativley labelled? (defending lone-parent families)
research indicated that schools and police sterotypes of the absence of one parent as problematic - as a result children of single parent families are more likely to be taken into care - this labelling may result in a self-fulfilling prophecy
How can many negative effects of lone parenthood be criticised? (defending lone-parent families)
Methodological grounds, most use very small samples and fail to control the effects of low income and poverty , or do not look at how children turn out
