Marina Everri

Family microtransitions: observing the process of change in families with adolescent children

The aim of the study is to explore the process of microtransitions in families with adolescent children. Original methodological procedures were designed in order to have families as the objects of study and to analyze data with particular attention to the family process of change. A family interview focused on the adolescent and family change was conducted with 12 families having an adolescent child. As indicators of change, we used coordination and oscillation. Our results highlight different patterns of family interactions, illustrating various ways through which families deal with change. Conclusive remarks focus on the theoretical relevance of the study, the method and the implications for family practice and policy.

Microtransitions and the Dynamics of Family Functioning

This paper presents a qualitative observational study aimed at exploring microtransitions in the relational dynamics of family functioning when the children are adolescents. Three concurrent levels were considered central for family functioning in this period: the acknowledgment of emerging competences, the redefinition of the power structure, and the regulation of interpersonal distances. Twenty-eight non-clinical Italian families with at least one adolescent child were interviewed and video-recorded in their homes. A stance-taking process analysis was carried out on the family interactive sequences arising in the course of the interviews. This analysis was based on the stances taken by all family members in relation to their reciprocal evaluations, positions, and alignments, which allowed us to point out the interlocking of competences, power and distances. Out of all the possible theoretical combinations of these three dimensions, we identified four forms of interaction. In two forms, the emerging changes were not incorporated in the families’ interactive repertoires by either reconfirming family stability or resisting family changes. In these ways of interacting competences, power, and distances were not reorganized. In the other two forms, instead, family microtransitions were observable in the extent to which family members either explored family changes or legitimated family reorganizations. In these processes, they could redefine and readdress their ways of interacting.

Linking micro- and macro-transitions: A case study on systemic family processes during adolescents' transition to high school

Abstract The main goal of this paper is to observe how family interactive reorganizations (micro-transitions) are amplified by adolescent children’s transition to high school (macro-transition) and reverberates through the whole family system involving parents and siblings. In-home video-recorded interviews and interactive tasks were carried out with families during 1 year before and after adolescents entered high school. The collected material was transcribed and analyzed according to inductive and microanalytical procedures. Results document how families having different subsystem composition (with or without siblings) get reorganized in different ways when facing the school transition: Families having a second-born child do not get reorganized on that event, as changes revolved around the lives of first-borns. Starting from these observations, I discuss implications for a systemic and ecological approach to generate new ideas on the study of family processes during life-course changes.

The individual-system relationship: methodological cues from the stance-taking process analysis

The individual-system relationship is one of the core, and most controversial, issues that have animated family therapy discussions since their origins. We advance the idea that an important point of departure for addressing this issue is the contamination of family therapy with constructs and methods coming from systemic research into normal family processes, such as the notion of stance-taking. Relying on empirical data taken from a study conducted with families dealing with adolescents, we introduce and discuss the notion of stance-taking as an innovative methodological procedure that can illuminate the individual-system relationship while family interactions unfold. For the purpose of this article, we present and describe three selected family cases that document the potentialities of the stance-taking process analysis for studying the individual-system relationship, thus offering cues to systemic research and practice in family therapy. n n n nPractitioner points n nThe stance-taking process analysis allows clinical practitioners to develop systematic and empirically informed hypotheses. nPointing out the different stances taken by each member during family interactions, therapists can make such variability into a resource to promote change. nTherapists can be trained to observe how their stances shape the ongoing process, and act in the unfolding conversations to transform the emerging patterns.

Disentangling parental monitoring. The role of family communication in achieving parental knowledge

In this study, parental monitoring construct was disentangled through the introduction of the family communication variable. Two mediation models were tested: The model in which parental solicitation was significantly associated to youth disclosure, and in which both solicitation and youth disclosure fostered the development of positive family communication, fitted data better than the model in which family communication fostered parents and childrens monitoring behaviors. In the first model parental knowledge was achieved through two paths: (1) parental control was directly related to parental knowledge, and (2) family communication mediated the relation of parental solicitation and youth disclosure with parental knowledge, thereby highlighting more complex dynamics.