Abstract
In a family system, the members interact with each other as they perform their different roles. In a conventional family system, these members include the husband and wife, the siblings, and the relatives who make up the extended family. Each of these members has its characteristics that influence how each member performs his or her family roles. These characteristics represent the inputs in a family system whereas their interactions represent the outputs.
However, different families have different styles of interaction. On the other hand, a family system has four subsystems. There is the marital subsystem, the parental subsystem, the sibling subsystem, and the extended family subsystem.
Each subsystem has its factors that determine the cohesion and adaptability of the family system as a whole. For this to happen, each subsystem has to understand its members’ characteristics and maintain cohesion within it. Family cohesion represents the level of independence, and emotional attachment felt and shared by each member. Adaptability describes how a family can change its interactions and functions when faced with different circumstances within or outside the system. An example of a unique circumstance is the presence of a disabled family member.
Family Characteristics Reflection
The stability of the marital and parental subsystems depends on how the partners interact with each other both emotionally and physically. For a married couple who have just gone through the developmental stage of childbearing, a unique circumstance such as a physically challenged child can either strengthen or weaken their marriage depending on how they interact with one another. For instance, a couple that allows their child’s condition to connect them emotionally will be able to adapt and maintain cohesion than a couple that sees the situation as a failure of one of the partners. The former couple will most probably work together to raise the child and in return, strengthen their bond. For couples that are unable to achieve this cohesion, marital counseling or therapy is recommended.
In the parental subsystem, a couple can comprise biological, foster, adoptive, or step-parents. Just like the marital subsystem, the impact of a child with a disability varies based on their characteristics and ability to adapt and maintain cohesion.
Gay or lesbian parents also fall into this subsystem when they get a child by surrogacy, foster parenting, adoption, or artificial insemination. Studies show that their children are likely to experience societal discrimination and stigma while growing up. To alleviate this, gay parents are advised to be diverse and more open to issues relating to sexuality. They should also adopt lesser emphasis on gender-defined roles within their family.
In the extended family subsystem, different factors determine the level of support and availability that relatives have on the siblings as they develop. For instance, there is the role of culture that determines the people that make up the extended family and the contact frequency between them and the nuclear family. For example, in American Indian families, the extended and nuclear families usually live together in one household whereas it is not the case in African American families. In the former also, the grandparents usually take child-rearing roles so that the parents go to work.
The above cases show that there are boundaries that determine the people who fall within and outside a family system. Moreover, they show that the roles played by the members of a subsystem define these boundaries. For instance, if a gay couple chooses to adopt a child, they choose to become parents and their family system develops.