Duvalls Eight Stages of the Family Life Cycle

Stage I. Beginning families (no children; commitment to each other; referred to as a couple)

II. Early childbearing (begins with birth of first child and continues until infant is age 30 months)

III. Families with pre-school children (first born child 2 years old; continues until age 5)

IV. Families with school-aged children (firstborn child ages 6 to 13)

V. Families with teenagers

Description of Family Tasks Establishing a mutually satisfying marriage by learning to live together and to provide for each others personality needs. Relating harmoniously to three families each respective family and the one being created by marriage. Family planning; whether to have children and when Developing a satisfactory sexual and marital role adjustment Developing a stable family unit with new parent roles Reconciling conflicting developmental tasks of various family members Jointly facilitating developmental needs of family members to strengthen each other and the family unit Accepting the new childs personality Exploring of environment by children Establishing privacy, housing, and adequate space Having husband-father become more involved in household responsibilities for self care Socializing of children such as attending school, church, sports Integrating of new family members (second or third child) Separating from children as they enter school Promoting school achievement of children Maintaining a satisfying marital relationship, because this is a period when it diminishes Promoting open communication in the family Accepting adolescence Maintaining a satisfying relationship while handling parental responsibilities Maintaining open communication between generations Maintaining family ethical and moral

 VI. Launching-center families (covers the first child through last child leaving home) VII. Families of middle years (empty nest period through retirement)

VIII. Families in retirement and old age (begins with retirement of one or both spouses, continues through loss of one spouse, terminates with death of the other spouse)

standards by the parents while the teenagers search for their own beliefs and values Allowing children to experiment independence Expanding the family circle to include new members by marriage Accepting the new couples own lifestyle and values Devoting time to other activities and relationships by the parents Reestablishing the wife and husband roles as the children achieve independent roles Assisting aging and all ill parents of the husband and wife Maintaining a sense of well-being psychologically and physiologically by living in a healthy environment Attaining and enjoying a career or other creative accomplishments by cultivating leisure-time activities and interests Sustaining satisfying and meaningful relationships with aging parents and children Strengthening the marital relaitonship Maintaining satisfying living arrangements Maintaining marital relationships Adjusting to a reduced income Adjusting to a loss of a spouse