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Theorizing Ambiguous Gain: Opportunities for Family Scholarship
Author(s) -
Jensen Todd M.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of family theory and review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.454
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1756-2589
pISSN - 1756-2570
DOI - 10.1111/jftr.12401
Subject(s) - ambiguity , scholarship , ambivalence , stressor , context (archaeology) , foregrounding , psychology , social psychology , extant taxon , cognitive psychology , epistemology , sociology , developmental psychology , computer science , linguistics , political science , law , clinical psychology , paleontology , philosophy , evolutionary biology , biology , programming language
Family stressors marked by ambiguity can place significant demands on families. Family scholars have written extensively about ambiguous stressors in the context of loss or separation—situations that represent ambiguous loss. Given extant demographic trends, including those that lead to changes in family structure, there remain valuable opportunities to highlight ambiguous stressors that arise from situations of family gain or acquisition—situations that represent ambiguous gain. A proposed definition for ambiguous gain is presented, namely, a situation of systemic relational acquisition, either physical or psychological, about which the facts are unclear. Building on foundational theoretical work, ambiguous gain is explicated as a distinct theoretical concept and conceptually positioned with respect to other related concepts, such as ambiguous loss, family boundary ambiguity, and ambivalence. Bolstering the concept of ambiguous gain might promote the theoretical and practical understanding of increasingly common family situations. Suggestions are offered for foregrounding ambiguous gain in family scholarship.