Families Coping with Stress

Question 1

The study of family stress began during the 1930s and the Depression. ____ did a lot of research on family stress and developed the ABCX Model of family stress.

Answer 1

Reuben Hill

Question 2

Boss addressed recent developments of family stress theory. What are they?

Answer 2

1. The introduction of the mind-body family connection.
2. The reintroduction of family resilience.
3. Increased emphasis on the role of spirituality and faith.
4. Increase in the recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder.
5. Increased use of disaster teams.
6. Increased emphasis on stress resulting from caring for an individual.
7. Recognition that the demands created by balancing work and family result in high stress levels.
8. Shift to emphasis on individuals’ and families’ perceptions, interpretations, and beliefs.
9. Adaptation of social constructionism.
10. Increase in use of narrative analysis.

Question 3

Family stress theory looks at the (1). System theory states that the system is (2) the sum of its parts.

Answer 3

1. Entire family unit

2. More than

Question 4

The ____ is the external environment in which the family is imbedded.

Answer 4

Ecosystem

Question 5

In the ABCX Model…

Answer 5

A (the stressor event) interacts with B (the family’s resources or strengths) interacts with C (the meaning attached to the event) equals X (the stress or crisis)

Question 6

True or false: Both positive and negative events can be stressors.

Answer 6

True

Question 7

What is the difference between normal and non-normative events?

Answer 7

Normal events are part of everyday life and represent transitions inherent in the family life cycle (birth or death of a family member, child’s school entry, retirement); normative stressors are of short duration. Non normative events are the product of some unique situation that could not be predicted and is likely not to be repeated (ex: natural disasters, loss of a job, automobile accident).

Question 8

Ten dimensions of Family Stressor Events are…

Answer 8

1. Internality vs. externality
2. Pervasiveness vs. boundedness
3. Precipitate onset vs. gradual onset
4. Intensity vs. mildness
5. Transitoriness vs. chronicity
6. Randomness vs. expectability
7. Natural generation vs. artificial generation
8. Scarcity vs. surplus
9. Perceived solvability vs. perceived in unsolvability
10. Substantive content

Question 9

____ is the clustering of stressor events.

Answer 9

Stress pileup

Question 10

What are the two types of ambiguous loss?

Answer 10

The first type is a personal being physically absent but psychologically or emotionally present. The second type is when a person is physically present but psychologically/emotionally absent.

Question 11

What are some additional factors that could influence families’ perceptions in a stressful situation?

Answer 11

Spirituality, values and beliefs, culture, and stage of the family life cycle

Question 12

The difference in families’ physical and emotional responses to stressful stimuli is called…

Answer 12

Vulnerability

Question 13

Family system resources–internal attributes of the family unit. Those families that register high on adaptability and family cohesion are likely to…

Answer 13

Be most successful in adjusting to stress.

Question 14

Social support is one of the most important community resources. It includes…

Answer 14

Emotional support, esteem support, and network support.

Question 15

True or false. Research does not indicate that an individual’s cognitive appraisal of life events strongly influence the response.

Answer 15

False.

Question 16

How does Boss differentiate between crisis and stress?

Answer 16

Crisis: a) a disturbance in the equilibrium that is so overwhelming, b) pressure that is so severe, and c) change that is so acute that the family system is blocked, immobilized, and incapacitated

Stress: merely a state of changed or disturbed equilibrium

Question 17

What are cognitive coping strategies?

Answer 17

Refers to the ways in which individual family members alter their subjective perceptions of stressful events.

Question 18

What are three types of coping responses?

Answer 18

Direct action, intrapsychic, controlling the emotions

Question 19

Coping is…

Answer 19

People’s efforts in dealing with a stressor

They are situation specific

Coping is a process

It is progressively modified over time

Process of achieving balance in the family system

Coping can also become a source of stress (direct and indirect damage to the family system and interfering with additional adaptive behaviors).

Question 20

What is adaptation?

Answer 20

Families recovering from stress in desirable ways

Question 21

A family’s _____ describes the process of the family’s ability to recover from stress or crisis.

Answer 21

Resiliency

Question 22

What is the difference between adjustment and adaptation?

Answer 22

Adjustment: short-term response by a family that changes the situation only momentarily

Adaptation: a change in the family system that evolves over a longer period of time or is intended to have long-term consequences

Question 23

_____ and _____ have revised the ABCX Model to have a better understanding of the stress pileups, the attained resources, the changed perceptions, and the coping processes of the families.

Answer 23

Patterson and McCubbin

Question 24

The term (1) has replaced (2) to describe how people thrive in the face of adversity.

Answer 24

1) resilience, 2) competence