Family Stress Management

by Boss, Pauline

• ISBN13: 9780803923812
• ISBN10: 0803923813
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1988-06-01
• Publisher: Sage Pubns

Summary

Why do some families survive stressful situations while others fall apart? Can a family's beliefs and values be used as a predictor of vulnerability to stress? And, most importantly, can family stress be prevented? Representing the first in-depth synthesis of current research on family stress, this provocative volume addresses these and other significant questions. Following an introductory chapter that provides a common theoretical framework, Boss shows the reader how to understand the process of recognizing and managing events and situations that cause high stress in families. Here emphasis is placed on the prevention of family problems caused by stress rather than on the problems themselves. In addition, concepts such as denial and boundary ambiguity are addressed. As the first integrated study on family stress management, this volume is ideally suited to undergraduate and graduate courses in family studies, family therapy, marriage, social work, and family psychology courses. "An excellent book differentiating, at the family and personal levels, between the useful and the not so good in the development and management of stress. . . . Counselors concerned with stress in families should have this book." --Catholic Marriage Advisory Council "Family Stress Management presents an empirically derived and conceptually creative model for understanding stress from a family systems perspective. Pauline Boss succeeds in offering clinicians and practitioners alike an eminently practical formulation that extends the pioneering work of Reuben Hill and establishes her place in the current generation of major family stress theorists and researchers." --Howard A. Liddle, Temple University "Family Stress Management does more than simply provide an introduction to family stress and crisis theory; it advances our understanding of the complexity of family responses to internal and external stressors and thus provides a necessary theoretical bases for family services." --Review and Expositor "This book provides an excellent overview of the central constructs and issues involved in the understanding and treatment of families under stress and crisis . . . . The first person style of presentation and the frequent use of anecdotes to clarify the points that are made makes for interesting reading. Boss has created an informative and easily read text that should be useful to both students and practitioners interested in sharpening their understanding of family functioning." --Contemporary Psychology

Table of Contents

The Family

Stress Reducing or Stress Producing?

Definitions

A Guide to Family Stress Theory

Coping, Adapting... or Is It Managing?

Boundary Ambiguity

A Barrier to Family Stress Management

Denial

Another Barrier to Family Stress Management

Family Values and Belief Systems

Influences on Family Stress Management

The Family's External Context

Victimization and Family Crisis

Where Did We Come From And Where Are We Now?

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