ABSTRACT
Stress is an inevitable part of family life. Although there are few certainties in the modern family, it is safe to assume that all families will experience stress and that coping with stressors will be an ongoing activity in all families. Why is stress such a ubiquitous part of family life? In some cases, families generate stressors of their own through problematic interactions among themselves (Pearlin & Skaff, 1998 ). Most parents who have raised an adolescent child, and most people who can remember their family interactions during adolescence, have experienced such stressors. In other cases family members encounter problems in their roles outside of the family boundary (e.g., student, employee, friend) that can adversely impact relationships and activities within the family (Pearlin & Skaff, 1998 ). This happens for example when a parent gets laid off at work. For reasons such as these, it has been argued that “All stressors either begin or end up in the family” (Olson, 1997 , p. 261).
