Genogram Assignment

Part A: Part B: 1. What are some of the roles of your various family members (look back to Symbolic Interaction theory and Family Life Course Development theory)? How might these roles be related to or influenced by gender, race/ethnicity, religion, or socioeconomnic status? What are the patterns/trends of roles across generations? (APA citation required) One of the roles of my family member is the role of masculinity in My Uncle Eric, who has three boys and feels the need to teach them to be “men” in society. Symbolic Interation theory means how we as humans react to symbols in society (Seccombe.) When My Aunt Paula, and Uncle Eric divorced, my uncle didn’t even really shed a tear in front of his children. Since my uncle didn’t really react to his divorce, the meaning he took from the situation was that he was cold and heartless. Society teaches men to be tough and not allowed to cry or have feelings really. My Uncle wanted to show his young boys to be strong and not weak in their future relationship so his reaction was their example. 2. How have the structures of your family either changed or remained the same over time/across generations? Some structural patterns may be things like marriage, divorce, number of children, remarriage, or death. What changes have occurred in your family over time (within and across generations)? How do these changes/patterns compare to what we know about dominant family structures today? (APA citation required) Structures in my family have really remained the same over time. I think that in the beginning of life, when I was younger (as well as my cousins) we really were prime examples of children who displayed the effects of social learning theory (Seccombe.) We would watch the way our parents treated themselves and each other thus following them and becoming like them. This has definitely happened for the cousins of my uncle who wanted to teach his boys to be strong and for me who learned to stonewall just like my Mom. It is now that we are older that we learn to become ourselves and not take on the similar identities of our parents. 3. Describe some of the relationship interactional patterns within your family. Who is close, and who is distant, and why? What are other patterns of conflict, abuse, or “cut-off?” What positive and negative communication patterns (look at Chapter 10) do you believe that some of the people in your family exemplify, and how do these contribute to these relationship interaction patterns? There are quite a few interesting relationship patterns that have taken place in my family. My Mom and Dad are a perfect example. They were very close when they first got married. Unfortunately, my sister died when we were all living together (My Mom, Dad, sister, and I.) My Dad then become extremely emotionally abusive and started hurting both my mother and me. It wasn’t long after my sister passed away when my parents filed for divorce. Shortly after various traumatic instances that had taken place in my life at a young age, I developed depression over time and my father and I pretty much fell apart as a father-daughter unit. As I got older, I began to get the help I needed to heal and with that also came my Dad attempting to fix his relationship with me. My Mom and Dad are now friends though have no romantic relationship. One negative communication pattern my Mom has taught me would be stonewalling. She would often “shut-down” when my Dad and her would get into arguments. As I’ve gotten older, I see that I do this is my own relationship as well. On the bright side, my Mom has taught me to have open communication with her and I feel comfortable talking to her about pretty much anything. 4. How has your family evolved or changed across generations? Have there been changes across generations with respect to socioeconomic status/social class, age at first marriage, education, occupation, religious values, nonmarital childbirth, cohabitation, etc.? Please describe any of these changes, and provide explanations for why they have occurred. My family has changed in a couple of ways over time. One way would be that they have become a lot more open minded regarding cohabitation. My Mom absolutely despised the idea of my boyfriend and I living together when it first happened until my cousin Allie had her boyfriend move in as well. It’s like my mom seeing another family member do it made her feel a little more comfortable about me doing it as well. Also, my family has evolved educationally over time. No one from my Dad’s side of the family went to college, and only two of my Mothers siblings as well as she went to college. No one in my family finished passed their bachelor’s degree except my Uncle (from my mom’s side.) However, all my cousins and I are all in college currently or have already finished. We can all see the direction of the future for the United States and I suppose we want to make she we can all survive on degrees of higher education. 5. Based upon your family genogram, make predictions for your own future, and perhaps the future of your children. Which family patterns will you continue, or will you “break” some family patterns (and which ones)? What family values or traditions would you continue? What aspects of your family are most valuable to you? Provide explanations and examples for your answers. Based on my genogram, I think a lot will change over the years for my generation. As it stands now, I see most of my cousins and I trying have our children later in life after college. Nearly all my Aunts and Uncle as well as my parents had children very early on in life which probably made it difficult for them to continue any schooling of which they wanted to achieve. As for traditions, getting together for holidays will continue. However, I see my children of the future being closer to their family members then we all are now. Maybe we have make more traditions like going to certain festivals together or getting together on half birthdays. Personally, I refuse to keep any negative communication patterns (such as stonewalling) continuing in this family. I’m seeing a counselor to work on my communication so that I can have a healthy family. I plan to incorporate open communication as my mother had for me. I can’t speak for my cousins but I’m sure they would want the same for their children.