title: My family made me do it: the influence of family therapists' families of origin on their occupational choice.
abstract: This study is an empirical test and exploration of the folklore about family life correlates of family therapists' occupational choice. The folklore is translated into systems concepts, including role complementarity and the mutually determining effect of process and roles. Fifty-nine family therapists, 49 siblings of the therapists, and 51 undifferentiated, non-helping professionals were compared on FACES (29), The Complementary Role Questionnaire, and on demographic data. Inconsistencies in the results led to a critique of the clinical faithfulness of current systems measures. Family therapists did not differ on FACES, but did differ in aspects of roles from their siblings and from the control professionals.
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001722:Birth Order; D005190:Family; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009790:Occupations; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012380:Role; D012539:Scapegoating; D012649:Self Concept; D012801:Sibling Relations