that target the challenges veterans and their families often encounter are introduced.
In Chapter 14, Margaret O’Dougherty Wright and Lucy Allbaugh discuss child maltreatment from an ecological and systems perspective placing considerable emphasis on adaptation and resilience of maltreated children. Data from longitudinal studies are used to examine both risk and protective factors that result in the diversity of outcomes found among maltreated children. Specifically, the chapter highlights what is known about factors that heighten risk for psychopathology and behavioral dysfunction following child maltreatment, as well as factors that promote positive adaptation and that protect against adverse, enduring effects. Promising interventions to foster resilience and recovery following child maltreatment are also reviewed.
Lyndal Khaw, in Chapter 15, provides a comprehensive overview of intimate partner violence (IPV). She describes several types of IPV recognizing the disparities that exist in the definitions, measures, and methods researchers employ to study this dimension of domestic violence. In an attempt to facilitate a better understanding of IPV, Khaw presents several theoretical explanations for why this violence takes place and effectively applies a simplified version of the contextual model of family stress to illustrate its complexity. Additional topics of importance to this area of research, such as same-sex relationships, male victimization, and the process of leaving an abusive partner are also addressed.
In Chapter 16, Amity Noltemeyer, Courtney McLaughlin, Mark McGowan, and Caitie Johnson discuss the impact on families of mass violence in schools and communities. They begin the chapter by presenting a hypothetical case study illustrating a family’s experience with mass violence. The authors then review the trends of mass violence in the United States and provide a context for discussing both adaptive and maladaptive responses. Integrating an ecological and developmental perspective, the authors outline a theoretical framework to explain how this type of stressor can impact families and more specifically, how resilience takes place at both the individual and family level. Finally, they describe risk and protective factors that can influence family resilience, exploring implications for professionals working with families.
Jeremy Yorgason, Stephanie Richardson, and Kevin Stott, in Chapter 17, discuss physical illness in the context of the family. They integrate aspects of the Double ABC-X, family resilience, and the vulnerability-stress adaptation models to examine the complex interplay of illness characteristics and circumstances as well as the stressors families encounter and the resilience they display in the face of illness. By employing this approach, they recognize how health stressors are connected to individual and family outcomes through adaptive processes and enduring vulnerabilities. Research findings relating to three situations, including childhood illness, physical illness in marriage, and the declining health of aging parents, are discussed.
In Chapter 18, Kandaus Wickrama, Catherine Walker O’Neal, and Tae Kyoung Lee take an in-depth look at the association between family socioeconomic risk and family mental health. The authors center their attention on the severity of psychological symptoms with particular emphasis on depressive symptoms, and the onset of psychological disorders. They recognize the increased prevalence of mental health challenges for both parents and children during adolescence, young adulthood, and midlife. Finally, Wickrama and his coauthors present the family socioeconomic risk and family mental health (FSAMH) model to inform health policies as well as health intervention and prevention efforts.
In Chapter 19, Kevin Lyness and Judith Fischer discuss the challenges faced by families coping with alcohol and substance abuse. Specifically, their focus is on the experiences of children and adolescents (and their parents) as they struggle with this issue. They take a family developmental approach in their review of current literature as timing, perceptions, contextual factors, and resources depend on individual and family change over time. Lyness and Fisher employ a biopsychosocial model, which includes biological, psychological, and social influences and combine this with the family stress and coping model. They place particular emphasis on the mediating and moderating effects that intervene between two variables, that is, variables that mediate or modify the associations between parent and offspring substance abuse. Finally, they search for explanations of resilience in families coping with substance abuse and discuss issues relating to prevention and treatment.
In Chapter 20, Colleen Murray and Jordan Reuter discuss family experiences with death, dying, and grief. They emphasize that death is a normative and often predictable event, yet it is not viewed as normal and instead is frequently avoided by society. Murray and Reuter review several theories of grieving to illustrate the complex process of loss that individuals and families endure. Family adaptation to loss is described in terms of family vulnerability, belief systems, definitions and the appraisal of gender, culture, and religion. The developmental nature and the unique challenges of children’s grief are examined with an emphasis on factors that influence this evolving process. Finally, the death of specific family members (i.e., children, spouse, sibling, parent) and the associated stressors relating to interpersonal and contextual factors are described.
References
Angell, R. C. (1936). The family encounters the depression. New York, NY: Scribner.
Boss, P. G. (1987). Family stress. In M. B. Sussman & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and the family (pp. 695–724). New York, NY: Plenum.
Cavan, R. S., & Ranck, K. H. (1938). The family and the depression. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Cole, C. L., & Cole, A. L. (1993). Family therapy theory implications for marriage and family enrichment. In P. G. Boss, W. J. Doherty, R. LaRossa, W. R. Schumm, & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Sourcebook of family theories and methods: A contextual approach (pp. 525–530). New York, NY: Plenum.
Hill, R. (1949). Families under stress. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). (2020, February 11). Degree programs in family science. Retrieved from https://www.ncfr.org/degree-programs
Acknowledgments
As editors of the sixth edition of Families and Change, we would like to acknowledge the “passing of the torch” that has taken place over the past few editions. As many of you are aware, the first, second, and third editions of this book were the product of two well-respected and prolific scholars in the field of family science, Dr. Patrick McKenry and Dr. Sharon Price. At the time the third edition was being completed, Pat McKenry died. Pat and Sharon had been friends and coauthors for almost 30 years. They had a remarkable friendship; one that involved both hard work and unceasing humor. When SAGE requested a fourth edition of this book Sharon approached Christine Price (her niece) to join her in the editorial responsibilities. She felt the passing of this legacy was appropriate not only because of their family relationship but also because Pat had been a senior faculty friend and mentor to Christine during her years as an assistant professor at The Ohio State University. When discussions of a fifth edition took place, Sharon (who retired from The University of Georgia in 2000) decided that it was time to hand over the editorial responsibilities entirely to the next generation. Sharon and Christine were both thrilled when Kevin Bush, a former student of Pat McKenry’s at The Ohio State University, a former faculty member at The University of Georgia, and a current professor and associate dean at Miami University accepted.
