Families form critical aspects of any society as they make up its basic unit. Families have a perspective of pacifist grounds whereby the member feel surrounded by love and affection. Families are also regarded as the social grouping that members run to for consolation at times of need. Most people tend to seek solace within their families as they feel understood and well accommodated despite their shortcomings. However, that is not always the case, as families are bound to experience breakdowns due to the adoption of negative attributes by some members. Most of the factors that affect effective family relationships are behavioral; such include mistrust, dishonesty, and disrespect.
Mistrust strains relationships in families as members view others as ill-willed or ones who cannot get called upon when need be. Distrust happens in families because some members fail others when given a duty to perform, yet they may not decline responsibility during delegation. Trust in families is cultivated by the aspects of being understanding, transparent and forgiving among the family members (Cohen & Strong, 2021). Trust or lack of it significantly determines the direction that a relationship in a family takes. Trust is essential in building effective relationships with families among the members as it gives them the confidence to engage with others and count on them.
Dishonesty among family members is a vice that adversely affects effective relationships in families. Dishonesty rotates around the virtue that some members cannot give true accounts about issues in the family or externally that affect their families. Mostly dishonesty in families is driven by lies concerning matters of interest to the family members (Bates-Duford, 2019). As a family, it may be easy to keep some issues away from the public through lies, however, such result to relationship breakdown among family members when they do not know the truth. A culture of deception in families lead to suspiciousness among members towards each other. Therefore, dishonesty is a factor that negatively affects establishing effective relationships with families.
Disrespect makes another vice that strains successful relationships with families. Disrespect among members of the family is demonstrated through their actions towards others as well as through how they communicate. Showing respect toward each other among family members is very critical as it helps build the social support in the family. It helps develop self-worth, gives social control and builds self-esteem which is crucial in fostering goodwill among the members (Thomas et al., 2017). Thus, instances where family members feel that the regard they deserve is compromised lead to broken bonds and strained family relationships.
Occasionally, families experience challenges in the form of conflict of interest that strain their bonds and inhibit constructive relationships. Mainly, these issues could be a result of the factors discussed earlier that strain perfect relationships with families. However, other points of contention in families are conflicts in matters such as properties and beliefs. Differences in goals and expectations, political and economics in the family result in conflicts that may strain functional relationships in families (Cohen & Strong, 2021). Such could occur in instances that the family is sharing out some resources such as money or land. Some people may have selfish wishes that may inhibit healthy family relations due to resulting conflicts.
References
Bates-Duford, T. (2019). Harmful Family Lies, Secrets, and Legacies. Psych Central. Retrieved 14 September 2022, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/relationship-corner/2019/01/harmful-family-lies-secrets-and-legacies#1.
Cohen, T., & Strong, B. (2021). The Marriage and Family Experience: Intimate Relationships in a Changing Society (14th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Thomas, P., Liu, H., & Umberson, D. (2017). Family Relationships and Well-Being. Innovation In Aging, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igx025
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