Getting to the Bottom of Anxiety| Using Bowen Family Systems Concepts to Examine the Impact of Family Interaction Patterns on a Child's Academic and Social/Emotional Functioning at School

• Main Author: Shultz, Robin S.
• Language: EN
• Published: Aurora University 2018
• Subjects: Mental health|Social work|Education
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10837976

<p> The Bowen Family Systems concept Fusion with Others was found to be the most significant predictor of children&rsquo;s demonstration of anxiety based on parent&rsquo;s reports, accounting for approximately 22% of the variation in anxiety ratings. Both parent Emotional Cutoff and parent Fusion with Others were found to be the most significant predictors of student anxiety in children at school based on their teacher&rsquo;s reports, accounting for nearly 30% of the variability in teacher&rsquo;s anxiety ratings. Children&rsquo;s math performance at school was also found to be significantly associated with parent Emotional Cutoff. This investigation examined relationships between parent&rsquo;s levels of Differentiation of Self, Emotional Cutoff, Emotional Reactivity, &ldquo;I&rdquo; Position, and Fusion with Others, as defined by Bowen Theory, and children&rsquo;s functioning in reading, math, and in social/emotional competencies demonstrated at school. Twenty-five parents and twenty-five teachers from a Midwestern school district participated in the study. Significant differences between home and school emerged in this investigation in children&rsquo;s tendencies to avoid contact with others and in their appearances to parents and teachers of sadness or depression, indicating the possible existence of a Child Focus Process as postulated in Bowen Family Systems Theory. Significant similarities were found between home and school in children&rsquo;s tendencies to demonstrate anxious behavior. </p><p>