A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay Example

A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay Example A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay A Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay Essay The construct of household individuality can be defined as a household s subjective apprehension of world based on shared beliefs and experiences that determine how single members interact and associate to each other and the universe outside the household ( Bennett, Wolin, McAvity, 1988 ) . Throughout my childhood my household had two individualities: a public individuality that was shaped by social outlooks and norms, and a private individuality that was governed by the alone demands and issues that plagued our household life. From a public position we were a traditional in-between category household complete with a married twosome, three kids, and two Canis familiariss. We lived in a modest but nice place in a suburban community, my sisters and I attended private schools, and we were financially unafraid. However, few people were cognizant of the struggle, pandemonium, and maltreatment that occurred behind closed doors within our place. Our private individuality, characterized by d ysfunctional behaviours and interactions that occurred between assorted members of the household, told a really different narrative. The construction or organisation of my household based on forms of interactions, subsystems, and boundaries is of import in understanding the kineticss within my household of beginning ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The genogram, or household diagram, provided in the appendix illustrates a multigenerational position of construction and relationships within my drawn-out household ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . However, for the intent of this paper I will concentrate on the construction of my household of beginning. My household consists of my male parent, Gerald, my female parent, Alma, and three kids: Michelle, the eldest, Jennifer, the in-between kid, and myself the youngest kid. Our household construction was governed by familial functions, regulations, and outlooks ( Nichols, 2011 ) . My male parent held the function of fiscal supplier within the household. His duty was to guarantee that the household had fiscal security. My female parent maintained the function of health professional and leader. She was the materfamilias of the household and was charged with the undertaking of keeping every facet of the place and household. My oldest sister was the whipping boy and defender within the household. Family issues were frequently projected onto her coercing her to take duty and incrimination for household disfunction ( Shulman, 2006 ) . She besides held the function of defender within the sibling subsystem, and often shielded my in-between sister and I from danger and injury within and outside the place. My in-between sister was the quiet member and theoretical account kid of the household. She is inactive and seldom expressed sentiments sing household issues, and ever made an effort to fulfill familial outlooks and demands ( Shulman, 2006 ) . As the youngest kid, I played the function of gatekeeper within the household. My end as the gatekeeper was to utilize my humor and wit to assist the household return to a province of homeostasis by easing tensene ss and reconstructing composure and peace within the household ( Shulman, 2006 ) . My household was besides governed by a set of explicit and implicit regulations and outlooks ( Nichols, 2011 ) . Explicit regulations and outlooks consisted of good behaviour, high academic accomplishment, and the completion of assorted jobs and responsibilities within the family. Implicit regulations helped strengthen household secrets and included maintaining household issues private, and prohibiting household members to discourse or admit the disfunction within the household. Additionally, my household operated as a closed system with stiff boundaries restricting input from outside beginnings ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . We were non unfastened or welcoming to outside influences and support ; instead, we internalized familial issues and jobs. My female parent s mental unwellness complicated household kineticss and contributed to the pathology within the place. My female parent has Borderline Personality Disorder which made her a polarising presence within our place due to her frequent tantrums of fury and unstable mental wellness ( Nichols, 2011 ) . Therefore, the household s attending and energy was chiefly focused on my female parent and her demands ( Nichols, 2011 ) . My female parent would often displace her choler and fury onto my sisters and I in the signifier of physical and emotional maltreatment. Her behaviour affected relationships, boundaries, and fond regard forms within the household as illustrated in the household genogram. My female parent exhibited an anxious-ambivalent fond regard to my male parent due to her at hand fright of forsaking ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . She urgently desired my male parent s love and attending, but would act in ways that created struggle and pandemonium within the matrimo nial subsystem ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . As a consequence, my male parent developed an anxious-avoidant fond regard to my female parent, which resulted in him making a stiff boundary within the matrimonial subsystem in order to protect and distance himself from my female parent s choler and attendant feelings of helpless and defeat ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My parents were involved in a cyclical pursuer-distancer form of interaction that resulted in my male parent s detachment within the matrimonial subsystem ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The kineticss, boundaries, and fond regards between the parental and kid subsystems were every bit complicated. The relationship between my female parent and my oldest sister was filled with struggle and tenseness. My female parent was exceptionally opprobrious to my oldest sister which resulted in the constitution of disorganised fond regard ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My oldest sister perceived my female parent as terrorization ; yet, she urgently desired nurturance from my female parent and fluctuated between distancing herself from my female parent and urgently seeking comfort and security ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My oldest sister and my female parent were psychologically and emotionally entwined or fused with one another despite old ages of maltreatment ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My in-between sister established an anxious-avoidant fond regard with my female parent ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . As a kid, my in-between sister seldom sought aid, counse l, or comfort from my female parent as a consequence of the maltreatment she endured and my female parent s inability to adequately turn to her demands for safety and comfort ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . I established an anxious-ambivalent fond regard to my female parent in which I urgently depended on her for emotional support and encouragement despite her maltreatment, but seldom received equal comfort and nurturance ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My sisters and I have an anxious-avoidant fond regard with my male parent as a consequence of his inability to systematically supply us with comfort and safety in response to my female parent s maltreatment ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The household kineticss, nevertheless, strengthened the sibling subsystem. My sisters and I have a secure fond regard and are able to trust on each other for support, comfort, and nurturance in the face of hardship ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Culture and ethnicity besides played an built-in function in my household individuality and kineticss. My parents are first coevals Mexicanos and were raised in households that emphasized traditional Mexican cultural values and beliefs including a strong committedness to household, regard, trust, and faith ( Rothman, Gant, Hnat, 1985 ) . However, my parents raised my sisters and I in a bi-cultural environment that incorporated assorted facets of American and Mexican civilization and traditions. My parents emphasized trust, regard, and committedness within the household, but they besides introduced American linguistic communication, nutrient, jubilations, and values including a focal point on individualism, privateness, and accomplishment ( Rothman et al. , 1985 ; Beane, 2011 ) . Additionally, contrary to traditional Mexican civilization, there was a stronger accent on immediate instead than extended household ( Rothman et al. , 1985 ) . Religion was besides an of import cultural face t of our lives. My household is Catholic and placed a strong accent on spiritual beliefs and rites such as praying before repasts and go toing church together every Sunday. Family Crisis/Transition In June of 1992 my household, as we knew it, changed everlastingly. My male parent left our place without any anterior notice or treatment and filed for divorce from my female parent. His abrupt and unforeseen going from our place left every household member fighting with feelings of daze, confusion, contempt, choler, and anxiousness. The initial stage of the divorce procedure is identified as the most nerve-racking clip for a household due to the alterations in household construction as a consequence of the absence of a parent, and subsequent force per unit areas and demands for household members to take on new functions and duties ( Cooper, McLanahan, Meadows, Brooks-Gunn, 2009 ; Kelly A ; Emery, 2003 ) . Additionally, households frequently experience important alterations in socioeconomic, societal, and wellness resources as the consequence of a divorce that frequently increases the degree of emphasis within a household and complicates the header and version procedure ( Cooper et al. , 2009, p. 559 ; Kelly A ; Emery, 2003 ) . Harmonizing to the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis, a household s ability to set and get by with passages and crises is based on the interaction of the undermentioned variables: A-the state of affairs or stressor event, B-available resources, C-the household s perceptual experience of the event, and X-the grade of emphasis or crisis experienced by a household ( McKenry A ; Price, 1994 ) . Let us now apply the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis to analyse my household s initial response to the nerve-racking passage of my parents divorce. The stressor confronting my household was the separation, and subsequent divorce, of my parents which left the household in a province of hurt and significantly altered our household individuality, construction, kineticss, and operation. My male parent s absence resulted in important fiscal adversity for the household, which forced my female parent to come in the work force and take on the new and unfamiliar function of fiscal supplier. The duty and demands of this new function affected my female parent s ability to keep her health professional function within the household. As a consequence, my sisters and I had to take on many of her duties within the place. Initially, my oldest sister took on the function of health professional in my female parent s absence. However, my oldest sister left for college shortly after my male parent s going which resulted in important alterations to the sibling subsystem and farther complicated our household s ability to accommodate and get by. My in- between sister was forced to abandon her usual function as the quiet member, and presume the function of defender and health professional. This new function placed a great trade of force per unit area on my in-between sister and changed the moral force within the new sibling couple by increasing tenseness. Additionally, I was no longer able to successfully ease household tenseness and pandemonium as the gatekeeper, and assumed the new function of assisting my in-between sister maintain the family. The divorce besides affected household fond regard demands, boundaries, and relationships. After the divorce, my male parent was physically and emotionally cut-off from my female parent and the remainder of the household ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My sisters and I had no contact with my male parent for a twelvemonth following the divorce, which created a stiff boundary between him and the kid subsystem and contributed to our inability to accommodate our heartache and heal ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Additionally, boundaries between the parental and kid subsystems, and within the sibling subsystem, became more diffuse as a consequence of the new functions and duties of each household member ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . The alterations in household construction forced my in-between sister to take on more of a parental function within the sibling subsystem. Additionally, my female parent was unable to pass as much clip within the place due to the demands of her n ew function as fiscal supplier, which created a distance and detachment between the parent and kid subsystems ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My female parent s relationship with my oldest sister was every bit affected as a consequence of the passage. After she left place, my oldest sister was able to emotionally divide or cut-off my female parent and the pandemonium within the place ( Bowen, 1978 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . However, my oldest sister continued to supply emotional support within the sibling subsystem. My female parent s mental unwellness complicated her ability to get by with the passage and adequately turn to the attachment demands of my sisters and I ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Despite the complicated and helter-skelter relationship we each had with my female parent we urgently needed and wanted her comfort, counsel, and nurturance in response to the hurting, confusion, and anguish we were experiencing. However, my female parent s ain emotional instability rendered her unable to adequately turn to our demands for fond regard. My female parent was preoccupied with her ain demands for emotional comfort and responded in a cold and rejecting mode to our demand for comfort and security. Rather, my in-between sister and I were forced to supply comfort and consolation to my female parent and set our ain demands aside. This function reversal further complicated the interactions and boundaries between the parent and kid subsystems. Culture besides influenced my household s perceptual experience of the divorce and ability to get by with the passage. The disintegration of a matrimony and household is non good accepted within the Mexican civilization due to the strong accent on household connexion and committedness. In fact, households that experience divorce are frequently shamed and ostracized by drawn-out household as was the instance in our household system. My maternal grandparents expressed contempt and letdown in my female parent s inability to salve her matrimony and household, which created more tenseness within our household. Additionally, divorce was uncommon within our suburban community. We were the first household in our community to see a divorce and this contributed to my household s feelings of embarrassment and shame. The divorce besides altered our household s public individuality of the ideal in-between category household, and revealed some of the struggle and pandemonium within our place. Our household individuality now reflected matrimonial strife and a broken place. Our spiritual beliefs besides complicated our ability to accommodate after the divorce. Divorce is non supported or condoned within Catholicism which increased our feelings of embarrassment and shame in the Catholic community. My household had limited entree to resources following the divorce. As antecedently mentioned, our household operated as a closed system which complicated our ability to achieve equal fiscal, societal, and emotional support and aid from external systems ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Our socioeconomic position, fiscal resources, and criterion of life were significantly minimized. We transitioned from being a financially unafraid in-between category household to populating below the poorness line in a affair of months. Our entree to societal support was besides limited as a consequence of the stiff boundaries dividing my household from external systems of support such as household friends and mental wellness professionals ( Minuchin, 1974 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . Rather, each member of the household sought single resources within and outside the household to assist relieve emotional hurt and achieve support. For illustration, my sisters and I sought support from external systems incl uding friends and instructors ( Nichols, 2011 ) . We besides relied on the unafraid fond regard we had with each other for emotional support and counsel ( Bowlby, 1988 ; Nichols, 2011 ) . My female parent sought emotional support from extended household, the kid subsystem, and her new colleagues. My parents divorce was an unexpected event that significantly increased the degree of emphasis within my household and contributed to alterations in household individuality, construction, functions, relationships, and resources. My household s opposition to seek and accept external resources and back up farther complicated our ability as a system to retrieve from our loss and adaptively header with the passage. Cultural influences besides contributed to a negative assessment of the state of affairs. My household s negative perceptual experience of the divorce resulted in feelings of hopelessness and desperation instead than an accent on problem-solving and growing ( McKenry A ; Price, 1994 ) . This negative perceptual experience significantly inhibited our ability to adaptively get by with the passage and associated stressors. My household was able to readapt construction and functions, but lacked coherence and stableness. The apogee of the event, the deficiency of sufficient resou rces, and the negative perceptual experience of the passage resulted in my household s assessment of the event as a crisis that disrupted equilibrium, increased force per unit area and emphasis within the household system, and negatively affected household operation ( McKenry A ; Price, 1994 ) . meotite sed the degree of emphasis within my household and contributed to the