A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development 6e

1. A Topical Approach toLife-Span Development 6e Chapter Fourteen: Families, Lifestyles, and Parenting John W. Santrock

2. Diversity of Adult Life Styles • Single • Cohabiting • Married • Divorced • Remarried • Gay and Lesbian

3. Diversity of Adult Life Styles • Single adults • Being single • Dramatic increase in the percentage of single adults • Advantages and disadvantages • There can be an increasing pressure to marry when one reaches 30 • Approximately 8 percent of all individuals in the united states have never been married

4. Diversity of Adult Life Styles • Cohabiting adults • Living together, unmarried, in a sexual relationship • United States: from 11% in 1970 to 75% today. • Cohabiting tends to be short-lived in United States • One-third lasting less than a year • Fewer than one out 10 lasts five years • Cohabiting women at higher risk of abuse than married ones • The majority of research has found that cohabitation is not good for a marriage. • Low rates of marital satisfaction • Higher rates of divorce

5. Diversity of Adult Life Styles Married adults Marital trends Although more adults remain single longer marriage rates have declined, United States still a marrying society; Changing male-female equality in marriage has created more fragile, intense marital relationships The average duration of marriage in the US is just over ___ years. In 2007, average age for a first marriage is ___ for men and ____ for women _______ (men/women) consistently report being happier in their marriage than _____ (men/women)

6. Diversity of Adult Life Styles What makes marriages work Establishing love maps Nurturing fondness and admiration Turning toward each other instead of away Letting your partner influence you Solving solvable conflicts Overcoming gridlock Creating shared meaning

7. Diversity of Adult Life Styles What makes marriages work Coontz on U.S. marriages More fragile because partners have become more self-centered and career-minded? Or unrealistic high expectations? Increased equality, loving and intimate relationships, protection of children Emphasizes friendship, respect, and commitment

8. Diversity of Adult Life Styles What makes marriages work Premarital education Improves quality of marriage May reduce risk of divorce Linked to higher commitment level to spouse, lower level of destructive marital conflict Benefits of a good marriage Longer, healthier lives An unhappy marriage can shorten a person’s life by an average of ____ years

9. Diversity of Adult Life Styles Marriage in middle and late adulthood Middle Adulthood Even some marriages that were difficult and rocky during early adulthood turn out to be better adjusted during middle adulthood Most marrieds express considerable satisfaction Late Adulthood Happier, less distressed More satisfied with their marriages than were young and middle-aged adults, very happy

10. Diversity of Adult Life Styles Divorced adults Higher rates in disadvantaged groups If divorce occurs, it usually happens early in marriage

11. Figure14.5 - Divorce Rate in Relation to Number of Years Married 10 8 6 Percent of divorcees 4 2 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Years married

12. Parenting • Parents As Managers • Provide opportunities, monitor, act as social arrangers for children • Serve as effective managers • Find information, make contacts, help structure choices, and provide guidance • Regulators of opportunities for children’s social contact with peers, friends, and adults • Effective monitoring

13. Parenting • Parenting styles and discipline • No quick-fix approaches work; good parenting takes time and effort • Quality more important than quantity • Baumrind’s parenting styles • Authoritarian — restrictive, punitive • Authoritative — warm, supportive, accountability stressed • Neglectful — uninvolved in child’s life, no controls/norms • Indulgent — highly involved, child sets rules, no controls

14. Parenting • Baumrind’s parenting styles

15. Classification of Parenting Styles

16. Parenting • Punishment and Discipline • Consequences of corporal or harsh punishment • Parent is out-of-control role model • Instills fear, rage, and avoidance in child • Shows/tells child what not to do; not what to do • Punishment can be abusive • Sweden outlawed physical child spanking in 1979 • Youth rates of delinquency, alcohol use, rape, and suicide dropped

17. Parenting • Child maltreatment • Almost 1 million children in 2002 were abused • 84% — abusers were parents • Laws in many states require reporting suspected abuse; still many cases go unreported

18. Parenting • Types of child maltreatment • Physical abuse • Infliction of physical injuries • Child neglect: • Failure to provide basic necessities • Sexual abuse • Fondling of genitals, exploitation, pornography production, physical penetration of body cavities • Emotional abuse • Acts/omissions inflicting mental/psychological injury

19. Parenting • Context of abuse • No single factor is total cause • Presence of violence in U.S. culture and its media • Family member interactions • Perpetuating history: parents abused as children • Developmental consequences • Emotional and relational/attachment problems • Personality problems and risk of suicide • Aggressive behaviors and substance use/abuse

20. Parenting • Working parents • Work has positive/negative effects on parenting • Nature of parent’s work is important • Girls of working mothers engage in less gender stereotyping, have more egalitarian views of gender • Effects of mother working in first year on child’s later development is still debated

21. Parenting • Developmental outcomes for adopted and nonadopted children • In general, adopted children • More likely to have psychological and school-related problems; use illicit drugs, engage in delinquency • Show slightly more behavior problems • Have higher use of mental health services • More prosocial, less likely to be withdrawn • No differences in self-esteem

22. Other Family Relationships • Siblings and birth order • Difficult to generalize as relationships vary • Persist over entire lifespan; closer in adulthood • Three important characteristics • Emotional quality of relationship • Familiarity and intimacy of relationship • Variation in sibling relationships

23. Other Family Relationships • Birth order • Limitations on what can be predicted • Higher expectations for first-born children • First born more adult-oriented, helpful, conforming, anxious, and self-controlled • Only child often achievement-oriented and displays desirable personality • Affected by many factors: • Parenting styles, family relationships/contact, peers, school, socioeconomics, and culture