Marriage/
Separation
Separation
To determine the benefits of this life milestone, sociologists need to use longitudinal studies to avoid the "selection effect." Having done so, it seems like it does have real benefits such as lower rates of substance abuse and greater self-reported sense of responsibility.
What is marriage?
This is a person who does unpaid care work and housework at home for their family.
What is a homemaker?
Although this is a popular trope, it is not widely treated as a predictable or isolated event in most people's lives. Experts most often treat mid-life as a long stage with its own unique stressors, just like other life stages.
What is a "midlife crisis"?
Women tend to earn less after they have children. Part of this is due to discrimination in hiring, promotion, and pay-raises.
What is the motherhood penalty?
This is the official, legal dissolution of a marriage. Rates of this went up as women gained more financial independence, peaked in the late 1970s, but have declined since then.
What is divorce?
This is when work responsibilities and family responsibilities compete, making it difficult for an individual to fulfill the demands of one or the other.
What is work-family conflict or spillover?
A 1993 law requiring up to 12 weeks unpaid leave for workers who need it for medical reasons or to care for family members (birth, adoption, illness).
What is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
What is corporal punishment?
This is a legal or religious decision that determines that a marriage was never valid.
What is an annulment?
This is a household in which both spouses have paid work outside the home.
What is a dual-income family?
A social institution that demands total commitment from its members and overrides the established separation of social life into different spheres, such as work, home, leisure, politics, and religion.
What is a "greedy institution"?
Under this style of parenting, kids are expected to make their own decisions with few or no parental restraints.
What is permissive parenting?
This means a couple with a romantic/sexual relationship that lives together when they are unmarried. Very commonly, but not always, these couples get married eventually.
What is cohabitation?
This is the term for the family dynamic in which a woman is still more likely to spend more time on housework or care work, even if they are employed.
What is the "second shift"?
This model explains a population-level shift from high birthrates to low birthrates. This shift often correlates with levels of education and economic prosperity.
What is the demographic transition?
Under this style of parenting, parents exercise maximum control and expect unquestioning obedience.
What is authoritarian parenting?
This is any family that includes stepparents, stepsiblings, or half-siblings.
What is a blended family?
If women can pursue their own careers, they are less likely to be economically motivated to get married or to stay in a failing marriage. This effect is a likely reason for the increasing divorce rate in the 1970s.
What is the independence effect?
Using one’s own cultural worldview and cultural values as the baseline and standard to evaluate another’s cultural behavior or standards
What is ethnocentrism?
What is authoritative parenting?