PhD thesis 1. FEB 2014
Freedom, equality and community in the family with teenagers
Authors:
Children, Adolescents and Families
Children, Adolescents and Families
This dissertation studies practices of routines, relations and rules in Danish families with at least one adolescent living at home. It investigates the socioeconomic background for these family practices and the relationships between family socioeconomic resources and family practices on the one hand and adolescent risk behavior, life satisfaction and experience of autonomy on the other.
Using statistical latent class analysis drawing on sociological and social psychological theory, the dissertation develops two typologies of everyday practice in families with teenagers – one based on mothers’ experience of family practice and one based on adolescents’. These typologies then function as dependent variables in logistic regression analyses of the socioeconomic background of family practice and as independent variables explaining adolescents’ risk behavior, life satisfaction and experience of autonomy.
The study finds that Danish mothers, in accordance with Diana Baumrind’s (1966) social psychological theory, can be classified in three types of family practice: an authoritative, a permissive and an authoritarian type. The authoritarian type of mother combines an emotionally close relationship with her son/ daughter with relatively strict norms regarding the adolescent’s use of alcohol and cigarettes and having sex at home. The permissive mother also has a close relationship with her adolescent child but is much more lenient when it comes to norms on alcohol, smoking and sex. Finally, the relationship between the authoritarian type of mother and her child is more emotionally distant. Her strictness regarding alcohol, smoking and sex lies in between the two other groups but she uses sanctions more frequently.
When investigating the socioeconomic background for these three types, I find the authoritative type to be overrepresented among high-educated families, in families where the adolescent has a handicap or a long-term illness, among older mothers and in families where the adolescent is a girl. On the contrary it is underrepresented among single parents and in families where the parents have or have had an alcohol problem. The permissive type is overrepresented among low-educated families and among younger mothers but underrepresented in families where the adolescent had behavioral problems earlier in childhood. Like the authoritative type, the permissive type is underrepresented among single parents. The authoritarian type is, like the authoritative type, overrepresented among single-educated families, but is otherwise overrepresented in families with economic and alcohol problems and in families where the adolescent had behavioral problems earlier in childhood. The authoritarian type is also more widespread among single parents. The combination of high education and authoritarian family practice is interesting as the result differs from that of earlier studies showing the authoritarian practice to be more widespread in families with a low educational level and few socioeconomic resources. I interpret this result as an expression of a high level of stress in some high-educated families caused by difficulties in combining family and work life.
This statistical picture suggests that different explanatory models are needed to explain the socioeconomic background of the three family practice types. The permissive type is thus explained as an expression of class-cultural preferences for a friendly, equal and present-oriented family practice. In contrast, the affiliation with the authoritarian type seems to be a consequence of stress and economic, social and behavioral problems in childhood.
Further analyses of the relationship between the three family practice types and adolescent risk behavior show that authoritative mothers have the least risk-taking adolescents while adolescents with authoritarian mothers show the highest level of risk-taking. Socioeconomic resources in the home impact the risk-behavior of the adolescents as poverty, unemployment and a low educational level in general is related to increasing adolescent risk behavior. This relationship is not affected when family practice is included in the model. This means family practice in this study is an additive rather than a mediating factor in the relationship between family socioeconomic resources and adolescent risk behavior. Another analysis however shows that family socioeconomic resources and family practice interact as I find that the relationship between practice and selected types of risk behavior to be stronger in families with few resources in the adolescents’ childhood than in other families.
The analysis of adolescents’ experience of family practice reveals four empirical types. I name these ‘the democratic family-oriented’, ‘the democratic individual-oriented’, ‘the hierarchical family-oriented’ and the ‘disintegrated individual-oriented’ types. These types are based on Anthony Giddens’ theory about the spread of a democratic family type with a strong focus on the individual during the 20th century. In accordance with his theory I classify the types by their individualism, their generational equality and their emotional closeness measured by the frequency the parents acknowledge the adolescents and the frequency of parent-adolescent conversations.
The democratic family-oriented type is dependent, equal, democratic and emotional close. The democratic individual-oriented is independent, equal, democratic and medium emotional close. The hierarchical family-oriented is dependent, unequal, undemocratic and shows a relatively high level of acknowledgement but only few parent-adolescent conversations. Finally, the disintegrated individual-oriented type is independent, equal but undemocratic and emotional distant.
This analysis shows that families with high-educated parents more than other families strive to balance individual and common needs but it also shows that the process is difficult. Testing the relationship between family practice and adolescent autonomy and life satisfaction, I finally find that adolescents in the individual-oriented families are less satisfied with life and experience less autonomy than adolescents in the family-oriented types.
Using statistical latent class analysis drawing on sociological and social psychological theory, the dissertation develops two typologies of everyday practice in families with teenagers – one based on mothers’ experience of family practice and one based on adolescents’. These typologies then function as dependent variables in logistic regression analyses of the socioeconomic background of family practice and as independent variables explaining adolescents’ risk behavior, life satisfaction and experience of autonomy.
The study finds that Danish mothers, in accordance with Diana Baumrind’s (1966) social psychological theory, can be classified in three types of family practice: an authoritative, a permissive and an authoritarian type. The authoritarian type of mother combines an emotionally close relationship with her son/ daughter with relatively strict norms regarding the adolescent’s use of alcohol and cigarettes and having sex at home. The permissive mother also has a close relationship with her adolescent child but is much more lenient when it comes to norms on alcohol, smoking and sex. Finally, the relationship between the authoritarian type of mother and her child is more emotionally distant. Her strictness regarding alcohol, smoking and sex lies in between the two other groups but she uses sanctions more frequently.
When investigating the socioeconomic background for these three types, I find the authoritative type to be overrepresented among high-educated families, in families where the adolescent has a handicap or a long-term illness, among older mothers and in families where the adolescent is a girl. On the contrary it is underrepresented among single parents and in families where the parents have or have had an alcohol problem. The permissive type is overrepresented among low-educated families and among younger mothers but underrepresented in families where the adolescent had behavioral problems earlier in childhood. Like the authoritative type, the permissive type is underrepresented among single parents. The authoritarian type is, like the authoritative type, overrepresented among single-educated families, but is otherwise overrepresented in families with economic and alcohol problems and in families where the adolescent had behavioral problems earlier in childhood. The authoritarian type is also more widespread among single parents. The combination of high education and authoritarian family practice is interesting as the result differs from that of earlier studies showing the authoritarian practice to be more widespread in families with a low educational level and few socioeconomic resources. I interpret this result as an expression of a high level of stress in some high-educated families caused by difficulties in combining family and work life.
This statistical picture suggests that different explanatory models are needed to explain the socioeconomic background of the three family practice types. The permissive type is thus explained as an expression of class-cultural preferences for a friendly, equal and present-oriented family practice. In contrast, the affiliation with the authoritarian type seems to be a consequence of stress and economic, social and behavioral problems in childhood.
Further analyses of the relationship between the three family practice types and adolescent risk behavior show that authoritative mothers have the least risk-taking adolescents while adolescents with authoritarian mothers show the highest level of risk-taking. Socioeconomic resources in the home impact the risk-behavior of the adolescents as poverty, unemployment and a low educational level in general is related to increasing adolescent risk behavior. This relationship is not affected when family practice is included in the model. This means family practice in this study is an additive rather than a mediating factor in the relationship between family socioeconomic resources and adolescent risk behavior. Another analysis however shows that family socioeconomic resources and family practice interact as I find that the relationship between practice and selected types of risk behavior to be stronger in families with few resources in the adolescents’ childhood than in other families.
The analysis of adolescents’ experience of family practice reveals four empirical types. I name these ‘the democratic family-oriented’, ‘the democratic individual-oriented’, ‘the hierarchical family-oriented’ and the ‘disintegrated individual-oriented’ types. These types are based on Anthony Giddens’ theory about the spread of a democratic family type with a strong focus on the individual during the 20th century. In accordance with his theory I classify the types by their individualism, their generational equality and their emotional closeness measured by the frequency the parents acknowledge the adolescents and the frequency of parent-adolescent conversations.
The democratic family-oriented type is dependent, equal, democratic and emotional close. The democratic individual-oriented is independent, equal, democratic and medium emotional close. The hierarchical family-oriented is dependent, unequal, undemocratic and shows a relatively high level of acknowledgement but only few parent-adolescent conversations. Finally, the disintegrated individual-oriented type is independent, equal but undemocratic and emotional distant.
This analysis shows that families with high-educated parents more than other families strive to balance individual and common needs but it also shows that the process is difficult. Testing the relationship between family practice and adolescent autonomy and life satisfaction, I finally find that adolescents in the individual-oriented families are less satisfied with life and experience less autonomy than adolescents in the family-oriented types.
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Det samfundsvidenskabelige fakultet, Københavns Universitet
