The Stages of the Family Life Cycle

THE STAGES OF THE FAMILY LIFE CYCLE Family Life-Cycle Stage Emotional Process of Second-Order Changes in Family Status Required Transition: Key Principles to Proceed Developmentally Leaving home: single young adults Accepting emotional and financial responsibility for self a. Differentiation of self in relation to family of origin b. Development of intimate peer relationships c. Establishment of self in respect to work and financial independence The joining of families through marriage: the new couple Commitment to new system a. Formation of marital system b. Realignment of relationships with extended families and friends to include spouse Families with young children Accepting new members into the system a. Adjusting marital system to make space for children b. Joining in childrearing, financial and household tasks c. Realignment of relationships with extended family to include parenting and grandparenting roles Families with adolescents Increasing flexibility of family boundaries to permit children’s independence and grandparents’ frailties a. Shifting of parent–child relationships to permit adolescent to move into and out of system b. Refocus on midlife marital and career issues c. Beginning shift toward caring for older generation Launching children and moving on Accepting a multitude of exits from and entries into the family system a. Renegotiation of marital system as a dyad b. Development of adult-to-adult relationships c. Realignment of relationships to include in-laws and grandchildren d. Dealing with disabilities and death of parents (grandparents) Families in later life Accepting the shifting generational roles a. Maintaining own and/or couple functioning and interests in face of physiological decline: exploration of new familial and social role options b. Support for more central role of middle generation c. Making room in the system for the wisdom and experience of the elderly, supporting the older generation without overfunctioning for them d. Dealing with loss of spouse, siblings, and other peers and preparation for death MAJOR EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF FAMILY THERAPY Social and Political Context Development of Family Therapy 1945 F.D.R. dies, Truman becomes president World War II ends in Europe (May 8) and the Pacific (August 14) Bertalanffy presents general systems theory 1946 Juan Perón elected president of Argentina Bowen at Menninger Clinic Whitaker at Emory Macy Conference Bateson at Harvard 1947 India partitioned into India and Pakistan 1948 Truman reelected U.S. president State of Israel established Whitaker begins conferences on schizophrenia 1949 Communist People’s Republic of China established Bowlby: “The Study and Reduction of Group Tensions in the Family” 1950 North Korea invades South Korea Bateson begins work at Palo Alto V.A. 1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for espionage Sen. Estes Kefauver leads Senate probe into organized crime Ruesch & Bateson: Communication: The Social Matrix of Society Bowen initiates residential treatment of mothers and children Lidz at Yale 1952 Eisenhower elected U.S. president Bateson receives Rockefeller grant to study communication in Palo Alto Wynne at NIMH 1953 Joseph Stalin dies Korean armistice signed Whitaker & Malone: The Roots of Psychotherapy 1954 Supreme Court rules school segregation unconstitutional Bateson project research on schizophrenic communication Bowen at NIMH 1955 Rosa Parks refuses to move to the back of the bus; Martin Luther King, Jr., leads boycott in Montgomery, Alabama Whitaker in private practice, Atlanta, Georgia. Satir begins teaching family dynamics in Chicago 1956 Nasser elected president of Egypt Soviet troops crush anti-Communist rebellion in Hungary Bateson, Jackson, Haley, & Weakland: “Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia” Bowen at Georgetown (continued) 1957 Social and Political Context Development of Family Therapy Russians launch Sputnik I Eisenhower sends troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect school integration Jackson: “The Question of Family Homeostasis” Ackerman opens the Family Mental Health Clinic of Jewish Family Services in New York Boszormenyi-Nagy opens Family Therapy Department at EPPI in Philadelphia 1958 European Common Market established Ackerman: The Psychodynamics of Family Life 1959 Castro becomes premier of Cuba Charles de Gaulle becomes French president MRI founded by Don Jackson 1960 Kennedy elected U.S. president Family Institute founded by Nathan Ackerman (renamed the Ackerman Institute in 1971) Minuchin and colleagues begin doing family therapy at Wiltwyck 1961 Berlin Wall erected Bay of Pigs invasion Bell: Family Group Therapy Family Process founded by Ackerman and Jackson 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis Bateson’s Palo Alto project ends Haley at MRI 1963 Kennedy assassinated Haley: Strategies of Psychotherapy 1964 Johnson elected U.S. president Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Martin Luther King, Jr. Satir: Conjoint Family Therapy Norbert Wiener dies (b. 1894) 1965 Passage of Medicare Malcolm X assassinated Minuchin becomes director of Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic Whitaker at University of Wisconsin 1966 Red Guards demonstrate in China Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister of India Brief Therapy Center at MRI begun under directorship of Richard Fisch Ackerman: Treating the Troubled Family 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Arab states Urban riots in Cleveland, Newark, and Detroit Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson: Pragmatics of Human Communication Dicks: Marital Tensions 1968 Nixon elected U.S. president Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated Don Jackson dies (b. 1920) Satir at Esalen 1969 Widespread demonstrations against war in Vietnam Bandura: Principles of Behavior Modification Wolpe: The Practice of Behavior Therapy 1970 Student protests against Vietnam War result in killing of four students at Kent State Masters & Johnson: Human Sexual Inadequacy Laing & Esterson: Sanity, Madness and the Family 1971 Twenty-Sixth Amendment grants right to vote to 18-year-olds Nathan Ackerman dies (b. 1908) 1972 Nixon reelected U.S. president Bateson: Steps to an Ecology of Mind Wynne at University of Rochester 1973 Supreme Court rules that states may not prohibit abortion Energy crisis created by oil shortages Center for Family Learning founded by Phil Guerin Boszormenyi-Nagy & Spark: Invisible Loyalties 1974 Nixon resigns Gerald Ford becomes 39th president Minuchin: Families and Family Therapy Watzlawick, Weakland, & Fisch: Change