The Psychology of Family Resilience Essay Example for Free

The Psychology of Family Resilience Essay At the start of the discussion of â€Å"Family Resilience: Israeli Mothers’ Perspectives†, the meaning of the term resilience was presented by Cohen, et. al as defined by different authors. Resilience, according to the Cohen et al, is an â€Å"adverse situation experienced by children with risk present†, which later developed to â€Å"a process of successful coping with risk† (Anderson, 1997 as cited by Cohen et al, 2002). Another description that was cited was by Valentine Feinauer (1994), â€Å"resilience as dimension of growth and development and related to the ability of the family to bounce back, to survive, to overcome their difficulties and to improve†. Summing up the different description of resilience by different authors, family resilience is how family members manage to cope with the presence of stressful events. The main objective of the study is to investigate how women in stressed family systems identify and understand family resilience in Israel which is believed to have a strong stand on family closeness and protection; and is a contribution to studies and researches done in the psychology of resilience. The method used has an assumption that people tend to select what experience they wanted to talk about and produce something out of that experience. The sample included fifteen Israeli mothers, having children below eighteen years of age, who had experienced a crisis such as death, accident or illness for the past year were interviewed at their own houses using Hebrew as the language from one to four hours. The manner of interviewing managed to extract respondent’s feelings towards the stressful event. Questions regarding the â€Å"stressful event, meanings towards the experience, description of family healing and definition of family resilience† (Cohen et al, 2002) were asked off the respondent. The analysis of the data was done by each of the author using the grounded theory methods with constant comparative method and open, axial, and selective coding. With open coding, relevant ideas were identified from the research questions, while axial coding uses the ideas from open coding in order to extract useful quotations and selective coding focuses on the reduction of categories to be able to achieve theoretical saturation wherein â€Å"no new or relevant data seems to emerge† (Cohen et al, 2002). Findings were categorized to: expressiveness, connectedness, flexibility, optimism and family values. These five categories had helped, as admitted by the respondents, in the process of healing from a stressful event even though some of the family members find it hard manage or lack these categories ended up with a rating of low family resilience. Cohen et al (2002) mentioned that it is important to have communication and openness during crisis to be able to overpower the condition. The categories presented by the authors in which the results of the interviews were sorted out positively to encourage respondents. With the presence of expressiveness, connectedness, flexibility, optimism and family values, an improved communication within family members might occur. And as a result each of the members of the family will end up finding ways helping one another to overcome certain crisis. Communication and openness within family members will sooner improve the present relationship of members. Since they are more open with each other closer ties will be binding them up. An article entitled â€Å"Children of a parent with a mental illness: perspectives on need† examined different points of view, the parent, the children and the mental professional; with the issues of children whose parents are experiencing mental illness. This study’s objectives are as follows: the examination of different viewpoints on the issue and the determination of perspective differences through separate interviews of children and parents. In order to meet these objectives, authors used two components for the methodology. The first one is establishing focus groups for both parents and children and the other one is creating a questionnaire to be able to quantify the coping strategies of children given that their parents with mental illness are hospitalized. Questions were made in order to pursue positive discussions and facilitators were chosen based on understanding of mental health and research. Results for parent focus groups were categorized into seven as enumerated by the authors: (1) issues around major mental health episodes, (2) importance of siblings, (3) children coping mechanisms, (4) external support for children with a parent that has mental illness, (5) education for children who have a parent with a mental illness, (6) community education, and (7) respite. On the other, the authors also mentioned the categorized result for the children focus groups as the following: (1) issues on major mental health episodes of the parent’s illness, (2) importance of siblings, (3) children coping strategies, (4) importance of friendship and (5) taking on extra roles when the parent is unwell. There would really be changes in the way children would be living their every day lives having a parent with mental illness. The situation they are in at present might trigger the same effect on the children since they can see what happens with their parent. They may end up thinking that they will somehow acquire the same illness as their parent. During times of hospitalization of the parent, children must have someone who fully understood the illness to provide the children a thorough explanation of what had happened and why the parent has to be hospitalized. The presence of friends of the same age will also be a great help to lure away their minds from the situation and made them enjoy their childhood. Having friends around may temporary take them away from pursuing adult roles. The journal articles presented both have problems that needed solutions that may help the respondents. The method used by both studies was interview and/or questionnaire. And at the end of the discussion, authors point out some things that might be able to help the affected people respond and manage their situation. Cohen et al mentioned that communication among family members is important while Mayberry et al specified that young people should know how to manage their own lives than to rely to the people around them for support. The article â€Å"Family Resilience: Israeli Mothers’ Perspective gathered the information needed from mothers, as interviewees, from a family that had recently experienced a stressful event. On the other hand, the article â€Å"Children of a parent with mental illness: perspectives on need† acquired data from both children and parents, as respondents, from a family with a parent having mental illness.  Scientific evidences were provided by authors of both articles that they mentioned what methods they have used and done to interpret the data and get the results. In conclusion, both the articles dealt with family problems and how the members are able to cope and adjust from their present situation. The difference of the two articles is on which family member they had focused on, Cohen and his colleagues focused on mothers while Mayberry and his colleagues focused on children and parent (not mentioning which parent is involve or has mental illness).

Social Norms of State University Students Concerning Alcohol Use Essay

Social Norms of State University Students Concerning Alcohol Use Alcohol use on college campuses has been a hot issue for students and faculty for many years. Yet, there is still no concrete evidence as to the effects of alcohol use on college students. The perceived situation is college students binge drink and their grades are adversely affected. Is this a social norm? The question is whether these perceived social norms towards alcohol use on college campuses are in fact the social norms of college students. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the true social norms of State University student’s attitude and practice in regards to alcohol. The sample is significant to Bradley University, using only Bradley students. The study will benefit the Wellness Center in its current social norms campaign. The study’s goal is to better understand the attitudes and practices of Bradley students toward alcohol consumption. METHOD SECTION Before we decided what methods we were going to use to collect the information, a mock focus group was held. The mock focus group consisted of Bradley students ranging in ages from 18 through 22, and was a mixture of on-campus and off-campus students. The purpose of the mock-focus group was to decide what types of questions should be chosen to get the most useful information for the social norms campaign. The mock focus group led the study in the direction of asking students not only their personal alcohol uses, but also how other students’ drinking affects their lives. We were looking for quantitative data; therefore, the idea of a focus group was immediately rejected. Constraints of money, time and manpower prevented the use of any probability sample. Many sampling... .... The questions were not in depth, but did give direction for further study. A larger and more age-diversified study may help correct possible errors in this survey. The fact that ninety percent of students in the study resided on-campus may also have effected the campaign and should be checked for errors. The study was limited to answers provided, in majority, by those students who can not legally drink, which is a factor that could limit the study. The two areas presented above as areas of significance could benefit from further study, as more in-depth research could provide more accurate results. The results of the study indicate the perceived social norms of college students may not be true. College students are perceived as heavy drinkers, yet the results seem to indicate a majority of students consume only a few drinks per week. More in depth study is suggested.

Footnote to Youth Reaction Paper Essay

â€Å"The youth is the hope of motherland.† It has always been said that we, the youth, is the hope of our country. This has been the mentality of almost everybody in the society. I, myself had this mentality strongly rooted in my mind before I had read the story, â€Å"Footnote to Youth.† Yes, the youth could possibly be the hope of our country or even of the world. As many have said, we are creative, dynamic, good thinkers, marvelous doers and a lot more. All these positive things also have corresponding negative thoughts from those who don’t believe in our capacity. They say we are lazy, dependent, coward, apathetic and a lot more. I think it is neither laziness nor dependence that drives us youth into somebody useless in the society. We never wanted to become just a piece of crap of course. We always have wanted to do something extraordinary not just for ourselves’ sake. We have always wanted to be something the older and younger generation would be proud of. For me, the dilemma is not within us. It is on how our parents and the people around us treat us and affects us. I admit our minds are not as weak as the minds of the little children. We cannot be easily manipulated. But we’re not also as fixed-minded as the older people. We need guidance. How can we be the hope of the country if our parents themselves don’t lead us to the right path? How can we be the hope if our parents themselves don’t believe that there is real hope from within us? How can we be the hope if our parents themselves cannot correct the mistakes we do? Just like Dodong and Blas, we are preoccupied of the thinking that we can do everything we want to; that we are ready to do the things that the older people can; that what we think is always right. Yes we can do everything if we really insist to but without the guidance of our parents or the older people who know better, we will never know if we are making the right steps toward the right road. They hold the key that runs the engine of hope within the youth. I still believe that we, the youth, is the hope of the motherland but this will just come to reality if the older generation, especially our parents know how to bring out the best in us. -Jogie Rodriguez Torres, BST- IV June 25, 2013

The Origins Of Postmodernism And Architecture - 1200 Words

This essay discusses the origins of Postmodernism in art and architecture in terms of Venturi’s critique and explains the meaning of the term â€Å"puritanical moral language.† It will define alternatives posed by Venturi and give examples of works by two Australian architects. The first architect is Glenn Murcutt, whose love of the Australian landscape has been the inspiration for many of his buildings. The second is architectural firm McBride Charles Ryan, a partnership of Debbie Ryan (Interior Designer) and Rob McBride (Architect) whose vision is to provide innovative solutions and technical excellence with its unique designs. Typically modernity was a time where the industrial revolution treated the building in the same way it responded to†¦show more content†¦The postmodernists with their historical citations rebelled against the dogmatic modernists. The term Postmodern was applied to architecture and Robert Venturi formulated an antifunctionalist thesis in his book, â€Å"Complexity and Contradiction in Modern Architecture,† 1966 and later â€Å"Learning from Vegas† 1971. Buildings and billboards in Las Vegas were re-evaluated for functionality. Postmodernism, oppositional of modernism, exhibits the failures of modernism with its inferior structure, use of cheap materials and simplistic design, a perfect recipe for a disaster and developers. There is an absence of humanism in its buildings and a lack of engagement with its environment and the viewer. The postmodern building is the historical reference of style through use of ornamentation dating back to the Arts and Crafts, Art Deco and Art Nouveau Movements, good use of colour, a sense of humour and irony and signage that is independent of function. Venturi’s â€Å"puritanical moral language† is his way of stating that you can have both, and not be restricted to and/or; however it can’t compromise the form or the function of the building. There has to be a visual language between the building and its inhabitants and a balance between functionality and aesthetic, and when one is compromised, the design fails. Australian architect Glenn Murcutt pours his creativity into smaller projects that let him work alone and design economical