Development and current state of family psychology. Bibliometric results

Historical development and current state of family psychology are bibliometrically analysed for the time period from 1980 to 2001. Psychological literature databases PSYNDEX and PsycINFO are used to determine the relative frequency of family psychology publications within the total publications from psychology. Bibliometric analyses refer to index terms with significance for family psychology. Results show that family psychology publications have a relatively stable and high proportion within the total of all publications from psychology since the 1980's, referring to 5-7 percent in the psychological literature from the Genii an-speaking as well as the Anglo-American research community. Historical trends could not be observed. However, the results point at a high empirical orientation in the family psychology literature, which is increasing since the late 1980's. Moreover, results show that family psychology has connections to many other disciplines of psychology. Pleas for a stronger institutionalisation of family psychology in research as well as psychology education are supported by the bibliometric results presented.