An Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay

An Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work EssayThe concept of family individualism can be defined as a familys subjective understanding of reality based on shared beliefs and experiences that determine how individual members interact and relate to each other and the world outside the family (Bennett, Wolin, McAvity, 1988). end-to-end my childhood my family had two identities a overt identity that was shaped by societal expectations and norms, and a mystic identity that was governed by the unique needs and issues that plagued our family life. From a public perspective we were a traditional optic class family complete with a married couple, three children, and two dogs. We lived in a modest tho nice home in a suburban community, my babys and I attended private schools, and we were pecuniaryly secure. However, a few(prenominal) people were aware of the conflict, cuckoos nest, and abuse that occurred behind closed doors at bottom our home. Our private identity, ch aracterized by dysfunctional behaviors and interactions that occurred amid various members of the family, told a very different story.The bodily bodily structure or organization of my family based on patterns of interactions, sub forms, and boundaries is all-important(a) in understanding the dynamics at bottom my family of origin (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). The genogram, or family diagram, contributed in the appendix illustrates a multigenerational thinking of structure and relationships deep down my broaden family (Bowen, 1978 Nichols, 2011). However, for the purpose of this paper I will focus on the structure of my family of origin. My family consists of my father, Gerald, my come, Alma, and three children Michelle, the eldest, Jennifer, the sum child, and myself the youngest child. Our family structure was governed by familial offices, rules, and expectations (Nichols, 2011). My father held the role of monetary provider within the family. His responsibility was t o ensure that the family had financial security. My arrest maintained the role of primary care provider and leader. She was the matriarch of the family and was charged with the assess of maintaining every aspect of the home and family. My oldest babe was the scapegoat and protector within the family. Family issues were practically projected onto her forcing her to con responsibility and blame for family dysfunction (Shulman, 2006). She as well as held the role of protector within the sibling sub trunk, and oftentimes protect my middle sister and I from danger and harm within and outside the home. My middle sister was the n iodinffervescent member and model child of the family. She is passive and rarely expressed opinions regarding family issues, and always made an attempt to sate familial expectations and demands (Shulman, 2006). As the youngest child, I compete the role of usher within the family. My goal as the gatekeeper was to use my wit and humor to help the family return to a state of homeostasis by easing strain and restoring calm and peace within the family (Shulman, 2006). My family was also governed by a set of explicit and implicit rules and expectations (Nichols, 2011). evident rules and expectations consisted of good behavior, high academic achievement, and the completion of various chores and duties within the household. Implicit rules helped fortify family secrets and included memory family issues private, and forbidding family members to discuss or ack forthwithledge the dysfunction within the family. Additionally, my family operated as a closed system with starchy boundaries limiting input from outside sources (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). We were not open or welcoming to outside influences and nominate rather, we internalized familial issues and problems.My mothers aff sufficient illness mixed family dynamics and contributed to the pathology within the home. My mother has Borderline Personality turnover which made her a polarizing presence within our home due to her frequent fits of rage and unstable amiable health (Nichols, 2011). Thus, the familys attention and energy was primarily focused on my mother and her needs (Nichols, 2011). My mother would frequently displace her anger and rage onto my sisters and I in the form of physical and ruttish abuse. Her behavior bear upon relationships, boundaries, and appurtenance patterns within the family as illustrated in the family genogram. My mother exhibited an anxious-ambivalent attachment to my father due to her imminent concern of abandonment (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). She urgently desired my fathers love and attention, but would behave in ways that created conflict and chaos within the marital subsystem (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). As a result, my father developed an anxious-avoidant attachment to my mother, which resulted in him creating a rigid boundary within the marital subsystem in order to protect and distance himself from my mothers anger and concomitant feelings of confounded and frustration (Bowlby, 1988 Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). My parents were involved in a cyclical pursuer-distancer pattern of interaction that resulted in my fathers disengagement within the marital subsystem (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011).The dynamics, boundaries, and attachments between the parental and child subsystems were equally complicated. The relationship between my mother and my oldest sister was fill up with conflict and tension. My mother was exceptionally abusive to my oldest sister which resulted in the establishment of disorganized attachment (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). My oldest sister perceived my mother as frightening yet, she desperately desired nurturance from my mother and fluctuated between distancing herself from my mother and desperately seeking comfort and security (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). My oldest sister and my mother were psychologically and ruttishly entwined or fused with one another notwithstan ding years of abuse (Bowen, 1978 Nichols, 2011). My middle sister schematic an anxious-avoidant attachment with my mother (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). As a child, my middle sister rarely sought help, guidance, or comfort from my mother as a result of the abuse she endured and my mothers softness to adequately address her needs for safety and comfort (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). I established an anxious-ambivalent attachment to my mother in which I desperately depended on her for emotional support and encouragement despite her abuse, but rarely received adequate comfort and nurturance (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). My sisters and I have an anxious-avoidant attachment with my father as a result of his inability to consistently provide us with comfort and safety in resolution to my mothers abuse (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). The family dynamics, however, strengthened the sibling subsystem. My sisters and I have a secure attachment and are able to rely on each other for support, co mfort, and nurturance in the face of adversity (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011).Culture and ethnicity also played an integral role in my family identity and dynamics. My parents are out fruit generation Mexican-Americans and were raised in families that emphatic traditional Mexican cultural values and beliefs including a tight allegiance to family, respect, trust, and religion (Rothman, Gant, Hnat, 1985). However, my parents raised my sisters and I in a bi-cultural environment that incorporated various aspects of American and Mexican culture and traditions. My parents emphasized trust, respect, and commitment within the family, but they also introduced American language, food, celebrations, and values including a focus on individuality, privacy, and achievement (Rothman et al., 1985 Beane, 2011). Additionally, black eye to traditional Mexican culture, there was a stronger emphasis on immediate rather than extended family (Rothman et al., 1985). godliness was also an important cult ural aspect of our lives. My family is Catholic and placed a strong emphasis on religious beliefs and rituals such as praying before meals and attending church together every Sunday.Family Crisis/TransitionIn June of 1992 my family, as we k rising it, changed forever. My father left our home without any prior notice or discussion and filed for split from my mother. His abrupt and unanticipated departure from our home left every family member struggling with feelings of shock, confusion, disdain, anger, and anxiety. The initial point of the divorce process is identified as the most stressful time for a family due to the changes in family structure as a result of the absence of a parent, and subsequent pressures and demands for family members to take on new roles and responsibilities (Cooper, McLanahan, Meadows, Brooks-Gunn, 2009 Kelly Emery, 2003). Additionally, families often experience significant changes in socioeconomic, social, and health resources as the result of a divorce that often increases the level of stress within a family and complicates the coping and adaptation process (Cooper et al., 2009, p. 559 Kelly Emery, 2003). According to the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis, a familys ability to adjust and cope with transitions and crises is based on the interaction of the following variables A-the situation or stressor event, B-available resources, C-the familys intuition of the event, and X-the degree of stress or crisis experienced by a family (McKenry Price, 1994). Let us now wear the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis to analyze my familys initial response to the stressful transition of my parents divorce.The stressor facing my family was the separation, and subsequent divorce, of my parents which left the family in a state of distress and significantly altered our family identity, structure, dynamics, and functioning. My fathers absence resulted in significant financial gruesomeness for the family, which forced my mother to enter the workforce and t ake on the new and unfamiliar role of financial provider. The responsibility and demands of this new role stirred my mothers ability to maintain her caregiver role within the family. As a result, my sisters and I had to take on many of her responsibilities within the home. Initially, my oldest sister took on the role of caregiver in my mothers absence. However, my oldest sister left for college shortly aft(prenominal) my fathers departure which resulted in significant changes to the sibling subsystem and provided complicated our familys ability to adapt and cope. My middle sister was forced to abandon her usual role as the quiet member, and assume the role of protector and caregiver. This new role placed a great do of pressure on my middle sister and changed the dynamic within the new sibling dyad by increasing tension. Additionally, I was no longer able to successfully ease family tension and chaos as the gatekeeper, and assumed the new role of helping my middle sister maintain the household.The divorce also alter family attachment needs, boundaries, and relationships. After the divorce, my father was physically and emotionally cut-off from my mother and the rest of the family (Bowen, 1978 Nichols, 2011). My sisters and I had no tangency with my father for a year following the divorce, which created a rigid boundary between him and the child subsystem and contributed to our inability to reconcile our grief and heal (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). Additionally, boundaries between the parental and child subsystems, and within the sibling subsystem, became more easygoing as a result of the new roles and responsibilities of each family member (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). The changes in family structure forced my middle sister to take on more of a parental role within the sibling subsystem. Additionally, my mother was ineffective to spend as much time within the home due to the demands of her new role as financial provider, which created a distance and disengagement between the parent and child subsystems (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). My mothers relationship with my oldest sister was equally affected as a result of the transition. After she left home, my oldest sister was able to emotionally separate or cut-off my mother and the chaos within the home (Bowen, 1978 Nichols, 2011). However, my oldest sister continued to provide emotional support within the sibling subsystem.My mothers mental illness complicated her ability to cope with the transition and adequately address the attachment needs of my sisters and I (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). Despite the complicated and chaotic relationship we each had with my mother we desperately needed and wanted her comfort, guidance, and nurturance in response to the pain, confusion, and anguish we were feeling. However, my mothers own emotional instability rendered her unable to adequately address our needs for attachment. My mother was preoccupied with her own needs for emotional comfort a nd responded in a cold and rejecting manner to our need for comfort and security. Rather, my middle sister and I were forced to provide comfort and solace to my mother and put our own needs aside. This role reversal further complicated the interactions and boundaries between the parent and child subsystems.Culture also influenced my familys perception of the divorce and ability to cope with the transition. The diarrhea of a marriage and family is not well accepted within the Mexican culture due to the strong emphasis on family connection and commitment. In fact, families that experience divorce are often shamed and ostracized by extended family as was the case in our family system. My maternal grandparents expressed disdain and disappointment in my mothers inability to salvage her marriage and family, which created more tension within our family. Additionally, divorce was uncommon within our suburban community. We were the first family in our community to experience a divorce and t his contributed to my familys feelings of embarrassment and shame. The divorce also altered our familys public identity of the ideal middle class family, and revealed some of the conflict and chaos within our home. Our family identity now reflected marital discord and a broken home. Our religious beliefs also complicated our ability to adapt after the divorce. Divorce is not supported or condoned within Catholicism which increased our feelings of embarrassment and shame in the Catholic community.My family had limited access to resources following the divorce. As previously mentioned, our family operated as a closed system which complicated our ability to attain adequate financial, social, and emotional support and assistance from external systems (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). Our socioeconomic status, financial resources, and standard of brio were significantly minimized. We transitioned from being a financially secure middle class family to living below the poverty line in a mat ter of months. Our access to social support was also limited as a result of the rigid boundaries separating my family from external systems of support such as family friends and mental health professionals (Minuchin, 1974 Nichols, 2011). Rather, each member of the family sought individual resources within and outside the family to help alleviate emotional distress and attain support. For example, my sisters and I sought support from external systems including friends and teachers (Nichols, 2011). We also relied on the secure attachment we had with each other for emotional support and guidance (Bowlby, 1988 Nichols, 2011). My mother sought emotional support from extended family, the child subsystem, and her new co-workers.My parents divorce was an unexpected event that significantly increased the level of stress within my family and contributed to changes in family identity, structure, roles, relationships, and resources. My familys resistance to seek and accept external resources an d support further complicated our ability as a system to recover from our loss and adaptively cope with the transition. Cultural influences also contributed to a negative judgement of the situation. My familys negative perception of the divorce resulted in feelings of hopelessness and despair rather than an emphasis on problem-solving and growth (McKenry Price, 1994). This negative perception significantly inhibited our ability to adaptively cope with the transition and associated stressors. My family was able to readjust structure and roles, but lacked cohesion and stability. The culmination of the event, the lack of sufficient resources, and the negative perception of the transition resulted in my familys estimate of the event as a crisis that disrupted equilibrium, increased pressure and stress within the family system, and negatively affected family functioning (McKenry Price, 1994).