Family Dynamics

Question 1

What are family dynamics?

Answer 1

Family dynamics are the patterns of relating, or interactions, between family members.

Question 2

What are the factors that influences family dynamics?

Answer 2

• Nature of the parents’ relationship
• Having a particularly soft or strict parent
• Number of children in the family
• Personalities of family members
• An absent parent
• The ‘mix’ of members who are living in the same household
• Level and type of influence from extended family or others
• A chronically sick or disabled child within the family
• Events which have affected family members, such as an
  affair, divorce, trauma, death, unemployment, homelessness
• Other issues such as family violence, abuse, alcohol or
  other drug use, mental health difficulties, other disability
• Family values, culture and ethnicity, including beliefs about gender roles, parenting practices, power or status of family members
• Nature of attachments in family (i.e. secure, insecure)
• Dynamics of previous generations (parents and
  grandparents families)
• Broader systems- social, economic, political including
  poverty