HD 382 Study Guide - Summer 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Socioeconomic Status, Anxiety, Major Depressive Disorder
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
HD 382
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Theoretical Foundations of Parenting: Family Systems Theory, Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems
Theory:
• Family Systems Theory:
o Idea that the family is a system comprised of several different subsystems that influence
one another
o Outlines processes by which families:
• Make decisions
• Set and achieve goals
• Make rules for behaviors
• Deal with change
• Wholeness
o Family is comprised of subsystems
• Marital subsystem
▪ Mother/father
• Parent-child subsystems
▪ Mother/child 1, Father/child 1
▪ Mother/child 2, Father/child 2
▪ Mother/child 3, Father/child 3
• Sibling subsystems
▪ Child1/child2, child2/child3, child1/child3
o Family is the unit of analysis, not an individual
o To understand the family, one must understand the entire system, not just one individual
• Interdependence
o Ripple effects across individuals and subsystems-- that is, if something affects one member
or subsystem, it affects other members and/or subsystems
o Patterns of interactions
• Found in rules, roles, and communication styles
• Each subsystem might have very different interactions
• Rules
o Define acceptable, appropriate behavior
o Effective rules outline consequences for unacceptable behaviors
o Explicit rules
• Stated out loud; more healthy for family members
o Implicit rules
• Unspoken, inferred, often not known until someone violates it; less healthy for family
members
• Roles
o Combination of rules or a script for acceptable behavior of a person in a particular role
o Implicit roles governed by implicit rules; less healthy
o Explicit roles governed by explicit rules; more healthy
• Forms of Communication
o Verbal
• Words that convey meaning
o Nonverbal communication
• Tone of voice, facial expression, body posture
• Touch
• Conveys a message on its own and/or provides more information regarding the verbal
message
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Contextual communication
• Where and under what circumstances communication takes place
• Reciprocal interaction and feedback loop
o Interactions are contained within a loop that feedback into themselves
o Intervention can punctuate anywhere within the loop
• Psychological boundaries
o Separate individuals within a family
• Regulate the amount of emotional connectedness and intimacy between family
members
o Separate subsystems within a family
o Determine the amount of information that comes into and out of the family
o Determines how the family interacts with other families, and societal institutions
o Rigid boundaries
• Maintain status quo from the group; nothing changes within the family
o Flexible boundaries
• Permit the exchange of information and promote change in family
o Fused boundaries
• Result in enmeshment in which the child is not permitted to become his or her self
▪ Child may be expected to be just like parent or child is expected to care for
parent
o Healthy boundaries
• Allow for individuation
• Appropriate expression of intimacy
• Exchange of information
• Adaptation
o Change causes imbalance or disequilibrium (stress) in patterns of family interaction
o In time, the family adjusts to achieve balance
• Change → imbalance → adjustment period → balance
• Ecological Systems:
o Microsystem- immediate environment
• Family, school, neighborhood, child care, church groups
o Mesosystem- interaction of two microsystem environments
• Parents attend meetings with teachers
• Relationship between parents and child caregiver
o Exosystem- external environment which influences child in indirect ways even though the
child may never have any role in them
• Parents' workplace, community-based family resources (parent education programs,
family life education classes)
o Macrosystem- larger cultural context including cultural values and expectations, customs,
and laws
o Chronosystem- events occurring in the context of passing time
• These events may have impact on a particular birth cohort
• Normative timing vs. nonnormative timing:
o Timing of a parent's death, timing of language development, timing of puberty
o Catastrophic events are always nonnormative
• War, recession, flu epidemic, catastrophic weather event
Historical Perspectives on Childhood and Parenting:
• Ancient Greece (800-146 BC)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Theoretical foundations of parenting: family systems theory, bronfenbrenner"s ecological systems. Idea that the family is a system comprised of several different subsystems that influence one another: outlines processes by which families: Set and achieve goals: make decisions, make rules for behaviors, deal with change, wholeness, family is comprised of subsystems, marital subsystem, mother/father, parent-child subsystems, mother/child 1, father/child 1, mother/child 2, father/child 2, mother/child 3, father/child 3. Sibling subsystems: child1/child2, child2/child3, child1/child3, family is the unit of analysis, not an individual, to understand the family, one must understand the entire system, not just one individual. Interdependence: ripple effects across individuals and subsystems-- that is, if something affects one member or subsystem, it affects other members and/or subsystems, patterns of interactions. Found in rules, roles, and communication styles: each subsystem might have very different interactions, rules, define acceptable, appropriate behavior, effective rules outline consequences for unacceptable behaviors, explicit rules. Stated out loud; more healthy for family members.
