Concept of Model of Family Stress Paper Example

Terms associated with the concept: family, boundary ambiguity, stress, management, unity, emotion, trauma, divorce, domestic violence, relations, and stressors. Internal context, external context, ABC-X stress model.

Concept definition: Greenburg expresses stress to be a factor that disrupts the well-being of an individual and which can be retrogressive. Stress, therefore, is an experience that changes the normality of an individual and can lead to them suffering emotionally and also physically. Usually, most people when describing stress, certain words automatically pops up such as anxiety, tension, fearfulness and being nervous. These attributes of stress are a reflection of the behavior of the victim of stress. Stress is a common aspect in most people especially when things don't fall to happen as they had planned. Mancini in his model describes the family as a body structure. In his context, this, therefore, explains that the existence of a family is only possible if there is a sharing of responsibility and a structured system with rules and authority. The family is a body that runs through communication, relations, understanding and generally shared emotions that define them.

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In most cases family is built on understanding and unity; every member of the family must have their shared responsibility that they must contribute to the family for it to be strong. Since the family is a body of individuals with different attributes, it is therefore natural for there to be a misunderstanding of thoughts and ideas. It is a common issue because not everyone will always want to have their views not heard or respected. It is at this point that certain aspects of conflict arise which might translate to further risks such as fights and complains. Families should be built by a shared sense of unity and trust and understanding. The system will quickly fail if some members feel unrecognized. Such matters are the one that can lead to family stress where some of the members of the family might feel nervous or fearful of the others in the family. Individual stress too can be as a result of family stress. A person might feel not at peace with certain aspects of the family which might lead to them being stressed in the process. ('Neal, Catherine Walker, et al.16)

The author Mancini, Bryant has categorized the context of family stress in their central parts, that is the internal context, external context and the ABC-X model of stress.

External Context - The external context expresses the stressors that most families cannot influence or have any power to change their effect on the family. They include aspects such as development, economy, history, culture, and hereditary. Development is an ideal situation that means the transition from one point to another in a positive way; families have little influence over specific development in an individual's ways of life. When a member of the family feel that the development of the others stresses them, it becomes difficult for them to control the matter because such issues happen. Culture describes the values and ways of life that an individual follow. Families cannot influence or direct the cultural habits and norms of their individual in any way. These are typical values that define them. The economic ability of the family is also hard to influence because it is a matter that is complex in its form and nature. History describes the past events which might impact the present and future of a person. There is no one with the power to change their past, and therefore it comes as an issue to the family context. Heredity is the succession of family possession and their distribution. (Chemtob, Claude M., et al.16)

The internal aspect of family stress includes matters such as psychology, philosophy, and structural factors. Unlike the external factors, in the view of internal factors, the family has a higher and better control over them. The fundamental aspect explains the formation and body design of the family; the family can create their form of style and structure. Psychology explains the perception of a person over certain phenomena and ideology. Physiological context, on the other hand, expresses the individuals view on the cultural aspects of the family at large.

The ABC-X model - the model was designed by Boss to explain the process of stress management by families. It is a model that describes the family reaction of crisis after an incident of stress. It is a model built on four dynamics which express the management situation of stress. Family crisis can easily lead to pressure. Specific critical crises such as domestic violence in a family are very sensitive to the development of stress not only to the family but also to the individuals. Whenever the smooth functioning of the family is disrupted, there are possible outcomes of crisis which might result in stress. The model describes the stress management process where first, the family goes through a moment of disorganization but then after entering recovery session for reorganization. Most strong families can attest that the common bumping from one stress crisis to another eventually makes them come stronger and better.

Application 1

I have always understood family to be the most basic unit in a person's life. Family shapes and natures the life and experiences of a person right from birth to when they get old. All the issues in the family are all meant to educate on the importance of having people around you that best understand you. Reflecting on family matters, I had a very challenging moment when I was a kid; I experienced domestic violence in our home. My dad was a seasonal alcoholic who would sometime go out and drink himself up; my mom never liked them a bit because it would always ruin their relations. One night he came home drunk, and I heard them quarrel and argue. When I got down to ask what was happening, I found my mom crying with bruises on her hands. The trauma was all over my face because keeping up with such an emotional scenario at my age was very devastating. Since then have always been easily stressed whenever I hear of such a situation happen to anyone else. It was an experience that really changed me and always had me understand the concept of family stress and Individual Street deeply.

Application 2

Domestic violence and family crisis have their form of pain and fearfulness that they bring. My parents' continual misunderstanding led them to separate and have a divorce. The family has always been a unit for love; families thrive well when there are an excellent understanding and unity among everyone. The separation was the worst thing that I had ever experienced as a child. I was stressed and very sad over the matter. We had to go through bad economic which proved to be very excruciating. Stress came as a result of the family crisis which had the family break apart. My take on the matter is that to avoid such turmoil and fear that follows, families should always embrace peace and understanding by talking out the issues that may seem to be the root cause to such turmoil.

Works Cited

Chemtob, Claude M., et al. "Child trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder: identification in community mental health clinics." Evidence-based practice in child and adolescent mental health 1.2-3 (2016): 103-115.

O'Neal, Catherine Walker, et al. "Family relational health, psychological resources, and health behaviors: A dyadic study of military couples." Military Medicine 181.2 (2016): 152-160.