Lecture 7 - Relationships Flashcards
What is the definition of marriage?
A legally sanctioned union between two adults
What are some advantages of being married?
Reduces mortality, increases happiness, joint income tax returns, shared finances, health care benefits, & shared housing
What are the gender differences in marriage?
More men over the age of 65 are married in Canada than women so older women may be prone to disadvantages of not being married
What did the article by Yahoo discuss?
That some seniors prefer to live alone despite people being concerned for them
What are the disadvantages of older adults living alone discussed in the Yahoo article?
Not having transportation, struggling to stay social, not having help around the house, not noticing cognitive decline, financial difficulties & loneliness
What are the benefits of older adults living alone discussed in the Yahoo article?
You don’t have to spend money on 2 people (trips are cheaper), can eat what you want, independence, peace & quiet & no caregiver burden
What is cohabitation?
Living with your partner prior to or instead of marrying
What are the trends of cohabitation?
Has increased in Canada
What is Living Apart Together (LAT)?
Living arrangement increasingly adopted by unmarried older adults in an intimate relationship who do not wish to share a residence
What are the benefits of LAT?
Provides protection from emotional challenges with past relationships and is a safeguard against potential financial and legal complications
What is the cohabitation effect?
The greater likelihood of divorce among couples who cohabitate prior to becoming engaged because marriage is convenient when you live with someone even when there are problems
What factors make someone more prone to divorce?
Tendency to contemplate divorce during marriage issues, more likely to have an extramarital affair, history of difficulty with intimacy, & women that do not resolve the intimacy vs isolation stage from Erikson’s theory
How does divorce impact the individual?
Low trust, low self-esteem, anxiety, worrying about future relationships, anger, depression, & concern about others’ opinions
How does divorce impact children?
Many children growing up in high-conflict parental relationships feel “caught” in the middle of parental arguments which is related to lower well-being & poorer parental relationships in adulthood
What is widowhood?
Marriage ending in the death of a partner
What is the prevalence of widowhood in Canada?
1.8 million widows & widowers in Canada (almost 5% of the population), older women more likely than men to be widowed & for women 90 years and older, over 80% are widowed
How does widowhood impact women?
Loneliness, financial struggles, difficulty moving on, learning their partners roles, loss of purpose, loss of motivation for self-care, decreased standard of living, lower mobility, & decreased health
What is the widowhood effect?
Increased probability of death which is caused by increased depression, psychological stress, long-term financial difficulties, reduced social support & less access to resources
What are the ways that someone adapts to widowhood?
Adapting to widowhood widely differs: resilient grief & chronic grief
What is resilient grief?
Feeling relief after being widowed because they had accepted the loss before it happened
What is chronic grief?
Associated with a pre-loss dependency (dependent on a spouse before the loss)
What are the implications of understanding the variation in widowhood grief?
Can help you understand why someone is reacting to grief the way the way they are and can help clinically
What is the socioemotional selectivity theory on relationships?
Older couples experience more positive affect with each other
“Positive sentiment override” - older adults tend to focus on the positive aspects of their relationship even if they argue a lot
What is social exchange theory on relationships?
Relationships are evaluated according to costs and benefits
Predicts why some relationships succeed and some fail in terms of whether rewards outweigh costs
Example - Friends’ episode of Rachel and Chandler where he wrote a pros and cons list about her
What is the equity theory of relationships?
Balance is sought between what each partner contributes to the relationship
Relationship dissatisfaction increases when one partner feels the other partner does possess valuable qualities
What is the Behavioral Approach to Marital Interactions?
The stability and quality of a marriage is influenced by the actual behaviours of partners during interactions with one another
Conflict increases when one partner ignores or turns against the other partner trying to make an emotional connection
What is the Need for Complementarity Hypothesis?
Couples who are different are happier
What is the Marital Similarity Hypothesis?
couples who are similar are happier (more supported)
What is the suffocation model of marriage?
Adults currently place more importance on marriage as a source of self-expression & fulfillment but have less time for their marriage so marriage is used now to serve to satisfy higher needs
What is the problem with the suffocation model of marriage?
Higher needs are harder to meet because they are less physical and more emotional so more time needs to be invested in the relationship
What are the 3 pathways of relationships?
Enduring dynamic pathway, disillusionment pathway & emergent distress pathway
What is the enduring dynamics pathway?
How a couple interacts early on in the relationship characterizes the course of the relationship
What is the emergent distress pathway?
Couple whose relationship problems develop over time
What is the disillusionment pathway?
Relationship where a couple starts out happy but gradually falls out of love
What 2 key factors differentiate happy from unhappy couples?
Positive expressions of affection and love & negative behaviors, such as criticism, anger and impatience
What is the biological factor of the Biopsychosocial Model of Parenthood?
Hormone & physiological alterations associated with pregnancy
What is the psychological factor of Biopsychosocial Model of Parenthood?
Emotional highs & lows
What is the social factor of the Biopsychosocial Model of Parenthood?
New role as a parent so a status change
What is the socio-cultural factor of the Biopsychosocial Model of Parenthood?
New expectations for parents
What happens to Marital Satisfaction when transitioning to parenthood?
Marital satisfaction tends to decrease during the child-rearing years
Waldron and Routh (1981) found that wives reported a decline in marital adjustment after the birth of the first baby
Reasons include general decrease happiness and increase in conflict
Less marital satisfaction may be due to perceived unfair allocation of household tasks
Mothers tend to perform more household duties than fathers
Fathers tend to increase involvement in paid employment
What is doing gender?
Refers to the tendency of women and men to behave in stereotypically gendered ways
What are predictors of women’s satisfaction during the transition to parenthood?
Doing Gender
Attachment Style
Self-efficacy
Expectations and Feelings of Competence
Family Goals
Enjoy Family Work
What happens when men transition to parenthood?
Gap between the genders in labor participation has gone down 42% to 15%
Many have expressed a preference to be a stay-at-home dad
“Transformative process” first time father
Men who believe they will be better fathers during transition to parenthood tend to be more active parents
Mother’s view also affect how fathers perceive themselves
What is the empty nest?
When adult children permanently depart from the home
What are the positives associated with the empty nest?
Personal Growth
More leisure Time
Improved Marital Relations
Feelings of Mastery
Improved Sexual Relation
How does the majority of children feel about their relationship with their parents?
Majority of adult-children report feeling close with their
parents (56%)
How does the relationship between adults and their children change?
Adult-children may gain greater insight into the role of being
a parent or may harbor resent
Adult-children may become increasingly concerned for their
parents’ health
Adult-children may disagree with their parents
What is filial maturity?
When children reach the age of relating to their parents as equals
What is filial anxiety?
Worry about being forced to take on care of parents
What is structural ambivalence?
Idea that society’s structures do not make clear how family members should behave
What is intergenerational stake hypothesis?
Proposal that parents are higher in affectual solidarity towards their children than children are towards their parents
What is developmental schism?
Break of communication resulting in an emotional gap between adult-children and their parents and applies most frequently to mothers and daughters
What is role reversal?
Parents and their adult-children switch responsibilities & adult-child becomes the parent when the parent undergoes physical, cognitive and social changes
BUT data shows that most adult-children and their parents have reciprocal relationships
What is contingency theory?
Proposal that parents may provide help to their children because they perceive that the children need this support
What is the sandwich generation?
Proposal that midlife caregivers are sandwiched between their aging parents and their teenaged children
What are helicopter parents?
Parents who are seen as smothering and overprotecting their overly dependent children
What are helicopter parents?
Parents who are seen as smothering & overprotecting their overly dependent children
What is the typical relationship between siblings?
Siblings share many shared experiences & may not stay in frequent contact with one another but may still maintain the relationship and view it positively
What are significant life events that can change sibling relationships?
Marriage, birth of Children, divorce or Widowhood, development of Health Problems or Death of a Family Member
What is a skip generation family?
Grandparents live with their under-18-year-old grandchildren
Why do skip generation families happen?
Substance abuse, child abuse or neglect, teenage Pregnancy, divorce, unemployment, or incarceration
What are the different types of grandparents?
Formal, fun seeker, surrogate parent, reservoir of family wisdom, & distant figure
What are formal grandparents?
Follows appropriate guidelines – involved but not too much
What are the fun seeker grandparents?
Provides entertainment
What are surrogate parent grandparents?
Takes over caregiving role (skip generation)
What are reservoir of family wisdom grandparents?
Grandparents are the head of the family
What are distant figure grandparents?
Infrequent contact with them
What are some key components of friendships?
Reciprocity underlies the foundation of friendships, tend to give and take at a deep emotional level involving intimacy, support, sharing and companionship, and helping out during major life transitions
What are the patterns of friendships forming to dissolution of them?
Formation - strangers to acquaintances to friends
Maintenance phase - involves sustainment of active interest and involvement
Dissolution phase - may be difficult to identify
What are variations in friendship patterns based on?
Individual differences in approaches towards friends
What are the different styles of friendships?
Independent, discerning, & acquisitive
What is the independent friendship style?
Enjoy friendly relationships with others but don’t form close relationships
What is the discerning friendship style?
Extremely selective so they have a small network of really close friends
What is the acquisitive friendship style?
Readily able to make and maintain close friendships at all stages of life
What are the pros of friendships?
Friends buffer against stress and are positively related to é levels of well-being and self-esteem
Serve as an important substitute for limited or no family
