Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems: I. Cohesion and Adaptability Dimensions, Family Types, and Clinical Applications

TLDR

Family therapy concepts cluster into two key dimensions: cohesion and adaptability. The model aims to identify a balanced level of cohesion and adaptability as most functional for marital and family development and to serve as a tool for clinical diagnosis and treatment goal setting. The circumplex model maps cohesion and adaptability onto 16 family system types, positing that balanced cohesion avoids enmeshment or disengagement, balanced adaptability avoids chaos or rigidity, and it serves as a diagnostic and treatment‑goal tool.

Abstract

The conceptual clustering of numerous concepts from family therapy and other social science fields reveals two significant dimensions of family behavior, cohesion and adaptability. These two dimensions are placed into a circumplex model that is used to identify 16 types of marital and family systems. The model proposes that a balanced level of both cohesion and adaptability is the most functional to marital and family development. It postulates the need for a balance on the cohesion dimension between too much closeness (which leads to enmeshed systems) and too little closeness (which leads to disengaged systems). There also needs to be a balance on the adaptability dimension between too much change (which leads to chaotic systems) and too little change (which leads to rigid systems). The model was developed as a tool for clinical diagnosis and for specifying treatment goals with couples and families.