Perspectives on the Family and Stress in Late Life

Abstract

(from the chapter) This chapter is organized around 3 principal functions of the family within the context of the stress process. First, the family is an arena in which stressors are generated by the problematic interactions of its members. Second, in their multiple social roles outside the family boundaries, family members may encounter problems that impact adversely on relationships and activities within the family. Third, the family is a social group able to mobilize resources in support of its members as they contend with life problems, regardless of the source of the problems. The authors discuss the variety of stressors to which the family is potentially exposed and how the supportive resources of the family can serve to blunt the impact of these stressors. In identifying stressors whose origins are within the family, the authors emphasize some of the problematic interactions that can be found in the everyday lives of very ordinary family relations, such as the role set. The authors emphasize that the structural forms and role composition of families and the social and economic circumstances in which they are embedded can influence the life-course trajectories of families and their members. These kinds of influences, along with the biological imperatives of aging, make the family, the interactions among its members, and the challenges that confront them highly dynamic and differentiated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved).