After reading about the family transition and change, it hit me that these families that are going through a divorce need to put their children first, and what it is going to be like when they have to adjust to a new lifestyle where their parents are not together anymore. “The central assumption is that divorce is a crisis of family transition which causes structural changes in family systems” (Ahrons, pg. 533). Transitioning is going to be a hard time for these children because their whole life is changing, and it puts a strain on the family because of all the stress. It is so sad that “Our culture presently provides largely negative role models for the divorcing family” (pg. 534). However, the most important thing to do is to keep a positive …show more content…
It states that “Love may not be the only reason for marriage, but by and large those who marry declare themselves to be in love and give every evidence that their declaration is honest” (Weiness, pg. 37). It was interesting to read about how they talked about love and how many people have different meanings of it as well. For me, love is such a strong word to say in any relationship, so it was neat to learn about how people see it in a different way. Love is all about respecting your partner, being there for them even through the good and bad, and just showing your affection to them. Also, I liked how it talked about positive regard and that there are 4 kinds: idealization, trust, identification, and complementarity. On the other hand, attachment is vital in any relationship because without attachment to your partner, then it is not really a relationship in my opinion. It says that “Attachment gives rise to a sense that home is where the other is” (pg. 40). To me, that is so true because you want to be with that person wherever that might be. Also, it can be a bad thing, especially when you have children and are going through a divorce because children can get attached to their parents and then it can become bad when they have to separate. Divorce is never easy, especially when children are involved. Also, it was fascinating to learn …show more content…
“Situations involving martial separation and divorce result in the ironic circumstances where the emotional withdrawal of the martial partner, the necessary changes in family structure, and loss of attachment from the former spouse” (Madden&Ardetti, pg.243). It was interesting to learn that attachment theory can happened in adults as well and not just in infants. Also, “divorce requires individuals and families to make adjustments in the legal, spousal, parental, economic, social, and emotional domains” (pg. 244). I had no idea that this was required from families when they had to make adjustments to these domains. On the other hand, I liked how this article did a method section because I liked seeing all the statistics that they have found over the years. It was neat to see the survey they did and that they contacted 917 women to do the survey. I even liked seeing the charts from the table to see the results that they got from the survey. I never realized that attachment is so strong in a relationship that when a couple divorces it can cause them to have attachment theory because they are no longer with their spouse. It was fascinating to learn that it can happen with adults as well and not just infants like everyone
Acknowledging, the importance of attachment has been in helpful development of couples therapy, in particular to Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), “where it helps explain how even healthy adults need to depend on each other,” (Nichols, 2013, p. 62). EFT is an empirically validated experiential therapy model that works with emotion to create change. EFT therapists use “attachment theory to deconstruct the familiar dynamic in which one partner criticizes and complains while the other gets defensive and withdraws,” (Nichols, 2013, p.63). Research has demonstrated the importance of attachment in individuals. It is not solely a childhood trait attachment is a trait that individuals carry for the rest of their lives. Nonetheless, it is important to work on the attachments with families and couples in order to alleviate some of the negative interactions that arise from feeling a fear of losing the attachment with
Family and Demographic change is a very broad yet understandable and extremely variable topic. Ever since human first landed or should I say spread out to create larger families and to reproduce in order to keep humanity survive and evolve and to create a more sustained and developed civilizations. Through civilizations and generations the population of each generation begins to increase dramatically that’s of course without the deaths of war and hunger or even human demand. In early civilizations the birth rate was reasonably high as well as the death rates, but ever since the rise of human logic and medicine, the death rates tremendously decreased although the birth rate started to increase.
When divorced, the children go through many emotional changes. "Children of divorce are more depressed and aggressive toward parents and teachers than are youngsters from intact families. They are much more likely to develop mental and emotional disorders later on in life" (Leo 2000). Children and teenagers have a hard tim...
Kelly, J. B., & Emery, R. E. (2003). Children's adjustment following divorce: Risk and resilience perspectives. Family Relations, 52(4), 352-362.
Divorce is a process that many people in America go through. The divorce rate continues to escalate over the years. Divorce is a serious problem, it is a gradual process that ultimately results in families breaking up. There are various factors in which a marriage can fail and end up in divorce. Some skip the step of trying to reconcile things and make it work. In some cases it is easy for a divorce to take place. For instance, in cases where both parties are in agreement and have no children it is easier to handle a divorce. But in the cases where children are present, what happens to the kids? Both parents are at each others throats or one is devastated from the rejection, what role does the child play? It is a hard thing to cope with as an adult imagine as a little one or even a teenager, it affects them in more ways than anyone can imagine. It can affect them both physically and emotionally. The effects of divorce are immense, it permanently weakens the bond or relationship between a child and his parents. Can lead to them reaching out or looking to others for attention, causing poor attitudes, low self esteem, dropping grades, loss of virginity, use of drugs and or weapons, or in some cases mutilation of the body. There are various effects that children have to deal with that maybe extremely hard to cope with. One parent may say one thing yet the other disagrees and makes it impossible for the child to have a stable relationship with both of them. Children need both biological parents at their side to be guardians and counselors in their lives, to be examples of what they need to do to become outstanding citizens in our community.
Family dynamics are the relations between family members as well as the unpredictable interactions that can occur within a family. Every family has its own dynamic. There are so many things to judge when you think of family: there is the order of their birth, siblings that tend to fight, or the single child in a family. It all seems to become apparent through the years. There are four main roles a dysfunctional family. There are Hero, Scapegoat, Lost Child, and Clown/mascot. Realizing that you were a part of a dysfunctional family will certainly aid you in understanding how and why you act the way you do, as well as give you reason to appreciate and view your family differently.
Divorce is a very common word in today's society. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, "divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage or a complete or radical severance of closely connected things"(Pickett, 2000). This dissolution of marriage has increased very rapidly in the past fifty years. In 1950 the ratio of divorce to marriage was one in every four; in 1977 that statistic became one in two. Currently one in every two first marriages results in divorce. In second marriages that figure is considerably higher, with a 67% average (National Vital Statistics Report, 2001). One critical aspect of divorce is often not taken into consideration: How it affects children. Every year 1.1 million children are affected by divorce (Benjamin, 2000). Children from divorce or separation often exhibit behavioral and long-term adjustment problems (Kelly, 2000). Throughout this paper I will discuss divorces effects on children at different age levels, how they react, and what can be done to help them.
Families experience many shifts in their lives. Some shifts are positive, but others are negative. When the shifts are negative many families cannot find a clear solution for their problems and they seek someone to blame. We will discuss the Olson’s family situation from the Family Systems Theory point of view.
It is unfortunate that marriages sometimes end and there are children caught in the middle of the marriage but it may be worst for the parents to stay together simply for the children’s sake. However when parents do divorce the children are the most effected by the divorce. Often enough the divorce causes children to feel displaced and also to have feelings that their world is coming to an end. These children tend to grow into adults with either extreme emotional detachment and self-esteem issues or they will have strong family values and try to prevent the cycle from repeating itself but the majority of these children grow up suffering from the divorce.
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.
Scientific American clarifies that, “In a 2002 study, psychologist E. Mavis Hetherington of the University of Virginia and her then graduate student Anne Mitchell Elmore found that many children experience short-term negative effects from divorce especially anxiety, anger, shock and disbelief.” (3) Some parents are so worried for their child’s welfare that they remain in unhappy marriages, believing it will protect their child from the trauma of divorce. In a 1985 study Hetherington and her associates reported that children who are exposed to high levels of marital discord before divorce adjust better than children who experience low levels. Studies show that only a relatively small percentage of children experience serious problems in the wake of divorce or later, as
In the world we live in today, divorce has unfortunately become a normal thing in our lives. Many married couples are getting divorced for many reasons; problems in the marriage, either a spouse having an affair, a loss of feelings, and many other types of complications. Many divorces involve children who are young and due to their age do not understand what is really going on. We all know someone who has dealt with divorce. Children are the ones who are typically affected the most by the divorce and they will have to learn to cope with their parent’s divorce at such a young age, affecting them in positive or negative ways.
The family has been referred to as the most vital of the social institutions (Alexander, 2010). The definition of what it means to be a family has evolved over the past several generations. In technical terms, the U.S. Census Bureau defines a family as a group of two or more people residing together related by birth, marriage, or adoption. (U.S. Census, 2010). Categories of families that fit this definition include married couples with and without children, blended families, single parent, and extended family households. Same-sex and unmarried couples with and without children and individuals living alone are not included in this group, though they are a rising segment of the population. The make-up of family and household types at any given time has major consequences for society (Katz & Stern, 2007). Major systems such as economic political, legal, and other social institutions are all impacted by changes in family dynamics. This paper will explore the evolution of the family unit and examine the reciprocal link between this shift and surrounding systems. The relationship between these changes and contemporary systems theory will also be discussed.
As we know, the family life cycle refers to different stages of person’s life from childhood to retirement. In each stage, people face challenges in the family life that allow them to build or gain new skills. No one can pass through those stages smoothly and without concerns with financially problems, disease and issues from family members. Rather, the lifespan cycle means people development process from prenatal to late adulthood. The similarities are both of them had physical and mental development, also meet the different challenges in the different stages. What is more, I believe that family members are indispensable element could affect people life, whatever in the family life cycle or the lifespan cycle.
Family dynamics and their structure have gone through many changes in the last 100 years. The development of diverse and unique family styles was very interesting and I was surprised by the many changes over the spectrum of time. In addition, I discovered that I have been a little sheltered by my own environment. I had failed to learn about other cultures, but what I learned from this course and the way we define family was eye opening. Considering the definition of a family unit, it is easy to see how much that definition has changed. People living in the same home and celebrating the same belief system, although not related by blood, are still considered family. From single parents, to grandparents raising the grandchildren, and homosexual