Non-Traditional Families Flashcards
What are the 3 models used for this research?
1) Social Address Model
2) Process-Context Model
3) Person-Process-Context Model
What are the differences between social address, process-context, and person-process-context model?
1) is more simplistic, compare mean outcomes based on social situation
2) more advance, looks at the impact of these social situations on family processes
3) most advanced, characteristics of the parent and child are considered as well
Name 3 features of Divorce
1) Almost 1/2 occurred in first 10 years of marriage
2) Average age for men 45, for women 42
3) 1 in 7 a result of adultery
In Wallestein and Lewis study, what three negative outcomes were there for young children of divorcing parents?
1) Loneliness and fear of abandonment
2) Memories of loss and violence
3) Childhood came to an end
In Wallestein and Lewis longitudinal study, what was found about the child’s adult relationships as a result of its parent divorce?
They are affected because the child thinks the same will happen to them, struggles to open up and trust someone
How was the parent-child relationship affected in Wallestein and Lewis study?
Discrepancy with separate parents caused stress for the child e.g. seeing one parent happy and moved on but the other one suffering
However, children of divorced parents take their parents ___ for granted
Less
Name 3 negative outcomes of divorce
1) School performance
2) Mental health and adult well-being
3) Emotional and behavioural problems
What did Amato find?
That children of divorced parents had lower mean levels for academic achievement, conduct and psychological adjustment
Can also lead to a less smooth running household, with what effects on economic?
Disadvantage, going from 2 incomes to just 1
However, Amatos study had a _____ median effect size of ____
Small, .14
There were lot of children who’s parents are divorced who had _____ self-esteem than those with normal families
Higher
Outline the juxtaposition in the literature
Quantitative studies say that divorce is a risk factor, but the effect size is small. Qualitative studies say its devastating and has big effects
Billings and Emery found big differences between children of divorced parents and children of married parents in the following 3 factors
1) Worrying about events with 2 parents
2) Harder childhood
3) Want more time with Mum/Dad
State 3 reasons why parents should stay together for the sake of their children
1) Children must travel between 2 worlds
2) Being the only link between parents two worlds is lonely
3) Feel like adults and have to grow up fast
What are the 3 main fears of children of lesbian/gay parents?
1) Disturbance in sexuality identity
2) Less psychologically healthy
3) Difficulties in social relationships
Surprisingly, there are actually very ___ differences in gender identity, gender role behaviours and sexual orientation
Few
Despite the reason for being bullied being different for children of lesbian mothers, they are not _____ likely to get bullied
More
What was found about some children of lesbian mothers?
They showed positive and pro-social characteristics
What did Golombok find about lesbian mums, single straight mums and mum-dad families?
Mothers psychological state was similar across all groups
Mothers in father-absent families expressed more ____
Warmth
Lesbians mums showed most ______
Interaction
Even though there were no differences for children behavioural problems, what was found about the way children perceived themselves in father absent families?
Less cognitive and physically competent
Rivers et al found no differences between lesbians mothers kids and straight mothers kids in peer victim, psychological functioning and social concerns, however lesbian kids were less likely to?
Use school support
Lesbian adoptive parents were of _____ social status
Higher
Between lesbian mothers, what was found for decision making and household tasks?
There was no significant differences
Straight couples were ____ egalitarian
Less
Why were biological lesbians less egalitarian?
Because the birth giver is a different kind of mother
In a lesbian couple where one woman gave birth and the other didn’t, whats the difference in who the child seeks?
The child seeks the birth mother for feeding, help, if they are sick of afraid etc, but seeks the non-birth mother for rough and tumble
In a lesbian adoptive couple, who does the child seek?
There is conflict over who the child seeks here
What did Golombok find?
That there were no significant differences identified between lesbian mothers and straight mothers for most of the parenting variables
Lesbian mothers reported smacking their children ____
Less
Best predictor of childrens behaviour problems?
Parental stress
What did O’Connor find about the differences between the adoptive and nonadoptive families?
Adoptive families less likely to divorce than biological families
What did Oconnor find about the similarities?
Average age of child at divorce was similar, likelihood of a remarriage was similar in both groups
What were Oconnors main findings of biological families?
Children in biological families who saw their parents divorce by the age of 12 had higher rates of behavioural problems and substance use, and lower levels of achievement and social adjustment
O’Connor’s main findings for Adoptive families?
The same, except there were no differences in achievement and social adjustment in adoptive families who divorced and families who did not divorce
The findings for psychopathology are consistent with an _________ mediated explanation for the association between parents divorce and childrens adjustment
Environmentally
However, the findings for achievement and social adjustment are consistent with a _______ mediated explanation
Genetically
