Parenting II

The Family Systems Model (Belsky)

• Nuclear families• Three relationships within the triad• Triadic System- 3 components interact with

each other, mutually influencing relationships within the family

– Marital Relationship– Parenting– Infant Behavior and development

Family Influences/effects

• Direct Influences/effects (these are reciprocal or bidirectional)

• When each relationship affects or is affected by another relationship

or• Occur when each member of the family

affects or is affected by another’s behavior

Family Systems ModelMarital Relationship

Parenting Child Development

Father Mother

Child---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marital/parenting

• Marital relationship impacts parenting styles

– Secure relationship, supportive spouse, team effort provides an emotional and physical boost to primary caregiver

– Equal partnership- If the father takes a more significant role in caregiving, this may improve his parenting skills

Parenting/chi dev

• Parenting influences infant development (lots of examples)

– Responsive parents promotes a secure attachment

– Parents who provide a stimulating environment enhance development in a number of ways.

– Goodness of fit

Chi dev/marital

• Infant influences martial relationship– Starts as a couple but after birth becomes

a mother and father relationship – less (or no) time as a “couple”– Difficult infant, hard to care for, may stress

out caregiver who then lashes out at spouse.

– Lausanne Triadic play

Indirect Influences

• Occurs when one component of the model (or one family member’s behavior) influences another component THROUGH its effects on the remaining component.

• For example, marital relationship affects child development through its effects on parenting

– Couple in conflict frequently– fighting/in conflict less available

emotionally and ability to parent suffers– Child’s grades suffer

Family Systems Model

Marital Relationship

Parenting Child Development

Indirect or direct? What direction?• CJ works all day and comes home tired and pays little, if

any, attention to Anika. Anika becomes aggressive to get CJs attention.

• Jay is a temperamentally difficult infant who is hard to soothe. This puts his parents at odds with each other as to how to respond. Disagreements between the partners reduces each individual parent’s ability to provide the most responsive care.

• Jason’s parents are fighting and the dad becomes abusive to the mom. Jason steps in to protect the mom and the dad physically abuses Jason. Jason ends up with a broken rib.

Indirect or direct?• Rebecca, who is very low on adaptability and very

high on rhythmicity has parents who are very erratic in their pattern of child care. This is because of their constant fighting with each other over their ability to be tolerant of their daughter’s difficult behavior.

• Tasha failed most of her classes in Junior High this year and her mother is so upset by this that she begins drinking heavily. Her mother won’t stop drinking because she is so depressed. Tasha’s father divorces her mother because of her drinking.

• Your turn: one of each.

Parenting as a Developmental Role

• Dependency Independence

• Infancy- Parents role is very demanding– Meet all of the needs of the infant– Responsive caregiving– Attempts to create a stimulating

environment

Parenting as a Developmental Role

• Early Childhood– Foster Independence

• Children respond with the social emotional characteristics described previously (social referencing, stranger/separation anxiety, etc)

– Social, emotional, skills training.• Parents model and instruct directly

– Provide experiences/opportunities

Parenting as a Developmental Role

• Early School years– Facilitate educational experiences

through involvement– Facilitate social opportunities

• When to intercede and when to hold back?• Is it okay to let your child make mistakes?

Parenting as a Developmental Role

• Adolescence– Set limits– Provide guidance but…– Facilitate independence