Psychology SOC Assignment Chp 5

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Chapter 5

Family Problems

Mooney/Knox/Schacht, Understanding Social Problems, 10th Edition. © 2017 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Chapter 5: Family Problems

“We must recognize that there are healthy as well as unhealthy ways to be single or to be divorced, just as there are healthy and unhealthy ways to be married.”

—Stephanie Coontz, Family historian

Learning Objectives (1 of 3)

Give examples of how family forms and norms vary around the world.

Describe at least five trends, patterns, and/or variations in contemporary U.S. families, and differentiate between the marital decline and marital resiliency perspectives.

Explain how structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction help us understand the family institution, divorce, and domestic violence and abuse.

Learning Objectives (2 of 3)

Discuss the social causes of divorce and its consequences for children and adults.

Identify the different forms of abuse in relationships, and describe the effects of violence and abuse on victims and the factors that contribute to domestic violence and abuse.

Learning Objectives (3 of 3)

Discuss strategies to strengthen families, including expanding the definition of family, workplace and economic supports, relationship literacy education, covenant marriage, divorce mediation, divorce education programs, and domestic violence and abuse prevention and policies.

List ways in which divorce and domestic violence impact society and identify what many family scholars say is the “fundamental issue” in solving family problems.

Chapter Outline

The Global Context: Family Forms and Norms Around the World

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations

Sociological Theories of Family Problems

Problems Associated with Divorce

Domestic Violence and Abuse

Strategies for Action: Strengthening Families

Understanding Family Problems

The Global Context: Family Forms and Norms Around the World

The U.S. Census Bureau defines family as a group of two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption.

Sociology offers a broader definition of family: A family is a kinship system of all relatives living together, or recognized as a social unit, including adopted people.

The Global Context: Family Forms and Norms

Monogamy and Polygamy (1 of 3)

In many countries, including the United States, the only legal form of marriage is monogamy—a marriage between two partners.

A common variation of monogamy is serial monogamy—a succession of marriages in which a person has more than one spouse over a lifetime but is legally married to only one person at a time.

Monogamy and Polygamy (2 of 3)

Polygamy—a form of marriage in which one person may have two or more spouses— is practiced on all continents throughout the world.

The most common form of polygamy, known as polygyny, involves one husband having more than one wife.

A less common form of polygamy is polyandry—the concurrent marriage of one woman to two or more men.

In the United States, Congress outlawed polygamy in 1892; thus, being married to more than one spouse is a crime referred to as bigamy.

Monogamy and Polygamy (3 of 3)

Kody Brown, along with his four wives, challenged the Utah law banning cohabitation, claiming that it violated his right to privacy and religious freedom. In 2013, a federal judge ruled in Brown’s favor.

Division of Power in the Family

In many societies, male dominance in the larger society is reflected in the dominance of husbands over wives in the family.

In developed Western countries, although gender inequality persists, marriages tend to be more egalitarian, which means women and men view each other as equal partners who share decision making and assign family roles based on choice rather than on traditional beliefs about gender.

Social Norms Related to Childbearing

In less developed societies, where social expectations for women to have children are strong, women on average have four to five children in their lifetime, and begin having them at an early age, with more than half of women getting married by age 18.

Norms about childbirth out of wedlock also vary across the globe.

In the United States, 4 in 10 births in 2014 were to unmarried women.

Same-Sex Couples

Norms and policies concerning same-sex intimate relationships also vary around the world. In some countries, homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment or even death.

In a handful of countries, and in some U.S. states, same-sex couples are granted legal rights to marry.

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a 5 to 4 vote that same-sex couples have the constitutional right to be legally married in all 50 states.

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations (1 of 7)

Some of the significant changes in U.S. families and households that have occurred over the past several decades include the following:

Increased singlehood and older age at first marriage.

Today, 1 in 5 U S adults, have never been married.

Increased heterosexual and same-sex cohabitation.

The percentage of people who cohabited with their spouses before marriage more than doubled between 19 80 and 2000, rising from 16% to 41%.

What Do You Think? 1

Why do you think cohabiting couples are more likely than married couples to be in an interracial or interethnic relationship?

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations (2 of 7)

Increased births to unmarried women:

The percentage of births to unmarried women rose to historic levels in 2013: 4 in 10 U.S. births in 2013 were to unmarried women.

The highest rates of non-marital births are among blacks, Native Americans/Alaskan natives, and Hispanics.

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations (3 of 7)

Figure 5.1 Percentage of All Births to Unmarried U.S. Women by Race and Hispanic Origin, 2014

SOURCE: Hamilton et al. 2015.

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations (4 of 7)

Stabilized divorce and blended families:

The refined divorce rate—the number of divorces per 1,000 married women—increased dramatically from 19 60, to its peak around 19 80, but it has declined and stabilized since the early 19 80s.

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations (5 of 7)

*based on national sample of 2,691 adults

Figure 5.2 Percentage of U.S. Adults with Step-Relatives

SOURCE: Parker 2011. From “A Portrait of Step Families”, January 13, 2011, Social and Demographic Trends, a project of Pew Research Center. Reprinted with permission.

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations (6 of 7)

Increased employment of mothers:

Employment of married women with children under age 18 rose from 47% in 19 75, to 68% in 2012.

In the majority of married-couple families with children under 18, both parents are employed.

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations (7 of 7)

Grandparents living with grandchildren:

One in 10 U.S. children live with a grandparent (with one parent, two parents, or no parents living with them).

Grandfamilies—families in which children reside with and are being raised by grandparents—include multigenerational families where grandparents care for grandchildren so the parent(s) can work or go to school.

Contemporary U.S. Families: Patterns, Trends, and Variations

Marital Decline? Or Marital Resiliency? (1 of 2)

According to the marital decline perspective;

Personal happiness has become more important than marital commitment and family obligations

The decline in lifelong marriage and the increase in single-parent families have contributed to a variety of social problems, such as poverty, delinquency, substance abuse, violence, and the erosion of neighborhoods and communities.

Marital Decline? Or Marital Resiliency? (2 of 2)

According to the marital resiliency perspective, “poverty, unemployment, poorly funded schools, discrimination, and the lack of basic services (such as health insurance and child care) represent more serious threats to the well-being of children and adults than does the decline in married two-parent families.”

According to this perspective, many marriages in the past were troubled, but because divorce was not socially acceptable, these problematic marriages remained intact.

Sociological Theories of Family Problems

Structural-Functionalist Perspective

The structural-functionalist perspective views the family as a social institution that performs important functions for society, including producing and socializing new members, regulating sexual activity and procreation, and providing physical and emotional care for family members.

According to the structural-functionalist perspective, traditional gender roles contribute to family functioning: Women perform the “expressive” role of managing household tasks and providing emotional care and nurturing to family members, and men perform the “instrumental” role of earning income and making major family decisions.

Conflict and Feminist Perspectives (1 of 3)

Conflict theory focuses on how capitalism, social class, and power influence marriages and families.

Feminist theory is concerned with how gender inequalities influence and are influenced by marriages and families.

Feminists are critical of the traditional male domination of families—a system known as patriarchy—that is reflected in the tradition of wives taking their husband’s last name and children taking their father’s name.

Patriarchy implies that wives and children are the property of husbands and fathers.

Conflict and Feminist Perspectives (2 of 3)

Figure 5.4a Percent of Women and Men Who Agree That Wife Beating Is Acceptable if a Wife Argues with Her Husband

SOURCE: Population Reference Bureau 2011.

Conflict and Feminist Perspectives (3 of 3)

Figure 5.4b Percent of Women and Men Who Agree That Wife Beating Is Acceptable if a Wife Refuses Sex with Her Husband

SOURCE: Population Reference Bureau 2011.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

The symbolic interactionist perspective is concerned with how labels affect meaning and behavior.

Symbolic interactionists also point to the effects of interaction on one’s self-concept, especially the self-concept of children.

The symbolic interactionist perspective is useful in understanding the dynamics of domestic violence and abuse.

Problems Associated with Divorce

Divorce is considered problematic because of the negative effects it has on children as well as the difficulties it causes for adults.

However, in some societies, legal and social barriers to divorce are considered problematic because such barriers limit the options of spouses in unhappy and abusive marriages.

Problems Associated with Divorce

Social Causes of Divorce (1 of 4)

Understanding the high rate of divorce in U.S. society requires awareness of how the following social and cultural factors contribute to marital breakup:

Changing function of marriage.

Increased economic autonomy of women.

Increased work demands and economic stress.

Inequality in marital division of labor.

Liberalized divorce laws.

Increased Individualism

Weak social ties.

Increased life expectancy.

Social Causes of Divorce (2 of 4)

The Social Causes of Divorce

Changing Function of Marriage

Increased Economic Autonomy of Women

Increased work demands and economic stress

Inequality in Marital Division of Labor

Liberalized Divorce Laws

Increased Individualism

Weak Social Ties

Increased Life Expectancy

Social Causes of Divorce (3 of 4)

Second Shift: The household work and child care that employed parents (usually women) do when they return home from their jobs.

No-fault Divorce: A divorce that is granted based on the claim that there are irreconcilable differences within a marriage (as opposed to one spouse being legally at fault for the marital breakup).

Individualism: The tendency to focus on one’s individual self-interests and personal happiness rather than on the interests of one’s family and community.

Social Causes of Divorce (4 of 4)

Wives tend to be less happy in marriage than husbands when they perceive the division of labor to be unfair.

Consequences of Divorce (1 of 5)

Physical and Mental Health Consequences

Numerous studies show that divorced individuals have more health problems and a higher risk of mortality than married individuals;

Divorced individuals also experience lower levels of psychological well-being, including more unhappiness, depression, anxiety, and poorer self-concepts.

Consequences of Divorce (2 of 5)

Economic Consequences:

Following divorce, there tends to be a dramatic drop in women’s income and a slight drop in men’s income.

Compared with married individuals, divorced individuals have a lower standard of living, have less wealth, and experience greater economic hardship, although this difference is considerably greater for women than for men.

Consequences of Divorce (3 of 5)

Effects on Children and Young Adults

Parental divorce is a stressful event for children and is often accompanied by a variety of stressors, such as

continuing conflict between parents

a decline in the standard of living

moving and perhaps changing schools

separation from the noncustodial parent (usually the father)

parental remarriage

These stressors place children of divorce at higher risk for a variety of emotional and behavioral problems.

Consequences of Divorce (4 of 5)

Effects on Father-Child Relationships

Some research has found that young adults whose parents divorced are less likely to report having a close relationship with their father compared with children whose parents are together

Children may benefit from having more quality time with their fathers after parental divorce.

Some fathers report that they became more active in the role of father after divorce.

Consequences of Divorce (5 of 5)

Parental Alienation (P A)

Parental alienation refers to the intentional efforts of one parent to turn a child against the other parent and essentially destroy any positive relationship a child has with the other parent.

Long-term effects of parental alienation on children can include low self-esteem, depression, drug and alcohol problems, mistrust, and divorce (Baker 2007).

The effects on the rejected parent are equally devastating.

Domestic Violence and Abuse

In U.S. society, people are more likely to be physically assaulted, abused and neglected, sexually assaulted and molested, or killed in their own homes rather than anywhere else, and by other family members rather than by anyone else.

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (1 of 5)

Intimate Partner Violence (I P V) Actual or threatened violent crimes committed against individuals by their current or former spouses, cohabiting partners, boyfriends, or girlfriends.

In the United States, women are more than four times more likely to be victims of I P V than are men.

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (2 of 5)

Johnson and Ferraro (2003) identified the following four patterns of partner violence:

Common couple violence

Intimate terrorism

Violent resistance

Mutual violent control

Violence and Abuse

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (3 of 5)

Three Types of Male Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence: Researchers have identified three types of male abusers:

The psychopathic abuser

The hostile/controlling abuser

The borderline/dependent abuser

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (4 of 5)

Why Do Some Adults Stay in Abusive Relationships?

Adult victims of abuse are commonly blamed for tolerating abusive relationships and for not leaving the relationship as soon as the abuse begins.

Multiple compelling reasons to stay:

economic dependency

emotional attachment

commitment to the relationship

hope that things will get better

the view that violence is legitimate because they “deserve” it

guilt

fear

What Do You Think? 2

A major reason that abused women stay in abusive relationships is economic dependency. Yet, in a national study of abused women, researchers found that among women of color, those with higher socioeconomic status were more likely to stay in abusive relationships than those with lower socioeconomic status (Lacey et al. 2011). How might this unexpected finding be explained?

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (5 of 5)

Cycle of Abuse: A pattern of abuse in which a violent or abusive episode is followed by a makeup period when the abuser expresses sorrow and asks for forgiveness and “one more chance,” before another instance of abuse occurs.

Child Abuse (1 of 3)

Child Abuse: The physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child younger than age 18 by a person who is responsible for the child’s welfare.

Neglect: A form of abuse involving the failure to provide adequate attention, supervision, nutrition, hygiene, health care, and a safe and clean living environment for a minor child or a dependent elderly individual.

Child Abuse (2 of 3)

Effects of Child Abuse:

Physical injuries sustained by child abuse cause pain, disfigurement, scarring, physical disability, and death.

In 2013, an estimated 1,520 U.S. children died of abuse or neglect.

Head injury is the leading cause of death in abused children.

Shaken baby syndrome, whereby a caregiver shakes a baby to the point of causing the child to experience brain or retinal hemorrhage, most often occurs in response to a baby, typically younger than 6 months, who will not stop crying.

Child Abuse (3 of 3)

Effects of Child Abuse:

Adults who were abused as children have an increased risk of a number of problems, including depression, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, eating disorders, obesity, high-risk sexual behavior, and suicide.

Sexual abuse of young girls is associated with decreased self-esteem, increased levels of depression, running away from home, and alcohol and drug use.

Review of the research suggests that sexual abuse of boys produces many of the same reactions that sexually abused girls experience, including depression, sexual dysfunction, anger, self-blame, suicidal feelings, guilt, and flashbacks.

Elder, Parent, Sibling, and Pet Abuse (1 of 5)

Elder abuse includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse (such as improper use of the elder person’s financial resources), and neglect.

Two out of every three cases of elder abuse reported to state adult protective services involve women.

The most likely perpetrators are adult children.

Elder, Parent, Sibling, and Pet Abuse (2 of 5)

If you suspect elder abuse of are concerned about the well-being of an older person, call your state abuse hotline immediately.

Elder, Parent, Sibling, and Pet Abuse (3 of 5)

Parent Abuse: Some parents are victimized by their children’s violence.

More violence is directed against mothers than against fathers

Sons tend to be more violent toward parents than are daughters

Elder, Parent, Sibling, and Pet Abuse (4 of 5)

Sibling Abuse: The most prevalent form of abuse in families is sibling abuse.

A national survey found that nearly 30 percent of children ages 2 to 17 had been physically assaulted by a sibling

Elder, Parent, Sibling, and Pet Abuse (5 of 5)

Pet Abuse:

As pets are often viewed as “members of the family,” abused pets (or companion animals) can be considered victims of family violence.

Contributing Factors (1 of 3)

Individual, Relationship, and Family Factors:

Several factors are associated with a higher risk that a person will become abusive.

Risk factors include: having witnessed or been a victim of abuse as a child, past violent or aggressive behavior, lack of employment and other stressful life events or circumstances, and drug and alcohol use.

Alcohol use is involved in 50% to 75% of incidents of physical and sexual aggression in intimate relationships.

Contributing Factors (2 of 3)

Gender Inequality and Gender Socialization:

This traditional view of women as property may contribute to men’s doing with their “property” as they wish.

In a study of men in battering intervention programs, about half of the men viewed battering as acceptable in certain situations

The view of women and children as property also explains marital rape and father-daughter incest.

Traditional male gender roles have taught men to be aggressive and to be dominant in male–female relationships.

Contributing Factors (3 of 3)

Acceptance of Corporal Punishment:

Corporal punishment: the intentional infliction of pain intended to change or control behavior—is widely accepted as a parenting practice.

In a review of research on corporal punishment, Straus (2010) concluded that, in the United States, corporal punishment is

(1) almost universal—94% of toddlers are spanked

(2) chronic—toddlers are often spanked three or more times a week

(3) often severe, with more than one in four parents using an object such as a paddle or belt to punish their children

(4) of long duration—13 years for a third of U.S. children, 17 years for 14 percent of U.S. children

Corporal Punishment

Figure 5.6 Percent of U.S. Adults Who Agree That a Child Sometimes Needs a “Good Hard Spanking,” 19 86-2012

SOURCE: Child Trends 2013.

Strategies for Action

Strengthening Families (1 of 9)

Expanding the Definition of Family

Some states, cities, counties, and employers allow unmarried partners (same-sex and/or heterosexual partners) to apply for a domestic partnership designation, which grants them some legal entitlements, such as health insurance benefits and inheritance rights that have traditionally been reserved for married couples.

Strengthening Families (2 of 9)

Relationship Literacy Education and the Healthy Marriage Initiative

Relationship literacy education includes voluntary, community-based programs that teach youth, young adults, cohabiting couples, and engaged and married couples the skills and values to form and maintain healthy relationships. Relationship literacy education programs cover topics such as these:

Strengthening Families (3 of 9)

Danger signs of violence and abuse in dating relationships

Interpersonal communication skills

Problem-solving skills

Realistic marriage expectations

How to peacefully end an unhealthy relationship

Co-parenting skills

How to enrich intimacy

Strengthening Families (4 of 9)

Workplace and Economic Supports

A third of never-married U.S. adults said that financial insecurity is the main reason for not being married.

U.S. divorce rates are higher and marriage rates are lower among low-income populations.

The low rate of marriage among black women is affected by the high unemployment rate of black men:

Among never-married blacks aged 25 to 34, there are only 51 employed men for every 100 women.

Strengthening Families (5 of 9)

Reduce Unplanned Nonmarital Childbearing

Sawhill (2014) argues that instead of planning when to have children, young women tend to “drift” into parenthood.

The “drifters” could be turned into “planners” by providing them with long-acting reversible contraception, allowing women to delay childbearing until they are better able to provide a more stable home environment for the child.

Strengthening Families (6 of 9)

Covenant Marriage

In 19 96, Louisiana became the first state to offer a covenant marriage, which permits divorce only under condition of fault (e.g., abuse, adultery, or felony conviction) or after a two-year separation.

Research has found that covenant marriages are less likely to end in divorce, but marital satisfaction is only slightly increased, only for husbands, due to the requirement for premarital counseling.

Strengthening Families (7 of 9)

Strategies to Strengthen Families during and after Divorce

Divorce education programs

Divorce mediation

Strengthening Families (8 of 9)

Domestic Violence and Abuse Prevention Strategies

Abuse-prevention strategies include public education and media campaigns, which may help to reduce domestic violence.

Other abuse-prevention efforts focus on parent education to teach parents realistic expectations about child behavior and methods of child discipline that do not involve corporal punishment.

Another abuse-prevention strategy involves reducing violence-provoking stress.

Strengthening Families (9 of 9)

Help for Adult Abuse Victims

National Domestic Violence Hotline

Help for Child Abuse/Neglect Victims

Hotlines, Child Protective Services

Legal Action against Abusers

What Do You Think? 3

A federal bill called ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Bill 2015, originally introduced in 2010, would ban corporal punishment in public schools. Are you in favor of this bill passing? Why or why not?

Understanding Family Problems

Although domestic violence and divorce may appear to result from individual decisions, myriad social and cultural forces influence these decisions.

The impact of family problems, including divorce and abuse, is felt not only by family members but also by society at large.

For some, the solution to family problems implies encouraging marriage and discouraging other family forms, such as single parenting, cohabitation, and same-sex unions.

However, many family scholars argue that the fundamental issue is making sure that children are well cared for, regardless of their parents’ marital status or sexual orientation.

Quick Quiz 1

Personal happiness becoming more important than marital commitment and family obligations, is known as the:

A. covenant marriage.

B. plural marriage.

C. marital decline perspective.

D. marital resiliency perspective.

Answer for Quick Quiz 1: C

Personal happiness becoming more important than marital commitment and family obligations, is known as the marital decline perspective.

Quick Quiz 2

According to the structural-functionalist perspective, what is the cause of the high rate of divorce?

A. increased marital infidelity

B. rapid social change

C. government policies

D. increased expectations

Answer for Quick Quiz 2: B

According to the structural-functionalist perspective, rapid social change is the cause of the high rate of divorce.

Quick Quiz 3

Which sociological perspective points to the change in societal definitions of divorce, as a reason for the increase in divorce?

A. symbolic interactionism

B. structural functionalism

C. conflict theory

D. exchange theory

Answer for Quick Quiz 3: A

Symbolic interactionism points to the change in societal definitions of divorce, as a reason for the increase in divorce.

Quick Quiz 4

According to conflict theorists, what contributes to domestic violence?

A. increased emotional expectations

B. the second shift

C. the system of patriarchy

D. rapid social change

Answer for Quick Quiz 4: C

According to conflict theorists, the system of patriarchy contributes to domestic violence.

Quick Quiz 5

The adoption of no-fault divorce laws, falling wages, and other changes in social institutions contribute to family problems according to:

A. structural-functionalists.

B. exchange theorists.

C. conflict theorists.

D. symbolic interactionists.

Answer for Quick Quiz 5: A

The adoption of no-fault divorce laws, falling wages, and other changes in social institutions contribute to family problems according to structural-functionalists.

Psychology SOC Assignment Chp 5

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