Out of Context UPDATE.

In my previous blog Out of Context I wrote about the APA's brief that "showed" how children raised by same-sex couples were no worse off than those raised by a traditional family with a mother and father. Well, a new study has just been published in Canada documenting certain outcomes in children raised in a variety of family structures (i.e., traditional, gay, lesbian, single parent, etc). This is the best data we have to date because it is census data and we can essentially compare apples to apples unlike previous studies, the outcome of children raised by same-sex couples versus traditional families. If you'd like to check out the study you can find it by clicking HERE.

I just wanted to keep you all updated. Now what do you think about same-sex parenting versus traditional parenting? Have your views changed? Have they deepened?

Teen Pregnancy.

Last night I sat on the couch while my roommate talked on the phone with her 17-year-old friend, trying to convince the teenage girl that she should not get pregnant. Earlier that day the teenage girl had texted my roommate and said, “So, I really want a baby, and I have an offer.” The text itself exposed in this girl the attitude that having a child is nonchalant and even cavalier. At 17, this girl was convinced that having a baby was the best move she could make in her life. After quite a bit of persuading, and explaining to the girl exactly how much work a baby is, the teenage girl finally decided that maybe getting pregnant wasn’t the best choice for her to make.

It seems like teen pregnancy has recently become something that young girls seek after, as something that is exciting and worthwhile. Our nation in particular seems to be apathetic, and sometimes even positive, towards teenagers getting pregnant. This is something that has always confused me.

Our teacher gave us some statistics this week that appeared as the following:

In 1950 out of all the teenage girls who got pregnant out of wedlock ...
          * 50% got married, and kept the baby
          * 49% gave the baby up for adoption
          * 1% elected to have an abortion
In 2000 out of all the teenage girls who got pregnant out of wedlock …
          *50% kept the baby, but did not get married
          * 1% gave the baby up for adoption
          * 49% elected to have an abortion

Upon receiving these statistics I had two initial reactions. The first was why has our country decided that having an abortion is better or more understandable than continuing a pregnancy and then giving the child up for adoption? And the second was do we as a country really believe it is okay for young girls to have children outside of marriage, or are we just condoning it as ‘part of the world we live in’?

The statistics on teenagers choosing to have an abortion rather than give their child up for adoption absolutely astounded me. I feel that this world is so focused on individualistic selfishness that they do not account for the fact that more lives are at stake than just their own in any given situation. Whether they believe a fetus is alive already or not doesn’t change the fact that a potential life is still at stake, and to end that potential life because you just don’t want to have to deal with the consequences of your own actions is ridiculously and unquestionably a sign of selfishness at ones very core.

This week in class my teacher made this simple statement, “The single best predictor of whether you will live in poverty or not is if you had a dad who lived in your home with you.” This just makes me wonder if people truly realize everything we are condoning when we allow young girls to become single mothers.

How do you feel after seeing the statistics and hearing the statement made by my teacher? Should we as a nation, or even just as individuals and communities, make more of an effort to prevent teenage and out of wedlock pregnancy? Or is it just none of our business?

A Theory.

This week we talked about four different behavioral theories pertaining to families. As we talked about each theory I saw different parts of each that fit very specifically into my own family. The different theories we discussed were …

Systems Theory – focuses on social systems and how their interdependent parts maintain order by using roles, rules and feedback loops.
Exchange Theory – views social interaction as a cost-benefit analysis in which people try to keep their costs lower than their rewards.
Symbolic Interaction Theory – views humans as cognitive creatures who are influenced and shaped by their interaction experiences.
Conflict Theory – focuses on contradictory interests, inequalities, and the resulting conflict and change.

As we got into deeper discussions about each theory I felt as though systems theory best explained for me the behavioral actions of my family while I was younger. It is all about how family members learn the different rules of their family system and then adhere to them. How we also assume roles such as “peacekeeper” or “clown” etc. I could see each of these things manifested in my family and it just made me realize that we are not all as different in our families, our communities, etc, as we may think we are. In general we all adhere to many of the same rules and family systems in our own lives as those around us do.

What role did you have in your family? What roles did your parents and siblings take on? Have you met many others who have had these same roles portrayed in their own families?