Chapter 9 Families

Child support

Money paid by the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent for the purpose of supporting the children of a separated marital, cohabiting, or sexual relationship. Court orders do not guarantee that child support will be paid.

Zero-Child Families

Why not call them childless families? child-free families? People with high income, high education, and professional and managerial occupations are most likely to have zero-child families.

Economic Effects of Divorce in Canada

Women's income usually falls after divorce. Men's income usually rises after divorce. All Canadian provinces and territories have laws requiring spouses to share assets. The monetary value of tangible assets is relatively easy to calculate and divide. Division of intangible assets is problematic.

The proliferation of non-nuclear families is

a response to changes in power relations between men and women.

Mate Selection and the Internet

2009 study: 22 percent of heterosexual respondents met their spouse/romantic partner online. Websites help 'make matches': Less successful in helping to create enduring and happy relationships.

Traditional nuclear family

A nuclear family in which the husband works outside the home for money and the wife works without pay in the home.

The Canadian Middle-Class in the 1950's

Canadians lived in marriage-couple families that gave way to the baby boom. Married women typically stayed home to raise children. Men typically worked outside the home in the paid labour force. In many respects, this was an historical anomaly.

Civil Unions

Civil unions recognize the partnerships as having some or all of the legal rights of marriage.

Same-Sex Marriage

In 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

Other forms of family

Polygamy extended family

Abortion Rate

Canada - 15 per 1000 women United States - 21 per 1000 women Russia - 45 per 1000 women Cuba - 57 per 1000 women

Three criticisms are commonly raised against generous family support policies:

1. Policies encourage long-term dependence on welfare, illegitimate births, and the breakup of two-parent families. 2. Non-family child care is bad for children under the age of three. 3. Policies are expensive and have to be paid for by high taxes.

Factors Affecting the Well-Being of Children

A reanalysis of 92 relevant studies showed that, on average, the overall effect of divorce on children's well-being is not strong and declines over time. Accounting for much of the distress among children of divorce: A high level of parental conflict A decline in living standards The absence of a parent

Heterosexual cohabitation

About 90 percent of Canadians marry at least once, but marriage is becoming less important for some Canadians. The proportion of common-law families in Canada nearly tripled between 1981 (5.6%) and 2011 (16.9%).

Spousal Violence

Approximately 12 percent of police-reported violent crime: 83 percent of victims are women. Women are more likely to report being beaten, choked, or threatened with a gun or a knife. Men are more likely to report being slapped, having something thrown at them, or being kicked, bitten, or hit.

Divorce in Canada

Before 1968: Only for reason of adultery. Divorce Act of 1968 (first federal divorce statute) widened the reasons for divorce. 1985 Amendment of the Divorce Act: Divorce was granted on the basis of 'marital breakdown' (defined in three ways). Today: There is no need to prove grounds: a marriage is legally 'dissolved' because the relationship is 'irretrievably broken.'

Three main types of spousal violence:

Common couple violence Intimate terrorism Violent resistance Wife assault is associated with gender inequality in the larger society. As gender equality increases, wife assault declines (Straus, 1994).

Nuclear family

Consists of a cohabiting man and woman who maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and have at least one child.

Abortion

Declared a criminal offence in 1892 1969 - Law changed to allow "therapeutic" abortions Abortion law struck down in 1988 1993 - Supreme Court of Canada struck down legislation that banned abortion clinics

Main factors underlying marital satisfaction:

Economic forces Divorce laws The family life cycle Housework and child care Sex

Polygamy

Expands the nuclear family "horizontally" by adding one or more spouses (usually women) to the household.

Extended family

Expands the nuclear family "vertically" by adding another generation—one or more of the spouses' parents—to the household.

Housework and Child Care

Housework and child care are part of the one domain that remains largely resistant to change. Even women who work full-time usually experience a "second shift" of housework and child care. While men take a more active role than before, it has been only a modest change. Tasks that men perform typically are low-stress and can often wait a day or even a week.

Family Policy Canada

In a study of 33 countries: Canada tied for 5th place in number of weeks for new parents to take off work. Canada ranked in 15th place for generosity of maternity leave benefits.

Love and Mate Selection

In most societies throughout human history, marriage partner selection was a calculated decision to increase family prestige, economic benefits, and political advantages.

A conflict theorist / feminist perspective: "the family"

Inaccurate to talk about "the family." Diversity of family forms is a result of the increasing demands of new social pressures. Changing family forms often represent improvement: Economic and political reforms could eliminate most of the negative effects of single-parent households.

Conflict theorists:

Inequalities of wealth had given rise to the male sexual and economic dominance in the traditional nuclear family.

Traditional Nuclear Family vs. New Alternatives

Legally Married - never married single hood, non-marital cohabitation With children - voluntary childlessness two-parent - single-parent (never married or previously married) Permanent - Divorce, remarriage (including binuclear family involving joint custody, stepfamily, or "blended" family) Male primary provider, ultimate authority - Egalitarian marriage (including dual-career and commuter marriage) Sexually exclusive - Extramarital relationships (including sexually open marriage, swinging, and intimate friendships) Heterosexual - Same-sex intimate relationships or households Two-adult household - Multi-adult households (including multiple spouses, communal living, affiliated families, multigenerational families)

The Displacement of Family Functions

Many of the traditional functions of the nuclear family, such as: -economic cooperation -reproduction -socialization -sexual regulation -emotional support have been eroded or partly taken over by other institutions.

The Social Roots of Marital Satisfaction

Marital stability is greatly dependent on marital satisfaction.

Three sets of social forces that influence your falling in love and mate selection:

Marriage resources Third parties Demographic and compositional factors

Same-Sex Marriage

National Organization for Marriage An American non-profit political organization established in 2007 to work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. Has opposed civil union legislation. Opposes gay adoption. "Gathering Storm" 2009 TV Ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp76ly2_NoI

Family Policy

On almost all indicators of nuclear family decline, Sweden leads the United States. On almost all measures of children's well-being, Sweden leads the United States. Why? Sweden has a substantial family support policy.

Emotional Effects of Divorce in Canada

Research shows that children of divorced parents tend to develop behavioural problems / do less well in school; are more likely to engage in delinquent acts / abuse drugs and alcohol; as adults, are less likely to be happy, more likely to suffer health problems, depend on welfare, earn low incomes, and experience divorce themselves.

Marriage based on love

Rooted in the rise of liberalism and promotion of individualism—both stressing the freedom of the individual over the welfare of the community.

Functions of the Nuclear Family

Sexual regulation Economic cooperation Reproduction Socialization Emotional support

Feminist theorists:

Social system of patriarchy (male dominance and norms justifying that dominance) had given rise to the traditional nuclear family.

Marriage

Socially approved, presumably long-term, sexual and economic union between a man and a woman. It involves rights and obligations between spouses and between parents and children.

Lone-Parent Families

Solo parenting is usually the product of separation or divorce after which child custody typically granted to mothers. In 2011 More than 15 percent of Canadian families were headed by a lone parent More than 80 percent of those families were headed by women poverty rate is more than double the rate of male-headed single parent families

Raising Children in Homosexual Families

Some same-sex couples raise children who are the offspring of previous, heterosexual marriages; adopted; conceived via artificial insemination. Some people believe that children raised in homosexual families develop a confused sexual identity; exhibit a tendency to become homosexuals; suffer discrimination from children and adults in the "straight" community. Zach Wahls Speaks about Family http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSQQK2Vuf9Q

A functionalist perspective: "the family "

The decrease in married-couple families and increase in working mothers is viewed to be socially disastrous, leading to, and responsible for rising rates of crime illegal drug use poverty welfare dependency

Two main factors shrink the gap in housework, child care, and senior care:

The smaller the difference between the husband's and the wife's earnings, the more equal the division of household labour. Attitude - the more the husband and wife agree that there should be equality in the household division of labour, the more equality there is.