Ncfr Goals

Objective – Explain basic sociological concepts of the family, marriage, and intimate relationships. (Pg. 365)

Throughout human history individuals around the world, of various ethnic, racial, cultural backgrounds have linked together to form what people call today families. A lot of questions come to mind when contemplating the complex relationship people have. Since families have a direct bearing on society now and on future generations it is essential to take seriously what is happening to the family. Is the American family in decline, and if so what should be done about it? “Traditionally, family has been defined as a unit made up of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption: live together; form an economic unit, and bear and raise children (Benokraitis, 3).” The definition of decline is to “fail in strength, vigor, character, value, deteriorate, slant downward.” The traditional nuclear family consists of a father provider, mother-homemaker, and at least one child (Brym and Lie, 252).” The nuclear family is a distinct and universal family form because it performs five important functions in society:sexual regulation, economic cooperation, reproduction, socialization, and emotional support. Research from the 1950 's to the present will emphasize what trends are taking place among American families. Family trends might not have expected???

To learn about families from a new perspective, I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant in Today’s Couples and Families research lab, which aimed to better understand modern couples and

In today’s world, families are dynamic and interdependent systems. The developmental processes of the children in the family are deeply affected by how the family system operates. However, a family’s structure does not determine whether it is a healthy family system or not. Today, families consist of single parents, stepparents, divorced parents, remarried parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are all able to contribute to a healthy functioning family system by meeting each family member’s needs and encouraging positive communication (Jamiolkowski, 2008). Unhealthy family systems have negative and possibly

Donahue, P. (2005, July-September). Current perspective and future directions for social work practice and research. Families in Society, 86.3, 359-366.

The presentations opened my eyes to how diverse today’s family unit can be and provided me with an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the diversity of the family unit in contemporary society. Often people have an image built on assumptions of the ideal family, however families are dynamic and for health professionals it is important to always reevaluate what is considered family and to challenge any assumptions made (Barnes & Rowe 2013). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011) found that in Australia, 15.9% of families were one parent families while 44.6% were couple families with children. On the contrary 37.8% were couple families without children. As a result of such diversity in the family unit, family strengths are continually growing and changing. It is important for nurses to be able to understand this in order to successfully undertake a comprehensive family assessment and identify and help develop those identified strengths to increase family resilience and facilitate change in family functioning (Smith & Ford

What the researcher did was to get everyone together and asked them to verbalize about and discuss the following topics: Familial and community strengths, family needs and challenges, support network and accommodations, and needed accommodations to promote family salubrity. What emerged from these focus groups was that there were five major categories that they were all commonly concerned about. They were noetic health, physical health care, inculcation, information and support accommodations, and community efforts.

Leon Dash’s book, Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America, follows the life of a mother whom is affected by poverty, drugs, and abuse while trying to provide for her 8 children and grandchildren. I will be creating a family assessment on this family. According to Anna Mcphatter, there are five crucial areas in a comprehensive family assessment: problem identification, family structure, family functioning, family strengths and resources, and intervention plan and method of evaluation. All of which will be analyzed throughout this family assessment.

As the father of modern family studies, Whittaker, J. K. and J. Garbarino. (1983) observed, 'We know too much about the family to be able to study it both objectively and easily 'Some family needs could be considered as being met through a combination of expressive and instrumental functions, such as child care, and health-related supports. This applies on both Case Studies.

n the upcoming page’s I will answer the following questions. Why is family the most important agent of socialization? What caused the dramatic changes to the American family? What are the changes? I will discuss the differences in marriage and family, I will discuss how they are linked to class, race, gender, and personal choices. The purpose of this study is to explore the many different family functions and the paths that people are now choosing. I will give my opinion on whether these changes have had a positive or negative affect. I will finally discuss the trend of the modern family, back to pre-World War II family structure, how would that effect the strides that have been made in the progression of women rights.

This paper will discuss the differences between families from the 1960’s and the families of today. There are many differences between the different times. I have focused on the parentage portion of the families. I explained what the ideal family is and how it is different today. I’ve also included ways that will help these families of today become stronger as a family.

Everyone has a family. Whether it is a family by blood or a family you claim to have through social interactions. There are many ways to create a family unit. Some are big and some are small. Each one is different and unique in their own way. The quality and nature of family life is completely determined on how you personally want to examine it as. You can either have a strong and healthy family life, or you can have a weak and unhealthy family life. Family life education is one way to help those week families turn into strong and healthy families. By focusing on the healthy aspects of family functioning within a family system, we will see an improvement on the quality and nature of the family’s life.

Murray Bowen's family system theory was one of the first comprehensive theories of family system functioning. It was developed in 1974 and it believed the family can be defined as a set of interacting individuals who are related by blood, marriage, cohabitation, or adoption and who interdependently perform relevant functions through roles. Relevant functions of the family include values and practices placed on health system theory is used to explain patterns of living among the individuals who make up the family systems (Edelmen, 2006).

Today, in a world of the “postmodern family” the traditional lines of family structure are blurred. Children may come from diverse types of homes, or a couple, married or not may choose to have no children and consider

Indeed, they help to explain why family structure is such an explosive issue for Americans. The debate about it is not simply about the social-scientific evidence, although that is surely an important part of the discussion. It is also a debate over deeply held and often conflicting values. How do we begin to reconcile our long-standing belief in equality and diversity with an impressive body of evidence that suggests that not all family structures produce equal outcomes for children? How can we square traditional notions of public support for dependent women and children with a belief in women's right to pursue autonomy and independence in childbearing and child-rearing? How do we uphold the freedom of adults to pursue individual happiness in their private relationships and at the same time respond to the needs of children for stability, security, and permanence in their family lives? What do we do when the interests of adults and children conflict? These are the difficult issues at stake in the debate over family structure.