Blended families are more commonly known as stepfamilies. In this scenario, the blended family is composed of a couple who was married one year after dating 9 months (each were divorced within 2 years of the current marriage), the mother’s two daughters (4 and a 6 years-old), and the father’s children (an 8 year-old boy and a 12 year-old girl). Recently, the mother’s 4 year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. A new family structure is already difficult to become accustomed to, but with the added stress of a new medical diagnosis in a child, this family structure becomes increasingly stressed. From a family systems perspective, there are potential impacts on this blended family, including the spousal, stepparent and sibling relationships. …show more content…
In this scenario, with such a fast marriage between divorce times, there is a potential that neither the mother nor the father has had the chance to fully work through what happened in their first marriages. Working through this is the biggest prediction of a future successful marriage, and if one can figure out what didn’t work previously, they can ensure that they will work so that this does not impact their future marriage(s). In essence, this couple may still be in the “honeymoon phase” of their marriage. With this added stress of a seriously ill child, the relationship will dramatically change and the perceptions of one another may also change, as this is most likely the first stressful experience for the couple as spouses. The father will need to become the major supporter for his new wife, and this may be difficult if he is more reserved in sharing his feelings or has a different “love language.” From a multigenerational transmission standpoint, the male partner may come from a more closed boundary family system or from a higher differentiated family system than his wife, and this mismatch between partners could cause even more stress on the relationship and the new family structure. Clearly, having an ill child would put a strain on any spousal or parent relationship, but adding in such a new marriage can make this stress even more
Americans love their television, and television loves the American family. Since the 1970’s, the depiction of the American family on television has gone through many changes. In the 70s, the Brady Bunch showed an all-white nuclear family. Today, Modern Family, shows a family of blended races, ages, and sexualities. For thirty years, the sitcom family has reflected the changing society of its time and there is no exception of this for the families in The Brady Bunch and Modern Family. The lifestyle, social aspects, and economics situations of the Bradys and the Pritchett-Dunphys are similar in their attempts to portray the lives of families of their time, but differ drastically in the types of families they represent. The characters in Modern
When an individual hears the words, ‘at risk’, they immediately think of all the negative characteristics of terminology: teen pregnancy, troubled teens, gang bangers, drop outs, substance abusers, and so on. I know I sure did. In reading Beth Blue Swadener’s article, “Children and Families “at Promise”: Deconstructing the Discourse of Risk”, I’ve learned that there are so much more to labeling at student ‘at risk’. There is actually a history behind the meaning and how ‘at risk’ became such a dangerous label. In rethinking the meaning of ‘at risk’ and changing it to ‘at promise’, places an entirely new meaning and may give hope to those who are lost and forgotten.
The family I chose to interview is a blended non-traditional family. There is a mother and her 6 kids. The kids come from two different guys that the gal was married to and a boyfriend that she has lived with in the past. The boyfriend still spends some nights with her.
Within his book The Smart Stepfamily: 7 Steps to a Healthy Family, Ron Deal (2014) presents a realistic approach to strengthening stepfamilies through focusing on each individual family member’s needs. Real-world scenarios along with integrating family therapy and biblical truth are used in exploring the many issues that stepfamilies resolve. The crux of Deal’s advice is the need to modify expectations from forming a rapidly blended family to integrating a slow-cooked approach that allows for the time and the coarse hardships that are experienced in developing a healthy stepfamily relationships.
...ey are not happy with our other parent. Younger children do not understand and just want their parent's together. It may cause a lot of heartache when the children finally realize that their parent's will never be together again. Parent's may never truly realize the impact that getting a new step family has on the people around them, maybe even their other relatives. It certainly makes for a completely new re-socialization of lives for the people who are affected by this.
In attempting to understand the blended family system, one would be remised if we did not first look at, and understand primarily what a family system dynamic is. Unfortunately, this is a theory that once had very clear cut lines; today those lines are a little burred and more subjective than ever before. Given that the family is an ever changing system with fluid boarders, this author will illustrate some finite distinctions that may separate the typical family system from a blended family system. Family systems have been studied since psychologists began studying people and their behaviors.
Now, the number of ex-stepfamilies is increase so fast. Gootman (2012) focuses on those families or blended families who have gone through a divorce. She had done several interviews with people who stay in stepfamily to find out the answer for question “How do they deal with ex-stepfamilies?” The interview results shows that most people do not keep closed relationship with their ex-stepfamily member. Another survey result by the Pew Research Center shows that the second marriages have higher divorce rate than the first marriage (Ch 13, P415). Some of them broken their new relationship because their partner’s ex-steps. In the college students opinion, some of them never thinking let their stepparent be part of family; some of them considered let their stepparents to be...
Family Life Cycle: In general the blended family is almost simultaneously in Coupling (with Selma and Antonio still navigating their relationship as newlyweds and new parents) as well as Expansion (with children with ages ranging from 16 to 10). Each parent was in expansion prior to the loss of their partner. Each side might have been dealing with different challenges, which were then combined when they combined their families. Selma and Antonio are trying to navigate the Coupling challenges of forming a stable marital unit and Balancing needs and expectations of self and partner while also facing the Expansion Challenges of loss of control and adolescent rebellion. Divorce Family Cycle: Selma seems to have navigated the divorce cycle fairly successfully. She would have been in a post-divorce stage (custodial household) when she met Antonio. Selma doesn’t seem to have to deal with visitation or co-parenting. However, this might have exacerbated her financial and social strain. Death Family Cycle: Antonio seems to have pushed his family through the Mourning and Readjustment stages. It seems that the family was trying to navigate the Readjustment stage when Antonio introduced Selma and merged the families. I would suspect that Mariana is still in the mourning stage. There was no successful Renewal and Accomplishment before the trust into a blended family. Remarried Family Cycle: I would venture to say that Selma and Antonio moved quickly into Planning new Marriage and Family and did not do enough work in the Entering New Relationship Stage. Antonio still seems affected by the loss of his first wife. The whole family seems to be struggling to adjust to new roles, boundaries and emotional issues. They will have to resolve these issues if they hope to achieve Reconstitution of
The intent will be to get a better understanding of how children living in stepfamilies households define their family and how they perceive their relationships with other household members. The sample population will be a family counselor (Psychology). I will plan to seat in 10 or so sessions as an observer. Information from the seat-ins will be developed and analyzed. Research findings will be used to help future research.
According to Richard Charles (2001) “the effectiveness of family systems theory rests not much on empirical research but on clinical reports of positive treatment outcomes, the personal benefits experienced by the families that underwent this kind of treatment, and the elegance of Bowen’s theory” (p. 279). Bowen’s family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and is a theory of human behavior. Systems thinking is used to describe the complex interactions in the unit. However, the client’s ability to differentiate himself/herself from the family of origin is the basis for Bowen’s family systems theory. In addition, the primary focus for growth within the emotional system is differentiation of self.
A family I might come across professionally would likely be a blended family. Not only do people get divorced more frequently now but my career field puts a lot of stress on families leading to even higher divorce rates. Blended families are already quite common and are less stigmatized than in the past. While I am not from one or having one anywhere in my family I did know some in school and the kids were just like everyone else.
"A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.
The television sitcom Modern Family produced by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd shows the many different types of a modern American family. According to Andrew Hampp, “The show is among the most-viewed scripted programs in prime time in its second season, averaging 11 million viewers during original airings and often ranked as the most DVRed program most weeks” (2). The television show is a frequently watched show and is liked by many viewers. Modern Family's storyline helps the families of viewers by being an influential and relatable show to different types of families. The show is about the lives of three different families that are all related. In the show there are Jay and Gloria, an intergenerational couple with two sons-- Manny (from Gloria’s previous relationship) and Joe, their new baby. Jay’s adult son Cameron is married to his gay partner Mitchell, and they adopted Lily from Vietnam. Finally, Jay’s daughter Claire is married to her heterosexual partner named Phil and they have three children. The show is influential to our culture today because it shows these different types of families and addresses controversial themes such as gay adoption, the different family connections and communications, intergenerational coupling, and acceptance of diversity within an extended family. The family is easy to relate to while watching because it is based off of real family situations.
However, the focus of concern is the stress and confusion the children are about to go through while learning to accept the family is changing. How can a parent be guided in the event of divorce to make sure the child’s pain is lessened as much as possible?
outcomes among children. Some children improve, some decline, others are not affected. They experience divorce more than teens on a daily basis. Divorce had a limited impact on child adjustment over and above familial risk for depression. According to a divorce rate survey “Divorce had a significant effect on child outcomes only among high-risk grandchildren with a depressed grandparent.” Verbally expressed attitudes about family obligations might also be affected by actual exchanges in support. Studies sh...