How Families Respond to a Variety of Stresses

Reviews the books, Stress and the Family, Vol. 1: Coping With Normative Transitions edited by Hamilton I. McCubbin and Charles R. Figley (1983); and Stress and the Family, Vol. 2: Coping With Catastrophe edited by Charles R. Figley and Hamilton I. McCubbin (1983). The first volume deals with normative transitions in families, beginning with the more or less eternal issues of marriage, sexuality, and parenthood, then moving on to cultural modifications such as dual careers, divorce, single parenting, and stepfamilies. The volume on normative transitions also includes a section on environmental/societal factors highlighting problems peculiar to black families and rural families and stressors resulting from work and economic demands. The second volume addresses catastrophic events-chronic illness, death, unemployment, rape, natural disaster, war--which are unexpected and frightening and which have serious effects on many family processes. In summary, these two volumes describe studies of the family's responses to a continuum of stresses, ranging from the inevitable through the expected and the frequent to the unexpected and the catastrophic. The volumes are readable and will be valuable to a wide range of students and professionals in the field of family studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)