Introduction Children and youth who are at-risk for behavioral problems can have a negative impact on how well the family functions. African American youth who live in poverty are thought to be at-risk for several behavioral problems such as dropping out of school, conduct problems, fighting, criminal involvement, and substance abuse (Nebbitt et al, 2014, Wilson, Foster, Anderson, & Mance, 2009). They are often exposed to violence in their neighborhoods and families, and many of the schools that they attend have fewer resources, all of which help to increase the likelihood of acting out or behavior problems. Parents and families who live in poverty often do not have the education, knowledge or access to intervention or treatment that …show more content…
These researchers believe that intensive intervention approaches are needed for youth who display antisocial behaviors because such behaviors put them at even greater risk for abusing substances. They also state that when youth engage in antisocial behaviors, the parents tend to be less accepting of them, show less affection, support and attachment to them. The parents may also have harsher attitudes and discipline with such youth. In addition, according to Santisteban et al (1997), research has shown that parents of youth with antisocial behaviors often use reinforcement inappropriately, use inconsistent parenting styles, and have a lot of family conflict and poor attachment to their children. Family therapy and intervention can be useful in helping parents to become a protective factor to help youth deal with stressors they are facing and to prevent their abuse of substances. However, if families do not receive interventions or help, youth with antisocial behaviors are more likely to be influenced by antisocial peers, drug use, and criminal activity in their neighborhoods. Also, if the parents force their problematic youth out of the home too soon, then they will be more easily influenced by …show more content…
Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) in particular, has been found to be useful in helping to improve family functioning for those who are at risk for substance abuse. According to these researchers, BSFT is rooted in Structural Family Therapy, which was developed by Salvador Minuchin. They state that this approach was developed to help urban minority families living in poverty, and that it operates on the assumption that the therapy will be brief, provides flexibility in its use, and the major goal is to change the family system (e.g. based on the specific needs of the family). There are three major components of BSFT, which include: joining, family pattern diagnosis, and restructuring. In the study conducted by Santisteban et al (1997), African American and Hispanic American youth ages 12 to 14 and their parents participated in a BFST intervention program. The youth were given both pre-tests and post-tests to measure their behavior problems, conduct, anxiety, family functioning, and substance use. The researchers found that BFST was effective in improving conduct disorder, socialized aggression, as well as overall family functioning. They also found each of these factors were predictive of the likelihood of substance abuse initiation in the future (Santisteban et al,
Hinton, W., Sheperis, C., & Sims, P. (2000). Family based approaches to juvenile delinquency. The Family Journal, 11(2), 167-173.
Practicing and researching solution-focused family therapy is growing and becoming more prevalent in the helping profession (Gingerich, Kim, Geert, Stams, & Macdonald, 2012; Kim & Franklin, 2015). As such, solution-focused family therapy is now considered an evidence-based therapeutic approach for all helping professionals. Additionally, solution-focused family therapy is proven to be flexible and portable to a range of therapeutic settings including behavioral health and community counseling clinics, school counseling, alcohol and drug treatment facilities, and coaching. While, solution-focused family therapy is greatly recognized as a useful evidence-based approach, there is a lack of research on the process
Strategic family therapy is when the therapist initiated most of what happens during a therapy session and designs an approach for each problem that comes up. To be a successful strategic therapist a person should identify problems that can be solved, set goals for the course of therapy, design interventions or tools to meet those goals, and take client’s responses into consideration. Strategic family therapy is really a combination of a few family therapy models Strategic family therapy developed from the communications theory which evolved from MRI (mental research institute)’s brief therapy, Haley’s Strategic model, and the Milan Team’s systemic model. Strategic therapy uses all of these methods together to help the progression of therapy and to bring about change. Strategic family therapy has a few different types such as a model from Jay Haley, MRI (mental research institute), and The Milan Team. Each of these models has different concepts, strengths, and weaknesses that make strategic family therapy a truly diverse type of family therapy.
Kaplan , L. & Girard, J. (1994). Strengthening high risk families. New York: Lexington Books.
Rosa and Miguel are experiencing relationship problems due to developmental and financial stressors. This has created a turbulent home environment. Miguel’s verbal abuse and open hostility has Rosa emotionally overwhelmed. He is not physically abusive; however, his anger is upsetting the household. The children are also displaying emotional and physical stress related symptoms. Rosa and Miguel come from emotionally unstable homes, which has impacted their ability to communicate and manage their emotions. Due their inability to communicate in a productive manner, they have sought help to resolve their problems. Both have expressed the concern that they are repeating the harmful behavior they experienced as children. They
The earlier children begin to experience adversity the more detrimental and long-term the psychological, physical, emotional, and behavioral effects will be; exposure to multiple adversities increases the likelihood of children developing psychological and behavioral issues. Researchers in this study first collected data from previous research done on the relationship between ACEs, delinquency, and substance abuse from Wave I of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW II), which is a national longitudinal study of a number of children from the ages of birth to 18 years. Investigations performed by child welfare agencies in the US determined whether these children were victims of child abuse and/or neglect. NSCAW officials collected data by having in-person interviews with guardians, teachers, caseworkers, and the children who were the subjects of the
According to Price & Kunz, (2003) family structure is a major factor in explaining delinquency. The research aimed at finding a link between cohabiting and other family types with delinquency (Price & Kunz, 2003). They made an important finding that adolescents from cohabiting families are at greater odds of engaging in non-violent delinquency compared to those from biological-parent families. The findings contradict the findings of other studies that show that that youth from broken families are likely to engage themselves in delinquent activities. For example, in one longitudinal study by Juby and Farrington, (2003) they found out that children especially boys who were from non-intact families portrayed negative behaviors compared to those that were from intact families (Juby & Farrington, 2001). Moreover, Prince & Kunz, (2003) performed a meta-analysis involving divorce and juvenile delinquency. They also made a finding that children from divorced homes have a high rate of delinquency compared to those from intact homes.
Cloe Madanes once said psychotherapy is the art of finding the angel of hope in the midst of terror, despair and madness.
Virginia Satir was a key participant in the development of family systems theory. She was the developer of Conjoint family therapy, the Change Process model and the Communication model of family therapy. One of her core beliefs was that growth, change and understanding can be achieved to help people reach their full potential. She believed that she could help families to improve their relationships and communication exchanges (Caflisch, n.d.).
The counselor’s role with the family and client is to stay professional at all times and make sure the counselor does not agree or disagree with her client. The counselor is there to help the family as one and not her client. Murdock (2013) states “The role of the counselor in Structural Family Therapy is that of expert. The therapist joins the family, but maintains a stance as a leader in the counseling process.” (pg.,426) Therefore, the role of the counselor is to stay present and professional at all times. According to All Psychology Careers “The strategic therapist becomes actively involved and responsible in helping clients turn their lives around, in helping them strategically plan, execute, and measure game winning outcomes” So, the counselor role is to help the family be structure.
Families serve as one of the strongest socializing forces in a person's life. They help teach children to control unacceptable behavior, to delay gratification, and to respect the rights of others. Conversely, families can also teach children aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. In adults' lives, family responsibilities may provide an important stabilizing force. Given these possibilities, family life may directly contribute to the development of delinquent and criminal tendencies. Parental conflict and child abuse correlate with delinquency. Though not all children who grow up in conflictive or violent homes become delinquent, however, being exposed to conflict and violence appears to increase the risk of delinquency. At this point, researchers have not pin pointed what factors exactly push some at-risk youth into delinquency. A child with criminal parents faces a greater likelihood of becoming a delinquent than children with law-abiding parents. However, the influence appears not to be directly related to criminality but possibly to poor supervision.
There are research findings that have proven children in poverty are more likely to display higher rates of disruptive behavior (Roy & Raver, 2014). For the reason that parents who live in poverty are at higher risk in losing their jobs, working multiple jobs, poor health care, and unsafe neighborhoods, it is difficult for parents to have quality and efficient childcare and healthy parenting styles. Disregarding gender, challenging behaviors have been apparent
In today’s society, a dysfunctional family is a concept that is taken lightly, because our society has been desensitized to it, and we have become so numbed by the idea. There are children who suffer greatly because of the families (or parents) who raised them. A dysfunctional family is defined as a family that encounters “problems that tend to be chronic and children [who] do not consistently get their needs met” (Benton). This includes negative, abusive, addicted, and neglectful parents. Individuals who are raised in a dysfunctional family can be impacted psychologically in many ways, such as participating in crimes, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse.
A finding that emerges very strongly and consistently is that delinquents have very poor relationships with their parents” (Gove 303-304). The teens who commit crimes often lack a parental figure in their lives. These teens are not strictly overseen by their parents, and their parents rarely know what they are up to or what they are doing (Gove 303). “Poor parent-child relationships, lack of parental control, and erratic behavior of parents could be a product of juvenile misbehavior and the juvenile’s hostility towards his or her parents” (Gove 304). Teens that do not have a close relationship with their parents often resort to delinquency as a form of resentment. “The family as an institution plays a critical role in the socialization of children; as a consequence, parents presumably play a critical role in whether their children misbehave” (Gove 315). Parents play the biggest role in a child’s life because the parents have been with the child since birth. Parents shape, mold, and provide the foundation that a teen needs to make hard decisions and to live by a good m...
Youth delinquent behaviors have been a consistent problem facing families in the recent decades. These behaviors cause tension within family systems and often result in serious consequences not only for the youth exhibiting behaviors, but also for the entirety of the youth’s family. Recent research has provided several different effective treatment and prevention techniques for youth delinquency. Multisystemic therapy, a therapy focusing on the importance of external factors as cause for youth delinquent behaviors has become among the leading intervention strategies for delinquency in the United States. Multisystemic therapy (MST) is an effective treatment for youth delinquency, because it has proven long-term success, is attempting to incorporate