THE FAMILY IN CONTEXT

THE FAMILY IN
CONTEXT -1st
Assignment
Multiple
Choice Questions

1.
Individuals who viewed the changing social conditions of the turn
of the 20th century with a sense of moral concern and social responsibility and
who engaged in an array of efforts to bring about social reform were called
a.
Modernists.
b.
Charity
Matrons.
c.
Progressives.
d.
Counselors.

2.
The research on group dynamics conducted by introduced several key concepts such as roles,
norms, and group cohesion that would contribute to understanding the family as
a group.
a.
Richmond
b.
Lewin
c.
Lippett
d.
Addams

3.
piloted the belief that much of human behavior
is motivated by unconscious sexual and aggressive instincts and that the
expression of these instincts is shaped by early childhood relationships
between children and their parents.
a.
Adler
b.
Dreikurs
c.
Freud
d.
Sullivan

4.
Sullivan’s theory of psychiatry was based on the theory that both
interpersonal relationships and social forces pay a critical role in the
formation of self. This theory is called
a.
interpersonal
analysis.
b.
psychoanalysis.
c.
motivational
analysis.
d.
cybernetics.

5.
Interpersonal communication systems theory addresses the
interactional reflected in the processing of information
within the system.
a.
relationships
b.
communication
c.
patterns
d.
forces

6.
Whitaker’s symbolic/experiential approach is often described as
a.
inflexible.
b.
methodological.
c.
disciplined.
d.
existential.

7.
The theory that called for positive connotation for problematic
behaviors and how these behavior may (or may not) be useful for the individual
and others in the family is called
a.
humanistic
family therapy.
b.
the
Milan approach.
c.
strategic
family therapy.
d.
structural
family therapy.

8.
One’s social position, class location, ethnic and racial identity,
and economic status within the overall social structure is called one’s
a.
niche.
b.
culture.
c.
ethnicity.
d.
role.

9.
The represents the relationships between the
members within an individual’s microsystem.
a.
exosystem
b.
mesosystem

c.
macrosystem
d.
ecosystem

10.
This refers to the changes in one’s social ecological context over
time.
a.
chronosystem
b.
ecodevelopment
c.
cascading
effects
d.
metamorphosis

11.
According to the classification of family crises, “school
problems” is classified under this heading.
a.
Accession
to Marriage
b.
Loss of Membership
c.
Demoralization
d.
Change
in Status

12.
When family interactions deviate from the acceptable range of
behaviors, is/are impacted.
a.
boundaries
b.
roles
c.
familial
affection
d.
homeostasis

13.
These are recurrent patterns of behavior by which family members
fulfill family functions and needs.
a.
family
interdependence
b.
family
roles
c.
family
rules
d.
family
boundaries

14.
This refers to one’s personal awareness of time as one is going
through one’s unique life cycle.
a.
generational
time
b.
ontogenetic
time
c.
historical
time
d.
chronological time

15.
In a new relationship, the couple begins to embark on creating its
own new and unique
a.
couple
narrative.
b.
social
ecology.
c.
economic
boundary.
d.
social
network.

16.
The family stage in which parents have to abdicate some of their
parental authority and share with other institutions is
a.
families
with young children.
b.
families
with school-aged children.
c.
families
with teenagers.
d.
families
with young people leaving home.

17.
The developmental stressors that reflect life cycle transitions
are called
a.
life
cycle stressors.
b.
piled-up
stressors.
c.
vertical
stressors.
d.
horizontal
stressors.

18.
Cumulative stressor events can create a(n) situation.
a.
boundary
maintenance
b.
communication
collapse
c.
pile-up
stressor event
d.
emotional
breakdown

19.
A family’s ability to cope with change depends on family members’
ability to
a.
work
together in time of stress.
b.
take
direction from the family leader.
c.
contribute financially to the family’s well-being.
d.
act
as independent members.

20.
families value individual autonomy, but they
have a sense of family unity and identity.
a.
Disengaged
b.
Separated
c.
Connected
d.
Enmeshed

21.
families value family closeness above all, and
to sacrifice togetherness for independence is seen as a violation of family
values.
a.
Disengaged
b.
Separated
c.
Connected
d.
Enmeshed

22.
families are reluctant to change rules and
roles and tend to maintain the status quo at all cost.
a.
Flexible
b.
Structured
c.
Rigid
d.
Chaotic

True/False
Questions (20)

1. The
“friendly visitors” of the Charity Organization Society were guided by the
belief that a family’s failure to cope with the problems of living was as much
due to individual character defects and moral failures as to environmental or
societal factors.
2. Settlement
Houses were often set up in well-to-do neighborhoods.
3. The
initial goal of the child guidance movement was to address juvenile delinquency
as a troubling human behavior associated with “insanity.”
4. According
to symbolic interactionism, the self is discovered by taking on the role of the
“other” and imagining how one’s self is perceived from another’s perspective.
5. Sigmund
Freud is considered the father of general systems theory.
6. A
socially expected behavior pattern usually determined by an individual’s status
in a particular society is called a boundary.
7. The
communication/interactive model maintains that family culture is sustained and
maintained through communication and through the subjective and everyday
interpretations of behavior.
8. In
an ecological framework families are understood in terms of their location
within their environment or habitat.
9. The
principle of equifinality discourages flexibility and creativity in seeking
alternative routes to change.
10. According
to second-generation family therapies, reality is a matter of interpretation
rather than a description of an objective or external given.
11. In
a family’s social ecology, a macrosystem includes those systems that the
individual may never deal with directly but that can influence the individual’s
well-being.
12. The
concept of circularity describes how every member within a family system
influences every other member in a circular chain reaction.
13. Identity
formation is the process in which the family provides the family members with
experiences and information that form and inform their identity.
14. Generational
time refers to how time is experienced in a greater historical period and how
this period shapes and influences one’s experience and identity in a larger
panoramic and historical context.
15. In
the movement to define a self, an adolescent may test the family boundaries and
rules.
16. In
the boomerang stage, the main challenge for the family is avoiding reverting
back to former parent-child roles.
17. The
aging family members stage is a period in which the parents may be involved in
reviewing and reappraising where they are in terms of their earlier goals,
dreams, and life aspirations.
18. How
families manage horizontal stress is reflective of what is described as
vertical stressors, which include multigenerational family patterns resulting
from family secrets and unresolved issues.
19. Flexibility
refers to a family’s ability to modify its rules, roles, and structure in
response to the pressures and conflicts of family life.
20. One
of the characteristics of family health is when subsystem boundaries are rigid
and diffuse and are not subject to change.
Short
Answer/Fill-in-the-Blank (10)
1. The
concept of the human self as embedded, or as the , was the
guiding paradigm for early family therapy.
2. emphasized a faith in reason, freedom, and social
progress.
3. The use of groups in the was
a major impetus for the later development of group work as a major modality of
helping within professional social work.
4. Viewing the as the nexus for mental health intervention
was a clinical precursor for examining relational dynamics within the family
system.
5. Adler and later Adlerians viewed as the primary social matrix that exerts an
influence on the formation of personality.
6. Define the term schizophrenogenic
mother.
7. holds that societies and social units are held
together by cooperation and orderliness.
8. What does a structural description of the family refer to?
9. Name the four powerful theories that influenced the development of
family therapy in the 1950s.
10. What
were the four dimensions of family life that were integrated within
Boszormenyi-Nagy’s “contextual family therapy”?
11. According
to those who maintain that the traditional family is declining, and perhaps
already dead, what are the three main causes of this situation?
12. The
term describes when nonbiologically related persons
are considered as part of a given family system.
13. Institutions that specifically assist the family in performing its
functions are part of the family’s .

14. It is possible to classify on a continuum from open to closed, depending
on how permeable or flexible they are.
15. are unspoken guidelines
that inform and structure family interaction.
16. attempt to capture the impact of changes on
family life by identifying predicable stages and developmental tasks that
families experience over time.
17. According
to the stages of the family life cycle (Table 2.3), which stage contains the
fewest family tasks?
18. As couples come together they bring to the relationship two
distinct .

19. When the last child leaves home, the couple will have to rework
the couple narrative to include living with a(n) .
20. Name
the two kinds of stress families encounter.
Essay
Questions (10) *** Answer each question in one short
paragraph; direct to the point
1. How
did the focus of the Settlement House Movement differ from that of the Charity
Organization Society?
2. Discuss
why there was a strong taboo against seeing family members of a patient in
traditional psychoanalytic theory?
3. Contrast Adler’s beliefs with Freud’s beliefs
regarding human motivation.
4. Discuss
the impact that systems theory had on the historical development of family
therapy.
5. Discuss
the difference between a first-generation clinician and a second-generation
clinician. Which of these frameworks do most modern therapists use? Explain.
6. Consider
the definition of “family” given by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2008. How does
this definition fail to represent contemporary family structures?
7. What
are the four central functions of a family? What happens when a family is
unable to fulfill these function s?
8. According to Anderson and Sabatelli, what are
the four first-order tasks of maintaining optimal family functioning? Do these
tasks change across socioeconomic status or cultural heritage?
9. Identify
the different dimensions of time. How can these different qualities of time
help shape one’s experiences?
10. List
the six types of life cycles encompassed by the developmental stage of families
with young children. How might the inclusion of these six life cycles further
complicate this stage?