Analysis of Articles from the Media - Article Example

? Media Report Media Report Article Curran, Ogolsky, Hazen, and Bosch studied the effects of family conflict on parents prior to their having children. These researchers wanted to understand the influences of parenting styles that the adults received to see whether they were predictors of their own parenting styles. They found that certain types of marital conflicts are able to be predicted because many parents are creating their marriages in the way that they saw their parents present their marriage. The course topics that this relates to are conflict, family crises and crisis management as well as the troubled family and divorce. The authors present the understanding that there are many factors that can predict whether a family will stay together or get a divorce. They talk about the issue of stonewalling and how it damages the communication in the marriage. Many of the theories that we read about talked about communication between family members or they talk about the family as a unit. In this article, it was important to look at the family as a unit and how they interacted with each other. The authors were looking for patterns in the behavior of the adults who had children within seven years of their having the child. One theory that can be applied to this article is Bowlby’s Attachment Theory. The authors talked a small amount about this but they mentioned that those adults who experienced a lack of attachment were more apt to have problems in their own marriage. The family ecology theory could also be used in this case because the authors were looking at the family and their larger environment. Conflict Theory is also important to this article because it talks about the types of conflicts that people have and why they have them. The article relates to marriage and family because the authors were attempting to understand those issues that stop a family from functioning well after they have had children. Also, the article reflects the issues of divorce and looks for those factors that stop a family from staying together after they have children. Divorce is a very important issue since some statistics state that about 50% of marriages end in divorce (Divorce.com, 2011). Divorce is also a social issue because it affects not only the two people getting divorced, but also their children and their friends. Some people are very religious and feel that people should not get divorced because it is against what their religious teaching states. In this article, there was a consistent theme about divorce and how to predict it. The authors were very specific about how they categorized this particular article and their study had to do only with divorce. Article 2 One of the most controversial topics today on the topic of marriage is same sex marriage. The most recent controversy came from New York because they decided to make gay marriage legal. Kaplan (2011) is one of many reporters who wrote about this topic. Kaplan’s article discusses the fact that so many people are opposed to gay marriage. In fact, in New York, some people resigned from their jobs rather than to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians. The article shows that the controversy is mostly a religious one and that those who are opposed, are opposed based on religious issues. The concept of gay marriage is controversial but the textbook gave some information about it. The theory that seems to fit this article the best is the family developmental theory. This theory emphasizes the patterns and systems that families go through as they develop. The same sex family may go through more changes and challenges because they have been recipients of prejudice, anger and fear from some people. The content relates to marriage and the family because same sex couples are fighting for their rights to be a family in the way that heterosexual couples are families. They want the same rights as everyone else –to have a wedding ceremony that is legal and to have the benefits from their spouse and more. The textbook talks about same sex marriage in chapter 11, Marital Relationships over the Family Life Cycle. The content of the article reflects a social issue that is national because of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. In this act, marriage is defined: “the word “marriage” means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife” (Alliance Defense Fund, 2008). Many states are challenging this law by accepting on the local level the right of anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, to wed. The theme in this article is about how people are protesting because of their religion and wanting to stop same sex marriages. Article 3 One of the most difficult situations that many women face (in my opinion) is domestic violence. Dwyer (2011) reported on one women’s plight as she dealt with an abusive husband. Barbara Sheehan is a woman that has been accused of brutally murdering her husband after she had enough of him hurting her. The article describes what happened, in good detail, and why she is currently awaiting trial. There are several factors in the article that lead the reader to believe that Mrs. Sheehan was justified in killing her husband. The obvious theory in this article is conflict theory. The couple probably needed marriage counseling and Mr. Sheehan needed individual counseling to deal with his rage. Conflict theory is often used to understand violence in a family. According to Sommer (2003) conflict theory states that conflict is necessary inside a family in order to make sure that the family continues to function. Sommer also states that family members must be able to express themselves or they can resent what is happening and this is what often turns to violence. The topic relates to chapters 14, 19 and 20. These are the chapters that talk about power, communication, conflict, families and crisis and so forth. All of these topics are the themes present in this article as well as more drama and cutting edge news. The issue is important on a national level because domestic violence is still a very big part of our world. According to Domestic Violence Statistics (2011) a woman is assaulted or beaten ever nine seconds and across the world, women have been coerced into sex, beaten, or otherwise abused in some way. The abuser is usually a family member and domestic violence is the “leading cause of injury in women” (Domestic Violence Statistics, 2011). The consistent them in the article is about showing what happens to someone who is accused of killing someone who has created violence. Article 4 Balancing the family and career is very important when people trying to raise a family and have a profession they enjoy. The article by Pain (2011) reports on the life of John Apergis-Schoute, a neuroscientist, and how he keeps involvement with his family though he travels a lot for his profession. The issues of balancing work and family has been a part of every working family’s life. Chapter 12 in our textbook talks about work, family roles, and material resources and describes how these issues interact. The themes of work versus career, keeping the family together, dual career families, and successful families are inline with this article. The content relates to marriage and family because it is difficult for families to stay together today, especially when they have financial problems. This family has found a way to stay together and to make family a priority. This theme is very important because we have so many families that fall apart. The content of the article reflects the social issue of marriage and why it is important to keep it together. It reflects this issue of dual career families and their difficulty with balancing home and work. DeVault (2010) gives an in-depth look at how dual career families balance and the challenges that they can have when both parents work out of the house. She quotes a report by the Work Institute that said that 59% of these families reported conflict in their families when both parents worked outside the home. This was reported by fathers more than mothers, although 39% of the mothers in their study also reported conflicts in their families (DeVault, 2010). Article 5 Sullivan (2011) has written a very informative article about divorce and what an individual should do when they know that they are headed for divorce. The article is short, but gives a wealth of information about who to talk to, what to do, and what to consider as the individual moves from being a couple to being single again. Sullivan (2011) tells in simple language the information that is needed. She has presented easy to understand terminology. As an example, she tells the reader to check with a family planning attorney so that the individual can have a better chance of understanding what they will be up against when they are single again. Structural functionalism could be used in this article to explain the reasons why the family structure has fallen down. Also, since many people have a concept about marriage that has been given to them, it is clear that they may attempt to set up a certain structure to live within that does not work after awhile. The article relates to marriage and family in that it gives practical advice to individuals about what to look for when they know they are heading towards divorce. The article is best supported to chapters 14, 19 and 20 because divorce is about control and talking control of ones life after divorce, but it also is about dealing with the after affects of divorce. Chapter 21 could also be important to this topic because it deals with remarriage and how to deal with another divorcee’s children along with your own children. The content of the article, as stated previously, deals with the social issue that is national in this case. The statistics show that about 50% of marriages end in divorce (Divorce.com, 2011). This particular article is geared towards Coloradoans, but the advice is good for anyone. Article 6 Baumrind, Larzelere, and Owens (2010) studied parents who had children in preschool and how they affected the lives of their children as they grew to be adolescents. They were particularly interested in how children related to competence and emotional health when they were confronted by parents who had “confrontive and coercive power-assertive practices” (Baumrind, Larzeler, and Owens, 2010, p. 156, “Synopsis”). This article relates to Chapter 7 of the text, which is parent-child relationships, especially the part about socialization and discipline. Brooks (2005) talks about the concept of resilience and this concept could be attached to this article. What the authors are really talking about is the child’s resistance to the type of authority that the parent sets up for them. Brooks makes the point that all children, regardless of whether they have experienced trauma or not, have a certain degree of stress in their daily life and this makes them able to adjust to their world. In the article by Brooks (2010), he distinguishes between several parenting styles: unqualified power assertion, arbitrary discipline, psychological control and severe discipline. These issues support the idea of resilience because in each situation, children would have to deal with a way to make sense of their world. Discipline is a very important of marriage and the family, especially when the parenting styles of the two parents are different. This is an area that suggests a social issue because across the Internet, there are many sites that present information about parenting, and there are mandatory parenting classes that some people must take (especially when they have been victims of child abuse and they have been in trouble for violence against a spouse or child). In this researcher’s opinion, parenting is not a social issue so much as how parenting issues affect the individual as they develop. There is a lot of literature on attachment theory that states that children who are attached well to their primary caregiver are also able to cope with the world around them better. When the child has a difficult attachment with their primary caregiver, they are often at odds in their relationship with others (Cherry, 2011). I think this means that parents must be educated about the damage they can do to children with certain parenting styles. Themes, Similarities and Differences in Articles There are consistent themes in the articles that are related. As an example, the articles about divorce say similar things. They provide information about what someone should do if they are going through a divorce or if they know their marriage is heading to divorce. The articles on divorce and domestic violence both have the themes of power and violence. As an example, in some cases, the violent spouse was attempting to use power over the person they were abusing. In the divorce articles, there was the element of getting the upper hand on the spouse if one would apply the information in the article. All of the articles had something to do with marriage and/or family in some way and were able to be related to the course easily. References Alliance Defense Fund. (2008). Doma Watch: Federal defense of marriage act. Retrieved from http://www.domawatch.org/about/federaldoma.html Baumrind, D., Larzelere, R.E. and Owens, E.B. (2010). Effects of preschool parents' power assertive patterns and practices on adolescent development. Parenting: Science & Practice, 10, (3). 157-201. doi: 10.1080/15295190903290790 Brooks, R.B. (2005). The power of parenting. Retrieved from www.lifespan.org/bradley/events/parenting_matters/powerofparenting.pdf Cherry, K. (2011). Attachment Theory: An Overview of attachment theory. About.com Psychology. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/ loveandattraction/a/attachment01.htm Curran, M., Ogolsky, B., Hazen, N., and Bosch. (2011) Understanding Marital Conflict 7 Years Later From Prenatal Representations of Marriage. Family Process, 50 (2). 221-234. Doi: 10.1111/j.1545-5300.2011.01356.x DeVault, G. (27 July 2010). Dual career couples—tips for making it work. The Glass Hammer: Smart Women in Numbers. Retrieved from http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2010/07/27/dual-career-couples-%E2%80%93-tips-for-making-it-work/ Divorce.com (2011). Worldwide divorce statistics. Retrieved from http://www.divorce.com/article/worldwide-divorce-statistics Domestic Violence Statistics. (2011). Domestic violence statistics. Retrieved from http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/domestic-violence-statistics/ Dwyer, J. (26 April 2011). A court battle over a husband’s rage and a wife who’d had enough. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/nyregion/barbara-sheehan-murder-trial-battered-wifes-mind.html?ref=domesticviolence Kaplan, T. (12 July 2011). Settled in Albany, gay marriage draws opposition. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/nyregion/gay-marriage-settled-in-albany-but-not-for-opponents.html?_r=1&ref=samesexmarriage Pain, E. (21 January 2011). Balancing professional aspirations with family. Journal of Science (Careers). Retrieved from http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2011_01_21/caredit.a1100006 Sommer, R. (2003). Male and female perpetrated partner abuse: testing a diathesis-stress model. Fathers for Life. Retrieved from http://fathersforlife.org/reena_sommer/ reena_sommer_DV_2c.htm Sullivan, K. (2011). Checklist for divorcing couples. Out of Denver Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.outofdenver.com/2011-06/MoneyMatters.asp Read More