The Family Teenage Pregnancy Divorce Child Care Same-Sex Marriage

1. The Family • Teenage Pregnancy • Divorce • Child Care • Same-Sex Marriage

2. The Family: Introduction • Sociological research and program development related to “the family” includes investigations into a very broad range of topics: • Dating. • Marriage and remarriage. • Sexuality and sexual relationships. • Gender. • Labor force participation. • Household division of labor. • Spouse abuse. • Childbirth and childrearing. • Child abuse. • Life course. • Divorce. • See: SOC 219: Sociology of Intimate Relationships.

3. The Family: Introduction • SOC 235: Social Problems • In Sociology 235, we will cover the topics that give rise to social problems: • Teenage pregnancy: Chapter 33. • Divorce: Chapter 34. • Child care: Chapter 36. • Same-sex marriage: Notes.

4. Teenage Pregnancy • Kristin Luker: The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy. • Rearing a child for unmarried, teenage mothers creates many problems for the mother, child, and society. • Approximately 1 million unmarried, teenage women get pregnant each year. • About 1/2 choose to carry their babies to term. • About 2/3 will be unmarried when the child is born. • Most of the unmarried mothers receive some type of welfare assistance. • Why do so many young women get pregnant? • In what ways is this phenomenon sociological?

5. Teenage Pregnancy • Expectations • A young woman can no longer expect that she will have a husband on whom she can be totally dependent, both economically and emotionally. • Women cannot expect a husband to share the burdens of childrearing and homemaking equally. • Young women today want a career and a family. • No teenager hopes to end up as an unmarried mother on welfare.

6. Teenage Pregnancy • The Path to Pregnancy • Many persons, both liberal and conservative (although for different reasons) believe that teenagers simply should stop having sex. • In general, cultural trends condone premarital sex. Recent trends advocate abstinence. • Teenagers today are using more contraception and using it more effectively than ever before. • About 80% of sexually active teenage women are using some method of contraception. • Among poor teens, this rate is slightly lower (72%), but still substantial given the tendency for risk taking behavior among teenagers.

7. Teenage Pregnancy • The Path to Pregnancy • So, why do teenagers get pregnant? • Some get pregnant the first time they have sex because they are unknowledgeable about contraception or inexperienced in negotiating the situation. • Others get pregnant during transitions from one method of contraception to another. • For many young women, the sexual relationship is not entirely consensual. Young women feel coerced by peer pressure from males and females. • The skills needed to prevent pregnancy often are not taught to young men and women. • Some want a baby!

8. Teenage Pregnancy • Abortion • The decision to terminate pregnancy is powerfully affected by class, race, and socioeconomic status. • Women who are successful, or who expect to be successful, are more likely to terminate. • Affluent women are more likely to terminate. • White women are more likely to terminate. • Women with partners are more likely to terminate. • The decision to terminate is affected strongly by the opinions of family and friends.

9. Teenage Pregnancy • Marriage • Overall, Americans are less likely to get married, more likely to live together without being married, and more likely to be divorced. • Nevertheless, pregnant teenagers get married or settle down with a partner. • Many get married when they learn they have become pregnant. • Marriage during pregnancy varies widely by race: • White teens who bring the baby to term are more likely to marry. • About 69% of African-American children are born to single mothers.

10. Teenage Pregnancy • Adoption • It is less common today compared with 50 years ago to give up a baby for adoption. • It has become more culturally acceptable to raise a child as a single parent. • Only about 3 percent of babies born to a white mother and 1 percent of babies born to a black mother are given up for adoption. • In the past, giving up the baby for adoption was considered to be more ethical than it is today. • Poor, African-American mothers are the least likely to give up their babies for adoption.

11. Teenage Pregnancy • Social Context • In the U.S., women over 20 account for most abortions, 70 percent of unmarried women are not teenagers, and teens make up a declining proportion of all unwed mothers. • Still, teens in the U.S. have higher rates of childbearing than teens in other industrialized country. • At the same time, abortion rates are much higher in the U.S. than in other nations.

12. Teenage Pregnancy • Social Context • In the U.S., childbearing and childrearing have become increasingly disconnected from marriage. • Americans have come to think of childbearing as a private enterprise, one that will receive little support from the larger society. • The birth patterns of poor and affluent women in the U.S. have begun to bifurcate, as each group copes with the difficulties of having children in a country that provides so little support. • Poor women follow the traditional pattern of childbirth and childrearing. • Affluent women are more likely to either terminate or give up the child for adoption.

13. Divorce in Perspective • Stephanie Coontz: Divorce in Perspective • Although no one who marries expects or wants to divorce, about half of marriages in America end that way. • For most persons, divorce is a emotionally painful, embarrassing, and sometimes expensive ordeal. • Research does not support the claim that the current culture supports parents obtaining a divorce so they can pursue their selfish desires at the expense of the family. • Divorce is not necessarily a “growth experience.”

14. Divorce in Perspective • What Effects Does Divorce Have on the Children? • When couples have children, then divorce becomes a societal issue rather than a personal one. • More children of divorced parents drop out of school, exhibit emotional distress, get into trouble with the law, abuse drugs, etc. • But children of divorced parents do not have more problems than children from intact families. • The distinction is that children of divorced parents do not necessarily have more problems. • In fact, a large percentage of children from divorced parents score higher on achievement and adjustment tests than children from intact families.

15. Divorce in Perspective Consider these diagrams of intact and divorced families. Children with few problems: Children with noticeable problems: Children with higher than average achievement: Intact Families Divorced Families

16. Divorce in Perspective • What Effects Does Divorce Have on the Children? • Many of the problems seen in children of divorced parents are caused not by the divorce alone but by other frequently coexisting yet analytically separate factors, such as poverty, financial loss, school relocation, or a prior history of severe marital conflict. • Income differences account for almost 50 percent of the disadvantage faced by children of single-parent households. • The tendency for less-educated parents to have higher divorce rates and unwed motherhood further distorts the statistics on the effects of divorce on the well-being of children. • The problems of children of divorced parents often were there for years prior to the divorce.

17. Divorce in Perspective • How to Minimize the Long-Term Effects of Divorce • Divorce is stressful for children. • Its consequences should not be trivialized as a “growth experience.” • But divorce does not doom the child to problems. • Some characteristics of parents that mediate the effects of divorce on child adjustment. • Personal adjustment. • Lack of conflict with former spouse. • Income. • Education. • Interpersonal communication skills. • Felt obligations to the former spouse and children.

18. Divorce in Perspective • How to Minimize the Long-Term Effects of Divorce • Some researchers suggest that we “institutionalize” divorce. • Clear obligations and rights should be attached to divorce as well as to child custody. • Establishing clear expectations of civilized behavior towards the former spouse and children. • Recognize the importance and value of remarriage and stepfamilies. • Institutionalizing divorce does not mean advocating for it. • It does mean accepting it and directly addressing its consequences for the adults and children involved.

19. Child Care in America Barbara Bergmann and Suzanne Helburn: What’s Wrong with Child Care in America? Looking back over the twentieth century, historians may well decide that the most important transformation it brought to America was the change in the role of women and the resulting change in the way our society finances and arranges for the care and rearing of young children. The American child care system, in which parents, largely unassisted, must buy the care they need in the marketplace, has not worked well.

20. Child Care in America • Increasing Need for Child Care. • American’s demand for child care has increased over the past few decades. • More women are working outside the home. • Men continue to work outside the home. • Divorce rates continue to be at about 50%. • Out-of-wedlock births are increasing. • The high cost and low quality of child care, therefore, has given rise to a social problem: childhood care and socialization outside the home.

21. Child Care in America • Problems of Obtaining Good Quality Child Care. • Child care can be expensive. • Care in a center for one preschool child for a normal work week begins at about $650 per month in Ames, Iowa. • Child care is expensive because it is labor intensive. • Quality child care is difficult to obtain. • Caring for children is difficult work, the most difficult job one will ever have. • High quality care costs more. • Poor-to-mediocre child care facilities flourish in America.

22. Child Care in America • How Do We Improve Child Care? • Suggestions for change reflect different opinions about family and childrearing. • Some say women should return to the home. • Some say withdraw government subsidies and let the free market determine who works and what type of care children will receive for those who choose to work. • Some argue that government assistance to families with children (rich and poor) is a form of discrimination. • Some argue for more government assistance. • Some argue for increased community action.

23. Child Care in America • How Do We Improve Child Care? • Bergmann and Helburn suggest an aggressive approach to providing good quality child care. • Children of families with incomes at or below the poverty line should be completely subsidized out of public funds (i.e., some federal, the remaining state and local). • Children of low-income families (i.e., 130% of the poverty line) should receive government supported vouchers. • Policies should be developed to improve the quality of child care, such as accreditation programs. • Providers should be reimbursed for receiving training leading to accreditation.

24. Child Care in America • How Do We Improve Child Care? • Initially, it might seem like these suggestions will be too expensive. And, likely they will be opposed by persons who think that women should return home. • But consider the positive outcomes of such an approach: • Improved care for children. • Lowered rates of child abuse. • Lowered juvenile delinquency. • Improved academic performance of young children. • Recruitment of low-income labor in areas where it is needed.

25. Same-Sex Marriage • Same-sex marriage is considered as a social problem in America because it many people believe it is an important issue for defining the moral foundations of our society. • Is the institution of marriage reserved for one man and one woman? • Or is society best served by allowing marriage for all loving and committed couples? • The issue has mobilized the political left and right in a struggle to define what is moral and how morality will influence the laws of society. • Learning about this issue will help us understand how latency affects society. • It will also help us understand political discourse.

26. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Opponents • Marriage is an institution between one man and one woman. • The key point here is that most religious belief systems consider homosexuality to be a sin. • Same-sex marriage would destroy the sanctity of marriage as it is defined by a higher being. • Marriage is a common good, not a special interest (for the sinners). • Science cannot address this issue. Science cannot define what is moral. Yet definitions of morality are crucial to promoting social cohesion and therefore social order.

27. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Opponents • Same-sex marriages are not the optimum environment in which to raise children. • Children should not be denied their right to a mother and father. • Children need male and female role models in the household. • Gay/lesbian parents will raise gay/lesbian children. • Same-sex couples who raise children are pursuing their own selfish interests rather than meeting the needs of children.

28. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Opponents • Where does it stop? • How do we say “no” to a woman who wants to become the third wife of a polygamist? • Does same-sex marriage promote “open marriage”? [Note: The book, Open Marriage is about communication, not sex.] • Is banning same-sex marriage like banning interracial marriage? • No, marriage is a union of one man and one woman, regardless of race. • There are no negative child-development outcomes created by interracial marriages.

29. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Opponents • Why would you write radical family redefinition into the Constitution? • Supporters of the Federal Marriage Amendment want a small few to constitutionally redefine marriage for all of us. • Either a small handful of unaccountable, activist judges are going to write a radical new definition of marriage into the Constitution, or the American people can protect marriage constitutionally through the option the founding fathers provided us via the amendment process.

30. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Opponents • Same-sex marriages will negatively affect the quality of opposite sex marriages. • Children in heterosexual marriages will learn that such marriages are optional for the family and therefore, meaningless. • Masculinity and femininity matter far too much to let them be negatively affected by allowing same-sex marriage. • Marriage is for procreation. • Same-sex marriages cannot produce children. • Children are needed for the survival of the species.

31. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Proponents • Same-sex marriages are not immoral. • Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. • The Bible has no standing in American law. • The Bible states proscriptions against many types of behavior that Christians engage in everyday. • A society that clings too closely to fundamentalist beliefs will fail to adapt to changing world conditions.

32. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Proponents • Many heterosexual marriages cannot or do not produce children. • Since when is childbearing a litmus test for marriage? • Should heterosexual couples who do not choose to or cannot have children be forced to divorce? • The world population is hardly at risk from the lack of procreation among a small minority of the population. • Same-sex couples can adopt the many children in need of adoption.

33. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Proponents • Same-sex marriages do not harm children. • Research shows that children raised by same-sex couples score no differently on tests of academic achievement or social adjustment than do children from heterosexual couples. • Heterosexual perpetrators who abuse children are allowed to marry and stay married.

34. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Proponents • Same-sex marriages would not threaten the institution of marriage. • How can being married threaten the institution of marriage? • Allowing gay/lesbians to marry would reinforce rather than threaten the importance of marriage. • Same-sex unions have been shown to be more stable than heterosexual unions. • “Marriage is traditionally a heterosexual institution.” • So was slavery for many years.

35. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Proponents • Same-sex marriages would not lead us down a slippery slope towards legalized incest, bestial marriage, polygamy, or other unions. • Such forms have not been advocated in countries that do allow same-sex marriage. • Convicted child molesters, known pedophiles, drug pushers, pimps, arms dealers, and others are allowed to marry without leading us down a slippery slope toward the types of unions mentioned above. • Society can allow or disallow any kind of marriage it wants. Allowing same-sex marriage is not a “slippery slope.”

36. Same-Sex Marriage • The Perspective of Proponents • Legalizing same-sex marriages would force churches to marry gay/lesbian couples when they have a moral objection to doing so. • Churches can refuse to marry anyone, now. • “Straight marriages would be less meaningful.” • Britney Spear’s 55-hour just-for-fun marriage, for example, was highly meaningful! • “Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits of marriage, are sufficient. • “Separate but equal” has never worked well in America.

37. Same-Sex Marriage • Why Is Same-Sex Marriage a Social Problem? • Same-sex marriage is a social problem because it affects the latency of the social system. • Social cohesion (sense of “we-ness”) and social solidarity (willingness to work together) are crucial elements of the effective functioning of society. • Defining morality and its limits is a critical element affecting social cohesion and social solidarity. • Public discourse about same-sex marriage is important because it helps Americans explore the boundaries of what they consider to be moral and immoral. • What is best for the benefit of the whole? • Whose definitions of morality will prevail?