Like all complex living systems, a family, during its life course, proceeds through predictable stages of development. Yet every family is different, its uniqueness defined and continually redefined by an open-ended array of structural, biological, and sociocultural variables. And, as with all living things, a familys continued well-being depends upon its ability to adapt to changes arising from both within the family system and without. First postulated in the 1940s, these basic ideas constitute the conceptual core of modern family development theory. From them has blossomed an impressive body of knowledge about family health and illness, without which much of the progress occurring in family therapy over the past half-century would not have been possible. This book does much to promote continued progress in the practical application of family development theory by affording family therapists an unparalleled opportunity to acquaint themselves with the most important trends in family development theory to emerge over the past decade. In it you will find contributions from leading theorists, researchers, and clinicians, arranged so as to provide a systematic treatment of the latest thinking on family development seen from both the systemic viewpoint and that of individual members of the system. Comprehensive in scope, this book explores the patterns, processes, and dynamics inherent in "traditional" families, as well as in important structural variantssuch as single-parent and gay and lesbian familiesand families with special needs and problems, including divorce, physical abuse, and disabilities. Since progress in the social sciences is as much about formulatingviable new ways of seeing as it is about determining quantifiable facts, the editors offer equal time to an array of influential and sometimes radically conflicting schools of thought, including sociobiology, social psychology, constructionism, multiculturalism, postmodernism,