ABSTRACT
The researcher exploring individual, marital, or family competence is confronted by an issue at the level of social process. In the area of the schizophrenias, H. Sampson, S. L. Messinger, and R. D. Towne conclude that such disorders in the women studied developed in the context of severe marital conflict. The conflicts grew out of dysfunctional marital structures that, in themselves, were either extensions of or reactions to very disturbed family of origin relationships. Of particular importance is the need to focus newer methodologies on the marital relationship structures that facilitate the accomplishment of both individual and family developmental transitions throughout the life cycle. In a number of analyses, family of origin factors explained substantial amounts of variance after controlling for levels of parental psychological health and marital competence. The impact of the child’s gender clearly merits continued study as an important contributing factor to the patterning of interactions within the family system.
