Family Patterns
The family pattern of the Nguyen’s is a strange combination of both enmeshed and disengaged patterns of communication and relationships. For one, each member of the family is well aware that the school expelled the middle son, Gary. They also later become aware that he is in the possession of a gun. However, although they are aware of these issues, no one knows the reasons behind them. Tringh exemplifies this pattern when she cries to her mother, “I don’t even know what’s happening with my own children.” Furthermore, while the family is willing to talk to Jimmy, his life with his girlfriend remains a complete secret. Ultimately, the family seems quite aware that there are some serious issues within the structure of their
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Because of these factors, it creates a sense of secrecy within the family, and again, the lack of communication among members causes serious strife and conflict within their relationships. Despite these maladaptive family patterns around their relationships and communication, the Nguyen family possesses inherent and individual strengths that demonstrate their resilience. The greatest and most prominent strength of the family is their ability to adapt to differences in culture and expectation. Although they are having their struggles in America, they are still ultimately successful in making a living for themselves in a different world. Along with the stress, the parents are still in conjunction with one another with regards to family values and it is clear that each member deeply cares for one another. This aspect of resilience is crucial because it has positive implications as to their willingness to change as a family unit for the better. Additionally, it is clear that the family is a set of very hardworking individuals, who have hope for a better life despite all the obstacles faced, and the very definition of resilience is the ability to see have hope in situations that others (non-resilient individuals) would not. Again, this particular set of strengths is important in allowing and assisting in the family altering their problems. With hope, it will help the family work towards their goals if they truly believe that their family can change
Although families may not always feel this connectedness, it is always there. The emotional climate of the family is interdependent of what is going on in the family as a whole. If one unit of the family is distant emotionally, it can have a great affect on the whole family. These attitudes are reciprocated throughout the entire family. It is important that most family members are able to stay healthy emotionally and have that ability to communicate their feelings to one another. Problems arise when individuals don’t fulfill their roles that are needed from all family members. Michael Kerr, explained this idea in an article he wrote to explain the family system theory. He explained that “heightened tension can intensify these processes that promote that promote unity and teamwork, and this can lead to problems” (Kerr,
Educational resilience can be defined as “the heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions, and experiences” Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1994). Studies have shown that there are four attributes or personal characteristics that resilient children have: social competence or responsiveness, problem-solving skills, autonomy, and a sense of purpose. McMillian and Reed (1994) describe four factors that appear to be related to resiliency: individual attributes, positive use of time, family, and school. When comparing 24 resilient and 24 non-resilient students, researchers found no differences between the two groups on socioeconomic status, parent-student involvement, and parental supervision (Waxman, Huang, & Padron, 1997).
Family relationships play a key role in the story and provide evidence of how not only family is important in Vietnamese culture but also how their values have been modified to however the characters believe is right for them. Que is loyal to her family to such an extent she undergoes emotional abuse while she seeks for approval from her brother, Chinh. She states, “He’s all the family I have left. He’s so unhappy.
if interactions between certain family members are negative or positive. As well as diving into the functions of families, and how members interact with each other. Minuchin’s theory consists of a heavy emphasis on family functioning, rather than looking into the language systems (Levy, p. 57). Then, leading families to reflect back on how they respond as family to a crisis, will assist in determining the family’s strengths and weaknesses will be important in understanding the thoughts and feelings of the family members.
The resiliency framework can be used in research to understand how a healthy family functions in situations of risk and resilience. By using the resiliency framework we can also see which strengths a family processes under stress and examine a family’s ability to recover and grow out of adversity (Walsh, 2003). The framework was used in a study of the comparative analysis of parent-adolescent conflict, family cohesion, and self-esteem among Hispanic adolescents in immigrant families (Li & Warner, 2015). From using the research and data found in this study a better understanding of the frameworks successful use and limitations can be made.
Strategies to engage and successfully join the Nguyen family must include not only fundamental social work skills, but cultural engagement skills as well. First, as with every family, it is crucial during the first meeting with them to reiterate that it is their right to choose (or not) to engage with a worker. This engagement strategy is particularly important because it reinforces the family’s autonomy despite their need of services. If the family feels forced into working with a social worker, presumably the members of the family will not readily provide information and it will be impossible to effectively address the goals and best interests of the family.
A traditional Vietnamese family can be distinguished from a modern one in three main ways.
This paragraph will give an objective view about Vietnamese social structure, page 9 of Nguyen’s book, mentions that the North Vietnamese were using propaganda, to get backing from the disillusioned, poor peasant of the South. The South Vietnamese were extremely poor; they believed that Communists would be their saviour, improving their standards, there would be no social classes everybody would benefit with no more poor. Vietnamese social structure was, virtually, non-existent because of the North and South Vietnamese war. Nguyen’s family suffered very badly, during the years of 1973 to 1980, her
Communication is essential in healthy families, and members can share any issues in their lives including their challenges, successes, goals, and feelings openly. These family systems are characterized by meaningful and positive communication (Enrique, Howk, & Huit, 2007). There is genuine care for one another among family members, and constructive criticism is encouraged. Members are committed to family, spend significant time together, and continually appreciate each other. Each of the members of the family making up the system is valued, and teamwork is encouraged. Another factor that distinguishes systems of family that is healthy is the ease with which such families can adapt to changes in situations in the family setting. Family members are flexible to adjust to different circumstances. Connection with other people in the society is another distinguishing factor of healthy family systems. They have excellent relationships with other
Resilience has to do with the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors. It means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences. So many times in our lifetime we have come across many difficult situations, itall has to do with getting back up and powering thorhg the many obstacles nthis life. This paper will focus on one piece of vidddes that has to do with resleices. I will answer the signaifacne of this vidoea nd how it can be applied to our own lives.
Today, family still remains alive and well. Although many forces have attempted to change the American family, it has managed to prevail and preserve the basic values and principles it was first found upon. What Americans need to realize is that what works for a family in one economic and cultural setting doesn’t work for a family in another. This study is relevant because most people don’t understand that families are just doing what they have to do to survive the new ways of society.
Although varying cultures have different family structures, practices, rituals, religions, and struggles cultures and ethnic groups appear to have quite similar common factors when describing resilient families. Overall, worldwide it is agreed that the importance and emphasis on family, “kin relationships, striving for satisfying parent-child relationships, family members meeting each other’s needs, and the family as a source of comfort and security” (Black & Lobo, 2008,
Speaking in terms of the sociological perspective, I do strongly agree that there is a large amount of inequality within family patterns. One specific tactic that I would suggest and to involve the two influential external social forces of the work institutions and the education institutions. For example, the “Family-work Statistics” document states that “When it comes to paternity leave , so many nations require to be offered by law, but there is no provision requiring paid paternity leave for U.S. fathers.” This is a tactic that I see that would implement more of a conventional family pattern and support system. Another solution to provide more equality into the family arrgranment through the education systems would be to incorporate the
The topic of where man originated from is often argued between many individuals. This video “The Human Family Tree” cleared up many questions I had about where we all came from. I sometimes see things online saying that a few centuries from now all races will intermingle and this is what we will soon look like. The video states that technically there is no such thing as race. Race is a modern idea that was not used back when ancient societies were one. It is crazy to think somehow we are all related. This idea that we have all originated in Africa came as a surprise considering the physical differences between all the different cultures that came of the original one in Africa. When you think about all that goes on in the world today and consider the hate that has occurred in history it makes no sense considering we are all related. The video mentions how cultural barriers have been created for years
In late imperial China the ideal family was “five generations under one roof” but due to a number of factors this type of family was very rare (Eastman 16). One obvious and simple reason being the low life expectancy during this time period. When most people did not live past 30, having three or four generations alive at one time were small. In addition to having many members of the family alive at once, this ideal of family required that they all cohabitated and coexisted with one another. In the fictional Jia family there are many stressed relationships due to the strain of keeping a large family afloat. In Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin uses the story of the Jia family’s decline to show how this ideal family type is unattainable in the long term, as well as lens to evaluate feudal system during Qing dynasty.