The Biobehavioral Family Model: Close relationships and allostatic load

Examining Differentiation of Self as a Mediator in the Biobehavioral Family Model

“…The purpose of this article is to test differentiation of self (Kerr & Bowen, ) as a potential mediator between family emotional climate and biobehavioral reactivity variables in the BBFM. Specifically, using data from the Midlife Development in the United States Survey (Love, Seeman, Weinstein, & Ryff, ), this study replicates hypotheses from previous research using the BBFM with adults (Priest et al., ), but extends this model by incorporating a measure of differentiation of self as a potential mediator between family emotional climate and biobehavioral reactivity.…”

“…The Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM; Wood, ) is a biopsychosocial model of health (e.g., Lim, Wood, & Miller, ; Lim, Wood, Miller, & Simmens, ; Priest & Woods, ; Priest et al., ; Woods & Denton, ; Woods, Priest, & Roush, ). The BBFM examines how negative family emotional climate contributes to individual family members experiencing greater biobehavioral reactivity (i.e., depression, anxiety, and psychophysiological stress) resulting in increased disease activity (i.e., chronic health conditions).…”

“…The BBFM examines how negative family emotional climate contributes to individual family members experiencing greater biobehavioral reactivity (i.e., depression, anxiety, and psychophysiological stress) resulting in increased disease activity (i.e., chronic health conditions). Originally developed to explain associations between family relationships and health for children (Wood, ), recent research has shown the model's utility in examining association between family relationships and health for adults (e.g., Priest & Woods, ; Priest et al., ; Woods & Denton, ; Woods et al., ).…”

Effect of psychosocial stressors on patients with Crohn’s disease: threatening life experiences and family relations

“…The importance of good family relations in promoting mental health in both healthy and sick individuals has been the subject of several studies. In a large study of middleaged individuals in the USA, negative family interactions were shown to predict poor biobehavioral reactivity for anxiety and depression and allostatic load [16]. In other words, in the dysfunctional family, there is failure to support the individual in his/her reaction to disease, which leads to increased stress in the individual.…”

“…Social support has two essential effects: the main effect of benefitting the individual in regular (not stressful) periods and the buffering effect, which mitigates the negative impact of life stressors on the individual's adjustment during stressful periods. The biobehavioral model emphasizes the role of family support and postulates that both the patient's reaction to disease and his/her long-term general physical health are influenced by innate psychological strengths and weaknesses and the family's relationship with the patient [16]. The study of family relations and IBD has hitherto been limited to pediatric patients, where it was shown that good family communication and agreement contributed toward reduced patient psychological distress and better management of the disease [17][18][19][20][21][22].…”