Adult Lifestyles

1
CHAPTER 9

• Adult Lifestyles

2
Types of Lifestyles

• Single adults living alone
• Cohabitating Adults
• Married Adults
• Divorced Adults
• Remarried Adults
• Gay and lesbian couples

3
Single Adults Living Alone

• Statistics
• The percentage of single adults living alone has
  risen since the 70s.
• Myths and Stereotypes
• Swinging single
• Desperately lonely suicidal
• Advantages/disadvantages
• Time for decisions about life course
• Ability to develop personal resources
• Freedom to make autonomous decisions
• Opportunity to try out new things
• Privacy
• Increasing pressure to marry
• Odds of living alone for remaining years increase

4
Cohabitating Adults

• Definition living together in a sexual
  relationship without being married
• Statistics
• Percentage of cohabitating adults has increased
  since 1970s by about 50
• Researchers have found that cohabitation either
  leads to no differences in marital quality or
  that it is not good for a marriage (linked with
  divorce).
• Advantages
• Easier to end relationship/arrangement than to
  divorce
• No official ties
• Relationships tend to be more equal between
  partners than in a marriage

5
Cohabitating Adults (cont.)

• Disadvantages
• Arrangements tend to be short-lived
• Disapproval from parents and other family members
• Difficulty owning property jointly
• Uncertain legal rights
• Older adults and cohabitation
• Older men are more likely to cohabit than older
  women
• Cohabitation is usually linked with poverty at
  this age

6
Married Adults

• Statistics
• U.S. still a marrying society
• Marriages occur later more adults are remaining
  single longer
• Divorce is becoming more common
• Adjustments
• Adjustments depend on sociocultural context
• Marital preferences
• Chastity
• Domesticity
• Religion
• Emotional depth/communication
• Expectations
• Spouse is expected to be a lover, friend,
  confidant, counselor, career person, and parent

7
Married Adults (cont.)

• Myths
• Affairs are the main reason for divorce.
• Men are not biologically made for marriage.
• Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.Gender
  differences cause marital problems.
• Strategies for making marriage work
• Use love maps nurture fondness and admiration
  turn toward each other share power use problem
  solving overcome gridlock create shared meaning
• Adjusting to conflict
• Sources of conflict include work, stress,
  in-laws, money, sex, housework, children
• Benefits
• Improves health, longevity
• Individuals less stressed (physically and
  emotionally)

8
Divorced Adults

• Statistics
• Divorce rates increased from 1960s to 1980s then
  slowly began to decrease
• Risk Factors
• Youthful marriage
• Premarital pregnancy
• Low educational level
• Low income
• Timing of occurrenceusually takes place early in
  a marriage (betw. 5th 10th year)
• Age characteristics
• Younger couples usually divorce with heated
  emotions.
• Older couples usually divorce with distant
  relationships (emptiness).

9
Divorced Adults (cont.)

• Stresses/challenges/effects
• Loneliness
• Diminished self-esteem
• Anxiety about unknowns
• Difficulty forming new satisfying relationships
• Higher rates of psychiatric disorders,
  depression, alcoholism, sleep disorders
• Health problems
• Custodial/parenting issues
• Economic concerns

10
Divorced Adults (cont.)

• Coping strategy factors (7)
• Social maturity autonomy internal locus of
  control religiosity work social support a new
  intimate relationship
• Postdivorce pathways (6)
• The enhancers (growing competency)
• The good enoughs (balanced strengths and
  weaknesses)
• The seekers (finding new mates)
• The libertines (enjoy freedom)
• The competent loners (successful loners)
• The defeated (lost after divorce)

11
Remarried Adults

• Timing of occurrence
• Divorced adults remarry within four years after
  divorce.
• Men remarry sooner than women.
• Adjustments
• Stepfamilies
• Drawbacks
• Many remarry for financial reason instead of
  love
• Patterns from earlier marriage(s) may be repeated
• Stress in rearing children

12
Gay and Lesbian Adult Couples

• Similarities w/ heterosexual couples
• Satisfactions, loves, joys, conflicts, are
  similar
• Myths/misconceptions
• One partner is masculine while the other is
  feminine
• They prefer open relationships
• Childrearing
• No difference in childrearing

13
The Family Life Cycle-6 Stages

• Stage 1 Leaving home and becoming a single young
  adult
• Launching
• Stage 2 The new couple (marriage)
• Stage 3 Becoming parents and a family with
  children
• Stage 4 The family with adolescents
• Stage 5 The family at midlife
• Empty nest syndrome
• Boomerang generation
• Stage 6 The family in later life (retirement
  grandparenting)

14
Parenting

• Common myths
• Having children will save a marriage.
• Children will take care of their parents in old
  age.
• Having children gives parents a second chance
  to achieve what they should have achieved
  themselves.
• If parents learn the right techniques, they can
  mold their children into what they want them to
  become.
• Mothers are naturally better parents than
  fathers.
• Parenting is an instinct and requires no
  training.

15
Parenting (cont.)
16
Parenting (cont.)

• Four types of parenting styles
• Authoritarian (restrictive, controlling)
• Do as I say or else.
• Authoritative (disciplinary yet nurturing)
• You shouldnt have done that. Lets
  discuss a
• reasonable punishment.
• Neglectful (uninvolved)
• I dont care what you do.
• Indulgent (involved yet carefree)
• You can do whatever you want to do. Ill
  support you no matter
• what.

17
Parenting (cont.)

• Effects of maternal employment on child
  development
• Is it good or bad for a child to have a mother
  who works outside the home?
• Researchers have found no detrimental effects of
  maternal employment on children. However, when a
  childs mother works during the childs first
  year of life, it can have some negative effects.
• Effects of divorce on child development
• Should parents stay together for the sake of
  their children?
• A majority of children from divorced families
  show no signs of significant adjustment problems.
  However, when compared to children from
  non-divorced families, children of divorced
  families show greater risk for academic,
  externalized, internalized, social, relationship,
  sexual, drug, peer, and self-esteem problems.
• Ethnicity and family relationships/parenting
• Effected by size of family, reliance on kinship
  networks, and levels of income and education.

18
Child Maltreatment

• Four types of child abuse
• Physical abuse
• Child Neglect
• Physical
• Educational
• Emotional
• Sexual abuse
• Emotional abuse

19
Child Maltreatment (cont.)

• Consequences of child abuse during childhood and
  adulthood
• Problems in emotional regulation, attachment,
  peer relations, school, and other psychological
  problems
• Excessive anger, rarely smile, poor peer
  relations, anxiety, personality problems,
  depression, conduct disorder, delinquency,
  language problems, substance abuse