Identify and describe which stage your family is currently experiencing from the “Family Life
Cycle Framework” in Chapter 2. What are the benefits and deficits connected to this stage?
According to the Family Life Cycle Framework, I appear to be experiencing both the stages of
“leaving home: emerging young adults” and “joining of families through marriage/union”
(Goldenberg et al., 2017). According to Goldenberg et al. (2017), during each stage,
development proceeds by way of task accomplishment and any characteristics of the previous
period are carried over into the next stage. Keeping this in mind, despite being engaged and
preparing to adapt to shared life with my partner, I recognize certain tasks within the “leaving
home” stage that have not yet been totally accomplished on my end (e.g., “establishment of self
in respect to work” and “establishment of self in community and larger society”) which have led
to my feeling as though I am stuck between two stages (Goldenberg et al., 2017).
That being said, Goldenberg et al. (2017) states that successful management of challenges in
one stage has a significant impact on its ability to effectively carry out the tasks of the
subsequent stage. Though I am living on my own and financially independent, I am still working
toward establishing a more secure career path while also making a place for myself within the
larger professional community. This can, in my opinion, be seen as both a benefit and a deficit
to my experience within this stage. From one perspective, the delay that my education has
caused serves a greater purpose in equipping me to serve as a better provider for the family
that my fiancée and I intend to have, but from another, I can see how said delay has negatively
impacted my ability to more fluidly move into the “joining of families” stage. Due to this delay, I
have numerous insecurities and fears related to taking on new commitments that will inevitably
conflict with present responsibilities and direction. Similarly, my age (34-year-old) holds the
ability to complicate our ability to eventually have children. In reference to the process of
coupling, which states that the average age at which people marry ranges between the mid-to-
late twenties with later marriages typically occurring due to the pursuit of higher education, I
recognize that prioritizing my education has impacted my ability to wholly complete one stage
and move into the next (Goldenberg et al., 2017).
With regard to the “joining of families” stage, however, I recognize that my partner and I are
effectively moving through the formation of partner systems as we figure out how to navigate
life as a couple. As we move from feeling the pressures of added expectation to feeling the joy
of realizing the growth of our support system, we feel fortunate to have come from foundations
of families that are loving, supportive, and involved. Because of this, the benefits to this stage
certainly appear to outweigh the deficits. Such benefits include but are not limited to:
establishing new relationships and support systems to aid in both good and difficult times,
having access to a larger social system which may bring about new friendships and
opportunities, the combining of finances to aid in the responsibility of paying bills, and having a
partner to stand by your side when conflict or tragedy arises. Family development, however, is
not linear, and I recognize that there will also be certain deficits that come into play during this
stage. For example, things like the added pressure of figuring out how to split time between two
families without causing upset, choosing to take on my partner’s financial responsibilities as my
own, or even facing potential tragedies such as the loss of a loved one or an inability to have
children. Should any of these things occur, successful movement into the next stage could
become complicated. As Goldenberg et al. (2017) states, however, families are far more
complex than the stage model suggests, and development involves multiple simultaneous
transitions as various members are undergoing differing degrees of interlocking life changes. It
is important to remember that competency does not mean having the ability to pass through a
particular stage stress free or without resisting change, but rather that it has the resilience to
use its strengths, resources, and effective interpersonal processes to master the necessary
transitions (Goldenberg et al., 2017).
Reference:
Goldenberg, I., Stanton, M., & Goldenberg, H. (2017). Family therapy: An overview (9th edition).
Cengage.
