Interaction in Families: An Experimental Study of Family Processes and Schizophrenia, 1964-1965

This study was designed to explore if there are distinctive patterns of interaction in families of schizophrenic patients. An experimental procedure was used to generate discussions among family members. Code-category systems were developed to systematically code these samples of interaction. The basic data for the study are transcripts of three-person, revealed-difference discussions among father, mother, and one child. Included in the sample were families with schizophrenic children with either good or poor premorbid social adjustment, and families with normal children. Each family also had a second child of the same sex and approximate age of the first child who also participated in the study. Child participants were White, age 16 or over, and living with married natural parents. Each family participated in two experimental sessions approximately one week apart; the parents participated first with one child and later with the other. In each session the three members privately completed a 38-item Revealed Differences Questionnaire and then items on which there was disagreement were discussed. Parents also completed a background questionnaire. Forty-nine families participated in the study; 39 completed two sessions and 10 completed only one session. There were 39 sessions with male patient families, 20 with male normal control families, 16 with female patient families, and 13 with female normal control families. The Murray Research Archive has copies of all audiotapes, typed transcripts of the interaction sessions, and copies of the background questionnaires and Revealed Differences Questionnaires. Audio Data Availability Note: This study contains audio data that have been digitized. There are 838 audio files available.

本研究旨在探究精神分裂症患者家庭是否存在独特的互动模式。研究采用实验程序引导家庭成员展开讨论，并开发了编码分类系统以对这类互动样本进行系统化编码。本研究的基础数据为父亲、母亲与一名子女组成的三人小组开展差异显露式讨论的转录文本。受试样本涵盖两类家庭：一类为育有精神分裂症子女的家庭，其子女生病前的社会适应功能分为良好与较差两个亚组；另一类为育有正常子女的对照家庭。每个受试家庭还拥有第二名子女，该子女与首个受试子女同性且年龄相近，同样参与了本研究。受试子女均为白人，年龄不低于16岁，且与亲生父母共同居住。每个家庭需参与两次实验场次，两次间隔约一周：家长先与第一名子女共同参与，后续再与第二名子女参与。每场实验中，三名参与者先单独完成一份包含38个条目的差异显露问卷（Revealed Differences Questionnaire），随后针对存在意见分歧的条目展开讨论。家长还需填写一份背景问卷。本研究共纳入49个家庭：其中39个家庭完成了两场实验，10个家庭仅参与一场。按分组统计：男性患者家庭对应39场实验，男性正常对照家庭对应20场，女性患者家庭对应16场，女性正常对照家庭对应13场。默里研究档案馆（Murray Research Archive）留存有所有录音带、互动场次的打印版转录文本，以及背景问卷与差异显露问卷的副本。音频数据可用性说明：本研究包含已数字化处理的音频数据，共计838个音频文件可供获取。