Introduction to Family Processes

Diverse Families, Common Ties

Denise Ann Bodman, Bethany Bustamante Van Vleet, Randal D. Day

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781138312876
• eBook ISBN: 9781000576214
• Edition: 6
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Social Sciences

Introduction to Family Processes: Diverse Families, Common Ties serves to provide an explanation of the complex workings of inner family life. The text primarily focuses on family processes and dynamics (the "inside" of families) as opposed to sociological trends, political topics, or the individual psychological approach. The text further presents the research underlying these processes and effectively presents ways to increase the positive aspects of family life.

This edition has been updated to include current research and contemporary topics. The text has been divided into four parts: Foundations, Building and Establishing Families, Maintaining Families, and Change/Turbulence/Gains/Losses. While the research methods chapter still provides an introductory examination of family science research, it now includes an expanded discussion on research design, methods, and advances in the area. A new chapter, titled "Forgiveness, Kindness, Hope, and Gratitude" has been incorporated to amplify positive family processes and highlight emerging research. This edition provides added emphasis on diverse families (e.g., race/ethnicity, family structure, LGBTQIA, ability, culture, and family formation), and each chapter includes a new "Discussions in Diversity" section related to that chapter. The authors have consciously included an epilogue as a way of reflecting on what they have learned, along with what they hope to learn in the future.

Aimed at courses related to family studies and family dynamics, this text provides a comprehensive review of family processes. Whether it is used for undergraduate or graduate classes, professional growth, or personal enrichment, the text assists readers in enhancing the positive aspects of family life, avoiding undesirable aspects, and more effectively managing the challenges and obstacles families face that cannot be avoided. Thus, the text holds an appeal for people who live (or will live) in families, as well as those who want to work with families.

Part IFoundations

CHAPTER 1“Family” and Family Processes

DOI: 10.4324/9781003128717-2

CHAPTER PREVIEW

In this chapter, you will learn:

• Why families are important, as is the study of family life.
• That defining “family” is difficult and changes across time and culture.
• How the study of family life is different from the study of families using a sociological, psychological, or historical point of view.
• That we bring biases to our study of family life.
• How family processes are the strategies used by family members to maximize family goals.

INTRODUCTION

Nearly every human being on earth has at least some family ties. Everyone is at least a member of a family of origin, and many people are also currently members of a primary living group. In this way, most of us have multiple family memberships. Therefore, “the family” is without question a very important concept for almost everybody.

(Petzold, 1998, p. 60)

Philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Family is one of nature’s masterpieces” (Santayana, 1907). Think of it. Most of us are born into families, and it is in our families where we first encounter the world. Our families may be rich or poor, biological, blended, step, or adopted. They may be headed by a single parent, two parents, or even several parents, parents who may be heterosexual or homosexual, married or unmarried. We may be born in a high rise in NYC or a hogan on the Navajo reservation. Our families may speak Spanish, English, Chinese, Swahili, Hindi. We laugh, we cry, we argue, we support, we touch, we grow close, we distance. We are so similar and simultaneously so different. Borrowing from Charles Dickens, in families, we see the best of times, we see the worst of times. No wonder that despite his difficult childhood, his experience of half-siblings, changes in place, and parents in an unhappy marriage, George Santayana was still able to describe families as “nature’s masterpiece!”

People’s interest in family has resulted in family life becoming a legitimate field of study. Many universities across the United States have degree programs dedicated to helping students better understand the complexities of family life. Our study of family life is important for several reasons. For example, information about family life can assist us as we choose to form and build our own family of procreation. A family of procreation is the family we create with a partner and refers to that partner agreeing to form a relationship (formal or informal) that may include children (either by birth or adoption). Further, as we learn about family, we can better understand someone’s family of orientation. One’s family of orientation focuses on the family in which a person was raised. In both cases (i.e., reflecting on our families of procreation and families of orientation), when we understand family interaction either from the perspective of procreation or orientation, we have the potential of increasing the quality of those relationships and increasing our chances of attaining the goals and desires that inevitably reside within families.

As we undertake our exploration into family and family processes, we must first define them. Seems simple enough, right? Don’t be so quick to answer.

PRINCIPLE 1.1 FAMILIES ARE IMPORTANT

We care about families because of the value they have to us (as individuals), our society, and the economy.

What Is Family?

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

Humpty Dumpty—Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

In Greek mythology, Proteus (Figure 1.1) was a lesser known but important god of the sea. His claim to fame was that he could change his shape into various forms at will. The derivative word, protean, describes someone or something that has this same ability. The family seems to fall into this category. Families themselves take on many forms; they are changeable, polymorphous, and versatile. Additionally, the definitions of family life are also protean. Those who think about family life and decide which type of small group is a family and which is not choose from among the many definitions available and select the one that best suits their purposes and ideological orientation, often reflective of their culture.

FIGURE 1.1 Proteus, Greek God of the Sea.

Source: Woodcarving image from iStock

For example, businesses or governmental agencies define the family in ways that serve a particular purpose and are usually very specific and precise. Billions of dollars are meted out each year in transfer payments to “family members.” For instance, insurance companies will cover only the medical expenses of family members that fall within their very restricted family member definition. Some authors (e.g., Cherlin, 2012) suggest that such definitions fall into our notion of a public family.

Those wishing to broaden the definition of the family seek to make private family life (as opposed to public family life) an individual choice in which a variety of styles, configurations, and combinations are acceptable. Those who approach the study of family life from more traditional business or governmental points of view might seek to limit and constrict the definition of the family for economic reasons. In addition, those who view the family as a sacred religious institution will suggest a particular configuration and even gender role assignment within the family based on doctrine and beliefs that support their point of view.

Because of its protean nature, the difficulty in defining family is seen in science, government, business, and the general population (see Table 1.1) and is often conflicting. For example, Article 16 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) proclaims, “The family is a natural and fundamental group of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State,” yet a more recent UN report (Human Rights Council, 2016) stated, “There is no definition of the family under international human rights law … ‘The concept of family may differ in some respects from State to State, and even from region to region within a State, and that it is therefore not possible to give the concept a standard definition.’” In the late 1970s, the then President Jimmy Carter organized what came to be known as the White House Conference on Families. Unfortunately, very little of the original agenda was discussed. Most of the conference energy was spent on the key question of what constitutes a family. For the conference, the battle over this single issue ended the conference with virtually nothing else of any significance to family life being discussed!

TABLE 1.1 How Is Family Defined?

Family, Definition(s) of “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State” (United Nations, 1948). “Society’s definition of ‘family’ is rapidly expanding and has come to include single parents, biracial couples, blended families, unrelated individuals living cooperatively, and homosexual couples, among others. Unfortunately, family policy has been slow to catch up to changing trends in modern lifestyles” (Crawford, 1999, p. 271). “Ultimately, I define ‘family’ as the smallest, organized, durable network of kin and non-kin who interact daily, providing domestic needs of children and assuring their survival” (Stack, 1996, p. 31). “…an employee’s spouse and dependent, unmarried children under age 19 (age 23 or 25 if a full-time student and dependent upon the employee for support)” (Abbott, 2002, p. 3). “Society’s definition of a family has expanded to include ‘single parents, biracial couples, blended families, unrelated individuals living cooperatively, and homosexual couples, among others’” (Crawford, 1999; Kenyon et al., 2003, p. 571). “Most uses of the word family in research indicate that it was often defined as ‘spouse and children’ or ‘kin in the household’. Thus ‘family’ as defined in economics, sociology, and psychology often was a combination of the notions of household and kin… An exception to this standard definition of family is in clinical and counseling psychology, where family includes one’s family of origin (parents and siblings) in addition to spouse and children” (Patterson, 1996; Rothausen, 1999, p. 818). “There are diverse types of families, many of which include people related by marriage or biology, or adoption, as well as people related through affection, obligation, dependence, or cooperation” (Rothausen, 1999, p. 820). “We define family as any group of people related either biologically, emotionally, or legally. That is, the group of people that the patient defines as significant for his or her well-being” (McDaniel et al., 2005, p. 2). “A family consists of two or more people, one of whom is the householder, related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing in the same housing unit. A household consists of all people who occupy a housing unit regardless of relationship. A household may consist of a person living alone or multiple unrelated individuals or families living together” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). “…the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) adopted the definition of a ‘network of mutual commitment’ to connote the new structures that are the reality of families in the 1990s” (Pequengnat & Bray, 1997, p. 3). From the Work and Family Researchers Network https://wfrn.org/glossary/family-definitions-of/

From standard and modern dictionaries… The basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children (Merriam-Webster. Family. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/family). A group of people, usually of the same blood (but do not have to be), who genuinely love, trust, care about, and look out for each other. Not to be mistaken with relatives sharing the same household who hate each other. REAL family is a bondage that cannot be broken by any means (Urban Dictionary, top definition https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=family).

How would you define family? Would you only include blood relations and those adopted by law? Perhaps you would include your best and closest friends or even your pets! How much does culture influence your definition? This topic makes for an interesting discussion around the dinner table! Likely, a universal definition of family will never exist; however, functional definitions of family can be used as appropriate to the situation. Such definitions may be based on structure, function, and inclusion.

By Structure

Families come in all shapes and sizes, and some people define family by their type or structure. Varying family structure is often related to varyi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Preface
• PART I Foundations
• PART II Building and Establishing Families
• PART III Maintaining Families—Ties That Bind
• PART IV Change, Turbulence, Gains, and Losses
• Index