Transcript Chapter 9 Family Processes, Family Life Cycles

Chapter 9
Family Processes,
Family Life Cycles
Chapter Outline







A Developmental Approach
Beginning Marriages
Youthful Marriages
Middle-aged Marriages
Later-life Marriages
Death and Dying in America
Enduring Marriages
Eriksons’ Eight
Developmental Stages
1.
Infancy: Trust Versus Mistrust
 Children learn to trust by having
their needs satisfied and by being
loved.
2.
Toddler: Autonomy Versus Shame
and Doubt
 Children need to develop a sense of
independence and mastery over
their environment and themselves.
Eriksons’ Eight
Developmental Stages
3.
Early Childhood: Initiative Versus Guilt
–
4.
The family must allow the child to develop
initiative while directing the child’s energy.
School Age: Industry Versus
Inferiority
–
Children begin to learn that their activities
pay off and that they can be creative.
Eriksons’ Eight
Developmental Stages
5.
Adolescence: Identity Versus Role
Confusion
–
6.
Adolescents need to develop goals, a
philosophy of life, and a sense of self.
Young Adulthood: Intimacy Versus
Isolation
–
A young adult who does not make other
intimate connections may be condemned
to isolation and loneliness.
Eriksons’ Eight
Developmental Stages
Adulthood: Generativity Versus SelfAbsorption
7.

Individual establishes his or her own
family. Failure to be generative may lead
to a “what’s-in-it-for me” attitude toward
life.
Maturity: Integrity Versus Despair
8.

The individual looks back on life to
understand its meaning. Those who make
a positive judgment have a feeling of
wholeness about their lives.
Eight-Stage Family Life
Cycle




Stage I: Beginning Families
Stage II: Childbearing Families
Stage III: Families with Preschool
Children
Stage IV: Families with
Schoolchildren
Eight-Stage Family Life
Cycle
Stage
 Stage
 Stage
 Stage

V: Families with Adolescents
VI: Families as Launching Centers
VII: Families in the Middle Years
VIII: Aging Families
Premarital Factors
For with Marital Success

Background factors
– age at marriage, length of courtship,
level of education, and childhood


Personality factors
Relationship factors
– communication, self-disclosure, and
interdependence
Psychological Issues
During Engagement



A general uneasiness that comes
to the surface when you decide to
marry.
Questions about whether you are
mature enough to marry.
Regret over what you give up by
marrying.
Psychological Issues
During Engagement



Worry about whether you’re
marrying the right person.
Disagreement over appropriate
male/female roles.
Tendency to believe your partner is
“perfect” and to become
disenchanted when she or he is
discovered to be “merely” human.
Psychological Issues
During Engagement


Beliefs that the marriage will be
blissful and your partner will be
entirely understanding.
A understanding of yourself,
including your weaknesses as well
as your strengths.
Stations of Marriage
Emotional marriage: Experiences
associated with falling in love and the
intensification of an emotional
connection between two people.
 Psychic marriage: The change from
an autonomous individual to a partner
in a couple.
 Community marriage: The changes in
social relationships and social network.

Stations of Marriage
Legal marriage: The legal relationship
that provides a couple with a host of
rights and responsibilities.
 Economic marriage: The economic
changes that a couple experience when
they marry.
 Coparental marriage: Changes
induced by the arrival of children.

Traditional Assumptions
About Husband/Wife
Responsibilities




The husband is the head of the
household.
The husband is responsible for
supporting the family.
The wife is responsible for
domestic work.
The wife is responsible for child
rearing.
Marital Tasks





Establishing marital and family
roles.
Providing emotional support for
the partner.
Adjusting personal habits.
Negotiating gender roles.
Making sexual adjustments.
Marital Tasks





Establishing family and employment
priorities.
Developing communication skills.
Managing budgetary and financial
matters.
Establishing kin relationships.
Participating in the larger community.
Marital Conflict for MiddleAged and Older Couples
Identity Bargaining in
Adjusting to Marital Roles

1.
2.
3.
Three-step process:
Person must identify with the
role.
Person must be treated by the
other as if he or she fulfills that
role.
Both people must negotiate
changes in each other’s role.
Death


Cultural influences on our
perception of death may cause us
to respond with denial,
exploitation, and romanticization.
The stages of dying are likely to
include denial and isolation, anger,
bargaining, depression, and
acceptance.
Bereavement
Response to the death of a loved one.
 Includes customs and rituals of the
grieving process.
 Mourning rituals include the funeral
service and burial or cremation.
 The grieving process varies for different
people; experiencing grief is a
necessary part of healing.

Four Keys to Long-term
Satisfying Marriages
Having a spouse who is one’s best
friend and whom one likes as a
person.
2. Believing in marriage as a long-term
commitment and sacred institution.
3. Consensus on such fundamentals as
aims and goals and one’s philosophy of
life.
4. Shared humor.
1.
Long-term marriages

Three categories:
1. Couples who are happily in love.
2. Unhappy couples who stay together out of
habit or fear.
3. Couples who are neither happy nor
unhappy.

Approximately 20% of couples are
happily in love; the same % as for
those who are unhappy.