The purpose of this research was to develop a model of individuation in family relationships that focuses on communication processes, and to assess the links between them and adolescent identity exploration. Expressions of the 4 dimensions of the model--self-assertion, separateness, permeability, and mutuality--were predicted to be positively associated with identity exploration in adolescents. A sample of 84 Caucasian, middle-class, 2-parent families, each including an adolescent and 1 or 2 siblings, was observed in a Family Interaction Task designed to elicit the expression and coordination of a variety of points of view. Multiple regression analyses revealed differentiated results concerning father-son, father-daughter, mother-son, mother-daughter, and marital relationships as well as both positive and negative contributions of communication variables to identity exploration when verbal ability and sociability were controlled. Results are discussed in terms of recent formulations of the progressive redefinition of the parent-child relationship during adolescence.

Patterns of interaction in family relationships and the development of identity exploration in adolescence.

Using attachment theory as a theoretical framework, the concept of the attachment dynamic is introduced as a model to explain (1) how individual members of a family behave as though they constituted a system (2) the extent to which the complementary activities of attachment and care-giving behaviour (a) govern the movements of family members towards or away from each other; (b) affect the degree to which they each engage in creative exploratory activities; and (c) influence the internal representation each family member builds of him or herself in action with others or acting alone. The attachment dynamic is considered to be played out in many forms which range along a continuum from highly adaptive to grossly maladaptive. The characteristics of effective care-giving behaviour, adaptive attachment behaviour and exploratory behaviour, integrated within adaptive forms of the attachment dynamic, are contrasted with ineffective care-giving, continuing unassuaged attachment behaviour and anxious, frustrated or inhibited exploratory behaviour which are found in maladaptive forms of the dynamic. The implications of this model for family therapy are outlined.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j..1982.00580.x

Family systems and the attachment dynamic.

A Q-sort, based on Grotevant and Cooper’s (1986) model of individuation, was developed to assess individuality and connectedness in dyadic relationships. A criterion sort for each construct was developed on the basis of ratings from eight experts. The mean intercorrelation among the eight raters was .85 for individuality and .89 for connectedness. This Q-sort was then used to rate 46 middle-class Caucasian parents who were previously assessed OD similar constructs using a micro-coding method, the Family Discourse Code (Condon, Cooper, & Grotevant, 1984). Correlations between similar constructs were significant. This Q-sort has five improvements over the Family Discourse Code: Behaviors representing the absence as well as the presence of a construct are coded; salience as well as frequency of behavior determines item placement; coders do not require knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings of items; there is less chance of response bias; and it provides a means of standardizing the assessment of individuality and connectedness across samples.

The Individuality and Connectedness Q-sort: A measure for assessing individuality and connectedness in dyadic relationships

Several types of resilience and associated topics that may be of interest to family therapists and other professionals concerned with family studies and interventions exist. Among them is individual resilience, which includes children’s resilience, hardiness, salutogenesis, and other related topics. The notion of resilience arose from a focus on children and how they functioned in relation to their early life experiences.

Roads to understanding family resilience: 1920s to the twenty-first century.

Twenty families (including mother, father and either one or two children) participated in a Plan Something Together task used to measure 3 dimensions of family individuation: self-assertion, validation, and permeability. Correlations were computed between the frequencies offour indices of individuation in the first 100, first 200, and first 300 utterances of the interaction and in the entire interaction task. Correlations between frequencies of these four indices during the first 300 utterances and the total session ranged from .54 to . 88, suggesting that this portion of the interaction was sufficiently representative of the whole to be used as the basis for data analysis. Results are discussed in the context of several methodological challenges encountered in analyses offamily interaction, and general strategies for responding to these challenges are discussed.

W. Robert Beavers

Papers

A Theoretical Basis for Family Evaluation