Sociology

The essay describes family conflicts and violence as one of the family issues affecting the society. The essay has been drawn from the journal article Talking about Violence a Microanalysis of Narrative Processes in a Family Therapy Session. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Vol. 32, 2006. Written by Peter Rober, Dominiek Van Eesbeek, and Robert Elliott. The conclusion is a summary of my own opinion concerning family conflicts and violence. Other personal opinions have been included within the context of the body of the essay.

Introduction
Family conflicts and violence occur when people in a family set up differ about their beliefs. Misunderstanding about each other can cause conflicts due to wrong conclusions made without rethinking about issues that bring conflicts within the family. Conflicts that are not resolved may lead to violence. People disagree on certain issues and conflicts within the family are common issues. Continuous conflicts can cause stress within the family and can lead to breakups. Managing feelings is a good practice to reduce conflicts since failure to control ones feelings can lead hurt or lead to aggressive or violent activities. Communication is very important within the family and conflicts should be solved through effective communication (Rober, Eesbeek  Elliott, 2006).

Common causes of conflicts within the family are emanate from the transitions that a family undergoes. These transitions are a new couple learning to live together, child birth, children starting to attend school, children becoming adults.  Transitions within the family create new sources of conflicts. Family transitions should be well planned to ensure the conflicts do not cause break up (Rober, Eesbeek  Elliott, 2006).

Conflicts within the family can be caused by changes in family situation such as separation or divorce, migration to another country or to another place within the country, changes in financial status or other changes. The opinion, values and needs of the family members may change and become incompatible within the family.

The children are the most affected by conflicts within the family. This is reflected by poor educational performance and health problems. The teachers report that children from families with conflicts perform poorly and are likely to be affected by certain diseases. Such children engage in risky behavior and have poor social interactions with their peers. Juvenile delinquency increases with increased family conflicts. Children from families with conflicts tend to lack social needs and may end up becoming bad people in the society. Bad habits amongst the youth result from poor family relationship. Some children turn out to be drug addicts, thieves and criminals due to lack of parental care that result from conflicts (Rober, Eesbeek  Elliott, 2006).

The children are not the only culprits of family violence and conflicts. Parents from violent families perform poorly at the work place. There are health related diseases that adults suffer due to conflicts in their families. Such diseases are diabetes, stroke and many others. Some diseases are fatal and can create a great misery to the family (Rober, Eesbeek  Elliott, 2006).

Negotiation and listening to each other lead to conflicts resolution. The parties should soften and listen to each other during conflicts. They should not be stubborn since this may cause harmful effects which may become impossible to regain. When a conflict has happens the people involved should cool first then set up a resolution strategy. The parties should be ready to agree to disagree on the issues that caused the conflicts. Try to resolve conflicts rather than win the argument.

Reasonableness is very important in conflict resolution. People should respect and listen to the ideas of others in a conflict.

The family should work as a team once a conflict has come up. The members should come up with as many solutions as possible. Each party should be willing to compromise. Every member should understand the solution that has been agreed upon. All the parties should stick to the solution that has been agreed upon. The resolution should be written down after the problem has been solved so as to avoid a similar thing happening in future (Rober, Eesbeek  Elliott, 2006).

Professional advice can be sought during conflict resolution. This advice is important since it brings a third party to the conflict resolution process. Professionals know how to handle different types of problems and they can offer good advice to the family in conflict (Rober, Eesbeek  Elliott, 2006).

Conclusion
According to my own opinion, the family members should view conflicts as a normal happening. This should be used to strengthen the bond between members but not to divide them. Conflicts within the family should be resolved by all members. This creates unity in decision making and focuses on the long term existence of the family.

The family undergoes several transitions and the family members should be ready to handle each other during these transitions. The transitional gaps are very sensitive and can lead to family breakdown if not properly handled. Conflicts come about when the members share different opinions about certain issues. Conflicts within the family can cause many dangerous effects. The conflicts should be resolved amicably to avoid break up of the family. Listening to other peoples views is important during a conflict resolution process. Professional advice should be sought when the parties are not able to solve the conflicts by themselves.