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The Family

How Children Develop

Chapter 12

Families are unusual in the animal kingdom: Tend to occur only when males and females mate for life: • Allows male to help in infant caregiving

For example, swans • Apes have social systems – but not “families”

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Functions of Families

in Child Rearing

1. The most fundamental function is to ensure the by providing for their needs

2. Families also serve an by

providing the means for children to acquire the skills and other resources they will need to be economically productive as

adults

3. In addition, families provide by teaching children the basic values of the culture

How do parents socialize their children?

1. Direct instructors

2. Indirect socializers (models)

3. Provider and controllers of opportunities

Parenting styles are determined by:

1.Parental warmth and responsiveness

2.Parental control and demandingness

Parental Socialization

and Parental Styles

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Socialization within the family Styles of child rearing • Baumrind: natural observation of parent/child

interaction

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Supportive Parent is accepting and

child-centered

Unsupportive Parent is rejecting and

parent-centered

Demanding Parent expects much of child

Authoritative

Parenting Relationship is reciprocal,

responsive;

high in bidirectional

communication

Authoritarian

Parenting Relationship is controlling,

power-assertive;

high in unidirectional

communication

Undemanding Parent expects

little of child

Permissive

Parenting Relationship is indulgent; low in

control attempts

Disengaged

Parenting Relationship is rejecting or

neglecting; uninvolved

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Authoritative Child Rearing • Reasonable demands for maturity • Enforced with set limits • Show warmth and affection • Encourage participation in family Effects? Leads to happy, self-confident, self-controlled preschoolers Also less traditional gender-role behavior • Effect continues through childhood into adulthood

Authoritarian Child Rearing • High demands for maturity • Unresponsive to failure to obey: “because I say so” • Use force and punishment • Clearly biased toward parents’ needs Effects? Leads to Often react with hostility, boys high in anger, girls are

dependent • Effect continues through childhood into adulthood: but

child does better than the two following styles

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Permissive Child Rearing • Nurturant and accepting • But few demands or controls on behavior • Early decisions allowed

• Parents: some believe this is way to raise child – others lack

confidence

Effects? Leads to Overly demanding, show little persistence Long term effects: poor self-control - more drug use.

Uninvolved Child Rearing • Little commitment to caregiving beyond minimum • Few demands: not even for homework or social behavior • Will respond to easy demands but not long term ones

• At extreme: Neglect – no emotional, social, or physical

interaction

• Has long term effects on all areas of development

Effects? Leads to high demands, non-compliance,

low tolerance or emotional control, lack of long term goals, delinquent acts

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Why is authoritative rearing effective? 1. – might be internalized

2. Parents act as concerned, confident,

assertive models

3. Reinforcement taken better from caring parent

4. But: interaction between child characteristics

and parent?

Parenting Styles and Ethnicity

The effects of different parenting styles and

practices vary somewhat

as a function of ethnic or

racial group

Among African-American

adolescents at all

economic levels, an aspect of authoritarian control was associated with positive

outcomes

Why?

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Factors Affecting

Parenting Style: Children

Among the strongest influences on parents’ parenting styles are the characteristics of their children

Some of children’s influence on their parents is due to their

degree of physical attractiveness, with attractive children and

infants eliciting positive responses from adults

Differences in

children’s behavior with their parents also

affect parenting, with temperament a major

reason for differences

in behavior

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Parenting in middle childhood • Time spent with parent declines: 5-12 years parents spend ½ as

much time as with preschoolers Parents shift control to child – coregulation Parents oversee child but permit child to make decisions – but 4th

graders see parents as most important people in their lives

Parenting in adolescence Parents encourage autonomy Children encouraged to be separate and self-governing

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•Findings

Depends on hours in child care and number of caregivers

Cognitive Stimulation is found at high quality centers

Children may learn social skills or negative behaviors

Children may bring other “home baggage” with them to child care

Attachment Overall a secure mother-child attachment is not affected

Attachment effects are related to income, maternal education, and maternal sensitivity

There are small effects when a mother works long hours

and has low maternal sensitivity

Child Care

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Social class variation

Low SES parents: high value on obedience, neatness, cleanliness Higher SES parents: high value on curiosity, happiness, self-control Middle class parents: • talk to and stimulate infants more • Use more warmth, explanations, verbal praise Low income parents: • Limit rocking and cuddling – don’t want to spoil child • More harsh comments: “I told you so” Why these differences?

Child Maltreatment by Parents Child maltreatment is intentional abuse or neglect that endangers the

well-being of anyone under the age of 18 years. Seventy-five percent of perpetrators are parents, usually mothers. Child abuse is associated with: 1. Poverty, 2. Parental stress, 3. Unemployment, inadequate housing, 4. Lack of social support, 5. Community violence. Half the substantiated cases in the United States (1999) stemmed from

neglect (inadequate physical care).

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Types of Child Maltreatment

Likelihood of Child Maltreatment

by Income Level

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Developmental Effects of Abuse

and Neglect

Abused or neglected children tend to be aggressive, prone to negative emotions, and low in self-esteem.

They are more at risk for developing psychopathology and deviant

behavior.

They have difficulties in school.

Interventions must be long and intense and must be designed to meet the needs of both children and parents.

Economic Stress and Parenting Protracted economic stress predicts negative outcomes in

parenting.

These negative outcomes are associated with children’s increased

risk for depression, unregulated behavior, delinquency, and drug use.

About 17% of children under 18 live in poverty.

Social support can lessen the effects of economic stress on parenting.

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Child Poverty Rate in the United States

Child Poverty Rates in Western

Industrialized Countries

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Homelessness One-fourth of the homeless in the United States are children.

Homeless children are at risk for depression, social withdrawal, low self-esteem, and serious behavioral, cognitive, and academic problems.

Many homeless teens have run away (often because of abuse) or have been kicked out of their homes.

Family Lifestyles and transitions

From large to small families Mid 1950s: mean number of children = 3.8 Mid 1970s: mean number of children = 1.8 Why? Effects of small family • Parents with less children are more patient, use less punishment • Devote more time to each child’s needs But: child anxiety higher in small families. Why? But: confound with SES. Why?

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Family Lifestyles and transitions

One child families Is an only child disadvantaged? The stereotype: YES (over-indulged, feel pressure) But: sibling relationships have benefits but are not essential Only children are: • As socially competent as children with siblings • Advantaged in self-esteem and achievement motivation

• Same in West and China (though larger and healthier)

Family Lifestyles and transitions

Gay and lesbian families Several million US gay men and lesbians are parents Family dynamic is generally similar: children are as well adjusted

as children of heterosexual parents But: • Evidence that gay fathers are more responsive than heterosexual

fathers

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Family Lifestyles and transitions: Divorce

US divorce rate is highest in the world: one in two • ¼ of children in US live in single parent household (usually

mom) Divorce is not a “single event”: Often has a history – and leads to

large changes

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Divorce Rate, 1900-1993

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30

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From Seifert/Hoffnung, Child and Adolescent Development, 5/e, Figure 13.2, p. 404. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.

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Family Lifestyles and transitions: Divorce

US divorce rate is highest in the world: one in two • ¼ of children in US live in single parent household (usually

mom) Divorce is not a “single event”: Often has a history – and leads to

large changes How do children respond to divorce? Large variation in effect – depending mainly on five factors • Most children show improvement 2 years after divorce But: girls often exhibit problems with heterosexual behavior

Factor

Custodial parents’

Psychological

health

Well adjusted parents handle stress:

Protects child, engages in authoritative parenting

Child

Characteristics

Age Preschoolers: blame selves, show separation anxiety

Older children: may be disruptive and antisocial or

may be unusually mature and responsible

Temperament

Sex

Social Support

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Predictors of Children’s Adjustment

Following Parents’ Divorce and

Remarriage

•Stepfathers … Are often less engaged with stepchildren

Have more conflicts with step vs. biological children

Provide more income

Provide emotional support to the custodial parent

Provide a male role model

Provide stepson supervision

The adjustment for adolescents is easier in simple

stepfamilies, than in complex step families (1/2 siblings)

•Stepmothers … Are less studied, because fathers are rarely the custodial

parent

Are expected to monitor and discipline children, which

can lead to resentment

Stepparents