Families play a major role in children's socialization, the process by which children acquire the social knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes valued by the larger society.

1. Understanding the family
   In recent history, the American family has shifted from the extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents) to the nuclear family (parents and offspring).
   1. The demographics of the American family
      No one structure characterizes the American family. The dominant family structure is the two-parent family, but the percentage of two-parent families has decreased since the 1950s, and the percentage of one-parent homes has increased.
   2. A systems approach
      Systems theory examines the relationships among family members rather than the structure of the family. This approach views the family as a dynamic, self-regulating social unit in which all members influence one another simultaneously. Systems theory regards a single family member as belonging to several subsystems at once; for example, the child has a relationship with parents, siblings, and others. The family alternates between periods of stability and change. The family system is embedded in larger social contexts (e.g., school and peers), and these larger social contexts can affect individual members of the family and interactions between members of the family.
      
      
2. Parents and socialization
   Parents socialize their children through direct training, by serving as models, and by managing many aspects of their children's lives. The child's own behavior influences how the parent responds and is partially responsible for the gradual move away from a parental supervisory role.
   1. Styles of parenting
      Diana Baumrind identified several styles that parents adopt in interacting with their children. The authoritarian parent is strict, values respect for authority, and regulates the child's behavior with threats and punishment. The permissive parent places few demands on the child, allowing the child to make many of his or her own decisions. The authoritative parent regulates the child's behavior by using rewards more than punishment. Authoritative parents also set limits on their children's behavior, but they are supportive and warm in their interactions with their children. The children of authoritative parents tend to have the most desirable characteristics, such as instrumental competence, independence, self-control, and cooperativeness. Children of authoritarian and permissive parents are less likely to exhibit instrumental competence.
      The uninvolved parent is emotionally detached from the child and uncommitted to the parental role. Children of uninvolved parents are more likely to show low self-esteem, increased aggression, less control over impulsiveness, and other less positive behaviors than other children.
   2. Effective parenting
      Parental warmth, or the tendency to express positive emotions and approval towards children, is an important feature of effective parenting. Children whose parents express warmth and support tend to have higher self-esteem, greater empathy, and fewer behavioral problems, perhaps because parental warmth contributes to the child's sense of competence.
      Parents also need to asset control over their children's behavior, setting limits when necessary. Behavioral control is when parents monitor and regulate children's actions, while psychological control is more intrusive parenting that may interfere with the child's growing independence.
      Punishment is a form of power assertion in which the frequency of an undesired behavior is reduced by presenting an aversive stimulus or removing a desired stimulus. Punishment is more effective when provided consistently among caregivers (interagent consistency) and from situation to situation by the same caregiver (intra-agent consistency).
      
      

      Controversy: Should Parents Spank Their Children? Parents often think of spanking when they think of punishment. In fact, 94% of parents of toddlers reported spanking their children in the previous year. Many psychologists believe that physical punishment should not be used at all. Children who are spanked may model that behavior and parents may step over the line to child abuse. Others feel that occasional spanking has no long lasting negative effects, and should be used when all other options have failed. Some research studies have found no differences in children who have been occasionally spanked, while other studies have found parents who spank have children who are at higher risks for aggression and mental health problems.

      
      
      

      Research Applied to Parenting: Managing Noncompliant Children Parents frequently confront oppositional behavior from their children. As an alternative to punishment for dealing with such behavior, Rex Forehand has proposed that parents pay more attention to the desirable behaviors children display, ignore minor inappropriate behaviors, use brief commands to ensure that children understand what is expected and reinforce children when they meet those expectations, and, if necessary, use time-out to deal with noncompliance. The time-out technique physically removes a child behaving in an inappropriate manner and placed him or her in a quiet, neutral place for a two-to-five-minute period.

      
      
   3. Factors that influence parenting strategies
      The types of parenting strategies a parent chooses to control the child's behavior are influenced by the kinds of attributions that the parent makes about the child's behavior. In Theodore Dix and Joan Gruséc's attribution model of socialization, the parent first observes the child's behavior and then makes a causal attribution about the child's intentions. If the attribution is correct, the parent will succeed in controlling the child's behavior. If the attribution is inaccurate, attempts at behavioral control may be ineffective and give rise to negative emotions. Another factor that influences the strategies of parents is their sense of efficacy. Parents who perceive themselves as incompetent may engage in inconsistent parenting practices. The goals parents have for their children also influence their strategies.
      Richard Bell's control theory suggests that the parent-child relationship is influenced by the child's behavioral style as well. Control theory views individuals as having upper and lower limits of tolerance for one another's behaviors. A child who frequently tests the "upper limits" of tolerance is more likely to precipitate an authoritarian, power-assertive parenting style.
      Grazyna Kochanska's research reveals that some children are easier to socialize than others. Some children display committed compliance in that they quickly respond to their parents. These qualities are in turn related to parenting style.
   4. Problems in parenting
      Observational studies of dysfunctional families suggest that maladaptive behavioral patterns are learned from day-to-day family interactions that result from poor child-management strategies.
      Some children appear to be reared in families where a coercive cycle of reciprocal aggression occurs between parent and child. As parents' attempts to control the child escalate, they may too readily acquiesce to their child's inappropriate behaviors, which in turn escalate in frequency and sometimes progress to physical aggression. When parents are taught to use disciplinary techniques that include dispensing more positive reinforcers for desired behaviors, reasoning, and setting clear limits, deviant behaviors decrease substantially.
      Children from abusive homes are more likely to be anxiously attached, show low self-esteem, have learning problems in school, have emotional problems, and be at greater risk for delinquency and violent criminal behavior than are other children. Parents in abusive families tend to rely on a coercive parenting style and power-assertive techniques and are less consistent in their use of positive reinforcement. Characteristics of the child also contribute to the dynamics of abusive family interactions. For example, premature infants are at special risk for abuse because they tend to have high-pitched cries and a less attractive appearance. The members of abusive families often experience greater life stress than members of nonabusive families, and tend to be isolated from the outside world, which leaves them with fewer possibilities for social support.
      
      

      Atypical Development: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder A substantial number of children experiencing physical or sexual abuse exhibit posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These children may experience vivid flashbacks of the event(s) along with sleep and other difficulties. Stress has been shown to have consequences for the brain in animals and human adults which, in turn, could affect learning abilities in abused children. Relaxation training and ways to control thoughts about traumatic events may offer one method of helping to treat the problem.

      
      
   5. Cultural and social class variations in parenting
      Some parental socialization patterns are seen across various cultures. Infants and toddlers, for example, are universally nurtured by parents. By the time children reach school age, parental nurturance has shifted to concern with training children to behave in ways valued by the cultural group.
      Sociocultural beliefs and values play a significant role in parental socialization practices. In cultures that depend on children as an important part of the work force (for example, Kenya and Liberia), parents stress obedience and train children to do chores responsibly. Middle-class American parents, in contrast, stress social interactions and schooling, since most children are not required to work for the society's economic survival. Evidence that culture affects parenting styles also comes from Asian cultures. For example, to control children's behavior, Japanese mothers use less physical punishment and more verbal reasoning than do American mothers.
      Social class differences within a culture also influence parenting styles. Middle-class mothers are more likely to use induction as a discipline strategy, whereas lower-class mothers are more likely to employ power-assertive techniques. Lower-class families are more prone to stress and therefore are more likely to find parenting difficult. Economic hardship may have a negative impact on children because of the distress it causes. However, economic stress may encourage alternative family structures (such as the extended family) and socialization processes (the fostering of interdependence and cooperation) that help meet the needs of the growing child under such circumstances.
      
      
3. Relationships with mothers, fathers, and siblings
   
   1. Mothering versus fathering: are there differences?
      Mother and fathers interact with their newborn infants in similar ways. Shortly after the newborn period, however, fathers tend to be more physical and active when playing with their infants, and mothers tend to be more caring and comforting. Most fathers spend less time with their children than mothers do, even when mothers are employed outside the home. The fathers' relative uninvolvement with caregiving duties is not due to their inability to engage in responsive parenting, but may result partly from a lack of confidence in their caregiving.
      Early studies showing that boys raised without fathers were more likely to have academic and behavioral difficulties were interpreted as evidence of the importance of the identification process. Recent research, however, suggests that the absence of a father as a model or identification figure is not as important as the loss of a father as a source of emotional and financial support. When fathers are highly involved in caregiving activities, they provide their children with more responsive parenting and more cognitively stimulating activities than those experienced by children whose fathers are not involved. Consequently, children of highly involved fathers show fewer stereotyped gender-role beliefs and score higher on tests of cognitive competence.
   2. Siblings
      Only children show higher achievement and intelligence scores and have more positive relationships with their parents than do children with siblings. These advantages are also seen in first-born children and probably result from the increased time that only children and first-borns spend with their parents. The fact that smaller families have higher intelligence scores and show higher self-esteem is consistent with the view that parents in larger families spend less time interacting with their children individually.
      The birth of a sibling also has a large impact, particularly on a first-born child, and can lead to sibling rivalry. Sibling conflict is most likely to develop and persist if the older child perceives a sharp decrease in parental attention. Preparing the older child for the arrival of a sibling and engaging him or her in caring for the sibling can help to reduce sibling rivalry.
      Interactions among siblings change with age. School-age children tend to fight more with siblings than with friends. During adolescence, older siblings are more dominant and nurturant toward younger siblings, but this relationship becomes more egalitarian with the passage of time.
      
      
4. Families in transition
   
   1. Maternal employment
      Children of working mothers, particularly girls, have higher levels of achievement and self-esteem. When a mother returns to work seems to be unrelated to a child's development, although the more hours she works can have some negative consequences, at least early in development. Children of working mothers hold fewer stereotypical beliefs about gender roles than do children of nonworking mothers. It is not maternal employment per se that leads to these positive qualities in children but the interactive style of the mother. Although working mothers spend less time caring for their children, they compensate for loss of mother-child interaction time by setting aside more quality time during evenings and weekends. Another important factor is the mother's attitudes toward mothering, work, and staying at home. A mother who prefers the situation she is in (either working or staying at home) is more likely to provide positive family interactions and have well-adjusted children.
      Because many mothers must work to survive economically, many children are placed in alternative child care situations. Recent research shows that quality day care produces no negative effects on overall development and may improve children's performance on cognitive competence tests years later. Children with day care experience also tend to be more socially competent. Preliminary studies of children enrolled in low-quality day care centers prior to one year of age showed that children displayed several negative effects in kindergarten, such as difficulties with peers. Good day care centers provide educational opportunities along with free time, ample physical space, and materials to stimulate development. Children are members of small classes, and teachers are responsive caregivers who have been well trained. In general, a high-quality day care center is one that mirrors the qualities of good parenting.
   2. The effects of divorce
      The impact of divorce on children is often negative, especially in the first year following the divorce. Many of the negative effects diminish two years after the divorce, especially in girls. Boys are more likely to continue to show negative effects such as increased aggression, noncompliance, and academic difficulties. Negative interaction patterns usually develop as a result of the mother's adoption of an authoritarian parenting style, which, along with decreasing compliance in the children, leads to a coercive cycle of parent-child interactions.
      Young children (six to eight years) have the most difficult time adjusting to divorce, although adolescents are also likely to suffer negative psychological consequences. Negative consequences from divorce can continue even into adulthood. A healthy adaptation to divorce is associated with the parent's adoption of the authoritative parenting style, which usually means reduced stress on the family. The more conflict and negative emotion associated with divorce, the less positive the outcome for children.
   3. Custody arrangements
      . Many children of divorce are placed in the custody of their mothers. However, this arrangement may not be the best, because these children are more likely to suffer economic hardship. Today joint legal custody is often granted. This arrangement, however, can place children in the middle of the hostility and conflict between their divorced parents. The answer to this dilemma remains unclear.
      Children, particularly adolescents, also have difficulty adjusting to stepparents, perhaps because stepparents are less likely to adopt an authoritative parenting style with their stepchildren. Stepparents are often uncertain about what role they should play in parenting.
   4. Single-parent families
      Many children live in single-parent households. These children tend to be at greater risk than children growing up in families where two parents are present. A greater likelihood of developmental success in single-parent households has been found when mothers use effective discipline strategies (firm but warm), allow for increasing autonomy with age, provide structure, and encourage relationships with other male family members. The qualities of good parenting found in other families are also found to be effective in single-parent households.