Introduction
Relationships in the family can be viewed from different perspectives, which will describe different aspects of family development. An important aspect is the nature of the relationship with the children and their growth processes as individuals. The growth stage is reaching the age of majority and subsequent separation from parents, such as moving for education.
In the case study, an 18-year-old female from Peru immigrated to the U.S. at age 12. At 18, her parents chose to return to Peru, but she decided to stay in the U.S. alone, straining their relationship. Her goals include becoming a nurse practitioner, supporting her parents, and achieving success. The desire of an 18-year-old girl to stay in the United States is caused by a complex of different professional and personal reasons, which mark the process of separation and future independent personal development.
Critical Analysis
Family formation under pressure is complex due to internal and external conflict between the individual and close relatives. Unfortunately, in the case study, an 18-year-old girl’s separation from her parents is difficult, so there are clashes. According to Murrem Bowen’s Family Systems Theory, the girl has a differentiated self because she can make individual decisions. The theory establishes a low degree of fusion of intellect and emotion for a girl (Calatrava et al., 2022). In this case, her position to stay in the United States is explicit. It is justified by her capacity for autonomy, separation, and her ability to resist emotional pressure from her family.
According to Callista Roy’s adaptation theory, a girl’s position can be defined through the balance of systems she seeks to maintain. In this theory, a girl’s behavior is related to using different controls and considering feedback (Zhang et al., 2021). However, feedback (negative feedback from parents) is not a barrier to the girl’s individuation, so she is quickly aware of her separate self. She can express her thoughts and feelings clearly without parental approval. The girl can adapt to the environment because she has learned a foreign language and fixed it as a pattern or response to a stimulus. The environment acted as a stimulus that triggered the adaptation, leading to language retention, bilingualism development, and a desire to stay in the US.
According to Imogene King’s Theory of Goal Attainment, the girl’s behavior should be seen as part of her journey to achieve significant goals. It is known that she wants to be successful and become a nurse. In her mind and understanding, this can be accomplished in several stages: first, learning the language, then staying in the US because of its educational resources, getting an education, and finally, building a career. Considering her behavior this way, it becomes clear that the girl is trying to effectively use the environment and time (age) resources and take on a new role – a student in a US university (Park, 2021). The girl’s system mediates her positive self-perception and ability to achieve her goals, and in the interpersonal system, moving to Peru will only be an obstacle.
Discussion
Adaptation processes require human involvement, incorporating emotion, desire, and ambition to achieve the result. Some adaptation processes are complex because they involve several aspects of a person’s life. The modern phenomenon in this situation is the girl’s desire to stay in the United States and begin her nursing studies. Callista Roy’s theory explains that for a girl, learning English and wanting to stay in the U.S. are adaptive processes aimed at gradually achieving the desired outcome (Zhang et al., 2021). Imogene King’s theory confirms that goals are the central stimuli for the girl to serve the environment and its transformation (Park, 2021). Only by changing society and the area of interpersonal contact will she be able to get the desired result, so her adaptation to the new phenomenon – moving – is a reasonable and individual decision.
At the same time, the girl’s family does not have similar feelings about her changes. The family’s adaptation to the new phenomenon is complex, and the separation process is accompanied by feelings rather than consciousness and intellect (Zhang et al., 2021). Although it can be taken as a norm that such a phenomenon is emotional, the family’s level of adaptation is still lower. This means that anxiety and change can only be perceived by the family as a whole team, not individually. Consequently, the adaptation levels of a girl and her family are different because of the different directionality of the phenomenon and its role in the formation of personality.
Purpose and Philosophy of Life, Education and Practice
In a young girl’s studied age period of 18 years, the questions of purpose and philosophy of life are especially acute. This is due to the need for separation and transition to an independent life, in which the girl’s professional and personal boundaries will already be distant from parental ones. Moreover, they will already be less dependent on their opinion.
At the moment, the main goal for an 18-year-old girl is to start an independent life in which she will be able to develop her philosophy. The main reason for independence is to enter an educational institution specializing in nursing. Accordingly, it can be assumed that her philosophy of life is related to helping, kindness, and empathy for her neighbor. This approach refers to the favorable and healthy development of the girl’s personality because now she will use her personal qualities to benefit her professional development.
Based on the girl’s goals, the educational process will be bi-directional. First, it is getting a specialty, which is her dream and meets her needs. The girl will learn professional and social behavior through obtaining a profession, thus becoming an adult. Secondly, domestic education is achieved through independence and personal development. The separation process teaches 18-19-year-olds to understand human relationships better, to discover their best sides, and to determine their opportunities.
Both educational processes are intertwined with the practical application of the skills learned. A vocational skill allows one to practice dealing with people, helping, and other interactions. Independent life becomes integrated and fulfilling, and ex-children do not experience feelings of anxiety and homesickness. Gradually, they become capable of starting a family on their own, developing it, and living through new processes of adaptation and change.
Conclusion
Thus, in the process of change in the case study family, there is a process of separation initiated by an already adult 18-year-old child. Different theories somehow agree in one way or another: the child’s aspirations for separation and autonomy are caused by her personal goals. The girl wants to become a nurse and live in the United States to fulfill this dream. As part of the separation of her personality and consciousness, she probably experiences the process of separation from her family much more quickly than her parents. By pursuing two educational goals, she can enter adulthood smoothly and develop independently as a full-fledged member of society.
References
Calatrava, M., Martins, M. V., Schweer-Collins, M., Duch-Ceballos, C., & Rodriguez-Gonzales. (2022). Differentiation of self: A scoping review of Bowen Family Systems Theory’s core construct. Clinical Psychology Review, 91. Web.
Park, B. M. (2021). Effects of nurse-led intervention programs based on goal attainment theory: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 9(6). Web.
Zhang, J., Guo, L., Mao, J., Qi, X., Chen, L., Huang, H., Sun, Y., & Yang, X. (2021). The effects of nursing of Roy adaptation model on the elderly hypertensive: a randomised control study. Annals of Palliative Medicine, 10(12), 12149–12158. Web.
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