ABSTRACT

A key challenge for the study of development is to understand interdependence between the individual and the environment. In terms of human social development, we need to observe the individual embedded within his or her social context as both change over time to assess how much each influences the other. The family system is one of the most important contexts for human development and for observing processes of interdependence. As noted by Baumrind (1980), “Within a reciprocal and interacting system such as the family, individuals produce by their actions the environmental conditions that affect their own as well as others’ behavior. One person’s behavior is simultaneously a response to environmental stimuli and a stimulus to others’ response within the interactive system of social exchange” (p. 640). The focus of this chapter is the measurement of interdependence between the individual and the family environment, the goal being to address questions of how the organization of individual behavior can develop and be maintained through processes of interpersonal influence. To accomplish this, components of the Social Relations Model (SRM: Kenny & La Voie, 1984) are treated as scores in longitudinal analyses. Following a description of the SRM, the formulas for calculating the SRM effects are described and explained. Three analyses are then presented to illustrate the versatility of the approach: (1) a model that simultaneously tests temporal stability in SRM components measured at the family, individual and dyadic levels of analysis, (2) a hybrid SRM-APIM (Actor-Partner Interdependence Model), and (3) a model testing the stability of actor-partner reciprocity.