Discipline - Goals Of Discipline, Foundations For Discipline, Proactive Discipline, Discipline Responses, Conditional Sequence Of Responses

For many parents, the word discipline refers to punishment intended to decrease child misbehavior. In truth, the word is derived from disciplinare, referring to a system of teaching or instruction (Howard 1996). Although few would dispute the value of teaching children, the topic of parental discipline has long been controversial, even among experts. In the leading parenting book of the 1930s, Psy…

1 minute read

Interparental Conflict—Effects on Children - Theoretical Models, Dimensions Of Marital Conflict, Individual Protective Factors, Conclusion

Few parent-child relationships are conflict-free. In fact, some parents argue with heated emotion, but also clearly love each other. Thus, arguing may be an element of their communication style and may be productive for them. When interparental conflict is more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting, however, studies show that children are at increased risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties…

2 minute read

Missing Children - Family Abductions, Nonfamily Abductions, International, Causes, Prevention And Recovery

A missing child is the ultimate nightmare for parents of every nation—a nightmare imprinted on parents' consciousness by widely publicized abductions in the late twenty and early twenty-first centuries. However, missing persons rarely become the victims of foul play, because although missing-person cases are reported in record numbers, these cases have also been resolved in record nu…

3 minute read

Interparental Violence—Effects on Children - The Impact Of Exposure, Effects On Parent-child Relationships, Longer-term Effects, Cultural Diversity

Exposure to violence in the home provides a major threat to children's development worldwide where it is estimated that 33 percent of women have been assaulted or abused by a male spouse or family member (Heise, Ellsberg, and Gottemoeller 1999). As shown in a sampling from different countries, estimates of incidence vary: China, 29 percent (Family Violence Prevention Foundation 2001b); Chil…

1 minute read

Birth Control - Contraceptive Methods, Sociocultural And Historical Aspects

Hormones are the chemical messengers the body uses to control and coordinate various physical processes. The major hormones influencing the female reproductive organs are estrogen and progesterone. Manipulation of these hormones may disrupt the normal processes required for fertility, such as ovulation, transport of egg and sperm in the Fallopian tubes, thinning of cervical mucus, and preparation …

28 minute read

Motherhood - Transition To Motherhood, Maternal Role In Childrearing, Extent And Effects Of Maternal Employment, Motherhood And Marital Quality

Contemporary mothering and motherhood are viewed from a much broader perspective than in previous decades by emphasizing the relational and logistical work of childrearing. Mothering is defined as the social practices of nurturing and caring for people, and thus it is not the exclusive domain of women (Arendell 2000). In most societies, however, women not only bear children but also are primary ca…

less than 1 minute read

Birth Order - Birth Order And Personality, Psychological Birth Order, Birth Order And Intellectual Achievement

Birth order refers to the order in which siblings are born into a family. Although siblings may be ranked numerically according to their order of appearance, four positions typically are recognized: first, middle, youngest, and only child. Only one sibling may occupy the first, youngest or only positions, but many children can be classified as middle. Alfred Adler (1927, 1956) was the first psycho…

less than 1 minute read

Transition to Parenthood - Parenthood As Crisis Versus Transition To Parenthood, Changes In The Marital Relationship, Theoretical Assumptions, Alternative/multicultural Findings - Conclusion

Within the family life-cycle literature, the addition of a first child to the marital system is considered one of the stages that a family will likely experience during its developmental lifetime. For the couple experiencing the birth of a first child, this change is one of most unsettling, but most common, examples of change within a marital relationship. Indeed, having a baby has been ranked as …

6 minute read

Names for Children - Surnames, Name Use In The Family

Personal names are one of the few cultural universals. Families in all societies provide personal names for the children born into them. By naming children, families are inducting their children into the family and the society. At the same time, they are expressing their hopes and desires for those children in the names they select. Names are both messages to children about who they are expected t…

5 minute read

Education

School - School Culture, Truancy And School Dropouts, Collaboration: Linking Schools With Social Services, Conclusion

Educational leaders and policy makers have called for revolutionary changes in schools. National and international school reform initiatives involve more challenging expectations for learning, high-stakes accountability, high performance standards, collaboration, and new roles for teachers and students (Adler and Gardner 1994). Agrowing number of children, youth, and families are being affected by…

2 minute read

Genetic Counseling

Genetic counseling is the process in which a specially trained professional communicates with a person, couple, or family about the occurrence, or chance of occurrence, of a birth defect or genetic condition. Genetic counselors, who have training in both human genetics and counseling, may have an M.D., Ph.D., R.N., or M.S. degree. While many genetic counselors work in university medical centers, o…

5 minute read

School Phobia and School Refusal - Clinical Picture, Contributing Factors, Culture/ethnicity And Race, Family Factors, Psychosocial Interventions - Age and Gender

The term school phobia reflects the terminological and conceptual confusion that has plagued the problem of excessive school absenteeism since it was first introduced as a phobia by Adelaide M. Johnson and her colleagues (1941). Most investigators currently working in the area, therefore, have come to view school phobia as a subset of school refusal behavior. As a consequence, the more comprehensi…

1 minute read

Nonmarital Childbearing - Nonmarital Childbearing In Developing Nations, Nonmarital Childbearing In Developed Nations, Risk Factors Associated With Nonmarital Childbearing In Developed Nations

Nonmarital childbearing is a part of the reproductive experience of many women, but much more so in some cultures than others. Nonmarital births are of two basic types. Some births, especially among younger women, are to those who never have been married. The other type of nonmarital childbearing occurs among women who were previously married, but who were divorced or widowed at the time of the bi…

less than 1 minute read

Self-Esteem - Development Of Self-esteem, Family Interaction And Self-esteem, Culture: Ethnicity And Self-esteem

Self-esteem refers to the evaluative and affective aspects of the self, to how "good" or "bad" we feel about ourselves. It is a consequence of the self's capacity for reflexivity, that is, the ability to look at oneself and to evaluate what one sees. Self-evaluations typically give rise to positive or negative self-feelings, such as pride or shame. These self-fee…

1 minute read

Only Children

Only children are people who grow up without siblings. They have been stereotyped as "selfish," "lonely," and "maladjusted." Early in the twentieth century, the emerging discipline of psychology portrayed only children as inevitably pathological. However, since that time, hundreds of studies about only children have been conducted, and the over-all conclus…

4 minute read

Gifted and Talented Children - Identification Of Gifted Children, Family Relationships, How Families Foster Talent Development, Educational Responses

Gifted children comprise a minority of the population, although not such a small minority as is sometimes thought. Internationally, the most widely used definition of giftedness and talent is that of Françoys Gagné of Quebec. Gagné (1985, 2000) defines gifted children as those who have high levels of innate ability, in any domain of human ability, that places them within the t…

1 minute read

Orphans - Early Literature On Institutionalization, Later Deprivation Studies, Intellectual Development, Behavior Problems, Social-emotional Development

Researchers and social policy makers have long been interested in the developmental impact of institutionalization. Are young children who have experienced extreme deprivation in the first year or two of their lives ever able to overcome such poor developmental beginnings? Children in orphanages have been studied in many parts of the world (e.g., Iran, Lebanon, United States, Greece, Romania, Russ…

less than 1 minute read

Parent-Child Relations

Child Abuse - Physical Abuse And Neglect, Psychological Maltreatment, Sexual Abuse

The definition of abuse and neglect is difficult to determine even within a particular country. For example, Joaquín De Paúl and Olaya González (2001) note that before 1987 professionals in Spain could not reach an agreement concerning how one should classify child maltreatment cases: There was no commonly used definition of child abuse and neglect. Given the many cultural and…

45 minute read

Parenting

Sexual Communication - Couple Relationships, Parent-child Relationships

Early stages of relationships. Some scholars are interested in how sexual scripts (on the cultural level) guide interactions in newly forming or potentially sexual relationships (for a review see Metts and Spitzberg 1996). For example, studies of flirting and the negotiation of initial sexual involvement can be found under the general rubric of sexual communication. This area of research suggests …

36 minute read

Childcare - Why Is Childcare Important?, Available Childcare, Effects Of Childcare, Availability, Cost, And Quality Of Childcare

Broadly defined, the term childcare includes all types of education and care provided for young children. The term is also used more specifically for the supplemental care of children from birth to age eight years by persons other than parents. Childcare is used for a variety of reasons, and programs vary by the number and age of children, the reason care is used, the preparation and status of car…

1 minute read

Parenting Education - Content Of Parenting Education, Behavior-management Approaches, Relationship-enhancement Approaches, The National Model Of Parenting Education

Parenting education may be defined as any deliberate effort to help parents be more effective in caring for children. There are many different processes for educating parents, including group meetings, resource centers, newsletters, radio programs, home visits, mentoring, Internet resources, support groups, and books. The content of these different efforts varies substantially, ranging from behavi…

1 minute read

Childhood - Modern Western Conception Of Childhood, Children Within Families

Childhood is usually defined in relation to adulthood: the condition of being an immature person, of having not yet become an adult. In some societies, physical or reproductive maturity marks the transition to adulthood, but in modern Western societies full adult status is not usually achieved until several years after puberty. Childhood is legally defined here as a state of dependency on adults o…

1 minute read

Parenting Styles - Parenting Styles, Cultural And Ethnic Variations In Parenting Styles, Differentiating Parenting Styles And Parenting Practices

The study of human development is centrally concerned with understanding the processes that lead adults to function adequately within their cultures. These skills include an understanding of—and adherence to—the moral standards, conventional rules, and customs of the society. They also include maintaining close relationships with others, developing the skills to work productively, an…

1 minute read

Stages of Childhood - Adolescence, Infancy, Middle Childhood, Toddlerhood - PRESCHOOL

The establishment of identity is widely viewed as the key developmental task of adolescence, sometimes accompanied by emotional strain as adolescents grapple with the question of who they are and what they want to become. Identities can be based on roles, relationships, status in an organization, or those related to character traits (psychological and behavioral attributes). Westerners conceptuali…

83 minute read

Childlessness - Trends, Explanations, Consequences

Childlessness is one aspect of the diversity inherent in contemporary experience of marriage and the family. With this greater diversity, once-common pressures for childbearing have given way to greater social acceptance of remaining single or married without children. Nonetheless, childlessness is a concern, partly because of its implications for the maintenance of societies and partly because of…

1 minute read

Children of Alcoholics - Family Dynamics And Developmental Influences, Conclusion

Children of Alcoholics (COAs) is a general term used to describe individuals with one or more alcoholic parents. Although the ramifications of living with an addicted, alcoholic parent are variable, nearly all children from alcoholic families are at risk for behavioral and emotional difficulties (Christensen and Bilenberg 2000), and live with scars—psychological or physical—as a resu…

1 minute read

Guardianship - Types Of Guardianship, Guardianship Of Minors, Guardianship Of Adults, Alternatives To Guardianship

Guardianship is a legal process that transfers decision-making authority over an individual (a ward) deemed incapable of managing his or her personal or financial affairs to another person (the guardian). Guardians may be appointed for both minors and adults. Modern guardianship has its roots in English common law, a legal system which England then transported to its colonies. Under English common…

1 minute read

Children's Rights - Historical Roots Of The Children's Rights Movement, Universal Standards On The Rights Of Children

A country can be judged by countless measures, but for many people the most significant are its treatment of children under eighteen years of age and the legal protection that society affords them. Most people profess to love children: Is this merely an abstraction, or are political and social environments truly child-centered? Are children accorded the rights, dignity, and benefits worthy of thei…

1 minute read

Health and Families - The Impact Of Marriage And Children On Adults' Health Behaviors , The Impact Of Family On Children's Health Behaviors - Conclusion

A growing body of research has shown that family plays an important role, if not the most important role (Doherty 1993), in shaping our health attitudes and behaviors. This is important because positive health behaviors have been shown to significantly affect physical and mental health (Grzywacz and Marks 1999). Prior to understanding the role the family plays in the adoption of health attitudes a…

4 minute read

Play - Gender Differences In Play, Cultural Differences In Play - Conclusion

Play serves different purposes at different ages. Jean Piaget (1962) delineated play into three major periods: (1) imitation and practice play; (2) symbolic play, which is pure assimilation or distortion of reality and implies representation of an absent object; and (3) games with rules, such as board games or marbles. Imitation and practice, the earliest form of play, occurs in the sensory-motor …

7 minute read

Sexuality in Childhood - Formation Of Sexuality In Childhood, Childhood Sexuality And Later Sexual Behavior, Gender Issues, Exploring Sexuality In Childhood

Academic Achievement - Family Influences, Family Background And Family Structure, International Research, Future Family Research

It is generally accepted that the quality of family interactions has important associations with children's and adolescents' academic motivation and achievement, and with young adults' eventual educational and occupational attainments. Thomas Kellaghan and his colleagues (1993) claim, for example, that the family environment is the most powerful influence in determining studen…

less than 1 minute read

Postpartum Depression - The Nature Of Postpartum Depression, Epidemiology And Course, Etiology, Prediction, Detection, Impact On Family Life, Parenting, And Child Outcome

Colic - Defining And Measuring Colic, Infant Crying And Its Impact In Western Cultures, Infant Crying And Its Impact In Non-western Cultures

Homeschooling - Family Connectedness And Relationships, Effects On Marriage, Edification Of The Natural Family, State Versus Family

Homeschooling is a form of education for children and youth that is based mainly in the home and is clearly directed by their parents. Parents retain the main responsibility for and authority over their children's education and training, rather than sending them away to classroom institutions where their education would be controlled and conducted largely by nonfamily state or private teach…

2 minute read

Learning Disabilities - Diagnosis Of Learning Disabilities, Assessment Issues, Comorbidity Issues, Neuropsychology Of Learning Disabilities, Neuro-imaging And Learning Disabilities

Adolescent Parenthood - Trends In The United States, International Trends, Antecedents Of Adolescent Pregnancy, Adoption, Marriage, And Single Parenthood

Adolescent parenting refers primarily to women and men nineteen years or younger who give birth to and elect to parent a child. Although most adolescent pregnancies are unintended, an increasing number of pregnant adolescents choose to continue the pregnancy and become parents. Estimates suggest that each year, slightly more than 10 percent of all births worldwide—almost 15 million— …

less than 1 minute read

Adoption - Legal Consequences And Availability, History And Purpose, Process, International Adoptions

Pregnancy and Birth - Pregnancy, Physical And Psychological Changes Of Pregnancy, The Woman's Partner, Developmental Tasks Of Pregnancy

A woman's decision to begin a pregnancy carries with it the acceptance of the lifelong responsibility to be a parent. Ideally, effective parenting begins even before the moment of conception, when the woman confirms her desire to have a child and is physically and mentally prepared for the challenges of pregnancy, birth, and parenting. Pregnancy and birth are not isolated from the woman�…

less than 1 minute read

Premarital Pregnancy and Childbirth

Family Planning - Methods And Effectiveness, Social Regulation, Infertility, Conclusion

Family planning is both a descriptive term and an organizational one. It was originally conceived as a public relations effort to emphasize the broadened scope of those involved in the struggle to spread the concept of birth control. The term achieved popularity in England before it did in the United States, and in May 1939, various British birth control groups amalgamated into the Family Planning…

1 minute read

Conflict - Couple Relationships, Family Relationships, Parent-child Relationships

Three characteristics distinguish family conflict from other types: intensity, complexity, and the duration of relationships. First, relationships between family members are typically the closest, most emotionally intense of any in the human experience (Bowlby 1982). The bonds between adult partners, between parents and children, or between siblings involve the highest level of attachment, affecti…

23 minute read

Socialization - Unidirectional Models Of Socialization, Other Models Of Socialization, Conclusion

Socialization is not a process unique to childhood. According to the sociological theory known as symbolic interactionism, socialization is required for each new role an individual acquires over the life-course. Nevertheless, most of us generally understand socialization to mean the process of creating socially responsible beings out of primarily asocial beings—that is, infants and children…

2 minute read

Coparenting - Typologies Of Coparenting, Coparenting And Children's Adjustment, Factors Contributing To Supportive Or Antagonistic Coparenting Partnerships

The term coparenting refers to the support that adults provide for one another in the raising of children for whom they share responsibility (McHale 1995). Joint parenting of children has been the norm in families cross-nationally since the earliest human societies, with children's grandmothers or other female family members (rather than fathers) most often the ones sharing everyday parenti…

2 minute read

Day Care

Spanking - Prevalence Of Physical Discipline, Controversy About The Use Of Physical Discipline, Alternatives To Physical Discipline

Although spanking is a term familiar to most parents, it may be defined differently depending on our personal circumstances. For some, spanking may refer to one or two flat-handed swats on a child's wrist or buttocks, but would not include a beating with a whip or a belt. For others, spanking also includes slaps and pinches to the leg, arm, back, or even the head, as long as no marks are le…

less than 1 minute read

Fatherhood - Historical Perspectives, Fathers Across The Life Span, Determinants Of Father-involvement, Divorced And Single Fathers

Favoritism/Differential Treatment

Parental differential treatment is the degree to which parents treat each child in the family differently. Studies have found that most parents report that they have to be a different parent to each of their children (Dunn and Plomin 1990; McGuire 2002). For instance, parents often indicate that one child needs more attention compared to the siblings. This does not necessarily mean that one child …

3 minute read

Reproduction

Depression - Adults, Children And Adolescents

Depression in adults can often have a negative impact on interpersonal relationships. Depressed people evaluate their social skills negatively, reporting that they do not enjoy, and are not very adept at, socializing (Davis 1982; Lewinsohn et al. 1980). Independent observers have documented that depressed people have fewer social skills than nondepressed individuals (Segrin 2000). The relationship…

35 minute read

Infertility

Assisted Reproductive Technologies - Basic Art Procedures, Variations On The Procedures, Medical Risks Of Arts, Ethical And Religious Perspectives On Arts - Conclusion

The term assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) refers to a variety of procedures that enable people to reproduce without engaging in genital intercourse. Most people who use ARTs do so because they are infertile and other methods of treating their infertility have proven unsuccessful. Some people without fertility problems also use ARTs to minimize the risk of transmitting certain genetic diso…

3 minute read

Development - Cognitive, Self - EMOTIONAL, MORAL

Cognitive-developmental psychology traditionally coped with cross-cultural similarity by positing culture-general theories of knowledge development. The most famous of these theories was that proposed by Jean Piaget. Piaget suggested that reasoning in all kinds of cognitive domains (e.g., moral reasoning, physical reasoning, and logical reasoning) progressed through a series of universal stages th…

61 minute read

Fertility - Conception, Reproductive System, Infertility, Medical Procedures To Increase Fertility, Conclusion

The conceptions of human life and death are processes full of symbolic and cultural meanings. How the social meaning of human reproduction is constructed depends on the given sociopolitical context. Although the planet as a whole tries to cope with the consequences of overpopulation, in many developed countries governments are worried about the falling birth rates. When studying reproduction and t…

1 minute read

Substitute Caregivers - Effects of Substitute Care on Child Outcomes

Increases in the employment of mothers of young children have focused attention on the issue of substitute care (sometimes called nonmaternal care) of young children. In the United States, nearly 60 percent of all women with infants are in the paid labor force (Bachu and O'Connell 2000), and the majority of these children begin nonmaternal care prior to the age of four months for an average…

9 minute read

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) - Current Knowledge Of Sids, How Sids Affects The Family

Developmental Disabilities - Causes Of Developmental Disabilities, How Do Different Countries Treat People With Developmental Disabilities?, Impact On The Marital Relationship And The Family

The term developmental disabilities was introduced in the United States in the late 1960s as a term to refer to the disabilities of mental retardation, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy. Parent leaders Elizabeth Boggs and Ilse Helsel advocated for the term in an effort to unify the political efforts of what was then the National Association of Retarded Children and United Cerebral Palsy Association (Pe…

1 minute read

Filial Responsibility - Why Is The Issue Pertinent?, Filial Responsibility Laws, Filial Responsibility Expectations, Filial Responsible Behavior

Filial responsibility describes the sense of personal obligation or duty that adult children feel for protecting, caring for, and supporting their aging parents (Schorr 1980). Filial responsibility is evident in both attitudes and behaviors of adult children, frequently finding expression in assistance with household tasks and shopping, maintenance of personal contact, provision of affection and e…

less than 1 minute read

Surrogacy - Contexualizing Surrogacy, Cultural/legal Implications

Surrogate motherhood is one of many currently available forms of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) that have developed in response to the increasing number of individuals/couples who find themselves unable to conceive a child on their own. Surrogate motherhood involves the services of a woman who agrees to carry/gestate a child for the express purpose of surrendering that child to the inte…

3 minute read