Blog 4

1)Briefly describe Dan and Terri's story and their family.  

1.  Dan and Terri are a gay couple who have a son together named D.J. They were both bullied in high school for being gay.  But found that once they left high school things got much better. They are trying to send a message to youth in LGBTQ that it really does get easier after high school.

2) What is their relationship with their families of origin (parents and siblings).

2. Dan grew up in a Catholic family where no one was gay.  Dan’s parents weren’t thrilled when he came out but eventually accepted it and welcomed Terri into their family.  Terri’s family also tried to stop the bullying at his school but nothing was done. Now both families accept them and embrace them totally.

3) What family have they created?

3. Terri and Dan are married and they have adopted a son together named D.J.

Believe it or not only a few short decades ago there were no representative data on same-sex couples or gay teens. Now the U.S. Census counts same-sex cohabiting and married couples, 36 states allow gay marriage, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has collected data on gay teens greater likelihood to experience violent acts against them as well as greater likelihood of committing suicide.

4) Describe a statistic regarding the likelihood of gay and transgender experiencing violent acts.

4. 14% to 31% of gay and lesbian students and 17% to 32% of bisexual students had been forced to have sexual intercourse at some point in their lives. This is a statistic of the likelihood of gay and transgender experiencing violence.

5) What is the likelihood that gay and transgender teens attempt suicide.

5. The likelihood that gay and transgender teens attempt suicide are twice as likely to attempt suicide compared to their heterosexual counterpart.  A study on 55 transgendered teens stated that 25% of them had thoughts to attempt suicide.

6) According to the website, what are two things a school can do to prevent violence and/or suicide against gay/transgender teens.

6. Schools can encourage respect for all students and prohibit bullying and harassment. Schools can also set up “safe spaces” which are places like counselors rooms or classrooms where students of LGBTQ can go to receive support from the school staff.

7) If you were a teacher of a school administrator or counselor, briefly describe a program or action(s) you might create to prevent violence against gay/transgender or straight teens. Perhaps consider how you might unite gay and straight teens to work toward positive change.

7. If I were a teacher I would take action to prevent violence against gay/transgender teens by making LBGTQ apart of the everyday school environment. I would have a club where the LGBTQ could go to seek additional support but I would try and also make the LGBTQ apart of everyone’s everyday life.  I think this would be important because it will start to be routinized in to the schedules of everyone in the school and it will make members of the LGBTQ less of an “outcast” because it will involve everyone in the school. A way I would implement the LGBTQ becoming apart of the daily life of the school would be to have everyone bring in a fact about bullying of an LGBTQ teen. I would make a board and the students could add a new fact every day. I would encourage all the students regardless of their sexual orientation to work together. I also hope that by time I am a teacher their will be no bullying of any one from the LGBTQ because it is finally starting to be so widely accepted.  

BLOG 3

1. According to the structural functionalism perspective, what was the definition of the "instrumental leader" and what was the definition of an "expressive leader." What family roles were connected to each of these leader definitions?
1. According to the structural functionalism perspective the definition of an instrumental leader is a person in the group who takes charge and leads the group. The expressive leader is the person within the group that keeps peoples spirits up.  In more traditional family roles the father is connected to the instrumental leader. He is the breadwinner and is “in charge” of the family. The mother is the expressive leader in a traditional family role she is keeps the families spirits up and is more of a caretaker.  

2. What is the main criticism of the functionalist perspective?
2. The main criticism of the functionalist perspective is how sexist it is.  Women started to go into the work force and stopped fitting the role of the traditional mother figure or the expressive leader in the family. 
3. In contrast to functionalist theorists, in your own words, what is the main theme of conflict theory?
3. The main theory of conflict theory is the inequality, conflict, and social change.  Conflict theory talks about how men dominate women using their economic powers. Similarly in the work force employers dominate over their employees. Similar to Karl Max idea of the bourgeois and the proletariat.
4. According to conflict theorists, where do family problems come from?
4. According to conflict theorist family problems come from men using their economic strength o dominate women. This is the root of family problems.
5. Gender/Feminist theory is based on what main idea? Describe one way that feminist theory has led to more diverse understanding of families.
5. Gender/feminist theory is based on the equality of men and women.  Feminist theory has taught us to look at men and women as prisms. Letting it be okay for the women to take on the breadwinner role as well as men. 
6. Social exchange theorists is based on ideas from economics. What is the main argument of social exchange perspective? Give two examples of "resources" people bring to a relationship?

6. The main argument of the social exchange perspective is based around economics. It focuses on what people can do in exchange for benefits.  An example of resources people bring to a relationship are how much things cost, the benefits they gain, and the benefits of taking another course of action.   

7a) From the lecture on methods: List two methods of how family researchers collect data and define/describe each.

7a. Two methods of how family researchers collect date are the survey study and the observational study.  The survey study targets families or households at random and sends them a list of questions.  Doing this gives the researcher broader data and makes biases less prevalent.  The observational study is when the researcher spends time with participants.  Participants are usually picked specifically to fit the study.

7b) What are two strengths of each and what are two limits of each type of data collection methods. 

7b. The survey study strengths are this study allows the researcher to access more people. It also limits the biases and is much quicker of a study because it is a set questionnaire. Limits of the survey study are its hard for researchers to tell if the participants are answering questions accurately. It is also hard because the data is limited because there is a set questions and limited follow up questions.  The observational study strengths are  this study gives the researcher a lot of information about the families and also allows them to generalize their results to other families that are similar.  The limit of the observational study is there are limited families that can be studied because of how much detail each study goes to.  Also, it is limited because specific families are targeted giving more of a biased study.

8) Choose one method and describe a study you might conduct.

8. I would choose the survey study. I would study how many kids each family has in a specific wealthy town and a specific poorer town.

8a) What is the topic of the survey? In other words, what do you want to know about a family issue?

8a. I want to know if families in a wealthy town have more kids then families in a poorer town.

8b) Who and how many respondents would be in your sample?

8b. I would survey 50 families in a wealthy town and 50 families in a poorer town.

8c) What are three questions you would ask in a survey or interview or what would be three observations you might record?

8c. I would ask

-How many kids does your family have?

-What is your average family income?

-How many kids were in your family when you were growing up?

Blog 2

1)     Looking at the first three highlights on page 1, what types of families/households have declined since 1970 and which have increased?

One-person households increased by 10 percentage points between 1970 and 2012 from 17% to 27%. The share of household that were married couples under 18 halved from 40% to 20%. 66% of households in 2012 were household’s down from 81% in 1970.

2)     Choose one highlight and paraphrase (write in your own words) the changes using the percentages and years provided.

One person households were as little at 17% in 1970. In 2012 one person households have increased to 27%.

3)     According to highlight 4, are families getting larger or smaller? Again in your own words describe how family size has changed using percentages and years.

Families are getting smaller. In 1970 family size was 3.1 persons. In 2012 the average person per household is 2.6 persons.

4)     According to the report: what is the U.S. Census definition of a family and what is the definition of a household? 

According to the report a family has at least two members related by birth, marriage, or adoption, one of whom is the householder. A household contains one or more people. Everyone living in a housing unit makes up a household. One of the people who owns or rents the residence is designated as the householder.

5) Now scroll down to Table 1: Households by Type and Selected Characteristics: ACS 2011. 

5a. Carefully read the column and row names to determine the total number of "white alone" married couples families and the number of "Black or African American alone" married couple families? The term "alone' refers to families that are not interracial.

5b. What is the total number of NON family households with just 1 member? (These are the number of people who live alone).

The total number of non family households with just one member is 31,886,794.

So far, which fact is the most surprising to you? Please be specific and use the numbers, percentages, and language of the Census report.

Im surprised at how many non family households there are. The total number is 38,907,719 and that seems like a huge number of non family households.

6) Next, scroll down to Figure 1: Households by Type, 1970 to 2012: CPS (In percent).

Take a few minutes to note the trends over time.

6a) Of the six categories of family and household types shown, which family type has changed the most and how. Use specific years and percentages. 

Other non family households was at 1.7 percent in 1970. That total percentage has almost tripled to 6.1 percent in 2012.

6b) Comparing men and women, who is more likely to live alone and try to make an argument as to why.

In 1970 women living alone almost doubles men leaving alone with 5.6 of men living alone at 11.5 percent of women living alone. Although the difference becomes smaller over the years ending in 2012 with 12.3 percent of men living alone and 15.2 percent of women living alone, women are more likely to live alone. This may be because men prefer to have a roommate while women may prefer to live alone.  

6c) What is the Source of the data in Figure 1?

The source of the data is the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, selected years, 1970 to 2012.

7) Reflecting on what you have learned about changes in families and households in the U.S., how do these data compare with your own experience and knowledge of families. For example, did you know certain family types were on the decline or on the rise? What do you expect will happen in the future to one of these family types, based on the trends shown in Figure 1. In other words make an educated prediction of how you think one family/household type will look in 2020 and why?

I think one family households have increased since 1970 but I think that they will begin to decline because of income. With the economy it might not be beneficial for people to be living on their own. It wouldn’t make sense for people to waste their money on living alone when they can have roommates or live with their parents for longer.