After reading this article, I have greater appreciation for the development of the family science field and its family-focused theories. Rather than focusing solely on the individual like the field of psychology or focusing on society like sociology, the field started looking at the family as a collection of individuals who are affected by life cycles with defined stages. This family life cycle had two major stages. The first is expansion when children are born and raised. The second stage is contraction when the children leave the home and parents are left with an "empty nest."
Evelyn Duvall and Ruben Hill first presented their version of the family life cycle in 1948. They developed tasks that would be done by both the parents and the child. The tasks were then grouped into eight stages.
The eight stages of the family life cycle include married couple, childbearing, pre-school age, school-age, teenage, launching center, middle-aged parents, and aging family members. These are the normative events that occur in many families. Family development theorists focus on these "normal" events rather than crisis within a family.
It appears that these stages of the family development theory have been debated for years. Other theorists expanded or decreased the stages and some questioned or supported its ability to be tested. Some theorists decided to abandon the eight stages of the family development theory and instead adopted the life course perspective.
Basic Assumptions
Families undergo stages of development, just like individuals: The family development theory focuses on the development of the individual within the family. In order for the family to move to the next stage, the family is dependent on the individual members development. In order for my spouse and me to transition from a married couple to childbearing, we both have had to be ready for the very big change of child rearing. In order for our family to move into the launching center stage, hopefully we will have given our son the skills he needs to leave home.When families move to the next stage this changes family relationships. Individual changes will cause the family to transition to another stage.
There are tasks associated with each stage of development: Certain tasks should be mastered before an individual and their family move to the next stage. An individual or family can move to the next stage and not have mastered the tasks of the previous stage, however they may experience more issues. For instance, my son may move out of our house, but if my spouse and I have not maintained our relationship, we may encounter problems as we enter the middle-aged parents stage.
Development is reciprocal: The development of each family member affects other family members including the whole family. If a child never leaves the home the parents may never be able to have the time to refocus on their marriage.
Families must be viewed in multiple levels of analysis: Family development theory allows us to look at the family and its individual members in different contexts (society, family, individual). For instance cell phone or e-mail technology have greatly affected our society and the way family members communicate over the last fifteen years. It appears to me that young adults appear to be more dependent on their parents than my cohort was. If true, one cause of this could be that young adults are able to communicate with their parents at any time whether by cell phone, e-mail or text. When I was in college, no one had cell-phones or even e-mail. Our parents were lucky to get one call a week and then it was short, because it was a long-distance call, so cost money. Do you think you rely on your parents more since you can contact them so easily?
Families should be viewed over time: Families change over time and should be studied over a long period of time. Time can be looked at in three different ways. The first ontogenetic time (age) is an individuals awareness of time. Although, I'm getting close to 40 and considered "middle-age," I didn't get married until I was 31 or have a child until I was 34. Since I started my family of procreation late, I feel a lot younger than "middle-age." I may be more willing to be "middle-age" at 45, but not 37. Generational time (cohort) refers to how an individual experiences time in a family or cohort group. For instance teenagers in a family will have a very different experience than their sibling who is still a toddler if their parent's divorce. The toddler won't ever remember mom and dad living together and how their family was then. The third type is historical time (period effect) which refers to how time is experienced in a social context. My cohort of college graduates were able to find good paying jobs within six months of graduating. Unfortunately, due to the current recession it is taking college graduates a lot longer to find a job and it may not have the pay or benefits that we were able to start our careers with.
As we discussed in class, the family life cycle is not perfect. It does not represent all families. The family life cycle can be interrupted by death of a spouse, divorce or a dependent child who is never able to leave home. Also, a family can be in many stages at one time. My parents had me launched and out of their house 13 years before my sister. Because they had a second child in their late thirties and she stayed a home until she was 28, they never really had their middle years. Especially since they are both already retired.
IngoldsbyIngoldsby, S. R. Smith, & J. E. Miller, (eds). Exploring family theories, (pp. 29-37). Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury. [Chapter 2]
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