This challenging new inquiry liberates the study of family stress from the traditional positivist notions of the ABC-X model, favouring a new systemic paradigm which views stress as a multifaceted phenomenon with multiple causes and coping strategies.

Using a series of qualitative and quantitative studies of different families in stress, the authors outline the various patterns of family responses to stress, the elements of the family system most affected by stressful events and the helpfulness or harmfulness of differing family management strategies.

Sacred Matters explores the multi-disciplinary literature about the role of religion in family life and provides new research and a new theory about ways various aspects of the sacred are helpful and harmful. The authors hope that their new conceptual framework will stimulate new research and encourage the creation of new intervention programs designed to help families.

Sacred Matters features:

• a new conceptual framework and theory about how, when, and why sacred matters influence family processes and outcomes
• new...