Basic Concepts and Models of Family Stress

Abstract

The article's purpose is to introduce the reader to key concepts and models of family stress that family scientists have identified and developed. I describe process models of individual and family stress. I provide definitions for critical concepts in family stress theory and research and introduce the work of a number of contributors to family stress theory development: Hill and other early theorists, Antonovsky, Boss, Burr, Patterson, and the McCubbins. Measurement of stressors is addressed by examining instruments commonly used to tap stressors at the (a) micro level (daily hassles and uplifts), (b) meso level (life events), and (c) macro level (traumatic life events). I also consider the use of multiple indicators of stressors. I conclude with a description of commonly used individual-and family-level stress manifestation measures and discuss salutogenic paradigms of health.

How do Pakistani immigrant women in transnational astronaut families navigate their settlement in Canada?

“…Family stress theories attempt to explain why some families struggle while other families thrive when faced with stressors (Sullivan, 2015). All family systems are involved in a complex process of maintaining equilibrium in their collective life, until a crisis situation occurs (Malia, 2006). The stress process at the family level is complicated by the fact that each individual family member has his or her own way and timeline for understanding and coping with the stressor (Malia, 2006).…”

“…Families have no control over the five external contexts (culture, genetics or heredity, economics, historical experiences and family development life cycle) but are capable of modifying their three internal contexts (the family structure, the psychological context which concerns the family's assessment and perception of the crisis and the philosophical context which embodies the family's beliefs and values) in response to a crisis (Malia, 2006;Sullivan, 2015). The cultural context includes the rules of the society as well as the family's own rules (Weber, 2011).…”

Parental Relationship Churning and Adolescent Well‐Being: Examining Instability Within Families

“…Two primary theories shed light on why family instability and transitions may have deleterious consequences for adolescent socioemotional and behavioral outcomes at age 15 (including internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, depressive symptoms, anxiety, delinquency, and exclusionary school discipline): family stress theory and family boundary ambiguity theory. Family stress theory focuses on the stress associated with transitions, which can affect parental mental health, parenting quality, parent–child relationships, and family resources such as money or time (Arditti, ; Fomby & Osborne, ; McCubbin & Patterson, ; Umberson, Williams, Powers, Liu, & Needham, ; for a summary, see Malia, ). Research documents that parental relationship transitions are associated with more mental health struggles, lower parenting quality, strained parent–child relationships, and more limited family economic resources.…”

Boundary Ambiguity and Ambivalence in Military Family Reintegration

“…Family stress theory is an umbrella term that is associated with a number of similar theoretical models identifying the processes by which stress affects a family and how a family can demonstrate resilience despite such pressure. Family stress theory is a middle range theory (Hawley & Geske, 2000) whose popularity may have peaked in the 1980s; however, refinements are still being made to the theory today (Malia, 2006), most notably by Pauline Boss (2002), whose work provides the framework for the present study.…”