THE FAMILY Chapter 11. Chapter 7 Outline What is a family? Parenting Style Classification System Causes and Outcomes Siblings The Good Side The Bad Side.

THE FAMILY

Chapter 11

Chapter 7 Outline•What is a family?

•Parenting Style•Classification System•Causes and Outcomes

•Siblings•The Good Side•The Bad Side•Birth Order•Sibling Classifications

What is a family?

•A social unit in which adult spouses or partners and their children share economic, social, and emotional rights and responsibilities and a sense of commitment and identification

•Genetically or legally related•Involuntary and permanent•Social and legal obligations

Parenting style

•Emotional Involvement•Warm and loving vs. cold and rejecting

•Level of Control/Demandingness•Permissive and undemanding vs. demanding and restrictive

Authoritative

Reasonable demands, consistently enforced,

sensitive to and accepting of child

Authoritarian

Many rules/demands; few explanations for rules; little sensitivity to child’s needs/viewsPermissiv

eFew rules/demands; children have much

freedom; indulge child

Uninvolved

Few rules/demands; parents uninvolved and insensitive to

child’s needs

warm, responsive

rejecting, unresponsive

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Parenting Style Activity1. It is bedtime and the children do not want to go to bed.

2. Your child broke a favorite toy.

3. Your child's room is a mess.

4. It is time for your child to come home, but he/she is in the middle of a project and wants to finish it first.

5. Your son came in later than he was supposed to with a worried look on his face.

6. Your daughter came home from the store with a candy bar that was not hers.

What causes parenting style?

Causes of Parenting Styles•Genetics

•Identical twin mothers were more similar in degrees of warmth toward children than fraternal twin mothers

•Personality•Authoritative – Extraverted, Agreeable, and Neurotic•No relationship – Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience

•Quality of couple relationship•Insecure relationships pose a risk factor for poor parenting.

•Risk is highest when both parents are insecure•Avoidance and anxiety romantic attachment are less responsiveness toward partner and child

•Culture•East Asian cultures – authoritative works best•Western cultures – authoritarian works best

•Children’s Behavior•Child’s behavior may elicit the parenting strategy

Bidirectional: Parenting Style and Child Behavior•Does parenting style cause children’s behavior?

•Does children’s behavior cause parenting style?

Bidirectional: Which parenting style results in each preschool child?

Child #1: Cheerful, socially responsible, self-reliant, achievement-oriented, cooperative, more socially competent than other children

ENERGETIC-FRIENDLY CHILD

Child #2: Mood, unhappy, easily annoyed, unfriendly, aimless (not achievement-oriented)

CONFLICTED-IRRITABLE CHILD

Child #3: Impulsive, aggressive, bossy, self-centered, low independence, low orientation uncontrolled, noncompliant

IMPULSIVE-AGGRESSIVE CHILD

Child #4: Aggressive, rebellious, externalizing behaviors, poor academic performance, impulsive, aggressive, noncompliant, and moody

IMPULSIVE-AGGRESSIVE-NONCOMPLIANT-MOODY CHILD

Bidirectional: Patterson’s (1986) Model of Antisocial Development

Defiant and

Coercive behaviors

Harsher parenting

Bidirectional: Parenting Style and Middle Childhood Prosocial Behavior

•Coded parental interactions for mother and father sensitivity•54-months old, 3rd graders, and 5th graders

•Child’s autonomy, Supportive Presence

•Parents and teachers reported on child’s prosocial behavior with peers•3rd, 5th, and 6th grades

Maternal Sensitivity

Child’s prosocial behavior

Paternal Sensitivity

Child’s prosocial behavior

Bidirectional: Parenting Style and Adolescence Adjustment

Adolescent’sAdjustment

Parental Style

Changes• School maladjustment, LSE, low disclosure, and

changed parental style to neglected • High disclosure moved parents from neglected to

authoritative style

• **Parental Style did not lead to changes in child adjustment problems over time

(Kerr, Stattin, & Ozdemir, 2012)

Dissimilarity in parenting styles

•Older Findings: Mothers and Fathers had similar styles

•Mothers’ self-reported parenting style and partner-reported•More authoritative compared to father•No differences in 3 other styles

•Fathers’ self-reported parenting style and partner-reported•Less authoritative and permissive than mother•More authoritarian than mothers

(Winsler et al., 2005)

Dissimilarity in parenting stylesChildren assessed mother and father’s parenting

stylesParents assessed E/I problems

•Parenting Style and Externalizing / Internalizing Problems•All parenting styles positively correlated with E problems

•Rejection and overprotection positively correlated with I problems

•Dissimilarity in Parenting Styles•Dissimilarity is positively correlated with presence of I and E problems

•Dissimilarity in parental emotional warmth → I problems

•Dissimilarity in overprotection → I and E problems

(Berkien et al., 2012)

Name The Parenting Style!

•Video #1

•Video #2

•Video #3

•Video #4

Siblings•Children spend more free time with siblings than anyone else

•Time spent with sibling decreases as children age

•What are some favorable outcomes of having a sibling?

•What are some unfavorable outcomes of having a sibling?

Siblings – The Good Side•Sibling warmth and support linked to

•Peer acceptance, social competences•Academic engagement, educational attainment•Intimate relationships in adolescence and young adulthood

•Develops •Relationship skills for future friend and romantic relationships

•Language and reading skills (older siblings)

•Intimacy decreases I problems (e.g., depression)•Sister-sister pairs – highest intimacy (Cole & Kearns, 2001)•Dyads with 1 brother – more conflict (Cole & Kearns, 2001)

•One of the strongest predictors of mental health in old age (Waldinger et al, 2007)

Siblings – The Bad Side•Sibling interactions create challenges for parenting style

•Most frequent source of parent-adolescent disagreement is how well siblings are getting along

•Sibling conflict occurs up to 8 times per hour•Linked to increase in I problems

•Sibling aggression•70% of families report physical violence between siblings

•Over 1 year period, 40% children were kicked, bitten, punched by their siblings

•Sibling violence linked to substance abuse, delinquency, aggression

•Over time, older siblings E problems led to younger siblings E problems (Shortt et al., 2010)

•E problems in one child associated with greater depression in other child (Branje et al., 2004)

Siblings and Parenting Styles•Harsh and authoritarian parenting associated with more sibling conflict

•Parental Differential Treatment (PDT) •Children evaluate themselves through comparisons with siblings

•Parents treat children differently based on sibling comparison•**Based on siblings’ perception of differential treatment

•PDT Outcomes•Less positive sibling relationships from early childhood through adolescence

•Disfavored sibling = higher depression, antisocial/delinquent behavior, substance use

•More unfavorable for girls and younger children•May be negated if child perceives his/her siblings needs the extra attention

Siblings: Birth Order•Modern Family•What is your birth order?•First, middle, last, only child

•Compare your birth order personality to your siblings (or cousin).•Similarities in Big Five? Differences in Big Five?

•How does your birth order explain these personality differences?

   With an X, indicate the sibling who scores the highest on the following

5 personality traits.Birth Order

NameOpenness to experience

Conscientious

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

First-born Michelle    I I I I       I

Second-

born Michael

  I     I I I     I

Third-born Steven  I I I       I I I  

Fourth-

bornJulie

    I   I   I   I  I

Siblings and Birth Order•First, Adler. Then, Sulloway

•Competition for parental investment causes sibling rivalry

•Birth order provides a strategy for children to compete for parental love, resources, etc.•To increase survival of their genes

•Unique Environmental Effect

Siblings: Sulloway’s Birth Order Theory•Firstborns – Arrive first and secure position by identifying with parents’ personality•More C (responsible, achieving)- seek parents’ favor by acting as a surrogate parent

•More Extraversion b/c defend their status quo with dominance, assertiveness

•More Neurotic – anxious about maintaining their status

•Laterborns – find older, dominant sibling is favored by parents, so look for other ways to improve standing•Laterborns high in OE b/c more accepting of revolutionary ideas

•High in A b/c adopt traits opposite of firstborn – sociable, empathetic, altruistic

Siblings: Sulloway’s Birth Order Theory

•Middle Children – lack advantages of being first or last•Parent will invest in firstborns (closest to reproductive age) and lastborns (most vulnerable to disease)

•More independent of family, more peer-oriented

•Only Children – no sibling rivalry•High C b/c conform to parental authority•Not More Neurotic or Less Extraverted than other children

Siblings and Birth Order: Research Says!

•Nomination Procedure (Paulhus et al., 1999)

•First-born: highest in C; Later-born: highest in A•**Limitations to nomination procedure

•9 adopted sibship pairs (Beer & Horn, 2000)•All biologically first born, but raised in different rearing orders•Compared first-reared to later-reared

•Firstborns more Conscientious (Beer & Horn, 2000; Healey & Ellis, 2006)

•Laterborns more OE (Healey & Ellis, 2006)

•But other research….Firstborns more OE (Michalski & Shackelford, 2001)

•Any relationship b/w birth order and personality is weak

Sibling Classifications•African American Families: Fathers, mothers, and 2 siblings

•Home interviews and later surveys

•Sibling Assessment – 3 dimensions to classify siblings•Positive – “I go to my sister/brother for advice and support”

•Negative- “My sister/brother gets mad or angry at me.”

•Control – “In our relationship, I am the boss”

(McHale et al., 2007)

Sibling Classifications

Positive• High Positivity, Moderate Conflict,

Moderate Control

Negative• Low Positivity, High Conflict, High Control

Distant• Low Positivity, Moderate Conflict,

Moderate Control

(McHale et al., 2007)

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Positive Negative Distant

(McHale et al., 2007)

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Positive Negative Distant

(McHale et al., 2007)

Sibling Classifications•IN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE GROUPS•Older siblings reported more conflict (green) and control (black) than younger siblings

•IN DISTANT GROUPS•Younger siblings reported more conflict (pink) and control (red) than older siblings

(McHale et al., 2007)

Sibling Classifications: Causes•Parents’ Education Level

•Distant Children – father more educated than mother•Positive Children – no difference in educational level•Negative children – mother more educated than father

•Maternal and Paternal Warmth (listed by decreasing warmth)•Warmth toward older-positive, older-distant, vs. older-negative siblings

•Parental Differential Treatment (PDT)•Positive and distant children perceived parents as more fair than negative children

•Some other factors•Mothers w/ negative children – highest levels of discrimination

•Parents in positive group reported greatest levels of spirituality (McHale et al., 2007)

Sibling Classifications: Outcomes

•Positive children•More favorable ethnic identity

•Positive and distant children•Fewer depressive symptoms

•Negative children•Highest levels of risky behaviors