Chapter 2How to Study Marriage & the FamilyCopyrigh.docx

Chapter 2:
How to Study Marriage & the Family
Copyright 2013 Pearson All Rights Reserved.
Get the Topic
What Models & Methods Do Social Scientists Use in Assessing
the Development of Families?
Family Development TheoryProposes that families proceed
through common, identifiable stagesFamily Life Cycle a theory
that identifies 8 specific stages for families beginning after
marriageStratification – a division into similar layers or groups

Get the TopicFamily Life CourseA model that focuses on how
families integrate changes over time & the meanings that
individual family members give to those changesFamily
CareerThe family experience of an individual over a lifetime4
SubcareersMarital subcareerSexual Experience subcareerParent-
Child subcareerMarital Partners subcareer
Get the Topic
Family Stressors
Get the TopicFamily StrengthsFamily Narrative – made up of
family stories that are told & retold to help define family
history & characterCommon Factors in Strong Families across
CulturesMicro-Social Perspective – focuses on individuals &
single family groupsMacro-Social Perspective – focuses on
groups of families in the community or cultural level

Get the TopicThe Scientific MethodHypothesis – a proposed
explanation of behavior that is not proven but can be
testedScientific Method – a systematic approach to observing
phenomena, drawing conclusions, & testing hypotheses
Get the TopicResearch MethodsQuantitative Research
MethodsUses the scientific method to test a specifically defined
hypothesisUses numbers to describe & explain the issues being
studiedExperimentIndependent Variable – the factor that is
manipulated by the researcherDependent Variable – the factor
that is affected by the independent variableControl Variable –
factors that remain constant across experimental subjects &
through experimental trials
Get the TopicResearch Methods ContinuedQuantitative
Research Methods ContinuedSurveysUsually involve closed
questionsObservationsMust serve a specific research
purposeMust be planned systematicallyMust be recorded
systematicallyMust be related to general principles rather than
specific examplesMust be checked for reliability & validity

Get the TopicResearch Methods ContinuedQuantitative
Research Methods ContinuedObservations Continued
Longitudinal Study – subjects are observed over a long period
of timeCross-Cultural Study – subjects from two or more
cultures are studiedSecondary Data AnalysisUses studies that
have already been completed & analyzes the data in ways not
originally planned
Get the TopicResearch Methods ContinuedQualitative Research
MethodsExamines & interprets an issue to discover underlying
meanings or patterns of relationshipsUses words, pictures, or
objects to describe the issues being studiedCase StudyAn
intensive study of a single case or a small number of cases that
share common characteristicsMay be exploratory, explanatory,
or descriptive
Get the TopicResearch Methods ContinuedQualitative Research
Methods ContinuedEthnography Attempts to understand a group
from the point of view of its memberFocus GroupSmall group
brought together by a researcher to discuss a particular subject
Get the TopicResearch Methods ContinuedEthical: Act without
conflict to the accepted principles of right and wrong that
govern the behavior of a professionCode of Ethics Professional
competenceIntegrityProfessional and scientific
responsibilityRespect for people’s rights, dignity, and
diversitySocial responsibility

Think Marriages & Families
What Theories Guide Researchers in Studying Marriages &
Families?FunctionalismEmphasis on the relationship between
families & societyConflict TheoryEmphasis on conflicts created
by inequalities & power relationshipsSymbolic
InteractionismEmphasis on ways family interaction change &
meanings
Discover Marriages & Families in Action
What Research Can You Do in Your Own Family?A Family
Worksheet

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Jamison 1
Cindy Jamison
Professor Scott Mitchell
English Composition II
3 July 2015
The Self-fulfilling Prophecy of Ted Lavender:
A Psychological Character Study
In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” (1990) soldier Ted
Lavender’s behaviors
and attitude subsequently creates a state of mind that is directly
responsible for his own death. A
mixture of self-medicating and a sense of impending doom, not
his distracted officer, leads to his

undoing. Although the other 16 soldiers in his platoon share
variations of these traits, this
particular combination proves lethal for Ted Lavender. This is a
fault other’s feel but ultimately
is the result of Lavender’s own series of unfortunate decisions.
Lavender’s repetitious sense of impending doom feeds his self-
fulfilling prophecy.
O’Brien clarifies Lavender’s character as the one “who was
scared,” twice and he is the only one
to be described specifically with this characteristic (102 & 103).
Furthermore, he is the soldier
whose death is mentioned than explained and described in great
detail. This shows that his fear
of mortality eventually creates a situation that justifies his
feeling of impending doom. O’Brien
even clarifies that “they carried all the emotional baggage of
men who might die. Grief, terror,
love, longing” (109) yet Lavender is the only soldier whose fear
is highlighted. During this
persistent fear he self-medicates as a coping mechanism to
escape his current situation and
inevitable end.

Jamison 2
Lavender’s use of dope provides a necessary means of mental
escape from the horrors of
war. He can only endure the stresses of his current plight and
the possibility of his own death by
self-medicating as shown by O’Brien’s statement, “until he was
shot, Ted Lavender carried six
or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him was a
necessity” (102). Unfortunately, the dope
results in disarming his paranoia and makes him vulnerable to
his impending death.
Lavender’s use of tranquilizers dulls his senses to the
oncoming tragedy. O’Brien’s vivid
imagery paints a picture of Lavender being completely unaware
of his imminent death and the
quick and painless nature in which it was executed (103). After
his death his crew begins to
speculate his state of mind when he was killed. “They told
stories about Ted Lavender’s supply
of tranquilizers, how the poor guy didn’t feel a thing, how
incredibly tranquil he was” (O’Brien
109). O’Brien’s use of “tranquil” solidifies the connection
between Lavender’s self-medicating

and his mental state while showing that his death was brought
on by his own actions.
Although distracted by thoughts of a woman, Lt. Cross’s
actions at the time of
Lavender’s death were not the cause of it. Even though Cross
consistently assigns blame and
discontent to himself there is evidence to support the contrary.
At the time of Lavender’s death
Cross is attempting to shut out thoughts of Martha and focus on
the tunnel assignment for Lee
Strunk (O’Brien 105). Even if he was able to devote unwavering
focus on Strunk, as he should
have been, he still wouldn’t have been focused on Lavender.
Either way this officer shouldn’t
have to babysit a single platoon member’s non-duty related
actions while he’s watching his
orders being carried out by the rest of the crew. A point that the
platoon must agree with since
there isn’t one mention of a soldier blaming Cross for
Lavendar’s death.
Kiowa and Cross’s individual behaviors after Lavendar’s death
were not of guilt but of
sorrow. Kiowa has the most insight when it comes to
Lavendar’s death. He witnessed the event

Jamison 3
yet he does not assign blame to himself as Lt. Cross does.
“Kiowa admired Lieutenant Jimmy
Cross’s capacity for grief. He wanted to share the man’s pain,
he wanted to care as Jimmy Cross
cared” (O’Brien 108). Kiowa, like Lavendar, was not focused on
Strunk. Therefore, he would
have been just as capable as Cross, if not more so, to warn
Lavendar of the events to come, had
that even been possible.
O’Brien mentions Cross’s self-blame throughout the entirety of
the story, but his actions
do not support his feelings. “He wished he could find some
great sadness, or even anger, but the
emotion wasn’t there and he couldn’t make it happen. Mostly he
felt pleased to be alive”
(O’Brien 108). Cross isn’t mourning Lavendar, he isn’t showing
guilt in this moment, he’s
showing gratitude and personal growth. If Cross had been able
to circumvent the soldier’s death
then he would be expressing deep remorse and true regret

showing that Lavendar’s decisions are
at fault for the end result.
In actuality Lavendar’s death is a reason for Cross to let go of
Martha, focus on being an
officer and getting the platoon to act as a unit again. Tina Chen
states, “The subsequent death of
Ted Lavendar jolts him into awareness, forcing the realization
that the romantic fantasies
produced by an exilic consciousness longing to return home to
America are unable to meet the
exigencies of combat experience in Vietnam” (86). To this
point, Cross must accept Lavendar’s
role in his own death and move towards creating an environment
where the men are more
responsible for their own actions. “They would police up their
acts. They would get their shit
together, and keep it together, and maintain it neatly and in
good working order. He would not
tolerate laxity” (O’Brien 111). Cross may consciously blame
himself for Lavendar’s death but
his actions show that he believes the men, to some extent, are
responsible for their own destiny.

Jamison 4
This story isn’t about Ted Lavendar’s death, it’s a story about
change in Lt. Cross, as
described by Alex Vernon as “a journey that has moral
dimensions and the potential for spiritual
salvation” (173). However, Lavendar’s self-destructive behavior
and questionable actions have a
seemingly dominant presence within the story. O’Brien provides
his reader with enough
information to conclude that Lavendar crafted a self-fulfilling
prophecy and then executes it
solely as evidenced by O’Brien statement “they carried their
own lives” (107).
Jamison 5
Works Cited
Chen, Tina. “'Unraveling the Deeper Meaning': Exile and the
Embodied Poetics of Displacement
in Tim O’Brien’s 'The Things They Carried'.” Contemporary
Literature, vol. 39, no.1,

Spring 1998, pp. 77-98. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/1208922.
O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” Literature: An
Introduction to Reading and Writing,
edited by Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig, 6th Compact
Edition, Pearson Education,
Inc., 2015, pp. 101-112.
Vernon, Alex. “Salvation, Storytelling, and Pilgrimage in Tim
O’Brien’s The Things They
Carried.” Mosaic, vol. 36, no. 4, Dec. 2003, pp. 171-188.
Bloom’s Literature,
EBSCOhost,
ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.as
px?direct=true&db=cat
05756a&AN=gsu.9921848703402952&site=eds-live.
My Comments: Your thesis is effectively focused, concise, and
argumentative. Your topic
sentences are effectively clear, concise, and argumentative.
Your organization can be a little
stronger. You need to combine some paragraphs and cut some.
You have concrete evidence that
you correctly cite. You clearly introduce some of your evidence
but not all of it. You have

evidence from your secondary sources, but it would help to have
a little more of it in the body.
You have some great insightful analysis of how your evidence
supports your arguments.
However, you need to spend a little more time on some of your
analysis. Your essay is
effectively focused on supporting the argument of the thesis.
Your technique of bringing up and
refuting an opposing view point works well. However, you
spend a little too much time on the
opposing view point, which distracts a little from your main
arguments. Your language is clear,
sophisticated, and you have very few grammatical mistakes.
Chapter 1:
Introduction to Marriage and Family
Get the Topic

What defines a family?
What are the historical and current trends in marriages &
families?
Defining Marriage & Family“a social unit where the father is
concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, &
the mother with closet space” Evan Esar (1899-1995)
Get the TopicWhat is Marriage?Marriage – a legally recognized
union between a man & a woman
Types of Marriage
Monogamous – one person is married to another of opposite sex
Polygamous – one person is married to multiple husbands or
wives
Arranged – the families of the bride & groom negotiate an
arrangement before the two parties enter into a relationship
Get the TopicWhat is Family?Family – a group of two people or
more related by birth, marriage, or adoption & residing
togetherHousehold – all people who occupy a housing unit
regardless of relationshipAffiliated Kin – nonrelated individuals
who are accepted as part of a familyLiving Apart Together –
people define themselves as couples but live separate

Get the Topic
History of the American FamilyU.S. Colonial Period to
1899Culturally, Ethnically & Religiously DiversePrimarily
nuclearFathers as headsMarital roles divided by genderU.S.
1900 to Pre-WWIITraditional gender roles alteredGovernment
interventionSmaller Family Units
Get the TopicHistory of the American Family ContinuedU.S.
Modern Era (WWII to present)Teen pregnancy higher than
todayHigh divorce rateFormation of women’s liberation
movementDual-Income familiesCurrent Trends in FamiliesOf
66.9 million opposite-sex couples living together in 2008, 60.1
million were married
Get the Topic
Current Trends in Families ContinuedPercentage of women aged
40-44 who were childless increased from 10% in 1976 to 18% in
2008In 2009, US had an estimated 5.3 million “stay-at-home”
parentsIn 2010, about 10% of all children lived in a household

that included a grandparent; 54% living with a grandparent had
no parent presentAmerican families are overworked
Get the Topic
Current Trends in Families ContinuedFactors Affecting Current
TrendsDemographic FactorsIncreased life expectancyProportion
of never-married women & men increasedIncreased rates of
cohabitationLifestyle FactorsTransition toward gender equality
& empowerment of womenLegalization of same-sex marriages
Get the TopicCurrent Trends in Families ContinuedFactors
Affecting Current TrendsCherlin StudySingle parents continue
to give birth Dissolution of cohabiting
unionsDivorceRepartneringRemarriageSame patterns existed for
transnational families
Get the Topic
Current Trends in Families ContinuedIs Marriage in Transition
or Decline?Functions of the FamilyEconomic SecuritySocial
Prestige & StatusFamily of Origin – the family in which an
individual is raised

Get the TopicCurrent Trends in Families ContinuedFunctions of
the Family ContinuedEducation & SocializationSocialization –
the shaping of an individual’s behavior to conform to social or
cultural normsProtectionReligious TraditionRecreationAffection
Get the Topic
Diversity in FamiliesFamily Diversity – the variation in family
structures, experiences, & circumstances between
familiesDiversity in Race & EthnicityRace – a group of people
who are classified according to their phenotypePhenotype – the
anatomical & physical characteristics that distinguish one race
from anotherEthnic Group – a group of people characterized by
cultural factors
Get the TopicDiversity in Race & Ethnicity ContinuedAfrican
American FamiliesGreater percentage never marriedHigh
divorce & unmarried birth ratesGreater percentage of women-
headed householdsHispanic FamiliesDiversity in ethnic heritage
& socioeconomic statusDiversity among tribes

Get the TopicDiversity in Race & Ethnicity ContinuedAsian
American FamiliesHigh marriage & low divorce ratesFewer
childrenFamily-OrientedAmerican Indian FamiliesExtended
Families revolving around clanInter-racial & Inter-ethnic
marriages
Think Marriages & Families
How Do Different Theorists View the Family?Theories of the
FamilyStructural-Functional TheoryTalcott ParsonsMain
function is to procreate & socialize childrenFamily, as system,
needs to maintain its basic structureConflict TheoryKarl
MarxThose who control the resources have the powerConflict
within families is necessary
Overview of Sociological TheoriesStructural-functional
theory focuses on a macro level viewpoint.
Talcott Parsons, one of the most influential functionalists,
identified the two primary functions families fulfill of
procreation and child socialization.
Conflict theorists focus on power differentials in the family and
the quest to maintain or gain power within the family system.

Feminist theorists focus on gender roles and their impact on
family relations. They emphasize change and challenges to the
status quo.
Symbolic interactionists analyze more individual family systems
and the impact families have on the development of family
members’ identities as well as expectations for behavior.
Overview of Sociological Theories (continued) Ecological
theory focuses on a review of the family as part of, and
participant in the environmental systems of microsystems,
mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and chronosystems.
Social exchange theorists review the manner in which rewards
and costs are compared within the family system in order to
maintain or dissolve relationships. Family systems theorists
analyze the family as an interconnected and interdependent
system with boundaries, rules of transformation, subsystems,
and degrees of variety. Family life course/ development theory
looks at the passage of the family through time with expected
stages or career. Biosocial theory focuses on the interaction of
genes and the environment on human behavior.
Think Marriages & FamiliesTheories of the Family
ContinuedFeminist TheorySecond Wave of FeminismWomen’s
experiences central to understanding the familyGender is
socially constructedEmphasis on social change & challenging
status quoNo neutral observation of humans

ContinuedSymbolic Interaction TheoryExamination at micro
levelDevelop sense of self through interactionsLooking-glass
self – interpretations of other people’s opinions become a
dominant aspect of identitySelf – the concept of identity that
develops through interactions with othersSociety – process of
socialization in which we interpret meanings of symbols learn
about our rolesRole – the part we are expected to play in
society, learned through interactions with others
ContinuedEcological Theory

ContinuedSocial Exchange TheoryHuman relationships based on
rewards & costsRewards – the pleasures or satisfactions we
enjoy from participating in a relationshipCosts – the negative
outcomes, energy invested, or rewards foregone as a result of
choosing one behavior over anotherComparison Level of
Alternatives – the evaluation by individuals of their
relationships in light of available alternatives
ContinuedFamily Systems TheorySystems have boundaries-
Boundaries – emotional barriers that define & separate a
systemSystems have internal rules of transformation- Rules of
Transformation – the means by which a system governs inputs
to outputsSystems have subsystems- Subsystem – part of a
system that can be analyzed separatelySystems have variety-
Variety – the extent to which a system is able to adapt to
changes
ContinuedFamily Life Course/Development TheoryFamily
development proceeds through stagesStage explanation
problematic

Family Career – some say we need to move away from this
approach
Biosocial TheoryInteraction of genes & environmentNepotism –
favoritism shown to one’s kinReciprocity – the exchange of
favorsCoercion – being forced to act against one’s interests
Discover Marriages & Families in Action
What is the Meaning of Family?Perspectives of the
FamilySocietal PerspectiveNarrow or Broad legal definition of
family constitutionSmall-Group PerspectiveClassification of
particular groups as familiesIndividual PerspectiveInclusion or
Exclusion of “family members” based on individual’s
perspective

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Chapter 2How to Study Marriage & the FamilyCopyrigh.docx