Family Resilience Assessment : The Family System Essay

Resilience relates to one’s ability to overcome adversity, and successfully accomplish positive outcomes regardless of life episodes or circumstances. The perception of resilience heavily impacts and influences humanity as a result of early life experiences, social economic statuses and quality of life. The experience of being exposed to prior difficulties can promote benefits in the long term, as a result of constructing and building a greater tendency for resilience when dealing with future stressful situations.

Today in America, an estimated 80% of the population has at least one sibling. While it is true that no two families are identical, the relationship between siblings plays a central role in their development and growth. Younger siblings for example, might be prone to mimic the actions of their older siblings, viewing their older siblings as faultless and heroic figures. On the other hand, older siblings are often viewed as authority figures and are seldom questioned. They might develop as friends with an inseparable bond or as bitter rivals seeking supremacy over the others. Regardless of the nature of their relationship, siblings that share a household are forced to interact with each other more than any other friend or family member. Sibling

People have learned to be resilient in order to overcome serious hardships. A person’s resilience can be seen through how they handle bad experiences; to be resilient in the face of adversity. People who never give up and always fight back even when it gets hard are resilient. Some believe that resilience is a trait that can be learned.

When observing families who have experienced vertical stressors coupled with common horizontal stressors, remarkably, individual family members find "self in relation" (Genero, Miller, Surrey, & Baldwin, 1992). This type of connectedness may actually speak to the family’s strong cultural practice of rituals and beliefs that are not based in societal norms of egotism. Such diversity often includes families who encompass a holistic approach to life including the life domains of physical, emotional, social and spiritual. According to Rothery and Enns (2001) this strength-based approach to family instills hope, when once attained has been cited as an essential component for post-traumatic growth and enhanced

Resilience, fundamentally, is the ability to bounce back from hardship and the phenomenon of overcoming stress or adversity, for example: personal crises, poverty, mental illness and trauma (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). This skill can help individuals overcome the most difficult of situations (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). Resilience theorists generally agree that the presence of protective factors can reduce the effects of exposure to adversity. The more protective factors (or “assets”) available, the more resilient a person will be. Protective factors are conditions or attributes that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and eliminate risk. On the contrary, risk factors are attributes or characteristics

Resilience is a term that is often applied to those who have faced hardship and viewed the experience in a positive light as an opportunity to grow and change for the better (Wagnild & Collins, 2009). The definition however seems to vary from place to place. Ungar et al. (2008) stated “definitions of resilience are ambiguous when viewed across cultures" (p.174) which is why the understanding of resilience may be difficult to capture (as cited in Windle, Bennett & Noyes, 2011). Although the literature agrees on several common themes about resilience there are many varying opinions on how to define the concept or the attributing factors. Earvolino-Ramirez (2007) and

Scholars define resilience as the outcome of successful adaptation to adversity (Zutra, Hall, & Murray, 2010). Resilience is the ability to recover from adversities challenges in a manner that leaves an individual more flexible and better able to meet future challenges. Resilience involves an ability to react creatively and constructively to change while recognizing that change is an ongoing part of life (Mikail, 2014). Zutra and Hall identify two core dimensions of resilience:

Resilience has been topic that we have learned and are discussing in my English class. When you can overcome hardships faster and easier when you are more resilient person. We have been analyzing an article called “The Science of Bouncing Back” by Mandy Oaklander. Oaklander discusses methods of many people on their experience, becoming a more resilient person. People respond to emotion and hardships in their life differently, and people with more struggles overcome it more gradually, and Mandy Oaklander made me consider the possibilities resilience has, and can offer in everyday life.

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

Other than myself, my family is comprised of two sisters, a mother, and a father. We share many characteristics,but we’re not identical. For example, we may share some physical similarities, but our personalities contradict quite a bit. We do live in the same house, so all our differences mesh. But, in the end, we get along pretty well. The members of my family have distinct qualities, so not all of them are the same.

Reducing Risk Factors of Children’s Resilience This paper will examine the concept of resilience as it has emerged in the research literature of Grotberg (1995). It will evaluate the effectiveness of the concept in the area of developing more effective protective factors for children and families subjected to vulnerability and adversity. It will be noted that resilience needs to be promoted on three fronts, work on individual resilience strategies, promotion of resilience through the organisations and agencies, such as school and the curriculum, family welfare services and promotion of resilience in the community. This paper concentrates on those aspects of reducing the risk factors and increasing

Attention getter: Everyday, thousands experience moderate to severe traumatic life events and how an individual copes with it is known as resiliency.

Dr. Murray Bowen, a psychiatrist, offered us the family systems theory. This theory views the family as an emotional unit, further providing a thinking systems approach to describe the complex interactions in the unit. Bowen offered, “A change in one person’s functioning is predictably followed by a reciprocal change in the functioning of others” (Kerr, 2000). If one person within the family unit is having a difficult time, it effects everyone within the family unit. An example of this would be a father who is the primary breadwinner for his family suddenly loosing his job. Prior

The Bowen family systems theory can utilize to understand the Gillison’s family dynamics. According to the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family (2016) the Bowen family system theory views family as an emotional unit that utilizes systems thinking to comprehend the complexity of the interactions within the unit. The theory describes families as having a major influence on their member’s thoughts, feelings and actions, which leads them to feel as if they are composed of the same “emotional skin”. The members of families, according to this theory, are driven by each other’s attention, approval, and support. The members therefore, react to each other’s expectations and wants and needs. The family is therefore interdependent. One change in one member’s function leads to a change in the functioning of the others. This is evidence in the case of the Gillison family.

It is also a key factor affecting resilience. A positive, supportive and cohesive family relationship can promote our resiliency. Relatives are the important props to support us when we are experiencing adversity.