This proposal combines a behavior-analytic (Goldfried & D'Zurilla, 1969) and a social-interactional (Patterson, 1982) model for the study of adaptive family processes. The proposed research will investigate adaptive family processes through comparison of three strategic groups: families with normal parents (n=30), families with parental bipolar disorder (n=30), and families with parental insulin-dependent diabetes (a chronic illness with a variable course; n=30). Each participating family will be observed while engaged in four salient problem-solving discussions; two interactions will involve the couple subsystem and two will involve the parents and one offspring between 15 and 21 years of age. All interaction will be videotaped. In addition, self-report measures will be employed to assess parents' marital satisfaction and discord, parents' and offsprings' perceptions of the family environment, and offsprings' current well-being. The completed research will (1) evaluate a set of specific marital and family interaction processes and perceptual variables hypothesized to differentiate within and among our three strategic comparison groups, and (2) identify the specific family processes and variables that are associated with the well-being of offspring in such families. The organizing tenet of the research is that adaptive family functioning is the result of specific family interaction processes. This proposal will identify these critical family interaction processes through the use of state-of-the-art data-analytic procedures that are incorporated into the present proposal (i.e., microanalytic coding and sequential analyses). Regression analyses will be employed to establish the relative strength of specific interactional patterns, perceived marital satisfaction and discord, and perceived family environment as """"""""predictors"""""""" of the current level of well-being attained by target offspring. This knowledge is a vital prerequisite to construction of effective, empirically-based primary and secondary intervention programs to enhance and maintain family adaptation, especially in the context of parental dysfunction. Although beyond the scope of the present proposal, prospective investigation of offspring adjustment to parental dysfunction--a relatively costly agenda--would be a logical next step in the research program begun with the current proposal.
