ABSTRACT
ALL HAPPY families resemble each other; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. These words uttered by Anna Karenina in another age and in another land might have been used to describe today’s American family. For although American families possess many characteristics that are similar, and although most of the families are exposed to common environmental factors and societal attitudes, the particular constellation of elements that may trouble a family (or the community with regard to a specific family) differs from one family to another. Although the disturbing constellations also may contain similarities in ingredients and in patterning, certain aspects nevertheless are unique to each family. This uniqueness requires identification if the individual family is to be helped to master the problems that interfere with its competence in social functioning.
