Blanck Family Case Study

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The family that this paper will focus on analyzing is the Blanck Family. The Blancks live in Kansas City, Missouri. Their family consists of Paul, Jenifer, and their four children: Anna, Kathleen, David, and Michael. Paul is an accountant at his own accounting firm and loves spending his time playing board games with his family. Jenifer is a nurse and is a member of their church choir. Anna is 24 years old and has a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. She currently lives at home with her parents and two younger brothers and waits tables to help support herself. Kathleen is 20 years old and is a sophomore in college in Memphis, Tennessee. She loves her venturing crew and watching Royals baseball with her family. David is 17 years old, and is a senior in high school. He is in a band and is also an Eagle Scout. Michael is 15 years old, and is sophomore in high school. He is an active boy scout and plans to continue and eventually become an eagle scout. The Blanck family is a white, middle class, Christian family. The five main topics this paper will focus on in relation to the Blanck family are: endogamy, opting out, parenting styles, gender roles, and Olson’s circumplex model.
Endogamy
Endogamy is when two people are in a relationship, and both parties involved share many of the same characteristics such as race, religion, socioeconomic status, and many more qualities (Lamanna 148). They are a part of the same social group. Both Paul and Jenifer grew up coming from very similar backgrounds. They both lived in the same neighborhood in the middle of Kansas City. They both came from white, middle class, Christian families with many siblings. They both come from non-divorced parents. They both continue to have strong relationships with their parents and siblings. They also both went on to go to college at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and both received Bachelor’s degrees. Paul and Jenifer tend to support the research findings on endogamy and why people are more likely to be in endogamous relationships. People are more likely to be in non-endogamous relationships – for example interfaith or interethnic relationships – when they are independent and not living with their parents (Lamanna 150). Paul and Jenifer were in high school and living with their parents when they met and started dating, so they were more likely to be in a relationship with each other because they were similar. Also, geographic availability played a role in the occurrence of their relationship. Because they grew up in the same neighborhood, proximity made it likely for them to meet (Lamanna 149). Additionally, their neighborhood was predominantly white, middle class, and Christian. The Blancks support the idea that endogamy helps lead to a good relationship. Another reason for this is that many people feel more comfortable, have better communication, and feel more at home with people like themselves (Lamanna 149). This applied to the Blancks because they both fit in very well with each others family and have great relationships with their in-laws. Opting Out Opting out is when a mother chooses to leave the work force so that she may spend her time raising her child (Lamanna 286). This can be either temporary or permanent, and in some cases could be the father, though it is considerably more often the mother. In regards to opting out, Jenifer does not support the majority of research. Jenifer left the workforce after Kathleen was born, and did not return until Michael was ten years old. She was out of the workforce for fifteen years. This is not typical of most affluent
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There are four main types of parenting styles, based on levels of parental warmth as well as parental monitoring (Lamanna 263). Paul and Jenifer qualify as authoritative parents because they have high levels of parental warmth (they express their love for their children frequently verbally as well as by being there for comfort when their children need them) and they also have high levels of parental monitoring (Lamanna 264). They hold their children accountable for their actions, place a high value on grades and education, and actively work to make sure their kids are making good life

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