44 Part 1 Decisions About Parenting
Socioeconomic Status
A family’s socioeconomic status, or
position within society based on social and
economic factors, such factors as parents’
occupation, education, and level of income
influence this position. These social and
economic factors are often related. For
example, people with more education often
have higher paying jobs and vice versa.
Sometimes, however, income may drop
suddenly due to unemployment.
Income level can influence parenting
practices. When you compare families with
poverty-level incomes to families with higher
incomes, you may find that families with
lower incomes have less time and energy to
spend with their children. This is because
so many hours are spent working to provide
basic needs. In contrast, families with middle
or higher incomes have more time to spend
with their children. They seek ways to best
meet their children’s needs and spend more
time daily talking with their children.
Why do low income and poverty
affect parenting in negative ways? Income
pressures make parents more irritable and
sometimes depressed. Parents’ emotions
affect interactions with their children.
Poverty is also high in single-parent families.
Poverty in single-parent families increases
stress beyond other problems, such as parents
having too many responsibilities and less
time in which to meet their children’s needs.
Lifestyle
Each family has a lifestyle, or way of
living. Today, there are many more lifestyles
available than in the past. Families adapt to
many of these changes. Here are just a few
lifestyle factors that impact many families.
Location
A major component of lifestyle is where a
family lives. Families may live in cities, where
their lives may take on a hectic pace. Other
families live in smaller towns or suburban
areas. Some people live in rural areas, where
their activities revolve around a smaller
community and the pace is slower.
Work Life
The parents’ jobs or careers also affect
the family’s lifestyle. In some families, both
parents work. These families may have a
different lifestyle from families with only
one wage earner. If one or both parents work
at more than one job, this can also affect the
lifestyle the family leads. Parents’ jobs or
careers also determine the family’s earning
potential. Families with higher-paying jobs
may be able to afford a lifestyle different from
those with lower-paying jobs.
Leisure Time
Another factor that reflects lifestyle is
how a family spends its leisure time. Some
families spend time together, but in other
families parents have their separate activities.
Choices about leisure events, such as athletic,
music, theater, craft, travel, and volunteer or
community work, are lifestyle choices,
too, 2-13.
Impact on Children
Children are affected by the lifestyle
choices their parents make. Their lives,
attitudes, beliefs, and values are shaped by
the lifestyle of their family of origin. When
children leave home, they may choose a
lifestyle that is similar to, or quite different
from, their parents’ lifestyle.
Early Relationships
Parents’ early interactions with their
own parents shape how they in turn respond
to their own children. Childhood family
experiences provide the mental blueprint
for parenting the next generation. Parents,
who were close to their own parents and had
a good relationship with them, tend to be
emotionally supportive of their own children.