ABSC 160 Unit 2
How has family structure changed since the 1960s? - correct answer
✔Number of children living in homes with two-parents in their first marriage
has decreased significantly as the number of single parent homes increases
-Interestingly, the number of children living in stepfamilies has remained
virtually unchanged (still was common when a parent was widowed and
remarried in the past, although divorce was less common)
single-parent families - correct answer ✔Single parents more likely to be
mother than father, married at one point in time, employed and does not live in
poverty
-single parent still way more likely than two parent households to be in
poverty, which can have negaitvely impact on children's cognitive, social and
emotional development + add parental stress which reduces parenting skills
-Only 12% of births to unmarried mothers occur to women under the age of 19
-Although most unmarrried women plan to marry child's father, less than half
do
Divorce - correct answer ✔-Couples who marry at later ages are less likely to
divorce, which is why couples who have married recently are less likely to get
divorced than those who married in the 70s and 80s (less pressure to get
married young, more selective about partners)
-Additionally, living together without marrying is much more common now, so
these breakups are not counted in divorce rates
,-"If you are a reasonably well-educated person with a decent income, come
from an intact family, are religious, and marry after age 25 without having a
baby first, your chances of divorce are very low indeed"
Impact of divorce on infants and toddlers? - correct answer ✔-More likely to
develop insecure attachment
-Can lead to behavioral problems, separation anxiety, and loss of recent
developmental achievements like toilet training/language development
Impact of divorce on preschool children? - correct answer ✔-may not
understand permanence of divorce, may hope for reconciliation
-Anger, defiances, behavioral regression, nightmares
-May feel guilt, feel like its their fault
Impact of divorce on school age children - correct answer ✔-understand a bit
better, but still may have feelings of guilt, anxiety or sadness
-Younger may feel need to side with one parent or another, difficulty taking
multiple perspectives
-Older think about the future more, may worry about where they will live
Impact of divorce on adolescents - correct answer ✔- may act out as a way
to express their dissapointment
-may increase dating and social involvement to find support outside family
Impact of divorce on parenting - correct answer ✔-high stress = less positive
support for children and less monitoring of behavior
-effects of divorce on child lessened when positive parenting maintained -
reassure that both parents still love them, keep parental conflicts separate
from kids
,-long-term differences between children of divorced and non-divorced parents
generally small - children can experience both trauma and adaptation,
multifinality (ongoing level of parental conflict, child's sense of control/self-
esteem and passage of time are all relevant factors)
Impact of divorce on commitment to long-term intimate relationships - correct
answer ✔-higher risk to get divorced themselves
-less confidence in success of marriage (especially for women)
Custody Arrangements - correct answer ✔Sole physical custody by the
mother is far more common than sole physical custody by the father, but
shared custody is way more common now than it used to be
-mixed results on what is best for infants due to attachment concerns, but
generally shared is considered best for children
legal custody - correct answer ✔deals with a parent's right to make major
decisions about the children's health, education and welfare.
physical custody - correct answer ✔a child custody arrangement that
determines where the child will reside
coparenting - correct answer ✔-sharing parenting responsibilities between
two or more people, 2/3 of unmarried mothers no long live with father by
child's 5th birthday
-father's more likely to stay involved if they had a strong positive relationship
with mother prior to birth of child (black fathers also more likely to continue
coparenting, as it is common)
-involvement decline if father's had child w/ different woman
, -African American families also tend to cite other adult family members as
coparents, like a grandmother
Stepfamilies and blended families - correct answer ✔-8% of children live with
stepparent, 15% with stepsibling or halfsibling
boundary ambiguity - correct answer ✔a state in which family members are
uncertain about who is in or out of the family - common in stepfamilies,
children may show dislike toward new stepparent (60% of remarried couples
experience second divorce, may be in part to this)
-frequently engaging in conversation and honoring past lives while finding new
ways to work together can help reduce strain
Grandparents raising grandchildren (skipped generation family) - correct
answer ✔-More grandparents have become primary caregivers of
grandchildren (about 3 million)
-Parents unable to provide care needed as result of:
-Child abuse, teen pregnancy, imprisonment, joblessness, military
deployment, drug and alcohol addictions, illness, death, divorcer, other social
problems,
-may lead to sense of fulfillment or frustration with sudden change in their
lives- may feel isolated from same age peers and or younger parents
-higher rates in South
-1/5 of these families in poverty
Child Benefits: sense of security, self-esteem, attachment figure in
grandparents + family continuity
