CHAPTER 15
FAMILY STRESS, CRISES, AND RESILIENCE
Introduction
A. Family stress is a state of tension that arises when demands tax a family's resources.
1. Family stress calls for family adjustment.
2. Constant stress can be wearing to family members and family harmony.
B. A crisis is a crucial change in the course of a family's events. It represents a turning point for families.
1. A crisis is a sharper trauma to a family than family stress.
2. A crisis necessarily involves change.
3. A crisis has the potential for positive or negative effects, or both.
4. A crisis is a time of relative instability.
What Precipitates a Family Crisis?
Demands put upon a family cause stress and sometimes precipitate a family crisis; social scientists call such
demands stressors.
A. Types of Stressors
1. Addition of a family member
2. Loss of a family member
3. Ambiguous loss - You can’t get the facts surrounding the event. It’s so unclear that you’re not even
sure that it’s happening to you and your family.
4. Sudden change
5. Ongoing family conflict
6. Caring for a dependent, ill, or disabled family member
7. Demoralizing events
8. Daily family hassles
B. Stressor Overload
1. A family can be demoralized not just by one serious, chronic problem but also by a series of small, unrelated
stressors that build up over time.
2. When a family experiences an unremitting series of relatively small stressors, stressor overload results that leads
to a major demoralizing crisis.
The Course of a Family Crisis
A. Overview
1. The three distinct phases to a family crisis.
a. The event that causes the crisis.
b. The period of disorganization that follows.
c. The reorganization or recovery that follows.
2. Patterns of family adaptation to crisis.
a. Families may function at about the same level as before.
b. Families may function at a reduced level.
c. Families may function at a more effective level.
B. The Period of Disorganization
1. During this period, family organization slumps, habitual roles and routines become confused, and there is less
enthusiasm and more anger among family members.
2. Expressive relationships including sexual activity may change for better or worse as do relationships between
family members and their outside friends.
3. At the low point of family disorganization, conflicts may develop over how the situation should be handled.
4. How family members cope with conflict and anger at this point will greatly influence the family's overall level of
recovery.
C. Recovery
1. Once a crisis hits bottom, things begin to improve either by trial and error or by thoughtful planning.
2. Some families do not recover intact, and divorce.
3. Some families stay together, but at a lower level of organization or mutual support than before the crisis.
4. Some families match the level of organization they had before or improve.
Family Stress, Crisis, Adjustment, and Adaptation: A Theoretical Model
A. Overview
1. The ABC-X model of family crisis (Hill)- The stressor event (A) interacting with the family's ability to cope with a
crisis (B), interacting with the family's appraisal (or perceptions) of the stressor event (C), produces the crisis (X).
B. Appraising the Situation
1. Families who define a problem as their fault (cause is internal) suffer more as individuals and also tend to provide
less support than families who consider the cause to be external.
Meeting Crises Creatively
Meeting crises creatively means that after reaching the nadir (lowest point) in the course of the crisis, the
family rises to a level of reorganization and emotional support that is equal to or higher than that which
preceded the crisis.
A. A Positive Outlook
1. The typical American family is under a high level of stress at all times and has weaknesses that may include more
young and inexperienced dependents.
2. Choosing a positive outlook helps a person or family meet a crisis constructively.
3. It is often easier for family members to focus on the positive when they accept their own and each other's
negative feelings.
B. Spiritual Values and Support Groups
Strong religious faith has been shown to be related to high family cohesiveness.
C. Open, Supportive Communication
1. Families whose members interact openly and supportively meet crises more creatively as free-flowing
communication opens the way to understanding.
2. Knowing how to indicate the specific kind of support one needs is important at stressful times.
D. Adaptability
1. Families are more adaptable when they are democratic and when conjugal power is fairly egalitarian.
2.
E. Informal Social Support
1. It is easier to cope with crises when a person doesn't feel alone.
2. Kin, friend, and even acquaintance relationships can offer financial, child care, and emotional support to families
in times of need.
F. An Extended Family
1. Kin networks are a valuable source of support in a crisis.
2. Kin networks can offer a wide variety of help during a crisis including:
a. emotional support
b. financial assistance
c. exchange of services
3. Research is only now beginning to look at reciprocal friendships of support.
G. Community Resources ??????
1. These include persons, groups, and institutions outside the family that the family may call upon, access, and use
to meet their demands.
2. The social support found in interpersonal ties is perhaps the single most important community resource.
3. An important community resource families should not overlook is marriage and family counseling.
Crisis: Disaster or Opportunity?
A. Although we think of crisis as synonymous with disaster, the word comes from the Greek for decision.