According to research, a family has a life cycle just like an individual. The family also has life stages and a unique development story. The family progresses in a life cycle from the moment it is founded until it loses all its members. During this cycle, the child encounters important life events and experiences developmental periods. The society in which the family is located has a great impact on shaping the life cycle.
When talking about the family life cycle, it will not be possible not to mention Duvall because the first version was developed by Duvall. The duration of the stages is not certain and varies within families. The four stages of the cycle are;
Married couples
Families with young children
The child during adolescence Families with adult children
Families with adult children
The lifestyle of families founded by couples includes having children. starts to change. They have now taken on the role of parents. As children grow, relationships and processes within the family begin to change. These expanding families become smaller as children leave home with their roles as young adults. When the last child leaves home, the period called "empty nest" begins. Retirement also affects family life and causes it to enter a different period. With these changes and steps taken, crises may occur within the family. All these stages are taken into consideration in the family support process and crises related to life cycles are carefully separated. Each life cycle has its own crises and methods of approaching these crises differ.
Adjustment problems may be seen in newly married couples. Factors such as difficulty in adjusting to new roles and differences in family and upbringing may create crises in this phase.
When we look at couples with young children, we see that they now also take on the role of parents. Differences of life with children, increase in responsibilities, etc. Situations affect this process.
Families with children in adolescence are considered to have reached the size limit. All individuals live in the same house. Conflicts specific to adolescence and generation conflicts occur in this period. It is common in. Parents should be at the top of the power hierarchy and accept that adolescents are on the path to becoming independent individuals.
With adult children leaving home, families enter the middle life cycle. Especially mothers may struggle a lot during this period. Menopause, which occurs especially with middle age, also strengthens the mother's problems. In the period also called "empty nest", spouses have more free time. For this reason, they can find more time to take care of each other or their hobbies. However, at this point, problems may arise between spouses as the children, who act as a triangulation in the relationship, become distant.
Families in the advanced stage are those in which the last child leaves home. Stress decreases as children establish their own lives. Now, the old age period can be mentioned for spouses in their individual life cycles. Now spouses focus entirely on their relationships and expectations. According to research, women accept children leaving home more easily than men. They cope with this situation more easily.
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