Using Structural Family Therapy to Understand the Impact of Poverty and Trauma on African American Adolescents | Eman Tadros | ResearchPod

Transcript: Using Structural Family Therapy to Understand the Impact of Poverty and Trauma on African American Adolescents

Sam: When an African American adolescent in poverty acts out, the clinician should look at the family structure before the teenager. That's the position of a theoretical review by Noelle Chappelle and Eman Tadros, which uses Structural Family Therapy to read the behavior as a systemic response to disrupted boundaries rather than individual pathology.

Alex: So the behavior is a symptom of a family system trying to survive external pressure. What's the mechanism that links the pressure to the conflict?

Sam: Parents in generational poverty often take on an overfunctioning role to protect their children from systemic racism and a dangerous environment. That produces a rigid hierarchy. The adolescent's normal drive for autonomy gets suppressed, and the conflict follows.

Alex: So the parent is bracing for outside threats, and the strain shows up as internal boundary problems. How does a therapist intervene in a system that rigid?

Sam: Through joining. The therapist adopts the family's language and values to get inside without triggering defensive barriers. Once inside, they act like a structural engineer: they reinforce the parental hierarchy while gradually loosening boundaries so the adolescent can build autonomy.

Alex: Then the goal isn't to stop the acting out. It's to stabilize the base so the adolescent can stand upright.

Sam: That's the image the authors use. Under chronic threat the structure leans to compensate. Treating the adolescent in isolation ignores the fact that the whole structure is leaning.

Alex: Enmeshment seems like the obvious complication. If the family is the identified client, how does the therapist handle a parent who is pulling the child close because the danger is real?

Sam: By not treating it as pathology. Enmeshment functions as a survival strategy: when the environment is perceived as hostile, the family pulls inward. The therapist reframes it instead of dismantling it. They validate the intent, then show the parent that taking on all the responsibility prevents the adolescent from building the autonomy they need to navigate the world safely.

Alex: That addresses the parent's intent without accusing them of being overbearing. But what stops the parent from simply carrying the load alone?

Sam: That's where the family cabinet comes in. The therapist widens the support network beyond the parent-child dyad, bringing in extended family or community members. The review treats the extended family as a vital protective factor, one that often holds the hierarchy together when the primary parent is overwhelmed. With the load spread, the parent can step back from the rigid protective stance, and that creates room for the adolescent.

Using Structural Family Therapy to Understand the Impact of Poverty and Trauma on African American Adolescents

Eman Tadros

Aug 26, 2020·4:39·doi·Original Paper

Structural Family TherapyPovertyTraumaAfrican American AdolescentsGenerational PovertySystemic Racism

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5 min

Summary

Overview

This paper explores the application of Structural Family Therapy (SFT) as a clinical framework for supporting African American adolescents navigating the dual challenges of poverty and trauma. The authors argue that because these adolescents often face systemic stressors—including racism, economic instability, and community violence—traditional individual-focused therapy may be insufficient. Instead, an SFT approach, which views the family system as the primary unit of change, offers a way to address the structural imbalances caused by these external pressures.

The Impact of Poverty and Trauma

Adolescence is a critical developmental period characterized by rapid neurological and emotional changes. When poverty and trauma are introduced, they act as toxic stressors that can impair brain development, particularly in areas responsible for emotion regulation and cognitive processing. For African American adolescents, these challenges are often compounded by systemic racism and historical trauma. The authors highlight that families often respond to these threats through "overfunctioning" or rigid, authoritarian parenting styles intended to protect the adolescent from negative societal outcomes like incarceration or violence. While protective, these dynamics can sometimes lead to enmeshed or rigid family boundaries that hinder the adolescent's healthy transition toward autonomy.

Clinical Application of SFT

SFT focuses on the organization of the family system, specifically its boundaries, hierarchies, and subsystems. The authors suggest that therapists can use SFT to help families:

Establish Clear Boundaries: Moving away from enmeshed or disengaged patterns to allow for appropriate levels of independence.
Reorganize Hierarchies: Strengthening the parental subsystem, even in single-parent households, to provide consistent support and guidance.
Integrate Support Systems: Leveraging extended family and community networks as essential resources for resilience.

By "joining" with the family—a core SFT technique—therapists can respect cultural norms and values while helping the family adapt to developmental tasks. The paper emphasizes that for SFT to be effective in this context, it must be trauma-informed, acknowledging that trauma is not just an individual experience but a systemic one that affects the entire family unit.

Key Terms and Definitions

Structural Family Therapy (SFT) — A therapeutic approach that focuses on the organization of the family system, specifically the boundaries, hierarchies, and subsystems, to resolve dysfunctional patterns.
Historical Trauma — Multigenerational trauma experienced by a specific cultural or ethnic group that continues to manifest in the psychological and emotional health of its members.
Overfunctioning — A parenting behavior where adults exert excessive control or take on too much responsibility for an adolescent, often as a protective response to systemic threats like racism or poverty.
Joining — A therapeutic technique where the clinician builds a relationship with the family by adapting to their style, language, and cultural norms to gain their trust and facilitate change.
Systemic Trauma — The understanding that traumatic events impact not just the individual, but the entire family system and its various subsystems, requiring a holistic approach to treatment.

Abstract

Adolescence is a period in which there are many challenges due to the rapid changes in an adolescent’s mind, body, emotions, and role expectations. Living in poverty and experiencing trauma exacerbate this challenging time. The purpose of this literature review is to explore the available research surrounding African American adolescents who have experienced poverty and trauma. Additionally, the goal was to examine the literature on African American adolescents who experienced poverty and trauma conceptualized through the lens of structural family therapy. Clinical implications are provided, and additional research directions within the field of marriage and family therapy/counseling are offered with respect to the intersection of trauma, poverty, protective factors, and African American adolescents and their families.

Using Structural Family Therapy to Understand the Impact of Poverty and Trauma on African American Adolescents: Research Paper Podcast