Traditional Family System Analysis

The traditional family consisted of a household of a mother, father, and siblings. However, according to Zastrow & Kirt-Ashman (2013), today that has changed, many families also consist of single-parent families in which one parent lives with the children, stepfamilies in which the children from a prior relationship lives with one or both parents, and blended families which is a group of individuals whom are living and functioning together as a group and these families are in committed relationships, obligated to each other, and live together (p.167-168). Family systems make changes and confront new challenges throughout their life span. The family life cycle consist of seven phases of life that families go through as a family unit. Emerging …show more content…
However, outside systems can affect the development of young adults. For instance, the day to day gang violence within a community can cause youth adults living in this community harm or can pressure them into joining the gang themselves for protection. In the second phase, joining of families, the new couples must now form a marital system and realign their relationships with their families and friends to include their spouse. As couples begin to form a marital system there are issues that might arise in the relationship, such as interfering parents, clingy friends, stressful jobs, and different religious beliefs. According to Zastrow & Kirt-Ashman (2013), gay and lesbian couples face many difficulty issues that can cause a stain on their relationship. For example, they face prejudice from families and others within our society and in many states, they unable to legally marry (p. 177). The third phase, families with young children, the children are taught values based on their culture. Zastrow & Kirt-Ashman (2013) writes, “Cultural values significantly affect how children are socialized, what values they acquire, and what behaviors they learn” (p. 177). Parents teach their children according to their culture and children also learn from their environment. Young girls who are raised among strong, loving and hard working women and frequently interact with these types of women she will more than likely take on those values. The fourth phase, families with adolescents, is where adolescents want to be more independent and create their own identities apart from their families, which causes problems in the parent child relationship. Many times, “Ethnic diversity and cultural values can add to the difficulties that parents have trying to maintain control while adolescents resist it,”