ABSTRACT
D The Family Life Cycle In contemporary Western culture, there are many variations in individual life cycles, and there are probably even more variations in family life cycles. The myth of Goode's (1963) "classical family of Western nostalgia" cannot apply to our postmodern family systems where individuals are moving away from relationships based on obligation and parental authority and where members make their own choices of their individual life paths. Therefore, the concept of a standard for the life span of the "normal family" is rapidly fading. Nonetheless, the family life cycle remains the primary context in which human development takes place. According to Carter and McGoldrick (1989), " ... family stress is often greatest at transition points from one stage to another of the family developmental process, and symptoms are most likely to appear when there is an interruption or dislocation in the unfolding family life cycle" (pp. 4-5).
