Understanding Family Structures, Functions, Life Cycle, and Crisis Management

Posted on Nov 27, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

The Family: Structures and Definitions

The Family: A group with common ancestry, united by blood, marriage, or cohabitation. This includes married couples with or without children, unmarried couples with children, single-parent families, and even groups living together without kinship.

Sociologically: Two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption, living together. A family is a group responsible for raising children and meeting other human needs.

Family Types

Normal: A family sharing a common life.

Multiproblem: Families facing difficult situations such as unemployment or violence.

Nuclear Family: Father, mother, and child(ren).

Extended Family: Nuclear family plus other relatives or household members.

Patrilocal Family: A new family resides with the father’s family.

Matrilocal Family: The husband moves in with the wife’s family.

Single-Parent Family: Only one parent is present.

Reconstituted Family: A family formed through adoption or remarriage.

Family Without Bond: A group of people living together without blood ties.

Inbreeding: Partner selection within the same group.

Exogamy: Partner selection outside the group.

Marital Choice: Can be free or arranged. Forms include:

  • Monogamy: Marriage to one person.
  • Polygamy: Marriage to multiple people.

Family Roles and Functions

Primary Function: Protecting children.

Key Functions:

  1. Reproduction
  2. Socialization: Preparing members for societal living, instilling values and standards.
  3. Protection: Providing physical, psychological, and economic security.
  4. Economic: The family as a basic economic unit.
  5. Regulation of Sexuality: Sexual activity within the family context.
  6. Affection: Providing love and emotional support.
  7. Status: Social position inherited from the family.

Functions Directed to Family Members

  1. Intimate connection and permanent family relationships.
  2. Value assignment.
  3. Production and consumption as an economic unit.
  4. Preparation of children to form their own families.

Functions Directed to Society

  1. Representation of children in society (e.g., parents’ responsibility for children’s actions).
  2. Collaboration in improving quality of life.
  3. Community support and engagement.

Family Ties

Family Ties: The bonds connecting family members.

Marriage Bond: According to Puget, a link between two people of different sexes committing to form a family. Seiguer describes it as a complex structure between individuals from different families with varying worldviews, characterized by sociocultural limitations and prohibitions.

Family Life Cycle

Introduced by Duvall in 1957, the family life cycle outlines the stages of a family’s existence:

  1. Couple Formation: From the beginning of the relationship until children leave home or a parent dies.
  • Parenting (0-30 months): Early childhood.
  • Child Rearing (1-13 years): Middle childhood, increasing peer influence.
  • Adolescence: Increased family conflict, generational and cultural clashes.
Middle or Terminal Family Period: Begins when the last child leaves home; empty nest syndrome; Erikson’s stage of integrity.

Crisis Management in Families

Crisis: From Sanskrit (cutting, separating) and Greek (kriner – to decide). Erikson viewed crises as potentially positive.

Coplan: A crisis is a sudden, unexpected disturbance in a stable situation, triggered by a stressful event, requiring an appropriate response to restore balance. Other authors define it as a temporary state of disorder and disorganization, challenging customary problem-solving methods.

Situations Provoking Crisis: Identity crisis, parental separation, death.

Types of Crises

Normative Crises: Predictable life cycle events.

Non-Normative Crises: Unexpected or accidental events causing feelings of helplessness, confusion, and disruption.

Reactions to a Crisis

  1. Cohesion: Mutual support.
  2. Flexibility: Adapting roles and rules within the family structure.
  3. Adaptability: Coping with change and finding solutions.
  4. Permeability: Interacting with social networks for support.

Events Causing Non-Normative Crises

  1. Dismemberment: Separation of a family member.
  2. Accession: A new member joins (birth, adoption, etc.).
  3. Demoralization: Violation of family rules and values.
  4. Disorganization: Events hindering normal family dynamics (e.g., infertility, divorce).