ABSTRACT
The discussion of the findings will be organized from the perspective of several areas upon which the data reflect, followed by the ways in which the data either confirm or fail to confirm specific hypotheses that guided this stage of the research project. In traditional science, the greatest support for the validity of a construct is found in its predictive ability. From this perspective, the data are considered to support the validity of the marital structures. Prenatal ratings of marital structures significantly predict incorporation of the child into the family, a finding that is considered to both add validity to the marital structures and to be a rare documentation of the epigenetic principle in family development. Support is found in the ability of the Continuum of Marital Competence to predict significantly the incorporation of the child into the family. The data reflect on a number of other issues central to family theory and clinical practice.
