Human Behavior and the Social Environment Social work has long recognized the relationship between the behavior of an individual and the environment in which the individual interacts (Hutchison, 2008). Human behavior theories offer a framework to organize, interpret and understand this relationship (Hutchison, 2008). For this case study, the following three theories will be examined for relevancy: Life cycle theory, role theory and resiliency theory. Life Cycle Theory Psychosocial development throughout the Life Cycle theory (sometimes known as individual development theory) proposes that each individual has the ability to master their environment at all stages of life (Coady & Lehman, 2008; Hutchison, 2008). The theory had its beginnings in Freud’s psychosexual stages of child development; however Erikson is responsible for laying the groundwork for the theory as it is known today, by proposing an epigenetic model of human development (Hutchison, 2008). The main tenant of the psychosocial development theory throughout the life cycle is that an individual’s personality is held to unfold over the course of their life, with healthy development based on the ability of the individual to master tasks and skills at each level or stage of life (Coady & Lehman, 2008; Hutchison, 2008). Erikson’s original model sectioned the life span into eight levels with each containing its own unique psychosocial challenge or conflict which, depending on the outcome, would help the individual experience positive growth (Coady & Lehman, 2008; (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2005/2011; Hutchison, 2008). The eighth stage encompasses late adulthood, where the conflict experienced is that of integrity versus despair. If an individual has experienced successful o... ... middle of paper ... ...amilies in Society, 86(3), 367-373. doi:10.1606/1044-3894.3434 Hooyman, N., & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social gerontology: A multidisciplinary perspective (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (Original work published 2005) Hutchison, E. (2008). Dimensions of Human Behavior, Person and Environment, 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Lamb, F., Brady, M., & Lohman, C. (2009). Lifelong resiliency learning: A strength-based synergy for gerontological social work. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 52(7), 713-728. doi:10.1080/01634370802716216 Resnick, B., Gwyther, L., & Roberto, K. (Eds.). (2011). Resilience in aging: Concepts, research and outcomes (1st ed.). New York: Springer Science & Business Media, LLC. Richardson, G. E. (2002). The Metatheory of Resilience and Resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(3), 307-321. doi:10.1002/jclp.10020
Lifespan development is discontinuous. It is a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at specific times. Although there is evidence that indicates that both continuous and discontinuous contributes to lifespan development, I believe that most of life can be described as discontinuous. Psychoanalytic perspective states that people go through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations, how they resolve these conflicts determines the person’s ability to learn, get along with others and to cope with anxiety. This theory explains that during this period of the child’s life they will set the course for the rest of their life based on these conflicts
Atchley, R. C. (1997). Social forces and aging: An introduction to social gerontology (8th ed.).
Social workers are generalist practitioners that utilize various theoretical frameworks to assist in problem-solving for individuals, family, groups, and communities. They aim to provide interventions at any level based on the need of their clients. The generalist social worker assist with a broad scope problems and can be found in a variety of institutions. When assisting with adult clients who suffer with social development due to childhood trauma, social workers must know what trauma is. Trauma is prevalent in the social work community, almost every social worker has had a client that has suffered from trauma. In order to assist adults that have social development issues stemming from childhood there are The four-fold principles
Hutchison, Elizabeth. Dimensions of human behavior: the changing life course. 3. ed. London [u.a.: SAGE, 2008. Print.
Resilience and hardiness has long been a topic of research and discussion within different paradigms and fields of study, for example, in military psychology, psychiatry, health statistics and measurement, medical anthropology, education, medicine and organizational settings. Resilience means the skills, abilities, acquaintance, and insight that accumulate over time as people struggle to conquer adversity and meet challenges. It is an ongoing and developing fund of energy and skill that can be used in current struggles (Saleebey, 1996; Liebenberg, 2005).Most commonly, the term resilience has come to mean an individual's ability to overcome adversity and continue his or her normal development.
Still, researchers such as Lizano and Barak (2012) showed how burnout factors, such as higher emotional exhaustion, job stress and work-family conflict can be a major cause of turnover in social services, affecting the quality of services delivered. Although burnout factors are present barriers in a social work profession, I was interested to review resiliency factors, such as self-efficacy skills. I want to investigate how resiliency factors are present in some social workers. These resiliency factors enable workers to perform, despite the demands of the profession. All of these factors are relevant to social work and will promote future alternative strategies to assist the delivery of DCF quality services for children in
Krysik, J. L. & Finn, J. (2013). Research for effective social work practice. New York, NY:
Even if there are only a few studies which have focused on what might work for the students to promote resilience , Kinman and Grant(2011), state that a resilient social worker will be able to:
Wells, M. (2010, Oct) Resilience in older adults living in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Online Journal of Rural Nursing & Healthcare, 10(2), 45-53.
Resilience is defined as an important quality that enables people to cope with unfavorable situations and find ways to overcome the negative results. According to Allender, Rector, and Warner (2014I), people with resilience would have the required qualities to bounce back against threats and stressful situations, and recoil with an attitude of dominance, capability, and aspiration (p. 556). Thus, because of all its susceptibilities, the homeless population should be regarded and treated in a way that could encourage survival through personal’s ability to react positively to conflicting situations. Many studies have mentioned the relationship between an individual’s prior experiences with its form of resiliency, however they also emphasized on the individual’s education level, work training and qualifications, and other life’s experiences to help cope with difficult moment.
Smith-Osborne, A. (2007). Life Span and Resiliency Theory: A Critical Review. Advances in Social Work, 8(1), 152-168.
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
Social Work is a profession that prides itself on the ability to cultivate positive relationships with people who may be very different from us. There may be differences in age, race, personality, gender, socioeconomic status, health, sexual orientation, rank, power, and privilege, as well as beliefs regarding religion and politics. The experience of these differences can cause a Social Worker to feel emotionally and cognitively disturbed. The ability to become aware of and consciously attend to these internal disturbances can positively affect the quality of relationship we are able to
Middle adulthood is the generatively vs. stagnation stages in which an adult must care of others and realize that they need a family or a legacy. During this stage, people will nurture their own family or find ways to nurture others that need to be nurtured outside their immediate family. If an adult does not overcome the crisis during this stage, then they will not grow which will result in them being selfish and
Weiss, Robert S., and Scottq A. Bass, eds. Challenges of the third age: Meaning and purpose in later life. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2002. 41-43. Print.