Structural Family total 2 Full Pages

SYSTEMS THEORIES Central to developmental systems theory is the idea that human activity and human development reflect ongoing exchanges between individuals and their multifaceted, multilayered contexts, with each aspect of context constraining and potentiating the others (Lerner & Walls, 1999). Closely related is general system theory, or GST (von Bertalanffy, 1968), which posits that human behavior is shaped in a context of multiple systems of influence (e.g., family, school, peers, neighborhood, biological). For example, childhood externalizing problems are viewed as being influenced by child characteristics (e.g., temperament, attachment security, competence, peer acceptance, negative attribution bias), family characteristics (e.g., poverty status, maternal depression, harsh discipline, marital discord), and community circumstances (e.g., neighborhood crime, quality of child care). In GST, interdependence, the interconnectedness of component systems (e.g., child, parent) within a system (e.g., family), is considered a fundamental concept. So is the concept of mutual influence: the idea that behaviors of one component reverberate across the whole system. For example, maternal depression has a negative effect on parenting practices, parent-child relationships, and the marital relationship. The concept of hierarchy stipulates that all systems (e.g., family system) are made up of smaller subsystems (e.g., sibling system). Likewise, all systems are subsystems of larger suprasystems (e.g., community system). The concept of holism states that a system is more than the sum of its parts. One cannot understand a family system, for example, by looking at parent(s) and child(ren) in isolation. Relationships and patterns of interaction among parents and children are also critical. Of particular interest to research on parenting processes involved in relations between SES/poverty and child outcomes is the concept of equifinality. It means that a system may achieve a particular goal in more than one way. For example, parents may foster behavioral control of a child by being responsive to the child’s needs, by using strict discipline, or by keeping the child engaged in productive activities. An important companion concept is multifinality: the idea that the same process can influence multiple outcomes. This suggests that, although a particular set of parenting behaviors (e.g., affording opportunities for learning) may tend to act most directly on one developmental outcome (e.g., cognitive), the probability of spillover into other forms of development is likely to be high (e.g. behavioral). The bidirectional child → parent relationship underscores a key proposition of systems thinking: Specifically, children are a source of their own development. That is, they induce particular behaviors from others and, as they age, they increasingly select the environments in which they spend time (Harris, 1995). Likewise, parents are conscious active agents who react to and affect their children’s environments. The ongoing interplay among family members means that the family system is a dynamic entity characterized by constant change at all levels (Lerner & Walls, 1999). These tenets of developmental systems thinking focus the attention of researchers on the relations between different levels of the developmental system, and changes in these relations are depicted as the primary cause of developmental change.

Bengston, Vern L.; Acock, Alan C.; Allen, Katherine R.; Dilworth-Anderson, Peggye; Klein, David M.. Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research (p. 471). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.