Suchergebnisse

Adapting to family life in our times -- How we study families -- Theories about family life -- Families as units of change and transition -- Genetics, personality, gender, and power -- Fixed family relationships : generations in family life -- Chosen relationships and the roots of mature love -- The core of family life : family paradigms, themes, and ideologies -- Rules and rule sequences -- Communicating in families -- Regulating distance -- Building and maintaining family rituals -- Coping with turbulence, gains, and losses

A lack of correspondence exists between the image of the American male as a father-figure and field data gathered on adult male-child interaction. The U.S. father-figure is examined in two time frames demarcated by the mid-1970s. In the earlier intervale both media portrayal, exemplified by SATURDAY EVENING POST cartoons, and "conventional wisdom" depicted American men as incompetent or irrelevant child caretakers. In the later interval, the men were presumed to be potentially useful; yet were thought to be failing to meet that potential appropriately. During the 1970s, field observations (N=49,154 children) in the United States and seventeen other cultures indicated high levels of adult malechild interaction. Compared to the men and children in the other countries, the United States adult malechild dyad appears to be quite typical. It is suggested that the portrayal and incorporation of the image of the "indifferent" or "underutilized" father-figure is part of a cultural socialization process. Since humor is one societal mechanism that perpetuates symbol systems, suggestions are given as to why males may be portrayed in this negative light and implications this may have for shifts in a society more aware of sex role stereotyping.

The purpose of this study was to explore how family distance regulation and other family demographic factors influence parenting behavior and family routines, which, in turn, influences the child's school engagement. The data from the project came from a larger study conducted in a large Northwestern urban area and included both two‐parent and single‐parent families. These two family structures were compared in order to emphasize that it is the foundational family process of family distance regulation that supports other parenting practices as well as chronic stress that leads to school engagement regardless of the number of parents in the household. Implications for practice and the results of this study in relation to previous literature are discussed.

How children perceive parental involvement has implications for their development and well-being, as well as the father-child relationship. Emerging research suggests that father involvement is a multifaceted concept, often driven by evolving cultural mandates. In this study, survey data were collected from 704 adolescents aged 14–16 in Botswana, where the rates of female-headed households and adult HIV infection are among the highest in the world. Fathers who provided both coresidence and financial support were perceived at the highest level of involvement. When considered separately, financial support rather than coresidence was associated with higher levels of perceived involvement. Maternal gatekeeping was also found to be a significant influence on perceived levels of father involvement. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

The present study was designed to examine the links between economic strain, parental depression, parent–child connectedness, and adolescents' prosocial behaviors. The sample consisted of 478 participants (Mage at Time 1=11.29 years, 51% male) recruited from the community who were mostly of European American descent (69%) and from mostly middle to upper SES families. At Time 1 parents completed measures of their own income and economic stress, depression, and connectedness with their child. At Time 1 adolescents reported on connectedness with both their mother and father. At Time 2 (1 year later) adolescents reported on their own prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family. Structural equation model tests showed that economic strain was related positively to parental depressive symptoms, which in turn predicted lower levels of parent–child connectedness, which in turn positively predicted adolescents' prosocial behaviors. Discussion focuses on the family context of adolescents' positive behavioral outcomes.