Adolescence5(Families)

7/28/2019 Adolescence5(Families)

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Families

Lecture 5


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What are families for?

Families promote the survival of its members. Wetake our adolescent to the doctor, try to get her toeat right, discourage drug use.

Families encourage skill development inadolescents in concrete ways like cooking with ouradolescent, helping with home work, or sharingour interest for fixing automobiles. Social skills and

psychological skills are also implicitly taught. Ourkids will probably argue the way we argue, or dealwith anxiety the way we deal with anxiety.


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What are families for?

Families support one another. When sad,

angry or scared our adolescent (hopefully)

feels comfortable talking to us.


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Socialization

Families are responsible for seeing that their

children acquire the essential values,

beliefs, and aspirations of the culture.


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Robert LeVine

Robert LeVine is another interesting personin psychology, interesting in how he did hiswork. He is one of the few people doing

psychological anthropology. So often weknow the psychology of North America, butDr. LeVine studied parenting and childdevelopment of people across the globe. Infact, in 1994 he published Childcare andCulture: Lessons from Africa.


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Robert A. Levine

He presently is studying maternal education in

Nepal, studying how womens literacy positively

affects their health, their childrens health, and

their childrens literacy. LeVine argues that families in every society have

the same three basic goals for their children:

survival, teaching skills and attitudes, and

encouraging other social values. He sees these

as hierarchical.


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Families as Dynamic Systems

Families form complex social systems of

relationships that are constantly responding

to changing circumstances. We are all

influencing each other. As a parent, Im

trying to influence my daughter, but how she

acts influences how I parent, and my

relationship with my wife creates joy ortension or calmness in the house that my

daughter can feel, etc.


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Disequilibrium and Phase

Transitions

Any time there is a significant change in afamily member or in a dyadic relationship, itcreates an imbalance or disequilibrium in

the family system (p. 141). Puberty is oneof those changes. We need to change theway we act. Old patterns breaking down andnew patterns emerging is called a phasetransition. During phase transitions evenminor events may have far reachingconsequences.


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Phase Transitions

Parents need to be willing to change theirexpectations and often they should expect thatconflict will be about adolescents wanting more

autonomy than the parents are willing to give.When is your child old enough to go to the moviealone? When is your child old enough to date?Conflict will often be most frequent (and intense!)in early adolescence and the go down in lateradolescence. Unfortunately, some of this isbecause the adolescent is spending less time withthe parents.


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Parenting Dimensions


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Authoritative parents

Adolescents from authoritative families

consistently show the most favourable out-

comes. They do better in school, they are

more independent and self-assured, they

are less anxious and depressed, and they

are less likely to get involved in delinquency

and drug use.


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Authoritarian families

Adolescents from authoritarian families are

more dependent and passive. They are less

self-assured and have weak self-esteem

and communication skills.


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Indulgent families

Adolescents from indulgent families tend to

be more immature and irresponsible. They

are also more influenced by their friends and

peers.


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Indifferent families

Adolescents from indifferent families have

the hardest time. They show little interest in

school or work and are more likely to get

involved in delinquency, early sexual

activity, and drug use.


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Why does authoritative parenting

work?

Roberts and Steinberg (Laurence Steinberg

who wrote the 10 Basic Principles of Good

Parenting is another name you should

probably remember) state that authoritative

parenting provides acceptance/involvement,

supervision/control, and psychological

autonomy granting.


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work?

It seems these three things provide different

benefits to adolescents.

Involvement seems linked to the teens overall

sense of well-being.

Autonomy-granting is related to the adolescents

feelings of competence and achievement motives,

and be a resiliency factor against anxiety anddepression (with increasing teen depression rates

this is important).


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work?

Supervision/control (that is behavioural

control) is related to fewer externalizing

behaviours (drinking, defiance, risky sexual

behaviours).


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Authoritative parenting cross

culturally

Many non-European based cultures are

more authoritarian. They can be very

nurturing, but they dont give explanations

for rules in the family. You do it because

Im the dad. Now dont talk back and run

along. And yet, these adolescents dont

seem to have the problems common tochildren of authoritarian parents (low self-

esteem, dependency). Why?


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Diana Baumrind

One of the amazing thing about both Baumrind and LeVineis they are still publishing despite being in their 80s. On herweb page at University of Berkley she wrote, I chose aresearch career supported by multiple large grants

because its flexible hours enabled me to balance care formy three daughters, political activism, and scholarship. Icontinue to work and work out assiduously.

Baumrind is working on the data on corporal punishmentright now (her forthcoming article is called An

Unconditional Admonition Opposing Parents Use ofCorporal Punishment is Not Justified by the Data. Law andContemporary Problems. Duke University School of Law:Durham, NC, 27708-0360.).


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Traditional Parenting

Because non-European families seem to

be able to be more authoritarian without

inducing internalizing problems in their

children Baumrind has suggested a fifthparenting style: traditional parenting.


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http://www.technicallymad.co.uk/go-3037705140.html


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Parent-teen conflict

Conflicts are most frequent in early

adolescence and more often with mothers.

Parents and adolescence generally agreethat parents have the right to make rules on

moral, conventional, and safety issues.

They also agree that personal issues are the

teens domain.


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Divorce

Divorce is MUCH more common that it was

fifty years ago. Some of this is good. For

instance, thanks to women having more

economic security and no fault divorces

women are not forced to stay in abusive

relationships. But has it gone too far?


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Divorce

30% of Canadian marriages will end in

divorce. 50% of American marriages will end

in divorce. In fact, within the first ten years,

30% of first marriages end in divorce in the

US, and the chance of a persons second or

third marriage lasting is worse than the first.


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Divorce

How does divorce affect the kids?

Well, it isnt good, but it might not be as bad as weonce thought.

Compared to those who live with both biologicalparents, teens whose parents are divorced run agreater risk of developing problems such as drugand alcohol use, depression, anxiety, and earlier

sexual activity. They do worse in school are lesslikely to go to college, and are more likely to havemarital problems as adults.


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The affects of divorce

That sounds horrific. How can one say it isnt as

bad as we once thought?

Most children do well after their parents divorce.

Of course, it is difficult when parents separate. It issad and scary. But up to 80% recover and do as

well as their peers. If approximately 90% of

children with both biological parents show healthy

adjustment, that means just 10% more kids whose

parents have divorced struggled than kids with

both biological parents.


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We also know if parents do not ask (or

subtly suggest) that the kids pick sides, that

the parents dont bad mouth the other

parent in the kids presence, and both

parents emphasize that they still love their

children and will work hard to make co-

parenting work, then the risks of divorce arediminished.


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In Saskatchewan, divorcing parents are

asked by Sask. Justice to go to a Seperation

and Divorce Parenting Course. This is a

one day session that consists of three 2

hour sessions in which people are

encouraged to make a co-parenting plan

and are educated on doing separation in away that is as compassionate for the kids as

possible.


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Should we stay together for the kids?

Not if there is open hostility in the home.Open hostility in the home threatens the

childs belief that the family is secure. Thechildren go on to interpret parent-childconflict as more hostile or threatening.

Children may also blame themselves for theconflict in the home and this results in guiltand sadness.


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Stepfamilies

Many kids find blending families very hard.

Adolescents in step families have more

difficulties than sing-parent homes. Early adolescence is the toughest time to

have parents remarry.

Girls have more trouble interacting withstepfathers than do boys.


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Step families

BUT, like divorce, the great majority of

adolescents over come any initial problems

and make a good adjustment. Authoritative

parenting helps, as does warm, close

relationships with a male figure: the step

father, the biological father, or preferably

both.


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Working Moms

In 1998 Duxbury and Higgins did a largesurvey in Saskatchewan. They found thefollowing:

78% of employees were part of dual-incomefamilies.

77% were parents.

The typical employee in Saskatchewanspent over 70 hours a week in work andfamily activities.


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Working Moms

Women worked more than men.

Men spent 74.4 hours per week on work and

family care.

Women worked 77.8 hours per week on

work and family care.

Men spent more time at work than women;women spent more time in family activities

than men.


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Working Moms

There are data to indicate both men and

women are feeling too busy.

Duxbury and Higgins comparison of 1991

and 2001 Canadian survey data show

work/family conflict is increasing.

In 1991, 10% of respondents worked over

50 hours a week. In 2001, 25% worked

over 50 hours a week.


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Working Moms

During this same time period (1991 to 2001) the

number of sick days has gone up and the amount

of commitment to the job has gone down.

This business is driving us a bit crazy. In 1991,44% of respondents stated they had high levels of

stress. In 2001, it was 55% with high stress.

In 1991, 24% stated they had high levels of

depressed mood. In 2001, it was 36%.


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Working Moms

Women report higher levels of perceived

stress, burnout, and depressed mood than

men.

Once again, there is a BUT, and the but is

that there is not clear evidence that dual

income families adversely affect children,

and, in fact, it might be a good thing for girls.


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Working Moms

Of course, dual income means more money which

is positive, but maybe not as positive as one would

think. Once our basic needs are met, there is no

certainty that more money will make us anyhappier. There are three reasons for this.

1. At times the sacrifice to make more income

reduces time and resources on those things that

could bring us greater happiness.


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Working Moms

2. Money has profound habituation effects.

3. Once our basic needs are met, money

only makes us happier if it makes us

comparatively richer (we are richer than our

neighbors). It is now known that happiness

survey scores within a nation do not rise

noticeably as that nation becomeswealthier.


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Working Moms

Sonick & Hemenway (1998) Harvard thought experiment.

Well, if the increased money wont make us happier, why isworking moms a good thing. Well, For girls, having amother who works is linked to higher self-esteem, higher

career aspirations, and less stereotyped views of male andfemale roles. Presumably, the mother serves them as amodel of an active, achieving woman. For boys, the pictureis cloudier. Middle-class boys whose mothers work full timetend to get lower grades and achievement scores than

those whose mothers are not employed (167).


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Working Moms

In a society that does not always value

parenting as much as it should, I wonder if it

is not also good for the mothers to have

work outside of the home.


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Latchkey kids

Latchkey kids are adolescents who arewithout supervision after school and onvacation days.

These kids are somewhat more likely toshow emotional, academic, and adjustmentproblems than those who have a parent athome during the adolescents free hours.Monitoring can reduce these problems.

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Adolescence5(Families)