Family Interaction: Multigenerational and Developmental Perspectives on Diversity Within and Between Families

Family Interaction combines elements from family systems and ecological frameworks to inform a multigenerational, developmental approach to understanding family interactions. This text uses information from researchers, family theorists, and practitioners to gain insights into the diversity and effectiveness of the patterns and interactional dynamics that operate in families. It provides readers with an overview of the basic tasks that all families must execute, regardless of their particular composition or living situation, while also giving readers an appreciation of the tremendous variety in how each family develops its own unique patterns of interaction.

The sixth edition has been fully updated and restructured to provide a comprehensive look at the diversity that occurs both within and between families. While maintaining its previous strong systemic focus, this edition contains both an ecological and an intersectional lens, highlighting the importance of context when studying the differing needs, experiences, resources available, and strategies employed in families.

Highlights of This Edition:

- Includes the addition of three new chapters (Chapters 5, 6, and 7) that offer extensive coverage on context and diversity within and between families.

- Presents more in-depth coverage of marital violence and child abuse than previous editions.

- Incorporates cohabitation in the discussion on marriage, reflecting current demographic trends.

Kari Adamsons is an associate professor in the department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Her principal research focus is fathering and parenting, particularly the ways in which mothers and fathers negotiate parenting roles across contexts and transitions, the factors that impact parent-child relationships, and the ways that parents, and particularly fathers, influence children.

Ronald M. Sabatelli is an emeritus professor in the department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut. His research interests include how family of origin experiences influence the structure and experience of parenthood and romantic relationships; youth development, and the assessment of relationship and family functioning.