4 - Family Life Cycle

Question 1

Family life cycle

Answer 1

• model of change proposed by the family life cycle (FLC)
• emphasised dev in families and how common patterns were shaped by the shifting patterns of internal and external demands
• changes in a family - changes to a family composition ex: birth of child, death, separation, retirement etc
• problems - ass with life changes. Critique - change is looked from a neg perspective

Question 2

Family cycle - Haley

Answer 2

Transitional stages for families -

1 courtship
2 early marriage 
3 birth of child
4 middle marriage
5 kids leaving home
6 retirement and old age 

• duvall - first expanded the idea of the individual life cycle to the concept of a family life cycle.
• carter and mcgoldrick -gave major impetus to duvall’s theory. They modified the cycles:
  1. Families must reorganise to accommodate growth and change of their members.
  2 dev in family generation may impact 1 or more members

Question 3

Family life cycle stages

Answer 3

Stage 1 - young adults leaving home

Emotional process - emotional and financial responsibility

• differences of self in relartion to family of origin
• dev of intimate peer rels outside the family of origin
• establishing oneself in relation to work and financial independence

Stage 2 - marriage

Emotional process - committing to new system

• formation of new system
• realigning rels with extended families and friends including spouse

Question 4

Family life cycles cont…

Answer 4

Stage 3 - young children

Emotional tasks - accepting of new members

• adjustments in marital space allowing new members
• joining in childrearing, financial and household tasks
• realignment of rels with extended families: grandparenting roles

Stage 4 - families with adols

Emotional process - increasing flexibility of family boundaries, kids’ gain more independence, grandparents’ frailties

• refocus of marital and career issues
• beginning shift of caring for the older gen

Question 5

Family life cont…

Answer 5

Stage 5 - relaunching kids

Emotional process -
- accepting multiple exit and entries to the family system

• renegotiating of marital system as a dyad
• dev of adult to adult rels
• in-laws & grandkids
• dealing with disabilities and deaths in the family

Stage 6 - families in later life

Emotional process -
- accepting of general roles

• maintaining own or couple physiological functioning

Question 6

Critique of family life

Answer 6

• feminist therapists - awareness of societal factors like gender role expectations and the oppression that comes with such factors