Attempted to examine the generalizability of environment/development relationships among 3 ethnic groups across the first 3 years of life. Social status did not show a consistent relationship to either quality of home environment or children's developmental status across the various groups. Results indicated a fairly consistent relationship between HOME scores and children's developmental status, although there were some ethnic and social status differences in the relationship. Measures of specific aspects of the child's home environment, such as parental responsivity and availability of stimulating play materials, were more strongly related to child developmental status than global measures of environmental quality such as SES. When the child's early developmental status and early home environment were both very low, the likelihood of poor developmental outcomes was markedly increased compared with cases when only one was low.

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This article discusses the family experience of serious mental illness, including subjective and objective burden, potential for family resilience, family roles, and personal and family variables that can mediate the impact of the illness. Following a specification of essential family needs, a number of effective family interventions are presented, including family support and advocacy groups, family consultation, family education, family psychoeducation, and psychotherapy. Finally, the authors examine ways of resolving potential conflicts related to confidentiality and offer suggestions that can enhance the effectiveness of psychologists who work with these families.The serious mental illness of a close relative is a catastrophic event for families. In the words of one family member, "This terrible illness colors everything-a family cannot escape." Because mental illness is often severe and persistent, psychologists are likely to have many opportunities to meet the needs of family members themselves and to assist them in supporting their relative's treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery. In fact, with their broad biopsychosocial perspective and wide range of expertise, psychologists are uniquely suited for meeting the needs of this highly stressed population.In this article, we assist practitioners to build on their existing competencies, to acquire new knowledge and skills, and to develop more effective intervention strategies. We begin with a discussion of the family experience of mental illness, sharing vignettes from our research with family members (vignettes without citations are from Marsh & Dickens, in press). We then present a number of family interventions that can be modified to meet the needs of individual families and can be offered in a variety of settings. The Family Experience of Mental IllnessMental illness has a profound effect on all members of the family, as the following woman asserts:All family members are affected by a loved one's mental illness. The entire family system needs to be addressed. To assure us that

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