Implicit family process rules refer to unspoken rules about family beliefs and expectations about communication, closeness, and organization and are an important dimension of family functioning that may have a powerful influence over adolescent psychological well being. This study focused on the relationship between implicit family process rules and adolescent psychological symptoms such as: Hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, and somatization. It was hypothesized that more facilitative implicit family process rules would be related to fewer adolescent psychological symptoms. In addition, a model was created that included theexogenousindependent variables of family status, (defined as intact-marriage or non-intact), treatment status (whether the adolescent was currently in a psychological treatment program or not), and gender to test their relationships to implicit family process rules and adolescent psychological symptoms. A non-treatment sample (N=99) was recruited in Utah County, Utah, using a sample of convenience. The treatment sample (N=144) was recruited from an adolescent residential wilderness therapy program located in Duchesne County, Utah. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Family Implicit Rules Profile (FIRP) were administered to each participant along with a questionnaire requesting demographic information. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationships between the exogenous variables, facilitative implicit family process rules, and adolescent psychological symptoms. The model was tested using AMOS statistical software. Results showed that implicit family process rules were significantly related to adolescent psychological symptoms such that facilitative rules were related to fewer psychological symptoms. Males reported more constraining rules on the Expressiveness subscale of the FIRP while females reported more symptomology on the Interpersonal Sensitivity subscale of the BSI. These findings support previous research on family dynamics and psychological functioning and support the hypothesis that perceived implicit family process rules are important to study in adolescents. This research is a step toward a more epistemological approach to family therapy with adolescents as well as a step toward more preventative family therapy and education by addressing family rules. Implications for family therapists and future research are discussed.

Family life is organized by rules, and most of them are unspokenly agreed-upon by family members and may be even out of awareness. Implicit family process and couple rules may facilitate or constrain family relationship and intimate couple relationship growth. Prevalence of family rules may be different across cultures. Family members may perceive their rules and family functioning differently according to their family position and gender. Married couples may view their relationship rules differently than couples who cohabit. This study utilized the Family Implicit Rules Profile (FIRP) and the Couples Implicit Rules Profile (CIRP) Questionnaires to answer these research questions. The questionnaires were translated into Hungarian, and the content validity of the Hungarian translation was established. Hungarian non-clinical families and couples were compared to American (U.S.) non-clinical families and couples to examine how prevalent implicit rules were in the two cultures. According to the findings, Hungarian families and couples scored lower on the total FIRP and CIRP scores. Hungarian families perceived implicit family rules regarding kindness and monitoring less prevalent, and rules regarding constraining their thoughts, feelings and self more prevalent than American families. No differences were found in expressiveness and connection and inappropriate caretaking of parents between the two cultures. Hungarian couples perceived their implicit relationship rules regarding kindness, expressiveness and connection and monitoring less prevalent than American couples. No differences in implicit rules about constraining thoughts, feelings and self and inappropriate caretaking of partner were found between the two cultures. Mothers in both cultures viewed their families in a more positive light than other family members, and female family members (mothers and daughters) were more positive than their male counterparts (fathers and sons) about rules in their families in both cultures. Sons in both cultures perceived more responsibility to protect their parents emotionally than did daughters. Married couples in both cultures perceived their relationship rules more favorably in terms of kindness and monitoring than cohabiting couples. Results were interpreted in the context of cultural differences between the American and the Hungarian cultures. Limitations and the possibility of future research are discussed.