Family, Social, Cultural, and Religious Influences on Child Health Promotion

Family, Social, Cultural, and Religious Influences on Child Health Promotion

  • Family Systems Theory
    • A change in any part of a family system affects all other parts of the family
  • Family Stress Theory
    • Stress is an inevitable part of family life and any event can be stressful on the family
  • Developmental Theory
    • Families develop and change over time in similar and consistent ways

Assumptions

Strengths

Limitations

Applications

Family Systems Theory

A change in any one part of a family system affects all other parts of the family system (circular causality).

Family systems are characterized by periods of rapid growth and change and periods of relative stability.

Both too little change and too much change are dysfunctional for the family system; therefore, a balance between morphogenesis (change) and morphostasis (no change) is necessary.

Family systems can initiate change, as well as react to it.

Applicable for family in normal everyday life, as well as for family dysfunction and pathology.

Useful for families of varying structure and various stages of life cycle.

More difficult to determine cause-and-effect relationships because of circular causality.

Mate selection, courtship processes, family communication, boundary maintenance, power and control within family, parent-child relationships, adolescent pregnancy and parenthood.