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Family Stress

Article · January 2013

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_17

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Guy Bodenmann
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Chapter Title Family Stress

Copyright Year 2012
Copyright Holder Springer Science+Business Media New York
Corresponding Author Family Name Randall
Particle
Given Name Ashley K.
Suffix
Division/Department Family Studies & Human Development
Organization/University University of Arizona
Street 650 Park Ave N Tucson
City Tucson
Postcode 85721
State AZ
Country USA
Email akrandal@email.arizona.edu
Email akrandal@gmail.com
Author Family Name Bodenmann
Particle
Given Name Guy
Suffix
Division/Department Department of Psychology
Organization/University University of Zurich
Street 14/Box 23
Postcode 8051
City Binzmuehlestrasse
State Zurich
Country Switzerland
Email guy.bodenmann@psychologie.uzh.ch
Comp. by: MohamedSameer Stage: Galleys Chapter No.: 17 Title Name: EBM
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1
F

2 Family Stress Family stress theories first emerged in the 25

1930s and 1940s (Angell, 1936; Koos, 1946). 26

3 Ashley K. Randall1 and Guy Bodenmann2 The most influential family stress theory (ABC- 27
1
4 Family Studies & Human Development, X theory) was proposed by Hill (1958), and was 28

5 University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA further developed by Burr (1973) and McCubbin 29
2
6 Department of Psychology, University of and Patterson (1983). The ABC-X theory 30

7 Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse, Zurich, Switzerland includes three interacting variables: the event 31

(A) that interacts with the family’s resources 32

(B), which allows the family to create their mean- 33

8 Synonyms ing and definition of the event (C). These three 34

variables then produce the crisis (X). Although 35

9 Dyadic stress; Marital stress; Relationship stress; the ABC-X model is still used by some research 36

10 Stress groups and its utility is recognized by theorists, it 37

is limited in different ways. First, the model 38

explicitly deals with major stressors (critical life 39

11 Definition events) and crisis, and is not appropriate for 40

understanding everyday stress processes in fam- 41

12 Family stress can be defined as any stressor that ilies. Second, the model claims to have 42

13 concerns one or more members of the family (or a perspective on the whole family, but usually 43

14 the whole system) at a defined time, which only partners/parents (or even more often only 44

15 impacts the emotional connection between fam- one partner/parent) are targeted while contribu- 45

16 ily members, their mood, well-being, as well as tions of children are not considered. 46

17 the maintenance of the family relationship. Important theoretical additions of the ABC-X 47

model were made by Burr (1973) and Burr and 48

Klein (1994) by including the concepts of family 49

18 Description vulnerability and regeneration. These authors 50

focused more systematically on resources within 51

19 While stress has been described as an individual the family and the use of different types of coping 52

20 phenomenon for many decades (e.g., according to specific phases in the stress process. 53

21 Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974; Lazarus & Subsequently, the complications the family faced 54

22 Folkman, 1984; Selye, 1974), family stress has in dealing with the stressor are addressed in the 55

23 been conceptualized independently from individ- revised family stress model. 56

24 ual stress theory. In the last two decades, marital research has 57

provided new and stimulating input to the 58

M.D. Gellman & J.R. Turner (eds.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine,

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9, # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
Comp. by: MohamedSameer Stage: Galleys Chapter No.: 17 Title Name: EBM
Date:27/2/12 Time:23:51:06 Page Number: 2

F 2 Family Stress

59 discussion of family stress. This line of research 2. Intensity of the stress 106

60 has led to the development of theoretical models (a) Macro: Stressors that can be common 107

61 of dyadic stress and research activity (e.g., critical life events). Examples 108

62 (Bodenmann, 2005; Story & Bradbury, 2004, would be (1) severe illness, (2) handicap, 109

63 Randall & Bodenmann, 2009). Dyadic stress rep- (3) unemployment, (4) death of a family 110

64 resents a distinct form of family stress, involving member, or (5) important phases and 111

65 both partners directly or indirectly. According to changes, such as the birth of a child or an 112

66 Bodenmann (1997, 2005) dyadic stress is defined empty nest. 113

67 as a stressful event or encounter that always con- (b) Minor: These are “everyday” stressors, 114

68 cerns both partners, either directly when both such as (1) being late for an appointment 115

69 partners are confronted by the same stressful or school, (2) having to get children to 116

70 event, when there is stress within the relationship their extracurricular activities, or (3) stress 117

71 (e.g., disagreement with one’s partner), or indi- at work, for example, both parents are 118

72 rectly when the stress of one partner spills over to working, one child is sick, and the family 119

73 the close relationship and affects both partners. In has to reorganize their work schedules to 120

74 both cases, dyadic stress elicits joint appraisals care for the child. 121

75 (in addition to individual appraisals) of the stress- 3. Duration of the stress 122

76 ful situation that extends the primary and second- (a) Acute. These stressors tend to be tempo- 123

77 ary appraisals in Lazarus’ (1966) approach. rary and may be associated only with 124

78 These joint coping efforts, or cooperative use of a single instance, for example, forgetting 125

79 common resources within the couples, are something at the grocery store or moving 126

80 referred to as dyadic coping (Bodenmann, 2005). to a different house or city. 127

81 Although the definition of dyadic stress has (b) Chronic. These stressors are stable and 128

82 been used primarily in the focus of close relation- can last a long time, for example, having 129

83 ships, it can be easily expanded to family sys- a child that is ill or a partner that is 130

84 tems. Specifically, this approach focuses on the unemployed. 131

85 following aspects of family stress (see Randall & 4. Affected person of the stressor. Is it only one 132

86 Bodenmann (2009) for a review): partner/parent, parents, one child or several 133

87 1. Locus of the stress children, or is the whole family affected by 134

88 (a) External: Stress that comes from outside the stressful encounter? For example, the 135

89 the family, such as: (1) financial stress or severe illness of a partner/parent affects the 136

90 (2) stress with regard to the extended fam- whole family system, whereas one daughter 137

91 ily members, such as parents-in-law staying home sick may only affect her (the 138

92 (grandparents) or other relatives. For daughter) and perhaps the partner who is 139

93 example, if a grandparent is sick it may staying home with her. 140

94 be the primary responsibility of their child Stress has been shown to have detrimental 141

95 to take care of them; subsequently, the effects on health and well-being on all family 142

96 mother or father may exhibit a stressful members (see Randall & Bodenmann (2009) for 143

97 response and may be emotionally affected. a review). Recently, studies have shown the link 144

98 (b) Internal: Stress that originates within the between stress and behavioral medicine, specifi- 145

99 family. Examples would be conflicts and cally with respect to taking care of patients with 146

100 tensions between parents, parents and dementia (Mitrani et al., 2006), and when the 147

101 children, or siblings. For example, if par- child is suffering from a chronic illness 148

102 ents have severe marital problems and if (Lewis & Vitulano, 2003). In addition, studies 149

103 they often engage in disagreements, this have shown increased family conflict when one 150

104 may affect the family climate and the child was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (Wil- 151

105 well-being of all family members. liams, Laffel, & Hood, 2009). 152
Comp. by: MohamedSameer Stage: Galleys Chapter No.: 17 Title Name: EBM
Date:27/2/12 Time:23:51:07 Page Number: 3

Family Stress 3 F
153 Families operate as a system and each member Koos, E. L. (1946). Families in trouble. New York: Kings 182

154 of the family is an interconnected entity that Crown Press. 183

Lazarus, R. S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping 184
155 functions as a whole. Specifically, individuals process. New York: McGraw-Hill. 185
156 cannot be understood without taking into account Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, 186
157 the family as a whole (Segrin & Flora, 2005). and coping. New York: Springer. 187

158 Thus, family stress impacts each member of the Lewis, M., & Vitulano, L. A. (2003). Biopsychosocial 188
issues and risk factors in the family when the child 189
159 family and may have detrimental effects on their has a chronic illness. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric 190
160 closeness, emotional connectedness, communi- Clinics of North America, 12, 389–399. 191
161 cation, and, ultimately, their well-being. McCubbin, H. I., & Patterson, J. M. (1983). Family tran- 192
sitions: Adaptation to stress. In H. I. McCubbin & 193
C. R. Figley (Eds.), Stress and the family: Coping 194
with normative transitions (Vol. 2, pp. 5–25). 195
162 References and Readings New York: Brunner/Mazel. 196
Mitrani, V. B., Lewis, J. E., Feaster, D. J., Czaja, S. J., 197
163 Angell, R. C. (1936). The family encounters the depres- Eisdorfer, C., Schulz, R., et al. (2006). The role of 198
164 sion. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. family functioning in the stress process of dementia 199
165 Bodenmann, G. (1997). The influence of stress and coping caregivers: A structural family framework. The 200
166 on close relationships: A two-year longitudinal study. Gerontologist, 46(1), 97–105. 201
167 Swiss Journal of Psychology, 56, 156–164. Randall, A. K., & Bodenmann, G. (2009). The role of 202
168 Bodenmann, G. (2005). Dyadic coping and its significant stress on close relationships and marital satisfaction. 203
169 for marital functioning. In T. Revenson, K. Kayser, & Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 105–115. 204
170 G. Bodenmann (Eds.), Couples coping with stress: Segrin, C., & Flora, J. (2005). Theoretical perspectives on 205
171 Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping (pp. 33–50). family communication: Family systems theory. In 206
172 Washington, DC: American Psychological Family communication (pp. 28–33). Mahwah, NJ: 207
173 Association. Erlbaum. 208
174 Burr, W. R. (1973). Theory construction and the sociology Selye, H. (1974). Stress without distress. Philadelphia: 209
175 of the family. New York: Wiley. J.B. Lippincott. 210
176 Burr, W. R., & Klein, S. R. (1994). Reexamining family Story, L. B., & Bradbury, T. N. (2004). Understanding 211
177 stress: New theory and research. California: Sage. marriage and stress: Essential questions and chal- 212
178 Dohrenwend, S., & Dohrenwend, B. P. (1974). Stressful lenges. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 1139–1162. 213
179 life events: Their nature and effects. New York: Wiley. Williams, L. B., Laffel, L. M. B., & Hood, K. K. (2009). 214
180 Hill, R. (1958). Generic features of families under stress. Diabetes-specific family conflict and psychological 215
181 Social Casework, 39, 139–150. distress in paediatric Type 1 diabetes. Diabetic Medi- 216
cine, 26(9), 908–914. 217

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