Families in trouble / Earl Lomon Koos.

  • Koos, Earl Lomon, 1905-1960
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Families in trouble / Earl Lomon Koos. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    119/164 page 97
    Intra-Family Effects of Troubles 97 result of his act, the wife suddenly found herself freed of worry over the situation, and his dominance was elevated markedly. His state¬ ment follows: Í never really knew until now what it means to be father in a family. Why, since my wife's attitude's changed, my kids are real different to me. The boy and I are real friends. Last week we went to the Bronx Zoo on Sunday, he and I, and we both felt good about it. It seems too bad we had to get into a jamb to have us feel like a family, doesn't it? I wish it could've happened fíve or six years ago—I'd of been a much better father to my kids, I know. The permanence of this elevation of dominance is indicated in the wife's statement eleven months later: The Mister [she had always referred to him prior to the trouble as John, or more frequently as he] did something to all of us when he fixed that mess. He's never been the same since; it seems to me he's a bigger man. I don't know what to make of the change. Why, Jack and I think he's a much more important man than we did before. He's somebody to lean on now! t He's somebody to lean on now! The strength and security for the family found in such a situation serves best to highlight the op¬ posite effect, where trouble weakens and hamstrings the working of a satisfactory interaction which provides the modus operandi of adequate family life. On the whole, however, in the one hundred and nine troubles experienced, the number of times the father's dominance was ele¬ vated was negligible. This was understandable, since the conditions in the culture were such as to inhibit rather than to assist in the solution of troubles. Where there was no onus upon the father for the troubles, there were no changes observed in the dominance. Other effects of trouble upon the father's life in the family were observed, however, and are discussed below.
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