Social Science Question

Overview

Your Families & Change: Coping with Stressful Events and Transitions text states, “Families today are being challenged with an unbelievable number of changes and problems that have the capacity to produce stress and crisis” (p. 18). Choose a family situation you have observed and apply the 10 dimensions of family stressor events listed below. Be sure and give a short case study of the family you have chosen.

1. Internal versus External refers to whether the source of the crisis was internal or external to the social system affected.
2. Pervasive versus Bounded refers to the degree to which the crisis affects systems or only a limited part of the system.
3. Precipitate Onset versus Gradual Onset marks the degree of suddenness with which the crisis occurred that is, without warning.
4. Intense versus Mild involves the degree of severity of the crisis.
5. Transitory versus Chronic refers to the degree to which the crisis represents a short- or long-term problem.
6. Random versus Expectable marks the degree to which the crisis could be expected or predicted.
7. Natural Generation versus Artificial Generation connotes the distinction between crises that arise from natural conditions and those that come about through technological or other human-made effects.
8. Scarcity versus Surplus refers to the degree to which the crisis represents a shortage or overabundance of vital commodities---human, material, and nonmaterial.
9. Perceived Insolvable versus Perceived Solvable suggests the degree to which those individuals involved in the crisis believe the crisis is open to reversal or some level of resolution.
10. Substantive Context: (This dimension differs from the previous 9 in that it subsumes a set of subject areas, each of which may be regarded as a separate continuum graded from low to high.) Using this dimension, one can determine whether the substantive nature of the crisis is primarily to the political, economic, moral, social, religious, health, or sexual domains or any combination thereof.

Assignment Requirements:

• 3 pages.