HDF 315L Study Guide - Final Guide: Stepfamily, Parental Alienation, Attachment Parenting
23 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Reasons for Decline in Divorce Rates
● Later age in marriage
● Reasons for marrying are different
○ Motives match the cultural landscape
○ Reasons we get married now is for self actualization and companionship
vs achieving security or financial stability
○ Maybe we’re getting better at finding companions in life
○ Fewer “shotgun” weddings
■ Fewer people are getting married because the woman is pregnant
or have kids
● Cohabitation
○ Possible: people are moving in together at 23 instead of getting married,
realizing they don’t wanna marry right away.
○ May be decreasing divorce rate because they find out they’re not
compatible or they just never get married
● Class differences
○ College educated (11% in first 7 years)
○ Those without a college education (17% in first 7 years)
○ People without college education are getting married at a lower rate than
people with that education
○ More people in the US are getting an education
Need more notes for this
11/14/17
Divorce: Consequences for kids
● What leads to these changes in these patterns?
○ Models of marriage
○ More structural change
○ NEED MORE NOTES
When is divorce good for kids?
● “If divorce were limited only to high conflict marriages, then divorce would
generally be in children’s best interests… “ (Amato & Booth, 1997)
● Most divorces don’t occur in high conflict marriages
● Divorce tends to increase conflict between parents
● A low conflict couple prior to divorce with children can hit their children with 2 big
changes: their living situation and an increase in conflict between their parents
● The lower our threshold is in getting a divorce (the more we are for divorce), the
worse the consequences are for children
When
is
divorce
good
for
kids?
● When conflict between parents in intense, chronic, and overt children are better
off on a variety of dimensions if parents divorce (Amato & Booth, 1997)
● Less than ⅓ of parental divorces involve highly conflicted marriages
After
break
up
parenting
● Many children are shielded from conflict while parents still married (Wallerstein &
Kelly, 1980), but not after divorce
● Parental alienation is often seen after a divorce
○ Where one parent purposely tries to get the children to go against the
other parent.
○ Shared custody is more common now used to favor giving custody to the
mother.
○ Children who weren’t already negotiating this in their family typically are in
low conflict families
● Three types of parenting post-divorce:
○ Cooperative
■ Parents still trying to remain friends, remain in the same area, make
decisions to have similar rules, being mutual with their kids
■ Don’t necessarily need high levels of cooperation. It’s just you’ve
agreed to a set of rules and are abiding by them. May or may not
involve the children but they know about this
■ The more cooperation, the better the outcomes
○ Conflicted
■ Often involved in hostility with the other parent
○ Disengaged
■ Not talking with partner about parenting decisions
■ Parent the children separately in their own way.
● Understanding divorce is pretty new. Gleason says we need more research on
this and more knowledge regarding this
○ Can rarely get both divorcing parents to be involved in a study, maybe
only get one but will get skewed results.
● Divorce results in children being in more poverty. We can recruit children outside
of these contexts and measure possibility of divorce
● Most people getting a divorce have kids
Remarriage:
● 64% of men; 52% of women
● Median time to remarriage is 3-4 years
● Remarrying is financially stabilizing
○ Children whose parents don’t remarry are more likely to live in poverty
● More highly educated are more likely to remarry
● Most have children (70+%)
● Half have children under 18 living with them
○ Some of these people remarrying have children older than 18
● Report emotional rewards of remarriage
Divorce can be a big discouragement from remarrying!
Stability
of
Remarriages:
● About 60% of remarriages end in divorce
○ More accepting of divorce
○ Less integrated with parents and in-laws (think investments contributing to
commitment)
○ A lack of problem-solving skills
■ Alcohol problems, personality disorders, etc.
○ Presence of stepkids
■ When you look at remarriages that involve children under 18 living
with their parents, they are destabilizing to the new marriage.
● Why’s this? → awkwardness of having a person there and
not knowing the disciplines that may arise or their roles. Your
parent would have to choose to take either your side or their
spouse’s side. Stress of being a new parent to a new child is
stressful. Stepchildren may be hostile/unwelcoming to their
new parent
● If you’ve been divorced, you are more likely to divorce than someone who’s
never divorced
● Even if it is your first marriage, if your spouse is remarrying there is still a higher
chance for divorce
Blended
Families:
● Remain a “normless” norm
○ Common
○ We don’t have a strong sense of what a blended family looks like
Document Summary
Reasons we get married now is for self actualization and companionship. Maybe we"re getting better at finding companions in life. Fewer shotgun weddings vs achieving security or financial stability. Possible: people are moving in together at 23 instead of getting married, May be decreasing divorce rate because they find out they"re not realizing they don"t wanna marry right away. compatible or they just never get married. College educated (11% in first 7 years) Those without a college education (17% in first 7 years) People without college education are getting married at a lower rate than. More people in the us are getting an education people with that education. What leads to these changes in these patterns? generally be in children"s best interests (amato & booth, 1997) If divorce were limited only to high conflict marriages, then divorce would. Most divorces don"t occur in high conflict marriages. Divorce tends to increase conflict between parents.
