Chapter 4: Families

diathesis-stress model

a perspective on psychological disorders that posits that problems are the result of an interaction between a preexisting condition (the diathesis) and exposure to stress in the environment

foster care

a placement in a temporary living arrangement when a child's parents are not able to provide care, nurturance, or safety.

sibiling rivalry

competition between siblings, often for parental attention

Benjamin's parents expect him to tell them everything. However, now that he's 13 years old, he feels entitled to keep secrets from them. This is an example of an adolescent-parent disagreement over which kind of issue?

parental control

indifferent parents

parents who are characterized by low levels of both responsiveness and demandingness

indulgent parents

parents who are characterized by responsiveness but low demandingness, and who are mainly concerned with the child's happiness

Authoritative parents

parents who use warmth, firm control, and rational, issue-oriented discipline, in which emphasis is placed on the development of self-direction.

Authoritarian parents

parents who use punitive, absolute, and forceful discipline, and who place a premium on obedience and conformity.

Family Systems Theory

A perspective on family functioning that emphasizes interconnections among different family relationships (such as marital, parent-child, sibling).

midlife crisis

A psychological crisis over identity believed to occur between the ages of 35 and 45, the age range of most adolescents' parents.

Which of the following statements about family conflict is true?

Among teenagers and parents who report having problems, the great majority had problematic relationships during childhood.

Between ages 16 and 20, as adolescents begin to feel more independent, their relationships with their parents improve.

Between early and mid adolescence, there is an increase in the proportion of families in which parents and teens have a turbulent relationship, but btwn mid- and late adolescence, parent-adolescent relationships improve markedly. as adolescens mature into young adulthood, their identification with their family grows stronger.

Context Matters

Individual Factors * Genetics Microsystem * Immediate Environment - Family - Friends - School - Neighborhood

Which of the following is a finding of social scientists regarding the effects of divorce on adolescents?

It is the process of going through a divorce, not the new family structure that results from one, that most affects the mental health of adolescents.

parental demandingness

One of two important dimensions of parenting; demandingness refers to the degree to which the parent expects and insists on mature, responsible behavior from the child.

Which of the following statements about parents of adolescents is true?

Parents' mental health is worse when their teenage children are living at home.

According to behavioral geneticists, siblings are actually quite different from each other. Which of the following has been used to explain this difference?

Siblings may experience their family environment very differently.

Effect of divorce is "small" in magnitude.

Relationship Quality > Number of Parents at Home • Process of divorce can impact teens' mental health more than the resulting family structure. • Hardest time is right after • On average, 2 year adjustment period.

nonshared environmental influences

The nongenetic influences in individuals' lives that make them different from people they live with.

familism

an orientation toward life in which the needs of one's family takes precedence over the needs of the individual

Research on the nature of parent-adolescent relationships reveals that most adolescents

appear to maintain close, respectful, and loving relationships with parents.

Ethnic differences in parenting practices suggest that

authoritative parenting is less commonly used by ethnic minority families, but its effects are beneficial in all ethnic groups.

According to many well-designed studies that have looked at the psychological consequences of growing up with lesbian or gay parents

children and adolescents with lesbian or gay parents are not psychologically different from those with straight parents.

generational dissonance

different expectations between immigrant parents and teens are a sig source of stress for adolescents and parents alike, esp when the adolescent is more americanized and the parents are less so. divergence of views between adolescents and parents that is common in families of immigrant parents and American-born adolescents.

alleles

different versions of the same gene

Authoritative parenting promotes intellectual development and psychosocial maturity through which of the following?

discussions about decisions and rules that help children understand social relationships

sleeper effects

effects of divorce that may not be apparent until much later in the child's development

According to the Family Stress Model, financial strain increases mothers' and fathers'______, which, in turn, make parents more irritable, which adversely affects the quality of their parenting.

feelings of depression and anxiety

When siblings are treated differently by parents, research shows that they are likely to

get along better because they feel unique.

According to Baumrind, children of indulgent parents tend to be

less mature and more conforming to their peers.

The identity changes of adolescence may interact with the ________ to increase family conflict.

midlife crisis of adults

shared environmental influences

nongenetic influences that make individuals living in the same family similar to each other

parental responsiveness

one of the two important dimensions of parenting, responsiveness refers to the degree to which the parents responds to the child's needs in an accepting, supportive manner.

Adolescents who spend more time with their fathers are more likely to experience

social competence and feelings of self-worth.

behavioral genetics

study of genetic influences on behavior

self-fulfilling prophecy

the idea that individuals' behavior is influenced by others' expectations for them

differential susceptibility theory

the idea that the same genetic tendencies that make an individual especially susceptible to develop problems when exposed to adverse environmental influences also make him or her especially likely to thrive when exposed to positive environmental influences.

molecular genetics

the scientific study of the structure and function of genes

An adolescent living in a poor neighborhood may benefit more from ______ than adolescents from other neighborhoods.

vigilant parental monitoring

Negative Consequences result from:

• Marital conflict • Greatest impact when it disrupts quality of parent-child relationship • When children brought into the conflict • Disorganized/disruptive parenting • Poor parental monitoring can lead to "sleeper effects" • Increases in stress (e.g., financial)