Literature Review

Brittany Harvey and Tori Hernandez

A persons relationship defines them. So relationships of a generation define their generation. One of the most important relationships a person can have in their life in the relationship with their parents. Each generation that has passed has had a different kind of relationship then the last. Research shows that as each generation has passed, children report that they are becoming closer with their parents. Child-parent relationships are significantly correlated with the parents involvement in their childs lives (Tani 320). Childrens lives and development are affected by the relationships especially of family members (Ross 110). Family relationships affect childrens adjustment, well being, sibling relationships, and problem solving (Ross 110). As children grow up it is important for them to have close relationships with their parents and have parents who are involved with their lives in order for them to develop properly and have healthy relationships in other areas of their lives. However, there is evidence to show that parenting styles do not pass on from generation to generation (Bronson 147). This makes sense because as each generation has passed, children and parents have become closer and had more of a bond. Not only are these relationships important mentally, but they are also important to a persons life physically. Life stress is also hypothesized to increase..health distress (Harvey 209). To add on to this, parents lives affect their childrens lives, so if a parent is stressed in their physical health, this will also take a toll on their children. These

factors influence the parental functioning (Harvey 207), that is, how the parents actually parent their children. If parents give children unreciprocated levels of care and support (Pillemer 779), then it will affect the child negatively later on in life. The amount of involvement, affection and reliability in a childs life from a parent affects the closeness and intensity of the relationship the most (Bronson 145). Generation X is known to be the latchkey children, which are the children who had working parents and were often left at home by themselves. One study shows that at the kindergarten age, children start to learn psychopathological development and that a majority of this learning comes from their family (Stadelmann 93). Being separated from their parents at a young age is associated with an increased rate of behavioral/emotional problems in children (Stadelmann 93). So for Generation X, it makes sense to see that they were affected the most by having absent parents. Divorce and and exposure to marital conflict (Stadelmann 94) has proven to affect greatly childrens representations and their psychopathological development (Stadelmann 94). It is proven that family conflict is correlated with conduct problems and hyperactivity in younger ages (Stadelmann 97) which in turn will affect the children for their entire lives. With the divorce rate being at its highest in the past years, it is clear to see that Generation X would have problems growing up with relationships since their homes were broken. Relationships are fostered through interactions and time spent doing things together (Tani 301) which shows that Generation X would have a hard time building that connection with their parents since they were mostly absent. Millenials on

the other hand, have much greater relationships with their parents because Millenials parents were around much more. Houses that have gone through divorce affect the parent to child relationship as well. They are linked in the social-emotional and behavioral problems in children (Lussier 363). Because the child may be taken from one of the parents during a divorce, many children become closer to other family members such as grandparents (Lussier 364) which in turn will take them away some from their relationship with their parents. Grandparents are able to be the support in the childs life (Lussier 364), so the child may go to them when in struggle instead of going to their parents. Parent-child relationships tend to be come strained (Pillemer 780) when other problems influence the relationship - like a divorce. Children and teens need stability (Howe 13) in order to create lasting relationships throughout their lives. Parents and children find an importance in quality of relationships and also place importance on what others bring to the relationship (Ross 117). In regards to age, especially concerning fathers, the older the parent, the more emotional and instrumental was the support given (Schwarz 405). The more support children receive from their parents, the more supportive the children felt towards their parents (Scwarz 407). Even though there has not been much studied on corporal punishment, it has been found single parent families and parents of larger families usually practice corporal punishment more than smaller families or two-parent families and a correlation of traditional lifestyle[s] and practice of corporal punishment(Asher 688).

They also found that the older that someone was the more likely that they were in support of corporal punishment (Asher 689).

Works Cited Ben-Arieh, A., & Haj-Yahia, M. (2008). Corporal Punishment of Children: A MultiGenerational Perspective. Journal of Family Violence, 23(8), 687-695. Pillemer, K., Suitor, J., Mock, S. E., Sabir, M., Pardo, T. B., & Sechrist, J. (2007). Capturing the Complexity of Intergenerational Relations: Exploring Ambivalence within Later-Life Families. Journal of Social Issues, 63(4), 775-791. Bronson, W. C., Katten, E. S., & Livson, N. (1959). Patterns of authority and affection in two generations. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2), 143-152. Harvey, D. M., Curry, C. J., & Bray, J. H. (1991). Individuation and intimacy in intergenerational relationships and health: Patterns across two generations. Journal of Family Psychology, 5(2), 204-236. Lussier, G., Deater-Deckard, K., Dunn, J., & Davies, L. (2002). Support across two generations: Children's closeness to grandparents following parental divorce and remarriage. Journal of Family Psychology, 16(3), 363-376. Schwarz, B., Trommsdorff, G., Albert, I., & Mayer, B. (2005). Adult ParentChild Relationships: Relationship Quality, Support, and Reciprocity. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 54(3), 396-417. Ross, H., Stein, N., Trabasso, T., Woody, E., & Ross, M. (2005). The quality of family relationships within and across generations: A social relations analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29(2), 110-119. Howe, L. T. (1990). Between the generations : healing the hurts and reconciling the differences. Perkins Journal, 43(1-2), 1-18. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Tani, F., Bonechi, A., Peterson, C., & Smorti, A. (2010). Parental Influences on Memories of Parents and Friends. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 171(4), 300-329. STADELMANN, S., PERREN, S., GROEBEN, M., & von KLITZING, K. (2010). Parental Separation and Children's Behavioral/Emotional Problems: The Impact of Parental Representations and Family Conflict. Family Process, 49(1), 92-108.