Family Influences on Development

1. Chapter 12 Family Influences on Development

2. Systems View • Family as a system • Each member influences the others; you change or affect one, and all are affected

3. Topics • Family bonding • Marital Unit • Identity development • Marital conflict and divorce • Siblings and birth order • Family influence • Discipline • Values and goals

4. Parent-child bonding • Ways to bond with your baby? • Parent-child Attachment Theory • Idea that parent is secure base from which child can explore the world • Results from consistency in responsiveness of parent to child

5. Attachment Theory • Harlow’s monkeys • Bowlby and Ainsworth • Strange Situation • 8 minute procedure • 12 months of age • Assesses child’s reaction to mother’s return • Found 3 general attachment styles

6. Results of Attachment Research • Attachment Styles • Securely Attached (66%) • Baby is happy to be reunited; easily comforted • Avoidantly Attached (20%) • Baby is avoidant of mother when reunited; not drawn to mother when she tries to consol • Ambivalently Attached (12%) • Baby is angry at mother when reunited; goes from clingy, crying, to distant, angry response • Disorganized (2%) • Baby has mixed response to mother’s return – may walk sideways; look fearful; seem disoriented

7. Expectation of Baby • Secure: Mother responds consistently; Baby expects response • Avoidant: Mother often does not respond to Baby; Baby does not expect mother to respond • Ambivalent: Mother inconsistently responds to Baby; Baby is not sure what to expect, so must overreact to try to get mom’s attention • Disorganized: Mother gives off frightening and/or confusing signals; Baby has learned to not rely on parent/takes on parenting role

8. Source of Attachment Crises • Avoidant (depression) • Ambivalent (trauma, other psychological disorders) • Disorganized (abuse, child taking on parent role) • Relationship with adult attachment • Correlations found • Retrospective reports • Ainsworth: Insecure model can change in adulthood, through securely attached marital relationship, though insecure attachment prone to repeat itself.

9. Extension of Attachment Theory Children internalize models and carry images with them for self and other comparisons: 1) Model of their attachment relationship with parents 2) Model of mother and father as female and male role models 3) Model of marital relationship

10. Adult relationships • Relationship with adult attachment • Correlations found • Retrospective reports • Insecure attachment prone to repeat itself in adult relationships • Able to be changed through securely attached adult relationships

11. Is Marital Conflict OK? • When is conflict deleterious for children? • Physical conflict/aggression • Greater intensity of conflict • Greater frequency of conflict with fewer positive interactions • Demeaning arguing (e.g., parents put each other down; emotional/verbal abuse or lack of respect) • Triangulation • Unresolved conflict

12. Marital Unit: Conflict/Divorce • When is conflict ok or important? • Modeling appropriate expression of negative emotions • Modeling appropriate, respectful assertiveness (neither aggressive nor passive responses to one another) • Modeling conflict resolution

13. Current (2002) statistics in divorce • 1 million children experience divorce of their parents each year • Sharp increase in divorce rates from 1960-1980 but slow decline in rates since 1980 • Current rate is about 49%, with accumulated numbers increasing • 1970 to 2000, married population dropped from 72% to 60% • Divorce rate higher for remarriages than first marriages

14. Wallerstein’s and other research • Children • Depression, dream of parents getting back together, learning difficulties, behavior problems (Wallerstein) • May blame themselves • Developmental issues? • Adults • Based on attachment perspective • Overcome internalized models of relationships of own parents • Research somewhat conflicted on effect on future marriages

15. General Research Findings • Many studies have found the divorce rates to be higher among adults from divorced homes • Thought to be due to: • More negative attitudes about marriage • Less trust in relationships • More favorable views toward divorce • Hesitancy to commit to marriage due to fear of repeating parents’ mistakes

16. General Research Findings • Other studies have found that adults from divorced homes have positive attitudes and expectations; determined that their parents’ divorce would not affect their own marriage • Many children are quite resilient • Protective factors (absence of these are risk factors) • Having at least one consistent, strong relationship with an adult • Excelling in something (higher self-esteem)  academics, athletics, music • Fewer transitions (e.g., moves, family reorganization) • Low hostility between parents • Strong sibling relationships

17. Boyer-Pennington, et. al. • Compared college students from intact homes, single divorce, and multiple divorce homes • Individuals from intact homes had more favorable expectations about the quality of marriage than students from either single-divorced or multiple-divorced homes • However, all three groups were equally optimistic about getting married and about the success of their own marriages compared to others • Those who experience divorce are not “turned off” from marriage

18. Boyer-Pennington, et. al. • All three groups expected to avoid divorce • Those from single-divorce homes had lowest expectations of avoiding divorce • Those from multiple-divorced homes reported highest expectations of avoiding divorce • People from multiple-divorced homes may engage in more “negative modeling” • They reported higher amounts of relationship control • Research shows that increase perception of control promotes better outcomes

19. Family: Birth Order • Believed to influence child development • Adler’s Birth Order Theory • First-born: “power-hungry”, tends to compete because does not want to be “dethroned” • Second-born: Not as sensitive to power issues; tends to be higher-achiever because is used to being the “underdog” and can handle competition • Third-born: Tends to be the “baby” of the family; spoiled; less of an achiever • Only child: Has never been “dethroned” so tends to have high ego; tends to be neither spoiled nor especially high-achiever.

20. Family Influence • Discipline • Clear expectations • Consistency of limits and consequences • Prevention of impatience/losing control • Parenting styles • Two dimensions of interaction • Emotionality, Control • High and low levels of emotionality and control combine to produce four basic patterns of parenting • Authoritative, Authoritarian, Permissive, Uninvolved

21. Family Influence • Two dimensions of interaction • Emotionality = How warm, responsive, and child-centered the parent is • Control = How much the parent is in charge • Goal is to be high on warmth and high on control! • Warm, responsive parents are better at exercising control

22. Parenting styles • Authoritative • High emotionality; high control • Warm, responsive, involved • Set consistent, reasonable limits; expect mature behavior • Authoritarian • Low emotionality; high control • Harsh, unresponsive, rigid • Use power-assertive methods of control

23. Parenting styles • Permissive • High emotionality; low control • Lax, inconsistent discipline • Encourage children to express any impulse • Uninvolved • Low emotionality; low control • Indifferent, neglectful • Parents focus on own needs rather than children’s

24. Effects on children • Authoritative • “Energetic-friendly” – cheerful, self-reliant, purposeful, achievement-oriented, cooperative, copes well with stress • Authoritarian • “Conflicted-irritable” – moody, unhappy, fearful, aimless, hostile, deceitful, aggressive or withdrawn responses, vulnerable to stress • Permissive • “Impulsive-aggressive” – domineering, resistant, noncompliant, lacks self-control, little self-reliance, impulsive, low achievement-orientation, few goals • Uninvolved • “Neglected” – moody, insecurely attached, impulsive, aggressive, noncompliant, irresponsible, low self-esteem, immature, alientated, lacks skills for social and academic pursuits, delinquency, early sexual promiscuity

25. Parenting styles Emotionality Control

26. Family Influence • Values and goals • Family is considered to be one of the strongest venues for transmission of values and goals • Factors affecting positive influence of family on children • Secure attachment • Open and frequent communication between parents and children • “Incidental learning”  both quality and quantity time