ABSTRACT
Family and individual data analysis grounded in Joanne Bowen family systems theory accounts for individual functioning as a product of family relationships from the past and present. Valid family systems data analysis accounts for the anxiety in the family systems and captures the dynamic and reciprocal family emotional functioning processes. Family systems research evaluates the interactions of variables that represent family emotional intensity, emotional mechanisms employed to manage anxiety, individual functioning, and the tone of the relationships. Bowen’s research project held at the National Institute for Mental Health, from 1954 to 1959, led to his final family systems theory. The family responds and adapts to challenges differently depending on the stress on the family at the time of the challenge and the way the family handled and succeeded in previous challenges. The influence of anxiety upon the family system and the family unit’s emotional functioning is central to family systems theory.
