1. Introduction
2. Organization of the Course
3. Systemic Approaches to Human Behavior
4. Bioecological Model
5. Contexts
6. Influence
7. Family Life Cycle Model
8. Approach
9. Jay Haley
10. Why look at transitions?
11. Life Events Precipitate Change
12. Two Types of Family Changes
13. Dysfunctional Families
14. Stressors on Family System
15. Six Stages of Predictable Family Changes
16. Thought Questions
17. Timing and Dysfunction in This Systems Model
18. Lesson 1A Assignments

Dysfunctional Families

Dysfunctional families characteristically confuse shifts in status, exits and functions especially when the family pretends to have more power over membership or status of members than it actually has.

Examples:

• Parents who think they can tell their son whom to marry (keep in mind in some cultures, however, this is normative)
• A mother who ignores that the son has married and continues to act in her relationship with him as if nothing has changed (ignoring her daughter-in-law)
• Teenagers' parents expect them to tell them all about what they are doing (reading their diaries, talking to chaperones at a dance)