Reference no: EM133799480

Family Systems Theory

Family systems theory views the family as a whole, or system, comprising interrelated parts (the family members) and demarcated by boundaries. Originating in natural science, systems theory was applied to the family first by psychotherapists and was then adopted by family scholars.

A system is a combination of elements or components that are interrelated and organized into a whole. Like an organic system (the body, for example), the parts of a family compose a working system that behaves fairly predictably. The ways in which family members respond to one another can show evidence of patterns. For example, whenever Jose sulks, Oscar tries to think of something fun for them to do together.

Even before the Great Recession that began in late 2007, delayed marriage, high housing costs, and other serious financial pressures, such as student loan debt, made it more common for young adults to continue living with their parents or to move back home. The recession accelerated this trend. Family systems theory tells us that when an adult child moves back home, the family system changes and the entire system of family roles need to readjust in order to maintain balance and restore equilibrium.

Furthermore, systems seek equilibrium, or stable balance and symmetry. Change in one of the parts sets in motion a process to restore equilibrium. For example, in the body system, if one hand becomes disabled, the other must adjust to do the work of both. In family dynamics, this tendency toward equilibrium puts pressure on each member to retain his or her fairly predictable role. A changing family member is subtly encouraged to revert to her or his original behavior within the family system. For change to occur, the family system as a whole must change. Indeed, that is the goal of family therapy based on systems theory. The family may see one member as the problem, but if the psychologist draws the whole family into therapy, the family system should begin to change.

Social scientists have moved systems theory beyond its therapeutic origins to employ it in a more general analysis of families. They are especially interested in how family systems process information, deal with challenges, respond to crises, and regulate contact with the outside world. For example, a 2013 study used this perspective to better understand communication among participants in family-operated businesses (Von Schlippe and Frank 2013). As another example, researchers have looked at how parents' feelings of competition at work and home affect others in the family system-that is, their children (Schneider, Wallsworth, and Gutin 2014). Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, researchers have just recently become interested in the understudied role of sibling relations within a family system (Senguttuvan, Whiteman, and Jensen 2014).

Moreover, family systems researchers have elaborated and explored concepts such as family boundaries (ideas about who is in and who is outside the family system). This perspective also prompts researchers to investigate such things as family boundary ambiguity in which it is unclear who is and is not in the family. Stepfamilies have been researched from this point of view: Do children of divorced parents belong to two (or more) families? To what extent are former spouses and their relatives part of the family (Boss 1997; Stewart 2005a)? Finally, sociologist Laura Enriquez (2015) undertook a study that combined family systems theory with the ecological perspective. She examined how undocumented status for some, but not all, family members affected everyone in the mixed-status family system. Undocumented status is an ecological individual characteristic, a result of national law.

Contributions and Critiques of Family Systems Theory When working with families in therapy, this perspective has proven very useful (Boss 2015). By understanding how their family system operates, individuals can make desired personal or family changes. Systems theory often gives family members insight into the effects of their behavior. It may make visible the hidden motivations behind certain family patterns. For example, doctors were puzzled by the fact that death rates were higher among kidney dialysis patients with supportive families. Family systems theorists attributed the higher rates to the unspoken desire of the patients to lift the burden of care from the close-knit family they loved (Reiss, Gonzalez, and Kramer 1986).

Envisioning the family as a system can be a creative perspective for research. Rather than seeing only the influence of parents on children, for example, system theorists are sensitized to the fact that this is not a one-way relationship and have explored children's influence on family dynamics (Crouter and Booth 2003).

A criticism of systems theory is that it does not sufficiently consider a family's economic opportunities, race/ethnic and gender stratification, and other features of the larger society that influence internal family relations. When used by therapists, systems theory has been criticized as tending to diffuse responsibility for conflict by attributing dysfunction to the entire system rather than to culpable family members within the system. This situation can lead to "blaming the victim," as well as making it difficult to extend social support to victimized family members while establishing legal accountability for others, as in situations involving incest or domestic violence (Stewart 1984).

Read the Passage above and Answer the Question below

1. How does this theory examine the family?

2. What is a major assumption of this theory?

3. What is a major strength of this theory?