Families

• Adolescents’ Families
– Historically
– Today
• Impact
– Conflict
– Parenting Style
– Attachment
– Siblings
– Divorce
 Historical Change
Patterns over Two Centuries
Three changes over the past two centuries have influenced
family life
1. Lower birth rate
• In 1800, women in the U.S. had an average of 8 children
• Today the average number of children is 2

2. Longer life expectancy

• Up until 1900, the average life expectancy was about 45
• Now the average human life expectancy is over 70

3. Movement from rural to urban residence

• As recently at 1830, 70% of children lived in farm families
• By 1930, this figure had dropped to 30%
• Today it is less than 2%
 Historical Change – The Last 50
years
The most dramatic changes have been in the following three
areas:
1. Divorce Rate
 The current rate is so high that nearly half of the current generation
of young people are projected to experience their parents’ divorce by
the time they reach their late teens

2. Single Parent Households

 Mothers represent 90% of custodial parents (parents who lives in the
same household as the children)
 Besides divorce there has been a rise in the proportion of children
born outside of marriage

3. Dual-Earner Families
 Employment among women with school-aged children has increased
from about ¼ to over ¾
 Changes in Families

Fewer than 15% of Dual

today’s teens live Career
Stay-at-
Age of
with both biological Parents
Home
mom
parents in a
DIVERSITY
household where the
father is the only
Family
breadwinner. Income
Only Child

Number of
Siblings
 Changes (cont’d)

• High rates of divorce and high rates of

childbirth outside of marriage
– Majority of adolescents born during 1990’s
will spend some of childhood/adolescence
in a single-parent household
– Half of teens whose parents divorce will
spend time in a stepfamily
• Therefore: many factors that could
impact adolescents’ development
 The Changing Functions of the
Family

Function Performing Institution, Performing Institution,

1800 2000
Educational Family School
Religious Family Church/Synagogue
Medical Family Medical Profession
Economic Support Family Employer
Recreational Family Entertainment Industry
Affective Family Family

The family in our time has mainly emotional or affective functions

To provide love, nurturance and affection above all else.
 Extended Family
Relationships
• Traditional Cultures
– Young men generally remain in their family home after marriage and
young women move into their new husband’s home
– This practice has been remarkably resistant to the influence of
globalization
– This pattern is typical in India, China and most traditional cultures in
Asia and Africa
– In these cultures children typically grow up in a house that includes
parents, siblings as well as grandparents and often uncles, aunts and
cousins
– Similar patterns of closeness to grandparents have been found among
adolescents in American minority cultures
 Extended Family
Relationships
• American Majority Culture
– Adolescents’ contact with extended family members is relatively
infrequent
– Extended family members often live many miles away
– American adolescents have significantly less contact with their
extended family members as compared with adolescents in
European countries because European extended family are
more likely to live in close proximity
– An exception to this pattern occurs among adolescents in
divorced families who tend to have increased contact with
grandparents during adolescence (especially with their maternal
grandfather)
 Family Systems Approach

• To understand family functioning one must

understand how each relationship within the
family influences the family as a whole
• The family system is composed of a variety of
subsystems

EXAMPLE: The subsystems in a family consisting of

two parents and an adolescent would be:
1. Mother and adolescent
2. Father and adolescent
3. Mother and father
 Family Systems Approach

• Based on 2 key ideas:

1. Each subsystem influences every other

subsystem in the family

2. A change in any family member or family

subsystem results in a period of
disequilibrium until the family system
adjusts to the change
 Adolescents’ Families

• Beginning of adolescence a time of family

transformation
– Renegotiation of power and responsibility

• Often coincides with parents’ own “midlife

crisis”
– Increased concern about bodies and physical
attractiveness
– Beginning to feel that the possibilities for change
are limited; occupational plateau
 Changes in Family
Relationships: Family Needs
• Changes in the family as a whole unit
• Changes in economic circumstances
– Large anticipated expenditures (e.g., college)
– Parents belong to “Sandwich generation”
• Changes in family’s relationship to other social
institutions
– Increasing importance of peers
• Changes in family functions
– Family’s role during adolescence less clear than infancy
or childhood
 Transformations in
Family Relationships
• Changes in the balance of power
– Shift from an asymmetrical relationship toward a
more equal relationship with parents
• The role of puberty
– Biological/cognitive maturation at puberty throws
the family system out of balance
• Violations of Expectations
– Cognitive changes in views of family expectations
 Changes in Family
Relationships: The Parents
• Parents of adolescents
– Increased concern about bodies, physical
attractiveness, and sexual appeal
– Midlife crisis (most are in 40s)
– Beginning to feel that the possibilities for change are
limited
– Occupational plateau

• Mental health of parents

 Sex Differences in
Family Relationships
• Minimal differences between sons and daughters in family
relations
– Similar degrees of closeness, types of rules, patterns of activities

• Sex of the parent may be a more important influence than

sex of the teen
– Teens tend to be closer to their mothers, have more intense
relationships
– Fathers rely on mothers for information about adolescent,
perceived as distant authority figures
 Families (cont’d)

• Overall: get along well, feel close to parents (particularly

mother), respect parents’ judgments
– Tend to disagree over mundane issues
– Disagreements stem from different perspectives
– Part of problem: method of conflict resolution

• Similar beliefs about fundamental attitudes and beliefs

– Differ in opinions of personal taste (dress, leisure)
 Families (cont’d)
• Progressively less time spent together
– 5th graders: 25-30% of waking hours
– 12th graders: 12-15% of waking hours
Parent-Adolescent Conflict

– G. Stanley Hall (1904)

– Anna Freud (1946)

– Both researchers made it sound as though it was

universal and inevitable that ALL adolescents rebel
against their parents and that ALL parents and
adolescents experience intense conflict for many years

How accurate are these early theories?

 Is There A Generation
Gap?
• Popular advice for parents of teens
– Emphasizes nonnormative development, stereotypes of strained
relationships
– Self-fulfilling prophecy

• Research indicates
– Very little emotional distance between teens and parents
– Parents and teens have similar beliefs about core values

• If generation gap, it exists in matters of personal taste

(e.g., style of dress, music preferences, leisure activities)
 Parent-Adolescent Conflict

• Few scholars on adolescence believe this anymore!

• Adolescents and their parents agree on many of the
most important aspects of their views of life
• Studies in the 1960’s (which were the first to dispel
the stereotype of ‘storm and stress’) found that
– a great majority of adolescents like their parents, trust and
admire them
– when disagreement does occur it was usually over
seemingly minor issues (e.g. clothes, curfews)
 Conflict Details

• Conflict with parents increases sharply in

early adolescence and remains high for
several years

• Conflict in adolescence is especially frequent

and intense between mothers and daughters

• It is only in late adolescence and emerging

adulthood that conflict with parents
diminishes substantially
 Reasons for Conflict in Early
Adolescence

• Biological Changes
– Adolescents become bigger and stronger physically
making it more difficult for parents to impose their
authority by virtue of their greater physical presence

• Cognitive Changes
– Increased abilities for thinking abstracting and with
more complexity make adolescents better arguers
and it becomes more difficult for parents to prevail
quickly in arguments with their children
 What Do Parents and
Teens
Fight About?
• Mundane issues, not big ones (e.g.,
curfew, leisure time, cleaning room)
• Disagreements stem from different
perspectives on issues
– Parents see issues as a matter of right or
wrong (social conventions or moral
issues)
– Teens see issues as a matter of personal
choice (e.g., how to dress)
 Culture and Conflict with
Parents
• Conflict is not universal and “natural”
• Biological and cognitive changes take place
among adolescents in all cultures
• Parent-adolescent conflict is not typical in all
cultures

T
H
E
 Culture can take the raw
R materials of nature and shape
E FORE
them in highly diverse ways
 Conflict in Traditional
Cultures
• It is rare for parents and adolescents to engage in the
kind of frequent, petty conflicts typical of parent-
adolescent relationship in the American majority
culture

• Reasons:
– Economic: In non-industrialized traditional cultures, family
members tend to rely a great deal on each other
economically

– Culture: Cultural beliefs about parental authority and the

appropriate degree of adolescent independence
 Is There Emotional
Distance Between Teens
and Parents?
• Very little emotional distance
between parents and
adolescents (unlike
stereotypes)
• Most Teens
– Feel close to parents
– Respect parents’ judgment
– Feel loved by parents
– Respect parents as individuals
• 20% say their top concern is not
having enough time with
parents
 Parents and Emerging
Adults
• Typically relationships between parents and
emerging adults improve once the young person
leaves home

• Emerging adults report greater closeness and fewer

negative feelings toward their parents after moving
– Those who had moved at least an hour away by car from
their parents reported
• highest levels of closeness to their parents
• valued their parents’ opinions most highly

– Those who remained home

• Poorest relations with their parents in these respects
 Parenting Styles
• Baumrind’s classification:
– Parental responsiveness (warmth)
• The degree to which parents are sensitive to their
children’s needs and the extent to which they express
love, warmth, and concern for their children
• Degree to which parent responds to child’s needs in an
accepting, supportive manner
– Parental demandingness (control)
• The degree to which parents set down rules and
expectations for behavior and require their children to
comply with them
• Degree to which parent expects/demands mature,
responsible behavior from the child
• Parental monitoring vs. psychological control
 Styles (cont’d)

Demandingness

High Low

High Authoritative Indulgent

Responsiveness

Low Authoritarian Indifferent

 The Interaction of
Demandingness and
Responsiveness
High
Demandingness

Authoritarian Authoritative

Low High
Responsiveness Responsiveness

Indifferent Indulgent

Low
Demandingness
 Styles (cont’d)

• Authoritative parents - warm but firm

– Emotional autonomy granting
• Authoritarian parents - obedience and conformity
• Indulgent parents - benign, passive
• Indifferent parents - minimize time and energy spent
interacting with their child
How parents might sound?
Authoritarian Authoritative

“No you can’t go to the mall

today. You know the family
“Do it my way
made plans to go to see your
because I said so!
sick aunt. How about we drop
Don’t argue with
you off at your friend’s house
me … it’s my house
on the way home. Good
and my rules”
enough compromise?”

Adolescent: “Mom are “Sure you can have a party in

you home … mom {no the house while we’re away –
answer} … I guess I’m the key to the liquor cabinet
in charge of dinner in is you father’s sock
again drawer”

Indifferent Indulgent
 Styles (cont’d)

• Authoritative: linked with positive

outcomes
– Self-esteem, social skills, intellectual
growth, development of autonomy &
identity, healthy peer relationships
• Older adolescents (Weiss & Schwarz, 1996)
– Personality (more agreeable, openness)
– Academic achievement, less drug and
alcohol use, positive adjustment
 Styles (con’t)

• Why is authoritative parenting effective?

– Balance between restrictiveness and
autonomy
– Gradually acquire independence and build
up self-reliance
– Enabling interactions or discussions rather
than constraining
– Sets stage for strong attachment
Parenting and Temperament

Adolescents who
differ in
temperament are
affected in
different ways by
the same
parenting
 Styles (con’t)
Self-Reliance

Authoritarian

Authoritative

Indulgent-
permissive

Indifferent-
uninvolved

2.8 2.9 3 3.1

 Styles (con’t)
Grade-Point Average

Authoritarian

Authoritative

Indulgent-
permissive

Indifferent-
uninvolved

2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9

 Styles (con’t)
School
Authoritarian

Authoritative

Indulgent-
permissive

Indifferent-
uninvolved

2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

 American Parenting Styles

• What beliefs are reflected in the parenting styles?

– Research on child rearing goals shows that American parents
tend to value independence highly as a quality they wish to
promote in their children

– Authoritarian parenting clearly discourages independence but

the other three parenting styles which account for 85% (shown in
the previous graph) reflect parents’ beliefs that it is good for
adolescents to learn autonomy
 A More Complex
Picture of Parenting
Effects
• Reciprocal or Bidirectional Effects
Adolescents not only are affected by their parents but
also affect their parent in return

• Complexity of Siblings
Most research on the effects of parenting styles involves
only one adolescent per family

The few studies that have included more than one

adolescent per family have shown that adolescent
siblings within the same family often give very different
accounts of what their parents are like toward them
 A More Complex Picture of
Parenting Effects

• Differential Parenting
– Parent’s behavior often differs toward siblings within the same
family

• Non-shared Environmental Influences

– Differential parenting can result in non-shared environmental
influences meaning that the adolescents experience quite
different family environments and the consequences of these
differences are evident in adolescents’ behaviour and
psychological functioning
 Parenting in Other
Cultures
• The most striking difference in parenting styles is how rare the authoritative parenting
style is in non-Western cultures
• Parents expect that their authority will be obeyed, without question and without
requiring an explanation
• The role of the parent carries greater inherent authority than it does in the West
• Parents are not supposed to provide reasons why they should be respected and
obeyed

Does this mean that the typical parenting styles

in traditional cultures is authoritarian?

No. The fact is they do not fit very will into the parenting scheme presented.
They are generally closest to authoritative parents because like them they tend
to be high in demandingness and high in responsiveness. However their
demandingness is very different from authoritative parents in American or
Western cultures
 Traditional Parenting Style
Two Examples
• Asian Americans • Latino Americans
– Chao (2001) argues that White – Latino parents in American
researchers misunderstand society have also typically
Asian American parenting and been classified as
mislabel it as authoritarian authoritarian

– Asian adolescents show none of – The Latino cultural belief

the negative effects typically system places emphasis on
associated with authoritarian respecto (respect and
parenting obedience to parents and
elders – especially fathers)
– They have higher educational
achievement, lower rates of – Latino cultural beliefs also
behavioural problems and believe is familismo (love,
lowers rates of psychological closeness and mutual
problems obligations of Latino family
life)
 Ethnic Differences in
Parenting Styles
• Authoritative parenting is less prevalent
among African-American, Asian-American,
or Hispanic-American families than among
white families
• Beneficial effects are found for all ethnic
groups
 Ethnic Differences in
Parenting Styles
• Authoritarian parenting is more prevalent
among ethnic minority than among white
families (even when SES is taken into
account)
• Adverse effects are greater for white
adolescents than for ethnic minorities
– May carry benefits for ethnic minorities who
live in dangerous areas
American Parenting Styles
Authoritative parenting was
somewhat more common
in middle-class families and
White families

Authoritarian parenting
was more common in
minority families than in
White families
 Autonomy and Attachment
in the Family
• Adolescents who are permitted to assert their own opinions
within a family context that is secure and loving
– develop higher self-esteem
– develop more mature coping abilities
• Adolescents whose autonomy is squelched
– at risk for developing feelings of depression
• Adolescents who do not feel connected
– more likely than their peers to develop behavior problems
 Attachment
• Quality of relationship between parents
and child/adolescent
– Related to: competence, fewer feelings of
depression, better mental well-being,
identity development, less problem-
behavior

• Sets stage for other healthy

relationships as well with peers, siblings,
romantic partners
 Attachment Theory
• Originally developed by John Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980)

• Attachments between parents and children have an

evolutionary basis in the need for vulnerable young
members of the species to stay in close proximity to
adults who will care for and protect them
• Mary Ainsworth (1967, 1982) described two general
types of attachment:
– Secure attachment
• In which infants use the mother as a ‘secure base form which to
explore’ but seek physical comfort and consolation from her if
frightened or threatened

– Insecure attachment
• Infants are wary of exploring the environment and resist or avoid the
mother when she attempts to offer comfort or consolation
 Research on the Effects of Secure
Attachment in Adolescence and
Emerging Adulthood
Secure attachment to parents in adolescence is
related to a variety of favorable outcomes

• Effects on Adolescents • Effects on Emerging

– Adolescents’ well being Adults
– Higher self-esteem – Higher educational and
– Better psychological and occupational attainment
physical health – Lower psychological
– Tend to have closer problems
relationships with friends – Lower drug use
and romantic partners
– More autonomous and self-
reliant
 Positive Parenting

• Warm, affectionate, caring, supportive, emotionally

attuned and emotionally literate
– positive attention, no door mats
• Clear and appropriate boundaries and supervision,
backed up by positive discipline
– negotiated rules, consistency, agreed sanctions for
inappropriate behaviour, no hitting or shouting, allowing
children their own space, handling conflict helpfully
• Age appropriate expectations, responsibility and
challenges
– providing opportunities to try new things, but not over
stimulation, encouragement for trying, not for succeeding
 Outcomes of unhelpful
parenting
• antisocial behaviour
• delinquency
• criminality
• violence
• poor social competence
• poor peer relationships
• poor educational outcomes
Odds of poor mental health age 26 yrs according
to relationship with parents age 16 yrs
Nagging/complaining ***

Strict/bossy **

Don’t understand me ***

Treat like child ***

***
Overprotective
***
Generous
Helpful
Loving/ caring
**
Can talk to them *
Allow me freedom ***

0.5 1 1.5

1970 Birth Cohort : adjusted for sex, social class and mental health age 16
years
 Odds of poor general health age 26 yrs
according to relationship with parents age 16 yrs

Nagging/complaining
Strict/bossy
Don’t understand them
Don’t understand me ***

Treat like child

Overprotective
Generous
*
Helpful
Loving/ caring
*
Understanding
*
Allow freedom
0.5 1 1.5
1970 Birth Cohort : adjusted for sex, social class and mental health age 16
years
 Behavioral Genetics:
Why Are Siblings So Different?
 Siblings may have very different family experiences
 Treated differently by parents
 Perceive similar experiences in different ways
 Unequal treatment often creates conflict among
siblings, but most (75%) treatment is not differential
 If all siblings are treated well, research shows that
differential treatment can actually be a good thing
 Leads to siblings getting along better
 Less sibling rivalry
 Sibling deidentification
 Trying to distinguish self from sibling can also diminish
feelings of competition
 Sibling Relationships
• Adolescent’s relationships with siblings
– become more equal
– become more distant
– become less emotionally intense

• Quality of sibling relationships are affected by

quality of parent-child relationship
• Quality of adolescent-sibling relationship affects
adolescent’s relationships with peers
 Gene-environment
Correlations
1. Passive
2. Reactive (Evocative)
3. Active (Niche-picking)
 Common Sense
Gene-Environment Correlation

Child’s
Genes

Child’s
Phenotype

Child’s
Environment
 Passive
Gene-Environment Correlation

Child’s
Genes

Parents’ Child’s
Genotype Phenotype

Child’s
Environment
 Reactive (Evocative)
Gene-Environment Correlation

Child’s
Genes

Parents’ Child’s
Genotype Phenotype

Child’s
Environment
 Reactive (Evocative)
Gene-Environment Correlation
Riggins-Caspers et al. (2003) Biological Risk
For Problem
Behaviors
Adolescent
Oppositional
Parents’ and Conduct-
Genotype disordered
Problems
Coercive/Abrasive
Interactions and
Harsh Discipline
From Adoptive
Parents
 Active (Niche-picking)
Gene-Environment Correlation

Child’s
Genes

Parents’ Child’s
Genotype Phenotype

Child’s
Environment
 Gene-Environment Correlation
Evocative Gene Environment Correlation for
Popularity and 5-HT
2A Polymorphism

0.3

0.2

0.1

-0.1
Sample 1
-0.2 Sample 2

-0.3

-0.4

-0.5
Mean Evoked Popularity (Z-score)
-0.6

-0.7
AA genotype GA and GG genotypes
5-HT2A Genotype
Gene-Environment Correlation
Ge et al (1996)
Evocative Correlation Between Genetic
Predisposition
2

1.5

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5
Hostility
-2 Warmth
Adoptive Father's Parenting Behaviors Discipline
Harsh/Inconsistent
-2.5 Nurturant/Involved Parenting

-3
No Disorder Single Disorder Multiple Disorder

Biological Parents' Psychological Status

 Divorce
• Process of going through a divorce, not resulting
family structure, matters most
• Adverse consequences of divorce are linked to
exposure to marital conflict and disorganized
parenting
• “Sleeper effect” for adolescents
• More problems if a remarriage occurs during early
adolescence rather than childhood
Changes in Divorce Rate

Americans have the highest

divorce rate of any country
in the world
 Effects of Divorce – Family
Process
• Family process is the quality of family members’ relationships, how
much warmth or hostility there is between them, and so on

• Three factors of family process with regard to the effects of children

and adolescents of divorce

1. Exposure to conflict between parents

– Exposure to parents’ conflicts, more than the specific event of divorce is
especially damaging

2. Affects on parenting practices

– Divorce is stressful and painful to most of the adults who experience it
and it affects their role as parents

3. Increases in economic stress

– Money is tight in mother-headed households
– Income in mother-headed households decreases by an average of 40%
to 50%
The Changing Family: Divorce

The Longer-Term Effects of Divorce

– Individuals whose parents divorce during
preadolescence and adolescence often
demonstrate adjustment difficulties later
 Effects of Divorce
• Young people whose parents have divorced are
at higher risk for a wide variety of negative
outcomes:
– Behavior problems
– Psychological distress
– Lower academic achievement
– Higher rates of drug and alcohol use
– Initiate sexual intercourse at an earlier age
– Depression and withdrawal
– Anxiousness
– Less likely to attend college
 Effects of Divorce

• In emerging adulthood, the effects of parental

divorce are evident in:
– Greater problems in forming close romantic relationships

– Wariness of entering marriage

– Their determination to avoid divorce

Interesting Footnote: The risk of divorce is

higher for young people from divorced families
 The Changing Family:
Divorce
• Custody, Contact, and Conflict
following Divorce
– It is the quality of the relationship
between the adolescent’s divorced
parents (not which one he or she lives
with), that matters most
Effects of divorce on the development of emotional problems:
A long-term study of British individuals (Cherlin et al, 1998)
 Family in a Changing
Society

• Implications of high divorce rates and high

rates of childbirth outside of marriage
– Most American adolescents born during 1990s
will spend some of their childhood or
adolescence in a single-parent household
– Half of teens whose parents divorce will spend
time in a stepfamily
 Effects of Single
Parenthood
• Just as in divorced families, adolescents in never-married,
single-parent households are at greater risk for a variety of
problems
– Low school achievement
– Depression
– Anxiety
– Substance use
– Early initiation of sexual activity

Interesting Footnote: African American families

have a long tradition of extended family household and
an extended family structure has been found to
provide important assistance to single parent families
 The Changing Family:
Economic Strain and Poverty
• Parents under
financial stress are
harsher, more
inconsistent, less
involved
• Adolescents living in
these conditions
have greater risk of
– psychological
difficulties
– problem behaviors
 Effects of Dual-Earner
Families
The effects of dual-earner families depend on the
gender of the adolescent

• Effects on Girls • Effects on Boys

– Often quite positive – More negative than the
– Tend to become more effects on girls
confident – Have more arguments with
– Have higher career their mothers and siblings
aspirations – Poorer school performance
for boys in middle-class and
upper-middle-class families
 The Changing Family:
Remarriage
• 75% men and 67% women remarry after
divorce
• Adolescents growing up in stepfamilies
often have more problems than their peers
• African-American teens more likely to
experience parental divorce and less likely
to experience parents’ remarriage
 Effects of Remarriage
• Adolescents typically take a turn for the worse when their
mothers remarry
• Adolescents in stepfamilies have a greater likelihood for a
variety of problems:
– Depression
– Anxiety
– Conduct disorders
– Lower academic achievement
– More likely to engage in delinquent activities
– More problems adjusting to the remarriage

– Girls tend to have an especially negative reaction to their

parents’ remarriage
The Importance of the Family
in Adolescent Development

• Adolescents who feel that their parents or

guardians are “there” for them – caring,
involved, and accepting – are healthier,
happier, and more competent than their
peers
• Despite growing importance of peers,
adolescents still need love and support of
adults who care about them