Family System Test Research Articles

A study on family structures represented by Japanese university students

This study investigated the characteristics of family structures in various situations represented by Japanese university students. Subjects were required to express the typical structures of their past and the present families, and the ideal structures of their families in the future using Family System Test (FAST). The classification revealed that cases classified into the 'balanced' were not so many in both the past and the present family representations although some changes were found in the hierarchy and cohesion with the growth of the children. In contrast, the majority of the ideal future representations were classified into the 'balanced'. This means that many Japanese students, just as the researchers in Western countries, assume that the ideal structures of their own families should be highly cohesive and must have some generational boundaries. In addition, other analyses showed the differences in the characteristics between the past, the present and the future family structures.

The Association between Language Maintenance and Family Relations: Chinese Immigrant Children in Australia

This study investigated the relevance of emotional and familial factors to language maintenance in immigrant families. Information about the family relations of 40, 9–12 year-old children from Chinese-speaking immigrant families in Sydney, Australia, was obtained using the Family Relations Test, the Family System Test and the Separation Anxiety Test. Information about language maintenance patterns was obtained using a new Language Maintenance Questionnaire focusing on various aspects of language maintenance. Analysis revealed that children who were more likely to use and prefer to use their parents' mother tongue were those who perceived their family to be more cohesive and low in hierarchy, had fewer negatively loaded emotions associated with parents and showed indications of a secure attachment pattern. The results are discussed in terms of the strong emotional aspects embedded in one's mother tongue and its importance to one's psychological and familial reality.

Children's Definitions of Family Power and Cohesion Affect Scores on the Family System Test

This study examines assumptions underlying the Family System Test (FAST), a figure placement tool created to measure perceptions of family members' power and cohesion. Past research with this instrument has not addressed whether participants' definitions of the constructs might influence their depiction of family structure. In this investigation participants completed the standard protocol of the FAST and a structured interview to determine their definitions of power and cohesion. Participants were then categorized and placed into groups according to classification of their definitions. Results indicated that participants' definitions significantly affected both perceived family power scores and perceived family cohesion scores.

Children's Definitions of Family Power and Cohesion Affect Scores on the Family System Test

This study examines assumptions underlying the Family System Test (FAST), a figure placement tool created to measure perceptions of family members' power and cohesion. Past research with this instrument has not addressed whether participants' definitions of the constructs might influence their depiction of family structure. In this investigation participants completed the standard protocol of the FAST and a structured interview to determine their definitions of power and cohesion. Participants were then categorized and placed into groups according to classification of their definitions. Results indicated that participants' definitions significantly affected both perceived family power scores and perceived family cohesion scores.

Family System Test (FAST): the relevance of parental family constructs for clinical intervention.

On the basis of the Family System Test (FAST), family representations of parents with healthy and biopsychosocially distressed children were compared, and family structure changes in the context of interventions on the parent-level were described. Results indicated that parental family constructs are related to offspring's health and clinical intervention. Parents of psychiatric patients showed their families to have low cohesion, and hierarchically unclear generational boundaries (i.e. unbalanced structure). As had been their wish at therapy onset, the family patterns they indicated after completion of treatment were balanced.

Cohesion and power in the families of children involved in bully/victim problems at school: an Italian replication

A replication was made of the findings of Bowers et al.(1992), relating involvement of children in bully/victim problems at school with characteristics of family systems as revealed by the Family System Test (FAST), on a central Italian sample. The findings regarding father absence, structural plot characteristics—such as use of corners and no separation of figures—and cohesion scores especially with parents, were consistent across both studies; findings relating to power scores were few and inconsistent. The main findings of the Bowers et al. study appear to be robust and generalizable.

Family System Test (FAST): are parents' and children's family constructs either different or similar, or both?

Perceptions of family cohesion and hierarchy structures were assessed by the Family System Test (FAST), a clinically-derived figure placement technique. Parents (N = 140) and their preadolescent offspring (N = 70) completed typical and conflict representations in individual as well as group settings. Typical representations were characterized by balanced family structures (i.e. cohesive and moderately hierarchical) and those displaying conflict situations showed predominantly unbalanced patterns. FAST portrayals were related to respondent (mother vs. father vs. child). Fathers represented typical family relations as balanced more often than mothers. Regarding conflict representations, children were more likely than fathers to portray the family as unbalanced. However, analyses of representations of the same family (i.e. intra-family comparisons) indicated that all respondents differed in their perceptions and, that fathers' typical portrayals showed most often the same structure as those done by the family members as a group.

The family system test (fast): A spatial representation of family structure and flexibility

Abstract The FAST represents a vast improvement over other figure placement techniques (FPTs). It offers an assessment procedure that measures both cohesion and power, assesses several family levels, allows for interpretation and comparison of individual and collective perceptions, and yields a more complex view of family dynamics by providing information regarding family organization across situations. Further, the FAST allows clinicians to hypothesize about treatment prognosis, plan systemic interventions, and monitor structural transformations that occur during therapy. As structural and developmental theories seem to be two of the more commonly recognized perspectives across disciplines (as evidenced by the types of relational additions in the soon-to-be-published DSM-IV), the FAST has the potential to become an interdisciplinary diagnostic and empirical link. Recommendations are noted here to maximize the potential of the FAST as a theoretically grounded and psychometrically sound family instrument.

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

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.

Is There a Relationship between Children's Mental Disorders and Their Ideal Family Constructs?

Psychiatric outpatients ( N = 72) and nonclinical children ( N = 72) from 1st to 12th grades portrayed their families as they wished they were (ideal representation), using the Family System Test (FAST), a figure placement technique that focuses on cohesion and hierarchy. Results showed that constructs of ideal family relations were related to age group (1st to 3rd graders versus 4th to 12th graders) and to clinical status (clinical versus nonclinical) but not to the type of mental disorder. First, younger children portrayed less cohesion than did older ones. Second, clinical respondents were less likely to represent cohesive family patterns and were more likely to report ideal family situations as special events. Results are discussed from a developmental as well as from a family systems perspective.

Cohesion and power in the families of children involved in bully/victim problems at school

The dimensions of Power and Cohesion have been found to be useful in describing family systems. They may also be predictive of children who will bully others or be victimized themselves. A sample of 20 bullies, 20 victims, 20 bully/victims, and 20 control children were selected from three middle schools via a system of peer nominations. These children then completed a version of the Family System Test (FAST) to establish how they perceived their families on the dimensions of Power and Cohesion. The four subgroups showed characteristic differences on the FAST plots, which are discussed. Future use of the FAST test in examining the link between perceived family structure and peer relationships seems warranted.

Adolescents' Perceptions of Family Cohesion and Power: A Methodological Study of the Family System Test

This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the Family System Test (FAST), a figure placement technique designed to represent cohesion and power in the family. The FAST assesses cohesion by distances between figures on a board, and power by height of blocks on which figures are elevated. Cohesion and power scores are derived for the family as a unit, and its various subsystems, including the marital, cross-generational and sibling dyads. The predominantly White, middle-class sample consisted of 137 early adolescents and 130 midadolescents who portrayed their family under three conditions in typical, ideal, and conflict situations. To establish stability all early adolescents and 28 of the midadolescents were seen twice, one week apart. An additional 20 midadolescents were seen four months later. To establish convergent and discriminant validity subjects completed the FACES III and the cohesion and control subscales of the FES. To establish construct validity the data from the FAST were examined as to their consistency with both developmental and family system perspectives. The FAST demonstrated test-retest stability, near-independence of cohesion and power dimensions, as well as convergent and construct validity. In general, psychometric properties of the FAST were better for midadolescents than for early adolescents. Advantages of the FAST as a research and clinical tool are discussed.

Family-System-Test (FAST): a three dimensional approach to investigate family relationships.

The Family-System-Test is a method for quantitatively measuring family relationships, which are represented on a board subdivided in 81 square fields by sexually differentiated figures with dots for eyes and cubes of different heights to vary their size. In a pilot study this test was found to be useful for diagnostic, therapeutic, and research purposes.