The new edition of Duvall's Family Development is reviewed from the viewpoint of a gerontologist looking for insight into family development in the second half of life. Problems arising from a too literal application of the “developmental task” schema and some of the problems inherent in attempts to conceptualize development of the family as a whole apart from that of an individual family member are discussed. Other issues alluded to are nuclear vs. extended family theories and “rightness” or “wrongness” of particular developmental sequences or behaviors.
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