Extending the Conversation on Families

1
Extending the Conversation on Families

• Gender and Parenting

2
What Influences Parenting Styles?

• Prenatal preferences
• Satisfaction w/fatherhood
• Negative Consequences
• Amt of time spent playing w/child
• Perceived problems with child
• Especially for girls

3
Parents Treat Girls and Boys Differently They

• respond more to infant sons vocalizations
  reinforce daughters for being quiet.
• enforce gender-congruent behavior w/toddlers in
  play toy selection
• Toys and play both teach and socialize.

4
Chores Are Significant

• Masculine chores to boys masculine
  toys to boys. (same for girls)
• Chores Toys play a role in occupational
  preferences!

5
Communication is Gendered

• Differences exist in the amount and content of
  communication between parents/children --- as a
  result of gender.
• Mothers speak differently to sons/daughters
• Fathers w/sons exhibit fewer feminine-related
  communication behaviors.
• Fathers w/daughters exhibit more feminine-related
  communication behaviors.

6
Parents and Children Influence Each Other

• Fathers control/direct children more than mothers
  do.
• Mothers engage in more quiet play w/boys than
  fathers do.
• There seems to be more interaction between
  mothers and children than fathers and children.

7
Fathers and Mothers

• When the father is the primary caregiver,
  children are active, vital, vigorous, and smart.
• Neither mothers nor fathers encourage boys to
  develop traits like sensitivity towards others,
  emotional honesty, etc.
• Mothers often subconsciously reinforce
  traditional male/female gender roles in their
  reactions to their sons.

8
Conflict in Families

• Who initiates conflict in a family?
• Parents start 48 of conflicts
• Fathers have less conflict initiated against them
• Sons initiate conflict with mom 3x more often
  than with dad
• Dads initiate disagreements w/daughters 3x more
  often than with sons.

9
Resolving Conflict

• Mothers most frequently involved in working out
  compromises.
• After standoffs, women initiate non-conflict
  activities twice as often as men do.
• Fathers have a major influence on childrens
  conflict styles.
• Effect is virtually permanent.

10
Fatherlessness

• 63 of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
• 90 of all homeless and runaway children are from
  fatherless homes.
• 85 of all children that exhibit behavioral
  disorders come from fatherless homes.
• 80 of rapist motivated with displaced anger come
  from fatherless homes.
• 71 of all high school dropouts come from
  fatherless homes.
• 70 of juveniles in state operated institutions
  come from fatherless homes
• 85 of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a
  fatherless home.
• Nearly 2 of every 5 children in America do not
  live with their fathers.
• There are
• 11 million total custodial mothers
• 2 million total custodial fathers

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What Does This Mean?

• Children from fatherless homes are
• 4.6 times more likely to commit suicide,
• 6.6 times to become teenaged mothers (if they are
  girls, of course),
• 24.3 times more likely to run away,
• 15.3 times more likely to have behavioral
  disorders,
• 6.3 times more likely to be in a state-operated
  institutions,
• 10.8 times more likely to commit rape,
• 6.6 times more likely to drop out of school,
• 15.3 times more likely to end up in prison while
  a teenager.
• And compared to children who are in the care of
  two
• biological, married parents children who are in
  the care
• of single mothers are
• 33 times more likely to be seriously abused (so
  that they will require medical attention), and
• 73 times more likely to be killed.

12
What we know about children from single-mother
families