| Abstract: | John Bowlby's legacy encourages our exploration well beyond the child's attachment to a primary caregiver. A wide variety of family relationships contribute to child development, and the effects of relationships on other relationships are in particular need of investigation. The complexities of relationship influences seem mind-boggling as we array them, but both the researcher and the working clinician are guided by a number of principles in the search for meaning. These are described in terms of polarities that frame our interests and in terms of our human capacities for empathy and pattern recognition. |
