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Chapter 14

The Ability to Cope with Stress

and Crisis

Strong families have the ability to adapt

to changing circumstances. Certain roles

and rules govern who does what in the

family, how to manage situations, and how

to express emotions within the family.

While these roles and rules establish

continuity and stability for the family, they

require flexibility when a crisis occurs. To

cope with change, strong families can adapt

their family patterns, establishing new

patterns for family tasks, division of labor,

habits, rules, and roles. Flexibility is also

required when families enter transition

periods, such as marriage, birth,

adolescence, departure and reentry of

grown children, remarriage, stepsiblings,

aging, and death (Olson & DeFrain, 1998;

DeFrain & Stinnett, 2002).

Foster Resiliency

The ability to adapt to life’s varying

circumstances is a measure of resiliency.

Family resiliency and family strengths are

strongly linked. Families whobelievein

their ability to overcome difficulties most

often do. Strong families foster resiliency

when they teach problem-solving skills,

provide non-critical support, and facilitate

a sense of togetherness. When family

members learn these skills, they receive the

tools necessary to shape their lives

positively and to overcome the difficulties

they will face in life. The difference

between a family which falls apart in a

crisis and a family which pulls together

most often is resiliency. Walsh (1998, 2003)

identifies family resilience as a flexible

construct encompassing different family

strengths, in different contexts, at different

points in the family life cycle. In other

words, she suggests resilient families do

not display all the characteristics of family

strengths, at all times, in all situations.

Walsh organized the key components of

family resilience into three areas.

Do not be anxious about anything,but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present

your requests to God.

—Philippians 4:6

Humor is an excellent coping tool for families

experiencing stress and crisis.

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