10.1 What are the basic roles of parents? - Cengage Learning

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CHAPTER 10
PARENTING
Learning Outcomes
Key Terms
10.1 What are the basic roles of parents?
Parenting includes providing physical care for children, loving them, being an economic
resource, providing guidance as a teacher or model, and protecting them from harm.
One of the biggest problems confronting parents today is the societal influence on their
children. These include drugs and alcohol; peer pressure; TV, Internet, and movies; and
crime or gangs.
10.2 What is a choices perspective of parenting?
Although both genetic and environmental factors are at work, the choices parents
make have a dramatic impact on their children. Parents who don’t make a choice about
parenting have already made one. The five basic choices parents make include deciding
(1) whether to have a child, (2) the number of children, (3) the interval between children,
(4) one’s method of discipline and guidance, and (5) the degree to which one will be
invested in the role of parent.
10.3 What is the transition to parenthood like for
women, men, and couples?
Transition to parenthood refers to that period of time from the beginning of pregnancy
through the first few months after the birth of a baby. The mother, father, and couple
all undergo changes and adaptations during this period. Most mothers relish their
new role; some may experience the transitory feelings of baby blues; a few report
postpartum depression.
The father’s involvement with his children is sometimes predicted by the quality of
the parents’ romantic relationship. If the father is emotionally and physically involved
with the mother, he is more likely to take an active role in the child’s life. In recent years,
there has been a renewed cultural awareness of fatherhood.
A summary of almost 150 studies involving almost 50,000 respondents on the
question of how children affect marital satisfaction revealed that parents (both women
and men) reported lower marital satisfaction than nonparents. In addition, the higher
the number of children, the lower the marital satisfaction; the factors that depressed
marital satisfaction were conflict and loss of freedom.
Percentage of Couples Getting Divorced by Number of Children
Percentage Divorced
50
40
30
20
10
Children Stabilize Marriage
baby blues transitory symptoms of
depression in mothers twenty-four to
forty-eight hours after a baby is born.
demandingness the degree to
which parents place expectations on
children and use discipline to enforce
the demands.
gatekeeper role refers to a
mother’s encouragement or criticism
of the father, which influences the
degree to which he is involved with
his children.
menarche the time of first
menstruation.
nature-deficit disorder result
when children are encouraged
to detach themselves from direct
contact with nature.
oppositional defiant disorder a
condition in which children do not
comply with requests of authority
figures.
overindulgence giving children
too much, too soon, too long; a form
of child neglect in which children are
not allowed to develop their own
competences.
oxytocin a hormone released
from the pituitary gland during the
expulsive stage of labor that has
been associated with the onset of
maternal behavior in lower animals.
parenting the provision by an
adult or adults of physical care,
emotional support, instruction, and
protection from harm in an ongoing
structural (home) and emotional
context to one or more dependent
children.
0
No children
One child
Two children
Three or
more
children
Chapter 3: Planning and Decision Making
25

postpartum depression a
reaction more severe than the “baby
blues” to the birth of one’s baby,
characterized by crying, irritability,
loss of appetite, and difficulty in
sleeping.
postpartum psychosis a
reaction in which a new mother
wants to harm her baby.
responsiveness the extent to
which parents respond to and meet
the needs of their children. Refers to
such qualities as warmth, reciprocity,
person-centered communication,
and attachment.
time-out a discipline procedure
whereby a child is removed from an
enjoyable context to an isolated one
and left there.
transition to parenthood the
period of time from the beginning
of pregnancy through the first few
months after the birth of a baby.
10.4 What are several facts about parenthood?
Parenthood will involve about 40 percent of the time a couple live together, parents
are only one influence on their children, each child is unique, and parenting styles
differ. Research suggests that an authoritarian parenting style, characterized by being
both demanding and warm, is associated with positive outcomes. In addition, being
emotionally connected to a child, respecting the child’s individuality, and monitoring
the child’s behavior to encourage positive contexts have positive outcomes. Birth order
effects include that firstborns are the first on the scene with parents and always have
the “inside track.” They want to stay that way so they are traditional and conforming
to their parent’s expectations. Children born later learn quickly that they entered an
existing family constellation where everyone is bigger and stronger. They cannot
depend on having established territory, so they must excel in ways different from
the firstborn. They are open to experience, adventurousness, and trying new things
because their status is not already assured.
10.5 What are some of the principles of effective
parenting?
Giving time, love, praise, and encouragement; monitoring the activities of one’s child;
setting limits; encouraging responsibility; and providing sexuality education are aspects
of effective parenting.
10.6 What are the issues of single parenting?
About 40 percent of all children will spend one-fourth of their lives in a female-headed
household. The challenges of single parenthood for the parent include taking care of
the emotional and physical needs of a child alone, meeting one’s own adult emotional
and sexual needs, money, and rearing a child without a father (the influence of whom
can be positive and beneficial).
Remember
There is a self-assessment card for this chapter in the selfassessment
card deck. For chapter 10, there are two tools:
the Traditional Motherhood Scale and the Traditional
Fatherhood Scale.
26 Part 2: Planning