FAMILY

STRUCTURES
AND DYNAMIC
 FAMILY
• The important primary group in the society
• Is regarded as the first society of human beings.
• According to Burges and Locke, family is a group of
persons unites by ties of marriage, blood or
adoption, constituting a single household, interacting
and communicating with each other in their
respective social roles of husband and wife, mother
and father, son and daughter, brother and sister, and
creating and maintaining a common culture.
TYPES OF
FAMILY
 Nuclear Families
The nuclear family is the traditional family set up that
makes the majority of all families. It consists of two
parents and children. The children can be biological or
adopted. The parents can be from different sexes,
same-sex or gender fluid.
The premise of this
family is two parents
raising children in the
same home.
Single Parent Families
• Single parent families consist of one parent with one
or more children. The parent can be single out of
choice, death of a spouse, or as a result of a divorce.
Extended Families
• Extended families consist of more adults who are
related by blood or marriage living under the same
roof with their children.
• Example are their grandparents, in-laws, aunts,
nieces, nephews,
uncles, and cousins
under the same roof.
Childless Families
• A childless family consists of partners living together
without children. Most societies do not recognize
this family as a complete family. They expect them to
have children eventually. However, some couples
choose to live without children. Others have medical
complications that make it difficult for them to have
children.
Step Families
• Stepfamilies are also known as blended families. They
consist of two halves of other nuclear families that
blend into one. Two people from previous families
join to make one. It could be both partners with
children, or one can marry a partner who comes with
a child or children.
Grandparent Families
• Grandparent families are comprised of parents who
are raising their grandchildren. Grandparents raise
children if the parents are not in the lives of the
children. It could be a result of death, addiction,
sickness, imprisonment, abandonment, international
work travel , or being unfit parents.
 Unconventional Families
•  Polygamous families are comprised of one father, multiple
mothers, and children.
• Polyandrous families consist of one
woman and multiple men forming a family.
Some of them have children while some
of them do not. The other type is
polyamory where more than two people
are in a relationship with the informed
consent of all the partners involved.
Polyamory is otherwise known as
consensual non-monogamy. People come
into an agreement and form intimate
relationships with more than one partner.
FAMILY
STRUCTURE
-CYBER PARENTING
-MODERN FAMILY
CYBER PARENTING
• Parenting is not the same anymore. With technological
advancements, parenting has also changed. Children having
access to the Internet, cellphones, tablets and other
technologies need a different kind of parenting, which is
digital parenting. Children can now open a social media
account and interact with different people. Children are using
various applications to study, learn, play, etc. It is really
important to adopt good cyber/digital parenting practices
because it is nearly impossible to monitor everything.‌
GOOD CYBER /DIGITAL
PARENTING PRACTICE
Setting screen time
It is really important to keep a check on the amount and quality. of
screen time the child has access to. There are three types of. screen
time:
Passive screen time, active screen time, constructive screen time.

1. Passive screen time is the time spent on wattching things like TV,
video, more either on a big screen or a device.
2. Interactive screen time, is the time spent when the user interacts
with the device like playing games, moving along the game, etc.
3. Constructive screen time is the time when the user is doing
something constructive likee designing, writing, coding, etc.
Setting screen time

• Childre should only be allowed to view the screen for

a limited time as per the requirement. Parents should
talk to kids and discuss how they are utilizing their
screen time Parents should also talk to kids to fix
scrreen time and encourage them to take short
breaks. Devices have a bult-in feature to restrict
screen time, parents can use them if needed.
Education and awareness‌ ‌
• Parent should be aware of the technology which is being used by
their kids
• Parents should educate themselves about technology and devices.
• Parents should also
educate kids of various
vulnrabilities and problems
with these technologies.
They should also make
their kids aware about
every aspect so that kids
can also be vigilant while
using devices.
Ergonomics
• Erogonomics isthe science behind the design of a
work environment.
• It talks about various aspects like how high the
screen should be to remove sytress on the neck
or what should be the position of arms while
using the device to avoid stress injuries.
• Parents should encourage the kids to maintain
good posture when sitting at the computer. If
possible a family computer station with
adjustable furniture should be set up.
• Parents should ask their
kids to treat regular breaks
and not sit continuously for
too long.
Controlling internet access‌ 
• Parents should use parental control or safe web
browsers specifically for younger kids to prevent
them frim coming across inappropriate content.

• Parents should also teach their kids good online

practices like avoiding cyber bullying, not giving
sensitive information, not downloading random files,
etc. ‌
Social media‌ 
• Parents should talk to their kids about the safety precautions to
take on these platforms
• Parents shouf regularly interact with their kids about their activities
on social media.
• Parents should avoid humiliating or embarrasing their kids on these
platforms becaus this may have adverse effects on the child.
• Parents should also be careful about what they post online because
this is what their kids will also see.
• Parents should also educate
their kids about cyber bullying
and other inappropriate online
behaviors.
Talking

• Parents should always talk with their kids. It is better

to talk rather than stalk.
• Parents shoul listen to the problems if their kids and
understand them.
• Parents should be involved in the activities of the kids
online and regularly talk to the kids about their
experience online.
MODERN
FAMILY
 MODERN FAMILY
• The family has undergone some radical
transformations in the past half a century. Its
structures has been changed, its functions have
been altered and its natures have been affected.
Various factors like social, economic, education,
legal, cultural, scientific
technological
development are
responsible for this.
MODERN FAMILY
The significant trends in the modern family may be
discussed under the following points:

• Decreased control of the marriage contract

• Changes in the relationship of man and woman
• Economic independence
• Smaller family
Decreased control of the marriage
contract
• Marriage is the basis of family. In traditional family
the marriage was contracted by the parents.
• The marriage ceremony was based on the principle of
male dominance and female obedience.
• In modern family people are less subject to the
parental control concerning whom and when they
shall marry.
• The marriage is now settled by the partners
themselves. It is choice of mate by mate usually
preceded by courtship or falling in love.
 Changes in the relationship of man and
woman
• In modern family the woman is not the devotee of
man but an equal partner in life with equal rights.
• The husband now does not dictate but only requests
the wife to do a task for him.
• She is now emancipated of the man’s slavery.
She is no longer the
drudge and slave of
olden days.
Economic independence
• Women in modern family have attained an increasing
degree of economic independence.
• It is not only the husband who leaves the home for
work but it is also the wife who goes out of doors for
work.
• The percentage of women employed outside the
home is continually on the
increase.
Smaller family
• The modern family is a smaller family.
• It is no longer a joint family.
• Moreover the tendency is to have a smaller family
and family planning helps in controlling birth.
BOWEN’S
FAMILY
SYSTEM
THEORY
What Is Family Systems Theory?
• is a theory of human behaviour that views the family
as an emotional unit and uses systems thinking to
describe the unit’s complex interactions.
• It is the nature of a family that its members are
intensely connected emotionally.
The 8 concepts of Family Systems Theory
• Triangles
• Differentiation Of Self
• Nuclear Family Emotional Process
• Family Projection Process
• Multigenerational Transmission Process
• Emotional Cutoff
• Sibling Position
• Societal Emotional Process
Triangles

• Is a three-person relationship and is considered a

“building block” for larger family systems and overall
systems thinking.
• provide the smallest stable form of a family
emotional system, if tension builds between the
insiders, the two closer people in the triangle, one of
them will choose to grow closer to the outsider.
• Though the triangle dynamic is seen as the smallest
stable relationship structure, it can be a catalyst for
many familial problems.
Differentiation Of Self
• The family revealed people differ with the degree to
which one develops their sense of self and it is
dependent on familial relationships during childhood
and adolescence as seen in the study of the family.
• It revealed that in all families, there will always be a
mix of people with poor and strong differentiation of
self.
• Families vary in their levels of emotional
interdependence depending on how their emotional
system operates and based on the levels of
differentiation of self of the family members.
Nuclear Family Emotional Process
The nuclear family emotional process is composed of four relationship patterns
that govern familial problems. Bowen’s study of the family outlined four basic
relationship patterns:
• Marital Conflict: As family tension increases, spouses will externalize the
anxiety they are feeling onto their marital partner and their relationship.
• Dysfunction In One Spouse: One spouse will pressure another spouse to think
or act a certain way, exerting control over their partner and if any family
tension arises, the subordinate partner may experience high levels of anxiety.
• Impairment Of One Or More Children: A parent may focus all of their anxieties
on one or more of their children which can limit their differentiation of self.
This makes the child vulnerable to internalize family tensions.
• Emotional Distance: Emotional distance results in avoiding family tension.
Family members will distance themselves from tension and one another to
reduce the intensity of emotions.
• All of the nuclear family emotional processes can overlap, which can have
profound effects on each previously stable relationship within the nuclear
family emotional system.
Family Projection Process
• This concept describes how parents may transmit
their emotional problems onto their children.
The family projection process, follows three steps:
1.The parent focuses extra attention on one child in
the family system out of fear that there is something
wrong with the child
2.The parent finds something in the child’s actions or
behavior that they perceive as confirming their fear
3.The parent then treats the child as if there is
something truly wrong without analyzing the child’s
positive and negative traits
Multigenerational Transmission Process
• Small differences in the differentiation of self between parents and
their offspring can lead to major differences in differentiation
among members of a family over the course of many generations.
• The nature of this multigenerational transmission process means
that small differences in the level of differentiation between
parents and children will grow larger over time.
• Level of differentiation affects many components of one’s life.
Thus, different generations of the same family may have extremely
different lifestyles from one another due to their differences in
levels of differentiation.
• The level of differentiation embodied by each member of a family
can create a sort of multicultural family atmosphere, where each
family member is so different there is no common ground.
Emotional Cutoff
• Emotional cutoff occurs when people attempt to manage their
unresolved problems with family members by cutting off
emotional contact which involves distancing oneself from
family members to become more emotionally independent.
• While cutting off emotional ties with family members can make
someone feel better on the surface, the problems within the
family unit and with family members do not simply go away.
• Family emotional cutoff is a hard situation for all members of
the family unit.
• When an emotionally cut off family member does visit, all
members of the family are likely to feel exhausted. Emotional
cutoff often leads to unresolved attachment issues and can
cause tension among familial relationships.
Sibling Position
• Research by psychologist Walter Toman states that people
who are in the same sibling position tend to have common
characteristics.
• Sibling position and the associated personality traits can
impact family relationships, especially when it comes to
marital relationships.
• Married couples tend to fare better when the two people are
in complementary sibling positions. When two people of the
same sibling position marry, there is often not enough
differentiation between parents and conflict arises.
• Of course, differentiation plays a role in this, as do families or
family dynamics that influence one’s behavior and personality.
Societal Emotional Process
• The concepts of the Bowen family systems theory do not only apply to families,
but to non-family groups such as workers in an office as well.
• Even outside of the family, emotional processes influence behavior and lead to
progressive and regressive periods in society.
• This idea serves as the main crux of the societal emotional process. Emotional
processes, along with cultural forces, impact how well society can adapt to
change or overcome challenges. A progressive period is when things are
changing for the better, while a regressive period will see spikes in negative
things. The progressive and regressive stages of greater family system
development can have substantial positive and negative impacts on society as a
whole.
• Societal factors can impact family systems, too. In regressive periods, it is harder
for parents to exert an appropriate amount of control over their children. The
anxiety parents feel in these times can become very intense and negatively affect
the family unit. As a result of societal turmoil, the entire family system is liable to
partially break down and create emotional problems for family members.
THANK
YOU!!!