The Sanchez family case traverses different social issues that face an immigrant family in the United States, and in particular how these issues affect their human behavior and way of life. The Sanchez family is on the spot for this case where one member of the family is antagonized by financial constraints, language problems, legal issues, among others which have affected the way she lives around other people in the community. Human behaviour in a social environment relates to the relationship between the demeanor of a person and the surrounding settings which an individual interacts. This paper narrows down on the life of Celia Sanchez who has been in the US for more than two decades, and the challenges she faces. Hutchison (2018) explain that the two primary environmental factors that affect human social behaviour are family environment and physical environment. These issues will be addressed using the four lenses of family therapy: person-in-environment, biopsychosocial, social, and sociocultural.
Introduction of the Sanchez Case
Celia Sanchez is a lady from Mexico who has been married to Hector for more than four decades but has stayed in the United States for two decades, where she is a permanent resident. Celia loves staying indoors and as such has never worked outside her home since she stepped into the US. Also, Celia does not know how to drive; an attribute that has made her keen to sticking with her grandchildren at home, home keeping, and cooking.
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Considering her tendency to keep indoors, Celia has found it difficult to master proficient English speaking skills, unlike her husband, Hector. Therefore, Celia has been unable to step up to key functions that require her availability, or presence such as school meetings for her grandchildren and children in the early years, due to language barrier issues. Also, the moments she had fallen proved a challenge because she had to find an interpreter for her when she visited hospital: her son has been instrumental in this.
Not only has it been hard for Celia to communicate in hospitals and schools, but also when she had to deal with the law on legal issues such as juvenile law violations by her children in early years. In the same vein, her nephew called Robertson lacks all the documentation needed for residence in the United States which has proven to be a more adverse challenge since Celia does not know how to communicate in English if she happens to be questioned by immigration.
On the other hand, Hector is sickly and at the same time anticipating a layoff from his place of work. Therefore, Celia has been concerned about this reality and has urged the husband to sell food stamps to earn a living for the family. However, Hector has maintained a hardlined position on Celia's suggestion. Since Celia is a frequent worshiper at Our Lady of Guadalupe church, she managed to source food among other household goods for her family: this has been a perfect cover up for her since Hector does not know about it.
Person-In-Environment
According to the Person-Environment theory, the attitude, behavior, and well-being of a person is dependent on the congruence between them and the environment (Hutchison, 2018). Therefore, stress levels in this case are triggered by incompatibilities between the individual and their environment. Celia's normal functioning is impacted by two primary factors; family and physical factors within her environment. Cilia Sanchez is in her mid-fifties, and none of her children need babysitting in any way. However, she has had to take care of two grandchildren despite the fact that this is something she did several years back and thought would not do in her age. This situation will affect Cilia because at her age she should be enjoying life with her husband and preparing for retirement. On the contrary, she will have to put up with the theatrics of the growing kids and through their adolescence. Empirical literature posit that examples of significant variables that affect family functioning include monthly income, age, marital status, education levels and occupation (Hutchison, 2018). On the other hand, the physical factor from her environment that is likely to affect her is the health of her husband. Hector is sick and given the circumstances, it will take a toll on his ability to work and earn enough income to sustain the family. Sociological studies indicate that sickness causes adaptive reorganization of priorities and leads to general decrease in inactivity as evidenced by Sanchez case ( Hutchison, 2018) . According to an American sociologist Parsons Talcott, sickness causes sanctioned deviance which affects the victim and his family’s ability to function (Hutchison, 2018). The implication of this is that Celia will ultimately have to work herself off to provide for the whole family.
Social Change
Social change refers to alteration of the social factors tied to a person's life such as family (Edel, 2018). Celia Sanchez and her family are originally Mexican. Also, despite their long stay in the United States they had not yet received citizenship; though they were still permanent residents. Therefore, both Hector and Celia were not able to secure good jobs to provide for their family. Edel (2018) notes that social changes encompasses dimensions such as organization change, cultural change and transformative change. The social change in the case will definitely affect the family for years in the future, both economically and emotionally as supported by Edel. Some social changes are outside human control which limits human ability to cushion from potential implications that would result from such transformations. As Edel (2018) explain, social changes have profound long term ramifications which affects human interactions and relationships such as family connectedness. Hector has a job that not only pays little but also has no security since they had a layoff threat.
Biopsychosocial
Biopsychosocial lens focus on the interaction between biology, the environment, and psychology of the individual in question (Bolton & Billet, 2019 and Lantolf, Poehner & Swain, 2018). The biopsychosocial dimension cuts across health and illness behaviour and acts as an outcome of biological characteristics and behavioral attributes such as lifestyle, social support, health beliefs and stress ( Hutchison, 2018) . Celia Sanchez is likely to be affected psychologically by the health of her husband, and the economic status of the family. According to Bolton and Billet (2019), biopsychosocial factors cuts across psychological, social and biological interactions that relate to the biomedical aspects of a health condition. Due to the fact that Hector is reluctant to pick up the food stamp job, Mrs. Sanchez will be affected mentally because ultimately, she will have to deal with an ailing husband and bills around the house.
Sociocultural
The sociocultural lens focuses on changes in cultural aspects of a human being and how that impacts their behavior and attitudes (Lantolf et al., 2018). Based on the case study, Celia is from Mexico. Also, she has not been exposed to the American culture, including their language, because she has been staying indoors all the time for the last twenty years she has lived in the US. This will affect Mrs. Sanchez in three major ways: monitoring her grandchildren in school, going to the hospital, and interacting with the law. Since Celia is taking care of her two grandchildren, she will be required to attend teachers and parents' meeting in their respective schools. Lantolf et al., (2018) assert that cultural symbols are tied to aspects such as religion, language, dressing, food, among others. In this case, given her inability to communicate fluently in English, she might miss out on important details concerning her grandchildren’s' education. The sociocultural lens relates to awareness of an individual to circumstances surrounding them and the effect of cultural and social factors to their behaviours (Hutchison, 2018). If Mrs Sanchez fails to find a translator, the doctors might not take accurate patient history from her descriptions, thus, might not be treated effectively. Lastly, Celia Sanchez might make wrong decisions regarding her nephew since he does not yet have documentation to permit his stay in the United States.
Conclusion
Celia Sanchez had several challenges in the United States ranging from language and communication issues, financial, and family problems. All these issues will have specific impact on her behavior and way of life. Due to the increasing social factors globally, human behaviour has drastically changed with the environment and physical factors leading in shaping the way people behave. As evidenced by Sanchez case, some social factors surrounding a person adversely affects his or her behaviour which others impact people positively. Hector's trouble with his health, and his job are the major factors revolving around Mrs. Sanchez and her well-being. Other factors such as language barrier and immigration issues surrounding her nephew also impact her life. Therefore, to resolve these issues, Celia needs to take up a language course for EFL learners to grasp lexical and basic English syntax necessary for communication. This would help her fix her issues with attending school meetings for her grandchildren and in making decisions regarding their immigrant status. Additionally, she also needs to push for her immigration status to gain citizenship which will offer both Hector and the rest of the family proper jobs for gainful revenue that can comfortably sustain them.
References
Hutchison, E. D. (2018). Dimensions of human behavior: Person and environment. Sage Publications.
Hutchison, E. D. (2018). Dimensions of human behavior: The changing life course . Sage Publications.
Bolton, D., & Gillett, G. (2019). The Biopsychosocial Model 40 Years On. In The Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Disease (pp. 1-43). Palgrave Pivot, Cham.
Edel, A. (2018). Ethical Theory and Social Change. Routledge.
Lantolf, J. P., Poehner, M. E., & Swain, M. (Eds.). (2018). The Routledge handbook of sociocultural theory and second language development. Routledge.other
