Exam 2 Readings Flashcards
family stressors
discrete life events or transitions that have an impact upon the family unit, and produce, or have the potential to produce, change in the family social system
family stress
response of the family to the stressor.
nonnormative stressors
difficult to forsee, do not occur in every family, example divorce, serious illness of child
morphogenesis
tendency of the family to develop and change over time
morphostasis
tendency to remain at a steady state, or follow status quo
types of dimensions
temporary v. permanent, voluntary v. unvoluntary, level 1 to level 3 stressors, ABC-X model and double ABC-X model.
vulnerability
ability to prevent stressors from creating a crisis situation
regenerative power
family’s ability to bounce back and recover from a crisis
boundary ambiguity
occurs when family members are unsure about who is in or out of the system and who occupies what roles
vulnerability-stress-adaptation model of marriage
model is specific to the marital subsystem, explicitly assumes that marital partners have preexisting vulnerabilities that color husbands’ and wives’ reaction to stress, and assumes that the presence of stress affects the stability and satisfaction of the marriage. In other words, the quality of this family subsystem is partially a function of the stress that a couple experiences.
adaptive processes
behaviors that spouses exchange, such as positive communication and problem solving that allow them to adjust to their roles within marriage and to cope with challenges
enduring vulnerability
backgrounds and traits people bring into marriage
marital quality
couple’s overall evaluation of and satisfaction with their marriage
marital stability
duration of marriage, if they stay together
family coping strategies
mapping (trying to obtain more information about problem), avoidance (removing family members from situation that produce the stressor), help-seeking, minimization, reversal, blame, substitution, and improving shortcomings
primary and secondary appraisal
primary-assessment of stressors and degree to which they are threatening, secondary- assessment of coping resources for dealing with those stressors
communal coping
appraising and acting on a problem by pooling resources and efforts
buffering model
social support mitigates the ill effects of stress by reducing the appraised threat and reducing the threat response
main effect model
holds that involvement in caring relationships provides a generalized source of positive affect, self worth, and belonging
emotional support
availability of a family member with whom one can discuss problems, concerns, and feelings
instrumental support
when a family member provides assistance with various tasks
informational support
guidance, feedback, etc
Parent child communication during adolescence…attachment argues
that parent-child relationships are inherently stable over time in terms of the quality of their functioning
Parent child communication during adolescence…closeness is
degree to which individuals affect and are affected by each other
effects of parenthood on marriage, and vice versa
8 year prospective study
Effect of the birth of the 1st child on relationship functioning using data from 218 couples
Cross-sectional studies
Majority demonstrated patterns of change consistent with an immediate or delayed impact of the transition to parenthood
Also a nonparent sample
Limitations
Types of sibling relationships
Intimate-highly devoted, takes priority over other relationships
Congenial- affectionate and close, clearly place more value on marital and parent-child relationships
Loyal- adhere to cultural norms, support each other in crisis
Apathetic- mutually disinterested and see little of each other
Hostile- strong negative feelings toward one another.
Institutional criteria
extent to which marriage meets the instrumental needs of- an individual and society.
companionate criteria
to which marriage fulfills psychological needs and desires
personal commitment
person’s desire for staying in a relationship and is affected by one’s attraction to their partner, the relationship, and couple identity
moral commitment
moral obligation one feels
structural commitment
constraints or barriers to leaving a relationship.
relationship bank account
withdrawals and deposits
Examples of “bids”
vocalizing (laughing, chuckling, grunting, etc.), affectionate touching, and affiliating gestures (opening doors)
Active listening model
?
What four ways are family conflicts usually stopped?
submission (one person in the disputing members each “give a little” and find a “middle ground”, standoff (members drop the conflict without resolution by agreeing to disagree and moving on), and withdrawal (one party leaves the interaction by refusing to talk or leaving the room)
solvable arguments
can be resolved
serial arguments
Serial conflicts part of family life forever
Serial arguments or perpetual conflicts deeply rooted
ELVN model classification of conflict strategies
direct and cooperative, direct and competitive, indirect and cooperative, and indirect and competitive
triangulation
a family systems process whereby two family members in conflict will draw in a third member to mediate the conflict or act as an ally
pluralistic families
high conversation orientation and low conformity
consensual families
high conversation orientation and high conformity
protective families
low in conversation and high in conformity
laissez-faire families
few interactions and discuss a limited number of topics.
parentification studies
Data analysis primarily focused on identifying concurrent associations between emotional parentification and theoretically related constructs
Prospective Associations From Family-of-Origin Interactions to Adult Marital Interactions and Relationship Adjustment
The ability of couples to communicate constructively about disagreements and relationship conflicts is a well established predictor of marital health and longevity
For the model testing whether marital positive engagement mediates the association between family positive engagement and marital adjustment, the data met the prerequisites of mediation for the full sample
U curve
of marital satisfaction
hostility=
strongest predictor of decrease in marital satisfaction for wives
withdrawal=
strongest predictor of declines in satisfaction for husbands
The communication behaviors that will ultimately lead to the demise of marriage are
already in place before the husband and wife marry.
Demography
statistical study of human population characteristics, particularly as they are influenced by such phenomenon as fertility, marriages, and mortality.
Distance and isolation cascade toward divorce
flooding to perceptions that marital problems are severe to desire to work problems out individually to the creation of separate lives to loneliness
Cold feet
Do cold feet warn of trouble ahead?
Premarital doubts are common
Men more commonly have doubts than women
Doubts predicted poorer marital outcomes after 4 years
