| Abstract: | Preliminary data are reported from an ongoing project devoted to the study of normal families. The research emphasizes the effects of system-level variables and the micro patterns of conversational interaction on the development of children within the family. Our theoretical model focuses on the individuation process, and the way in which accuracy of interpersonal perception and mutual validation among family members contribute to and are affected by the personal development and functioning of individual family members. The data derive from two-hour interviews with 99 families in their homes, plus psychological, sociometric and achievement data on an adolescent girl in each family. We have found both structural factors and patterns of conversational interaction among parents that distinguish families of the adolescent girls who score high on the individual functioning measures from families of adolescent girls who score low on these same measures. |
