Marriage and Family (SOC 40) Full Set
Ageism
American tend to have negative attitudes toward old age. - ageism: is where we stereotypes and use that to discriminate against people based on their age.
The Medical Perspective on Maltreatment
The medical perspective tends to focus on recognizing symptoms, identifying causes, and providing treatment. Medical practitioners frequently emphasize the causes of maltreatment having a biological component. Perpetrators are often viewed as victims themselves and more in need of treatment than of criminal prosecution
The Social Service Perspective
The social service perspective has generally had a much broader perspective on family violence than the medical or legal systems, traditionally viewing maltreatment within the family settings as a symptom of family crises and a need for services. - The social service system has been more concerned with ameliorating conditions that give rise to maltreatment than with promoting offenders' prosecution or providing medical treatment of victims. - The emphasis on acts of neglect in our definition of child and elder maltreatment is derived from a social services perspective
Economic Divorce (3rd stage of divorce)
This involves the settlement of property - community property law: once a couple marries any assets they acquire during the marriage can be split 50/50 in the event that they get a divorce.
Emotional Divorce (1st stage of divorce)
This is where one or both spouses withdraw emotionally from the relationship. This can come with a loss of respect, trust and affections
Casper and Sayers four types of cohabiters
(1) Precursor to marriage (2) co-residential daters (3) trail cohabiters (4) alternative to marriage
What are some reasons why people are single?
- there is a delay in age for a first marriage - the high divorce rate - a declining influence in religion, the liberalization of divorce laws, and the increased participation of women in the workforce
According to Denise Hines and Kathleen Malley-Morrison, in the article "Issues in the Definition of Family Violence and Abuse," what perspective focuses on viewing maltreatment within family settings as a symptom of family crisis and is in need of assistance?
social services perspective
Costs of peer marriage
- some worry about who they will have to be if they give up their traditional gender territories and remap their personal and family life. - is treason against tradition and career cost - Peer couples need jobs that allow them to co-parent, and this means avoiding changing jobs that require extensive travel or are all-consuming, and it may mean foregoing career opportunities. - By downplaying work and emphasizing family, neither sex can assess their success according to traditional roles. - the couple's absolute integration in each other lives can change sexual dynamism as some may complain than an 'incest taboo' sets in.
Three reasons and circumstances that support Pepper Schwartz argument that Americans fear sex?
1) America underfunds or ignores comprehensive sex education and supports abstinence education 2) a number of laws across our country specifically outlaws sexual pleasure, 3) our continued queasiness about homosexuality and continued insistence on a dichotomous view of sexuality.
According to Pepper Schwartz, in the article, "Why is Everyone Afraid of Sex?", which of the following is one of the sources of fear about sexuality?
1) concern about sexual acceptability and competence 2) the sexual double standard 3) religious indoctrination
Which of the following is a true statement regarding sexuality in the US and the Netherlands, according to Amy Schalet in "Raging Hormones, Regulated Love: Adolescent Sexuality in the United States and the Netherlands"?
American Parents dissociate teen sexuality from the context of love and commitment.
Stalled Revolution
Refers to the trend toward more equality among more men and women in the labor force (more and more women are working full time) within two stalls: - In the home: men and women arents splitting the homemaker role. - By employers: employers are not providing enough family-friendly policies, like parental leave or daycare, to help people balance the demands of work and family.
Which of the following is NOT an ideological strategy used by mothers according to Sharon Hays in the article, "The Mommy Wars: Ambivalence Ideological Work, and the Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood?"
Stay at home mothers focus on how paying for child care is good for their child's development because it provides them opportunities for new experiences and encourages their independence.
Triangular Theory of love
Sternberg argued that love has three interlocking components: intimacy, commitment, and passion. based on the presence or lack of these three components, there are eight different types of love.
How Men express love
favor hierarchical ordering, focus on practical help, shared physical activities, spending time together, and sex. Greater emphasis on feeling responsible for the partners well-being, spending time together and putting the spouses needs first.
how would a social conflict theorist view the family?
gender inequality is reproduced in the family because women are primarily held responsible for household chores and childcare.
What was Kinsey's contribution to our understanding of sexuality?
he created a continuum where we should see sexuality as more fluid instead of just two categories of heterosexual and homosexual.
Lees Love styles
he identified six different 'love styles' that help to explain how we express love (Eros, ludus, storge, pragma, Manic).
Male sexuality examples
hypersexual, thinks about sex constantly, cant control urges, praised if has lots of sex
marraige gradient
if people break the rules of endogamy with respect to age and social class, it is more socially acceptable if she married up and he marries down.
Which of the following new reproduce technology involves surgically removing eggs from the mother, fertilizing them in a Petri dish either with her partners or a donors sperm and then re-implanting the fertilized eggs into the mothers uterus?
in Vitro Fertilization
Which of the following, according to William Beer is one of the ways in which remarriages are different from nuclear families?
in remarriages, children often feel guilty for showing affection towards their new stepparent.
Community Property Law refers to policies that:
in the event of a divorce, requires couples to split 50/50 any assets they acquire during a marriage
Female sexuality examples
innocent, thinks about love and relationships, not sex, condemned for having lost of sex
consumate love
intimacy, passion, and commitment
Gender is:
learned, something we perform in our day-to-day lives and socially constructed
what is a reason people give for why they choose to marry?
love, personal fulfillment, and economic security.
Explain anti-miscegenation laws
made it illegal to marry someone of a different race
9. Beer's Grieving
many are going through a grieving process either because of a loss of a spouse or loss of a relationship due to a divorce. Children may also feel grief as the relinquish the dream of reuniting their parents.
According to Pamela J. Smock and Wendy Manning, in the article "New Couples, New Families: The Cohabitations Revolution in the United States," which of the following is true concerning the relationship quality and stability of cohabitive relationships relative to married couples?
married couples experience higher relationship quality than cohabiting couples.
What is NOT a stereotype associated with singlehood, according to Leonard Cagan in "Being Single on Noah's Ark"
mature
3. Beer's Unclear Boundaries
membership boundaries are often ambiguous in remarried families. for example, children may not include a noncustodial parents new spouse in their definition of family.
Which of the following is a current trend in parenting?
out of wedlock births are increasing among women in their 30's and 40's
Uninvolved
parents are low on responsiveness and low on demandingness. They do not offer structure or warmth and tend to have little investment in their children's lives.
according to Scott Coltrane in "engendering children" which of the following is an example of gender differences in treatment of infants and children?
parents engage boys in more physical play than they do girls
Sternberg's Fatuous Love
passion and commitment (eg. can be exemplified by a whirlwind courtship and marriage)
Sternberg's Romantic Love
passion and intimacy with no commitment (passion and intimacy)
Sternberg's infatuation
passion but no intimacy and no commitment (passion).
Lee's Eros
passionate and physical love where the partner's physical appearance is highly important. These lovers tend to get involved quickly and state that they fell in love at first sight.
Betty (female) and Allan (male) just got married. After they got married, they moved into Allan's parents house because this is the common custom in their culture. Which of the following living patterns best illustrates this scenario?
patrilocal residence
Which statement is true according to what we learn about sexuality from our parents, peers and education
peers are a major source of misinformation about sexuality
which of the following is one of the current trends in marriage?
people are getting married at later ages
Cohabiters
people who are living together as married but do not have a legal contract.
According to Paula England and Reuben J. Thomas in "the decline of the Date and te Rise of the college hook-up" which of the following is a true statement concerning gender differences in hooking up?
women often get bad reputations as a result of hooking up frequently
According to Paula England and Reuben J. Thomas in "the decline of the Date and the Rise of the college hook-up" which of the following is a true statement concerning gender differences in hooking up?
women often get bad reputations as a result of hooking up frequently
Which of the following is NOT part of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
workers must be paid their full salary during their leave
negative consequences of feminized love
works against some of the key values and goals for feminist's because it adds to women's devaluation and exploitations. reinforces men's power over women as men's style involves giving women resources that men control and women believe they need and ignore the resources that women control and men need. this dependency creates power and the feminized perspective believes that women need love more than men.
Three classical sociological theories
Structural Functionalism, Social Conflict Theory, and Symbolic Interactionism
Sternberg's Compassionate Love
Intimacy and commitment but no passion. (intimacy and commitment)
In order to help them balance both work and family demands, Susan and Claire split a full-time job at a major computer software company. Each works part-time at the office and spends the rest of the time taking care of their family. Which of the following workplace policies to help balance work do Susan and Claire illustrate?
Job sharing
Kinsey's Research on Sexual Orientation
Kinsley added to our understanding of sexuality by creating his continuum. He argued that the two categories of sexuality are too limiting and we should see sexuality as more fluid like a line. Further complicated our understanding of sexual orientation by breaking down sexuality into more than just behavior and attractions as well as acknowledging that sexuality can be expressed differently over time.
Which of the following is a change that occurs once someone marries?
Less time is spent in friends
Lee's Pragma love
This is a realistic, commonsensical, or pragmatic love. These lovers know what they are looking for in a relationship and have conditions that must be met. they tend to have checklists of what they want in a partner and often are described as loving with their head instead of their heart.
Lee's Storge love
This is a slow growing love that tends to evolve out of affection and friendship. These lovers tend to prefer someone who is similar to them.
Family of Orientation
This is the family that you are born into/ raised in.
What forces both at work and at home are simultaneously reinforcing this reversal?
This reversal is being helped by the company's work ethic and staring changing. This lure of work has been enhanced by company engineering which makes the worker feel more valued. Holding ceremonies and workshops helps the person feel welcomed by the company, and these bonuses are not present at home as parents are rarely even appreciated or acknowledged. - The corporate world has created a sense of community and neighborhood that some people don't get at home as more broken families are becoming common. - The shifting balance between employees being more stable with their jobs than relationships may be the most powerful reason why tired parents flee a world of unresolved quarrels and unwashed laundry for the orderliness and harmony of work.
Which of the following is a TRUE statement regrading the difference in the characteristics of people who are more or less likely to live together, according to Pamela J Smock and Wendy Manning, in the article, "New couples, New Families: The Cohabitation Revolution in the United States?"
Those who are highly educated are less likely to cohabit
According to Virginia E. Rutter, in the article "The Case for Divorce," which of the following is NOT one of the three things any reader of marriage and divorce research should look for?
Whether children experience pre or post disruption effects.
Contemporary definition of love
a relationship wherein a small number of people are affectionate, emotionally committed to each other, define their collective well-being as a major goal and feel obliged to provide care and practical assistance for each other. They usually share physical contact, communicate with one another frequently and cooperate in routine tasks in their daily lives.
Mate Selection
a wide range of behaviors and social relationships that individuals engage in prior to marriage. eg. Dating or arranged marriages
which of the following is a current trend in divorce?
about half of marriages will end in divorce
Pronatalism
all of the beliefs and behaviors that promote the idea that everyone should have children.
pool of eligibles
all potential dating partners or mates. two types of pools endogamy and exogamy and they are complementary rules that most people follow.
sexual scripts
are society's guidelines for engaging in sexual behavior.
Trail Cohabiters
aren't necessarily committed to their current relationship but believe in marriage and want to test out their relationship to see if they should get married to the person (15%).
Enculturated Lens Theory
argues that there are hidden cultural assumptions about how society members should look, behave and feel that are deeply rooted in our social institutions (including the family) Three gendered lenses: 1) gender polarization: females and males are perceived as fundamentally different from each other. 2) Androcenrism: males have higher value than females 3) Biological essentialism: the two lenses above are natural and normal
Ways we learn about sexuality
family, peers, and education.
How women express love
define their identity in relation to love by a standard of responsibility and care and the image of a network of connection and relationships sustained by communication. More skilled at talking about relationships and disclose more than men about personal experiences. Disclose fears, weakness and interpret this as a sign of intimacy.
Empty Nest Syndrome
describes the feelings of emptiness and a lack of purpose that parents sometimes experience when their children leave home. - While research has found that some parents go though a period of adjustment, most don't experience empty nest syndrome. - many parents see this as a positive time when they have more money, more room, and more time to focus on themselves and their marriage. This is often described as a spacious nest. - However, many children leave the nest only to return back home. These are called boomerang kids. Common reasons boomerang kids provide for returning home involve financial reasons, job loss, or divorce. - in the event that kids return home unexpectedly and disrupt their parents lives, this can be referred to as a cluttered nest.
Alternative to Marriage
do not believe in marriage but want to make a commitment to their partner so they live 'as married' (10%).
domestic partnership
does not legally recognize a same sex marriage but grants same sex couples only some of the state level benefits awarded to married couples.
Civil union
does not legally recognize a same sex marriage but grants same sex couples the same state level benefits awarded to married couples
according to Arlene Skolnick and Jerome Skolnick, in "Family in Transition", which of the following is a way in which families have changed in the recent decades?
dual income families are replacing the breadwinner/ homemaker model
According to Paul Bohannan, which of the following is the station of divorce that involves the settlement of property and assets?
economic divorce
according to Arlie Hochschild's concept "stalled revolution" what are the two things that have stalled in relation to women's rights?
employers providing programs to help balance work and family and men's participation in the household division of labor.
Sexual double standards
refers to the fact that men and women have different sets of rules or standards for engaging in sexual behavior.
Dating
refers to the process of pairing off that involves open choice in mates and engaging in activities that allow people to get to know one another.
What is a potential disadvantage to remarriage?
remarriages are more likely to end in divorce then first marriages.
Social Conflict Theory
sees society as an arena of inequality (based on race, class, gender) that can generate conflict and change. Social conflict theorists see the family as a set of social relationships that benefit some members more than others. In other words, they examine inequalities within and between families. eg. - within: gender inequality or age difference - between: sexual orientation, racial, ethnic, or class differences
Structural Functionalism
sees society as made up of parts that all work together to maintain stability and solidarity in society. Each part serves a purpose example: - regulation of sexual behavior: our norms for sexual behavior are regulated and enforced within the context of family. - reproduction: family is the social institution responsible for creating new members - social placement: when new members are born into a society they are placed within the social structure - socialization: families are supposed to not only create new members but raise them - Economic Cooperation: families provide basic necessities for their members - Care, Protection, and Intimacy: infants need warmth and affection to fully develop as humans
What is a stereotype associated with singlehood, according to Leonard Cagan in "Being Single on Noah's Ark"
sexual deviant, affluent, and workaholic
What does Francesca Cancian when she says love is feminized?
she means people tend to identify love with emotional expression and discussing feelings which are aspects of love that women tend to prefer and are more skillful at.
Legal Divorce (2nd stage of divorce)
this is where the couple files the paperwork that legally dissolves the marriage
Sternberg's non- love
this is where there is a lack or absence of all three components. There is no intimacy, no commitment, and no passion.
Community Divorce (5th stage of divorce)
this station involves changes in social relationships with family members and shared friendships
precursor to marriage
type of cohabiters that have definitive plans to marry, as well as high satisfaction and commitment to the relationship (45%).
Child Socialization
virtually all theories of socialization have agreed that the major experiences shaping children's identity occur within families, although most recognize that shaping children's identity occurs within families, although most recognize that children are also socialized by schools, churches, the media, peer groups, and other social institutions.
What does she mean when she says American parents deal with this reversal by emotionally downsizing their lives?
we are devoting less time to children and using quality time to combat this. Instead of nine hours with ones child, we make office appointments with our children and it holds out the hope that intense periods of togetherness can compensate for an overall loss of time but with no loss of quality. We transfer the cult of efficiency from work to home. Parents speak of time as a threatened capital that they must manage and invest.
10. Beer's Myth of the recreated family
we believe that remarriages are just like creating a new family, when in reality they act more like two separate families than one big family.
Matrilocal Residence
when the couples get married and they move in with the wife's parents
Patrilocal Residence
when the couples gets married and they move in with the husbands parents
Matrilineal Heritage
where kinship or family lineage and inheritance follow female lines
Patrilineal Heritage
where kinship or family lineage and inheritance follow female lines (eg. children in societies with patriarchal heritage like the US tend to have the same last name as their father)
Serial Monogamy
where people are in several different relationships over their lifetime, but with one person at a time
Which of the following is one of the benefits to parenting?
people relive their childhood through their children
The four parenting styles
permissiveness, authoritarian, authoritative, and uninvolved
What are Cherlin's comments on the effectiveness of pro-marriage policies?
- As a result, encouraging poor single mothers to marry does not benefit children as much as pro-marriage supporters believe, as the child will experience several family changes in their lifetime. - the kinds of families that would be formed would often not match the healthy two biological parent model that policymakers envision
Gender differences in infants and children
- Boys tend to receive more encouragement of activity, whole-body stimulation and are perceived as being faster, and meaner than girls. - Girls tend to receive more verbalization, interpersonal stimulation, and nurturance play. parents might assign gender-segregated chores to their children. - Chores such as cleaning and cooking are typically assigned to girls, while active chores like mowing the lawn are given to boys. - Some studies have shown that mothers tend to display more emotional warmth to daughters and encourage emotional dependence. Parents may encourage achievement in boys and use physical discipline with them more compared to girls.
What is Denmark's 'non-school' model and how does it differ from the French system?
- Denmark's child care model is a daycare in a non-school setting. It is an unstructured curriculum and the teachers, called pedagogues are paid teachers wages but do not have master's degrees like in France, instead, they care for very young children (from birth to three and up until the child is six years of age). - The French preschool model applies only to children older than three if younger they go to creche, where high school educated teachers take care of them. - Second, the Danish preschools are available only to working parents because it is not meant to educate them, but rather help working parents. - Danish preschools receive most of their income from public funding but each center is decentralized and parents contribute ⅕ of the total cost. Adults are always present around the kids, but they do not lead or play with the kids.
Abortion Laws over time
- Early American law reflected the English tradition that abortion was permissible until quickening, which was around the 4th month of pregnancy when the pregnant women can feel the fetus moving in the womb. It was believed that the fetus wasn't alive until quickening and thus abortions were allowed prior to this time. - By 1900, abortion was illegal in the US, except when a doctor felt it was necessary to save a women's life. - In 1973, the Supreme Court struck down all anti-abortion laws as a violation of women's rights to privacy in the famous Roe Vs. Wade case.
Types of sexual orientation
- Heterosexual: someone who is attracted to members of the opposite sex - heteronormative culture: a society that believes that being straight is natural or normal -homosexual: someone who is attracted to members of the same sex. - Bisexual: Someone who is attracted to both sexes - Asexual: someone who has no sexual attraction
Advantages to Remarriage
- Improved Finances: one of the biggest negative consequences of divorce is decreased financial stability. Thus, a remarriage can come with improved finances - Maturity: because marriage involves older persons, they generally have greater maturity, which can create a more stable environment. - Additional set of kin: gives children or single persons an additional set of relatives that provide emotional support.
According to Joshua Coleman, in the article "Parenting Adult Children in the Twenty-First Century" how have perceptions of children changed over time?
- In prior generations, the children were expected to prepare themselves for adult work by following the instructions appropriate for their class, gender, and race. - However, America's parenting view shifted from believing it was the obligation of the child to meet the family's needs to believing that the family should meet the child's needs. - We now perceive children as fragile and requiring 'hothouse parenting' in order to thrive. - Some factors that have led to these recent changes in perception of childhood is the increased psychology books and media.
Gar rights movement and gay marriage
- Marital law is defined at the federal and state level - The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage as the union between one man and one woman and allowed states to only recognize those marriages performed in other states that fit this definition.
What are some stereotypes associated with singlehood
- One stereotype associated with singlehood is that they choose this lifestyle because they want freedom, are workaholics, and are affluent. - singletons are happier and less lonely. - Single individuals are also viewed as deviant since marriage is seen as the natural transition for adults when they reach a certain age. - Singles are also viewed as sexually deviant as people assume that a reason for staying single is to remain a 'swinger' and not be sexually tied down - Those who chose to stay single are often viewed by society as immature as they failed to progress to the next logical stage in life, starting a family.
What are the two levels of the debate and the arguments associated with each level of whether government should promote marriage?
- Social scientists who are with the statistical debate agree that, on average, children who grow up in a one-parent family are less advantaged than children who grow up with two parents. - Children raised in single parents households are more likely to drop out of high school, less likely to attend college, and tend to work for lower-paying jobs. ------------------------- - The second viewpoint is political, and it is concerned about how Americans view the autonomy of women and the authority of men - The diversity defenders argue for more public policies that would provide more income support, child care options, and flexible work schedules for single parents.
How else do American working parents try to evade the time bind?
- Some parents try to evade the time bind by minimizing how much care a child, a partner or themselves need and make do with less time, attention, understanding and less support at home than they once imagined possible. They emotionally downsize life. - They deny the needs of family members and they themselves become emotional ascetics. They are now fine without time together. Some try to evade the time bind by buying themselves out of it as women absorb the family-work speed up far more than they resist it. - Parents also develop 'potential selves' which are fantasy creations of time-poor parents who dreamed of living as time millionaires. Banished to garages and attics, items are bought with wages that took time to earn and are to them a substitute for time and a reminder of the potential self.
According to Andrew Cherlin's article, "Should the Government Promote Marriage? What are the two sides to the debate on marriage and what are their arguments?
- because they are morally certain that it provides the best kind of family - others favor it because they believe children's well-being would improve if more of their parents were married
Why have fertility rates changed?
- decrease in mortality rate - the industrial revolution and increased cost of children - changing attitudes toward children
In the article "Being single on Noah's Arc" what are the social reasons Leonard Cargan gives for why singles are discriminated against in our society?
- dominant system in this country is married people or couples in relationships, and thus, the unmarried are considered a minority and are discriminated against by the majority
Who are excluded from the definition of family
- extended family (the definition above is for the nuclear family) - close family friends - cohabiting couples - commuter marriages: married couples that maintain separate residences because of their jobs. - LAT (living apart together) relationships: couples that maintain separate residences because of personal preferences.
What are some reasons couples give for choosing to cohabit?
- more time to spend together. - pool resources and cut down on the cost of bills. - an important way to evaluate compatibility before marriage.
Marriage trends in the US
- most Americans will marry in their lifetime - people marrying at later ages (women at 26 and men at 28) - more people are cohabiting prior to marriage
How do cohabiting people differ from married people with respect to quality and stability, children, and the division of household labor?
- overall they experience slightly lower relationship quality and levels of commitment than do married couples. - Also, concerning children, it is noteworthy to mention that children born to cohabiting couples are less likely to be reported as unplanned than those born to single women. - cohabiting men do the same amount of housework per week as married men. - Men substantially reduce their housework time when they enter either marriage or cohabitation
Four characteristics of peer marriage
- the partners did not generally have more than the sixty-forty traditional split of household duties and child-raising. - each partner believed that each person in the couple had equal influence over important and disputed decisions. - partners felt that they had equal control over the family economy and reasonably equal access to discretionary funds. - each person's work was given equal weight in the couple's life plans.
According to Pamela J Smock and Wendy Manning, in the article, "New Couples, New Families: The Cohabitation Revolution in the United States" what are some differences in the characteristics of people who are more likely or less likely to live together.
- those who are more likely to cohabit are lower income compared to married couples. - cohabitors' unemployment level is more than twice as high as those of married men and women. - cohabiting families with children also experience higher levels of poverty than married families with children - Cohabitation tends to be less common among those who hold strong religious convictions
What are Karl Zinsmeister arguments for why divorce not only has harmful effects on children but that they would prefer to remain in an unhappy intact family.
- there is fear and loathing of divorce among the youth. Contrary to popular perception, the alternative to divorce is not always a life filled with arguments and conflict. - Experts say that only 15% of marriages include high levels of conflict. - In the vast majority of cases, there is no violence that would scar the child; instead, the two parties want to explore other partners. In these cases, the children will always be worse off. - Despite the common perception that the best thing parents can do is to make themselves happy, the truth is that children have their own needs that exist apart from their parents. This shift in parents favoring their own happiness above their children is a result of 'liberalization' of the family. While it's true that kids will adjust to the new family setting, it's not always a healthy adjustment. - concludes that the old argument of staying together for the sake of the kids is still the best argument. People, however, are simply not putting in the energy to save the marriage. In a study, 3/16 children were judged to have weathered the initial storm, relatively unchanged, while 2/16 were severely disorganized and developed gross behavior. The rest of the two-thirds were sad, angry children who displayed resentment, depression, and physical aggression. These emotions continue for many years after the divorce. - Another argument is the catalog of behavioral changes. Children of divorced parents performed worse than children of intact families on 9/30 mental health measures, showing more withdrawal, dependency, inattention, and unhappiness. Children exposed to divorce are twice as likely to repeat a grade and five times more likely to be expelled or suspended, and 60 percent of the divorce children will fail to match the educational achievements of their fathers. - Researcher Conrad Schwartz has hypothesized that children who are allied with their same-sex parent tend to hold a chauvinistic and alienated view of the opposite sex. While children growing up with only opposite-sex parents tend to have problems with gender identity and self-esteem. Both male and female children of divorce see their own marriages dissolve at significantly higher rates than those in intact families.
Costs of parenting
-financial costs: raising kids in todays society is expensive - time and energy: children are dependent on their parents for their physical and psychological needs - emotional cost: parents often worry about their child's safety and well-being - lifestyle disruption: have children disrupts a couples sleep, and sex lives as well as often being incompatible with work schedules, hobbies and leisure activities.
Changes after marriage
1) Legal changes: change last name 2) Community property law: once a couple marries any assets they acquire during the marriage can be split 50/50 in the event of a divorce. Or do a prenuptial agreement. 3) Personal changes: enhanced self-concept, or adopt new values that are consistent with the married role. 4) Friendship Changes: decrease in time spent with friends, spend less time with opposite sex friends and spend more time with married couples. 5) Marital changes: married couples describe getting married as a form of disenchantment. Transition from a state of newness and high expectation to a state of mundaneness and reality.
Six common reasons why people marry
1) Love: most couple view marriage as an expression of love. In the US we see love as preceding marriage. 2) Personal Fulfilment: obligation to create a family of procreation. Way to legitimize a relationship and fulfill societal duties. 3) Companionship: they will have someone to live their life with. 4) Parenthood: most Americans prefer to have children within a marital relationships. Procreation should happen within marriage. 5) Economic Security: be more financially stable. married people report higher income and more wealth. 6) Religion: marry for religious reasons. Marriage is seen as a religious sacrament.
What are some fears of sexuality?
1) Religious Indoctrination: most religious institution hold very conservative views about sexual behavior. sex outside marriage is often condemned and there is still no toleration for homosexuality. 2) double standards and patriarchal norms can also to blame because even though women's sexuality some people still view this trend as the nation morally decaying 3) the association of sexuality, disease, and death with sex is still evident, especially when discussing STDs. Instead of helping people avoid the contagion, sex itself is often presented as the problem. 4) Fear of sexual accessibility and competence can become a problem as it is hard for an average person to fit the media and model standards of sexual attractiveness. 5) Fear of sexual orientation as a result of only being given two categories of sexual identity. Homosexual activity is also frightening to some.
Family in Transition: the myths regarding family
1) The Myth of Universality: states that although a family unit is similar in many ways, families do vary in organization, membership, ideologies, and social and kinship networks. There is no single definition that holds true across cultures and societies. 2) The Myth of Family Harmony: states that many people do not find happiness and satisfaction within their families. Any relationship undergoes both positive and negative feelings and this does not undermine the traditional image of a happy family. 3) The Myth of Parental Determinism: explains that although the family a child is raised in does have lifelong repercussions, it is not an irreversible influence. 4) The Myth of a Stable, Harmonious Past: outlines that many believe there was a golden age of the family, however, historians have denounced this idea. This idea is partly false because the idea of a family is constantly changing to match the world around it.
What are three revolutions that have transformed the family?
1) The Post-Industrial Family: making it more common for married women to join the workforce. 2) The Life Course Revolution: the increased life expectancy of individuals, which has subsequently lead to women living longer and having fewer children. 3) The Psychological Revolution: enabled greater access to education, more leisure time, and exposure to information. This has enabled more people to look for intimacy in their relationships and have concern for their quality of life.
In the article "Facts and Fictions About an Aging America," by the MacArthus Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society, what are seven myths about aging in America? Describe them?
1. The first myth is that aging in America is a temporary phenomenon caused by the baby boom. This is simply not true as the aging population will not disappear once baby boomers have passed on. Although they have contributed to the aging society, so has the rapid increase in life expectancy and reductions in the birth rate. Death has shifted from a phenomenon among the young to one of the old. This component will likely remain an enduring part of our demographic. 2. The second myth is that physical and mental capacity inevitably declines with biological aging. Being old does not mean one is frail because while normal human aging does include progressively worse organ function, its effect on individuals' capacity to function in society is quite modest. This myth is believed because of archaic views that overlook the fact that people are becoming disabled later in life, so people live longer, but they are disabled for fewer years in their lives. 3. Myth number three is that aging mainly impacts the elderly. While population 'aging' drives our demographic transition, from a policy perspective, the elderly are often not the most important group from the point of view of either the risks they face or the impact they will feel as changes are made to adapt to our society aging. For example, the middle-aged will be strained by their responsibility to provide goods and services to the rapidly growing elder community. 4. Myth #4: in an aging society, the young and old are inevitably pitted against each other. Several pundits have predicted that as aging baby boomers vastly increase the ranks of older voters, class warfare will be fought between the old and young. It was believed that the elders would be voting exclusively on the basis of their material self-interests to increase spending on social security and Medicare and other old-age entitlements. However, throughout many decades of elections, there has been no credible evidence that older people vote as a unified block focusing only on old-age benefits. Young and middle-aged adults recognize the financial relief old-age entitlements provide and see themselves as future beneficiaries of the programs. 5. Myth #5: policymakers must choose between investments in the youth or the elderly. As advocates vie for the attention of the administration, some children programs argue that the youth are the only generation worthy of investment. This approach views expenditures for children as an investment with long term returns for all society and resources spent on the elderly as short term benefits. This view belies the fact that many mid and late-life interventions such as new skill training, efforts to enhance civic engagement and volunteerism, and programs to reduce health risks pay off. It's well established that investment in early life impacts later socioeconomic position and well-being; however, accumulated evidence also suggests that investment spaced across a lifetime can have better cumulative benefits than the effects of interventions made in childhood alone. Many programs that target the elderly have significant benefits for younger generations and should properly be seen as family programs. 6. Myth #6: the biggest public problems facing an aging American stem from Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. The currently unfunded future financial obligations of Social Security and especially Medicare and Medicaid are indeed staggering and threaten our nation's future financial stability. As the age structure of our society changes, we must reexamine the social impact between generations that has been the basis of many of our policies. Lack of attention to these issues could prove in the long run to be just as damaging as the financial imbalances in entitlements. 7. Myth #7: We can stabilize the age of our population by increasing immigration. One issue that is embedded in this myth is related to the nature of the alleged problem. Many think our aging population will not have a workforce large enough because demographic shifts will increase the size of the older population relative to the young. In truth, most estimates suggest that the US will have a sufficient overall number of workers in 2030 and assuming legal migration continues at current levels of approximately 1 million people annually. This is due to the relatively high total fertility rate. While the overall workforce's size may be sufficient for years to come, it's highly likely that skill gaps will emerge in particular areas, nursing and engineering among them. One way to look at the problem is that it is the result of an upward shift in the age structure of our future society, and we can 'cure' this by importing more young people from other countries for a while in order to mitigate the changes in our population pyramid. Even if we encourage younger migrants to enter the country, these immigrants will grow older.
Myths associated with old age
1. most older adults are poor - even though their incomes are lower, they often have fewer costs. 2. older adults lose their sex drive - research shows that most older adults enjoy sex, even though it might be less frequent than when they were younger. 3. older adults are usually sick - research has shown that those aged 17 to 44 have twice as many acute illnesses as those over the age of 65. 4. older adults are senile - memory loss is more associated with illness than age. 5. most older adults in the US end up in nursing homes -research shows that less than 5% of those over the age of 65 live in a nursing home. Most are cared for by their family members or live on their own. 6. most older adults are lonely - studies have shown that older adults have the lowest loneliness scores. 7. older adults are isolated from younger family members - research has found that their contact with other family members, especially adults children is rather frequnet.
Grandparenthood
A relatively new life stage in grandparenthood. - about 75% of those aged 65 have grandchildren so many people become grandparents in their middle age. - many grandparents have a vested interest in the lives of their grandchildren. They see it as a stress free relationship and a chance to carry on their values and customs without the responsibility of childrearing.
According to Pepper Schwartz in the article "Peer Marriage: How Love Between Equals Really Works" what is peer marriage?
According to Pepper Schwartz, peer marriage is a marriage where the shared decisions, responsibility, and household labor were in the service of an intimate and deeply collaborative marriage. It is a relationship of equal companions, a collaboration of love and labor in order to produce profound intimacy and mutual respect.
Gender Socialization Theories
Argues that gender roles and gender identity are learned through a system of positive reinforcement (rewards) and negative reinforcements (punishment). This can be both direct, through interaction or indirect, through observation. (eg. girl plays dress up and is verbally rewarded or a boy plays dress up and is verbally abused)
According to Pepper Schwartz, in the article, "Why is Everyone Afraid of Sex?", which of the following is NOT one of the sources of fear about sexuality?
Association of sexuality with health and life.
According to Baumrind, what parenting style is characterized by parents who are both demanding and responsive in that they impose limits on children's behavior but also emphasize reasoning and communication?
Authoritative
according to the course material, gender is NOT
Based on physical and biological characteristics
according to the course material, gender is NOT
Based on physical and biological characteristsics
According to the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) study, what are the five categories of grievers among the older widows/widowers?
Based on the Changing Lives of Older Couples, the five categories of grievers among the older widow/widowers are (1) Resilient: showing no or few depressive symptoms at both 6 and 18 months after their loss. Rather than showing signs of denial, emotional inhibition, or delayed grief, these relatively symptom-free older adults believed that death was a part of life, and they took great comfort in memories of their deceased spouses. (2) Common Grief: experiencing strong depressive symptoms six months after their loss but improving considerably over the following years. (3) Depressed-Improved: had significant depressive symptoms before the loss but then improved considerably after it occurred. (4) Chronic Grief: strong depressive symptoms for more than 18 months following the loss. (5) Chronic Depression: encompasses high, constant levels of depressive symptoms both before and after the loss.
Which of the following is a myth (or falsehood) regarding violence and abuse in the family?
Battered women are masochistic and provoke the abuse
in he Taking Sides Debate "Does Divorce Create Long Term Negative Effects for Children?" what is one of the key arguments by Karl Zinsmiester?
Children of divorced parents have more emotional compared to those whose parents stay together
How do the Dutch view sexuality?
Danish parents normalize sexuality because they view the topic as something that should not present the children any problems. believe they should view sexuality in context of their emotions and relationship in the context of their emotions and relationships with other people.
In the article "When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work," what does Arlie Hochschild mean when she says Amerco parents emotionally downsize their lives?
Denying the needs of family members
loss of a spouse - DiGiulio stages of widowed people
DiGiulio (1989) described four stages that widowed people experience. 1. Encounter: in this stage, people often experience several emotions including sadness, depression, shock, rage, panic, and confusion. As a result, they often have a loss of appetite, insomnia, frequent crying, and emotional numbness. Some become obsessed with their deceased spouse often visiting places they went together and using their belongings. 2. Respondence: while many of the emotions from the first stage are still present, they recognize the reality of their spouse's death. This is where they confront their unmet needs for attachment nurturance and reassurance. They often feel intense loneliness but reach out for help and support. 3. Emergence: this is where widows come to realize that death is a natural outcome of life and although they have lost someone they loved, they can move on with their lives. They begin to acknowledge their new identity as a single, unmarried person and focus on the future. 4. Transformation: this is a departure from and movement beyond widowhood. Grief work is over. As a result of surviving the grief, they see themselves as changed people who have grown from the experience.
In 2008, John lived in a state that granted same sex couples hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights, and tax benefits. However, they did not grant any additional state benefits or federal benefits. Which of the following protections did John's state provide
Domestic Partnership
What are the national differences in family leave policies?
European countries provide extensive paid family leave and are usually universal with job protection and substantial income replacement. - In Sweden parents receive a full year and half of paid parental leave with 80% of prior earnings. - The United States provides far less, with a 12-week job-protected leave to workers of covered employers. Most employers (95%) are not covered as are many workers (45%). All federally mandated leave is unpaid. This causes women to pay a wage penalty when they interrupt their career. - In the US, workers on average put in 300 hours more per year than workers in France and four hundred more than people in Sweden.
Federal Doma
Historically, same sex couples that have been able to marry because of these changes in state law have not had access to federal level benefits given to married couples. This changes in 2013 when the US SCOTUS ruled that the federal DOMA, which defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman is unconstitutional.
A whirlwind relationship where they are very physically attracted to one another and get married shortly after meeting would be an example of which type of love according to Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love?
Fatuous Love
In the article, "When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work," Arlie Hochschild says "work has become a form of home and home has become work" what does she mean by this statement?
Hochschild means that the worlds of home and work have not begun to blur but to reverse places. - We are used to thinking that most people feel like 'numbers on a spreadsheet' while at work but new management techniques that are pervasive in corporate life have helped transform the workplace into a more appreciative personal sort of social world. - Meanwhile at home the divorce rate has risen and the emotional demands have increased. Also, on top of children, the needs of elderly parents are creating more tasks for the modern family. - Home has begun to feel like work and work feels like home. Some get relief of home from work.
Sex
refers to the biological and physical characteristics that we associate with being female and male. - chromosomes (xx and xy) - hormones (estrogen and androgen, which is testosterone) - reproductive organs
Which of the following are the four sexual orientations?
Homosexual, Heterosexual, asexual and bisexual
Bohannan stations of divorce
Identified six stations of divorce that describe it as a social process that happens over time
Lee's Ludus love
Love is like a game and is never taken seriously. These lovers are very playful, treat love like a conquest or sport, and tend to have multiple partners at once.
Boomerang Kids
Many children leave the nest only to return back home. These are called boomerang kids. Common reasons boomerang kids provide for returning home involve financial reasons, job loss, or divorce.
Which of the following is part of the sexual double standard in our culture?
Men are praised for sexual experience.
How do American parents dramatize teenage sexuality?
People tend to dissociate teenage sexuality from contexts of love and commitment. They refer to teenage sexual activity as experimental and immoral and believe that teenagers cannot restrain themselves because they lack an internal reference or moral compass yet.
According to Pepper Schwartz in the article "Peer Marriage: How Love Between Equals Really Works" what is a benefit of a peer marriage?
Primacy of the relationship
Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships
Prior to legalizing some same sex marriage, many states were wiling to grant legal benefits, without legal marriage, in the form of a civil union or domestic partnership.
Symbolic Interactionism
Sees society as a product of everyday interactions that help create our reality. Focuses on how our interactions shape our understanding of families. - how are marriages and families experienced? - how do individual family members interact to create, sustain, and change marriages and families. - how have roles within the family changed over time?
What are some of the benefits of the change in relationships between parents and children?
Some benefits to the change in the relationship between parent and child is that both parties get to spend more time with one another which can create more intimacy in the relationship. The emotional intensification of parents' investment can create deeper ties than in the past.
Which of the following is a difference in day care centers in the United States and France according to Dan Clawson and Naomi Gerstel in the article, "Caring for our Young: Child Care in European and the United States"?
The French day care is intended as early education
Definition of Family
The US Census defines a family as 2 or more people who are living together and are related by blood, marriage, or adoption.
The Club Sandwich Generation
The club sandwich generation involves caring for more generations. Not only are middle aged people caring for their adult children and aging parents, but their can also be caring for their grandchildren and grandparents.
What messages do children get about gender from children's stories and nursery rhymes?
They are fed the message that men and women are rarely interchangeable in their roles in the story and that men tend to get to play the role of the hero that rescues the damsel in distress. Women are portrayed as clean, sweet, and easily frightened, while men are expected to be rough, mischievous, and proud. These stories teach young children the cultural standard for masculinity and femininity.
In the article, "The Modern American Stepfamily: Problems and Possibilities," what does Mary Ann Mason say are the two models for public policy on stepfamilies?
The two models of stepfamilies, according to Mary Ann Mason, is the 'stranger model' followed by most states where treats the residential stepparent as if he or she were a legal stranger to the children with no rights and no responsibilities. The other 'dependent' model most often followed by policymakers assumes the residential stepfather is, in fact, supporting the stepchildren and provides benefits accordingly.
Two Types of Abuse
The two types of abuse that they distinguish between is violence and maltreatment. Maltreatment refers to minimal or moderate forms of abuse, such as hitting, pushing, and name-calling) and violence relates to more violent abuse involving serious endangerment and physical injury, and sexual violation. Here abuse is the broader term, and maltreatment and violence are considered subtypes of abuse, varying in level of intensity. - According to Strauss, he distinguished between socially accepted violence (e.g., Spanking) and abusive violence, defined as an act that has a high potential for injuring the person being hit.
Sexuality
Viewed as a person's capacity for sexual feelings.
Neolocal Residence
When the couple gets married and they create their own residence separate from both sets of parents
According to Francesca Cancian, in her article "The Feminization of Love," how do men and women express love differently?
Women's love is more expressive and men's is more instrumental
According to the article "The Modern American Stepfamily: Problems and Possibilities," what is Mary Ann Mason new policy proposal?
a de facto parent model that legally covers the stepparent-stepchild relationship and extends federal and state policy in the vent of a divorce or death of a stepparent.
Patriarchy
a gendered social system where men dominate and where masculinity is more highly valued.
Matriarchy
a gendered social system where women dominate and where femininity is more highly valued.
Marriage
a legal contract that defines the union between 2 people who are above a specific age and not legally married to anyone else. The legal contract comes with over a thousand federal and state benefits and states can add restrictions including age.
Polygyny
a marriage (or relationship) between one man and many women
Polyandry
a marriage (or relationship) between one women and many men
Polygamy
a marriage (or relationship) between three or more people
Monogamy
a marriage (or relationship) between two people
Beers ways of that remarriages are different from Nuclear Families.
beer identified 10 fundamental ways in which remarriages are different from traditional nuclear families with husband, wife and kids.
Infertility
can be defined as the inability to have a child after 12 moths of unprotected sexual intercourse OR the inability to carry a pregnancy to full term. - about 10% of the population are infertile - men and women tend to have equal rates of infertility (40% are women, 40% are men and 20% are either unknown or both)
coresidential cohabiters
cohabitation was seen as an alternative to singlehood. These people are uncertain about marriage and the quality of their relationship (30%).
Sternberg's Empty Love
commitment but no passion and no intimacy (Commitment).
Robert is currently going through a divorce. According to the law, he is entitled to half of all of the property acquired during his marriage. Which law dies this policy refer to?
community property law
Lindsey and Charles are currently dating. They are unsure of the quality of their relationship but decide to move in with each other because it is more affordable than living alone. According to Casper and Sayers what type of cohabiter are they?
coresidential daters
Judy is in a committed relationship with two men. the three of them live their life as husband, husband, and wife. what term would best describe this relationship?
polyandry
judy is in a committed relatinosjip with two men. the three of them live their life as husband, husband and wife. what term would best describe this relationship?
polyandry
According to Joshua Coleman, in the article "Parenting Adult Children in the Twenty-First Century," how have perceptions of children changed over time?
prior generations told children that they had to earn their parents love and respect, but parents today worry about earning love and respect from their children.
What is psychoanalytic gender theory?
proposed by Sigmund Freud, and it uses free association and the interpretation of patients' dreams in order to uncover unconscious mental processes. Focuses on the role of a person's unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences
Domestic Violence
refers to abusive and violent behavior within the context of an intimate relationship - Abusive and violent behavior can take on several different forms, including physical violence, verbal abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, sexual violence or neglect. - an intimate relationship can also be taken several different forms, including spouses/partners, parent-child relationships or siblings.
Gender
refers to all of the personal traits and social positions that we associate with being masculine and feminine - gender is socially constructed: - masculine provided/ breadwinner/ competitive/ dominant - feminine: mother/ housewife/ passive/ cooperative/ delicate
Household Division of Labor
refers to all the chores that need to be done within the home. - Hochschild's second shift refers to all the chores (cooking, cleaning, laundry) that need to be done once someone returns home from work or their first shift. - Women (70%) cooking, cleaning, laundry, child care, and grocery shopping - Men (30%) taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, repairs
Motherhood Mystique
refers to cultural ideas about mothers. Has four parts: 1) ultimate achievement and fulfillment: we believe that for women to achieve fulfillment and meaning in their lives they must become mothers 2) Work goes together: all of the work assigned to mothers- caring for children, home, and husband- fits together in a noncontradictory manner. if she is working we can also include her work life in this balance. 3) Enjoy being a mother: we believe that a good mother must always enjoy being a mother and never complain. 4) A women's attitudes about motherhood will affect her children: we hold women responsible for the outcomes of her children.
Endogamy
refers to rules that state you should marry inside of your social group with respect to: social class, race, religion and age (give or take 4 years).
Exogamy
refers to rules that state you should marry outside of your social group with respect to sex and family.
An example of an Eros lover, according to Lee's love styles, would be:
someone who tends to get involved quickly and fall in love at first sight
which of the following is NOT one of the four ideas of motherhood associated with "motherhood mystique"?
sometimes there are conflicts between motherhood and work responsibilities but women do their best to balance both of these
8. Beer's Guilt
the new spouse may have unresolved feelings about a previous marriage. Children may also feel guilt for showing affection to their stepparent, believing that they are being disloyal to their noncustodial biological parent.
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
the US supreme court found that state bans on same-sex marriage violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th amendment and thus are unconstitutional. This court case decision made same-sex marriage legal.
Commitment
the cognitive component having to do with attachment, faithfulness, and a desire to stay together.
according to Zhenchao Qian in "Breaking the Last Taboo: Interracial marriage in America" which of the following is a pattern in education and gender within interracial relationships?
the darker the skin of the minority, the more likely they are to have married whites with lower educational levels than themselves.
Intimacy
the emotional component having to do with bonding closeness, sharing of feelings, self-disclosure, and emotional support
How do sex and gender relate to family?
the family is an agent of socialization meaning that it is one of the groups that helps an individual learn about their culture and form their personality and self concept. eg. we learn about gender from our family: - the clothes we wear are gendered - the language parents use with boys and girls - the chores we do without our family are gendered - the toys we play with as children are gendered
Same sex marraige
the fight to legalize same sex marriage began with individual states legalizing same sex marriage - 2004 - Massachusetts - 2008- California and Connecticut - 2009- Iowa and Vermont - 2010- New Hampshire and Washington DC - 2011- New York - 2012- Washington and Maine - 2013- Maryland, California, Delaware, Rhode Island, Minnesota, New Jersey, Hawaii, and New Mexico -2014- Oregon, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada, West Virginia, North Carolina, Idaho, Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, and South Carolina. -2015- Florida and Alabama
according to Andrew cherlins article "Should the Government Promote Marriage" what side of the debate on marriage believes that marriage provides the best kind of family?
the marriage movement
passion
the motivational component having to do with romantic feelings, desires, and arousal physical attraction for your partner
According to Virginia E. Rutter, in the article "The Case for Divorce," which of the following is one of the three things any reader of marriage and divorce research should look for?
the three options are: 1) whether the marital quality is considered in the research. 2) whether selection effects are controlled for 3) whether domestic violence or other pathologies are examined.
What is gender schema theory?
theory proposed by Sandra Bern states that children are motivated to match their behavior to gender stereotypes only to the extent that society demands it. Emphasizes the child as an active processor of information and that the gender schemas that guide thinking also influence children's behavior. The major strength of gender schema theory is in the understanding it provides about the maintenance and power of gender beliefs.
critique the four parts of the motherhood mystique
these expectations are unrealistic. Not everyone enjoys being a mother, having children can be stressful, and not all the work is going to go together. This ideal is setting up people for failure. Sharon Hayes calls this the mommy wars where women fight each other (eg. working vs. say at home moms). If we create this idealistic viewpoint of mothers than we are not allowing for people to have different experiences. Motherhood mystique is a critique of our cultural attitudes and not a standard.
Lee's Agape Love
this is a selfless, giving, and altruistic love. These lovers put the needs of others before their own needs. This type of lover is often referred to as spiritual.
Lee's Manic love
this is an obsessive and possessive love. These lovers tend to waver between happiness and sadness. They are often jealous and demand constant attention.
Family of Procreation
this is the family that you create either through marriage, a committed relationship (like those who cohabit as an alternative to marriage), or through having a baby (either in marriage or outside of marriage).
According to Deborah Carr, in the article, "Good Grief: Bouncing Back from a Spouse's Death in Later Life" what are "feeling rules"?
"Feeling rules" are the cultural guidelines that shape appropriate emotional responses to life events and experiences. Those who violate those rules, like the widow who grieves a death too calmly, are seen as insensitive at best and pathological at worst.
What does it mean to have a 'soul-mate parent'?
- A 'soul-mate parent' refers to the combination of democratization of the family form, fewer opportunities after children leave home, a culture that blames parents for child outcomes, a more dangerous world, and an increase in parental guilt and anxiety have together created an environment where parents believe that they have to be everything for their children. - From this perspective, the parent has turned into a soul-mate. Some soul mate parents suffer from fundamental problems: 1) most individuals don't have all the traits to bring to the relationship, 2) what we want and need from one person in time is often different from what we may want and need from him at another and 3) our own character flaws, genetics, and moods may cause us to unwittingly shut down or greatly inhibit the capacity of the other to provide the interactions we crave.
Factors that Affect Marital Stability
- Age at first marriage: younger brides and grooms are more likely to divorce. Especially those who marry in their teen years (why? immaturity, lack of financial resources, different rates of growth, and pressures of early parenthood.) - Income: people with lower income tend to have higher divorce rates than those with higher incomes. Unemployment can also have a negative effect on marriage. Financial struggles lead to stress - Education: individuals that graduate from college have more stable marriages than those with only a high school degree. (Why? those with less education tend to have less income and this leads to financial difficulties and stress. They might also be likely to marry at younger ages. - Religion: those who are more religious tend to be less likely to divorce. Also, couples that share the same religion are less likeoy to divorce than those with different religions. (why? many religions discourage divorce and those with different religions might have more conflicts.) - Parental Divorce: children whose parents have divorced are twice as likely to divorce themselves as children of intact parents. (why? see parents as example and they might be lower-income, which can also affect educational attainment). - Cohabitation: people who live together prior to marriage have higher rates of divorce. (Why? part of this can be explained by the previous factors that also correlate with cohabitation: less religion, lower education, and lower-income. But another part of this has to with living together - maybe being less committed to one another.
What are some typologies related to grandparenting styles?
- Cherlin and Furstenberg identified five different grandparenting styles by cross-classifying grandparents on three relationship dimensions: exchange of services with grandchildren, influence over grandchildren, and frequency of contact. - The types are as follows: (1) detached, (2) passive, (3) supportive, (4) authoritative, and (5) influential. Connectedness between grandparents can also be considered along more social-psychological dimensions, and one approach is a typology of grandparenting styles based on six dimensions of intergenerational solidarity that are comprehensive in describing intergenerational relations and that have been widely used in empirical studies. - The six dimensions are affection (emotional closeness), association (frequency of contact), consensus (agreement), normative quality (importance of familial obligations to members), structure (geographic proximity), and function (helping behavior). Silverstein, - Lawton, and Bengston came up with a typology of five categories of adult-parent child relations based on five of the six dimensions of solidarity. (1) Tight Knit: connected to all five dimensions (2) Sociable: connected only on associational, structural, affectional, and consensual. (3) Cordial but Distant; connected only on affectional and consensual dimensions of solidarity, (4) Obligatory; connected on associational, structural, and functional solidarity and (5) Detached; connected on none of the five dimensions of intergenerational solidarity.
Policies to help balance work and family
- Flextime: allows workers to arrange their work hours to accommodate other time commitments - working from home: allows workers to get work done off the premises. This is more applicable to office jobs where work is done on computers - Job sharing: this is where two workers split a single full-time job. each worker is employed part-time. - Dependent Care: this refers to child care or any help to caring for elderly parents. The US does not provide any publically funded child care, but some companies have dependent care programs. - Parental Leave: the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires companies, that employ 50 or more workers, to provide these workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a birth or adoption or to care for seriously ill family members.
According to Dan Clawson and Naomi Gerstel, in the article "Caring for your Young: Child Care in Europe and the United States" what are the differences between the French and US daycare centers?
- French child care is intended primarily as early education. All children are part of the same curriculum staffed by teachers paid good wages by the same national ministry. - participation in the preschools is voluntary, but a place is guaranteed to every child three to six years old. - The service is free to parents even though it costs the government almost as much as it does in America. School is from 8:30 to 4:30 with a break and an option available to hold the child for extended periods after school at a modest cost. - When extra assistance is offered, additional resources are provided to geographical areas, in order to reduce class sizes, give teachers extra training and bonuses, and employ special teachers. Poor children are not singled out. Teachers have master's degrees and are paid teachers wages.
In the article, "The Modern American Stepfamily: Problems and Possibilities," what is Mason's new policy proposal?
- He proposes a new conceptualization of stepparent rights that will cover all aspects of the stepchild-parent relationship and will extend to both federal and private policy. - The first concern is proposing a new framework based on the welfare of the stepchildren, which is not dealt with in the stranger or dependent model. This is important because research demonstrates that stepfamilies are fragile and are more likely to terminate in divorce than biological families. - In the event of a divorce, the resources available to the child can become scarce as there is no protective support following the breakup of a stepfamily. Another reason for proposing a new framework is to strengthen the relationship between stepparent and stepchild. - This new model requires dividing stepfamilies, those who are de facto (stepparents legally married who primarily reside with their stepchildren and provide the stepchild with at least 50 percent of financial support), and those who are not. Under this scheme, de facto parents would be treated virtually the same as a natural parent during the marriage, and the same obligations, including the obligation of support, would transfer. - In the event of a divorce, the stepparents would have standing to seek custody or visitation, but the stepparent could also be obligated for child support of limited duration. - All this could be accomplished by making stepparent general support obligation laws a prerequisite for receiving federal welfare grants.
How do men and women experience the loss of a spouse differently?
- Men and women experience the loss of a spouse differently. For example, for women, widowhood often means a sharp dip in economic resources. Because men earn more than women during their working lives, they receive higher Social Security benefits upon retirement or disability. - When the husband dies, the monthly checks are reduced and decline to about two-thirds of their previous level. Economists have also documented that married couples often underestimate how many years a widow will outlive her husband, so they often do not save enough money to cover a widow's future needs. As a result, windows are more likely to experience distress and anxiety about money. - Men are more likely than women to experience sickness, disability, and death after their wives die. The loss of a helpmate and caregiver is partly to blame as wives typically monitor their husband's diets, encourage them to exercise, remind them to take their medications, and urge them to give up unhealthy vices. - When the wives die, these reminders cease, and as a result, recently widowed men are more likely to die of accidents, alcohol-related death, lung cancer, and heart disease. Wives are also men's primary source of social support, which is essential for physical and emotional health. - For many women, supportive relationships partially fill the void created by the death of their husbands. Widowers are also much more motivated to seek new romantic partners soon after their loss.
Why might older widows/widowers experience death differently than younger widows/widowers?
- One difference between how older widows/widowers experience death compared to younger widows/widowers is that they often have a coping resource by 'rehearsing' losing a spouse by watching their peers go through the same experience. - They can also turn to one another for wisdom, practical support, and camaraderie. - The meaning of life and death also differs for older and younger people. Death may be viewed as the natural conclusion to an elderly spouse's long and meaningful life, rather than the interruption of a life yet to be lived. - Most older persons experience such losses after decades of marriage, and so few feel they are robbed of a long future together. - Older adults also differ from their younger counterparts in how they respond emotionally to stress. Psychologists document that older adults have a lower level of 'emotional reactivity,' which means they are better able to regulate their emotions, and thus, they report less extreme emotional responses than do younger people. The grief reactions tend to be shorter-lived and less intense than those of younger widows and widowers.
Throughout this article what are some gender differences in parent-child interactions?
- One gender difference in parent-child relationships is that the death of a father who had significant alcohol or mental health problems reduces a daughter's psychological distress because they often care for, assist and worry over their fathers throughout adulthood, so their death can bring some relief. - On the other hand, sons tend to have stronger emotional reactions to the loss of a troubled father than to a father without such problems. - This could be because they deeply identify with them and express concern that they are like their fathers in undesirable ways. They also express regret over not being able to improve their relationships with their fathers. - In adulthood, mothers are more likely to tell their unmarried adult sons to safeguard their health. Both sons and daughters feel closer to their mothers than to their fathers, and daughters report greater closeness to both parents than do sons, but the most intimate ties are between mothers and daughters.
According to the article "Parents, Adult Children, and Immortality" by Debra Umberson, what are the trends in living arrangements for parents and adult children, and what accounts for these trends?
- One trend in the living arrangements for parents and adult children is that most Americans believe that family members should take care of each other. - Most parents do not want their adult children to take care of them, even when they cannot take care of themselves; on the other hand, adult children seem all too willing to rely on their parents for support. - This support does vary by social class and race/ethnicity, but parents with more financial resources provide more support for longer periods of time. - Typical parent/child ties change over the life course, but today parents and children easily overlap by 50 years or more. Childhood is lengthened so that adults rely on their parents for emotional, financial, educational, and residential assistance for longer and longer periods.
How do parents affect their children's health?
- Parents affect their children's health because they have the power to affect our psychological well being, health, and depression throughout adult life. - Those who enjoy supportive relationships with their parents have lower levels of psychological distress, while strained relationships with parents contribute to mental and physical health problems throughout life. - About 14% of adults say their mothers are critical of things they do, and 11 percent say their fathers are critical. - Although most adult children do not care for an ailing parent, those who do often experience psychological distress and accompanying physical symptoms. Moreover, the stress in relationships can interfere with good health habits and promote bad ones instead. - Parents also play a role in shaping adult health behaviors because some of the most important habits are established during childhood and adolescence, such as smoking, overeating, and exercise.
What are some policy implications for these changes?
- Some implications for these changes are providing more financial support in such situations as 'dependent' care tax credits for those acting for minors and aging parents. - The most cost-effective solution may be to develop new programs and policies to strengthen intergenerational family ties. - Successful programs would accommodate the diversity that characterizes grandparents' role and revise traditional definitions of caregiving to conform with changes in the shape of the intergenerational family from the pyramid to a beanpole.
What are the state policies for stepfamilies?
- State policies tend to give little recognition to the dependency needs of children who reside with their stepfamilies; they are most likely to treat the stepparent as a stranger to the children with no rights or obligations. - State laws that obligate natural parents to support their children, and few states have imposed an affirmative duty on stepparents. - A few states rely on common law, which leans more toward the dependency model .It dictates that a stepparent can acquire the rights and duties of a parent is in the place of a parent. This is determined by the stepparent's intent for example, by providing financial support or by taking over custodial duties. - At the other extreme, once the status of in loco parentis is achieved, the stepparent will stand in the place of the natural parent, and the reciprocal rights, duties, and responsibilities of parent and child subsist. However, stepparents who qualify are not always required to provide support in all circumstances. A subset of states imposes obligations only if the stepchild is in danger of becoming dependent on public assistance. - Both common law and state statutes almost uniformly terminate the stepparent's relationship upon divorce or the death of the custodial parent. Currently, only a few states authorize stepparents to have visitation rights, and custody is almost always granted to the biological parent.
Fertility Rates have declined over time
- The TFR was estimated to be at about 7.7 in 1790 and more recently has dropped to around replacement level
What are the two important lessons that research on the impact of divorce on children teach us?
- The two important lessons that research on the impact of divorce on children teach us that firstly, most children of divorce do well, and second, children who remain in high-conflict families, where the parents have a distressed marriage, are at a greater risk for problems.
What are the ideological strategies used by stay-at-home moms versus working moms?
- The ways mothers explain their decisions to stay at home or work in the paid labor force like the pushes and pull they feel, run in opposite directions. But the way they attempt to resolve the ambivalence they experience as a result of those decisions run in the same direction - Stay at home mothers reaffirm their commitment to their kids and good mothering - while working moms maintain that they are good mothers even though they work. - If you are a mother, although the logic of the workforce and the logic of motherhood operate in your life, the logic of intensive mothering has a stronger claim.
What are the federal policies for stepfamilies?
- There are two types of federal policies that concern stepparents, federal benefits programs given to families in need, including TANF and Supplemental Security Income, and general programs not based on need, including Social Security as well as civil service and military employee benefits. - These programs follow the dependency model; many of them, although not all, assume that residential stepparents support their stepchildren and accordingly make these children eligible for benefits equivalent to those afforded to other children of the family. - Despite the fact that federal law generally recognizes the dependency of residential stepchildren, it remains wanting in many respects. Even when program rules permit benefits for dependent stepchildren as for natural children, the benefits to stepchildren are typically severed by death or divorce. - For example, under the Federal Employees Retirement System are explicitly excluded from the definition of children in determining the default beneficiary without concern for the stepchild's possible dependency. Stepchildren are also vulnerable in the vent of a divorce as the stranger model is turned on. Any legally recognized relationship is immediately severed upon divorce in nearly half of all federal programs.
How do working mothers respond to the pull toward home?
- Working mothers cope with the pull toward home by arguing that their participation in the labor force is ultimately good for their kids. Some say the work ethic they show is an opportunity to show their kids how to work hard. - Another mother suggests that her second child takes just as much time and energy away from her first child as her career does. - Many mothers point out that their paid work provides financial resources necessary for the well being of the child.
Divorce Trend in the US
- divorce rates are increasing (over the last 100 years). - about half of all marriage end in divorce - about 75% of those that divorced will remarry - about 60% of second plus marriages will end in divorce - the average marriage lasts 7 years - most divorces happen in the first 1-2 years of marriage - the chance of divorcing decreases the longer you are married (By 5 years 19% have divorced, by 10 years 14% more have divorced, another 7% by 15 years, 7% more by 25 years and the last 3% by around 50 years). -stigma for divorce has decreased over time - No Fault Divorce Laws: changed divorce laws so that you can file for divorce without having to cite who is at fault, instead couples cite 'irreconcilable differences'.
Benefits of Parenting
- emotional value: parents feel an intense emotional bond and love that they feel for their children. couples often see the child as a tangible sign of their love. - personal fulfillment: many people see raising a child as a way of achieving adult status and fulfilling your societal duties (family of procreation). it is way for you to pass on your knowledge to the next generation and make a contribution to society - increase social networks: provides connections to other parents as well as family members - Fun: having children helps people relive their childhood and they gain tremendous joy form watching their children learn, grow and play.
Disadvantages to Remarriage
- higher divorce rates: remarriages have higher divorce rates than first marriages. - Disagreement over childbearing: if children are involved parents might disagree over the rearing and discipline of their children. - Negative affects on children: researchers have found that the addition of a stepfather can be disruptive for children, especially girls.
According to Roseanne Giarrusso, Merril Silverstein, and Vern L. Bengston, in the article "How the Grandparents Role is Changing," how has the role of grandparenthood changed over time?
- it has become more common for grandparents to live long enough to have long-term relationships with their adult grandchildren. - Grandparents are spending many more years in this role, and in women, this status can engage 50 percent of their lives. - Scholarly analysis has suggested that grandparents are more involved with their younger grandchildren than ever before. - Another change is the diversity in the styles of grandparenting. Population aging has not only led to the long term variability of grandparenthood, but it has also led to increasing diversity in the demographic characteristics of grandparents and grandchildren.
Parenting trends in the United States
- people are having children at later ages - people are having fewer children - out of wedlock births are decreasing among teens but increasing among women in their 30's and 40's. - more couples are choosing to be child free - people are living longer lives, more people are experiencing the roles of grandparents and great grandparents.
Individual Factors that explain domestic violence
1) Dependency: batterers are often dependent on their partners and the thought of being left alone indices panic and abandonment anxiety. 2) Jealousy: abusers are often possessive of their partners 3) Need to Control: abusive partners have an excessive need to exercise power over their partners 4) Unhappiness and dissatisfaction: batterers often report being unhappy with their lives and tend to have low self-esteem 5) Quick involvement: because of their feelings of insecurity, batterers tend to move quickly into committed relationships 6) Anger and aggressiveness: abusers tend to have poor impulse control and act out aggressively. 7) Blaming others for problems: abusers tend to take little responsibility for their problems and often blame everyone else. 8) Jekyll and Hyde personality: batterers often experience sudden mood changes where one moment they are nice and next they are angry and accusatory. 9) Isolation: abusive partners often cut off their victims from all ties to family, friends, and activities outside of the home. 10) Alchohol or other drug use: whether alcohol reduces one's inhibition to display violence, allowed one to avoid responsibility for being violent, or increases one's aggression, alcohol is associated with violence and abuse. 11) Criminal/ psychiatric background: research has found that those who murdered or attempted to murder their partners were more likely to have a criminal record, a psychiatric history or both
Myths about Domestic Violence
1) Family violence is rare - Reality: family violence occurs in epidemic proportions in the US 2) Men and women are equally likely to be victims of domestic violence - Reality: the majority of victims are women 3) Domestic violence occurs only in poor, uneducated, non-religious, racial/ethnic minority families. - Reality: domestic violence occurs in families of all social classes, education levels, religious and racial/ethnic groups. 4) Domestic violence is more common in straight relationships than among same sex couples. - Reality: domestic violence rates are roughly the same among straight and gay/lesbian couples 5) Abuse victims must be masochistic and they provoke the abuse - Reality: victim provocation is no more common in domestic violence than in any other crime 6) Victims stay in abusive relationships because they like abuse. - Reality: most victims try to leave the relationship several times. They often end p back I the relationship because of several reasons including fear, love and hope.
Community factors that help explain domestic violence
1) Social isolation: those who are isolated from family and community members are at an increased risk of being abused. 2) Poverty: while abuse happens to people of all social classes, poverty and low socioeconomic status can add stress to a relationship and make them more vulnerable to violence 3) Inaccessible or unaffordable services: lack of affordable health care as well as dependent care (day care of elderly care) have been found to be correlated with rates of domestic violence.
Family factors that explain domestic violence
1) child abuse in the family of orientation: those who were abusers as children are more likely to be abusive toward their partners or to be abused by their partners as adults. 2) Parents who abused each other: children who observe their parents being violent with each other are more likely to be in violent relationships as an adult.
Cultural factors that help explain domestic violence
1) violence in the media: the vast majority of media we consume depicts some form of violence, from the movies and TV we watch to the video games we play. Research shows the more violent media we consume the more acceptable we come to view violence in real life. 2) Gender Inequality: domestic violence and abuse often stem from traditional gender norms. Further, gender norms perpetuate ideas of men being dominant and women as submissive. 3) Corporal Punishment: corporal punishment can be defined as the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury for the purpose of correction or control of the child's behavior. In the united states, corporal punishment in the form of spanking, hitting, whipping, and paddling or the otherwise inflecting punitive pain on the child is legal in all states (as long as the corporal punishments does not meet the individual state's definition of child abuse). 4) stress: our culture creates a context of stress which, without proper coping strategies, can be related to abusive behavior.
According to Virginia E. Rutter, in the article" The Case for Divorce" what are the three things any reader of marriage and divorce research should look for?
According to Rutter, the three things any reader of marriage and divorce research should look for is 1) readers should consider whether marital quality has been considered - and how it has been measured; 2) whether domestic violence and other pathologies have been examined and 3) whether 'selection effects' or forces that occurred prior to marriage and that don't have anything to do with the marriage or the divorce itself but that makes people more likely to divorce has been tested.
In the article "The Mommy Wars: Ambivalence, Ideological Work, and the Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood," by Sharon Hays, what are the two cultural images of women?
According to Sharon Hays, the two cultural images of women is: (1) the portrait of the traditional mother who stays at home with the kids and dedicates her energy to the happiness of her family. This mother is focused on attending to the children and ensuring their proper development. (2) on the other side is the image of the successful 'super-mom' who effortlessly juggles work and home, and her children are well mannered with a strong spirit and high self-esteem.
What is selection bias?
Selection bias is a particular kind of problem that shows there is something about the people who get divorced that makes them more likely to divorce. Some attributes that existed before the marriage may affect who divorces. It is a case of improper comparison.
What does he mean by the term "the isolated family"?
The 'isolated family' refers to the financial and emotional resources that were once exchanged with extended kin, neighbors, religious institutions, and friends but have now become increasingly concentrated in the nuclear family.
Parental Leave (Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993)
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires companies, that employ 50 or more workers, to provide these workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a birth or adoption or to care for seriously ill family members. - This comes with job security for up to 12 weeks. - you must work for the company for at least one year - specific policies can vary by company but must meet the minimum requirements above.
How does the cause of death affect bereavement?
The cause of death may affect bereavement because, depending on age, the cause of death is different. - Most older spouses die of chronic illness or long term illness that causes physical pain or disability and often requires intensive care. These include illnesses like heart disease, cancer, stroke, influenza, pneumonia, or lower respiratory disease. - As a result, most older adults find that the final weeks with their spouses are filled with difficult and emotionally wrenching caregiving chores. The increased life expectancy has increased the burden on spouses to manage complex care and medical regimes. - To some, the death of a spouse was a relief for the patient, and some admitted the death was a relief to them. This reveals that losing a spouse is a process rather than an event, and for many, the loss is not as painful as the extended 'death watch' period, which is often filled with drawn-out suffering.
What are the three important influences on spousal bereavement that classical studies often fail to consider?
The three most important influences on spousal bereavement are the age of the husband and wife, how the spouse died, and what the couple's life was like prior to death.
What does Umberson mean when she says that "Parental Influence on Children's health continues even after the parents die?
When Umberson says, "parental influence on children continues even after the parent's death," she means it is a turning point in adulthood that triggers significant changes in the child's adult sense of self, mental health, physical health, and health behaviors. - The death of a parent often occurs during a period in our lives when we are self-reflecting, and this makes individual change a more likely response. - Some report that the death of a parent makes them feel like they have achieved full adult status for the first time. When a parent dies, children often experience the death of the self. Losing a parent typically increases your risk of clinical depression, undermines your physical health, and increases your alcohol consumption. - A child's decline in physical health occurs both in sons and daughters, and the effect lasts up to three years following the loss. - Two general factors account for this: the stress bereavement and an increase in damaging health behaviors, and stress and poor health behaviors are often linked. - Many people overeat, smoke, or drink heavily to cope with stress. However, eight years later, the effect changes, and parents report even better health than their peers who did not lose a parent during the same time period. This crossover effect is thought to result in part from staring death in the face and deciding to fight back, and one way to do this is to improve one's health behaviors, especially those perceived as contributing to the parent's death.
Sandwich Generation
as life expectancy is increasing and people are living longer, it is becoming more common for middle-aged individuals to care for both their adult children and their aging parents. This phenomenon is referred to as a sandwich generation. - middle-aged people are caught between their adult children and aging parents.
What is old age?
as the average life expectancy is increasing more and more Americans are entering old age. The average life expectancy is 1900 was 47 years and today has nearly doubled at around 78 years. - this life expectancy varies by sex with men on average living to be around 76 years old and women living to be around 81 years old. - old age is about 65 years and older. Duvall and Miller argue that old age can be divided into three groups. - young old: between 55 and 65, these people are still working, have relatively happy and stable lives and are preparing for retirement. - Middle old: between 65 and 75, these people tend to be retired and in good health and have lots of time to focus on their interest. - old old: those over the age of 75 tend to be the most frail and inactive of the three groups.
Coparental Divorce (4th stage of divorce)
if there are children involved, this is where decisions are made regarding child custody, visitation rights, and child support.
Diane Baumrind typology of parenting styles
parenting behavior has two main dimensions: - responsiveness: refers to the extent to which parents respond to and meet the needs of their children. Aspects of responsiveness include warmth, reciprocity, communication, and attachment - Demandingness: this is the manner in which parents place demands on their children in regards to expectations and discipline. Aspects of demandingness include monitoring, structure, and confrontation.
Authoritarian
parents are high on demandingness and low on responsiveness. They tend to provide a great deal of structure and expect obedience without giving much warmth. (eg. rise of the tiger mom)
Authoritative
parents are high on responsiveness and high on demandingness. They tend to impose limits and structure on their children's behavior but also emphasize reasoning and communication. This is a balance of warmth and control.
Permissiveness
parents are high on responsiveness and low on demandingness. They tend to be very warm and communicative but allow their children to regulate their own behavior (eg. parents are friends with kids).
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
refers to the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime (provided the current birth rate remains constant). As of 2013 the TFR is 2.06 which is just under the replacement level of 2.1
Birth Rate
refers to the number of births per 1,00 women of child-bearing age (~15-44 years old). As of 2013 the birth rate in the US is 13.66
Abortion
refers to the premature termination of a pregnancy before the fetus can survive on its own - This can occur involuntarily through a miscarriage or be induced through a variety of methods
Baby Boom
refers to the rapid increase in fertility after World War II. - The TFR went from 2.5 in 1945 to 3.8 in 1957
7. Beer's Instant Families
remarriages often creates ready-made families, often without appropriate time for members to establish an emotional bond.
4. Beer's Undefined Rules
remarried couples might find it difficult to agree on rules regarding discipline and parenting responsibilities. Overlapping Households: two separate families created by divorce, with children having membership in both households.
1. Beer's Complexity
remarried families can take on many different forms: (divorced/ single), (divorced/widowed), (divorced/ divorced), (widowed/single), (widowed/widowed).
2. Beer's Changing cast of characters
remarried families may have shifting membership: some stepchildren may live permanently in your house, while others come and go depending on visitation.
Is there such thing as a mid-life crisis?
research does not support this. While middle age can come with stresses (such as changes in health or death of a parent) it is not the only or most stressful time period in the life course.
Explanations for Domestic Violence
research suggests there are many individual factors that explain domestic violence: Individual factors, community factors, cultural factors and family factors.
What is middle age?
the age limits vary by who you ask, but the popular societal definition us the time period between 40 and 65 years of age. But age doesn't tell the whole story. -According to Family Development Theory, Duvall and Hill argue that middle age begins when children leave the house and continues through retirement. - Is there a mid-life crises? research does not support this. while middle age can come with stresses (such as changes in health or death of a parent) it is not the only or most stressful time period in the life course. - Middle age can be a happy time period. This in their middle age tend to have high career satisfaction, financial stability, lower divorce rates, and higher general happiness than those in younger ages.
5. Beer's Unclear Laws
the biological parent-child relationship is clearly defined in the law, but there is still ambiguity regarding legal rights and duties in the stepparent-stepchild relationship.
The Human Rights Perspective on Maltreatment
the human rights perspective, which states that there are privileges granted by people in power to those who are less powerful. For much of history, women and children were seen as having no rights separate from those that men offered them, and even these rights were limited. - A second major view is that human rights are inherent in being human. So human rights are entitlements to all humans. The international human rights perspective emphasizes the relationship between social justice and individual rights to freedom from abuse and between the peaceful resolution of conflict in the home and the peaceful resolution of a conflict in the international community. - Proponents of this perspective are often critical of systemic or structural abuse, that is, individuals' abuse by the very systems or structures responsible for protecting them.
Reprodcutive technology
there are several new reproductive technologies that can help infertile couples have children.
Psychic Divorce (6th stage of divorce)
this involves a redefinition of the self away from a couple identity into a single person identify. Bahannan states that this station is similar to going through the mourning process of losing a spouse.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
this involves surgically removing a women's eggs, fertilizing them in a petri dish with sperm and then implanting them into a woman's uterus.
Embryo Transplant
this is where a fertilized egg from a woman donor is implanted into an infertile woman. This is a form of IVF with egg donors
Surragacy
this is where a women is hired to carry a pregnancy to full term. In some cases, the surrogate is also the egg donor
Artificial Insemination
this is where semen is injected into the vagina of an ovulating woman (least controversial especially if sperm comes from 'father')
6. Beer's A lack of kinship terms
we have relatively few kinship terms and in remarried families, the same word is often used to describe people with whom you might have very different relationships. For example, the term stepparent can refer to a custodial or a noncustodial stepparent.