Family of Origin
The origin of the family describes the family in which one is grown up, inter-family interactions and relations between one's parents', siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. The current study examines the origin of a family and determines the systematic research based on the behavior and relation of members and provides evidence-based practices in order to address the relational gap found among the family members.
Systematic Analysis
Family Hierarchy
Family Subsystem
Attachment Styles in Family
Family Boundaries
Family Adaptability
Thematic Research
Early Marriage and Divorce
Evidence-Based Research and Intervention
Genogram
The family in which one is grown up with the collaboration of adult's economic contribution and influence from parents, siblings and grandparents collectively describes one's family of origin. The origin of one's family tends to effect the systems that are being followed in the family and describes the degree to which they can be adaptive in nature. However the family is considered to possess a central role in the behavior and attitude of an individual who inclines either to follow the values and systems being adapted by the family or strive to modify the ways through which one lives (Engels, 1942). The family of origin of an individual also resides around the influence from biological and divorced parents who are considered to play their role in the childhood of an individual and effects the life of the ones who are part of the family.
The family of origin that will be discussed in this study comprises of 12 members as illustrated in Genogram; attached in appendix, and are described as follows:
1) Sandy, who Mexican-American and is 55 years old, lost her mother and got married at the age of 16 and has 2 children, Jennifer and Candace, Sandy remarried Don and both have son named Don Selby III aged 24.
2) Don, who is an English-Irish-American and is 63 years old and is married to Sandy and contributed in the parenthood for Sandy's daughters and their son.
3) Jennifer, who is the first daughter of Sandy and is 38 years old, has three children, divorced, and is responsible for her the brought up of her children. She is close to every person in family including her biological father.
4) Candace, who is the second daughter of Sandy with aged 34 years, married a man and got separated and then remarried a woman with three children -- girls. She is close to her parents and siblings excluding the biological father, and close with her daughters except the middle one.
5) Don Selby III, is 24 years old boy and the youngest one in the family, unmarried and straight, closer to his mom than his father and closer to Candace than Jennifer, and is best friends with Jennifer's daughter Alena.
Systematic Analysis
Family Hierarchy
Don, being the head of the family, is responsible for the family decisions and is considered to be an important member of the family in order to gain consent related to family matters, but he accepts and appreciates the opinions from his wife and consider her a reason to challenge and motivate him in the aspects of life. Don also claimed that he wanted a wife who spoke her mind, was open-minded and was not silent (personal communication, February 19, 2015). Don further said that Sandy has challenged her too much throughout the life, but life would have been boring if she was not so challenging (personal communication, February 19, 2015). The contribution of Don in the parenthood of his all three children is significant and due to the Don's perspective towards the importance of education and independence has caused the children to be raised as independent and education persons.
Family Subsystem
The family consists of the subsystem which is considered to be made up from the small group of people who possess their own rules, characteristics and boundaries and the people who are the part of this subsystem can change with the period of time. The subsystem of the family consists of two or three members who are independent in nature but are interrelated with the overall family members (Rosenblatt & Gergen, 1994). Therefore, the family that is being studied in this paper contains 2 subsystems that consists of Jennifer with her three children and, Candace with her three children. Jennifer' eldest child is Alena who is 18 years old, Mica who is 8 years old and Aubriella who is 3 years old, Jennifer married Mica's father David Sanchez and got divorced, however Alena and Aubriella...
Jennifer loves her parents and siblings but she is also responsible for her children and that makes a subsystem in the family in which Jennifer is the nurturer, caretaker and decision maker of her family. Candace, on the other hand, has been married to her wife who has three children who are being accepted by Candace; who is an independent woman and her siblings, niece and nephew look up to her for counseling and that is how there exists second subsystem in family in which Candace is responsible for the nurture of her children and is part of her own family.
Attachment Styles in Family
The individuals' attachment to someone determines the degree to which one will get upset if he gets separated from someone, however it can also be described as the individuals' ability with which he can count on someone (Rothbaum et al., 2002). Moreover, in the proper development of a child it is found to be necessary that the child possess certain level of attachment with his caretaker and trusts that the caretaker will provide him with protection and support, which is considered to be the basic requirement for the successful development of the child (Kozlowska&Hanney, 2002). The family observed in this study holds strong attachment styles within the family in which, Jennifer possesses a strong bond with her children, parents, biological father and siblings. The sibling with which Jennifer shares a closest both is Candace, whereas Jennifer is like a mother-figure to her brother and Jennifer is only child who is close to her biological father. However, Candace is found to be close to her parents excluding his biological father, takes Jennifer as her best friend and is also close to her brother Don Selby III, whereas Candace holds close bond with her two daughters but she doesn't share close bond with her middle daughter. Candace loves her family and is looked upon for counseling and advice from her siblings, niece, nephew and cousins. The third child and the only son of Sandy and Don i.e. Don Selby III is the youngest in all the siblings and is being taken care from parents and siblings. He is close to his mother, his sister Candace, and Jennifer's daughter Alena and often dislikes when Jennifer mothers her around but, he is close to Jennifer in lesser manner than Candace.
Family Boundaries
According to Faber et al., (2003), the family contains flexible-intergenerational-boundaries in which children are being taken cared by their adults and children listen to their parents. In this family, Don worked full time and Sandy worked part time to support the family and the children were brought up by both of them in proper manner that they became educate and independent persons in their life, which ultimately indicates that the family consists of flexible-intergenerational-boundaries.
Family Adaptability
The family tends to be highly adaptive in nature; all the family members possess strong foundation in God but none of them is found to be conservative in nature. The parents' belief in church impacted the children and they grew up as a believer but yet developed their own personalities independently. This attribute of family has significant example of children having tattoos and Candace coming out as a lesbian, who is being accepted by her parents and all family members. The family became adaptive with the children being educated and independent. Moreover, Sandy being open minded in nature and Don's appreciation of her being open minded caused them to change their perspectives and accept the undertakings of their children.
Thematic Research
Early Marriage and Divorce
The family observed in this study shares close bonds with all the family members but the family seems to encounter with divorce issues. It has been observed in this family that family members got married at an early age usually below 20 years and got divorced and then remarriage. The relation between the step parents and step children is not found to be troubling but the degree of attachment between step parents and step children varies. According to the national estimation of early age divorces conducted by Bramlett and Mosher (2001) indicated that the rate of getting divorced in the first marriage is one-fifth in which couples get divorced within the 5 years of marriage, however, the teenagers who get married tend to be separated and divorced in more than the couples of 20 age and above. In this family, it has been observed that Sandy was married at the age of 16 and got divorced at the age of 20; the first marriage of Sandy lasted less than 5 years. The same scenario is applicable for Sandy's daughter Candace, who…
