Chapter 3: Family Problems and Chapter 5

What are the three areas that provide protection to children?

Children's social environment, family milieu, and their individual characteristics and attributes all provide protection to them.

Self-Esteem

Refers to how good we feel about ourselves

Self Concept

Self-concept refers to our beliefs about who we are.

Resilience is defined as:

The capacity to adapt and function successfully despite experiencing chronic stress and adversity.

What is the major developmental task at the Preschool Stage?

The major developmental task at the Preschool Stage is learning and applying effective parenting skills to help their children learn how to interact positively with others.

According to the chapter, the family problems that are most likely to result in problems for young people include: Children who have parents that are struggling with substance abuse. Children who come from families that have incarcerated parents/family members. Children whose parents have mental health challenges or psychopathology. Children who are victims of child abuse and domestic violence. Children whose parents are involved in IPV (Intimate Partner Violence). True or false?

True

Children in the United States are growing up in more diverse living arrangements than half a century ago. True or false?

True

Who makes up a child's social environment?

A child's school, community, and kinship network all make up their social environment. Children derive support from their social environment.

Name several ways, given in the text, in which a child's social environment contributes to resilience.

A child's social environment is a major contributing factor in building a child's resilience. For instance, the social environment can provide children with opportunities for development and support despite adverse conditions. Additionally, external support systems can enhance a young person's competencies and provide a sense of meaning or belief system by which to live. Also, social support networks within a child's community help to ameliorate the effects of stress on children. They receive emotional support, encouragement and advice from mentors within their community. Lastly, within a child's social environment, are close friends and confidants that they have among their peers. These only strengthen and add to their emotional support. All of these things, contribute to resilence in youth who may be faced with adverse conditions.

What is a detached family? Describe a few of their characteristics.

A detached family is one in which the individual members function separately and autonomously with little family interdependence. Detached families tend to be unresponsive because each member is isolated within the system. Also, in detached families, the boundaries are so rigid that only a high level of individual stress may lead to support from other family members. Lastly, in detached families, the family members cannot get their social and emotional needs met within the family, nor do they learn appropriate ways to meet the needs of others.

Describe the characteristics of a positive family environment that contribute to the development of resilience in youth.

A positive family environment includes a lack of physical crowding, consistently enforced rules with strict but fair supervision, and well-balanced disciple. In addition, healthy communication patterns are present within positive family environments. Also, positive parenting, parent support, and the quality of the mother-child relationship contribute to resilience in youth.

According to a Pew research study, what 2 factors did most Americans who were surveyed say constitute a family?

According to a Pew research study, most Americans believed that members of a parenting couple do not have to be of the opposite sex, and they also consider a gay or lesbian couple with children to constitute a family.

What is an Enmeshed family? Describe a few of their characteristics.

An enmeshed family is one who demonstrates great intensity and closeness in family interactions that the members are overly involved and overly concerned with each others' lives. In enmeshed families, the children in particular experience a distorted sense of involvement, attachment, and belonging. When a member of an enmeshed family encounters a stressful situation, the family is likely to respond by rescuing rather than teaching constructive problem-solving. Additionally, in enmeshed families, subsystem boundaries are weak, easily crossed, and poorly differentiated.

Discuss the difference between Basic Academic Skills and Academic Survival Skills.

Basic Academic Skills are reading, writing, and arithmetic which young people must learn in order to survive. If they are to thrive, they need information about themselves and the world around them. If young people lack these skills, it reduces the prospects for a useful, productive life for them. On the other hand, Academic Survival Skills are a core of social-behavioral skills that are necessary for young people to have in order to thrive as a student. The lack of these "survival skills" predisposes students to failure because skills such as attending to tasks, following directions, and raising hands facilitate the acquiring of knowledge. According to some research, Academic Survival Skills are more important than a student's academic achievement.

What is a Blended family and what are some of the challenges these families may experience...

Blended families are families in which the remarried partners bring children into the relationship. These children in these families may face a number of challenges. These challenges include an unfamiliar network of relationships, particularly with an adult in which they have not fallen in love with. Children in blended families also may have few resources to draw upon in their attempts to cope with a new parent, new grandparents, possibly new step-siblings, and a new family lifestyle. Lastly, while these children are struggling to adjust to their new conditions, their parents are also adjusting and are less available.

Define Connectedness. Then explain how communication, perspective taking, and solving relationship problems fosters connectedness.

Connectedness is a ubiquitous and enduring experience of the self in relation to the world. It includes a sense of close belonging in relationships with others and it includes the idea of "mattering" or knowing that one matters to others. Communication, perspective-taking, and solving relationship problems all foster connectedness. For instance, connectedness requires adequate social and interpersonal skills which play an important role in psychological adjustment and psychosocial development. Also, perspective-taking enables connectedness because when one engages in perspective-taking they are understanding the perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and actions of others which leads to a greater sense of connectedness. Lately, solving relationship problems fosters connectedness because it leads one to better handle interpersonal conflict and it is related to greater interpersonal functioning as adults. I can't forget to mention that core skills for students encompass communication, perspective-taking, and problem-solving skills. These include classroom survival skills, friendship-making skills, skills for dealing with feelings, skill alternatives to aggression, and skills for dealing with stress. All of these skills ultimately foster connectedness and skill training.

What are the Five C's of Competency that research has identified as the major differences between high and low risk children and youth (list them)?

Critical school competencies Concept of self, self-esteem, and self-efficacy Connectedness Coping ability Control

Explain Mindfulness and discuss which of the 5 C's it might influence to reduce risk in youth.

Mindfulness involves an attitude of acceptance of ongoing experiences and developing here-and-now awareness of the present moment that includes internal thoughts, reactions, and feelings as well as external interpersonal and environmental events. It also emphasizes changing people's relationship to their experiences. Mindfulness might influence youth's coping ability and their sense of control. For instance, research has shown that mindfulness-based stress reduction has consistently demonstrated its effectiveness in alleviating stress and chronic physical pain. It also has been shown to improve empathic understanding, general well-being in youth, and it reduces the symptoms of many distressing problems including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, binge drinking, and drug addiction. Lastly, mindfulness enables emotional regulation that involves awareness, identification, and monitoring. It is highly useful for negotiating difficult emotional experiences. Therefore, I believe that youth's coping ability and sense of control can be positively affected by practicing mindfulness techniques.

What is meant by normal crises?

Normal crises" are the profound changes and challenges that families will naturally encounter as they move from one family transition to another. These crises are present in normal family development and most families navigate through these changes and transitions well.

Select one type of "problem families" discussed in the book and discuss a few of the problems they might experience.

One type of "problem family" discussed in the book is "Families with Parental Psychopathology." Many young people are at risk because of their parent's mental health challenges or psychopathology. For instance, anxiety in mothers, is highly related to anxiety in their teenage daughters. Also, Schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and depression in adult care-takers also is debilitating to young people. For example, depressed teenagers growing up with depressed parents-especially depressed mothers-tend to have more frequent and severe depressive episodes as young adults than those with mentally healthy parents. In addition, teenagers in these families frequently have poor emotional and behavioral control and school adjustment problems. They may become easily upset, may disturb the class with unusual behavior, and have consistent discipline problems.

Self-Efficacy

one's sense of competence and effectiveness