The terminology “red zone,” originally published in schoolwide behavioral support literature, is used to conceptualize a population of families that are traditionally labeled resistant in family counseling. A measure of the family counselor’s and the family’s engagement-disengagement into mainstream values and norms is an empowering reframe of traditional resistance. Examples of disengagement across three dimensions are offered, all of which support the notion that families can consciously choose to disengage from mainstream values without negative outcomes in counseling.
Bandura, A. (2002). Selective moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Moral Education, 31(2), 101-109.
2.
Gladding, S. T. (1983). How to speak “Counselnese.”Personnel and Guidance Journal, 61, 433-435.
3.
Gladding, S. T. (2002). Family therapy: History, theory, and practice (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
4.
Lewis, T. J., & Sugai, G. (1999). Effective behavior support: A systems approach to proactive schoolwide management. Focus on Exceptional Children, 31(6), 1-24.
5.
Major, B., & Schmader, T. (1998). Copin gwith stigma through psychological disengagement. In J. K. Swim & C. Stangor (Eds.), Prejudice: The target’s perspective (pp. 219-241). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
6.
McAlister, A. L. (2001). Moral disengagement: Measurement and modification. Journal of Peace Research, 38, 87-99.
7.
Nietzsche, F. W. (1969). Thus spoke Zarathustra: A book for everyone and no one. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
8.
Ogbu, J. U. (2003). Black American students in an affluent suburb: A study of academic disengagement. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
9.
Schmader, T., Major, B., & Gramzow, R. H. (2001). Coping with ethnic stereotypes in the academic domain: Perceived injustice and psychological disengagement. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 93-111.
10.
Schmader, T., Major, B., & Gramzow, R. H. (2002). How African-American college students protect their self-esteem. Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 35, 116-119.
11.
Sugai, G., & Horner, R. (2002). The evolution of discipline practices: School-wide positive behavior supports. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 24, 23-50.
