FYC 3112

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FYC 3112

• Theories of Family Stress

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Facts and Theories Some Common Attitudes

• Facts
• Are practical and useful
• Are relevant to real children and families

• Theories
• Have little usefulness in the real world
• Have little to do with real children and families

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Facts and Theories

• Facts
• Discrete observations and measurements about
  children and their actions, or families and their
  relationships and structure (cases)
• Summaries of these observations (averages,
  percentages, overall descriptions)

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Facts and Theories

• Theories
• A systematic collection of ideas and relations
  (White Klein, 2002).
• Theory makes sense out of facts, gives facts
  their meaning.

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Theory Is Your Lens

• The theory you choose determines how you
  interpret what you see

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Theory in Child and Youth Development and Family
Studies

• Theory is the act of proposing
• Which facts are most important for understanding
  children and families.
• What sorts of relationships among the facts are
  most important.

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Theory

• Assumes certain things to be true Statements
  taken for granted
• Has concepts for analyzing events terms or words
  that stand for some aspect of reality.
• Proposes how variables are related to each other.
  
• Example

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Objectives for Theories Section of Course

• Develop a working knowledge of family theories
• Family stress and coping
• Family systems
• Family development
• Resiliency

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Objectives, cont.

• Define major concepts.
• Using diagrams or models, explain how and why
  variables are related to each other.
• Apply concepts to case examples.

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Stress and Coping
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Stress Coping

• What is stressful to you?
• How do you know when you are stressed?

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Causes of Stress (Stressors)

• Social or Family
• Occupational
• Educational
• Health
• Financial
• Environmental

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Definitions of Stress

• Stress Tension you feel when there are more
  demands than you can handle.
• The bodys response to the demands of life. (Hans
  Seyle)
• Stressors Anything you see as a problem or
  issue.
• Events that cause an emotional or physical
  reaction.

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Definitions of Stress, cont.

• Distress Too much stress that is unhealthy and
  leads to discomfort. Negative stress.
• Eustress Healthy stress that works to motivate
  in a positive way. Positive stress.

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Social Readjustment Rating scale

• Death of spouse
• Divorce
• Marital separation
• Jail detention sentence
• Death of close family member
• Major personal injury or illness

• Marriage
• Being Fired
• Marital reconciliation
• Retirement
• Major change in health or behavior of family
  member
• Pregnancy
• http//academic.dt.uh.eduavenf/srs.html

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Even Individual Events Often Involve Family
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Family Stress

• What is stressful to your family?
• How do you know when your family is stressed?

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Definitions of Family Stress

• Family stress Pressure, tension or disturbance
  in the family system
• Family distress Too much stress that is
  unhealthy and leads to discomfort for the family

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Double ABC-X Model

• aStressor
• bExisting Resources
• cPerception of a
• xCrisis

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aStressor

• Anything that causes a reaction, or changes the
  system, and raises the familys stress
• Positive or negative
• Normative or non-normative
• Certain stressors are common at certain life
  cycle stages (normative)
• Some stressors are not expected (nonnormative).

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bResources

• Traits, characteristics, abilities of family
  members, the family, and the community to meet
  the demands of the stressor event

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cDefinition of the Event/Perception of a

• Family appraisal, perception and assessment
• Challenge or opportunity
• Hopeless, too difficult, unmanageable
• Redefine event
• Clarify the issue and how to solve it
• Reduce emotional intensity
• Encourage everyone to work together

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XCrisis

• An overwhelming disturbance, pressure or change
  in the family
• So that the system is blocked, immobilized, and
  incapacitated
• Family is not functioning adequately
• Leads to a different level of functioning

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aAStress Pileup

• Multiple stressors occurring simultaneously
• Unresolved aspects of initial stress
• Changes and events that occur regardless of
  initial stressor
• Consequences of familys efforts to cope with
  hardships of the solution

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bBExisting and New Resources

• Resources that are already available that reduce
  the impact of the stressor
• Coping resources that are strengthened or
  developed in response to crisis

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cCPerception ofXaAbB

• Perception of initial stressor event and the
  crisis
• View of stressor, hardships, pileup, and meaning
• Religious interpretations
• Reframing
• Giving meaning

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Family Coping

• What people do to manage the stress
• And achieve balance in the family system

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Adaptation

• A desirable outcome of a crisis or stressful
  state
• Demands are met
• The family changes