Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Chapter 1- Family Stress: An Overview
An Example of Diversity in Family Structure: Grandparents Parenting Grandchildren
What Were Our Own Families Like?
General Systems Theory: The Family as System
Symbolic Interaction as a Basis for Studying Perceptions and Meanings
Is There a Family Perception?
Diversity and Multiculturalism in Family Stress Management
Acculturative and Bicultural Stress
The Stress of Discrimination and Racism
Chapter 2- The Contextual Model of Family Stress
The Family’s External Context
The Family’s Internal Context (Structural, Psychological, and Philosophical)
The ABC-X of Family Stress: A Frame for Definitions
The A Factor: Stressor Event (Stressful Event)
The Danger of Circular Reasoning
Classification of Family Stressor Events
Cautions About Defining a Stressor Event
The B Factor: Resources (Individual, Family, and Community)
The Primacy of Perceptions
Collective Versus Individual Perceptions
The X Factor: Family Crisis
The Roller Coaster Model of Family Crisis
Linking the ABC-X Model to the Roller Coaster Model of Family Crisis
The Turning Point: Family Recovery After Crisis
Chapter 3- Multicultural Perspectives of a Universal Stressor
The Stress of Grief and Loss from Death
Cultural Perceptions of Death and Loss
Same Religion, Different Culture
Identity and Status in One’s Family After a Death
Applying the Contextual Model of Family Stress to This Universal Stressor
Chapter 4- Ambiguous Loss: A Major Stressor
Effects of Ambiguous Loss
Core Assumptions for Working With Ambiguous Loss
Interventions: What Helps With Ambiguous Loss?
What Ambiguous Loss Is Not
Ambiguity Is Not Ambivalence
Ambiguity Is Not Uncertainty
Ambiguous Loss and Spirituality
Ambiguous Gain Versus Ambiguous Loss
Chapter 5- Boundary Ambiguity: A Perceptual Risk Factor in Family Stress Management
Measurement of Boundary Ambiguity
History of Boundary Ambiguity
Sociological and Psychological Roots
Entries and Exits; Gains and Losses
Normative Developmental Boundary Ambiguity Across the Family Life Cycle
Effects of Boundary Ambiguity
Assumptions About Boundary Ambiguity
What Boundary Ambiguity Is Not
Boundary Ambiguity Is Not Boundary Maintenance
Boundary Ambiguity Is Not Boundary Permeability
Intervention for Boundary Ambiguity
New Studies and Future Directions
Chapter 6- Family Coping, Adapting, and Managing
Defining Individual and Family Coping
Current Trends in Coping Research
Approach/Avoidance Coping
Coping and the Contextual Model of Family Stress
Individual Coping Resources
Community Resources for Family Coping
Intervention and Prevention
Psychoeducation as Effective Family Stress Intervention
How Did This Simple but Revolutionary Idea in Mental Health Treatment Come About?
The First Step: Where to Begin?
Complexities of the Coping Process
The Paradox of Individual Versus Family Coping
The Paradox of Functional Versus Dysfunctional Coping
Dialectical Thinking: Definition and Early Roots
The Chain Reaction of Coping or the Codetermination of Events
Concluding Thoughts for Future Work
Chapter 7- Resilience for Managing Stress
The Difference Between Coping and Resilience
Resilience and Family Stress
Individual, Family, and Community Resilience
Resilience and the Contextual Model of Family Stress
The Family’s External Context
The Family’s Internal Context
Revisiting the ABC-X Approach
Positive, Tolerable, and Toxic Stress
Resilience Theorizing and Research Over the Years
Family Science Conceptual Frameworks Focused on Resilience
Symbolic Interaction Theory
An Example: Application to Military Families
A Third-Wave Family Resilience Framework
Resilience Frameworks Focused on Particular Situations
Resilience-Informed Professional Practice
Prevention and Resilience
Use of Family Resilience Frameworks
Cautions About Resilience
Rebellion and Opposing the Status Quo
Chapter 8- Families, Communities, and Neighborhoods
Defining Community and Neighborhood
Virtual Sense of Community
Community and Neighborhood
Communities and the Contextual Model of Family Stress
Research Findings on Families and Communities
Informal Connections and Relationships
Formal System Programs for Families
Other Dimensions of Communities
The Social Organization Framework
The Value of Social Connections for Families
Four Types of Communities
Fluid and Dynamic Communities
Communities as Place and Force for Prevention and Intervention With Distressed Families
Chapter 9- Future Challenges to Family Stress Management
Widening Economic Gulf Between Low and High Income Families
Increasing Work Pressures and Economic Conditions
Conflict Driven by Religious Differences
Family Caregiving Challenges and Dilemmas
Transgender Trends and Challenges
Increasing Focus on Community
Additional Factors to Consider About the Study of Family Stress
References
Index