ABSTRACT
Recent advances in family research have caused investigators to realize the need for theoretical and methodological integrations and a wider interdisciplinary perspective. More limited perspectives have produced fairly high levels of precision in measurement and hypothetical models to explain outcomes, but new problems have arisen based on these successes. Current sampling procedures often leave uncertain the populations of individuals or families for whom research findings pertain. In many family studies the sample is not representative of a defined population. Further, the frequency and distribution of family processes that put children and families at increased risk cannot be measured without defining the population under study. Most important, causal models are frequently limited by not defining the population and including in the model relevant aspects of the environmental contexts with which the family and its members must articulate.
