SFL 160 Mid-term BYU Lundell

What are the three reasons (or goals of) why we study family studies?

1. Understand the complexities of family systems.

2. Help unhealthy families and support healthy families.

3. Understand the human life course.

Family System

the individuals, rules, boundaries, routines, and norms that are associated with a self-defined group of individuals.

Family Process

The ways in which family members interact and work together to achieve the goals and functioning of their family unit.

Divorce

The divorce rates peaked in the 1980s but it isn't the trend anymore. It has been decreasing now.

Marriage

The number of total marriages has recently been declining.

Perceptions of Marriage

Most young adults plan to marry but are not optimistic about it lasting due to steady/decreasing divorce rates and marriage rates decreasing.

Fertility

In most industrialized countries, fertility rates are often well below the replacement rate.

The United States hovers right around or below the 2.1 number although it has been steadily decreasing.

Cohabitation

Rates of cohabitation steadily increase in the last 30 years.

Today, most cohabitation is NOT about testing the relationship - cohabitation has become a normative part of the dating process.

Emerging Adulthood

A new life stage between adolescence and young adulthood, lasting roughly from ages 18 to 25.

Families are very

COMPLEX

Which of the following is the BEST definition of a "family"?

There are innumerable definitions of a family.

What are the different types of truth?

Pure truth

Diluted Truth

Relative truth

Pure Truth

Spiritual knowledge that comes from God (Most important).

Diluted Truth

Truth that comes from secular, scholarly, or expert sources (Diluted truth isn't truth all of the time. Its true unless proven otherwise).

Relative Truth

Truth that comes from our own personal experiences and perceptions (lowest level of truth (in this class)).

Research Study Terms

Construct

Variable

Relationships

Construct

How we conceptualize something that cannot be measured (such as, happiness).

Variable

Sometimes that varies and is measurable (like seeing how many times a person smiles in a day and using that to measure a persons happiness).

Relationships

How two or more variables interact (how it decreases or increases).

Bias

prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

Sampling Bias

The fact is, the people and families we learn from will limit or skew our findings in some way.

Taking a sample about drinking alcohol at BYU vs. taking a sample at other University.

Research Bias

is when the researcher is causing inaccurate results either intentionally or unintentionally based on how he/she is gathering or interpreting the results.

Ex: Research questions, pre-existing beliefs

Causation

indicates a relationship between two events where one event is affected by the other.

Correlation

is used to test relationships between quantitative variables or categorical variables.

Spurious Relationships

relationships that look real mathematically but are really not in the real world

(Ex: Number of people who drowned by falling into a pool and Films Nicolas Cage appeared in (similar percentages). Random coincidence).

3 Things to remember with theory

1. Theories are best guesses, not facts.

2. Theories are constantly changing.

3. Theories need constant testing.

Reductionism

Understanding the small parts, processes, or elements of something larger (This is what theories are attempting to do - take an incredibly complex thing (families) and reduce them into a few central ideas).

Family Systems Theory

1. Each individual in a family acts and is acted upon by all other members of the family.

2. This series of connections between family members form a "family system" of interconnected individuals.

3. The whole is greater (and different) than the sum of its parts.

Equilibrium

the idea that family systems are always changing and transitioning but ultimately seek to maintain a balance between all their tasks.

Subsystems

individuals, dyads, or groups within the family system.

Structures

The underlying patterns of interactions families have.

Boundaries

Who is in and who is out of the family system.

Permeable Boundaries

If a family has very open boundaries, meaning they allow in a lot of information and have loose definitions of who is included as a family member.

Rigid Boundaries

If a family distrusts outside information. (and have a hard time including people outside the family system).

(You should also keep in mind that we consider virtually all families to be what we call open systems, meaning that all families have somewhat permeable boundaries).

Life Course Theory "big picture theory"

- Family life course theory tries to take the big picture and situate family process into a larger life course and historical perspective.

- The family life course theory also makes the basic assumption that individuals and families change over time. All families change, whether they intend to or not.

- Hopefully, it is apparent that the family life course theory is trying to look at the big picture. This theory views families as an interconnected web of transitions and changes where one change can influence the lives of everyone within the family

CenTRIPletal Interactions

Imagine a kid tripping and skinning his knee and that this interaction would bring the family together. The kid would rely on his family for emotional support.

CentriFUGal Interactions

Easy way to remember: Envision that your family is a fungus. This fungus would bring your family apart.

Different Contexts when analyzing Families

Cultural

Historical

Generational

Cultural

The word "culture" simple describes a group of likeminded people.

Historical

Consider what historical events are causing family- level change. (war would impact everyone)

Generational

Generational placement or labels (grandma, mom, and myself which affects are interactions).

Linked Lives

Captures the idea that we all live interdependently and social and historical influences are expressed through a network of shared relationships (idea of connections, can't really just live alone on an island).

The concept of linked lives was coined by an early scholar to capture this idea of interconnected trajectories. The final assumption to consider is that as we consider changes, transitions, and trajectories, we understand that some changes are normative while others are not. Normative change means the change is "normal" or expected.

Symbolic Interaction Theory (SI)

Meaning! Some things may not make sense to outsides, but within the family things still have meaning (A symbol has the meaning we give it. Some symbols might not make sense to people outside of the family).

Keep in mind that a symbol can be anything that represents or stands for thoughts, feelings, and ideas. It does not have to be a tangible thing.

Pragmatic actors

SI also uses the term pragmatic actor to explain our human behavior related to this process. The term pragmatic actor assumes that we are "acting" out a part in our families. We each have our roles as we perceive them and act these roles out in our interactions. If someone in the family is perceived to be the trouble-maker, SI would assume that this person might act out that part.

Imaginative rehearsal

Oftentimes he might even play this out in his head before the conversation even starts; this is called imaginative rehearsal. According to SI, we imaginatively rehearse before almost every interaction we have; imaginative rehearsal makes life predictable and less stressful for us.

Social Construction Theory

Example: Relying on Media and Society to decide how to treat your children ( things we are exposed to affect how we treat our children).

Shared Meaning

Certainly as a society we attach shared meaning to things like a chair, but families have shared meanings that outsiders will not understand from spending just a short time with them.

Roles

Focuses on our perception of what our duties and responsibilities are in a system. According to SI, our perception of roles within the family is going to dictate what we do, regardless of if that perception is accurate or not.

Perception

How we view the world, people, and things around us. In SI, perception is king and drives our behaviors.

Interaction

is also central to this theory because our meanings are constantly being reassessed and changed based on our interactions and experiences with others.

Habitualization

The defining of something as normal Ex: missionary homecomings. (when something becomes normal in culture)

Institutionalization

Society becomes structured around something that has become normal. If we go back to our example of premarital sex, we can also see how this behavior has become institutionalized in our culture.

Family Paradigms

The collective way a family views the world based on shared beliefs and values.

The four main types of family paradigms

Closed Families

Open Families

Random Families

Synchronous Families

Closed Families

- Family comes before all else

- They don't trust outside info

- They have a hard time letting new spouse into family. Closed families are often at risk of having controlling parents.

Open families

We call these families open because they have strong paradigms about open communication. - Strengths really open communication

- Con: they can end up sharing too much. Maybe someone doesn't want to share as much they may be closed out cause they don't share that paradigm.

Random Families

They are families that have strong paradigms about the value of novelty and individuality. They value each member of the family coming to their own conclusions and decisions.

- (opposite of closed)

- they value individuality over-unity

- Push kids to do new things

- Really big on developing the individual.

- Can get chaotic

Just like in a closed family, children in random families have a high tendency to rebel.

Synchronous Families:

The final family type has a strong paradigm centered on being a harmonious and conflict-free family. They believe that strong families think alike and get along.

(opposite of open family)

- Don't like conflict

- Want peace

- Lack of communication

- Cause problems letting things build-up

What is the best type of family paradigm?

Keep in mind that there is no "best" type of family. Each type of family is different and has strengths and weaknesses.

Define the purpose of family rules.

Remember that rules are helping with structure in the family and making family life predictable

Define a rule sequence

is a repeated pattern of rules that govern a given situation, context, or event in family life.

The goal of __________ is that the sequence allows the family to create an expectation of behavior that eventually can result in an implicit rule sequence, a sequence that the family does not need to revisit or discuss

The more __________ rules are, the better for families.

adaptable

1st Order Processes

Processes that are visible to anyone who observes the family. (Example: eating dinner as a family every night)

2nd Order Processes

Themes and beliefs that tie family process together and are generally held by all members of the family

Ex: family paradigms

Implicit

Rules are not openly discussed. Implied, but not stated implicit (Implicit better/healthier then explicit)

Explicit

Rules that families openly discussed and agree on.

Family rules

Although we cannot talk about all the rules a family might have, we can generally split family rules into three broad categories. (Mores, Folkways and Metarules).

Rules: Mores

Rules about serious issues or behavior and often involve moral behavior (such as no killing).

Rules: Folkways

Rules about less serious behavior (like not brushing your teeth).

Meta-Rules

Rules about rules (Ex: parents might have the final say in a rule, like a curfew).

Rule Creation

Step 1: Rule discovery

Step 2: Rule negotiation

Step 3: Rule creation

Step 1: Rule discovery

The first step in the process is discovering what rules each partner used in the past. In order for this to occur, partners need to understand and find out what rules each partner has previously used or valued in order to know what each person prioritizes and cares about.

Step 2: Rule negotiation

This is similar to the negotiation process mentioned with family paradigms, except this time the negotiation is much more explicit. Each person must discuss rule priorities based on their previous experiences and negotiate an agreement that all parties can agree on.

Step 3: Rule creation

The final step is the actual creation and implementation of the new rule. Because negotiation has taken place, this new rule is often the result of the merging and blending of previous rules to fit the new family system. What this means is that most new couples and families do not just borrow their rules from their previous families. Most families use variations of traditional rules in their new families. These variations are the result of the previously mentioned negotiations.

Assimilation

This is when our paradigms do not change based on new information

Accommodation

When families change or restructure their world-views based on new information.

Cultural connection:

some of what we believe as an individual and a family comes to us from our culture.

*Heritage connection:

some of what we believe comes to us from heritage.

Negotiated elements

The new family will now bargain with each other about how to merge different family ideologies and values. This will usually involve some give and take. One important element of this process to keep in mind is that most couples are not actually negotiating their paradigms, they are negotiating their first order family process.

Rituals

A repeating family event that occurs, in the same manner, each time. Rituals have a special meaning.

(Essentially, rituals are similar to the idea of a secret handshake that a club of young children might develop. It makes individuals feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. In a family, this sense of belonging is a critical function of family rituals).

Family rituals

A repeating family event that occurs in the same manner each time and takes on special meaning to the family.

Routines

Includes behaviors that are repeated over time, without special meaning.

Is it common for families to create rituals around marriage?

Weddings are one of the most trivialized rituals in most families and it is rather uncommon that families create unique family rituals around them.

Managing rituals refers to

creating new rituals when needed, removing rituals when needed, and altering existing rituals when needed.

Overritualization

When there is too much information allowed into the family and rituals become oversaturated.

For example, a couple gets married and they do both family rituals. it can become too much and make it stressful.

Underritualization

Having few or no rituals in the family.

The specific cause for this underritualization is often fragmentation where rituals are re-invented every year or every time they are done. Essentially what is occurring is that the family is altering their ritual each time they do it, often in an effort to make the ritual more fun or a desire to keep the event novel and fresh.

Four ways rituals become unhealthy

Dismemberment

Contention

Trivialization

Fragmentation

(Overritualization and

Underritualization are also unhealthy ritual practices)

Dismemberment

occurs when rituals start to have the exact opposite effect that they are supposed to. While rituals are meant to help family members draw closer together, sometimes they actually begin to be more about pushing people away. Sometimes rituals make family members feel excluded.

Contention

This is perhaps the most common way that rituals can become problematic. Again, instead of bringing family members closer together, the ritual is doing something else, in this case causing tension and conflict. The ritual now becomes a time of fighting and distancing instead of unifying.

Trivialization

This is when families commercialize their ritual or rely more on cultural scripts instead of family symbols. The ritual becomes more about what we are supposed to do and not what we do uniquely in our family. Our culture is trivializing more and more family rituals.

Fragmentation

The specific cause for this underritualization is often fragmentation where rituals are re-invented every year or every time they are done. Essentially what is occurring is that the family is altering their ritual each time they do it, often in an effort to make the ritual more fun or a desire to keep the event novel and fresh

Family Routines and Rituals

- Continuity: Rituals are more likely to continue throughout time.

- Communication: Families communicate far more about rituals than routines.

- Commitment: Families are more likely to be committed to rituals than to routines.

Talcott Parsons (1955, 1965), whose theory of the family assumed that highly contrasting gender roles were essential for families and society.

Parsons believed that, in this modern family, society required that men be instrumental and women be expressive.

(The man's instrumental role was to be the breadwinner, the manager, and the leader of the family. The woman's expressive role was to take care of the emotional well-being of the family through nurturing and comforting)

What is the difference between the terms "linked lives" and "interconnected trajectories?"

Linked lives: is more about the presents

interconnected trajectories: Across time