Recent research has indicated the importance of family functioning and family structural variables on the bio-psychosocial health outcomes of family members. We are now completing the cross-sectional assessment of a community-based sample of 225 """"""""adolescent families"""""""" on 4 clusters of family variables (affect, problem solving, organization/cohesion, and world view) and 2 external variable clusters (stress and social support), as well as a range of physical, psychological, social, and vocational health outcome variables. In an effort to provide a more comprehensive context for family and health research, a 2 panel follow-up of this community-based sample is proposed (1) to document the predictive power of assessed family variables on health outcome utilizing a prospective framework, (2) to observe how experiences with various types of expected and unexpected stressors effect changes in family system operation over time, and (3) to document the characteristic patterns and styles by which families express and maintain illness over time. Long term objectives are to define the relationships among personal, familial, and extra-familial variables with respect to health outcome and to devise a methodology for their reliable assessment for use as indexes of later risk in community-based and ill samples.
