The study of Triadic Family Interactions: the Proposal of an Observational Procedure.

In the present article we provide an analytical review of 26 recent studies, which investigated triadic mother-father-child interactions through observational procedures. We focused on the methodological framework and compared the studies according to different criteria, in order to highlight the complexity of the object of study as well as the variety of dimensions and measures that have been used. Even if all the considered studies were designed to analyze triads, very few used coherently triadic categories; most of them focused on the individual members of the triad or on the parents with respect to the child.