Structural Family Relations: Primary Dyadic Alliances and Adolescent Adjustment*

The purposes of the present study were to (1) provide descriptive normative data on the incidence of primary dyadic relationships in non‐clinical families; (2) test the hypothesis that children from a marital relationship‐primary family are better adjusted than those with a primary non‐marital dyad; and (3) examine sex‐linked effects within both areas. A sample of late adolescent college students was interviewed concerning family relationship patterns. Males most often perceived the mother‐father dyad as primary, whereas females most often reported the mother‐child dyad as the primary relationship in the family. Support was obtained for the adjustment hypothesis by data from females, but not males. Girls from families with a marital dyad‐primary were better adjusted than girls from families with a non‐marital dyad‐primary. Sex‐linked effects associated with structural family relations, such as the greater salience of the marital coalition for daughters than sons, are discussed, and some clinical implications of the findings are suggested.