Soc 101 - Chapter 16

Trend in frequency of cohabitation

cohabitation- unmarried couples living together in a sexual relationship -with cohabitation now about 12 times more common than it was in the 1970s, this figure represents a fundamental shift in attitudes and behavior -from a furtive activity, cohabitation has moved into the mainstream: today, most couples who marry have cohabited, and about 40% of U.S. children will spend some time in a cohabiting family

Family

two or more people who consider themselves related by blood, marriage, or adoption

Sandwich generation family

-refers to people who find themselves sandwiched between & responsible for 2 other generations, their children & their own aging parents -typically between the ages of 40&55, these people find themselves pulled in two different directions

The family cycle - Childbirth

-Americans preferences have moved to having fewer children -those who attend services more often prefer larger families than those who attend less often -younger Americans (18-34) prefer larger families than do those who are older than 34 -if they had their way, some couples would specify not just the number of children but also their characteristics

Nuclear family

-a family consisting of a husband, wife, and child(ren) -more emotional overload than extended or blended families -mobility

Family transitions: transitional adulthood and the not-so-empty nest

-adolescents, especially young men, used to leave home after high school -with prolonged education and the higher cost of establishing a household, U.S. children are leaving home later -18% of all U.S. 25-29 year olds are living with their parents

Gender equality in initiating marital violence & impact on possible solution

-although not all sociologists agree, Murray Straus concludes that husbands & wives are about equally likely to attack one another -if gender equality exists here, however, it certainly vanishes when it comes to the effects of violence -- 85% of the injured are women -the basic sociological question is how to socialize males to handle frustration and disagreements without resorting to violence. WE DO NOT YET HAVE THIS ANSWER

Families without children

-childlessness varies by racial-ethnic group, with whites and latinas representing the extremes -some couples are infertile -most childless couples made a choice to not have children -- they prefer the term childfree -some decide before marriage they will never have children often to attain a sense of freedom, to pursue a career, to travel, and to have less stress -many cases, the couple simply postponed the time they planned to have their first child until either it was too late to have children or it seemed too uncomfortable to add a child to their lifestyle

Relationship between cohabitation and later marriage stability

-couples who cohabitate before marriage have same divorce rate as those who don't cohabit

Trends in U.S. families - Age at marriage and number of children

-in 1890 the typical first-time bride was 22, but by 1950, she had just left her teens -in 1970 the average age took a sharp turn upwards, and today's average first-time bride and groom are older than at any other time in U.S. history -just as couples are postponing marriage, so they are putting off having children -today's average U.S. woman now has her first child at age 25, the highest age in U.S. history

Gay/Lesbian families

-in this legal swamp, most gay and lesbian couples lack both legal marriage and the legal protection of "registered partnerships" -most same-sex couples lack legal marriage and legal protections of marriage. Similar issues as straight couples except added stress of discrimination & absence of stability of legal marriage. Children of same sex couple not more likely to have same sex orientation or adjustment problems than children of other sex couples

Differences between same-sex & other-sex marriage

-like everything else in life, these couples cannot be painted with a single brush stroke. As it does for opposite-sex couples, social class sigificantly shapes orientations to life -

Health benefits of marriage: Living Longer

-marriage helps people live longer -encourage one another to exercise and to eat regularly -provide social support

Father's contact with children after divorce?

-most common pattern is fathers see children frequently 38% -similar number of fathers has little contact with their children -more contact if he was married to the mother and is older, more educated and has more income -men who were married to the mothers of the children, especially those who are older, more educated, and have higher incomes -men who were cohabiting with the mothers, as well as younger, less educated men with lower incomes, tend to have less contact with their children

Blended families

-one whose members were once part of other families, is an increasingly significant type of family in the US -2 divorced people who marry & each bring their children into a new family unit form a blended family -with divorce common, millions of children spend some of their childhood in blended families

The family cycle - Marital satisfaction

-sociologists have found that after the birth of a child marital satisfaction usually decreases -marital happiness increases when the last child reaches age 6, when the child starts school and is away from home a lot -the birth of a child unbalances the life that the couple has worked out -marital satisfaction is high at the time of marriage -- after birth of a child, marital satisfaction declines -- after children leave home, maritl satisfaction increases

In looking at child rearing and social class, what did Kohn about the impact of parents work on how they raise their children?

-sociologists have found that working-class parents tend to think of children as wildflowers that develop naturally -middle-class mind children are like garden flowers that need a lot of nurturing if they are to bloom -working-class parents are more likely to set limits for their children and then let them choose their own activities -middle-class parents are more likely to try to push their children into activities that they think will develop their thinking and social skills -MEMBERS OF THE WORKING CLASS ARE CLOSELY SUPERVISED ON THEIR JOBS, WHERE THEY ARE EXPECTED TO FOLLOW EXPLICIT RULES, THEIR CONCERN IS LESS WITH THEIR CHILDREN'S MOTIVATION AND MORE WITH THEIR OUTWARD CONFORMITY

Role of fictive kin in African-American families

-sociologists use the term "fictive kin" to refer to this stretching of kinship -sharing scarce resources and "stretching kinship" are primary survival mechanisms -people who have helped out in hard times are considered brothers, sisters, or cousins to whom one owes obligations as though they were blood relatives -men who are not the biological fathers of their children are given fatherhood status

Empty nest (myth or reality)

-when the last child left home at about age 17 to 19, the husband and wife were left with what was called an empty nest

What reduces your risk of getting divorced?

1. Education & income Less likely to get divorced in the first 10 years if -annual income over $25,000 (VS under $25,000) - 30% lower -having a baby 7 months or longer after marriage (VS before marriage) - 24% lower -age 25 or over at marriage (VS under 18) - 24% lower -parents not divorced; grandparents not divorced - 14% lower -some college (VS high school drop out) - 13% lower

The family cycle - Romantic love

Romantic Love : feelings of erotic attraction accompanied by an idealization of the other -romantic love usually begins with sexual attraction -romantic love has 2 components a. emotional - a feeling of sexual attraction b. cognitive - a label that we attach to our feelings -if we attach this label, we describe ourselves as being "in love"

Marriage

a group's approved mating arrangements, usually marked by a ritual of some sort

Isolation and emotional overload in nuclear families

because nuclear families only include the husband, wife, and children it causes a lot of extra stress because they don't have family members around to help with things such as babysitting or helping take the kids to their extracurricular activities. Many family members live too far which explains the isolation in nuclear families

Extended family

nuclear family pluss other relatives, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins -support

Household

people who occupy the same housing unit

Family of procreation

the family formed when a couple's first child is born

Family of orientation/origin

the family in which a person grows up