HD 204 2nd Edition Final Exam Study Guide Lectures 1 15 Lecture 1 August 20 Definition of Family There is no one right way to be a family There is no one right way to communicate in families There is no one agreed upon definition of the term family Families are dynamic diverse changing resilient unique and yet similar in many ways Definition from the text Family refers to networks of people who share their lives over long periods of time bound by ties of marriage blood law or commitment legal or otherwise who consider themselves as family and who share a significant history and anticipated future of functioning in a family relationship Family Economics Married mothers are increasingly likely to work 61 of women with kids under age 6 vs 19 in 1960 Split shift parenting 50 of American parents feel they spend too little time with their children Poverty 1 in 5 children live in poverty a Single parent 2 kids 17 607 b Two parents 2 kids 22 162 Over half of young children in female headed households live in poverty 41 of children live in low income families 1 in 50 children experience homelessness each year Racial ethnic Diversity Immigrant families Higher fertility rates o 11 foreign born 23 of children have at least one immigrant parent Children of immigrants are more likely to live with two parents Children of immigrants are more likely to live in low income or poor households Variation by class and race ethnicity o Those with incomes 3x the poverty line are twice as likely to be married as those with incomes below the poverty line Family Structures Two parent biological Consists of parents and children who are from the union of these parents Full blood ties characterize this family majority of parents are married but may be cohabitants Single parent primary parent Consists of one parent and one or more children Doesn t have to be biologically related One parent carries out all the parental obligations Blended family Consists of two adults and their children all who are not from the union of their relationship Most are families blended from remarriage or re partnering a situation that brings two previous systems into new family ties Step Family Some or all members bring past family history from a relationship that has changed or ended These members carry with them a sense of loss One or two biological parents living or dead influence the stepfamily Extended intergenerational family Refers to that group of relatives living within a nearby geographic area It may be more narrowly understood as the presence of blood relatives other than the parents in the everyday life of a child Fictive Volunteeristic Involves a pair or a group of people some or all of whom are unrelated biologically or legally Share a commitment to each other May live together Consider themselves to be a family Committed Partners May include married couples who choose to remain child free or are infertile cohabiting heterosexual couples and gay male and lesbian partners who consider themselves a family Family Demographic Trends Trends in family structure The majority if Americans will marry at least once The divorce rate is stabilizing Remarriage rates although high are dropping Age and parenting responsibility affect remarriage Stepfamilies continue to increase through remarriage and cohabitation The number of single parent families continues to increase Fewer families have children under 18 Families continue to be constructed through adoption Some families are constructed or expanded through scientific technologies More adult children are living at home The number of cohabiting partners is growing rapidly Families of lesbians and gay males are increasing Extended families continue to flourish Families increasingly represent four or five generations Lecture 2 August 27 What is communication We convey messages through symbols Transactional process Shared meaning ex meaning of I ll be there in a few minutes Dynamic always changing Within intimate relationships we cannot help but convey messages to each other Levels of communication Messages occur at two verbal levels 1 Content actual words 2 Relationship the underlying message Non verbal cues They give our partner more information about how to interpret the content They also tell our partner 1 This is how I see myself 2 This is how I see you 3 This is how I see you seeing me Definitions 1 Meta communication Clarifies and establishes rules about communication communication about communication 2 Primary Functions Cohesion o Cohesion is the way families balance separateness and connectedness o Enmeshed extreme closeness high dependence little individuality o Cohesive closeness loyalty and togetherness some individuality o Connected sense of belonging involvement some independence tolerance of individuality o Disengaged extreme separateness high independence little involvement 3 Primary Functions Adaptability the way families balance stability and change o Chaotic no leadership high levels of change inconsistent rules roles o Flexible shared decision making significant change shifting rules roles o Structured limited shared decision making moderate change shifting rules roles o Rigid authoritarian leadership low levels of change strict roles rules Communication meanings and messages Shared meanings coordinating verbal and non verbal communications What influences meaning Age race health religion socialization birth order etc Negotiating and coordinating meanings Olson s Circumplex Model Two central dimensions of family behavior or family operations are the core of the model family cohesion and family adaptability explained above Each of these dimensions is divided into four levels matched on a grid to create 16 possible combinations The four types in the center of the grid are called balanced the types at the extremes are seen as dysfunctional The third dimension is family communication which is a facilitating dimension that enables couples and families to move along the cohesion and adaptability dimensions but because it is a facilitating dimension it is seldom included in the model diagrams Lecture 3 August 29 Dialectical Tensions Dialectic implies opposition polarity and interconnection Managed through communication As family members interact they encounter tensions and struggles in managing the mutual needs of persons in a relationship Dialectics recognizes the tension between relational partners as they negotiate and renegotiate what it means to be in a functional