Family Life in the Context of Chronic Stress and Dramatic Social Transformation in Yugoslavia

Abstract

This paper describes the situation in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, during the 1990s. An ecosystemic paradigm was used in its conceptualization and operationalization at multisystem levels of context. Description is based on research performed on 50 “normal” families under chronic stress and persistent crises, as well as on the authors' personal and professional experience, both as participants and observers faced with everyday, new stressful life events. The families have modified their system functioning on cohesion dimension (enmeshment) and on flexibility dimension (chaos), activating and mobilizing families' strengths, resources, and resilience to survive and to adapt to persistent/chronic stressful life in the context of global crisis of the society. A dramatic social transformation-greatly modified social structure, different dominant social actors, a new “logic” of functioning, and new social problems and contradictions-leave its stamp on everyday life. At the same time, families have confirmed their strengths and resilience in the past difficult times as a basis for our hope and optimism for the progress in the future.

Key Words:

• Family crisis
• Circumplex Model
• Belgrade ecosystemic
• biopsychosocial model
• FACES
• Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro)