Abstract This paper reviews the scholarly literature as it pertains to familydysfunction and to the susceptibility of adolescents to drug abuse. Additionally, the paper provides a brief proposal of a qualitative research design the author has employed as a means of investigating how family dynamics shape the drug use tendencies of young people. The paper also looks at how parental drug abuse creates a greater predilection for drug abuse in young people.
Outline:
Literature Review of Studies Conducted On the Relationship between FamilyDysfunction and Drug Abuse Among Young People
Proposed Study
Contributions, Benefits of the Study
From the Paper "Soroor Parvizy et al (2005) employed an interview of 41 individuals using a content analysis. The data collection process was a series of semi-structured interviews but, while detail is provided with regards to the themes identified, no information was given with regards to whether or not the interviewees were randomly selected or not; on the surface, it would appear to be non-experimental. In any case, the major findings of the study are certainly interesting. According to Parvizy et al (2005), various factors - peer factors, low self-esteem or a feeling of general helplessness - all played a role in the decision to embark on the path to addiction. However, one significant factor also was that those who resorted to this behavior also had parents who were disinterested in the lives of their children and made no effort to correct behavior when they saw their children ingesting drugs. "
Abstract This paper explains that the experience of long-term poverty effects many child outcomes because the family stress created by this poverty can result in familydysfunction, depression among caregivers and derisory parenting. The author points out that the family-centered approach is a process for providing services to families, which fits many different "content areas" such as support for teen parents, family literacy or education for low-income children; however, it is not a set of exacting practices but rather a "philosophy" in which families are recognized as having unique anxiety, strengths and values. The paper relates adapting and coping strategies, which are designed to make the persons first realize their situation, evaluate them thoroughly and adopt an approach that would be most suited to them.
Table of Contents
Cause
Contributing Factors
Consequences
Challenges
Family-Centered Approach
Ecological Model
Role of Community
Changes
From the Paper "Child outcomes of high levels of family stress and ineffective forms of parenting include poor emotional adjustment, which may be externalized as various forms of hostility, or internalized as depression or low self-esteem. Healthy child adjustment, on the other hand, should appear as achievement and on-task behavior in school, persistence in difficult tasks, and enjoyment of daily life. The Family Stress Model is maintained by good evidence from respected psychologists and sociologists. Research findings from as long ago as the depression years of the 1930s; propose that children were protected from the possible adverse consequences of poverty so long as the relationship between adult caregivers was supportive and. Civic participation is also effected, including educational attainment, full-time employment, and positive psychosocial adjustment like self efficacy, lack of depressive symptoms."
Abstract This paper defines the nuclear family and discusses its role within society. The author also discusses how the breakdown of the nuclear family is blamed for social dysfunction. The stability and structure of society is examined in the light of the declining prevalence of the nuclear family.
From the paper:
"The nuclear family consisting of two adults, 1 male, 1 female, and children is the most common form of family in Australia according to 1996 census figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Talcott Parson's cited in Jureidini & Poole, recognizes the nuclear family as the "normal" family structure. While statistics show the nuclear family still being the most common family form in Australia they also show a decline in it's predominance of approximately 10% over the last 20 years. It is for this reason that the functions and benefits of the nuclear family must be recognized before dysfunction alters the stability and structure of society."
Tags: adult, dysfunction, society, children, personality, relationships, parsons, bales, australia
This paper offers a comparison of the dysfunction of the two families portrayed in David Adams Richards' "Nights Below Station Street" and Ann-Marie MacDonald's "Fall On Your Knees."
Abstract A comparison of the dysfunction in the two families portrayed in David Adams Richards "Nights Below Station Street" and Ann-Marie MacDonald's "Fall On Your Knees." The paper argues that the former family achieves redemption through their love but the latter suffers attrition and cannot overcome their high level of dysfunctional interaction.
From the Paper "Family dysfunction typically characterizes family relations to one degree or another in most families. However, in David Adams Richards' "Nights Below Station Street" and Ann-Marie MacDonald's "Fall On Your Knees," if it were not for family dysfunction the families depicted would not function at all. Richards provides a tale of the Walsh's, a working-class family from the wrong side of the tracks in a small mill town in New Brunswick."
Tags: co-parenting conflict, incest, religiosity, alcoholism, pregnancy, suicide, race relations, Cape Breton, New Brunswick, teenage rebellion, family relations, physical, sexual and verbal abuse
Abstract In this essay, Beth Henley's play "Crimes of the Heart" is analysed. This paper argues that suicide is the key symbol of the familydysfunction in "Crimes of the Heart", as it links the generations and allows audiences to focus on the pain and the shared strength and family ties of the three Magrath sisters. In this paper, quotes from the play are compared with psychological literature on the impact of suicide and familydysfunction.
Abstract This paper examines how family therapy is often helpful for dealing with problems that surface in response to a particular event or situation, such as divorce or remarriage. It looks at how there are numerous approaches to family therapy and, in particular, the approach of Salvador Minuchin. It explores how, as a result of working with underprivileged and dysfunctionalfamilies in New York and Philadelphia, he founded a theory that is now known as 'Structural Family Therapy'.
From the Paper "According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology (2001): ?The goals of structural family therapy include strengthening parental leadership, clarifying boundaries, enhancing coping skills, and freeing family members from their entrenched positions within the family structure. Minuchin divided families' styles of interacting into two basic types-enmeshed and disengaged, considering behavior at either extreme as pathological, with most families falling somewhere on a continuum between the two. Minuchin believed that the functioning of family systems prevented individuals from becoming healthier emotionally, because the family system relied on its troubled member to play a particular role in order to function in its accustomed way."
Abstract This paper evaluates the McMaster model in terms of its ability to accurately describe family functioning and its ability to distinguish functional and dysfunctionalfamilies. It also presents the McMaster model as the most comprehensive model of family health.
From the Paper "The McMaster model has so far provided us with a comprehensive way of assessing family functioning, but it does have it's own limitations. It has been argued that the McMaster model doesn't adequately reflect family developmental stages. Epstein, Bishop, Ryan, Miller, and Keitner (1993) found that families at different development stages also differ in terms of their difficulties. Families that had adolescents were found to have more problem solving difficulties, and were also found to have more areas of difficulty in the McMaster dimensions. In light of this the McMaster model may be seen as ineffective in assessing changing patterns of difficulties within families. Although, the emphasis the McMaster model puts on observable behaviour also means that family assessments are more likely to be reliable and accurate portrait of family functioning, as the clinician does not have to make inferences about family behaviour."
Abstract This paper presents a case study of a dysfunctional married couple and analyzes it through the lens of social psychology. The paper examines the couple's marital conflicts. The paper also looks at how the couple's different needs and interests exacerbate their dysfunction.
From the Paper "In observing older members of my family I have become aware of the martial conflicts of an aunt and uncle -- a couple who have been married to one another for over thirty years and whose marriage is characterized by other..."
Abstract This paper discusses the 1980 film "Ordinary People", Robert Redford's directorial debut. It looks at the major theme of familydysfunction, the deterioration of a family after the accidental death of the eldest son, and how father and son come to grips with it, but not the mother.
Abstract This paper discusses a particular family and the problems within the family structure that are observable in the relationship between the sisters Terry and Maxine. The paper notes that, while the family has been guided for most of its existence by the mother of these siblings, the mother has died and the conflicts that have evolved throughout the family history between these two sisters have begun to affect the entire family. This is evident in the arguments over selling the house, the decision of the family to no longer have Sunday dinners and the severing of ties between family members after the mother's death.
Abstract This paper discusses the concept of family in light of various feminist views. The concept of the nuclear family as a white-supremacist view as well as concepts regarding Marx's and Engel's beliefs on feminism and family prior to Stalinism are also reviewed. Additional comments surround the three types of rights theorists view for Canada and the family - right-based for the individual family unit, state-based or community-based, depending on which view of family and family responsibility you have.
Abstract This paper looks at changing family structures in America. The traditional family is discussed as well as different recent family structures that are now widely accepted. The author illustrates how the debut of these new family structures will help the next generation become more open-minded citizens of the world than past generations. The importance is stressed of how the shift in attitudes and our increased awareness and acceptance of things other than the norm has allowed such families to grow without shame or stigma.
From the Paper "The traditional definition of family included a man and woman with children and perhaps a grandmother and a grandfather. Over time, it was common to find families consisting of adopted children, children of family members and stepchildren (i.e. "The Brady Bunch"). The 1990 U.S. Census revealed that only 16 percent of today's families fit the traditional definition.
Today's families may consist of married couples without children, cohabiting families, and single-parent families, blended families, stepfamilies, grandparent-led families, multiracial families, families where the adult(s) are homosexual, commuter families, foster home families and community families. In a study by Jan Hare and Lizbeth Gray, Professors at Oregon State University outlined some of the many scenarios that have arisen due to the evolving familial structure."
Abstract This paper discusses the importance of the family unit and the influence that family has on a child's life. The paper discusses the writer's family unit. It examines the boundaries, rules, rituals and traditions that apply to the writer's own family through his/her nuclear family and extended family relationships.
From the Paper "Family Assessment Project A child's family is perhaps the single most important influence on his or her life. Children model their future relationships on those they see in childhood. They frequently carry the boundaries, rules, rituals, and traditions that they grew up with into the families that they head in maturity. The things that children carry into maturity can be both positive and negative, continuing on the heritage of a functional or dysfunctional family. This paper will examine the boundaries, rules, rituals, and traditions that apply to my own family through nuclear family and extended family relationships. My family of origin consisted of my mother, my father, one brother and three sisters. We had a close-knit family structure. It was essentially a closed family type, with rigid rules and predictable behavior. We did share affection with each other, but none of us were demonstrative in our affection."
Abstract The paper looks at "Debunking Myths about Marriages and Families" where the authors, Mary Ann Schwartz and Barbara Marliene Scott, argue against five specific beliefs that dominate American cultural views on the institution of marriage and the nuclear family. The paper goes through these five myths and posits that, with the exception of one argument, the authors present very persuasive arguments that are logically sound and devoid of any obvious logical fallacies, reliance on emotionally loaded terms, or any other apparent faulty reasoning.
Outline:
Introduction
Myth # 1 - The Universal Nuclear Family Myth # 2 - The Self-Reliant Family Myth # 3 - The Naturalness of Different Spheres for Wives and Husbands
Myth # 4 - The Unstable African American Family Myth # 5 - The Idealized Nuclear Family of the 1950s
From the Paper "Schwartz and Scott (2000) take on the proverbial notion that the concept of family is necessarily defined only the way it has been presented in the U.S. mainstream culture. The authors suggest that family is more accurately defined much more broadly than by the image of one man and one woman married for life and raising children together. Instead, they argue that any survey of cultures worldwide would reveal very different expectations of what a family is and that the description commonly accepted in this particular part of the world represents only one of many models evident in human culture."
Abstract This paper discusses the Bowen family model as it relates to family units, particularly those of couples. The paper explains the theories in the model and points out how they take into account account the familial situation, both current and past, and its vast power over the life of an individual. The paper concludes that the Bowen model is of great utility in the field of therapy, in that it recognized the vast importance of family upon the function of the individual members thereof, and devised methods to establish the most effective therapy possible.
Outline:
Differentiation of Self
Triangles
Nuclear Family Emotional Processes
Family Projection Process
Multigenerational Transmission Process
Sibling Position
Emotional cutoff
Societal Emotional Process
Conclusion
From the Paper "Differentiation of self emanates from the needs required by an individual, and in the realm of health development, to separate one's own intellectual and emotional functioning from that of the family unit or iteration thereof. The family is a unit because it operates as a system. (Bowen, Kerr 10) This unit may be defined as a husband and wife traditionally, although alternate "families" are fully possible, with the prime feature irregardless of the particular situation being the melding of the individual "I's" involved in the relationship into the singular "we". This situation of maintaining distinct separateness in the face of a cohesive unit is one of conflict, with an individual's reaction sometimes being so acute as to turn into violence due to the individual's incapacity to deal with a perceived lack of a sense of oneself within a relationship."
