The premise of this article is that to understand how family affects business, the issue of how individual family members relate to the family must also be addressed. To that end, we propose family orientation (FO) to assess the extent to which individuals perceive and value family involvement. Drawing on the family therapy literature, including Bowen's family systems theory and contextual family therapy, we identify and develop five dimensions of FO—tradition, stability, loyalty, trust, and interdependency. We also discuss factors that might affect an individual's FO score, how FO might enhance understanding of other family business processes and practices, and future research directions.

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This study explored the relationships between an individual's interpersonal functioning, perceived spirituality, and selected spiritual practices. Using Bowen's family systems theory, the authors proposed that an individual's level of spiritual development and level of differentiation are correlated and that certain spiritual practices are predictive of both of these levels. The results of this study showed a positive correlation between differentiation and a general report of spirituality. Spiritual practices also predicted individuals' level of spiritual development. A common underlying concept, self-regulation, may explain the correlation between differentiation and spiritual development. Likewise, spiritual practices may support change in both areas.

Building upon prior research on clinical judgment, the present study contains a description of a meta-theoretical model of problem definition in systems therapy. Qualitative analysis yielded an exemplar that illustrated the use of therapist-specific, interactional, and situational factors, the therapist's influence in the therapeutic conversation along three positioning dimensions, and a continuum of implicit to explicit construction of the presenting problem. The current description of clinical judgment addresses correctives proposed in the existing literature and advances the study of clinical judgment in couple and family therapy.

Influence in psychotherapy has been described as a characteristic of the therapist, a characteristic of the therapeutic relationship, and a negotiated process. This study combines grounded theory and task analysis to explore language patterns in facilitating change in family therapy. Thirty-one episodes of therapy were analyzed, resulting in the emergent concept of creating ''maneuvering room.'' Therapists introduce uncertainty into clients' beliefs about problems then offer new ways of defining problems by speaking from three dimensions: therapist as expert or non-expert, therapist as participant or observer, or family members' experiences as similar or different. The findings of this study support a possible common factor in family therapy.KEY WORDS: family therapy; common factors in therapy; ''maneuvering room,'' language patterns; qualitative theory and research.Although there is disagreement over the definition and use of influence in family therapy, most theories acknowledge its existence. Influence in therapy is often described as either an individual characteristic or skill or as a negotiated process. Neither implies that therapists and clients have equal influence on the process of therapy, although postmodern definitions hold an equal, collaborative effort as the ideal. Several studies have examined how control is exercised or