The Family Life Cycle

1. The Family Life Cycle Atatürk University Medical Faculty 2010-2011 Semester I Class 1 Family Medicine Lectures Yrd. Doç. Dr. Memet IŞIK memetisik@yahoo.com

2. Objectives • At the end of this session, the participants should be able to; • discuss the definition of “family” • compare marital patterns in Turkey with other countries • discuss crtitical tasks during different family stages • identify and describe the various life stages • Discuss effects of divorce on children • explore the responsibilities associated with roles

3. Definitions • a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head • a group of persons of common ancestry • the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children • اُسْرَة • عائلة http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/family

4. Families affect health and illness • Families contribute to the production and/or maintenance of symptoms • To reach a more complete diagnosis and understanding, physician needs to explore the symptoms in terms of the family system • Examples: • Depression • Obesity and weight loss • Heart disease • Different stages of the family may have different implications on health

5. Individual Life Cycle

6. Stages of the Family Life Cycle

7. Family Life Cycle 2 yrs • Married couples (without children) • Childbearing families(oldest child, birth to 30 months) • Families with preschool children(oldest child 30 months to 6 years) • Families with schoolchildren(oldest child 6 to 13 years) • Families with teenagers(oldest child 13 to 20 years) • Families launching young adults(first child gone to last child leaving home) • Middle-aged parents(empty nest to retirement) • Aging family members (retirement to death of both spouses ) 2,5 yrs 3,5 yrs 10-15 ± yrs 1 2 3 7 yrs 8 4 5 7 7 yrs 6 15 ± yrs 8 yrs Duval 1977

8. USA

9. TR: Female 20,8 years;

10. Percent having previously cohabited with current spouse by age and sex

11. TNSA (Türkiye Nüfus ve Sağlık Araştırması) 2008

12. World Divorce Rates; %

13. Children’s Reactions to Separation & Divorce Rakel RE. Textbook of Family Practice

16. Tasks during family stages • Often developmental tasks of family members are in conflict, and many of the tensions of family life are caused by these conflicts. • Adolescent: need to achieve independence • Parents: guiding his/her development • Both partners having careers may lead to conflict as well…

17. Stage-critical family developmental tasks during the family life cycle

18. Duval 1977

19. Predicting tough stages • May be same stage that person’s own parent had difficulty parenting them through • Parent didn’t have good model from their parents so hard to negotiate that stage with their child. • Examples: • if parent left home before h.s. graduation It may be difficult to help their teen through the “launching” stage. • If lost a parent at age 3, then will experience feelings of loss related to this when child is 3. • Female sexual abuse survivors molested at age 6 > issues will surface when daughter is 6

20. How might this be important in your practice? • Brief counseling encounters • Conceptualizing why patient is experiencing emotional upheaval at certain times in their development • Normalizing such emotional upset can be very healing—Dr. patient relationship tool