PARENTS and CHILDREN Flashcards
Explain the Change in CHILDBEARING Families
- Women are Having Fewer Children - 2.95 Average in 1964 to 1.84 2014
- Increase in Births Outside of Marriage is Due to Decline in Stigma and Increase in Cohabitation
- the Later Age that Women are Having Children , Smaller Family Sizes
- the Fact that Women are Remaning Childless Relfect that Women have More Options than Just Motherhood
What does HARPER say about Effects of Childbearing Changes on Society
- once a Pattern of Low Fertility Lasts for More than One Generation, Cultural Norms about Family Size Change
- Smaller Families Become the Norm and Large Ones come to be Seen as Less Acceptable
Explain the Change in LONE PARENT Families
- 1 in 4 Children Live in a LPF , 80% Headed By Women
- Child from LPF is Twice as Likely to Be in Poverty in Comparison to a Child with 2 Parents
- Number of LPF’s has Risen Due to Increase in Divorce and Seperation ad due to Increase in Number of Never Married Women Having Children
- also Decline in Stigma Attached to Birth’s Outside Marriage
Explain how GREATER ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE has Led to Rapid Rise in Lone Parent Families
Women have Greater Economic Independence through More Job Opportunity and Through Support From the Welfare State -> Means Marriage , is Less of an Economic Neccesisity Today
Explain how IMPROVED CONTRACEPTION has Led to Rapid Rise in Lone Parent Families
with Wider Availability and Apporval of Safe and Effective Contraception, and Easier Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, Men may Feel Less Responsibility to Marry or Cohabit with Women and Support The, Should they Become Unintentionaly Pregnant
Explain the Change in STEPFAMILIES
- Account for Over 10% of All Families With Children
- More Children in Stepfamilies are From Women’s Previous Relationship Than Man’s Because, when Marriages and Cohabitations Break Up, Children are More Likely to Remain With their Mother
- with Their being More Choice and Greater Family Diversity, Relationships Become Less Stable -> Giddens would Say is Due to Modern Focus on Pure Relationship
Explain ETHNIC DIFFERENCES in FAMILY PATTERNS - BLACK FAMILIES
- Black Carribean and Black Afircan have Highest Proportion of Lone Parent Households
- High Rates of Unemployment among Black Males Lead some Women to DECIDE Not to Cohabit Or Marry Because They’re Unrealibale or Dependable
- Black Women Usually Work and May be Helped by Relatives To Take Care Of Their Children
What is Evaluation of ETHNIC DIFFERENCES in FAMILY PATTERNS - BLACK FAMILIES
- MIRZA - argues Higher Rates of Lone-Parent Families Among Black People Isn’t the Result of Disorganisation, but Rather Reflects the High Value Black Women Place on Independence
Explain ETHNIC DIFFERENCES in FAMILY PATTERNS - ASIAN FAMILIES
- Bangladeshi, Indian Households Tend be Larger Than Other Ethnic Groups -> 3 Generation Households But Mostly Nuclear
- Larger Household Sizes are Partly Result of Younger Age Profile of British Asians
because :
1. High Value Placed on Extended Family in Asian Culture
2. Practical Considerations - due to Immigration , People Needed to Help Eachother Out - Family Important Source of Support and Finanical Help
Explain Extended Family Today
- Hasn’t Entirely Disappeared
Wilmott - it Continues to Exist As a ‘Dispersed Extended Family where Relatives are Geographically Separated but Maintain Frequent Contact through Visits and Calls - Chamberlain - study of British Caribbean Families - Found that Despite Being Geographically Dispersed, they Continue to Provide Support
- Describes them as ‘Multiple Nuclear Families’ with Close and Frequent Contact - Extended Family Survives Because it Performs Important Functions for Memebrs
What are ‘Beanpole’ Families
- Type of Extended Family
- Brannen - describes as ‘Long and Thin’ :
- it’s Extended Vertically (Up and Down) through 3 or more Generations
- But it’s Not Extended Horizontally ; it Doesn’t Involve Aunts, Cousins etc
What are Beanpole Families the Result of?
- INCREASED LIFE EXPECTANCY - means More Surviving Grandparents and Great-Grandparents
- SMALLER FAMILY SIZES - mean People have Fewer Siblings and thus Fewer Horizontal Ties
