Psychology (PSYC) 426

Overview

PSYC 426: Psychology of Families and Parenting is an in-depth study of the issues surrounding parenting and family relationships, incorporating both theories and empirical research. It encourages critical analysis and awareness of the complexities of issues surrounding families. This online course explores many variations of families including nuclear families, families with same-sex parents, adoptive families, dual-income families, childfree families, and families that have adjusted to divorce. From a parenting perspective, the course looks at the influences of culture and immigration, genes versus environment, religion and spirituality, gender roles, and parental age.

Outline

PSYC 426 consists of thirteen units:

• Unit 1: What Is a Family?
• Unit 2: Culture and Immigration
• Unit 3: Families: Genes vs. Environment
• Unit 4: Religion and Spirituality
• Unit 5: Dual-Income Families
• Unit 6: Gender Roles
• Unit 7: Predicting Marital Outcomes
• Unit 8: Adjusting to Divorce
• Unit 9: Families with Same-Sex Parents
• Unit 10: Adoptive Families
• Unit 11: Parental Age I: Adolescent Parents
• Unit 12: Parental Age II: Older Parents
• Unit 13: Childfree Families

Evaluation

To receive credit for PSYC 426, you must achieve a grade of at least 50 percent on the final exam, and an overall course grade of at least “D” (50 percent). In addition, all course assignments must be completed to pass the course. The weighting of assignments is as follows:

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.