Intergenerational Family Systems

Definition

● A Family with a biological parent living in the house with an adult child

● Examples– A 76 year old parent moves in with her Daughter and

Husband– An adult child gets divorced and moves back home with

his parents

Definitions

● Differs from multigenerational family– A group of people from different generations who may or

not be related– Example

– A family takes in an older adult who is not related but needs care

Incidence over time

Doubled since 1970

Assessing and Treating

● Knowledge of several areas– Aging– Beliefs about how family members relate to elders– Beliefs about the aging process– In the next slides you will be asked to post three

beliefs you have about the aging process

Life Course Developmental Perspective

looks at how chronological age, relationships, common life transitions, and social change shape people’s lives from birth to death.

Impacts

● Cultural and Family Expectations● Life Course Developmental Perspective● Intergenerational Relationships

Family are Systems

● System are always in motion, they are never at some final place

● Family evolves consistently

Examples of Families Evolving

● Stop for a minute and think about a time in your families life when it had to adjust to a change, when it had to evolve.

● Reflect on that moment to understand the concept

Developmental Issues

● Normative Developmental Transitions– Transition we make through life that are expected based

upon our development– For a family think of

● When a couple has a child● When the child goes to school● When one parent gets a raise● When a second child is born● When the children leave the as adults

Developmental Transitions

● Non-normative– Transition that are outside the usual developmental or

“normal developmental process”– For a family

● Death of a young child● Layoff or loss of job for the main breadwinner● Premature death of a parent● Elderly adult moving back into the home of a family

Assessing Families Using a Life course Perspective

● In the assessment process– Focus on the notion of linked lives– Emphasis on history as an important factor– All contributing the the divergent paths taken by

individuals and families across the life span

Principles

● Age Stratification– People of different generations confront unique

challenges because of individual development and social change

● Human Development over time– Individual time– Generational Time– Historical Time

Principles

● Cohorts– Groups of People who enetr a similar experince at the

same time

● Transitions– Events serve as markers

Trajectories

● Pathways of Individual and Family Development● Different Meaning for Different Individuals● Family Trajectories are determined by the place of

the Family in the– Larger Social World– Their Generational Time– Their Historical Time

Pause the Presentation

● Go to the link below● Once there complete a timeline (follow the

directions)● Create a timeline for members of your family of

different generations● Look at those timelines and consider how history

and when you were born impact you and how they may impact a family– http://www.OurTimeLines.com

Review

● Based upon what you have learned?– About Generational Difference– About the impact of people's cohort group– About the elderly and their impact in the family

● What new insights do you have about family assessment● What do you know now that you did not know before this

presentation