Lecture 1 Notes: Stressors, ABCX Model, and Everyday Hassles in Family Contexts
Lecture 1 Notes: Stressors, ABCX Model, and Everyday Hassles in Family Contexts
Overview of focus
This lecture introduces stressors and how they affect families using the simple ABCX model (stressor leading to a crisis) and the Double ABCX model (adaptation over time).
Emphasis on why this chapter is foundational for the course and for upcoming assignments.
Stress concepts in families
Types of stress
Eustress (positive stress): short-term, motivating, within coping capacity (e.g., a child excelling in sports, a family camping trip).
Distress (negative stress): causes anxiety and feels like too much to handle; can strain family functioning.
Parenting as a high-stress role
COVID-19 pandemic: heightened parenting stress
Examples of parenting stressors include:
Balancing work and parenting
Caring for a new baby while maintaining prior responsibilities
Relationship conflicts
Time/scheduling burden of transporting children to school/activities
Worries about child safety in public settings
Social isolation
Education disruptions for children
Childcare disruptions
Death or illness of loved ones
Visiting or hosting relatives
APA finding: 67% of adults report increased stress during the pandemic; parents report higher stress than non-parents.
Positive vs negative stressors in communities
Industry developments (urbanization, higher population density, technology) bring growth and positive stressors.
Negative societal stressors include community violence, threats of terrorism, rising crime, and other social issues.
Family structure and stressors
Changing family structures, immigration, economics/financial challenges, and rising cost of living (inflation, pandemic-related effects).
Unidentified responsibilities toward the elderly can create stress for younger generations; more research needed on how youths adapt.
Definitions related to stress
Stress can be viewed as:
A stimulus
An inferred state (interstate)
An observable response to a stimulus or situation
Stress as a bodily defense system against stimuli that affect the body.
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Physiologic response to stress in three stages:
I) Alarm reaction (fight-or-flight)
II) Resistance phase (body attempts to recover)
III) Exhaustion (prolonged stress leading to adverse physical/mental effects)
Cumulative progression through stages increases risk of long-lasting negative effects.
The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRSS)
Developed by Holmes (1960) and Rahe (1967) to connect life events with stress-related health outcomes.
Scoring guidance (as described):
S \le 150 points: relatively low likelihood of health breakdown
150 < S \le 300 points: about a 50% chance of major health breakdown in the next few years
S > 300 points: about an 80% chance of major health breakdown
The slide invites students to calculate their own score by summing life event points.
Ecological systems perspective and systems theory
The family is part of a larger system; focus on how individual responses aggregate within the family.
Concepts include subsystems and external environments (ecosystem) that influence family responses to stress.
External context can include historical period, economy, political upheaval, cultural associations.
ABCX model: components and interpretation
A factor (A): Stressor or stressor of sufficient intensity to disrupt family equilibrium.
B factor (B): Resources or strengths the family can draw on to cope with the stressor.
C factor (C): Meaning or interpretation attached to the stressor by the family.
X: The resulting crisis — the stress produced by the interaction of A, B, and C.
Distressors: Eight-to-ten dimensions of family distress, per Littman-Blumen & colleagues
10 dimensions (expanded with literature); contrasts include:
Internal vs external factors
Natural vs artificial generation
Scarcity vs surplus
Perceived insolvable vs perceived solvable
Substantive content
The chart is noted to appear on page 9 of the text; it maps how various stressors impact families.
Stress typologies
Normal events: routine life changes that can disturb equilibrium (e.g., children starting school, retirement, marriages, death).
Non-normative events: sudden, unpredictable events (e.g., natural disasters, job loss, accidents, riots).
Cumulative stress (stress pile-up) results from multiple stressors over time rather than a single event; a key concept for the Double ABCX model.
Ambiguous loss: two types discussed
Physically absent but psychologically present (e.g., missing family member, divorce, immigration status).
Physically present but psychologically absent (e.g., Alzheimer’s, chronic mental illness, chronic substance abuse, a spouse preoccupied with work).
Resources and coping (McCubbin & Patterson, 1985)
Resources: traits, characteristics, or abilities of individuals, the family system, and the community used to meet demands or moderate impact.
Family system resources: internal strengths such as family cohesion (bonds of unity) and adaptability (flexibility to change).
Community resources: external supports available to the family (institutions, services, networks).
Social support is a critical family resource (friends, neighbors, relatives, institutions).
Faith/spirituality as a coping mechanism: provides meaning, purpose, connection, and resilience.
Mastery orientation vs fatalistic orientation:
Mastery: belief in problem-solving ability and control over adverse situations.
Fatalism: belief that events are predetermined or controlled by external forces (e.g., God’s will).
Cultural orientations: individualistic vs collectivistic approaches to problem-solving and decision-making.
Life cycle and stress response
Stress responses vary with family life cycle stages: early (marriage, child birth), middle (children leaving home), late (retirement, watching grandchildren).
Stress, crisis, and adjustment
Stress changes a family's steady state; impact depends on stressor type and available resources.
Not all stress is detrimental; harm arises when stress disrupts routine functioning and equilibrium.
Crisis (as defined by FOSS): a disturbance in equilibrium that is overwhelming or acute to the point that the family system is blocked or incapacitated. Crisis is dichotomous (crisis vs not); stress is continuous.
Coping processes
Cognitive coping strategies: how families perceive or reinterpret a stressor.
Three coping response types:
Direct action: acquiring resources, developing new skills, concrete steps.
Intrapsychic: reframing, seeking positive meaning, cognitive reappraisal.
Emotional regulation: managing emotions via social support, spiritual guidance, or even maladaptive coping (e.g., alcohol) which is discouraged.
Coping is adaptational and learned over time; it may become a source of stress if it creates complexity.
Coping can fail or backfire: three pathways where coping itself can escalate stress (indirect damage, direct damage, or interference with adaptive behavior).
Adaptation and adjustment
Adaptation: degree to which the family system alters internal functions (behaviors, rules, roles, perceptions) or external realities to fit the environment.
Power of the family: capability to recover from stress or crisis (regeneration/restoration toward homeostasis).
Adjustment vs adaptation distinction:
Adjustment: temporary coping or response to a stressor.
Adaptation: transformation in family roles, values, and belief systems over a longer period.
The Double ABCX model and resilience
Expansion of Hill’s model
Precrisis: the original ABCX model describes the family state before a crisis.
Postcrisis: new level of equilibrium after the crisis and coping efforts.
Double ABCX components
Double A (A′): Stress pile-up — three facets:
An unresolved initial stressor remains
A new stressor begins regardless of the initial stressor
Changes or coping efforts that the family implements in response to stressors affect subsequent stressors
Double B (B′): Family resources — two types:
Inherent (existing) resources
Resources acquired or developed in response to stress (e.g., new supports, policies, skills)
Double C (C′): Perception of the crisis, current stressor, pile-up, and resources — a synthesis of A′, B′, and C′.
Double X (X′): Postcrisis outcome — the family’s crisis response and adjustments during and after the crisis; indicates adaptation or maladaptation over time.
Outcomes in the Double ABCX model
The model traces resilience by showing how families rebound and adapt (or maladapt) across successive crises.
Resilience is the capacity to rebound and grow in response to adversity.
Resiliency is the ability to stretch (elastic) or flex (bridge-like) under strain.
Family resilience framework (FRM; Henry et al., 2015)
Four key elements:
1) Presence of family risk
2) Family protection
3) Family vulnerability
4) Adjustments (short-term) and adaptations (long-term)FRM describes how risk interacts with protection and vulnerability to yield short-term adjustments or long-term adaptations.
Key conclusions from the session
Individual-to-family stress responses are central; shifting focus toward systematic family-level assessment.
Foundational theoretical approaches include human ecology models and family systems theory.
Coping is ongoing and affects family organization and individual growth; adaptation and resilience are dynamic, evolving processes.
Chapter 2: Everyday Hassles and Family Relationships
Daily life of American families
Regular tasks and responsibilities:
Cooking, cleaning, paying bills, childcare, commuting, caring for pets, religious/school/community events, managing calls/messages, caregiving for aging relatives, and balancing job duties.
Reactions to routine work vary by individual and context: attitudes toward daily hassles depend on
Gender, socioeconomic resources, culture, work schedules, personality, and coping resources.
The Vulnerability-Stress-Adaption (VSA) model (Carney & Bradbury, 1995)
Purpose: identify and analyze everyday hassles in terms of family relationships and diversity across three domains:
Socioeconomic factors
Workplace policies
Macro societal patterns
Everyday hassles are routine, proximal events that can become systemic stressors when paired with major life events or stressors.
Examples of hassles: cooking, chores, chauffeuring children, commuting, work difficulties, bills, caregiving, community events, etc.
Anticipated hassles (predictable): being late for work, children not finishing homework, long work hours, medical checkups, etc.
Unanticipated hassles (episodic): flat tires, unplanned meetings, children falling ill.
Hassles can compound with major stressors to cause greater disruption.
Methods to study everyday hassles and family relationships
Identify hassles: list and rate severity and frequency of hassles; early work lacked consideration of how individuals experience hassles.
Qualitative approaches highlight multidimensional aspects of hassles; gendered experiences differ.
Time diary methods, experience sampling, and within-person analyses of daily events help capture real-time reactions.
DISE (Daily Inventory of Stressful Events): a semi-structured telephone interview across eight consecutive days to record responses to daily stressors across various family domains; uses evaluator-rated stressor severity rather than solely self-rated appraisals.
Adaptive version of the VSA model (Kearney & Bradbury, 1995)
Core idea: each hassle is interpreted via family vulnerabilities, adaptive processes, and ecological opportunities/constraints posed by the surrounding environment.
Adaptive processes buffer harm from daily hassles; there is an inverse relationship between adaptive processes and daily hassles (more adaptive processes, fewer perceived hassles).
Enduring vulnerabilities: relatively stable intrapersonal characteristics (personality, temperament) and family background variables; these influence coping capacity.
Limitations: the VSA model emphasizes individual-level adaptations but may underplay ecological niches and sociocultural contexts (e.g., income differences, access to help, and external supports).
Links between daily hassles and family interactions
Family labor is multidimensional, time-intensive, and varies across households.
Because daily hassles are often mundane and underpaid, people may experience fatigue and unequal emotional burden.
Gender differences in daily hassles:
Women: higher sensitivity to marital arguments when distressed; relationships between distress, neuroticism, mastery, extroversion, and self-esteem.
Men: self-esteem moderates the link between marital arguments and daily hassles.
Workplace policies and family well-being
Modern workplaces are moving toward more family-responsive policies.
Holistic approach should integrate service delivery, prevention programs, universal high-quality services, and flexibility to meet families' needs.
Norms, scripts, and the contemporary work–family balance
The traditional breadwinner-homemaker script (breadwinner with full-time job and homemaker duties) is outdated for many American families (e.g., single-parent and dual-earner families).
The contemporary economy features: service sector growth, low-wage jobs, limited security and advancement opportunities, and wage disparities that affect family resources for managing daily hassles.
Low-wage workers often lack insurance, family leave, and paid leave options; fewer resources for emergencies.
The value of family-friendly workplaces: recommendations for employers include
Work-life balance that enables controlling work time while meeting family needs
Adequate pay, benefits, and job security
Systematic job design that aligns work demands with family responsibilities
Workplace culture that supports work-life integration for all employees
Implications and takeaways
Day-to-day hassles accumulate and interact with broader social, economic, and policy environments to influence family well-being.
Contemporary policy and workplace practices matter for reducing the burden of daily hassles and supporting family resilience.
Closing notes from the lecture
The chapter emphasizes a shift from solely focusing on individual stress responses to understanding family systems responses to stress.
Theoretical frameworks highlighted include ecological models and family systems perspectives.
Coping, adaptation, and resilience are ongoing, dynamic processes that shape family functioning in the face of daily hassles and major stressors.
References mentioned in lecture (authors/years):
Holmes & Rahe (1960, 1967) — Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRSS)
McCubbin & Patterson (1985) — resources in family stress and the concept of family systems resources
Littman-Blumen — distressor dimensions (as cited in the discussion of the 10 dimensions)
Kearney & Bradbury (1995) — VSA model and adaptive processes; DISE methodology
Henry et al. (2015) — Family Resilience Four Elements and FRM
FOSS — crisis definition and dichotomy of crisis vs stress
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) — originally by Hans Selye; stages: alarm, resistance, exhaustion
Additional notes on ecology and family systems perspectives (contextual factors, macro-environment)