Psychological functions
The family is a small group in which many of the most important personal needs of a person are most satisfied. Here he acquires the necessary social skills, masters the basic stereotypes of behavior and cultural norms, realizes his emotional preferences, receives psychological support and protection, and is saved from stresses and overloads arising from contact with the outside world. In the satisfaction of all such needs, the psychological and social-cultural( socializing) functions of the family are understood.
The regrouping of the functions of the family in the course of its modernization raises the importance of these two groups of functions, which causes cardinal changes in the way of life of families, their needs, the nature of interaction with the outside world, the type of family relations, the situation in the family of its individual members, family morale,e.and ultimately leads to fundamental shifts in the system of interaction throughout the entire personality-family-society chain. Accordingly, the psychological and socio-cultural functions themselves change.
When it comes to the psychological aspects of the functioning of the family, it appears not so much as an institution, but as a small group with characteristics of group interaction characteristic of this formation. Consequently, the basis of the psychological functioning of the family is only those individual needs, the satisfaction of which is impossible or extremely difficult outside the family.
In many foreign works, the psychological functions of the family are referred to as "the functions of psychotherapy."The family is able to simultaneously provide members with a sense of security( "asylum"), belonging to the group, emotional ties, the possibility of self-assertion, ie,ultimately create the basis for the development of a higher type of needs( according to Maslow) in self-actualization and realization of creative potential.
The psychological functions of the family are realized through interpersonal relationships. In the process of transition to a family of a new historical type, significant changes occur in interpersonal relationships, and therefore in the socio-psychological functioning of the family.(On domestic material, this process was investigated in the works of SI Golod.)
The traditional family model contributed mainly to the satisfaction of primary psychological needs: in safety, belonging, emotional connections, partly( mainly for women) in self-assertion and only to a small extent could contributeThus, the absolute prerogative of such a family was the "lower" psychological needs most closely associated with its economic fu
With the increasing individualization of man and the "introduction" of the principle of the autonomy of the individual as a necessary condition for the development and satisfaction of higher psychological needs, as well as in parallel social processes that weaken the external standards of family interaction, the satisfaction of all kinds of basic psychological needs of the individual, including "higher" ones, is becoming more complicated, which creates the threat of destabilization of the family. As a consequence, the requirements for the fulfillment by the family of its social and psychological functions both in general and at various stages of its life cycle are being increased.
In the modern socio-psychological research of the family, three main components of interpersonal relationships are identified, providing psychological solidarity: intimacy( proximity), cooperation( mutual assistance) and cognitive agreement( mutual understanding).Different elements of psychological solidarity have different "specific weight" at this or that stage of the life cycle of the family. Thus, in the premarital period and before the birth of the first child, intimacy is of the greatest importance. After the birth of the first child, the degree and nature of cooperation begins to play a decisive role: this can partly explain the "traditionalization" of family life seen in studies in this phase( the husband becomes the main provider for a while and the whole character of family interaction undergoes the corresponding changes).In the future, the contribution to psychological solidarity of cognitive consent is constantly increasing. In general, a high degree of psychological solidarity can be considered the main condition ensuring satisfaction of the three "lower" groups of basic personal needs, and in combination with a certain autonomy of family members - and "higher" groups of needs( in self-esteem, self-actualization and self-actualization).
Comparison of such "patriarchal" and "democratic"( "egalitarian") family models under this angle leads to the assumption that the former is not inferior to the second in terms of the degree of psychological comfort for the individual. Traditional marriage is characterized by a high degree of cooperation( through role complementarity), cognitive consent( following from general socially defined norms) and a low need for autonomy. Insufficient degree of intimacy in families of this type does not lead to the destruction of solidarity in general.
For "egalitarian" marriage in conditions of erosion of the social normative canon and the emergence of a relatively new requirement for autonomy as a condition for the development of the individual, the "burden" on all elements of psychological solidarity is very high. It is no accident that some studies show that satisfaction with family life and marriage is highest in purely traditional families, then in egalitarian and lowest in intermediate options. The same is reflected in the data on the dependence of mental health on the type of family: the most mentally stable were "successive traditionalists", sufficiently prosperous - "consecutive democrats" and marginal in terms of mental norms - intermediate types.
In the first type of family( "patriarchal"), the main "link" of psychological solidarity is cooperation, in the second - intimacy. In transitional types, it seems that role inconsistency is more a consequence than a cause of intimacy and cognitive consent, although it is often believed that it is the result of the action of rudimentary traditional norms as cognitive entities.
Intimacy is the least "claimed" element of the traditional family model and the most significant for the model is egalitarian. It is not surprising that it turns out to be the "weak link" in the transition from the first to the second. Such "intermediate" models: - an option is not traditional, but on the contrary - modern family, but with a violation in its central link - intimacy, leading to "disruptions" in socio-psychological functioning. An example is the problem of unwanted children( according to research, they constitute a social risk group), the repeatedly noted relationship between the satisfaction of marriage and labor productivity, mental and physical health of people.
The widespread prevalence of the "intermediate", marginal type of family relations, their transitional nature is perhaps the most important feature that explains the difficulties experienced by the family in the former USSR, the main reason for dissatisfaction with the family life experienced by millions of people. Some are burdened by the lack of continuity of the traditional authoritarianism of intra-family relations, strict family discipline, the dependent position of women and children, and the lack of freedom of choice. Hence the most diverse types of protest: from the huge number of divorces on the initiative of women to hundreds of annual self-immolations of women and girls in some of the republics of Central Asia. Others suffer, on the contrary, from a re-formed, immature intra-family democracy, not accompanied by an adequate responsibility and generating many disadvantaged, conflicting families.