The Filipino Family PDF

THE FILIPINO FAMILY Definition of Family The family plays a very important role in the life of any nation. It is the basic or most fundamental unit in any society. Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared that, “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is ent...

THE FILIPINO FAMILY Definition of Family The family plays a very important role in the life of any nation. It is the basic or most fundamental unit in any society. Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared that, “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” (Article 16, 3). Murdock (1949) gave the following definition of the family: “… a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation, and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, owned or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.” Article II, Section l2 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution asserted that the "State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution". Article XV, Section 1 of the Constitution pointed out that "the state recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation... it shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development". Further, marriage as an inviolable social institution and the foundation of the family was emphasized in Article XV. Moreover, Article 147 of the Family Code of the Philippines stated that: “The family, being the foundation of the nation, is a basic social institution which public policy cherishes and protects. Consequently, family relations are governed by law and no custom, practice or agreement destructive of the family shall be recognized or given effect. (216a, 218a)” Article 150 of the same law states that family relations include those: (1) Between husband and wife; (2) Between parents and children; (3) Among brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half-blood. (217a). It has been frequently stated that the Filipino family in the past was patriarchal in form and characteristic and the absolute authority of the father is still viewed as a representative feature of the Filipino family. The predominating influence of the man over woman is characteristically Oriental while the growing acceptance today of equality of man and woman is typically Occidental. Characteristics of the Family The family has certain unique characteristics summed up in the following: 1. The family is a social group that is universally recognized and is a significant element in every individual’s life. As Murdock put it, “The family exists because there is no other social unit which can fulfill its vital functions in and for the society; 2. The family is the most basic autonomous unit in any given society and the first social group the individual is exposed to; 1|Page  3. Family contact and relationships are repetitive and continuous. They extend over a long period of time, often a lifetime. It is said that the individual’s earliest and longest experience in living takes place in a family setting; 4. The family is a very close and intimate group. This is very true to Filipinos and other Asian families, where family ties among members are close; 5. It is the setting of the most intense emotional experiences during the lifetime of an individual – birth, childhood, puberty, adolescence, marriage and death. Thus, the family’s influence on personality and character is significant and pervasive; 6. The family affects the individual’s social values, disposition, and outlook in life. The family is the source of the individual’s ideals, aspirations, and basic motivations in life; 7. The family has the unique position of serving as a link between the individual and the larger society. It is through the family’s functions of reproduction, biological and psychological support, and training for social participation and citizenship that society is able to elicit contribution from an individual; and 8. The family is also unique in providing continuity of social life. It is the meeting ground of generations not only in terms of biological traits but also socio-cultural heritage. The family is the major agent of transmitting culture. This means that cultural traditions are handed down from generation to generation through socialization of family members. Contemporary Filipino Family Filipino families by culture are known to be closely knitted and centered on good and deep relationships among its members. The Filipino family is the center of the Philippine social structure and includes the nuclear family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and honorary relations such as godparents, sponsors, and close family friends (Villareal, 2018). Even though series of colonization and ongoing distraction to Filipino culture and traditions are perennial—as evident to the colonial mentality observed in various sectors and medias specifically, Filipino families remain strong and solid in general. This does not safeguard them from certain familial problems that are both external and internal in nature. Societal and familial distresses may inevitably develop both from within (intrafamilial) and without (extrafamilial) the family system (Masanda, 2019) which may negatively impact its dynamics and equilibrium. Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing the Filipino Family Family Patterns and Changing Roles - Types of Family Structure 1. According to organization, structure and membership a. Nuclear Family – this is also known as the primary or elementary family. It is composed of a husband (father), his wife (mother), and their children in the union recognized by the society. Any individual belongs to two kinds of families: family of orientation and family of procreation. The family of orientation is that into which one is born, and where one is reared and socialized. On the other hand, the family oof procreation is that established by the person through marriage. b. Extended Family – this is composed of two or more nuclear families related to each other economically and socially. Two types of families may be derived from this classification: 2|Page  i. Conjugal Family – this classification stresses on the marriage bond, which is the couple and their children while relatives are comparatively less of unimportant. ii. Consanguineal Family – this classification, on the other hand, puts stress on the nucleus of blood relatives, the blood kin, than the couple. 2. According to place of residence a. Patrilocal Family – it requires that the newly married couple live with the family of the bridegroom or near the residence of the parents of the bridegroom. b. Matrilocal Family – it requires that the newlywed couple live with or near the residence of the bride’s parents. c. Bilocal Family – it provides the newlywed couple the freedom to select where to reside, that is near the groom’s or the bride’s parents. d. Neolocal Family – it permits the newlywed couple to reside independently of their parents. They can decide on their own as far as their residence is concerned. e. Avunculocal Family – it prescribes that the newlywed couple resides with or near the maternal uncle of the groom. In the Philippines, the place of residence is influenced by the close ties prevailing among family members, economic dependence of children on their parents, ownership of property, or parent’s decision. 3. According to descent a. Patrilineal Descent – it affiliates a person with a group of relatives related to him/her through his/her father. The child is also related to his/her mother’s kin, but in terms of closeness, he/she turns to his/her father’s kin. b. Matrilineal Descent – it affiliates a person with a group of kinsmen related to him/her through the mother. c. Bilateral Descent – it affiliates a person with a group of kinsmen related to him/her through both the father and mother. 4. According to authority a. Patriarchal Family – one in which authority is vested in the oldest male member, often the father or grandfather, or in the absence of parents, on the oldest male member. This is characterized by family solidarity and ancestor worship. The double standard of morality exists. b. Matriarchal Family – one in which authority is vested in the elder of the mother’s kin. This is rarely found in societies. However, many societies have the mother dominating the household. c. Equalitarian Family – one where the husband and wife exercise a more or less equal amount of authority. d. Matricentric Family – one where the absence of the father who may be working gives the mother a dominant position in the family. This type of family is prevalent in the suburbs. However, the father shares with the mother in terms of decision-making. 5. According to terms of marriage a. Monogamy – it allows a man to have only one wife at a time b. Polygamy – it is plural marriage. It has many forms: polygyny (one man marrying two or more women at a time), polyandry (one woman marrying two or more men at the 3|Page  same time), and group marriage (marriage of several men and several women at a time). 6. Variations in the Family structures a. Two-parent married couple families b. One-parent family (solo parents) c. Step families d. Cohabiting couple e. Gay and Lesbian couples f. Single persons Family Patterns and Changing Roles – Functions of the Family 1. Sexual Regulation – the family regulates the sexual behavior of people in any given society. Through marriage, sexual intercourse is sanctioned by society. 2. Biological Regulation – all societies need to reproduce their members. For any society to survive from one generation to the next, it must have arrangement for replacing its members. This function is done by the family and cannot be undertaken by any other social institution. 3. Organizing, Production and Consumption – in pre-industrial and agricultural societies, the family is the basic and the main economic system. It defines production and consumption with its surplus extended into trade of some kind. The family produces its own food and ensures its own survival over a prolonged period of time. For this reason, even as an economy evolves, a society’s economic system and family structures tend to be closely correlated. 4. Socializing Children – the family is responsible not only for producing children but also for ensuring that their children are encouraged to accept the lifestyle it favors, to master the skills it values, and to perform the work it requires. The society provides predictable social contexts within which their children are to be socialized. The family provides such a context almost universally, at least during the period when the infant is dependent on the constant attention of others. 5. Providing Emotional Intimacy and Support – in most societies, the family serves as the primary group for its members, giving individuals a sense of security, belonging, and personal worth. 6. Providing Care and Attention – every human being needs food and shelter. He/she needs people who will care for him/her emotionally to help him/her with the problems that arise in daily life, and back him/her up whenever he/she comes into conflict with others. 7. Providing Social Status – since every individual is born into a family, each individual inherits both material goods and a socially recognized position defined by ascribed statuses. These statuses include social class or caste membership or ethnic identity. One’s inherited, social position or family background is probably the important social factors affecting the predictable course of our lives. 8. Providing Mechanism for Social Control – the family continually exerts pressure on its members to make them conform to what it considers as desirable behavior. To maintain the good name of the family, the family has to keep its members within bounds in the various aspects of living – relationships with their fellowmen, morality, control of sex drives, human relations, and other aspects. 4|Page  9. Serves as the Individual’s First and Foremost School Where Every Child Learns the Basic Lessons in Life – as such, the parents serve as the real and foremost teachers performing a very vital role in the child’s development and formation. It is in the family where basic values are learned from the parents. 10. Providing Maintenance of Order – the family provides every member with a maintenance order. It provides means of communication, establishes types of intensity of interaction, patterns of attention and affection, and sexual expression. It administers sanctions ensuring conformity to group norms. 11. Providing Placement of Members in the Larger Society – it prepares the community, the church, the school, and other organizations. It protects members from any undesirable outside influence. 12. Maintaining Motivation and Morale – it rewards members for achievements; satisfies individual needs for acceptance, encouragement, and affection; meets personal and family crises; refines a philosophy of life; and gives a sense of family loyalty through rituals and festivities. Cultural Variables 1. Folkways – those types of behavior that are organized and repetitive. The group way of doing things in a common manner are called customs. The folkways of a group are the behavior patterns of everyday life. Changes and additions gradually are made for folkways adapt themselves to the conditions of life of each generation. 2. Mores – special folkways which involve moral or ethical values since they involve respect for authority, marriage and sex behavior patterns, religious rituals and other basic codes of human behavior. 3. Folklore – traditional customs, beliefs, dances, songs, tales or saying preserved orally and unreflectively among a group or people. 4. Customs – distinctive styles and prevailing fashions, characteristic of any period, country, class, occupation or occasion. 5. Language – the special manner or characteristic mode of expression significant for human intercourse. 6. Values – according to R.J. Williams, refers to any aspect of a situation, event or object that is invested with preferential interest as being good, desirable and the like. It may be classified as personal (individual) or social (group). Functions of values include: a. Being a criterion of choice, which allows economy of human energy b. Giving direction to interest and attention c. Serving as referent of social function and sanction The following are the Filipino Family Values based on a research paper by Fr. Jaime Bulatao: a. Emotional closeness and security in a family - the family is seen as having a double function. First, it provides an outlet for the need of a person to get out of himself and come into contact with another person in a free and unguarded emotional exchange. Second, it provides understanding, acceptance, a place where, no matter how far or how wrongly one has wandered, he can always return. The family is seen as a defense against a potentially hostile world, as insurance against hunger and old age, as a place 5|Page  where one can be oneself without having to worry too much about maintaining "smooth interpersonal relations," or SIR (Lynch 1970), with outsiders. b. The authority value - this may be defined as: "Approval by the authority figure and by society, authority's surrogate." It is a concern for what the important person is thinking about oneself and a tendency to shape one's behavior accordingly. There is a fear of stirring up conflict with "people who count," this fear giving rise to a need for smooth interpersonal relations. One does not reveal one's real thoughts completely to strangers, foreigners, or powerful individuals, but only those aspects of one's thoughts which will be acceptable to them. Fundamentally, the fear is that of exposing one's ego to danger. Underlying this value is the anxiety of a "self-esteem based on group estimation." Attack upon this value, as when an authority figure fails to recognize a person's merit or treats a person casually, is a wound to the amor propio and may result in violent retaliation. c. Economic and social betterment - it appears most often as a desire to raise the standard of living of one's family, or of one's hometown, often as repayment for one's debt of gratitude to parents and relatives. Usually, it is merely sufficiency or else economic security that one is after. More rarely, the value is expressed as a desire for individual success, to make good in one's career. Sometimes one wants to do well in order to repay the parents' sacrifices; at other times there is no mention of the family. d. Patience, suffering, endurance - it is this value which has become fused with the religious value, since it seems that God is called upon when other means fail. It is associated with women more than with men. Sometimes this value appears with a certain magical quality about it as if one were to render oneself worthy of divine blessing simply by being patient and long-suffering. Physical Factors Influencing the Filipino Family Environmental Changes The environmental changes that affect the Filipino Family. These include: (1) environmental pollution; (2) space relationships; (3) denudation of forest areas resulting in the destruction of trees and humus in the forest; (4) transformation of rural areas into urban centers leading to population congestion resulting in health, social, educational, problems, etc.; and (5) automation and structural employment Despite having a low level of public awareness on climate change, most Filipinos were concerned of the effects of climate change on their health, among other potential impacts. This was according to a research published by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) on 20 October 2020. HHI’s study showed that nationwide, 71% of Filipinos believed that they would be at least “somewhat affected” by climate change. Among them, 46% reported that they would likely get harmed, injured, or ill due to climate change. Among the 17 regions of the Philippines, those living in the National Capital Region (70%) were the people most concerned with contracting an illness or getting harmed as an effect of climate change. Aside from health issues, other potential impacts reported by the respondents were loss of income (22%); damage to crops (20%); damage to house and property (19%); and infeasibility of farming and change of livelihoods (18%). Those living in Davao (57%) were particularly concerned about the impact of climate change on their 6|Page household income. Those living in Eastern Visayas, meanwhile, were most concerned with the impact on farming (40%) and on their houses (41%). Overall, HHI’s study has found a low level of public awareness about climate change among Filipinos. At the national average, most respondents had not heard of and did not feel well- informed about climate change (60%), and only 12% of respondents had heard a lot or felt “extremely well-informed” about it (12%). Bicol stood out as the region with the highest percentage of people who never heard of climate change (38%). Awareness of climate change varied regionally, ranging from 3% in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Regional in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), to 24% in Caraga reporting high or very high knowledge. Similarly, low or very low knowledge were reported from 45% in Caraga, to 72% in Bicol. Inhabitants of Zamboanga and BARMM reported the lowest levels of knowledge with 70% and 71%, respectively, reporting low or very low levels of knowledge about climate change. Across the country, roughly half (47%) of respondents believed that climate change was due to both natural and human factors. Roughly a third (32%) believed climate change to be solely due to human activity, and a fifth (20%) believed climate change was purely due to natural processes. Most or 42% agreed that the disasters they had experienced were due to climate change. However, many also disagreed. 47% of those living in Zamboanga Peninsula, for instance, strongly disagreed that climate change was linked to disasters. Respondents believed that the top consequences of climate change were: increased temperature (46%); shifting of seasons (42%); and heavier rains (23%). They also reported that the following changes in the environment over the past 30 years might worsen the effects of disasters: deforestation (21%); increased poverty (13%); poor waste disposal (12%); increased population (11%); and worse infrastructure (5%). Deforestation was ranked extremely highly in certain regions, including Davao (45%); Zamboanga Peninsula (42%); Western Visayas (40%); MIMAROPA (32%); and Caraga (36%). 18% of those living in Zamboanga Peninsula also highlighted mangrove degradation as a factor contributing to the intensified impact of disasters. Overall, this research by HHI examined and explored various dimensions and factors contributing to the association between climate change perception and disaster preparedness, including socio-demographics, impact of disasters, knowledge of climate change, and risk perception. The study found that Filipinos who perceive climate-related changes as directly impacting their households reported taking greater action to prepare for disasters. Filipinos who believe they have been directly impacted by climate-related changes are also more likely to prepare for disasters, take planning actions, and undertake material actions to prepare, such as improvements in the household. Ecology The branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environment especially as manifested by natural cycles and rhythms, community development and structure, interaction between different kinds of organisms, geographic distributions and populations. The problems arising from the politics of ecology include: 1. The concept of life as intrinsically good and death as intrinsically bad. The result of an imbalance between birth and death rates, thus accelerating human numbers as the inevitable consequence. 7|Page  2. The rapid rate of population increase would not enhance industrialization which might lead to underdevelopment. 3. The contraceptive revolution has had as yet no effect upon the family life of the people in underdeveloped countries. 4. Birth control is expensive and involves the whole adult population. 5. To persuade men and women to abandon their traditional views of sexual morality is a huge and difficult task. 6. Poverty, combined with ignorance, breeds that lack of desire for better things (wantlessness), hence the resigned acceptance of a subhuman plot. Population Explosion The problem of overpopulation inevitably arises in connection with every approach to the analysis of our civilization and its prospects – emphasis on quantity rather quality; the question of economic stability; the specter of war; the equally terrifying specter of universal starvation. Nature left to herself works out a balance of population adjusted to the available space and food supply but it may be disturbed and then destroyed by what might appear to be the very slight intervention of man. The factors to be considered in the study of family planning and population control are the following: 1. Consequences of fertility on health, child development, family income, housing and interpersonal relationships; 2. Effect on economy, air and water resources, human services; 3. Education; 4. Political factors; 5. Emigration and immigration; 6. Impact of fertility on society and people; 7. Need for new values and behaviors; and 8. Role of social worker. Industrialization/Modernization The global community today is experiencing a comprehensive process of modernization and change at a rapid scale. The changes are so complex and often resist categorization, from rapid improvement in transportation such as fast trains and instant and affordable communication modes to growing recognition and defense of human rights. There is a spread of technical rationality, cultural globalization, social and instant media, the digital age, the Internet, economic efficiency, artificial reproductive technology, a growing separation of work and family, sex and marriage, reproduction and marriage, and reproduction and parenting, increased divorce rates, non-marriage and live-in partner arrangements, advocacy for same sex marriage, and other concomitant features of modernization which are radicalizing the social and ecological landscape of the urbanization and industrialization. All these trends are changing the family. Industrialization is a process where production is done not by human or animal power but by technological and power-driven machinery. These changes in modes of production and means of livelihood also result in to change in the family structure and family relations. Each member of the family tends to be hooked directly into the external means rather than relying on the family itself to realize personal needs. The entire kin altruism, attachments and investments that members of the biologically related family provide each other, becomes diluted. 8|Page  Modernization, urbanization and industrialization consequently affect the family in considerable ways: 1. There is favorable attitude toward working wives and mothers; 2. The technological advancement and the transfer of production function from the family to the factory of the industry have opened new avenues for female employment with increasing number of female workers and employees sharing roles with men in equal proportions; 3. The employment of wives affects the structure of the family, transforming the role of the family management and house chores, becoming gender neutral; 4. Decline in the authority of husband and father. This happens since the working man or husband may always be away from home due to his work outside; 5. Decline in the family’s influence on the individual. The growth of industrialization has taught individuals other skills not acquired in the family. Problems used to be handled by the family are now handled by outside agencies; 6. More permissive forms norms and behavior. This happens because of the influence of outside forces, particularly in city life where there is much anonymity; and 7. Breakdown of the consanguineal family as a functional unit. This happens as the community becomes more and more metropolitan/urbanized. Courtship and Marriage Courtship is a social process engaged in by two individuals. It is a form of behavior seeking to win the consent of another for marriage. It is a progressive commitment leading to a succession of event towards the development of stable interpersonal relationships. Most significant is the development of love and affection. Courtship is a process which undergoes various stages: 1. Dating – getting acquainted 2. Going Steady – practice of dating one person exclusively 3. Private Understanding – open declaration of each other’s desire for marriage 4. Engagement – public announcement of love involving parents, relatives and friends. Marriage and Human Sexuality It is a socially sanctioned union of a man and woman with the expectation that they will assure the role of husband and wife. It is a social and legal norm by which the relationship of the two sexes is controlled and restricted by society. Though considered a private affair, it involves public sanction as well as systematic social control. The role of husband and wife in marital adjustments are: 1. Understanding of each other’s personality and behavior; 2. Recognition of individual private worlds; 3. Communication; and 4. Obligation of fidelity. Culture colors the love relationship. It provides the terms in which love may be expressed. But mature affection in wedlock has much in common in all times, places, and even social classes. It is a sense of interdependence of having a refuge in one another and of being able to find identity and worth in one another. Once sex is placed in a friendly perspective between mates, it serves 9|Page as a powerful solvent of controversy. Marriages with sexual incompatibility may continue if they are based on personal or social expediency rather than love. Sex is a biological phenomenon – and is so related to the whole human psyche that it cannot be understood in isolation from the evolving human individual fully considered. Love, regardless of how ethereal it may appear, is so intimately to all of life that it cannot be considered meaningfully as an abstraction. While sex and love are not identical, they are forever intertwined and understandable only when so interrelated. Human sexuality does not only mean sex. Sex is just one aspect of human sexuality. Human sexuality is a way of life, not just something that one has. To be human is to be sexual, and to be sexual is to be human. Sexual here means everything that makes a man a man, and a woman a woman. Therefore, one’s sexuality pervades all areas of his or her life – way of thinking, acting, loving and receiving love, approaching and relating to God and people, religious experiences. When taken in this sense, it can be said that one’s fulfillment as a person is taken as tantamount to fulfillment of one’s sexuality. Therefore, in any stage and state of life, one’s sexuality is an integral part of that life. It is his or her way of life. One has to be confident and comfortable with one’s sexuality before he can successfully accept and relate to the opposite sex. Sex education is the process of teaching an individual to understand and accept himself as a whole person and as such to relate himself to other people in a healthy, constructive and meaningful manner. Sex education has its roots in the attitudes of the parents. The child must receive his first education about sex from his parents. Questions of the child about sex should be answered by parents in the simplest, honest and most objective manner understood by the child. Parenthood Thomas Carlyle correctly noted “The history of the world is but the biography of great men”. The ordinary man is seldom featured in the pages of history, and the child virtually never. History is the record of public, not private, events and the “crowds and crowds of little children are strangely absent from the written record”. The net result of this fact is a noticeable absence of detail about childrearing practices of the past. The pattern of childrearing provides the basis for adult personality and therefore has a vital influence on public events and world history, yet very little is known about it. No-one really knows whether childrearing depends on cultural traits or vice- versa. Recent research has begun to shed some light on conditions of childhood through the ages. Anna Burr, in her 1909 review of 250 autobiographies, noted that not one contained happy memories of childhood, whilst Valentine, reading letters covering a 600-year period, was unable to find a father who wasn’t insensitive, moralistic and self-centered. A summary of this and other research shows that the further back into history one goes, the lower the level of child care and the more likely children were to be killed, abandoned, beaten, terrorized and sexually abused. Alternately, with the passage of time childrearing practices and the quality of childhood have shown a sustained improvement. This begs the question “Why?" It has been suggested that the major force for change in parent-child relations is not technology or economics but rather the psychogenic changes in personality occurring because of successive generations of parent-child interactions. This “psychogenic theory of history” proposes that when parenting, each successive generation of adults regresses to the psychic age of their children and in parenting they reexperience childhood. Having already experienced their own childhood, this second encounter is more successful with fewer anxieties and improved parenting. The net result is that each generation improves on the preceding one. This pressure for change results from spontaneous regressing, independent of social and technological change. 10 | P a g e Parent-Child reactions If we accept this theory, then in viewing childhood over generations it is important to look at factors which may influence the psyche of the next generation. That is, what happens when an adult is faced with a dependent child. There are three possible reactions: 1. The projective reaction - here the child is used by the adult as a vehicle for the projection of the contents of his own unconscious. This results in the child being seen as part of the parent, reflecting their unacceptable subconscious thoughts, emotions and beliefs. Because these subconscious feelings, and by projection the child, are unacceptable to the parent the child is seen as something evil which needs to be disposed of or controlled. This led to practices such as infanticide and abandonment and later to various actions aimed at suppressing the evil within the child. Initially these took a physical form such as the swaddling of babies, leading strings to restrain infants, and severe beatings for older children. Physical restraint was often accompanied and later replaced by mental restraints achieved through terrorising children with stories of ghost-like figures, corpses and witches. Projective reactions are well illustrated by two common phenomena of the past. The extreme beatings commonly given to children and the frequency of severe and fatal accidents involving children. Beatings were an easy way of controlling the evil in the child and because the parent viewed himself and the child as the same person, when the child was being beaten the parent was actually beating himself and therefore felt no guilt. Hence the frequency and severity of the beatings for relatively trivial offences. Similarly, because the parent sees the child as so full of portions of himself, accidents to the child are seen as injuries to the parent. “Alas, for my sins the just God throws my child into the fire.” Once again it is the parent who is being punished for some presumed offence or oversight, not the child, so there is no feeling of guilt for the child's hurt and no steps are deemed necessary to prevent further accidents. The mortality from accidents was high and the type of accident repetitive, with drownings and burns being particularly common. 2. The reversal reaction - in this interaction the roles of adult and child become reversed. The child is used by the adult as a substitute for an adult figure who was important in his own childhood. Here the child exists to satisfy parental needs and is seen as a source of love, protection and nourishment. This view of children as parents paves the way for a variety of excesses in which the child is misused to fulfill the needs “physical emotional, sexual and economic “of the parent. Foremost amongst these excesses are sexual misuse and child labour. An additional and interesting consequence of this interaction was infant deaths following “overlaying". Here the parent was unable to part from the child so the two slept together with the parent clutching the child like a security blanket, eventually smothering him. More recently the failure of the child to fulfill this parental role often triggers child abuse. As one abusing parent has commented, “I have never felt loved all my life. When the baby was born, I thought he would love me. When he cried it meant he didn’t love me. So, I hit him”. Projective and reversal reactions often occurred simultaneously in parents of the past, producing an effective double image where the child is seen as both full of the adult’s unacceptable projected needs and desires, and at the same time as a mother or father figure. That is, the child is both bad and loving. 11 | P a g e  3. The empathic reaction - reflects a more recent interaction in which the adult empathizes with the child. Basically, this means that the adult is able to regress to the level of a child's need, correctly identify it and without imposing adult projections, satisfy it. Both the projective and the reversal reactions are adult-centered with the child existing as either an extension of the adult or to provide for the needs of the adult. In contrast the empathic reaction shifts the focus of attention from the adult to the child. Children of the past were most commonly subject to the projective reaction where they were seen as evil or a combination of projective and reversal reactions where they were both bad and loving. It is only recently, in historical terms, that the empathic reaction has played a significant role in parent-child relations. The first two reactions do not indicate lack of love for their children by historical parents but rather an inability to accept the child as an individual separate from themselves. Children were viewed as bad and loving, hated and loved; rewarded and punished. Modes of parenting have evolved from practices dominated by projective reactions, through reversal reactions to the most recent modes encompassing empathic reactions. Whilst these forms of parent-child reactions form the basis for each mode of child rearing they have been influenced to a varying degree by a number of external factors. The two most significant factors being: (1) firstly, the acceptance that a child, like an adult, possesses a soul and; (2) secondly, recognition that the child is an individual in his own right and not merely an extension of an adult. The above interactions between adult and child have, singly or in combination, evolved over time to produce six modes of childrearing practices. It is difficult to place these modes into a time sequence as rates of evolution vary from society to society and show class and regional differences. Therefore, any mode may have prevailed at a time, though periods can be recognized during which each mode was the dominant pattern of childrearing. Modes of Childrearing 1. The infanticidal mode - this mode, characterized by both projective and reversal reactions, dominated the period from antiquity to the fourth century A.D. As a consequence of projective reactions children were perceived as representative of evil and as such had to be controlled. The easiest way to do this was to remove the source of evil permanently by killing the child. It is well known that infanticide of both legitimate and illegitimate children was a regular practice of antiquity. The killing of legitimate children slowly reduced during the Middle ages, and illegitimate children continued to be killed up into the nineteenth century. Until the fourth century neither law nor public opinion found infanticide wrong; indeed Grecian and Roman scholars promoted the practice as a means for coping with abnormal or excessive children. It was only in 374 A.D. that the law and the Church first began to consider the killing of an infant to be murder. Prior to this it was justified in the belief that a child had no soul. Despite the changed attitude, parents in the Middle Ages were seldom punished for practicing infanticide. Illegitimate children were killed routinely, girls frequently, the third or later boy invariably, and abnormal children always. Child sacrifice was common in the years B.C. and drowning, starving or exposure of unwanted babies, the practice in the years A.D. Although infanticide was the dominant mode of child-rearing up to the fourth century it persisted in various forms well into the nineteenth century. One good example was the central European practice of sealing infants in the walls or foundations of buildings and bridges to strengthen the structure. This 12 | P a g e  persisted as late as the mid 1800's. The presence of the reversal reaction during this period is evident in the extreme sexual abuse of all children from infancy to adolescence. 2. The abandonment mode - this mode stretched from the fourth to the thirteenth century and was also dominated by both projective and reversal reactions, although the latter reaction diminished considerably towards the end of the period. Once parents accepted that children had souls it was no longer possible to escape the evil projections they represented by killing them. The solution was to distance themselves from these dangerous projections by abandoning their children. This was done in a variety of ways. Children were sold into slavery, sent to a wet nurse, the monastery or convent, to foster families, to the homes of nobles as servants or hostages or by extreme emotional abandonment at home. Severe beatings and child labour were very common but with the reduction in reversal reactions sexual abuse became a little less widespread. The sale of children was the first form of abandonment to be tackled when, in the seventh century, the Church ruled that a man could not sell his son into slavery after the age of seven. It is known that well into the twelfth century the English were selling their children to the Irish as slaves. Elsewhere child sale continued sporadically into modern times and was only outlawed in Russia in the last century. The use of children as political hostages and security for debts was common in the Middle Ages, even though invariably unsuccessful. The fostering of children persisted into the 1600's whereby children were sent to other families to be reared. They stayed there until the age of 17 and in return for their keep worked for the foster family. This was common in all classes and was equivalent to an apprenticeship or the practice in the upper classes of sending children to monasteries nunneries or to act as clerks or ladies-in-waiting. Many historians feel this represented a form of kindness “the parents being unwilling to make their own children work within the home. Up until the eighteenth century the average child of wealthy parents spent his first three to five years with a wet nurse, returned to the care of other servants until being sent out to service, apprenticeship or school by the age of seven. The amount of contact between parent and child was minimal. Justifications for these practices have included: to teach the child to speak; to cure timidness; to improve the child's health; as payment of debts; or simply because the child was unwanted. 3. The ambivalent mode - between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries both projective and reversal reactions persisted but to lessening degrees. As the empathic reaction emerged conflict arose leading to an ambivalence towards children. The child was still seen as a container of dangerous projections but, as long as he was restrained, was allowed near his parents resulting in improved physical contact and the beginnings of positive emotional responses towards the child. The role of the parents was to accept responsibility for their children and to physically mold each child into shape. This was achieved through physical beatings and various restraints. In infancy swaddling was essential to protect the infant from the dangerous adult projections within him. If left unswaddled infants were supposedly at risk of blinding themselves, tearing off their ears, scratching themselves, breaking limbs or crawling about on all fours like an animal. Swaddling consisted of depriving the infant of total use of his limbs by enveloping them in an endless length of bandage and compressing the trunk and head to whatever shape one desired. It took about two hours to apply and resulted in excoriated skin, pressure sores, brachycardia, lethargy and drowsiness. A swaddled infant was extremely passive 13 | P a g e  and undemanding. This favoured the child-minders who could leave their infants, like a parcel, in any convenient corner. Total swaddling continued for about four months at which stage the arms were left free whilst the legs and trunk remained swaddled for a further six to nine months. Once swaddling was discontinued children were controlled by beatings, by being tied to furniture, by the use of leading strings and other such devices. It is interesting to note that in 70 biographies of children who lived before the seventeenth century all were subject to severe beatings. One last practice common during this and earlier periods was that of giving children enemas. Children have apparently always been identified with their excrement. In French newborns are called ecreme, and merdeux (or “little child") is derived from the Latin merde, excrement. It was common belief during this period that the inner state of the child could be determined by examining his urine and faeces. Consequently purges, suppositories and enemas were the rule of the day. The fact that the child's faeces looked and smelled unpleasant supported the belief that the child was possessed of an inner demon which spoke to the adult world insolently, threateningly and with malice. 4. The intrusive mode - the eighteenth century saw the disappearance of reversal reactions, a reduction in projection and the emergence of empathic reactions. This accompanied major changes in parent-child relations. The child was no longer seen as being full of dangerous projections and was therefore so much less threatening to the parents that true empathy was possible. Parents became more involved in their children's upbringing and rather than physically controlling the child tried to conquer their minds, thereby controlling the child's insides, his anger, his needs and his will. Children raised by intrusive parents were nursed by the mother, not swaddled, given fewer enemas. They were toilet trained but neiter played with nor beaten. They were made to obey promptly with threats, guilt and other punishments such as being shut up in dark closets for hours. This period saw a decline in the universal practice of giving enemas and with the decline in projective reactions true toilet training became increasingly more important. As empathic reactions emerged, paediatrics was born and child rearing manuals, which first appeared in the previous period, became increasingly common. The general trend was towards improved child care and reduced infant mortality. 5. The socialising mode - since the nineteenth century this mode, reflecting an empathic reaction between parent and child, has dominated. With the shift from projective to empathic reactions, child-rearing became less a matter of conquering the child and more a process of training the child, guiding him into the right direction and socialising him. This mode is thought by many as the only mode within which discussions of child care can proceed and it is the source of all psychological modes from Freud's channelling of impulses to Skinner’s behaviourism. Of note is that it is during this period that the father at last began to participate positively in child rearing. 6. The helping mode - since the mid twentieth century this mode, in which the empathic reaction is taken to the extreme, has began to emerge. This mode proposes that the child knows better than the parent what his needs are at each stage of his development. Parent and child supposedly empathise and work together to fulfil these needs. Discipline is unnecessary as the parent functions as the child's servant, playing with him, tolerating regressions, interpreting emotional conflicts and providing objects specific to his evolving interests. This involves an enormous amount of time, energy and patience from the parent 14 | P a g e  and few parents have tried it. The result is reportedly a gentle, sincere, independent child with a strong will and little fear of authority. Child-Rearing Practices The child-rearing practices in the Philippines present different dimensions as compared those prevailing in other countries. 1. Goals of Socialization. The goals of socialization may be stated in the following: “To teach the child to be respectful, obedient to parents, identify strongly with his family, to be a good neighbor and kinsman, recognize and reciprocate favors received and if possible, improve his economic state”. The above goal has been found very dominant in most rural communities in the country. However, similar goals were discovered to have been in existence in most urban settings: “to produce unaggressive, respectful, obedient, and self-reliant individuals”. From the foregoing goals, it may be said that the ideal Filipino child is one who primarily possesses excellent interpersonal skills in relation to authority figures and peers. He must also possess a second cluster of traits revolving around achievement, selfreliance and industry. 2. Childcare Practices. Children are considered by couples, particularly those living in the countryside, to be economic investments. Children are considered gifts or blessings from God. Pregnant women are expected to keep away from foods that are considered taboo for they are believed to affect the features of the unborn child. To the rural people, pregnancy makes the mother and the unborn child attractive to supernatural beings. Babies are fed anytime. Toilet training has been found to begin at 10-15 months, lasting up two years old, with the child being taught to call for the mother or other adults whenever he/she needs to relieve himself/herself. 3. Child-Rearing Techniques. Filipino parents tend to be stricter in the enforcement of discipline for older children. Parents consider the institution of discipline and good manners as one of their primary responsibilities. Punishments are used more often than rewards in disciplining children. In all attempts to control children’s behavior, the primary emphasis is on parental authority. Good behavior is reinforced and this is expressed through affectionate gestures such as kissing, embracing, patting on the head, and calling the child affectionate names. However, Jocano noted that differential treatment of boys and girls in rural and lower-income urban communities results in well-defined expectations: boys are to be economically useful and girls are supposed to master domestic chores. As they grow old, the games and activities they indulge in encourage sexual segregation. Ramirez (1984) noted that in the Filipino family, boys are given more freedom and fewer responsibilities. On the other hand, girls are given more responsibilities and less freedom. 4. Parenthood Requires Adjustments: a. Parental Role b. Emotional Adjustments c. When to have Children d. Precautions for Physical Safety 5. Points to Consider in the Rearing of Children: 15 | P a g e  a. Each method or rearing the child is individualized, depending upon the nature of the child; b. There is no child without some problems: relationship between parents and child must be dynamic; and c. Each child is a “bundle of potentialities”. 6. Forces Outside the Home which Helps to Shape and Mold the Personality a. School b. Religious Training c. Community Standards d. Friends and Contemporaries The Filipino Family in Crisis Dysfunctional Family A dysfunctional family (DF) is one where the normal healthy functioning of the family is impeded through negative behavior such as abuse, apathy, neglect, or lack of emotional support. In DF, the relationship between the parent and child is tensed and unnatural; parents constantly neglect or abuse the child and the other family members accommodate such behavior. In some cases, children end up with low self-esteem and grow up with the belief that such behavior is normal. The following are some examples of patterns that frequently occur in dysfunctional families. One or both parents have addictions or compulsions (e.g., drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, gambling, overworking, and/or overeating) that have strong influences on family members One or both parents use the threat or application of physical violence as the primary means of control. Children may have to witness violence, may be forced to participate in punishing siblings, or may live in fear of explosive outbursts One or both parents exploit the children and treat them as possessions whose primary purpose is to respond to the physical and/or emotional needs of adults (e.g., protecting a parent or cheering up one who is depressed) One or both parents are unable to provide, or threaten to withdraw, financial or basic physical care for their children. Similarly, one or both parents fail to provide their children with adequate emotional support. One or both parents exert a strong authoritarian control over the children. Often these families rigidly adhere to a particular belief (religious, political, financial, personal). Compliance with role expectations and with rules is expected without any flexibility. There is a great deal of variability in how often dysfunctional interactions and behaviors occur in families, and in the kinds and the severity of their dysfunction. However, when patterns like the above are the norm rather than the exception, they systematically foster abuse and/or neglect. Children may: Be forced to take sides in conflicts between parents. 16 | P a g e  Experience “reality shifting” in which what is said contradicts what is actually happening (e.g., a parent may deny something happened that the child actually observed, for example, when a parent describes a disastrous holiday dinner as a “good time”). Be ignored, discounted, or criticized for their feelings and thoughts. Have parents that are inappropriately intrusive, overly involved and protective. Have parents that are inappropriately distant and uninvolved with their children. Have excessive structure and demands placed on their time, choice of friends, or behavior; or conversely, receive no guidelines or structure. Experience rejection or preferential treatment. Be restricted from full and direct communication with other family members. Be allowed or encouraged to use drugs or alcohol. Be locked out of the house. Be slapped, hit, scratched, punched, or kicked. Here are a few other reasons for the dysfunctionality in families: 1. Addiction: When one or both parents in the family have an addiction to drugs, alcohol, or gambling, they tend to neglect their responsibilities, including those towards their family. For people suffering with an addiction, relationships and love for their children can suffer also. Once addiction takes over, it becomes hard to show compassion and foster their relationships. They seem to be in a separate world, away from reality. 2. Violent behavior: The violent behavior of one or more members of the family breaks down the foundation of that family. The others live in a fear of being physically and emotionally hurt and thus keep a distance from each other. Lack of interaction creates a distance between them. 3. Financial situation: Money is an essential requirement for having a functional family because you simply need money to survive. In scenarios where parents discontinue working or are unable to meet the financial requirements of the family, it leads to instability and makes the family dysfunctional. 4. Authority: The urge of a person to have control of the members of the family vitiates the atmosphere at home. They might unleash tyranny and the others do not have an option but to do what the person tells them to. Such behavior curtails their freedom and makes the members dislike each other. 5. Religious fundamentalism: When the parents have strong religious beliefs, they might develop rigidity, thus enforcing their beliefs on children. Such actions restrict the environment at home for the kids to grow up and feel accepted. The reasons and circumstances behind dysfunctionality vary from one family to another. And each situation might have varied effects on the child. Family Disorganization Family disorganization may be thought to include any sort of non-harmonious functioning within the family. Thus, it may include not only the tensions between the husband and wife but those arising between and among children and parents as well. Tensions between children and parents often present serious problems of adjustment. This result in friction and such disagreements may also result in tensions between husband and wife. 17 | P a g e  However, the children’s conflict with parents does not threaten the family organization as a degree of conflict between husband and wife over trivial matters as well as fundamental social issues, which makes the rifts more serious leading to family disruption. Disruptions of the marriage relationship are occasioned by tensions between husband and wife. Like marriage, it is governed by a variety of cultural and legal regulations that show how difficult it is to accomplish and the social and personal consequences it produces. This conjugal relationship is the central bond uniting the family in any society. When this bond is broken, it may take the form of desertion, separation, divorce, physical violence or use of abusive language. But these manifestations are only the superficial symptoms of a breakdown in the intimate relationships within the family. Family disorganization in the external manifestation may take the form of desertion, separation, divorce, physical violence or use of abusive language. It is to be pointed out that tension in family life is growing in the modern age because of the rapid changes in the role and status of the partners. In which it takes the legal or social function of a normal family life to be maintained even when these personal relationships are at a minimum. There have always been men and women who found their marriage ties bitter, their life together unhappy. A changed economic and social order has only facilitated release from such bonds. Marriage has now taken on a more personal aspect so far as wishes, desires and attitudes of the contracting parties are concerned. Family tension is any conflict situation that generates opposing attitudes between its members, particularly between husband and wife. In a sense tension grows out of an original disparity in attitudes and values and as the tension increases greater antagonism in attitudes develops. On understanding the above, family disorganization leads to personal and impersonal factors which play a greater part in family breakdown, disparities in attitudes and values which make life together intolerable to one or both. 1. Personal Factors: a. Romantic Fallacy: Romantic fallacy brings many lovers together these days because of less parental control in the choice of mates and founded on freedom of choice owing to rising democracy and other social forces such as emancipation of women in religion, in economic affairs, in politics and above all in the power of marital choice. In fact, equality of sexes was an important factor in the romantic courtship, which gives the individuals more liberty. The wives and husbands who are convinced that romantic happiness is the sole criterion of marriage are likely to think that something has happened when the edge has worn off the first careless rapture. They may believe that the only way that they can recapture this romantic infatuation is with another spouse. On the other hand, marriage is a practical and serious relationship, not a romantic interlude. The person, later on, concludes that he has made an unfortunate initial choice and the joy of true romance may be realized more completely with someone else. Thus, the romantic fallacy is the cause of many family tensions for newly-married young couples. b. Clashing Temperament: In the initial acquaintanceship, when each is bent on making a good impression on the other, the real personality and temperament are not brought to light. Later, however, classes in temperament may take on a violent aspect. The overcritical, pessimistic, nagging wife may make life wretched for the happy, carefree youth who prefers a gay party to spend the evening at home. Or, again one person 18 | P a g e  may be quick-tempered, choleric, and the other quiet, slow to anger. Highly individualized temperaments take on a characteristic pattern of behaviour, which the other resents and dislikes despite a certain bond of affection. c. Philosophy of life: More important than temperament is the role of an individual’s philosophy of life in the marital relationship. If both husband and wife possess some identity of important values, as expressed in the social attitudes, their marriage problems will tend to be adjusted successfully. On the other hand, if they differ on fundamental values, the relations are likely to be strained easily. For example, conflict will always be imminent if the woman’s highest aim is social ascendancy, the whirl of bridge parties, and the tea parties whereas her husband prefers intellectually stimulated contacts, the new books on art and philosophy, and friendships of a scholarly sort. d. Personal-Behaviour Patterns: The personal-behaviour patterns may include both habits and the more generalized manner of conduct. Irritating petty habits, insignificant thought they may seem, may bring high marital friction. A woman may talk so loudly on the street that she embarrasses her husband. A husband may be accustomed to eating something in the street, whereas his wife was reared in a home where such conduct was an offence to “good manners”. Both of these divergences present serious implications because they present a disregard for values that the other has accepted as important. Even in the most successful marriages, there are irritating little habits and mannerisms of which the other was not aware at the time of marriage. If these can be accepted without any serious adjustment of life values, in a spirit of tolerant give and take, they may cause no serious trouble. But if they are not able to develop the power of tolerance serious troubles may arise. e. Psychopathic Personalities: Psychopathic personality of one partner or the other may affect marital relationships. Such persons have mental instability and are often charged with cruel and inhuman treatment, mental cruelty, or physical violence (and have the symptoms of psychosis and neurosis). 2. Impersonal Factors or Social and Cultural Factors: a. Economic Tensions: The economic tensions cover a variety of sub-classification and may be due to – i. Sheer Poverty: Despite romantic ideal of love, long-continued worry over financial matters is not conducive to healthy marital relations. Poverty is ‘of course’ a relative term. An income that a middle-class family defines as insufficient may be enough for a lower-class family. A person whose income is not enough to meet the necessities of life in a particular position may affect his temper. His wife may be sympathetic, but she is equally worried. Irritated and distressed because the children want shoes or there is nothing to eat she may lose her temper, or her husband may leave the house. ii. Business Reverses: Business reverses may sometimes bring troubles, particularly when the wife comes from an upper-class family and is of aristocrat nature and she is not able to readjust with the existing lower income. iii. Economic independence of wife: Where wife and husband are both in the same profession, but eh wife’s capacity is recognized as surpassing her husband, her spouse may resent playing the inferior role. Professional jealousy in such circumstances may affect marital relations. Similarly, the economic dependence of wife who has a 19 | P a g e  professional career before marriage may become thorn in flesh. She may find it difficult to adjust her experience to fit the scale of her husband’s purse. It is often impossible for her to achieve standards of consumption that she enjoyed previous to marriage. As a result, she may be dissatisfied with the whole relationship. b. Occupational Tensions: Occupational misfits may be another cause of marital discord. No amount of income in a business to a young man of literary and academic taste can bring contentment. Similarly, unstable occupation from store clerk to the insurance business or from salesman to window dresser, the continual readjustment and lean income period inevitably entail family hazards. Burgess and Cottrell found that frequent change of position is correlated with low scores in marriage adjustment. There arises a conflict between his ideals and practices which may easily be a source of friction in the family. c. Differences in Cultural Background: When husband and wife come from different cultural backgrounds, there may be no grave difficulty, if both have approximately the same education and are somewhat cosmopolitan in their taste. But persons have a different cultural background in the absence of above similarities may find it difficult to adjust. Burgess and Cottrell found that the cultural background of both husband and wife to be one of the five groups of factors affecting family adjustment. d. The disparity in Age: Any wide disparity in age is likely to mean divergences in attitudes and interests. Regarding age at the time of marriage though there can be no absolute rule as to the ideal age for marriage, yet those marriages appeared to be more successful when both parties were fairly mature or in any case the bride was over twenty-one. Because she then had insight and emotional maturity for marital problems. Age is, however, only one element in this complex relationship. e. Ill-Health: At the first instance, a sick wife or husband may conjure up a real emotion of sympathy. But long continued ill health, with its drain on the family budget, the irritability because of nervous tension may, however, become a source of many family difficulties. Lack of stimulating contact, monotonous aspects of housework coupled with the husband’s indifferent expression of affection may lead to her nervous breakdown. Good health must be an accepted premise of satisfactory marriage. f. Parent-child Relationships: Although childless marriages, on the whole, are admittedly less successful than those with children, the children themselves may be the centre of family tension and family conflict. There may be disagreement as to the policy of discipline, the type of training, the nature of the child’s education, social activities and so on. The father may become jealous of the attention which the wife gives to her children, especially in case of a son, and feel that he is largely shut out from his wife’s affections. Similarly, the mother may resent the favouritism which the father displays for his daughter. g. Interference of In-Laws: Parents are often imbued with ambitions and the desire for their children’s happiness, and consequently they often insist upon imposing their decisions upon the reluctant children. They may insist that the daughter-in-law is too extravagant, or she is uncooperative, or she is unsuited to her task as a mother. In countless ways, their undue criticism may play havoc with youthful marriage. 20 | P a g e Generation Gap Generation gap is a difference in values and attitudes between one generation and another, especially between young people and their parents. These differences stem from older and younger people not understanding each other because of their differences in experiences, opinions, habits, and behavior. Each generation must be different in order to meet the changed conditions of its time, but many families continue to follow established customs and appear bewildered by the pressures upon them to decide upon the necessary or desirable changes in their life patterns. The increasing multitude of mothers who are employed outside the home are making the girl’s problem of maturation more difficult. Role Pressures and Strains Role strain refers to the stress when, for any number of reasons, an individual cannot meet the demands of their social roles (Goode 1960). It happens when someone has multiple overlapping, incompatible roles, and thus taking on one roll interferes with their performance in another. For example, someone taking on the roles of parent, manager, caretaker, and writer may experience role strain because these roles combined may take up more time and resources than that person has or require that person to be in multiple places simultaneously. As a result, the person is unable to perform these roles as well as they could if they had fewer roles (Creary & Gordon 2016). Goode (1960) was the first sociologist to introduce the concept of role strain as difficulty in meeting the expectations of roles. In Goode’s view, individuals make a series of bargains within societies about what roles they will take on and perform either well or poorly in any role. Role strain is a normal or perhaps inevitable consequence of balancing multiple at times conflicting, ambiguous, or overwhelming roles, and that the task for everyone in a society is to figure out how to reduce this strain. Implicit in Goode’s (1960) theory of role strain is that everyone must manage its effects. Sociologists such as Bird and Bird (1986) have measured the efficacy of several rolemanagement strategies in the work and family context. These have varying amounts of efficacy. 1. The legitimate excuse — asserting that another responsibility of equal or higher priority prevents the individual from fulfilling a new task or completing one is not perceived as a legitimate response for employees (Marks 1977) but is in informal situations. 2. Stalling - this involves putting off a task before obligations can either be fulfilled or left undone and is most successful when the pressure to perform two or more roles is temporary (Toby 1952). For example, it may be possible to put off deciding until demands are relaxed. 3. Compartmentalization - this involves restricting roles to a certain location or context. For example, one may only do work while at their office, and not check emails at home, where the new dominant role is the one of a parent, spouse, or household manager. 4. Barriers against intrusion - These are strategies proposed by Goode (1960) to prevent others from initiating or continuing role relationships. For example, making appointments can be delegated to a secretary. This can also take the form of making definite plans for using time that no other activities can interfere with. 5. Reduce responsibilities - people could change their standards of performance in a role to have more time available for responsibilities or to perform tasks in other roles. They 21 | P a g e  may also refuse to accept additional responsibilities in a role, saying that they already have too many responsibilities. 6. Delegation - here, a person assigns the tasks of a role to another. For example, a mother could hire a nanny or an older child to care for her children. 7. Organization - this involves ranking the order of importance of various activities and doing the most important ones first (Hall 1972), and finally, empathy as a role strain reducing strategy describes building social support between people sharing the same roles and circumstances. For example, a group of students could provide mutual support in managing the responsibilities of their education. Here are some examples: Family-to-work Role conflict between one’s family and one’s work is called “work-family conflict and Role conflict.” Typically, sociologists measure role conflict in two directions (Creary Strain & Gordon 2016). Work roles can create conflicts with one’s family roles (workto-family conflict) and one’s family roles can create conflict with one’s work (family-to-work conflict). As a result, sociologists call work-family conflict bidirectional or reciprocal (Creary & Gordon 2016). Balancing a job with caring for children and managing household chores can cause significant family- towork conflict. The care of young children requires significant time and mental resources, in the same vein as having a job. Those who lack sufficient resources may struggle to fill the responsibilities of both roles, and this can have negative effects on both physical and mental health (Creary & Gordon 2016). For example, single working mothers experience role strain at higher rates than their married counterparts, as they have to take on full child-rearing and breadwinning responsibilities. Consequently, single mothers experience depression and anxiety at twice the rate of their partnered counterparts (Liang 2018). However, role strain does not affect every single mother who has the same roles in the same way. Those whose workplaces are more flexible (for example, through flexible hours and remote work) and those who have a “leaner” concept of motherhood (for example, in taking less direct control over their children’s lives) experience less role strain than those with strict workplaces and rigid ideas of motherhood (Gasse 2020). Other factors can exacerbate family-to-work conflict and consequently role strain in parents. A migrant background, having toddler-aged children, young maternal age, and previous maltreatment and lack of social support all contribute to role strain. Indeed, these are also psychosocial risk factors for depression and anxiety (Liang 2018). Work-to-family Work-to-family conflict can occur when the demands of one’s job make it so conflict and role that one cannot fill their family roles adequately. For example, working long strain hours at a job may cause a parent to neglect their childcare responsibilities. Recent research suggests that work-family conflict and family-work concepts can be interrelated. For example, someone who has low control over their 22 | P a g e decisions, job stress, high amounts of involvement in their job, or who must care for a family member unexpectedly could come in conflict with their work, and the same factors could lead to conflict with family (Creary & Gordon 2016). Because work-to-family conflict and family-to-work can overlap, sociologists such as Carlson and Frone (2003) have used scales to evaluate the directionality of work-family conflict. This means that these scales measure the extent that the demands of work interfere with family life and the demands of family life interfere with work (Creary & Gordon 2016). Work-family conflict creates role strain as these conflicting roles lead to negative psychological effects. Hospital employees experiencing behaviorbased work-family conflict have lower levels of job satisfaction (Bruck et. al 2002). A family situation that requires an emotional response may strain a doctor who must be neutral in delivering a negative prognosis to patients. Work-to-family conflict, but not family-to-work conflict, is associated with greater levels of absenteeism, especially in those whose gender and relation to others leads to a greater assumption of responsibility in the family (Boyar 2005). Those who experience high levels of work-family conflict also report lower job performance and greater intention to leave their organization (Boshoff 2002). Work-to-family conflict can also cause lower levels of life satisfaction, burnout, stress-related illnesses, and generally reduced health and well-being (Creary & Gordon 2016). 23 | P a g e