The Martin Family is a multi-cultural, multi-faceted family. The immediate family consists of Cynthia and Marshall. Marshall is a 32-year-old Caucasian as the only child of his parents, Judith (61-years-old), and Randy (66-years-old), who are still married. These parents were never strict. On the other hand, there is Cynthia, who is 30-years-old from a rigorous Puerto Rican home. Critically, from the case, Cynthia and Marshall have had the chance to be together for over 13 years and married for 9. The two have three children together: Sylvia, Jonathan, and Torrence. From the case, Marshall and Cynthia tend to disagree on their parenting choices.
On the one hand, Marshall believes that Sylvia should have the chance to secure a cell phone and a later curfew because of their approach to instill in her morals and principles to enable her to make the right decisions. On the other hand is Cynthia, who believes in the need for close monitoring of their daughter while also considering sending her away to an all-girls Christian camp for the summer. The diversity creates the basis for the disagreement between Cynthia and Marshall but reflects on only one aspect of the deeper, strained relationship. In another twist of events, Cynthia and Marshall are considering moving to a smaller town, which is about 25 miles from their current home. They want to do this before Sylvia transitions into high school. The encounter creates tension between Cynthia and Marshall in a situation, which Marshall believes William is the cause as he continues to meddle in her daughter’s life.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Identify Problem Situation
Notably, from the case study, there is the approach by Cynthia and Marshall to surprise Cynthia’s parents with the announcement of her pregnancy with Sylvia. The encounter did break the family tradition or Christianity upbringing. Despite the desire by William as a good Christian pastor for the marriage, Cynthia and Marshall were not married. Religion plays a crucial role in describing the views of the Christian Bible on the issues of pregnancy, sex, and marriage. It is essential to note that these urgings were prevalent in the case of Cynthia and Marshall. The two focused on saving money to procure a house before getting married.
Since Sylvia is getting older, Cynthia is seeking to revert to a path that she failed to take. It is possible to say that Cynthia might have denied getting pregnant early and failing to finish college until later. Based on this, Cynthia wants Sylvia to go to the Christian-based summer camp. It is at this point that Marshall and William began to be at odds because of the straining of the relationship. William focused on blaming Marshall for challenging his daughter’s faith, as well as getting her pregnant and failing to marry her right away. Another issue is the discussion of moving to a different town. In this discussion, Marshall and William are at odds, compelling Marshall to create an ultimatum to Cynthia to choose between their family and her family.
Case Analysis
In the sociological approach, Bandura developed a social learning theory, which illustrates that people learn through observing other people’s behaviors, as well as attitudes and outcomes associated with the behaviors (Bandura, 1977). Based on the case study information, Marshall had the chance to grow up in a context that he would describe as an Authoritarian parenting style. Most of the children from this parenting style are happy, as well as successful. They have the chance to grow up as responsible adults capable of feeling comfortable in the expression of their respective opinions. Nonetheless, in the illustration of Martin’s childhood, it is possible to consider the integration of the permissive parenting style. In Marshall’s case, his parents, Judith and Randy allowed him to have weekend trips from home when Marshall was a teenager.
Marshall would remain with his half-brother, Stephan as the person in charge. In other instances, Marshall would spend most of the time during the summer months with his maternal grandparents depicted as Vivian and George. The two are now deceased. On the other hand, as previously stated, Cynthia has the chance to grow up in the traditional household in the Authoritarian parenting context. From a cultural perspective, the Puerto Rican families and macro-system focus on considering the family life as a representation of the core cultural value. It is ideal to look upon the family and kin as the most enduring and consistent support system. In such a context, the nuclear family system is one of the most prevalent styles of this macro-system. In this microsystem, Cynthia had Marshall because of the tendency of living in the same neighborhood; thus, the potentiality of knowing each other.
Nonetheless, the case study does not make it clear if the two had the chance to play together. In their home, Cynthia had an older sister in Marissa, as well as a younger sister, Sophia. In the case study, one of the elements noted is the chrono-system associated with Cynthia’s family as Marissa’s father; William is a pastor in the family’s local church. Besides, in keeping within the microsystem, Marissa’s mother, Patricia, focuses on using her platforms to liaise with other women in the ministry across the parish. Amid all these, Cynthia’s paternal grandmother, Carmen (80-years-old), still lives with her parents. At the same time, Patricia acts as the primary caretaker for the past several years following the passing away of her husband, Julian.
Theoretical Selection
One of the critical theoretical aspects is Albert Ellis’ approach to therapy, which concentrates on irrational thinking as a contributor to the kinds of emotional problems (Stark, 2017). In this aspect, Ellis documents the approach as the rational psychotherapy in the 1950s before its transformation into sound emotive therapy. In the 1990s, Ellis would refine the theory to become the rational-emotive behavior therapy. Emotionally, it is sufficient to optimize the talk therapies as it is useful and helpful to talk problems through with friends or with family members. As described in the case study, Cynthia focused on asking her father to help with some input, which created further emotional challenges, problems between Marshall and William, as well as Cynthia and Marshall.
Critically, talk therapy is critical in creating room for people to talk to trained personalities in dealing with negative feelings and attributes. Talk therapies also create room or chance for people to examine their respective thoughts and feelings, as well as the implications on the mood and behaviors of the people going through such problems. In taking this further, it is possible to explore the influence of the thoughts and feelings on the mesosystem. It is possible to couple this with the CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) seeking to work towards solutions with some clear goals ( Mitchell et al., 2012) . Cynthia and Marshall can incorporate these elements to work towards the achievement of the set goals while optimizing the relationship and awareness of the problems in question.
Alternative Strategies
Alternatively, in the course of helping Cynthia and Marshall as they go about the problems above, it is possible to adopt and use the humanist approach or elements of humanism. From a definitional perspective, the humanistic approach refers to the psychological perspective associated with the practices exploring the holistic or whole individual. The objective of this approach is, to begin with, the existential assumption that people have a free will before assuming that individuals are competent; thus, always have the desire to make themselves and the planet a better place. In this aspect, it is appropriate, to begin with helping Marshall and Cynthia to ensure that they are right with themselves before moving onto their micro and meso-systems.
Besides, there is the alternative of using trait theory positing personality as an element of the dynamic organization within the person of the available psychophysical systems determining his characteristics, thoughts, and behavior, particularly among the individuals and families. In comparing the families and individuals in the case study, Marshall focused on the utilization of his parenting style from his parents. The same is true for Cynthia and her family. She desires that Sylvia transform into the girl she always wanted to be before getting pregnant at an early age.
Conclusion
Cynthia and Marshall have had the chance to make a good life for their family had spent some years together. The two have known each other since they were children. Critically, it is essential to note that Cynthia and Marshall come from families having encountered attributes of the previous relationships. Nonetheless, Marshall’s family is not as directive as Cynthia’s family, but the families are good to each other, as they want the best for their children whom they desire to grow into fine adults. As an individual, I would focus on helping them recall the reasons why they are together in the marriage institution. This is through the exploitation of talk therapy to enable them to talk through the issues they have in their relationship. The approach would create room for the two to discuss the good, as well as bad issues vital in enabling them to overcome the difficult times.
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory . New York: General Learning Press.
Mitchell, M. D., Gehrman, P., Perlis, M., & Umscheid, C. A. (2012). Comparative effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: a systematic review. BMC Family Practice, 13 (1), 40.
Stark, L. (2017). Albert Ellis, Rational Therapy, and the Media of ‘Modern’ Emotional Management. History of the Human Sciences , 30 (4), 54-74.
