The Social Relations Model in Family Studies: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The Social Relations Model (SRM) allows for examination of family relations on three different levels: the individual level (actor and partner effects), the dyadic level (relationship effects), and the family level (family effect). The aim of this study was to present a systematic review of SRM family studies and identify general patterns in the results. Results of reanalyses of 17 data sets showed that characteristics of the person who reports on the relationship and the unique characteristics of the relationship were most important explanations of differences in family relationships. The present systematic review contributes to a better understanding of who is driving relationship outcomes in families and provides suggestions concerning the application of the SRM to family data.A large body of research showed that aspects of the parent-child relationship, sibling relationship, and marital relationship are all related to the development of child adjustment problems (

Observed sensitivity during family interactions and cumulative risk: A study of multiple dyads per family.

“…As described above, family effects were of substantive interest. Moreover, the review by Eichelsheim et al (2009) suggests that partner variances are often modest. Presently, exploratory analyses revealed partner variances and generalized reciprocity correlations that were not significantly different than zero.…”

“…Thirdly, the present study employed a single indicator for each directed relationship, preventing the separation of true relationship variance from measurement error. The high internal consistency of CS and analyses by Eichelsheim et al (2009) suggest that results would be the same if multiple indicators were available. Moreover, in terms of unaccounted measurement error, the relationship variances in the present study would be overstated and the relative importance of family and actor variances (which were found to be sizable and significant) would be understated.…”

“…Eichelsheim et al's (2009) Eichelsheim et al (2009) review imply that children have larger actor variances than parents. This is because (1) many of these investigations included both mothers and fathers, (2) child actor variances reflect consistency across partners, and (3) children often make similar attributions across parents.…”

Getting the most out of family data with the R package fSRM.

“…For example, Eichelsheim et al (2009) found that, averaged over studies, the actor effects generally explain the largest proportion of variance in the influence domain. Finding substantial actor variance for mothers, implies that some mothers experience more influence towards all family members than other mothers in other families.…”

“…Since the behavior of one person within a family has consequences that go beyond that one individual (Cook, 2005) it is recommended to investigate the family functioning in its full complexity. The parent-child relationship for example is a specific dyad within a family as a whole and should not be viewed in isolation (Eichelsheim, Deković, Buist, & Cook, 2009). …”