In the article Bringing It All Back Home: How Outside Stressors Shape Families’ Everyday Lives, the department of Psychology and Center on Everyday Lives of Families in the University of California, Los Angeles are studying how stressful situations outside of the home influences the interaction of family members. The study is attempting to find a correlation between the short term stressors outside the home and how it affects family dynamics. Also, how these short term effects will result on long term consequences on their health and behavior. It is also looking at how, from daily experiences and interpersonal communications, our family dynamics are modeled. This is done using the descriptive research in the naturalistic subcategory. The naturalistic research method is used to study the participants in their homes. On the first table provided by the article, the reader is introduced to three studies that samples various people in a particular lifestyled: thirty-three male ATCs and their …show more content…
spouse, thirty middle class single mothers, and forty-three middle class couples who both brought in income. The research group wanted to study short term effects, having the participants use several methods of self and peer evaluation. These include: journaling, self-reporting, and other members observing outward changes in behavior and mood. Video recording is a great tool for naturalistic research and was used in this study. Results from the research all seem to narrow down to one idea: Distressing situations affect how family members interact and are negative in character.
Shown in the study, there are two responses. One is for the stressed family member to withdraw from social interactions. The second one is a likelihood for irritability. The observation that stressors make family members withdraw or become more sensitive is true of all ages and can be further influenced with past psychological states (ie depression or anxiety). For example, the articles states that both children and adults are affected with troubles communicating with their peers and show negative behaviors. In an adult males, the withdrawal is a common coping method. Children also lean towards behavior that would allow them to avoid stimulus. Next, it is observed that the mood of the distressed family member can affect other members in what is described as “crossover.” Also, that family members can influence coping
methods. Pseudoscience is science not backed by sound findings, able to stand up to peer review, or is researched by faulty methods. The research methods used in the study differs from pseudoscience in the fact that its claims and data can be supportive by methods deemed valid and accepted by the scientific community. Data used in this study can be backed through viewing video tapes and self and peer evaluations done by the participants. The findings have been published in a scholarly article for the scientific community to review is another characteristic of this study being legitimate. Using a large sample of people in three different areas of life supports the validity of the findings, allowing others to review their findings and criticize their conclusions. The ability of the group to combine each individual study and draw a clear conclusion without supernatural or influence or : stressors outside of the home can negatively affect the behaviors of the person and therefore their family members. Also, if continued for a long period of time, can mar the overall family dynamics.
According to Murray Bowen’s family systems theory, the family subsists in a system where as the individuals are inseparable from their network of relationships, but continue to strive to be individualized. Consequently, various forms of these networks are grounded in the domestic structure and the “normal” or “ideal” family and development derives from the interaction of the family members when they remain differentiated, unease is minimal, and partners have beneficial emotional communication with their own family members (Nichols, 2014). The concept of achieving individuality while remaining in a cohesive family unit may cause stress. Concepts such as differentiation of self, triangulation, emotional cutoff, and anxious attachment may aid in the elucidation of the family system. This theoretical concept along with these coinciding terms will be explored through one episode of the television series The Goldbergs called Rush.
The Stress Model we have chosen is the Double ABCX Model. This model is suitable for our movie family because we are able to see the problems that the family has faced. The model encompasses the major variables of interest in the movie, including our pre-crises, crises, and post crises. We can see this in the first marriage, the divorce, and the second marriage; as well as everything in between. Many of the stressors are found in many categories. This is because they were not resolved by the crisis- divorce. Resources fall into many categories as well, because how they are used changes how they affect the family system.
According to Murray Bowen’s family systems theory, the family subsists in an arrangement, whereas the individuals are inseparable from their network of relationships, but continue to strive to be individualized. Consequently, various forms of these networks are grounded in the domestic structure and the “normal” or “ideal” family and its development is derived from the interaction of the family members as they remain differentiated, anxiety is minimal, and partners have beneficial emotional communication with their family members (Nichols, 2014). Subsequently, the idea of achieving individuality while remaining in a cohesive family unit may cause stress. Concepts such as differentiation of self, triangulation, emotional cutoff, and anxious attachment may aid in the elucidation of the family system. This theoretical concept along with these coinciding terms will be explored through one episode of the television series The Goldbergs called Rush.
Family systems have been studied since psychologists began studying people and their behaviors. The family is a dynamic system—a self-organizing system that adapts itself to changes in its members and to changes in its environment (as cited in Sigelman & Rider, 2009). Allowing the focus of a family system to grow beyond the mother and child relationship did not happen overnight. For many years, there was no connection made between other members of the family and the developmental issues of the children involved.
“Family stress theory emphasizes the active processes families engage in to balance family demands with family capabilities as these interact with family meanings to arrive at a level of family adjustment or adaptation” (Patterson, 1988, 1989, 1993). In order for a family to be resilient, it ...
The term family dynamics is associated with the way a family unit relates with one another. Individual roles and their effects upon each member. In Hamlet, Sophocles Antigone, Death Of A Salesman, and Here Today all authors apply the theme family dynamics in a unique form. Family Dynamics set the layout for our lives, but as individuals we make the dominant decisions that control our future.
After reviewing the family dynamics, I contemplated between Ackerman and Bowen theories. Both therapeutic orientations emphasis importance of multigenerational emotional problems and works with the entire family system to alleviate problems. Either approach will be effective; however, Bowen belief that behavior within the family system is resultant of interaction or friction that brings family together or pulls them apart. This ongoing friction between the Jenkins household can be eliminated or reduced, and they can coexist.
The family dynamic offers multiple perceptions and needs, these may require addressing matters individually as well as on a group level. There may be matters such as domestic violence or substance abuse which requires both individual and family counseling and resources. In times of crisis families need education and coping strategies in order to regain their lives back. The necessities of the family may entail emotional and medical support requirements depending on their situation. When there is a possible case involving violence the focus may turn to more than medical and emotional support and possible removal of the children from the home may be required.
Family dynamics are patterns in the relationships between family members. Every family has its own dynamics and there are very different from one another because of the many aspects that influence them such as the numbers of members in the family, the personalities of the individuals, the cultural background, the economic status, values, and personal family experiences. This paper will analyze the two different relationship patterns found in the poem “Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead,” by Andrew Hudgins and in the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. By interpreting those two sources through Freud’s concept of family, the family environment and the relationships between the members will be analyzed to illustrate the ways family dynamics
...ressors on parents such as having food for the family, home security and employment security etc. “Maternal stress has been shown to be transmittable to children and to negatively influence infants and small children.”(p. 13). Mother spouse and mother child relationships are significant in language development. Poor relationships have a higher rate of stress and this has a negative influence on the child’s receptive language which suggest that there is a great number of causes in the home environment that influence language and intellect. An over- crowded home environment is a measure of stress because more the more people in the home the more noise and this decreases the chance for mental quiet. Over-crowded homes also predict less diversity in language and also a parent response that is not warm and encouraging; further there is a lack of routine and rules.
Afifi, Tamara D., et al. "The Influence Of Divorce And Parents’ Communication Skills On Adolescents’ And Young Adults’ Stress Reactivity And Recovery." Communication Research 42.7 (2015): 1009-1042. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2015. In her article written for parents Tamara, a professor who has received many awards, examined the impact of parents’ marital status on children. Children whose parents were separated or divorced have a harder time with communicating skills in comparison to a child with a healthy family. Tamara who is biased in this topic seeks to inform the public of the link between parents relationships and children. (okay)
families have struggles, both internal and external, and while this is undoubtedly true, the struggles that
Bowen Theory views the family as one type of natural system. It is characterized as “an emotional unit consisting of interlocking relationships best understood within a multigenerational and historical context”. (Kerr & Bowen, 1988). It provides a conceptual framework for understanding the impact of relationships among family members and the influence to health. It is constructed with 8 interlocking concepts.
Those childhood years are some of the most influential and impactful seasons of their lives that was covered in arguments. Amato and Sobolewski found that, “parental discord was positively associated with adult offspring’s psychological distress 12 years later (901). The adult children had not been able to shake those memories of their parents’ constant quarrels and had become a part of who they were down the road. Growing up in both parental divorce and high-conflict two-parent families appear to be linked with long-term decrements in children’s psychological adjustment (Amato and Sobolewski 901). In adulthood, Amato and Sobolewski shared the three processes that mediate long term effects of marital discord: socioeconomic attainment, relationship instability, and the quality of relationships between offspring and parents (902). Parental discord interferes with children’s educational attainment, leaves them with inadequate interpersonal skills, and a history of unstable intimate relationships, or undermines close ties with their parents and kin, children’s distress is likely to be reinforced or even amplified after reaching adulthood (Amato and Sobolewski 902). Amato and Sobolewski support Grych and Finchman that overt conflict between parents is a direct stressor for children whether younger or older (903). Parents that fight frequently, tend to display less warmth toward their children and discipline them more harshly (Amato and Sobolewski 903). For these reasons, children in high-conflict households are at increased risks for antisocial behavior, anxiety, depression, and difficulty in concentrating (Amato and Sobolewski 903). All of the previously listed illnesses are things that influence school performance and work performance once
Chan and Grossman (1988) studied the immediate effects of stressors which have shown that subjects report higher levels of helplessness and feelings of lack of control, and greater psychological distress including depression, anxiety, confusion and overall mood disturbances when they are stressed (Chan and Grossman, 1988). In longer terms, individuals may experience changes in their personalities, which reflect alterations of their typical coping strategies (Skolnick, 1973; Singleton, 1977).