Synopsis:
Families today are experiencing untold pressures and are expected to shoulder enormous burdens at a time when resources for support are becoming ever scarcer. This important book examines the effects of stress on both children and parents and explores various strategies for coping. The authors-experts in child health and development and in business and social policy-emphasize that the problems of the family and of its members cannot be considered individually. They view the family as a dynamic system whose health is vitally related to its internal relationships and its interactions with other social networks. Stress in this context can be either a positive or a negative influence on the family's effectiveness in raising children, depending on the personal and public resources available. The strength of the book lies in its integrated approach to a many-sided problem. The authors provide reviews of research, clinical applications, and theoretical discussions, including several frameworks for understanding the constellation of factors within the family that affect children's development. They examine specific situations that can present families with formidable challenges: unemployment, divorce, two-career families, single parenthood,teenage pregnancy, demands from the workplace. Some of these situations are traumatic but brief; others, such as chronic illness, require long-term coping strategies. The authors show the similarities that underlie these stressful situations-how they can affect the fabric of family life and the development of the young child. The emphasis throughout the book is on policy implications: the urgent need for more enlightened and supportive corporate and government involvement. Unless we make the well-being of the family a priority, the number of children in adverse situations will continue to increase. This book will serve as an indispensable guide to psychologists, pediatricians, psychiatrists, educators, business executives, and government officials.
Review:
This book examines the impact of stress on the family and offers a new perspective on methods of coping... In Support of Families lives up to its title and is highly recommended for all professionals who work with individuals as well as with families. The family systems model provides a clear and pragmatic focus, and it is refreshing to see the strengths and resiliencies in families emphasized.--Hospital and Community Psychiatry
Recommended as an excellent sourcebook for those interested in long-term coping strategies.--J. S. McCrary "Choice "
This readable and significant book should be of wide appeal to mental health professionals; one hopes that its message will also reach policy makers.--Readings
Offers a multidimensional survey of ways in which individual and family units cope with stress. The fifteen essays...present fresh slants on such subjects as single mothers, family life and corporate policies, teenage pregnancy, and education of families for parenting. Although targeted for therapists and specialists in family service agencies, this is also a helpful resource for laypersons interested in the changing status of families.--Cultural Information Service
Through poignant case histories, reviews of research, and policy analyses, the book demonstrates how support from all systems--educational, health care, and governmental--is vital to families... The strength of this book lies in its discussion of social policy, its well-defined approach to problems, and its delineation of successful factors in programs that have provided support for families and children. It is an invaluable resource for physicians, therapists, educators, and social workers interested in policy changes to help families.--New England Journal of Medicine
This timely and integrated anthology of papers from the field gives a humanistic and scholarly approach to the subject... Sensitive and insightful.--Yale Scientific
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