Chapter 4: Families
Tags Summary
Changes in Family Relationships at Adolescence
What Do Adolescents and Parents Usually Fight About?
Rebels With a Cause
The Adolescent’s Parents at Midlife
Midlife Meets Adolescence
The Mental Health of Parents
Changes in Family Needs and Functions
Special Concerns of Immigrant Families
Transformations in Family Relations
Changes in the Balance of Power
The Role of Puberty
Sex Differences in Family Relationships
Family Relationships and Adolescent Development
Parenting Styles and Their Effects
Four Styles of Parenting
The Power of Authoritative Parenting
Ethnic Differences in Parenting Practices
How Authoritative Parenting Works
Adolescents’ Relationships with Siblings
A Network of Relationships
Genetic Influences on Adolescent Development
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adolescent Development
Chapter 4: Families 1
, Differential Susceptibility to the Environment.
Why are Siblings Often So Different?
The Adolescent’s Family in a Changing Society
Divorce
Single Parenthood
Remarriage
Poverty
Adolescents and Divorce
Individual Differences in the Effects of Divorce
The Specific Impact of Marital Conflict
The Longer-Term Effects of Divorce
Sleeper Effects
Custody, Contact, and Conflict Following Divorce
Remarriage
Difficulties Adjusting to Parental Remarriage
Economic Stress and Poverty
The Effects of Financial Strain
The Impact of Chronic Poverty
Homeless Adolescents
Special Family Forms
Adolescents and Adoption
Adolescents with Lesbian or Gay Parents
Adolescents in Foster Care
The Importance of the Family in Adolescent Development
Changes in Family Relationships at
Adolescence
Family systems theory = a perspective on family functioning that emphasizes
interconnections among different family relationships (such as marital, parent-child,
sibling).
→ Relationships in families change most dramatically during times when individual
family members or the family’s circumstances are changing because it is during
these times that the family’s equilibrium often is upset.
What Do Adolescents and Parents Usually Fight
About?
Chapter 4: Families 2
, According to several studies, a major contributor to adolescent-parent bickering is
the fact that teenagers and their parents define the issues of contention very
differently.
Rebels With a Cause
Adolescents distinguish between rules they think their parents have a right to make
and rules that they think are out of bounds.
One reason that teenagers and their parents argue as much as they do is that as
they mature cognitively, adolescents come to view many issues that they previously
saw as legitimate for their parents to regulate as matters of personal choice.
The Adolescent’s Parents at Midlife
Midlife crisis = a psychological crisis over identity believed to occur between the
ages 35-45, the age range of most adolescent’s parents.
Midlife Meets Adolescence
Adolescents and parents in their midlife crisis are both concerned about their
physical appearance, because the adolescent is in their most physically attractive
state and the parent may get selfconscious over this.
At the same time that adolescents are developing the capability to think
systematically about the future and do, in fact, start looking ahead, their parents are
beginning to feel that possibilities for changing their own lives are limited.
Adolescence is the time when individuals are on the threshold of gaining a great deal
of status. Their careers and marriages lie ahead of them, and choices may seem
limitless. For their parents, many choices have already been made.
→ These overlaps in crises are likely to have impact on family relationships.
The Mental Health of Parents
Nearly two-thirds of parents describe adolescence as the most difficult stage of
parenting, and this period is the low point in parents’ marital and life satisfaction.
Changes in Family Needs and Functions
Family finances are often strained during adolescence. Children grow rapidly during
puberty, and clothing for adolescents is expensive.
Chapter 4: Families 3
, Special Concerns of Immigrant Families
Familism = an orientation toward life in which the needs of one’s family take
precedence over the needs of the individual
Adolescents who value familism and assist their families are more likely to develop
prosocial values, less likely to get depressed, and less likely to get involved with
antisocial peer groups, which lessens their chances of drinking or using illicit drugs.
Immigrant parents’ ideas about family responsibilities sometimes clash with the more
individualistic orientation characteristic of many mainstream American families.
Generational dissonance = divergence of views between adolescents and parents
that is common in families of immigrant parents and American-born parents.
Transformations in Family Relations
Together, the biologial, cognitive, and social transitions of adolescence; the changes
experienced by adults at midlife; and the changes undergone by the family during
this stage set in motion a series of transformations in family relationships.
Changes in the Balance of Power
By middle adolescence, teenagers act and are treated much more like adults.
Between the ages 16 and 20, their relationships with their parents improve.
Studies showed that young adolescents may be especially sensitive - and perhaps
even overreact - to the emotional signals given off by others.
The Role of Puberty
Rates of outright conflict between parents and children are not dramatically higher
during adolescence than before or after.
→ Rather, disputes between parents and teenagers are typical of the sorts of
arguments people have when a more powerful person (the parent) is trying to get a
less powerful one (the adolescent) to do something.
The distancing that takes place between parents and teenagers in early and middle
adolescence is temporary, however.
Conflict at home can spillover into the adolescents’ school life and relationships with
friends, causing problems and emotional distress.
Sex Differences in Family Relationships
Chapter 4: Families 4
Tags Summary
Changes in Family Relationships at Adolescence
What Do Adolescents and Parents Usually Fight About?
Rebels With a Cause
The Adolescent’s Parents at Midlife
Midlife Meets Adolescence
The Mental Health of Parents
Changes in Family Needs and Functions
Special Concerns of Immigrant Families
Transformations in Family Relations
Changes in the Balance of Power
The Role of Puberty
Sex Differences in Family Relationships
Family Relationships and Adolescent Development
Parenting Styles and Their Effects
Four Styles of Parenting
The Power of Authoritative Parenting
Ethnic Differences in Parenting Practices
How Authoritative Parenting Works
Adolescents’ Relationships with Siblings
A Network of Relationships
Genetic Influences on Adolescent Development
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adolescent Development
Chapter 4: Families 1
, Differential Susceptibility to the Environment.
Why are Siblings Often So Different?
The Adolescent’s Family in a Changing Society
Divorce
Single Parenthood
Remarriage
Poverty
Adolescents and Divorce
Individual Differences in the Effects of Divorce
The Specific Impact of Marital Conflict
The Longer-Term Effects of Divorce
Sleeper Effects
Custody, Contact, and Conflict Following Divorce
Remarriage
Difficulties Adjusting to Parental Remarriage
Economic Stress and Poverty
The Effects of Financial Strain
The Impact of Chronic Poverty
Homeless Adolescents
Special Family Forms
Adolescents and Adoption
Adolescents with Lesbian or Gay Parents
Adolescents in Foster Care
The Importance of the Family in Adolescent Development
Changes in Family Relationships at
Adolescence
Family systems theory = a perspective on family functioning that emphasizes
interconnections among different family relationships (such as marital, parent-child,
sibling).
→ Relationships in families change most dramatically during times when individual
family members or the family’s circumstances are changing because it is during
these times that the family’s equilibrium often is upset.
What Do Adolescents and Parents Usually Fight
About?
Chapter 4: Families 2
, According to several studies, a major contributor to adolescent-parent bickering is
the fact that teenagers and their parents define the issues of contention very
differently.
Rebels With a Cause
Adolescents distinguish between rules they think their parents have a right to make
and rules that they think are out of bounds.
One reason that teenagers and their parents argue as much as they do is that as
they mature cognitively, adolescents come to view many issues that they previously
saw as legitimate for their parents to regulate as matters of personal choice.
The Adolescent’s Parents at Midlife
Midlife crisis = a psychological crisis over identity believed to occur between the
ages 35-45, the age range of most adolescent’s parents.
Midlife Meets Adolescence
Adolescents and parents in their midlife crisis are both concerned about their
physical appearance, because the adolescent is in their most physically attractive
state and the parent may get selfconscious over this.
At the same time that adolescents are developing the capability to think
systematically about the future and do, in fact, start looking ahead, their parents are
beginning to feel that possibilities for changing their own lives are limited.
Adolescence is the time when individuals are on the threshold of gaining a great deal
of status. Their careers and marriages lie ahead of them, and choices may seem
limitless. For their parents, many choices have already been made.
→ These overlaps in crises are likely to have impact on family relationships.
The Mental Health of Parents
Nearly two-thirds of parents describe adolescence as the most difficult stage of
parenting, and this period is the low point in parents’ marital and life satisfaction.
Changes in Family Needs and Functions
Family finances are often strained during adolescence. Children grow rapidly during
puberty, and clothing for adolescents is expensive.
Chapter 4: Families 3
, Special Concerns of Immigrant Families
Familism = an orientation toward life in which the needs of one’s family take
precedence over the needs of the individual
Adolescents who value familism and assist their families are more likely to develop
prosocial values, less likely to get depressed, and less likely to get involved with
antisocial peer groups, which lessens their chances of drinking or using illicit drugs.
Immigrant parents’ ideas about family responsibilities sometimes clash with the more
individualistic orientation characteristic of many mainstream American families.
Generational dissonance = divergence of views between adolescents and parents
that is common in families of immigrant parents and American-born parents.
Transformations in Family Relations
Together, the biologial, cognitive, and social transitions of adolescence; the changes
experienced by adults at midlife; and the changes undergone by the family during
this stage set in motion a series of transformations in family relationships.
Changes in the Balance of Power
By middle adolescence, teenagers act and are treated much more like adults.
Between the ages 16 and 20, their relationships with their parents improve.
Studies showed that young adolescents may be especially sensitive - and perhaps
even overreact - to the emotional signals given off by others.
The Role of Puberty
Rates of outright conflict between parents and children are not dramatically higher
during adolescence than before or after.
→ Rather, disputes between parents and teenagers are typical of the sorts of
arguments people have when a more powerful person (the parent) is trying to get a
less powerful one (the adolescent) to do something.
The distancing that takes place between parents and teenagers in early and middle
adolescence is temporary, however.
Conflict at home can spillover into the adolescents’ school life and relationships with
friends, causing problems and emotional distress.
Sex Differences in Family Relationships
Chapter 4: Families 4
