Non-Traditional Families Flashcards
What is the Social Address Model (Bronfenbrenner and Crouter, 1983)?
Most simplistic - compares child outcomes based on social situation, geographical area. Any time you take children that have different demographics and compare them at the mean level, e.g. urban vs. rural. Where there is a way to categorise families, and then look at mean differences.
What is the Process-Context model (Bronfenbrenner and Crouter, 1983)?
More advanced in that the impact of social addresses on family process is considered. If have a difference between two categories, look to see the cause of this - e.g. if youth crime is higher in urban areas, look at what activities they are engaging in.
What is the Person-Process-Context Model (Bronfenbrenner and Crouter, 1983)?
Most advanced in that characteristics of the child (or parent) are also considered, as well as everything else. Looking at the context.
What did Wallerstein and Lewis (2004) find?
Long term longitudinal study, began in 1971. Divorcing families with young children were referred. Divorce was rarer at this time - this can the child. Focused on children as adults, and their reflections about the divorce - states loneliness and fear of abandonment, memories of loss and violence, and a loss of childhood (being forced to grow up earlier).
What are the negative outcomes of divorce?
Affects school performance (Frisco, Muller, and Frank 2007), more accident/injuries (Hango and Houseknecht, 2005), more emotional and behavioural problems (Sun and Li, 2002), worse mental health (Barrett and Turner, 2005), and affects adult well-being (Amato and Sobolewski, 2001).
What did Amato and Keith 1991 find in their quantitative summary.
Meta-analysis indicated that lower mean-levels for academic achievement, conduct, psychological adjustment, self-concept, social adjustment, parent-child relationships. But median effect size = .14 SD. Therefore, there would be lots of children of divorce that have higher mean-levels for these things.
What did Patterson (1992) find about children of lesbian and gay parents?
Very few differences found in around 100 studies that were reviewed at the time. Gender identity - no diffs between groups. Gender-role behaviour - no diffs: all kids made conventional toy choices, had conventional career aspirations. Sexual orientation - no diffs detected, growing up with a gay parent isn’t a ‘risk’ factor.
What is the effect on personal development and peer relationships?
Children are the same in most respects, kids of lesbian parents no more likely to suffer psychological problems. Some studies (e.g. Steckel, 1985) find that kids of lesbian demonstrate more positive, pro-social characteristics. Kids usually have good peer relationships, and are comparably popular and socially skilled. Not usually bullied, but when they are the target is usually about their gay parents.
What did Glomobok, Tasker, and Murray (1997) find?
Compared 3 family types: lesbian mums, single straight mums, mum/dad families. Mothers’ psychological state was similar across groups. Generally kids are OK.
What did Rivers, Noret, and Poteat (2008) find?
Large-scale investigation of 14 schools (2002 students), of which 18 reported female same-sex parents. No differences for peer victimisation, psychological functioning, or social concerns. Children of lesbian parents less likely to use school support (as opposed to peer or family).
what did Ciano-Boyce and Shelley-Direci, 2003 find?
Studied lesbian couples who were biological parents, lesbian couples who had adopted, and heterosexual couples who had adopted. All had a similar background. No sig differences with respect to education, occupation or income. Yet, lesbian adoptive parents were of higher social status and lesbian couples with a biological child were significantly younger than those who adopted.
Who does what?
No significant difference between the three types of families nor type of parent on decision making or household tasks. All types of families reported egalitarian division of labour and were satisfied with their role. Heterosexual couples were less egalitarian than lesbian couples, and there was a trend indicating that lesbian biological parents were less egalitarian than lesbian adoptive parents.
Whom does the child seek?
Lesbian birth mothers and heterosexual adoptive mothers were more sought after for activities such as going to bed, feeding, when the child was afraid, tired or sick. Lesbian non-birth mothers were more often sought after for rough & tumble play, and adoptive fathers were more often sought after for rough & tumble play and TV watching and reading. Only in the lesbian adoptive families was the child’s preference of parent for specific types of activities a source of conflict. In most families, there is a reason why one parent might specialise in a certain activity. However, if a lesbian couple who has adopted there is no reason why there should be any reason between you.
What did Golombok (2003) find? - reading
Examined the quality of parent-child relationships and the socioemotional and gender development of a community sample of 7-year-old children with lesbian parents. Families recruited through longitudinal study. Included lesbian and heterosexual families. Findings showed positive mother-child relationships and well-adjusted children.
What did O’Connor et al (2000) find? - reading
Longitudinal study of adoptive and biological families. Findings are consistent with an environmentally mediated explanation for the association between parent divorce and child adjusted - however, findings for achievement and social adjustment are consistent with a genetically mediated explanation.
