Taxonomy of family life styles: I. Homes with TMR children.

A battery of instruments dealing with family social environment and family and child characteristics and behavior was administered to 115 families with children in TMR classes. Cluster analysis was performed on the social environment variables. Five distinctive clusters of families, each with distinctive patterns of characteristics, were identified: cohesive, harmonious; control-oriented, somewhat unharmonious; low-disclosure, unharmonious; child-oriented, expressive; and disadvantaged, low morale. Comparisons among the clusters and ethnographic observations revealed significant differences in family characteristics and child adjustment at home and school.