Pilgrim's Progress I: Recent Developments in Family Theory

Abstract

In an attempt to assess the current state of theory and research in the study of the family, a survey of all articles focusing on marriage and the family published in 12 behavioral science journals from 1962 through 1968 was made. The findings related to the development and utilization of theory are reported in this paper. Findings indicate a general lack of utilization of theory to guide empirical research. When theory is used, it tends to be either structural-functional or interactional, with the developmental framework being the third most popular choice. Other theoreticalconceptual frameworks fail to appear to any significant extent. Articles appearing in recent years tend to be rated more positively on seven evaluational questions, thus indicating an improvement in the quality of published papers on the family