Question 2a

I received questions about the second part of Question 2a – what kind of research are you looking for?

Some research looks at just one predictive factor at a time – e.g. that people who marry young are more likely to get divorced.

Research with more nuance looks at two or more factors. In class, we studied a graph that showed the divorce percentage of people who married young across the length of the marriage. But there was more than one line: that rate was calculated for groups defined by the second factor, race/ethnicity. So we were looking at two factors at once: early marriage and race/ethnicity. The impact of early marriage was much stronger in some race/ethnic groups than others.

So divorce was the outcome, and the two factors were age at marriage and race/ethnicity.

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Exam 5 Narrative Questions

Narrative Questions Exam 5

Notice that these questions are each worth 15 points.  This indicates that the answer should be a well-developed essay!

1.  Answer ONE of the following questions.    (15 pts)

a)     Describe the four types of child abuse and the magnitude of each type.
Describe two of the five factors discussed in your text that contribute to child abuse.

b)     A common question is ‘why do women stay in abusive situations? What helps them leave?’ How would you answer this question?

c)     Why is gender-based violence is an international human rights issue?

2.  Answer ONE of the following questions.    (15 pts)

a)     Describe the historical trends in divorce in the U.S.  Discuss the factors that make it more like for a couple to divorce, and those that reduce the chance of divorce.  Be sure to explain at least one piece of research from the book or class lectures that considers more than one factor at a time (controls for one factor while looking at another).

b)     Describe some of the consequences of divorce for children, including the way(s) in which the government intervenes in family life through the Friend of the Court, as seen inThe Vanishing Fathervideo.  Be sure to explain at least one piece of research from the book or the video that considers more than one factor at a time (controls for one factor while looking at another).

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Revised Schedule

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the semester, adjusted for the day we lost due to illness. Note that we will be omitting Chapter 15; we will read a few important pages of it in class.

Wed	8-Dec	Missed due to professor illness
Fri	10-Dec	Trends & Predictors of Divorce	Ch 14, p. 436-456
Mon	13-Dec	Impact of Divorce, Remarriage on Children- Pt 1	Ch 14, p. 456-470
Wed	15-Dec	Impact of Divorce, Remarriage on Children – Pt 2	Ch 14, p. 456-470
Fri	17-Dec	Three Surprising Findings - Final “Paper”	Finding the findings

 

Three Surprising Findings – Last Class

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On the last day of class, you will provide a mini-review of everything we’ve learned.  Here’s how.

No reading is assigned for the last class.  Instead, you will do a brief written assignment, part of which you will share in class.

Divide your text into three parts:

• Chapter 1 to 6 (Sociology basics),
• Chapter 7 to 11 (Family Life)
• Chapter 12 to 14

In each section of the textbook, find one research finding that was surprising, interesting, amazing, nothing you had ever heard before, made you stop and think, made you have a strong emotion, made you curious – anything that grabbed your attention.
(Be sure it is a research finding, NOT a vignette or example about a particular family.)

For each of the three findings:
Write a brief summary of the finding.  Then explain why it grabbed your attention. If it describes something you did not know happened, briefly state what your old view of the matter was, and how it changed.  If it was something that evoked a strong reaction, explore why this finding made you happy, depressed, disgusted, scared.  If you thought it was interesting, explain why – perhaps you had a reason to expect something different, or you had never questioned a particular view of the world.
All three findings together should be no more than 2 double-spaced pages.

In class:
Be prepared to briefly describe your findings and what grabbed you about them.  We’ll be going around the room; if someone reports on one of your findings before the random numbers get to you, choose a different one.

There will be donuts at this end-of-semester celebration. Bring your appetite.

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Learning Objectives Chapter 14

After reading this chapter, you should understand the following:

1. How are divorce rates measured?
2. How do divorce rates vary across cultures?
3. How have divorce rates varied historically in the United States?
4. What factors are associated with divorce?
5. What are the dimensions of the divorce experience?
6. What are the consequences of divorce for children?

Also recall information from The Vanishing Father video:

1. Point of view of the Friend of the Court
2. What McLanahan’s research shows (several episodes in film)
3. Conflicting points of view with McLanahan
4. Geoffrey Canada’s research on the importance of fathers
5. Which factors from the text you see in the live of the families portrayed

Also recall the information from the PowerPoint presentation:

Learning Objectives Chapter 13

After reading this chapter, you should understand the following:

1. Why gender-based violence is an international human rights issue.
2. How Americans define and measure family violence.
3. The patterns underlying dating and spousal violence.
4. The nature of child abuse, including the causes and consequences of child abuse.
5. Who are the perpetrators and victims of elder abuse?
6. What are the primary explanations for intimate-partner violence?

Also study your notes from the PowerPoint presentation:

Causes of Fertility Decline

A student dropped by to ask about the essay question pointing to three causes of Fertility Decline from Demographic Winter.  (There is a link in the comments that lets you watch the film online.)

Here’s some information to help you:

The film lists five over-arching causes:

• Increased numbers of women in the workforce
• Sexual revolution (more people cohabiting and having sex outside of marriage, later age at marriage, more widespread use of contraception and invention of the pill)
• Prosperity (nations getting greater wealth, or more people in nations getting greater wealth. One way of looking at “prosperity” is to consider its opposite – poverty – and consider evidence that some developing nations may have less poverty now – look at India and Bangladesh)
• Divorce – we haven’t yet studied divorce, but we did see factors that increase marital stability. The opposite of “stability” is instability – which for marriage is separation and divorce.
• Inaccurate assumptions – mostly dealing with assumptions that the population is growing because of the number of children born (“breeding like rabbits”) rather than longer lifespan (“not dying like flies”), but also about the amount of food available, about environmental degradation (is it more people, or more high consumption people?), etc.  Built in would also be assumptions about the rewards and costs of having a child.

The questions regarding Demographic Winter are a higher level of question than we have had so far.  They ask you to draw together knowledge to build an argument – a level of thought called “synthesis” which is more complex than just repeating things back.  Put on your thinking caps and let the rocketship take off!

Classroom Change; Dem.Winter on YouTube

Our classroom for Family and Society has been permanently shifted to Tower 3131 for the rest of the semester.  (Yay! No more formaldehyde fumes!)

Dominic told me after class that he located all of the film Demographic Winter on YouTube, and that he will post a link in the comments.

Office Hours November 30

Sister Celine died this weekend. The Benedictine Sisters will hold the wake and funeral for Sister Celine on Tuesday morning, November 30. I will not have my usual office hours so that I can attend those events.

Instead, I will have Office Hours 2:00-3:00 p.m. on November 30.

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Exam #4 – Preparation + Essay Questions

For Exam #4, you want to be sure to study the textbook for the chapters we have covered, and the in-class lectures and explanations of it

• Parenting and socialization
• Family and Work
• Aging Family

You also want to consider the information in our class PowerPoint and videos:

• Socialization PowerPoint
  including Parenting Styles graphic with two dimensions
• Cross-cultural socialization and its impact on cognitive development
  (video with Australian children whose brains are shaped by the tasks they undertake)
• Media impact on children (videos in PowerPoint)
• How media change family relationships (“Basic Training” video about corporate research into nagging and how to promote it)
• Fatherhood videos
• Demographic Winter (60-minute video; synopsis handed out in class)

The Essay Questions were handed out in class or click on this link: Exam 4 Narrative Questions