LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT

1. 14 A Topical Approach to LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT Families, Lifestyles, and Parenting John W. Santrock

2. Families, Lifestyles, and Parenting • Analyzing Family Life • The Diversity of Adult Life Styles • Parenting

3. Analyzing Family Life The Family Life Cycle

4. Analyzing Family Life Reciprocal Socialization • Bidirectional; children socialize parents just as parents socialize children • Example: scaffolding

5. Analyzing Family Life Direct and Indirect Interactions Between Parents and Children

6. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Single Adults • Dramatic rise in percentage of single adults • Common problems: • Forming intimate relationships with other adults • Loneliness • Finding niche in marriage oriented society

7. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Percentage of Single Adults 30 to 34 Years of Age

8. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Cohabiting Adults • Dramatic rise in couples cohabiting before marriage • Also increasing among older adults • Cohabiting arrangements tend to be short-lived in U.S. • One-third last less than a year • Does not improve and may be bad for subsequent marriages

9. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Increase in Cohabitation in the United States

10. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Trends in Marriage • Changing male-female equality in marriage produced more fragile and intense marital relationships • More adults remain single • Average duration of a marriage in U.S. is just over 9 years

11. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Increase in Age at First Marriage in the U.S.

12. 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 The Diversity of Adult Life Styles What Makes Marriages Work

13. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Marriage in Middle and Late Adulthood • Middle Adulthood • Most married individuals express considerable satisfaction. • Late Adulthood • Adjustments needed at retirement • Happiness affected by each partner’s coping with aging

14. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Divorce Rate in Relation to Number of Years Married

15. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Six Common Pathways in Exiting Divorce • Enhancers • Good enoughs • Seekers • Libertines • Competent loners • Defeated

16. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Remarried Adults • Complex histories and multiple relationships make adjustment difficult • Only one-third stepfamily couples stay remarried • Strategies that help: • Realistic expectations • New positive relations in the family

17. The Diversity of Adult Life Styles Gay and Lesbian Adults • Homosexuals prefer long-term, committed relationships • About half of committed male couples have open relationships • Lesbian couples usually do not have open relationship • Gay and lesbian couples increasingly creating families that include children

18. Parenting Trends in Becoming Parents • Tendency to have fewer children • Number of one-child families is increasing • Many people having children later • Advantages to having children both early and late • Career-focused women may delay longer or not have children

19. Parenting Parenting Styles and Discipline Authoritarian Restrictive, punitive style; parents exhort child to follow their directions and respect their work and effort Encourages children to be independent but still places limits and controls on their actions Authoritative Neglectful Parent very uninvolved in child’s life Indulgent Parents very involved with children but place few demands or controls on them

20. Classification of Parenting Styles

21. Parenting Corporal Punishment • Corporal punishment by parents associated with: • Higher levels of immediate compliance • Increased aggression among children • Lower levels of moral internalization and mental health • Most child psychologists recommend reasoning with the child

22. Parenting Coparenting

23. Parenting Autonomy and Attachment between Adolescents & Parents • Conflict when adolescents push for autonomy, especially in early adolescence • Parents should relinquish control gradually, as adolescent is able to make reasonable decisions • Gender and culture affect seeking and granting autonomy

24. Parenting Working Parents • Work can produce positive and negative effects on parenting • When child’s mother works in first year, it can have negative effect on child’s later development

25. Parenting Effects of Divorce on Children • More likely to show poorer adjustment • Adjustment improves if • conflicts reduced by divorced • parents harmonious and authoritative • Socially mature and responsible children show few behavioral problems • Children with difficult temperament often have problems coping with divorce

26. Parenting Single-Parent Families in Different Countries

27. Parenting Divorce and Children’s Emotional Problems

28. Other Family Relationships Birth Order • Difficult to generalize • Higher expectations for first-born children • More adult-oriented, helpful, conforming, anxious, and self-controlled • Only child often achievement-oriented and displays desirable personality

29. Other Family Relationships Grandparenting • Highly satisfying for most • Easier than parenting • Enjoy frequent contact • Rewards of Grandparenting • Biological continuity and reward • Emotional fulfillment, companionship

30. Other Family Relationships Adults Caring for Aging Parents • Middle-age “sandwich generation” caring for children and aging parents • Mostly daughters • Fewer than suggested in media • Considerable stress when parents grow ill and die