Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies: A Dynamic Approach

762 Pages·2022·15.99 MB·English

by  Kari Adamsons, April L. Few-Demo, Christine Proulx, Kevin Roy

Kari Adamsons · April L. Few-Demo
Christine M. Proulx · Kevin Roy Editors
Sourcebook of
Family
Theories and
Methodologies
A Dynamic Approach
Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies
Kari Adamsons • April L. Few-Demo
Christine M. Proulx • Kevin Roy
Editors
Sourcebook of Family
Theories and Methodologies
A Dynamic Approach
Editors
Kari Adamsons April L. Few-Demo
Department of Human Development and Department of Human Development and
Family Sciences Family Sciences
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences College of Liberal Arts and Human
University of Connecticut Sciences Virginia Tech
Storrs, CT, USA Blacksburg, VA, USA
Christine M. Proulx Kevin Roy
Department of Human Development and Department of Family Science, School of
Family Sciences Public Health
College of Education and Human University of Maryland
Development University of Missouri College Park, MD, USA
Columbia, MO, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-92001-2 ISBN 978-3-030-92002-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92002-9
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Preface
At the TCRM business meeting in November 2015, Kevin Roy raised the idea that
it might be time to start thinking about creating a new Sourcebook. It had been 10
years since the last one was published, and we were reaching a turning point in the
field where a number of senior scholars were retiring, and if we wished to include
them in one more Sourcebook, now would be the time. Kari Adamsons volunteered
to help Kevin talk to people about the idea and put together a proposal, so that others
could move it to the next steps if it was decided that the time was right. Over the
next several months, Kari and Kevin talked with a number of scholars, including
previous Sourcebook editors, to get their thoughts on (a) whether a new Sourcebook
was needed and (b) what such a Sourcebook should look like. These efforts culmi-
nated in a panel discussion at TCRM in fall 2016, where it was decided that the
process of creating a new Sourcebook should begin, and Katherine Allen, Libby
Balter Blume, and Ron Sabatelli agreed to serve as a selection committee for the
editors of the new volume. A call for editors was sent out in February of 2017, and
a team of five editors was named by the selection committee at the end of March.
One selected editor decided to step down in the summer of 2017 due to growing
administrative responsibilities, and after consulting with the selection committee,
the decision was made to move forward with the Sourcebook as a team of four edi-
tors: Kari Adamsons, April L. Few-Demo, Christine M. Proulx, and Kevin Roy.
From the time we were selected, we met as a team by phone (and later by Zoom)
approximately every 2 to 4 weeks. We decided early on that this would be a team
effort and that we would not name a “lead” editor, instead listing editor names
alphabetically; all editorial decisions were fully collaborative. Between March and
November of 2017, we created a tentative table of contents and guidelines for
authors, and a call for proposals for primary chapters was announced at NCFR and
TCRM and distributed via listservs in fall 2017. As a team, we reviewed all chapter
proposals and made decisions on chapter authorship teams in spring 2018. Once we
had a sense of the primary chapters that would be included and were getting drafts
of the chapters from authors, we created and distributed a call for proposals for
applications to accompany each primary chapter in fall 2018.
v
vi Preface
In creating this Sourcebook, we made several intentional decisions (which we
discuss more in our introductory chapter). First, we decided on a theory-forward
approach, with each chapter focusing on a particular theory/methodology. Second,
we followed the sociohistorical approach of the 1993 Sourcebook, clustering our
chapters by historical period. Third, we decided to include applications for almost
every chapter, so that readers can gain a sense of the cutting-edge work and debates
that surround each theory and methodology. We made an intentional change from
“methods” to “methodologies,” so that we could address broad approaches to
research rather than specific statistical or analytical techniques. We sought to be
inclusive of as diverse an array of theories and methodologies as possible, bringing
in a number of chapters that have not been formally included before in a Sourcebook.
We attempted to include diverse perspectives in terms of both the chapter authors
and the topics addressed in the primary chapters and the applications.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we named our approach to theories and
methodologies a dynamic approach. In our view, theories and methodologies are
active and organic creations; they are products of the sociohistorical periods within
which they originated, and they are (or should be) constantly evolving and adapting
over time to the changing cultural contexts within which we employ them as schol-
ars. The purpose of this volume is to tell the ongoing stories of the theories and
methodologies employed in the field of family science – not simply as static lists of
constructs and propositions, but as dynamic ideas viewed through our current socio-
historical and cultural lenses and the individual perspectives of the authors.
Although our primary goal was to let authors “tell the story” of their theories and
methodologies as they saw fit, we did provide general guidelines to authors about
content that should be addressed in each chapter to provide some parallel structure
to the volume as a whole. For authors of theory chapters, we asked them to discuss
the historical origins and development of the theory, including major historical
events, individuals, and key primary sources; the core assumptions and concepts of
the theory and how they evolved over time; the main problems and questions that
the theory addresses; debates within and limitations of the theory; examples of
research using the theory in family science; and future directions. For methodology
chapters, we asked authors to address the historical origins of the methodology,
including key historical events and individuals; basic assumptions of the methodol-
ogy; an overview of the methodology, including key concepts and advances over
time; the types of research questions that the methodology can address and theories
that it might be particularly well matched with for use; examples of applications of
the methodology to family research; limitations of and current debates about the
methodology; and future directions for use of this methodology with families.
In total, the current Sourcebook contains 55 chapters and 99 authors that span the
globe and a vast array of disciplines and academic/professional ranks. It is, like the
theories and methodologies it contains, a product of the current times. Numerous
debates mentioned herein remain unresolved, and new ones are emerging. We hope
you enjoy and find the contents of this volume useful to your work and scholarship,
and we look forward to watching the continued evolution of the theories and meth-
odologies of family science in years to come.
Preface vii
Storrs, CT, USA Kari Adamsons
Blacksburg, VA, USA April L. Few-Demo
Columbia, MO, USA Christine M. Proulx
College Park, MD, USA Kevin Roy
Acknowledgments
We want to acknowledge the many scholars who contributed to this volume, many
of whom did so in the midst of a global pandemic. Nearly 100 contributors helped
us bring this book to fruition, and we are grateful for their commitment to the
Sourcebook.
The Theory Construction and Research Methodology (TCRM) workshop and
the Research and Theory (R&T) section of the National Council on Family Relations
(NCFR) are, in many ways, the home of the Sourcebook of Family Theories and
Methodologies. Since its founding in 1971, TCRM has been the place that family
scientists have gone to develop, debate, and discuss theory, and the R&T section is
one of the earliest and largest membership groups within NCFR, which highlights
important work and theoretical advances in the field of family science. We thank the
executive committees of TCRM and R&T for supporting this project, and the
attendees of TCRM and R&T business meetings and Sourcebook sessions who
helped this book take shape. Royalties from past Sourcebooks supported the cre-
ation of this volume, and royalties resulting from this newest edition will support
the next update.
We also would like to thank Katherine Allen, Libby Balter Blume, and Ronald
Sabatelli for their faith and encouragement in selecting us to be the editorial team
for this volume, and their support when we had questions along the way.
We would like to thank Springer Nature for their assistance throughout the cre-
ation of this volume and their patience with its many delays – publishing during a
pandemic is not for the faint of heart. We would like to express a special thanks to
Jennifer Hadley for her initial enthusiasm that convinced us the time was right, and
that this volume was a needed addition to the field.
We would like to thank our families and loved ones, who provided support, san-
ity checks, sounding boards, and sympathetic ears throughout the years of this
project.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge the true team editorial effort that built this
Sourcebook. We were appointed as co-editors in March of 2017, all as mid-career
scholars, and entrusted with the daunting task of creating the defining collection of
theories and methodologies for our field. Our names are listed in alphabetical order
ix
x Acknowledgments
as editors to reflect the fact that no single one of us was the lead on this project. All
decisions were jointly made during our regular (at least monthly, and usually more
frequently) phone and Zoom meetings and our couple of “writing retreats.” As dif-
ficult and as winding a path as this project followed at times, we can’t imagine a
team we would have wanted to take this journey with more.
Contents
Part I Setting the Context for Contemporary Family Science
Family Theories and Methodologies: A Dynamic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Kari Adamsons, April L. Few-Demo, Christine M. Proulx, and Kevin Roy
Metatheorizing in Family Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
David C. Bell
History of Family Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Barbara H. Settles and Karen L. Doneker
Part II T he Great Depression, World War, and the Rise of Pragmatism in
Family Science
Family Resilience Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Carolyn S. Henry and Amanda W. Harrist
Application: Resilience Among Sibling Caregivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Mamta Saxena
Conceptualizing Family Stress: A Trend Toward Greater Context . . . . . . 99
Chalandra M. Bryant and Christiana I. Awosan
Application: Family Stress Theories and Custodial Grandfamilies . . . . . . 119
Megan L. Dolbin-MacNab
Through the Looking Glass: Reexamining Symbolic Interactionism’s Past
and Forecasting its Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Kari Adamsons and Michael Carter
Application: Symbolic Interactionism as a Framework for Marital
Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Scott Hall
Ethnographic Methodologies in Family Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Katherine MacTavish
xi