The studies proposed in this application continue to explore factors which regulate the transaction of a family with its social environment. Previous work in our laboratory suggests that among the most important of these factors is the family's shared experience or construction of its social environment. This proposal focuses, in particular, on the role of these shared constructs. Evidence suggests that these shared constructs differ from family to family, are important in governing their adaptation to novel events and remain relatively stable. Taken together, the studies proposed in this application seek to: 1) explore the role of these shared constructions in the family's response to stressful events in its everyday life using laboratory problem-solving and interview methods; 2) clarify and improve the dimensions and typology by which these shared constructions may be distinguished and classified using figure placement, laboratory perception, and family perception procedures; and 3) attempt to alter or induce certain shared constructs in families and determine the effects of such induced constructs on the family's adaptation to a novel event.