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Human Development. Pastoral Care in the Human Life Cycle. Development: A Biblical Perspective. “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (I Cor. 13:11)
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Human Development Pastoral Care in the Human Life Cycle
Development: A Biblical Perspective • “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (I Cor. 13:11) • “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity . . . . And God permitting, we will do so.” (Heb. 6:1a, 3) • “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Prov. 22:6)
Faith Development • James Fowler identifies a series of distinct, identifiable stages which characterize the way that people make meaning of life. He treats faith as a generic human phenomenon, though he acknowledges Christian faith as a modification of meaning-makingtoward God. Describes one pre-stage and six stages in the sequence of faith development.
Fowler’s Stages of Faith Development • Adopts a structuralist-developmental view using important concepts from: • Erik Erikson (psychosocial development) • Jean Piaget (cognitive development) • Lawrence Kohlberg (moral development) • Paul Tillich (theologian) • Richard Niebuhr (theologian)
Basis of Fowler’s Stages • Stages are constructed based upon the inter-relationships of seven aspects: • Form of Logic • Role-taking • Form of Moral Judgment • Bounds of Social Awareness • Locus of Authority • Form of World Coherence • Symbolic Functioning
Fowler’s Stages of Faith Development 2 • Pre-stage - infancy & undifferentiated faith • Stage 1 - Intuitive-Projective faith • Stage 2 - Mythic-Literal faith • Stage 3 - Synthetic-Conventional faith • Stage 4 - Individuative-Reflective faith • Stage 5 - Conjunctive faith • Stage 6 - Universalizing faith
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory 1 • Based upon: • organismic (“active”) view of human beings • developmental (rooted in genetics: pattern & capacity for growth) view of biology • structural (active, subjective transformation and construction of one’s understanding of the world) view of human intelligence
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory 2 • Sensori-motor Stage (0-2 yrs):objectpermanence develops • Pre-operational Stage (2-7 yrs):egocentrism, classification & conservation problems, animism • Concrete Operations Stage (7-12 yrs):good conservation operations, unable to deal with mostabstractconcepts • Formal Operations Stage (11-12+ yrs):adult reasoning, canthinkabstractly
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Developmental Theory • Epigenetic - “first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn shall appear” (Mk. 4:28); Kingdom of God - plan, process • Involves a major psychosocial crisis in the course of development both as the social sphere widens and physical/mental maturation occurs • Each stage has pos./neg. outcome; no crisis ever completely solved; perennial themes • Erik’s son
Family Life Cycle Stages • 1) Leaving Home • 2) Joining Families through Marriage • 3) Families with Young Children • 4) Families with Adolescents • 5) Launching Children & Moving On • 6) Families in Later Life
Marital Life Cycle • Marital Satisfaction is typically: • Highest prior to birth of children • Lowest for husbands while children are adolescents • Lowest for wives just after empty nest but before retirement • These are descriptive, not prescriptive!! • 85 % divorce rate among couples who have had a child to die.
Family Systems Theory • Sees and responds to problems within the context of the larger “system” • Does not remove individual accountability and responsibility • Considers that the presenting problem may be a symptom of a system problem (marital or family system)
Step Families The Struggle to Be
Definitions • A stepfamily is a household in which there is an adult couple, at least one of whom has a child by a previous relationship. Sixty-five percent of stepfamilies resulting from divorce have children living with their biological mother. • “Step” - comes from the old English “steop” meaning orphaned or bereaved.
How Stepfamilies Are Formed • Up until about the 20th century, the primary reason for the creation of a stepfamily was the death of a parent. • Today, the number one reason is divorce. • Loss & grief are inherent in both. • Stepfamilies create relationships in which a parent is related to a child only by marriage, not by blood.
Virginia Rutter, “Lessons from Stepfamiles,” Psychology Today, 27 (3), May-June 1994, 30. • In 2000, stepfamilies will outnumber all other family types • Stepfamilies experience most of their troubles in the first two years • What trips up stepkids is not the stepfamily per se, but parental conflict left over from the first marriage (lack of time & attention from parents) • 80% no long-term behavior problems compared to 90% in first marriage families
Basic Differences in SF Structure 1 • The Family Begins after Many Losses & Changes • Both Adults & Children Come Together with Incongruent Individual, Marital, & Family Life Cycles • Children & Adults All Have Expectations from Previous Families • Parent-Child Relationships Predate the New Couple Relationship • There is a Biological Parent in Another Household or in Memory
Basic Differences in SF Structure 2 • Children Often Are Members of Two Households • There Is Little or No Legal Relationship Between Stepparents and Stepchildren • Dealing with these structural differences requires that certain tasks be accomplished for satisfactory family integration to occur.
Stepfamily Integration Tasks • Dealing with Losses & Changes • Negotiate Different Developmental Needs • Establish New Traditions • Developing a Strong Couple Bond • Forming New Relationships • Creating a “Parent Coalition” • Accepting Continual Shifts in Household Composition • Risking Involvement Despite Little Support from Society
Most Common Areas of SF Difficulty Usually Created by External Structural Characteristics • Change & Loss • Unrealistic Beliefs or Expectations • Insiders/Outsiders • Life-Cycle Discrepancies • Loyalty Conflicts • Boundary Problems • Power Issues • Closeness/Distance
Typical Problem Areas • Divided Loyalty - child to parents; child to stepparent; grandparents too; parent to child/stepchild; spouse to spouse. • Discipline of Children/Stepchildren • Financial Dilemmas - support; insurance; college tuition; estate problems • Differing Places Along the Life Cycle • Relating to “strangers”
