Questions We Can Help You To Answer
Applying the ABCX Model of Stress
Paper instructions:
Question: Applying the ABCX Model of Stress
Select a family stressor and analyze the factors that make a family more or less crisis-prone. Why do different families respond so differently to similar stressor events? Discuss these factors in terms of the ABCX model's focus on resources and meanings or perceptions.
(You must use at least two references from the readings to support your answer)
Unit reading: Family Stress and Violence
INTRODUCTION
In the 1950s, Dr. Reuben Hill, often called the grandfather of family social science, asked a research question in a new way. Instead of looking at mental illness and other dysfunctional outcomes in families, he looked at the Great Depression, a period he had lived through as a child, and asked, why, with the entire country under the same social and economic stressors, did some families get through it together and others fall apart? Through his research, the ABCX model of stress was born, and it has been used to address many different stressor events (the A-factor in that model) since that time. In this unit, you will have the opportunity to use the model to analyze a family stressor and to identify the resources (the B factor) and the perceptions of the event (the C factor) that determine if and how well the family will cope or manage the stressor, and how well they adapt after the event.
Chapter 13 in your text covers many normative and nonnormative stressors. Normative stressors and transitions are those that are typical to many families (for example, developmental and lifecycle events), while nonnormative stressors and transitions are those that are not common to most families. Stressors are often negative but can also be positive, and yet create stress and require adaptation (McCubbin, Joy, Cauble, Comeau, Patterson & Needle, 1980). Many of the developmental and transitional issues in couple relationships, marriage, and parenting explored in the previous units fall into the category of normative stressors.
Additional journal articles were selected for this unit to address two nonnormative issues that have impacted many U.S. families. Hurricane Katrina unfolded before our eyes on the evening news, but we did not begin to identify all the stressors impacting the economic, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of families. War and terrorism has become another current theme in the stress and coping literature regarding U.S. families, although forms of war and terrorism have been present for some or all U.S. families throughout our history. Johnson (2008) and Heitler (2010) wrote about domestic abuse and violence as a form of terrorism.
In this unit, you will review many forms of violence within families as well as violence experienced by family members, originating outside the family. As you review each section of Chapter 13, seek out research to support your role as a prevention specialist and advocate for families.
References
Anderson, K. L. (2010). Conflict, power, and violence in families. Journal of Marriage & Family, 72(3), 726–742.
Eckstein, J. (2011). Reasons for staying in intimately violent relationships: Comparisons of men and women and messages communicated to self and others. Journal of Family Violence, 26(1), 21–30.
Eshleman, J. R., & Bulcroft, R. A. (2010). The family (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Heitler, S. (2010). Terrorism as large scale domestic violence. Retrieved from http://www.therapyhelp.com/terrorism-as-large-scale-domestic-violence
Johnson, M. P. (2008). A typology of domestic violence: Intimate terrorism, violent resistance, and situational couple violence. Lebanon, NH: Northeastern University Press.
Macdermid Wadsworth, S. M. (2010). Family risk and resilience in the context of war and terrorism. Journal of Marriage & Family, 72(3), 537–556.
McCubbin, H. I., Joy, C. B., Cauble, A. E., Comeau, J. K., Patterson, J. M., & Needle, R. H. (1980). Family stress and coping: A decade review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 42(4), 855–871.
Reid, M., & Reczek, C. (2011). Stress and support in family relationships after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Family Issues, 32(10), 1397–1418.
