Affinographs : A Dynamic Method for Assessment of Individuals, Couples, Families, and Households

Affinographs A Dynamic Method for Assessment of Individuals, Couples, Families, and Households Davor Jedlicka The word __family__ traditionally referred to two parents and their children, a concept that has been subject to constant revisiting over the past half-century with society’s gradual acceptance of single-parent, blended, adopted, and same-sex families. And as the relationships increase in complexity, so do their problems, requiring innovative professional tools for understanding and assessing families. Affinographs expand on the genogram and other methods currently in use by translating complex family narratives into dynamic, gender-neutral graphic images. Affinograph explains how to create and use these images to generate hypothesis for clinical interventions. The affinographs represent relationships as clients see them (such as having more than two parents). The book offers varied uses of the method in working with troubled families over diverse situations and across the helping disciplines. Case studies illustrate __compound__ families formed through serial marriages, multiple generations, and multiple households. Extramarital relationships, from the briefest to the most committed, are also examined. The book covers: * Constructing the affinograph. * Charting patterns of divorce and remarriage. * Assessing gay and lesbian families. * Using affinographs in family therapy. * Applying affinographs to child protection work. * Integrating affinographs into genealogy. Family therapists, sociologists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and others who provide services to families will find __Affinographs__ both highly informative and eminently useful. The book also lends itself to research and teaching applications. Cover 1 Affinographs 4 ISBN 9781441993946 5 Foreword to Davor Jedlicka’s Affinographs 8 Preface 10 Contents 12 Chapter-1 16 What Is an Affinograph? 16 An Affinograph Is a Graph Model of Serial Relations 17 An Affinograph Is a Dynamic Model 18 An Affinograph Is an Image of a Family Narrative 19 An Affinograph Is a Hypotheses-Generating Model 20 Assumptions Underlying Affinographs 21 Chapter-2 22 Why Affinographs? 22 Genograms Are Not Enough: Family Imaging in a Historic Perspective 23 Imaging Changes in Family Systems 25 Affinographs and a Definition of the Human Family 25 Affinograph Applications in Professions 28 Chapter-3 30 How to Construct Affinographs 30 Chapter-4 42 Critical Issues in Protecting Children and Serving Families 42 Limitations of Traditional Intake Assessment Procedures 43 The Affinograph Method of Family Assessment 44 Tracking Members of a “Single-Parent Family” 45 Chapter-5 52 Patterns of Divorce and Remarriage 52 Chapter-6 62 An Affinograph Method of Assessing Gay and Lesbian Families 62 A Clinical Assessment Using Affinographs 63 Gay and Lesbian Partners in Heterosexual Relationships 65 Gay and Lesbian Families with Children 66 Open Adoption 67 Gay Father and Lesbian Mother 68 Stepfamilies with Gay or Lesbian Parents 69 Chapter-7 72 Affairs and Ephemeral Relations with Lasting Consequences 72 From the Scarlet Letter to a Lifestyle 73 Using Affinographs to Assess Affairs 74 Affairs as Risky Behaviors 78 Same-Gender Affairs 79 Chapter-8 82 Affinographs in Family Therapy 82 To Use or Not to Use an Affinograph in Therapy 83 Using Affinographs for Didactic Interventions 85 Cumulative Affinographs 87 First Session: Long-Lasting Grief 87 Second Session: More Grief Therapy 88 Chapter-9 92 Affinology: The Affinograph Method for Genealogy 92 Affinology of the Kallikak Family 93 The Lineage of Queen Liliuokalani 96 Affinology of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton 97 Geography and History of President Barack Obama’s Family 1 Chapter-10 102 The Future of the Affinograph 102 Using Affinographs to Track Children and Their Families 103 Research on the Consequences of Prohibition of Same-Gender Marriages 103 Affinographs in Counseling and Marital Therapy 103 Affinographs in Family Life Education 104 References 106 Author Index 118 Subject Index 124 1441993940,9781441993946 Springer 2011 The need for a new method for assessment and imaging of families, couples, and individuals has emerged in response to changes in family forms during the twentieth century. In the twentieth century divorce, remarriage, out-of wedlock child bearing, and alternate life styles have replaced monogamy as predominant form of marriage and the family. The methods of representation and assessment on the other hand remain based on the nineteenth century eugenics models embedded in the modern day genograms. This book is based on the premise that changes in family structure require changes in methods of representation, assessment, research, and teaching. This book introduces such a method in the form of a model named the affinograph. The affinograph provides a method which allows a greater respect for individuals, especially if their relationships contradict the preconceived institutional notions of marriage and the family. Improvement in visualizing families of various types and complexities can make affinographs an important new method that can bring together the theory, research, and application across varied disciplines that comprise family sciences. Front Matter....Pages 1-1 What Is an Affinograph?....Pages 1-6 Why Affinographs?....Pages 7-14 How to Construct Affinographs....Pages 15-26 Critical Issues in Protecting Children and Serving Families....Pages 27-36 Patterns of Divorce and Remarriage....Pages 37-45 An Affinograph Method of Assessing Gay and Lesbian Families....Pages 47-55 Affairs and Ephemeral Relations with Lasting Consequences....Pages 57-65 Affinographs in Family Therapy....Pages 67-75 Affinology: The Affinograph Method for Genealogy....Pages 77-86 The Future of the Affinograph....Pages 87-90 Back Matter....Pages 88-88