Advances in family research

This book is the result of a symposium on the current state of research on family issues, such as parenting, educational goals, family interactions, therapeutic intervention, and methodological issues in family research. The emphasis is on the role of empirical research in elucidating theoretical and practical issues. The contributors to this book, who are all actively engaged in research, present recent research findings, discuss the state of the art, and reflect on further developments. The book is organized in three sections: child rearing, parenting, and measurement and analysis issues. The viewpoint of the child-rearing section is the young child, while the viewpoint of the parenting section is the role of parents and the support they may receive from professionals. The topic of the measurement and analysis section is methodological problems that are important especially in family research; for instance the operationalization and measurement of theoretical constructs at the family level, or design and evaluation of intervention studies.