ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the potential contribution that Bowen theory can make to family research. Joanne Bowen family systems theory provides a prototype for family research that expands the focus of family studies from the traditional sociological and psychological theories to include a theory based on the study of the human family. The family diagram provides the basis for obtaining a detailed, multigenerational family history. Families prone to emotional dysfunction manifest symptoms from the full range of psychiatric disorders. Social dysfunction in families includes: marital conflict, alcoholism, incarceration, spousal abuse, child abuse and drug abuse. Differentiation of self describes the range of human functioning and the characteristics associated with the varying levels of functioning from the lowest to the highest levels. Cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs can be used in exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory studies. The data collected using the family diagram are cross-sectional and longitudinal in character.
