Develops a detailed profile of dysfunction and disablement in the open family system: its intrinsic defects, response to crisis, and likely process of breakdown when overstressed. Suggests that somatic symptoms of stress in children may grow out of accelerated independence combined with parental overinvolvement. (JAC)

Empirical knowledge of coping usage and coping effectiveness has lagged behind popular interest. To examine the effectiveness of specific coping efforts in a single role area--parenting--panel data from a large metropolitan population were examined. The same coping efforts were assessed using two criteria of effectiveness: the extent to which they…

This paper discusses the concept of stress by drawing from social-psychological, occupational, family, and medical perspectives. A model of stress based on an integration of these perspectives is developed and then applied to the family relationship over time. The components of the model consist of: (1) a stressor stimulus, any situation that may…

This paper describes the application of a systems approach model to assessing families with a labeled noncompliant child. The first section describes and comments on the applied methodology for the model. The second section describes the classification of 61 families containing a child labeled by the family as noncompliant. An analysis of data…

Recent developments in family stress and coping research and a review of data and observations of families in a war-induced crisis situation led to an investigation of the relationship between a stressor and family outcomes. The study, based on the Double ABCX Model in which A (the stressor event) interacts with B (the family's crisis-meeting…