Family Systems: Family Interaction A Multigenerational Developmental Perspective

Family Systems Families are systems that have created their own strategies on how they deal with tasks on a daily bases. They are the people who “have shared a sense of history, share emotional ties to one another, and devise strategies for meeting the needs of individual family members and the group as a whole” (Anderson and Sabatelli 2010:6). A family’s historical background, ethnicity, culture and religion can all contribute to its uniqueness from other families. These attributes also have an impact on how the family interacts with one another on a daily bases. In the book, Family Interaction a Multigenerational Developmental Perspective, written by Stephen A. Anderson and Ronald M. Sabetelli, explains how family strategies are created …show more content…
In the book it states that if the family spends time, energy, and money on resources, it can result in a theme being formed. For example if a family devotes their time on taking their children to church every Sunday, then they will be identified as a Christian family. According to Anderson and Sabatelli, “ The specific themes present within a family direct the flow of the resources and determine the behavior of the family members and create an emotional climate at the same time” (Anderson and Sabatelli 2010:23). The Christian family will follow God and his commands. They will read the bible to know what is expected out from them and act certain ways . The parent’s will ensure to take their children to church. In contrary, if the parents forcefully take their children to church every Sunday and the children lose interest it can result in further problems. The child can be rebellious and end up leading to negative consequences. The child may be confused and not want to go to church anymore because they were forced to go all their life. There must be a balance between being too forceful on these themes or else it may back fire and may result to an end to the …show more content…
In an open family many people are allowed to go in and out of the home and it is open to everyone. In a closed family only the members are allowed to be with each other. For example, a closed family would only allow for the children to be each other’s friends and not have anyone else be involved in family functions such as birthday parties. Only family members would be allowed to attend. According to Anderson and Sabatelli most families fall somewhere in between a closed and open family. “These strategies and rules influence our interactions with others. We generally structure our interactions with others to conform with the family’s boundary rules”(Anderson and Sabatelli 2010:25). We learn how to act and what our boundaries are first with our family, and then apply those same rules with others. It is always important to not be too open but not be too closed off as well. If a family is too open, the members will not know who is family and who is not. They may have trust issues with one another since there are too many members. On the other hand, if children are only allowed to interact with members within a family, they will not know how to act with other people outside of the family in future instances such as when they start