Family Development Exam 2

True or false: In a lesbian marriage, they would make more money if they have a baby.

FALSE- both partners earn less; however, the biological mom seems to take more of a drop.

Gender and Education

U.S. women have outpaced men in bachelor’s degree completion for decades. It is about 60% women and 40% men. In 1995, it was almost equal between men and women and then a big gap in 2024. Women are still disadvantaged despite more women than men getting college degrees.

Kids and salary earnings

Having a kid correlates with lower earnings for women. Having kids doesn’t affect men’s salaries. There is no change between men with kids and men without kids. Having kids doesn’t change their trajectory in the slightest. Women, however, start having a drop in salary even when they are pregnant and especially drop when they have kids. Although this increases after the kid is born and the mother is able to get back to work, it never gets to the level it would be at if they never had kids at all. This equates to millions of dollars lost over their lifetime. So, women take a massive financial hit for having babies, where men don’t. 

MRKH women

women who were born without uteruses. Men often start off making higher earnings. MRKH women’s earnings tend to increase significantly and even catch up to men, whereas women without MRKH do not. The only variable that differs here between men, women, and MRKH women is having babies. So, having babies is the potential to have babies come with a substantial financial setback for women.

True or false: The main implication of the Howered Hadi study is that liability and success are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women

TRUE

True or false: The main thesis of the Ted talk was that the way to improve women’s outcomes in the workforce is to have stronger non discrimination laws.

FALSE

Women and CEOs

70% of female CEOs since 2000. 27% of female CEOs- currently 5%. This is an interesting statistic because more women have higher degrees than men.

Cheryl Sanberg

Married senior managers-2/3 men had children while 1/3 had children
■ 3 Components to Womens’ success
– Sit at the table
■ Don’t underestimate abilities
■ Don’t negotiate
■ Attribute success to other factors
■ Women perceived negatively (Howard vs. Heidi study)
– Make your partner a real partner
■ Value men’s participation in housework
■ Demand equal participation
– Don’t leave before you leave
■ Criticism
– Privileged perspective
– Negates structural barriers and places blame with women succeeding

Women’s labor force participation

has increased from 1960-2000. When we hit the 2000, the labor force participation for women started to decline, which is the opposite for other countries, such as Canada, Japan, and the European Union, which continued to increase.

Providers

Sandburg argues that men are viewed unfavorably when they do things with their kids in public settings. For example, the only dad in a music and me class would not be talked to by other moms.

Percent of men/women saying that being able to support a family financially is very important

both men and women say that men are a good partner if they can financially support the family. Both men and women say that a woman doesn’t have to have financial support to be a good partner. Only 25% of men say that their wife needs to help support the family financially. 39% of women agreed with that statement.

Income inequality over time

Working class makes about $40,000 from 1968-2017. The top 20% increase from $80,000-120,000. In 1968, the top 20% was 101% higher than the working class and in 2017 they were 169% higher.

Median income by family income 1950-2012

two working parents in a home produce the most income. In order to be in the top 20%. It is almost a requirement that both partners work. There is a big wealth differentiation between married partner vs married but the wife is home, single dad, or single mom.

Changes in unemployment over time

Men and women have just about exactly the same unemployment rates. When unemployment rates spike, for example in a recession, women are more likely to be unemployed. From 1978 afterwar, the more men are unemployed than women in key economic shifts. The types of jobs that men stereotypically do, are more strenuous, and less likely to be needed during a recession. However the one exception to that is Covid. During Covid, women were more likely to be unemployed. Mothers were unemployed the most, then women who were not parents, then men who were not parents, then fathers.

True or false: We compare men, women, and women without uterus, that women without uterus, have the lowest hearing trajectory

FALSE-women who do not have this medical condition do. Women without uteruses have a similar income trajectory to men, showing that kids have something to do with it.

True or false: When you compare the earning trajectories of lesbian women, heterosexual men, and heterosexual women after the birth of the child, lesbian women have the highest earnings among these three groups

False- men do

True or false: Since 2000, the US is the only OECD country that has seen a decline in women’s labor force participation

TRUE

True or false: According to Cheryl Sandberg, likeability and success are possibly correlated for men but negatively correlated for women.

TRUE

Economic pressures

 Because of the vast income inequality, there is an enormous amount of pressure on parents, kids, etc. to make family choices such as having kids, how many kids, how much time they want to spend working, etc. This, and having to spend so much time working instead of spending time with kids has become a big problem in contemporary society. The families that make the most amount of money are almost always two working families.

Time with kids trend

In the 1970’s there wasn’t really a difference between income and the amount of time spent with children. Over time, parents are choosing to spend more time with their kids.

True or false: According to the graph about how differently educated-level women spend their day, women with a college degree spend quite a bit more time in paid labor than women without a college degree

TRUE

True or false: According to the graph about how differently educated-level women spend their day, because of the increased time spent in paid labor, college educated women spend less time in child care.

FALSE- But they do spend less time sleeping, doing household chores, and watching TV

Median net worth

As of 2019, the median net worth for cohabiting couples aged 25 to 34 was $17,372, a quarter that of the $68,210 for married couples of that same age range. This could be because, maybe marriage only comes when people feel they have financial security, maybe married couples work more in the hopes of having kids. Overall, although the reason is not necessarily clear, it has been proven that couples make a decently more amount of money than two people who live together.

True or false: In this graph, college educated women spend more time in both paid labor and childcare

TRUE

True or false: According to the data looked at in class, young unmarried people between 25-34, single people make more money and then that switches by age 50 where married people have more assets.

FALSE- regardless of age, marriage is associated with more money

True or false: In the data we looked at in class, more conservative republicans generally felt the pressure to have two parents working in a household where liberal democrats did not experience that pressure.

FALSE- they both feel that way

True or false: Both 70% of men and women agree that for a man to be a good husband, he needs to be a financial provider.

TRUE

Parent at home debate

The majority of people say that kids are better off with a parent at home. However, at the same time, the vast majority say that we should not return to a 1950’s household.

Comparison in positive and negative emotions by working status

Stay at home moms vs employed moms experience more negative emotions. Postpartum depression is prevalent. Employed moms experience more positive emotions vs stay at home moms. Women’s emotional experiences are better when they are working whereas staying at home seems to take an emotional toll on women.

True or false: According to the data about parent’s desires for their kids, parents think they should prioritize work over family in terms of being happy in their lives.

TRUE

Spillover

Conflict vs enrichment. Enrichment is about how one context improves another. When you put time and resources into one area, you can’t put as much time and energy and resources into another area. Work and money works in tandem with home and family. For example, by being happier, they will be able to be better parents.

The second shift

Ultimately, women do two jobs. Paid labor is one shift and family is the second shift.

True or false: In 2011, men spent half the time in direct childcare than women did.

TRUE

Change in direct childcare

In 1965, the number of times the dads spent in child labor was 2.5 hours and women did about 4 times that doing 10 hours. In 2011, it increased a ton. Men’s time spent with children triples. In 2011, women also went up but not nearly as much. The proportion has changed for women, but not nearly enough.

Breakdown of domestic duties

men and women seem to have different domestic responsibilities across most families. For example, women doing child care and men mowing the lawn and taking out the trash. However, the argument is that men and women aren’t really doing different things and making domestic labor equal, it is that although they do house maintenance and grounds work, women spend much more time doing domestic responsibilities because the responsibilities that women stereotypically do take more time.

Reasons for having fewer kids than desired

People are having vastly fewer kids than they want. This is often because child care is too expensive, they want more time for the kids they have, they are worried about the economy, they can’t afford more children, and waited because of financial instability. The economic argument is that life has gotten too expensive for people to have as many kids as they want. People have to make a choice based on today’s economy and financial situation.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

12 weeks unpaid leave. There is no national paid family leave in the US after they have a child. Some states, however, do offer some kind of paid leave. The only thing guaranteed at the national level is FMLA

Work-family policies worldwide

Across the globe, several countries offer 26 weeks or more with paid leave. Some countries have 14-25 weeks of paid leave and some have 14 weeks. The US is one of 8 countries across the globe that nationally has no paid leave. 

True or false: The number one reason people give why they are having less kids then they want is because they are unable to find a partner.

FALSE- it’s childcare costs and finacial instability

True or false: According to the second shift, it is much more likely to occur among women than among men.

TRUE

True or false: When parents are asked to say what they think are the most important things that will make their kids happy, they say getting married and having children.

FALSE- they want their kids to have a job and money.

True or false: When you ask people in public polls whether they think that women should go back to traditional roles, what we find is that well over 50% of the US thinks it would be better if we went back to more traditional roles.

FALSE

True or false: Over the second part of the 20th century, the amount of time that dad’s spend in direct child care, almost tripled.

TRUE- it went from 2.5 hours per week to 7 hours per week

True or false: In the US, parents are only guaranteed 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child

FALSE

Denmark

Ranked second highest country in happiness. 

• Parents and caretakers are generally permitted 52 weeks paid leave after the birth or adoption between them, and this can be taken flexibly.

• Every child, for example, is guaranteed an affordable nursery place from the age of one to when school starts at six.

• Guaranteed 5 weeks vacation

Tax-to-GDP ratio by tax revenue source

While Denmark collects a much higher percentage of GDP in taxes (around 45%) compared to the United States (around 25%), a lower tax burden does not automatically equal more functional spending freedom.

Percentage of dating among teens

There was a massive decline in dating both frequently (more than one date a week) and ever at all. In the mid 90’s 85% of teens had been on a date. By 2014, this number had dropped to just under 16%. This could mean that people are connecting in different ways, or it could mean that people aren’t connecting at all. One reason could be because of the increase in phone usage or time consumption doing other things. In addition, hookups and sexual encounters are happening much less than dating

True or false: First part of the 21 century there was a sharp increase in alcohol use.

FALSE

True or false: During the ‘90s, more than 80% of high schoolers would have gone out on a date.

TRUE-but there was a substantial drop by 2017.

Industrialization

The automobile, and technological transitions, played a key role in relationships because it allows young people freedom to go out and do what they want. In the 1920’s the first sexual revolution occurred. Integration of sexuality in the context of dating. Dating becomes a bigger part of the courtship process toward the end of the ‘20s. Urbanization gave me more people to choose from in terms of dating and relationships. In the 1960s world contraceptives became prevalent and fundamentally transformed the process of dating and is one of the reasons why dating expands dramatically. The average person got married at 20 in the ‘60s.

True or false: The average number of hookups on a college campus for a student during their four years is approximately 16.

FALSE- average number is 7.9 with a median of 5

Hook up statistics

76% of college students who say they have been in a relationship. On average, they say they have had 7.9 hookups with a median of 5. Overall, there is not really any gender difference for why individuals engage in hook up culture.

True or false: When we look at the hook up data, there is no significant difference between whether or not men and women hope their last hookup turns into a relationship but men are slightly more likely to say they did hope.

TRUE

True or false: One of the most important mechanisms with respect to what makes marriage is that opposites attract.

FALSE- research shows that people are more happy when people are similar.

Marriage market

the idea that everyone enters into this market with their own attributes and qualities that make them favorable and they try to find a partner in the market that has as many values and characteristics as possible. 

Homogamy

process of finding someone who is similar to you. This can lead to class differences and inequality because two professional people come together and develop a large amount of money.

Endogamy

Process where people are searching for people who are within some cultural or religion or other, but similar, defined set of rules.

Esogamy

requirement or a pressure to marry outside of a cultural, ethnic or religious group.

Hypergamy

when someone marries up in a particular matric, such as education or income. Women are more common to marry someone who is “higher” than them, especially in income.

Hypogamy

When someone marries down in a particular matric, such as education or income.

Men and women’s desires in a relationship

 Kindness and health is something both men and women want in their partner. Physical attractiveness is valued more by men. Good financial prospects are valued more by women as well as age choice.

Politics and dating

71% of democrats would not go out on a date with a republican and 31% of republicans would not go out on a date with a democrat.

LGBTQ relationships

 tend to date a wider education and age background. A little less homogony is present but it is still a popular idea. 

Education

When the husband is more educated than the wife, the husband is engaging in hypogamy and the wife is engaging in hypergamy. When the husband is less educated than the wife, the husband is engaging in hypergamy and the wife is engaging in hypogamy.

True or false: We said that the most highly supportive and clearly evident aspects of relationship formation is that homogamy leads to positive romantic relationships.

TRUE

True or false: One of the research findings that we found in class is that there is an increased education homogony that leads to class differentiation

TRUE

True or false: In national polls, what is found is that democrats had a greater preference for political heterogamy than republicans

FALSE

True or false: Currently in heterosexual marriages, women are now more likely to engage in educational hypogamy.

TRUE- women are more likely to marry a husband that is less educated. 

True or false: According to the data looked at in class, women prefer kindness in a partner while men prefer physical attractiveness

FALSE

True or false: According to the NYT article about being 30, despite the economic pressures, most people feel they will do economically better than their parents.

FALSE- it is the exact opposite

True or false: According to the NYT article about being 30, in the last decade, young adults who say that having a child is unaffordable increased by 20%.

TRUE

Interracial marriage acceptance

Prior to 1961, only 4% of the US approved of interracial marriage. 94% of people approve now. There was a shift in thinking that interracial marriage was good for society. March 2012, there was an increase in acceptance, and is also when young people gained more access to smartphones, this can bring up the argument that social media helped society become more accepting of interracial marriages.

Loving v. Virginia (1967)

strike down laws banning interracial marriage.

Filter Theory of Mate Selection

People who are looking for a partner go through this series of selection. 

• Field of eligibles: go through a checklist of what they want.

• Propinquity filter: see who is close to them in proximity 

• Attraction filter: physical attraction and personality

• Homogamy filter: age, education, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic class.

• Compatibility filter: values, attitudes, needs, roles, temperament, habit systems

Online vs traditional dating

pool of partners, differential considerations of partners, process. Online dating gets rid of the propinquity filter and it often starts with the attraction filter. Tinder is the most common. The profile seeks out partners, matching via algorithm is homophily, and new communication matches and women can initiate.  As years go on, America becomes more diverse. There was a consistent increase in interracial marriage even without online dating since 1967. Tinder users overall feel less confident in their physical appearance and overall feel more subconscious.

Rise of online dating

There was a massive spike between 1990-2010 in LGBTQ people who met online. The same spike occurred in heterosexual couples in the US. Online dating replaces meeting through friends. The majority of people feel that online dating has made it easier to find a long-term partner. However, some people feel they have too many choices to be able to settle down. This causes choice paralysis where a person can’t choose who they want to be with. There was an increase after the dating site “Match” was introduced in 1995 which is more than what the trajectory was, meaning that there was the first spike of interracial marriages where beforehand, there was a consistent and regular pattern. Ok Cupid was introduced in 2004, which caused another strike. Tinder was introduced in 2012 which caused another strike. This shows that online dating does seem to cause an increase in interracial marriages.

True or false: The main way members of the LGBTQ community meet their romantic partners is through online dating but that is not true for heterosexual couples.

FALSE

True or false: Prior to online dating, the main way that people met was either through church, or religious or faith communities, or bars

FALSE- it was meeting through friends

True or false: The most popular online dating platform for young people is Hinge

FALSE-it’s tinder

True or false: According to the data presented in class, the median number of hookups is a little over one per year during college with a mean being slightly higher.

TRUE

True or false: According to the gender differences in class, motivations for last hookup   men were much more likely to say something about physical pleasure while women were more likely to say that they hoped it would be a relationship.

FALSE- they are almost exactly the same between genders

True or false: Ten years before Loving V Virginia, only 4% approved of international marriages

TRUE- in 2021 it jumped to 94%

Big Five Personality Perspective

Five key traits that are true across all people despite culture, age, etc. These dimensions are 

• Agreeableness: how long you get along with others.

• Conscientiousness: people who are careful, considerate, and thoughtful

• Extraversion: how outgoing you are

• Neuroticism: emotional stability. Are you frequently upset, prone to distress, anxiety, etc.

• Openness to experience: want a diverse and variety of experience. Like to try new things.

True or false: People who use Tinder are significantly higher in openness to experience than non-Tinder users.

TRUE

True or false: Tinder users are significantly more neurotic

FALSE

Gender’s feelings of online dating

 Both men and women are excited and disappointed when it comes to online dating. Women are more likely to feel overwhelmed by notifications from dating sites and men are more likely to feel insecure

Gender and love

The average person aged 19-24 has fallen in love with one person over the course of their life so far. Women exactly 1, men about 1.2. At age 12-14, men report having been in love much more than women, with an average of 1.7 for men and 1 for women. This shows that younger males are more likely to say they have fallen in love.

Passionate Love

Intensely emotional, persistent, strong sexual desire, emphasis on being great lovers, volatile, need to idealize the other, consuming–dominates one’s life, subject to strong jealousy, limited in duration.

Compassionate Love

Strong emotions bounds, varying sexual desire, emphasis on being best friends, stability, effort to be realistic about the other, supporting–frees one to grow, minimal jealousy if any, can last a lifetime.

Three brain systems

All independent and interactive

• Lust: not specific. Testosterone/estrogen. 

• Attraction: specific, obsessive, affliction, mate-guarding, dopamine, suppressed serotonin. 

• Attachment: calm, security, emotional union, oxytocin (known as the love hormone).

True or false: Researchers think that people who use tinder are more extroverted but that there is no difference in neuroticism.

TRUE

True or false: People who use tinder feel less good about themselves and their bodies.

TRUE

Love vs. qualities

Only 3% of people in the US said that they would marry a romantic partner that had all the qualities they desired even if they weren’t in love. It is about the same in Brazil and England.  This shows that love is a socially constructed ideal centered  in western values. People are more likely to say they are more likely to marry someone if they are in love if they live in an idealistic society. In addition, wealthier countries emphasize love more.

True or false: People in Thailand value love more than people in Australia

FALSE

Arranged marriages vs individualistic

Importance is how important these individuals said that love is the basis of marriage. Love is higher in the individualistic sample than the arranged marriage and is significant. This means that people say that love is more important for people not doing arranged marriages. However, there is no significance between if people feel in love with their partner in an arranged marriage vs not. 

Attachment theory

The way that parents treat their children will affect the kids throughout their life and determine how happy they are in the context of romantic relationships and how they feel and act about love. Attachment is our way to define love.

Secure attatchment

Comfortable with intimacy and autonomy. You have someone you want to be close to and be around, but you also have your own individual attributes and feel comfortable being away from them to be independent. It is intimacy with independence.

Anxious-preoccupied attachment

Dependent on others for self worth; preoccupied with relationships. People who stay in relationships that aren’t very good and are overall a bit clingy. For example, if they haven't gotten a text from someone in a while. They might start thinking the person is disinterested in them. They sometimes seek out relationships.

Dismissive-avoidant attachment

Strongly independent, downplays importance of relationships. Unable to get close to people. Parents were often hands-off and not super responsive. The individual expects others to be distant so they also choose to keep distance from others. 

Sternberg’s Triarchic (Triangular) Theory of Love

Says that love is made of three parts–comittment, passion, and intimacy. He says that the best kind of love is consummate love, which has intimacy, passion, and commitment. However, most love isn’t in this idealized form.

•  Romantic love:  intimacy and passion but no commitment.

• Companionate love: intimacy and commitment but no passion.

•  Fatuous love: passion and commitment but no intimacy.