Introduction

The work reported in this book represents the first attempt to study a sample of client families with marital and parent-child problems using a systematic framework based on role-theory. The findings of the study are important and made more so by the consistency of the framework: the dimensions of family behaviour can be accurately studied because the techniques of observation used are constant. This work, conducted under the auspices of the Toronto Family Diagnosis Project, School of Social Work at the University of Toronto, is an impressive contribution to two areas of social work: it offers new observations regarding family life that will be of particular interest to professionals and researchers in the field of family and child welfare, and its technical framework will be of interest to all social workers.