Family Dynamics

Healthy Families:

• Communicate, listen, and value time to talk together.
• Affirm and support one another.
• Develop trust among family members and take care and time to mend breaches of trust.
• Have a sense of play and humor. They share leisure time together.
• Exhibit a sense of shared responsibility.
• Teach a sense of right and wrong.
• Value and practice service to others.
• Share a spiritual/religious belief that is passed on in positive and meaningful ways.
• Respect the privacy of one another’s confidences.
• Mutually negotiate rules and compromises, and individuals let go of a position when it is for the family’s greater good.
• View problems as a normal part of life, develop problem-solving techniques, and seek help when necessary.

Most Importantly Healthy Families respond to change. Change is vital to the functioning of a family. Would the same bedtime that you had when you were 2 still be appropriate now that you are 20? Of course not. As such, families must develop and adapt to whatever situation presents itself.

Changing Relationships with Your Parents

You CAN Go Home Again

Your Parents' Divorce

Family Relationships

Relationships among family members are the major influence on development of emerging adults. As students leave for college, these family relationships evolve at the same time. Parents must readjust their identity as parents and as a couple. The goal is to develop an adult-to-adult aspect of the parent-child relationship. Children always need parents, but the relationship may become more peer-like. Accepting that adult children want more privacy in certain areas of their lives is part of this process.

Talking to your Parents about Sex

Coming Out to Your Parents

When Your Parent Has A Mental Illness

Family Dysfunction

Family dysfunction can be any condition that interferes with healthy family functioning. Most families have some periods of time where functioning is impaired by stressful circumstances (death in the family, a parent's serious illness, etc.). Healthy families tend to return to normal functioning after the crisis passes. In dysfunctional families, however, problems tend to be chronic and children do not consistently get their needs met. Negative patterns of parental behavior tend to be dominant in their children's lives.

Dysfunctional Families: Recognizing and Overcoming Their Effects

Coping with Parents, Partners, & Children

Adult Children of Alcoholics

Understanding Dysfunctional Relationship Patterns in Your Family