Family Genogram: Unraveling Nature and Nurture Patterns

Introduction

After analyzing my family history for this assignment, I found some common characteristic as a result of both nature and nurture. The characteristics of medical problems, such as cancer or other diseases or illnesses, are the product of nature or genetics where, in a particular environment, relationships are an instance of nursing. I learned a lot from doing this family genogram. Family history isn’t something I’ve ever really stopped to think about, so I gained quite a bit of insight about myself and my family.

Genetic Health Patterns on the Genogram

My maternal great-grandma has breast cancer, my great-grandfather had diabetes and heart and kidney failure. My paternal great-grandmother died of a heart attack and my paternal grandma has diabetes and high cholesterol. Those are the only know diseases in my family genogram, but that doesn’t mean that I am not susceptible to other diseases. I should start to be more constantly aware of any changes in my health and make conscience efforts to staying healthy.

The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this assignment, is that I need to start taking better care of myself. I could stand to lose some weight, especially since diabetes runs on both sides of my family. I also am a smoker and seeing as both sides of my family have had heart complications, I really should consider quitting that habit more seriously. Breast cancer is something I should also be aware of, and I should self-check regularly. However, despite the things I learned, there are some gaps of information that leave me wondering if there is anything else, I should be worried about. I also learned more about my race and ethnicity from this project. I have French-Canadian, Mexican, Caucasian, English, and African American in my genes, and it very cool to have such a diverse mix. My raised religion (Christian) and culture has stayed consistent through my history. Other basic genetics passed down through my family are brown eyes, dark hair, short, overweight, with some having blonde hair and blue eyed. Everyone on my maternal side have had eyesight problems or worn glasses.

Family Relationships Patterns on the Genogram

Patterns of relationships are consistent from grandma on. Relationships have not been consistent with the females in the family. My family always says it is because Comeau women are independent and uncontrollable. Growing up, the family who raised me were all women. My great-grandma, grandma, mom, aunt, and older sister were my care takers. Men were never around consistently. The pattern of men not being physically part of the family isn’t a bad thing, but something I hope my sister and I can change in the future. Smoking is another pattern in my family, and my habit is living proof that it goes through generations. Both of my great-grandparents and my aunt on my maternal side were smokers and there are some on my paternal side who are smokers as well.

Creativity is something that all of the family members on my maternal side are good at. There a people who play instruments and sing, people who write, people who paint or draw, people who sew and craft. We all have a gift of creativity. This isn’t a genetic trait, but a characteristic we all share.

Conclusion

All in all, this project has enabled me to see where these characteristic patterns are in the history of my family while at the same time recognizing how the role of the environment has influenced my family. It was nice to look and ask my family about our history and mapping them out was helpful because I’m a visual learner. I am definitely going to take the things I learned seriously and apply them to my life and my future family.