Abstract
The investigation of family interaction and psychopathology presents a number of challenges. Any study in this area faces special difficulties because of the nature of the family, of psychopathology, and of their interaction. Families present methodological problems because they are an unusual unit of analysis. Most researchers examine the individual as the central unit of analysis, but studies of the family must focus on larger units, such as the dyad, the triad, and the entire family system. Systems for measuring and categorizing the person, although far from satisfactory, do have a history and tradition that gives the researcher options from which to choose. For example, the DSM-III provides a taxonomy of individual disorders that, despite its inadequacies, has some consensual validity across practitioners and researchers in the field. Nothing comparable exists for families or for interactional pathology.
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Christensen, A., Arrington, A. (1987). Research Issues and Strategies. In: Jacob, T. (eds) Family Interaction and Psychopathology. Applied Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0840-7_7
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