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  1. FAMILY LIFE CYCLES

     

    QUESTION

    In this week’s Assignment, you provide an assessment of a family and provide an analysis of the family using a social work perspective with consideration to strengths, cultural values, and social work theory.

    Submit a 2- to 3-page paper in which you analyze a family that is familiar to you. Support your analysis by using the Kirst-Ashman and Hull text and at least 2 to 3 additional peer-reviewed articles to do the following:

    Describe the structure of a family that is familiar to you.
    Identify the strengths in the family.

    Explain where in the life cycle this family is located and how that may influence family dynamics.

    Analyze one form of communication used by this family and how this communication style influences family dynamics.
    Describe the specific roles of two family members and explain if the various roles work well together for the benefit of this family.

    Explain how understanding cultural values will help a social worker working with this family.
    Analyze this family using systems theory or the ecological perspective.

     

 

Subject Sociology Pages 7 Style APA

Answer

    Analysis of a family using a Sociological Perspective

Contents

1.0 Description of the Family Structure  3

2.0 Strengths of the Family  3

3.0 Family’s Stage in the Life Cycle and impact on Family Dynamics  3

4.0 Preferred Form of Communication and impact on Family Dynamics  4

5.0 Specific Roles and their Impact on Overall Family Welfare  5

6.0 How Understanding of Cultural Values will benefit a Social Worker Working with this Family  5

7.0 Analysis of the Family using Ecological Perspective  6

References  6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analysis of a family using Sociological Perspective

1.0 Description of the Family Structure

 The family under review is the Shahs a single-parent family comprising of a divorced single mother of Asian origin and four dependent female children, ranging from 11 to 19 living in an ecologically different setting.

2.0 Strengths of the Family

Similar to other single-parent families, the Shahs have some strength that could enhance their quality of life. Most importantly, the members share responsibilities. Theoretical evidence by Gupta and Kashyap (2020) attributes this to extended periods of bonding between parents and their children and cements the children’s appreciation of the sacrifices made by their parents in light of economic stressors associated with reduced income. Lower-income inculcates a sense of responsibility in children by granting them the opportunity to do house chores by themselves. Secondly, single parents are good at managing finances solely, through autonomous financial management. Thirdly, budgeting processes in single-parent households are without contestation from dissenting partners, and the head will enjoy the latitude to engage both discretionary and nondiscretionary spending (Gupta & Kashyap, 2010). Finally, the single-parent families tend to experience reduced parental conflict which shields children from adversities of emotionally draining energy-sapping family relationships. Gupta and Kashyap (2020) associate the resultant homeostasis with reduced tension and tranquility in the domestic environment. 

3.0 Family’s Stage in the Life Cycle and impact on Family Dynamics

As a family headed by a single mother with four teenage girls aged, 19, 17, 15, and 13 respectively, the family is placed at phase V of the family life cycle (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2016). A study by Al Azab-Malinowska (2020) identifies the most salient feature of this phase as the impending departure of their children to college. A fruitful separation would be characterized as devoid of any “sense of guilt” (Al Azab-Malinowska, 2020). Effective management of the family would require the head to shift from a hierarchical structure to a more malleable one facilitated by “open flow of information than in families with younger children” (Al Azab-Malinowska, 2020).

Similar studies associate this stage with the quest for independence by children without severing ties with the parent. Consequently, it makes sense from the sociological standpoint for the family head to ameliorate attachment with children by knocking down hierarchical impediments as they may conjure up negative sentiments from independence-seeking children. The expected outcome is a tight family in which ties are maintained long after the teenagers exit their parent’s home. Furthermore, it allows teenage children to exercise the right to autonomy and to find their space from without an official family structure (Al Azab-Malinowska, 2020). However, it should be noted that early adolescence may be mediated by incessant disagreement with the parent as the social contact diminishes. Yet, available data show that the conflicts have the advantage of modeling identity albeit in challenging and tempestuous environments (Al Azab-Malinowska, 2020).

4.0 Preferred Form of Communication and impact on Family Dynamics

To maintain unity, the Shahs have consistently deployed democratic communication. Supratman (2018) argues that despite the impending challenges of leaving home, democratic communication could assure the teenage girls of continued warmth and support from their single mother. Considering the family’s experience with divorce, democratic communication will attenuate the impacts of the divorce by erasing negative sentiments regarding their absent father. In this way, the girls will be protected from the pressures of not knowing their father’s identity or whereabouts. This approach will also help the mother to communicate ground for divorce to the children in a relaxed atmosphere that guarantees closeness to perpetuate cohesiveness. Additionally, this form of communication could help the mother to clarify her marital status and to deal with any stigma associated with divorce (Supratman, 2018). Considering the dilemmas faced by teenagers in internalizing their parent’s divorce, democratic communication could prove effective for enabling the mother to remain authentic, and honest about her role in the divorce, and lessons learned from it while reinforcing a sense of “mutual love” with the children as the basis future engagement (Supratman, 2018).

5.0 Specific Roles and their Impact on Overall Family Welfare

The mother is the head of the family, the principal provider, paying school fees for two girls in college, and three in high school. She is also the main provider of basic emotional and psychosocial support to children on matters relating to relationships with members of the opposite sex (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2016). The eldest daughter, a university student also works part-time and helps by supplementing the family’s income.

6.0 How Understanding of Cultural Values will benefit a Social Worker Working with this Family

Evidence from a number of sociological literature provides deep insight into how social workers can gnaw on dissimilarities between themselves and their clients in terms of “age, ethnicity, and upbringing” and their impact on their work as they attempt to comprehend their clients’ “reality and perspective” (Teater, 2014). Specifically, working with a divorced woman would require cultural competence that enables the social worker to look beyond prejudices and biases surrounding societal discourse on women-led families (Teater, 2014). While individual differences should not stonewall social support initiatives, it is essential for the worker not to ignore the single mother’s “experiences, feelings, or reality” as encased in a “divorcee” tag, reduced income, and added pressure of fending for her four children almost singlehandedly. For instance, a white, single social worker in her mid-thirties could benefit from the understanding of broad Asian values to delimit how the Shah family dynamics, “experiences, environment, and culture” would have impacted her differently had she faced similar circumstances as a teenager.

7.0 Analysis of the Family using Ecological Perspective

In line with ecological paradigms, the Shah family are characterized as products of their physical (natural and built environment), social (family and professional interactions), and cultural environments (values, norms, beliefs, and language that shape the individual’s views, perspectives, and expectations (Teater, 2014; Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2016). Taking an ecological perspective, the social worker will be required to understand the intricate associations and connections between the family in light of their Indian heritage, and ecological, and how various components of the physical, social and cultural environment change in time.

 

References

Al Azab-Malinowska, S. M. (2020). Family with an adolescent in the face of depression–possible effects in systemic family therapy. Culture-Society-Education15(1), 161-175.

Gupta, A., & Kashyap, S. (2020). Growing up in a Single Parent Family; A Determining factor of Adolescent’s Well-being. Advanced Journal of Social Science, 7(1), 138-144. https://doi.org/10.21467/ajss.7.1.138-144

Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, G. H. (2016). Understanding generalist practice. Stamford. CT: Cengage Learning.

Supratman, L. P. (2018). Family Communication On Single Mother Families. Jurnal ASPIKOM3(4), 675-684.

Teater, B. (2014). Social work practice from an ecological perspective. In C.W. LeCroy (Ed.), Case studies in social work practice (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

 

 

 

 

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