The family apportions roles, prescribed behaviors in a situation, in a way similiar to society at large. In society there are specialists who enforce laws, teach, practice medicine, and fight fires.
In the family there are also such performance roles : breadwinner, homemaker, handyman (or handywoman), political advisor, chauffeur, and gardener. There are also emotional roles : leader, nurtuner, protector, healer, arbitrator, jester, rebel, and “sexpot”. The fewer people there are to fulfill these roles, as in the nuclear family, the more demands there are that will be placed on one person.
If a member leaves home, someone else takes up his role. Any member of the family can satisfactorily fulfill any of the roles in either category unless he or she is uncomfortable in that role. The man who is sure of his masculinity will have no emotional problems diapering a baby or cooking a meal. The woman who is sure of her feminity will have no trouble gardening or taking the car for repair.
The emotional response of a person to the role he fulfills should be considered. Someone may perform his job competently and yet dread doing it. The man may be a carpenter because his father taught him the trade, although he wants to be a music teacher. Changes in performance roles also necessitate emotional changes, for example, in the man who takes over duties in caring for the household when his wife becomes incapacitated.
The child learns about emotional response to roles in the family as he imitates the adults. The child experiments with various roles in play, and eventually will find one in which he is emotionally comfortable. The more pressure put on the child by the parents to respond in a particular way, the more likely he is to learn only one role and be uncomfortable in others, as evidenced by the athletic champion who may be a social misfit. The child becomes less adaptive socially and even within the family as a result.
The child learns about emotional response to roles in the family as he imitates the adults. The child experiments with various roles in play, and eventually will find one in which he is emotionally comfortable. The more pressure put on the child by the parents to respond in a particular way, the more likely he is to learn only one role and be uncomfortable in others, as evidenced by the athletic champion who may be a social misfit. The child becomes less adaptive socially and even within the family as a result.
Exercising a capacity for a variety of roles, either in actuality or in fantasy, is healthy. The healthy family is the one in which there is opportunity to shift roles intermittently with ease. Through these roles family functions are fulfilled.
References :
Messer, Alfred, The Individual in His Family : An Adaptational Study. Springfield, III.: Charles C. Thomas, 1970.
Murray, RB and Zentner JP., Nursing Concepts for Health Promotion, Second Edtion, Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, N.J, 1979.
