...Dysfunctional Family A dysfunctional family is a family, in which conflict, misbehavior and even abuse on the part of individual members of the family occur continually, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Dysfunctional families are most often a result of the alcoholism, substance abuse, or other addictions of parents, parents' untreated mental illnesses/defects or personality disorders, or the parents emulating their own dysfunctional parents and dysfunctional family experiences. Types of Dysfunctional Families 1. The Alcoholic or Chemically Dependent Family System 2. The Emotionally or Psychologically Disturbed Family System 3. The Physically or Sexually Abusing Family System 4. The Religious Fundamentalist or Rigidly Dogmatic Family System [References] Kizziar, Dr. J. (2011). Types Of Dysfunctional Families | Child Abuse Statistics, Child Abuse Stories. Retrieved from http://www.child-abuses.com/tag/types-of-dysfunctional-families Roles of Dysfunctional Families "The Good Child" - often the family hero who assumes the parent role 2. "The Problem Child" - becomes the scapegoat 3. "Caretaker" - takes responsibility for the emotional well-being of the family 4. "The Lost Child" inconspicuous, the quiet one [References] Bradshaw, J. (2010). Dysfunctional Family. Retrieved from http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Dysfunctional_family WHAT GOES WRONG IN DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES? * Deficient Parents Deficient parents hurt their children more...
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...Dysfunctional Families Brenda Ewers Sociology A sociological view says that families are considered to be the bedrock of our society. Divorce rates are at an all time high. Americans have a higher divorce rate than Europeans and people of the North Atlantic countries. Divorce seems to show a higher affect on children whose parents did not show any conflict of the marriage. Hence the divorce comes as a total surprise to them. In a traditional marriage the husband was the sole provider. The wife was the homemaker and she raised the children. If the husband or the wife fails to carry out their roles in a marriage it could lead to a failed marriage. There are many different reasons that lead to a family becoming dysfunctional. Unemployment, illness in the family, abuse, aging, adultery, and the empty shell ( which is when you fall out of love but stay for the sake of the children or a religious believe.) “Amicable divorces are certainly better than the alternative, particularly when children are involved. A national study shows they still take a toll on the children’s well being as well as their future marital success.” Both adults and children have to understand the cause and consequences of what a divorce will have on a family. Functionalism focuses on a way to get out of a marriage. Some divorce for an easy way out so they don’t have to work out the problems of their marriage. Children could either benefit or be damaged by the...
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...Dysfunctional Family Systems and Disordered Self-Image Abstract: Disordered self-image, sense of self, and self-esteem are affected negatively by dysfunctional family systems. Maladaptive perfectionism affects mood, causes decreased self-esteem, and contributes to the development of avoidance tactics. Adolescent dysregulations includes disordered eating behaviors and/or eating disorders, anxiety, depression, body dissatisfaction, and extreme attempts at weight control; all of which can be caused by child sexual abuse, maladaptive perfectionism, parental attachment issues, and the development of alexithymia. Other dysregulations include faulty coping mechanisms, which are also affected by anxiety, depression, and neuroticism. Thesis: An adolescent’s sense of self, self-image, and self-esteem are affected by dysfunctional family systems, including family systems that reflect child sexual abuse, poor attachments, alcoholism, and the development of alexithymia. The adolescents in families such as these have psychological reactions to their disordered self-images and the dysfunctional family systems. Dysfunctional Family Systems and Disordered Self-Image Adolescent development of eating disorders, disordered eating behavior, and/or subclinical eating behaviors may be caused by perfectionism, child sexual abuse, or other trauma such as having alcoholic parents. Poor self-esteem, poor sense of self, and family dysfunctions may be caused by perfectionism, childhood sexual...
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...Prompt #1 I come from an impecunious, dysfunctional family. Raised by my spanish speaking grandmother who loved and cared for my two sisters and I like we were her own. Losing my parents to drugs, gangs, and prison, getting separated from my older siblings, and having no role models. I grew up feeling abandoned by my family. My life has been roughly shaped by the life i’ve lived. Having no one to help me within my education. Coming from a family full of school drop outs, gang members, and illegal immigrants. Multiple barriers between me and a successful education and career. Being the outcast at my multiple schools having no funds for school activities or new clothes and shoes. Feeling self-conscious about my appearance, background, and lack of fortune....
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...Are Single Parent Homes a Dysfunctional Model of Family? According to a recent study from CBS, the United States has the highest divorce rate of any country at 45%. Due to this high rate of divorce, many families find that there is an imbalance of family roles in these newly created single parent households. Being a single parent has its own set of challenges for the individual and creates challenges for the family such as, spending smaller amounts of time with your children, having an excessive work load and disrupting the wellbeing of the children. Often times, single parents find that they are unable to spend as much time with their children. This can be caused by having to share their time with the parent no longer living in the home, multiple children living in the home, and the custodial parent having to either take on a new job or an additional job. In a divorce one parent is awarded custody of the children and the non-custodial parent is often granted visitation. This visitation can be multiple times during the week, once a week, a few times a month and so on. While this time is important for the child and non-custodial parent, it is time that the custodial parent is missing out on with their child. Being a single parent to multiple children brings on a set of different challenges by not being able to spend as much one-on-one time with each child. After all, the single parent is only one person. The single parent may find that they are either entering the...
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...Mental illness is often misunderstood. For centuries, it has been seen as either possession by evil spirits, an ethical shortcoming or discipline from a higher being. Those suffering from emotional sickness have aggravation of the psyche that can influence their reasoning, feeling and conduct that may meddle with ordinary working and subsequently making everyday life troublesome. There are two types of mental illness: minor mental illness and major mental illness. Stigma towards mental illness is characterized as the negative belief system joined with somebody with dysfunctional behavior or the sign of disrespect that divides an individual with emotional instability from the community. Those suffering from mental illness are perceived to be restless, violent and unpredictable. If I was around them and I didn't know them very well I would be scared because I wouldn't know it they were going to hurt me or not. I feel cautious around them but I have been taught by my parents to not treat them like they are different and can't be normal. I have a relative with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD isn't an infection or the consequence of damage to the mind however it is a dysfunction that doesn't allow the brain to work in the way it ought to. Studies demonstrate that ADHD may influence certain territories of the cerebrum that permit us to tackle issues, arrange ahead, comprehend others' actions, and control our motivations. It starts in adolescence and can proceed...
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...Analysis Paper: St. Elmo’s Fire The film, St. Elmo’s Fire, tells the story of seven people fresh out of college and exposed to new responsibilities in the outside world as they frequent their favorite social gathering place, St. Elmo’s. The characters also face conflicting challenges ahead of them, like friendship with one another, with parents, and with careers. Conflict is an everyday occurrence we deal with and the first word we seem to dodge. While it can be a storm bringing calamity to our relationships with family members, friends, and co-workers, it can also yield positive or negative consequences. Drawing from the various concepts presented in the readings of this course, the main focus of this paper reflects the struggles experienced by the film’s protagonists, in terms of the various elements of conflict, such as interpersonal versus intrapersonal, functional versus dysfunctional, and how goals play a role and conflict is managed. Focusing on seven tightly-knit characters, right from the film’s opening image of them walking arm-in-arm emphasizes the role of interpersonal conflict. The movie stresses the struggle that originates between two or more interdependent people and occurs whenever one individual thought’s or actions are perceived to limit or interfere with those of another. Each of the characters is given equal time to illustrate this kind of strife, and some characters have multiple interpersonal conflicts. For instance, Alec Newberry, a man in a political...
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...books, school books, magazines, peers, movies, songs, and the most famous is televisions. Commercials use seductive images, sounds, and music grabbing the attention of the audience. Movies and television are proof of the sickness of sexual addiction in society. This disease spreads across the country, infecting the way people think and live their lives. Ultimately it is destroying society and what America holds to be morally correct. Two such sources of writing, “Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades” and Countering the Culture of Sex, give examples of what effect culture play in the way of living. Today’s culture pumps out messages of sexual immorality and the idea of sexual relations outside of marriage are fine. Sexual immorality can destroy families and create dysfunction in the sacred vows of marriage. “Sic Transit Gloria….Glory Fades” is a song by Brand New. It tells a story of a man who is very inexperienced sexually, and a girl who knows her sexual skills like the back of her hand. The young man wants only to hold this girl and love her. Instead he is pressured into sex with her, even though he really never wanted. Sex is what she wants and he knows it would make her happy by giving into her. He feels horrible while this happens, but he will not stop because he wants to impress her. Countering the Culture of Sex is an article by Ellen Goodman dealing with the entertainment industry’s plague upon society. With sex rooted deep in children’s minds it creates this idea of...
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...Conflict arises when there is some indifference among two parties. In any working group conflict is almost unavoidable. When most people hear the word conflict, they often tend to take the term in negative manner. Almost everyone perceives conflict to be a malefactor and that it often hinders the development process of any group. Although usually people think of it as a bad thing, conflict on the contrary can be a positive occurrence within a group to bring about change. Comprehensively conflict refers to a situation in which there are opposing demands or ideas and a choice has to be made between them. So, it means without conflict there wouldn't be any opposing demands or ideas in which case the choices are obvious and easy. This can often mean there would be no innovation or no opposition to the idea presented hence no alternatives just a straight path ahead. A group must think of all possible ways for an idea to thrive most effectively and efficiently. Hence, conflict not only is salient but also encouraged in a work group. Generally conflict is caused by a number of reasons. For example, conflict can arise because of poor communication among the group members, other reasons can be lack of openness and/or failure to respond to everyone’s need by the head of the group. The belief that all conflict is harmful must be avoided. Conflicts must be believed to be natural and inevitable. It must be dealt accordingly, a conflict can not only be a positive force in a group but it is...
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...in regards to how they treat and speak to others. Sometimes, individuals can become jealous of others because of their growth with the company or recognition on performance. Many may argue that conflict is an innate quality in everyone and at any given time, a person can create a conflict among individuals within an organization. This form of negative conflict is the “traditional view” of conflict. Conflict can be viewed as a negative trait; however, I believe that some conflict is good for business. Conflict may give confidence to individuals to speak their minds in settings they wouldn’t ordinarily express themselves in. This form of conflict would be deemed the “interactionist view”. Conflict can also be categorized as a dysfunctional trait that causes irrational decision making as well as create bad relationships among co-workers. This form of conflict is deemed the “human relations view”. In order to resolve conflict, problems must be identified, analyzed, and those people or situations contributing to the conflict must work to fix the problems. Despite these three different views, organizational conflict can be an exhausting experience. Employees want to make sure they are not putting themselves in positions that may get them fired or continue to cause tension among the organization. Employees at the same time want to make sure they stand up for themselves and that they are not bullied into positions they are not comfortable with. For instance, if an organization...
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...of Phoenix Human Growth and Development Jeanette Merchant August 17, 2010 Middle Childhood and Adolescence Stable and supportive families are crucial during middle childhood and adolescence development stage. Supportive family members and friends improve social development. The major change that occurs from middle childhood to adolescence is emotional maturation. During middle childhood stage, children develop more independence from parents and family. They understand more and can differentiate between right and wrong. Children at this age give more attention to friendship and teamwork, but continue to be strongly influence by their parents’ judgment. Their also yearn for love and acceptation from family and friends. They have ability to experience and describe feelings and thoughts with parents and friends. Middle childhood is a time when children develop social relationships. The social skills learned through family and peers give them ability to participate in meaningful communication that later provide foundation for challenges as adolescence. This improves their relationship and encourages them to be successful in future. As children enter adolescence stage, they begin to spend more unsupervised time with friends and other peers than they had before. They spend less time with their parents and family members. Their distance themselves emotionally from parents. Adolescents are exploring different ideas and values. Peers have greater importance...
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...Question: The Relationship of Family Functionality and the Academic Performance of Students at the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, College of Medicine in the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013 General Objectives: To determine the effect of Family Functionality in the Academic Performance of Students at the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, College of Medicine in the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013 Specific Objectives: 1. To determine the proportion of students who has a Functional family and students with a Dysfunctional family based on the Family APGAR scale. 2. To determine the proportion of students with High and Low Academic Performance for the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013. 3. To compare the proportion of students with a Functional Family APGAR score to High and Low Academic Performance. 4. To compare the proportion of students with Dysfunctional Family APGAR score to High and Low Academic Performance. Research Hypothesis: There is a relationship between family functionality and the academic performance of students of the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, College of Medicine for the First Semester of the School Year 2012-2013. Conceptual Framework: Dependent Variable Academic Performance Independent Variable Family Functionality Confounders Age Gender Family Income Operational Definition of Variables: a) Family Functionality - it refers to the level of family relationship as perceived...
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...In the novel, The Death of Jim Loney, author James Welch explores several complex themes, such as family dysfunction, alcoholism, Native American ancestry, and mental illness through the day-to-day life of the protagonist, 35 year-old Jim Loney. Welch interconnects these themes through the use of symbolism, and in doing so, presents the picture of a deeply lost and disturbed man who is desperately trying to find meaning in his life. Initially, Welch examines the damage that can be inflicted by growing up with a broken family, even after many years has passed. In Loney’s case, it has been 25 years since he was abandoned by both parents; first his mother when he was one years old, and then his father, nine years later. Early on, when Loney...
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...Dysfunctional Family A dysfunctional family is a group of people usually related by some means, not always necessarily by blood, in which conflict, misbehavior, maltreatment and neglecting create a hostile life for its members. To explain this idea better we will see the definition of family, the differences between a healthy and a dysfunctional family; their characteristics and behavioral patterns. Some examples will help us examine this issue better, taking us to discuss the different factors that contribute to the formation of such families, along with its consequences in today’s society. According to the Dictionary of Contemporary English, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, formed by a father, a mother and children (1). On the other hand, its etymology recognizes the Roman Empire to be the first one to define a Family. Ironically, the Romans defined it as a group of people linked, not necessarily by blood or affection (2). Instead the main link that united the ancient Roman families was labor. According to E. J. Graff in her context “What makes a Family?” She describes that the ancient families in Europe were primarily created at will, with the only purpose to improve work productivity and patriarchs would adopt grown ups into their families for a better investment. “Choice not Biology made a Family”(3) These families would consist of legitimate children, adopted adults, secretaries, other dependents and slaves of various ages. “The Romans rarely...
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...of God University Marriage & Family Relationships SOC 2253-70 Instructor: Darren Daughterty “Field Activity Report on Dysfunctional Family Life” Student Data: Name: Anastasiya Lindsey Email: anastasiyallindsey@lionmail.sagu.edu Phone: 210-399-2800 Semester: Spring 2014 Date: February 25, 2014 I think that I found a classic movie exemplifying dysfunctional family life and that movie is called Home Alone 2. This movie is about a young boy named Kevin and he has a big extended family. He is with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. McCallister, and his two brothers: Buzz (older) and Jeff (younger), and with Megan and Linnie. That amounts to Kevin having a total of four siblings. Kevin has an uncle, who is Frank, and an aunt, who is Leslie McCallister. They have a total of five children, who are Rod, Tracy, Sondra, Fuller, and Brooke. So each family have a total of five children and both families combined make up a total of fourteen people. The whole family goes to Florida for Christmas, but Kevin accidentally gets left behind when he was rummaging through his father’s bag to get batteries for his sound recorder and he sees an identical man who looks like his father and he runs after him and says wait up but the man didn’t and without knowing it, Kevin boarded the plane to New York. So, he was accidentally separated from his family but that is the rest of the movie and the first part of the movie is about the dysfunctional family environment. The second part of the...
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