Ecological Systems Theory - Case Study Example

Theoretical Case Study Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Theoretical Case Study This study intends to explore the plight of Mary’s physical abuse in her marriage. Domestic violence is a whereby women are abused – physically, emotionally or financially –by their spouses, and sometimes even sexual abuse. The rate of this violence has increased over the years with a report of 1.3million cases are reported across the world. This paper intends to analyze the plight of working women and the non-working house wife and how they cope with battery relationships with the approach of attachment theory and system theory. Attachment Theory This theory involves a set of concepts that focus on the emotional and physical bond between an infant and the caregiver and the way in which this bonding can have impact on the child emotional and behavioural development into adulthood. An attachment is based on the need for security, knowing that one is safe and protected all time at all cost. Attachment is not synonymous with love or affection or other activities such as feeding – it is focused on the bond. (In Slade & In Holmes, 2014) The major argument of attachment theory is based on the fact that human beings need a sense of belonging in the society regardless of our diverse ethnicity, cultural practices and religious belief. The attachment can assist in handling life issues in a more appropriate manner because of the support one may have. It also builds the infant self-esteem by social interaction and communicating with other people. Attachment theory is sub divided into four types: Secure Attachments This is a kind of attachment an infant has that will display agony and distress when the adult who is the caregiver leaves, but after a while they will find it within themselves to be calm and composed knowing that the caregiver will return to them. Children with this attachment have a feeling of protection and can depend on their caregiver. Insecure Ambivalent Attachments The classification of this attachment is when an infant is distress when the caregiver leaves but seeks contact and reject it. They may be comfortless and unable to understand caregiver coming back to reunite with them, this situation occurs when the child is not encouraged by his caregiver to adventure and explore leading the child to be emotionally handicap. Insecure Avoidant Attachments This occurs when an infant ignores the care giver by showing no signs of agony when the adult leave or pleasure when they return. They show little to no emotions and this makes the child not explore regardless of who is present, this usually happens the caregiver is not consistent in providing a secure environment for the child to desire to explore. Disorganized Attachments Mothers that relate with their infants in this manner, they react by being frightened or frightening in moments of stress with their child. They may act in ways that do not make sense, demonstrating unpredictable, confusing or erratic behaviour in these relationships. These children display no apparent strategy for handling distress, which may be extreme at separation. (Urqueta, 2015) As an applicable theory it has both strengths and limitations Strengths of attachment theory Intensive research has been done and therefore it has concrete evidence since the research was based in real social institutions hence it is ecologically valid. Attachment theory focuses on the absolute importance of interpersonal relationships in human lives. Provides a framework for understanding some physiological, psychological and cognitive adoptions to attachment or lack of attachment. Weaknesses of the Attachment theory There are methodological problems hence many of the samples used in collecting evidence were small and selective. It focused on distressful attachments and this may not be representative of children with healthy attachments. Its major concern was the attachment of the infant and one parent (mother) which may not be exact impact as the role of the father has not been placed into consideration. It is evidentially clear that attachment theory applies to this case study as the mother of two children (Mary) is forced to go back to his marriage for the sake of the attachment she has with her children, she has attempted to leave but eventually she always come back because she cannot bare leaving her children behind despite being physically abused by his husband of 9 years. It also shows that bond of Mary and her children are much stronger. System theory System theory is the approach of methodologies like systems analysis and operations research which uses systems to understanding complex phenomenon and problems. It concentrates on the structure of the system rather than the function. It proposes that complex systems share some basic organizing principles irrespective of their purposes, and that these principles can be modelled mathematically. They are generally in three waves: System theory This system is trying to vindicate the focus of an individual and social workers to about challenging the individualistic focus evident in social work and encouraged social workers to give more attention to environmental change. This case dispute was that systems could handle people complex lives instead of focusing on models developed from psychodynamic and psychology theories. Ecological systems theory Ecology is important for encouraging social workers to focus on transactions within systems to pursue short term change which are sustainable to people’s lives. It identifies environmental systems in which a person interacts with. (Ecological Systems Theory, 2014) Complex/Chaos system Chaos system is a set of concepts that intends to explain complex circumstances that cannot be critically be elaborated by mechanistic theories. It is integrated into other related fields to deal with the nature systems as they are and not by breaking hem down into their respective parts. It recognizes the complex behaviour from few simple rules (Chaos Theory, 2011).  System theory argues that the benefit of humankind is the purpose of science. it has made has made significant contributions to the area of systems theory. This helps to understand human being in the social work, family setting and general society as a whole. The development of a person seems to be providing different insights at each system levels. These levels include Micro, Meso, Exo and Macro systems. Principles of systems theory Environment: It’s a diverse principle that contains physical aspect where the infant and the adult find comfort in each other, social in sense that they are able to relate with their surroundings. Stress: When people perceive an imbalance between the demands of their environment and their ability to mobilise resources to manage such demands, the result is stress. Advantages of systems theory It assists client to development crucial skills in coping with complex situations. Increasing external resources in analyzing the formal and informal environment of an individual like family, social networks and organization supports. It recognizes professional and lay helping efforts in an overall framework for service. Promoting competence by past and current experiences of successful transactions. Sees worker as part of a system of change rather than solely responsible – may lend itself to multi-disciplinary work. Disadvantages of systems theory Does not explain in details on the reason why some things take place or provide clear guideline on what to do to enhance change. Values maintenance and integration over conflict may not explicitly challenge inequality. Does not encourage challenge of oppressive systems. Debate about whether this theory acknowledges the notions of power, oppression and marginalisation. With the focus on level of fit and adaptation – of the individual within the environment – no critique of power, domination. The language used deprives human quality with the influence of ecological system. It relies on the social worker being able to gets lots of information to make a proper assessment. The situation of Marys family demonstrates the use of system theory to analysis their phenomenal better, by the fact her husband is working full time job with probability of a low income and Mary environment has changed since she used to be independent working woman but now she is forced to be a stay home mum to take care of his children. This environment leads to a number of aspects since the husband is abuse to Mary and has little time to bond with the children as he works full time. It particularly draws attention to examine the multiple systems in which people function and enables the social worker to contextually situate people within their specific environment (Frijters & Foster, 2013). Social workers can target intervention at a variety. The main principles that I used to extract this case study on the attachment theory are insecure ambivalent and insecure avoidant attachments. Insecure ambivalent attachment The mother is forced to leave due to the violence from his husband Bill, but is seems Bill has not learnt from his mistakes and continue to abuse his wife subjecting her into health risk. (Cates, 2007) Insecure avoidant attachments This approach has been clearly being demonstrated by Mary towards his two children, she has been physically abused by her husband, this has led to emotion distress and she eventually leads into walking out of the marriage. She tried to leave without her children for more than two time, but after a period of time, his guilty conscious and the strong bond she has with his children makes her return back to her family. Interestingly she always tends to elope in critical situation, most probably when her husband is physically abusing her and she cannot take it anymore. The husband has created a very uncomfortable environment for the children and his wife, but regardless of this environment, Mary still finds it within himself and go back for the children and stays with them, the emotional connection she towards her children is unbreakable. (Bernier, Carrier, & Paquet, 2011) Another principle that is used to extract this case study on the systems approach is Ecological systems theory and Ecological systems theory This relating with the relation of living organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings, Mr. Bill entire in the union of marriage when Mrs. Mary was just 21 years old, this is typically early in relation to the fact that she did not build her career first, be financially stable and established her future before she got marriage. Therefore, this make her financially vulnerable as she is not employed and spends most of his time nursing the young once. This environment is unhealthy as the male is dominant and make the woman feel inferior and insecure. To make the situation worse, Mary is abuse physically to the extend she has to run away to protect herself leaving her children behind. This environment is risky for the babies and Mary, it is unstable, unhealthy and not safe for a family setting or any setting for that matter. Conclusion Through the formal assessment and examination of the basic approach of attachment theory and systems theory, it is clear that these two theories form the fundamental basis for some of the practical issues in the social context, Indeed, parents should be protective and secure the development of their infant development behavior. However, the environment created by parents is crucial in developing the child behavior. However, the case in study shows that the infants have no proper environment to be well protected and feel secure with the constant eloping of the mother and the physical abuse of the father. This will affect the overall development of a child. On the other hand, for systems theory, I conclude it has drastically played a role into understand the transition of Mary from being independent woman to a house wife stay at home parent, the psychological effect is intense and hard to cope with. Then the situation of being subjected to physical violence ruin her confidence as a woman and can led to aloof health complication issues. References Attachment Theory. (n.d.). Springer Reference. doi:10.1007/springerreference_179712 Cates, D. (2007). The impact of parental perception of early childhood temperament of twins on attachment. Chaos Theory. (2011). doi:10.1142/8146 Ecological Systems Theory. (2014). Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 1784-1784. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_101080 Frijters, P., & Foster, G. (2013). An Economic Theory of Greed, Love, Groups, and Networks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In Slade, A., & In Holmes, J. (2014). Attachment theory. Simard, V., Bélanger, M., Bernier, A., Carrier, J., & Paquet, J. (2011). Overestimation of children's sleep quality by mothers of insecure-avoidant children. Sleep Medicine, 12, S26. doi:10.1016/s1389-9457(11)70091-0 Urqueta, A. A. (2015). Joint engagement and attachment patterns in infants with visual impairments. Berkeley, CA. Read More