Applied Structural Family Therapy Research Paper

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Psychology -- Counseling -- Structural Family Therapy Model

"Juno" is a refreshingly nonjudgmental look at teenage pregnancy and a family's ultimately positive, supportive response. Addressing the situation from a systematic therapeutic perspective, the counselor can accept Juno, her family and the adoptive family as they are and help them reach their agreed upon goals. The movie's portrayal of a teenager's situation that is normally deemed problematic in a positive human light makes the happy outcome of this film readily achievable and believable.

Juno

"Juno" (Reitman, 2007) is a film about teenage pregnancy, an aspect of life that frequently positively and negatively confronts modern American families. When 16-year-old Juno irresponsibly becomes unexpectedly pregnant by her teenaged best friend, Bleek, she decides against abortion and chooses to give the baby to an as-yet-unknown infertile couple. When she tells her father and stepmother, they are initially rattled but quickly become supportive because after all, they are a successful, resilient family. The couple she finds in the PennySaver, the Lorings, are initially happy but as the movie progresses, the husband reveals that he is interested in Juno but not interested in having a baby. After struggling with her emotions for Mr. Loring, Juno watches the Loring marriage disintegrate as he leaves his wife. Juno leaves a note at their door. Juno ultimately teams up with Paulie, another teenager, and gives birth to a baby boy, who Mrs. Loring plans to adopt as a single mother. On the baby's nursery wall is Juno's framed note: "Vanessa: If you're still in, I'm still in. - Juno." (Reitman, 2007). The film is a refreshing, positive approach to family dynamics and goals addressing a pressing issue and achieving a positive outcome.

2. Analyze the family dynamics portrayed in the video and apply at least 4 concepts from the list of assessment concepts provided below.

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Juno goes through various stages of development in the film, also straddling several familial stages of development (Gehart, 2014, p. 85): from irresponsible adolescent, to an expectant mother with budding realizations about a new baby's needs, to an increasingly appreciative observer of and participant in her families strength (Gehart, 2014, p. 48), support and resiliency, to an ultimately responsible young woman. The difficulties she must negotiate are made far easier by the ready coalition (Gehart, 2014, p. 95) formed by her family, particularly her father and stepmother, who unite with her to bring a healthy baby into the world and place him with a responsible parent. In the course of the film, she crosses several boundaries (Gehart, 2014, p. 110) by her actions, including unprotected teenage sex, unwanted pregnancy and potential marriage wrecker who ultimately rejects that role. Though she toys with a possible home-wrecker role, she opts out of that role due to an additional coalition with the eventual adoptive mother. Despite the difficulties in their paths, Mrs. Loring and Juno unite to place the baby in safe, willing, capable hands.

3. Address how cultural/diversity concepts apply to the assessment of the family(ies) in this movie?

Cultural/diversity concepts apply to the assessment of the families in this film in several ways. Juno's cultural orientation is a middle class hybrid family of full-blood father and stepmother in middle class America. There is noticeable dissonance between Juno's behavior in becoming unwittingly pregnant by unprotected teenaged sex and her parents' values, as shown by their initial upset at the news of her pregnancy. Nevertheless, their shared values eventually shine through as the parents support Juno in a responsible pregnancy, giving birth to a healthy baby and placing the child in.....

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