The Family System Test: Differences in Perception of Family Structures between Nonclinical and Clinical Children*

Abstract

Nonclinical respondents and psychiatric outpatients (N = 400) between the first and twelfth grades portrayed their families as they perceived them in typical and in conflict situations using the Family System Test (FAST), a figure placement technique that focuses on cohesion and hierarchy in the family. Results showed that typical representations were influenced by whether a respondent was a patient or not, but not by the type of mental disorder. Clinical respondents were less likely to represent their families as being either cohesive, moderately hierarchical or as having clear generational boundaries. In conflict representations, both clinical and nonclinical respondents indicated low cohesion in family patterns. Results were interpreted from a family systems approach as well as from a clinical perspective.