Family Dynamics and Relationships

Flashcards covering family definitions, types, functions, lifecycle stages, decision-making styles, and characteristics of functional and dysfunctional families.

What is one definition of family?

Two or more people who have chosen to live together and share interests, roles, and resources.

Why do people, especially women, tend to want to stay closer to their families?

Because they know that if they need help, usually mama's gonna come help.

What is a traditional family?

Related by blood or through adoption or related by marriage

What is a modern family?

Two or more people who decide that they have those shared interests, they share the roles, and they have shared resources.

What are some functions of the family?

Meeting basic needs like a safe place to live, food, water, sanitation, taking care of each other when sick, and protection against illnesses and injury.

What is nurturing?

Loving care and loving attention.

What is another function of the family?

To reproduce and procreate.

What is recreation in the context of family?

Families like to do things together and have fun.

What are different types of families?

Nuclear or dyad, extended, single parent, blended or reconstituted, cohabited, communal, foster or adoptive, LGBTQ, and transnational or transitional.

What is an extended family?

Adult partners, children, grandparents, and other family members.

What is a blended or reconstituted family?

Mothers and fathers who have had children by previous relationships or marriages, step-parents, step-brothers and sisters, and half siblings.

What is a cohabited family?

Adult unmarried partners with or without children.

What is a communal family?

Individuals with their mates and children where all the adults are responsible for all of the children.

What type of commercial is given as an example of family loss in the notes?

Military people coming back from deployment and surprising their children at school.

What are the early stages of a relationship like?

Dating and being inseparable.

What is the next stage after dating in a family's lifecycle?

Cohabitating and adjusting to each other's flaws and routines.

What is the stage after cohabitation?

Getting married and thinking about having children.

What is the stage after child rearing?

Empty nest, adjusting to the child leaving home.

What are the adjustments in the aging stage of a family?

Adjusting to retirement, lesser incomes, and declining health, and living for the moments with grandkids or great grandkids.

What are the three different decision-making styles in families?

Authoritative, authoritative, and permissive.

What is authoritarian or autocratic decision-making?

Parents make the decision and tell the family about it.

What is authoritative or democratic decision-making?

The family votes on options that fit within a budget.

What is permissive or laissez faire decision-making?

Everyone does what they want with their own money.

What is a functional family?

Can solve problems together and accept different points of view, creating a safe and secure environment.

What is a dysfunctional family?

Don't work together to solve conflicts, gang up on family members, and create an unstable environment.