Interpersonal Behavior Topic 4: Family and Familial Relationships

Traditional definition of family

Husband and wife with dependent children

Nuclear family definition

A couple and 2 dependent children

Extended family definition

Nuclear family plus aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents

Compound family definition

Families with step-parents and step-siblings

Monogamous marriage

Two people who are only intimate with one another

Polygamous couples

Married to multiple people at the same time

Polyamorous couples

Having more than one romantic/sexual relationship at a time

Polygyny

One man, multiple wives

Polyandry

One woman, multiple husbands

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory

Difference in environment explains difference in behavior

Microsystems

• Immediate, local environment

• i.e., family, schools, siblings, neighborhood, peers

Mesosystem

• Intersection of microsystems

• Interaction between family and school

Exosystem

• Systems that impact the child

• Economic, political, education, government, and religious systems

Macrosystem

• Overarching belief and values

Chronosystem

• Dimension of time

• Sociohistorical events, life changing events like 9/11, parental divorce, ICE enforcement

Family systems theory

• Families are systems with interrelated elements and structures

• Impact in patterns, have boundaries, rules, subsystems

Bowen Family Systems Theory

• Triangles: relationship between 3 people (two parents and child)

• Differentiation of self: dependence on others for acceptance vs ourselves

• Family projection process: transmitting emotional problems from parents to children

• Multigenerational transmission process

• Emotional cutoff

• Sibling position

• Societal emotional process: governs behavior on a societal level; how family behavior extends to the behavior of societies

• Nuclear family emotional system: 4 patterns that define where conflict develops

4 problems of nuclear family emotional system

• Marital conflict

• Dysfunction in spouse, like addiction

• Impairment of one or more children

• Emotional distance

What happens when the first born leaves for college?

• Conflict between the firstborn and parents decreases

• Conflict between children at home and parents increase, potentially because of increased attention

• Improved siblings’ relationship

What purpose does the family serve for children?

• Support and socialization

Gender divide in housework

• Gap has narrowed, but married women do more housework than married men

• Married women do far more than single women

Aspects of healthy family system

1. Individuation vs emeshment: autonomy and boundaries

2. Mutuality vs isolation: emotional closeness

3. Flexibility vs rigidity: capacity to adjust

4. Stability vs disorganization: consistency in relations

5. Clear perception vs unclear perception: understanding of self

6. Clear communication vs unclear communication

7. Role reciprocity vs unclear roles

8. Clear generational boundaries vs diffused: balance between closeness and independence