Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Family Issues
There are many kinds of families. Some have two parents, while others have a single parent. Sometimes there is no parent and grandparents raise grandchildren. Some children live in foster families, adoptive families, or in stepfamilies.
Families are much more than groups of people who share the same genes or the same address. They should be a source of love and support. This does not mean that everyone gets along all the time. Conflicts are a part of family life. Many things can lead to conflict, such as illness, disability, addiction, job loss, school problems, and marital issues. Listening to each other and working to resolve conflicts are important in strengthening the family.
It sits within Social/Family Issues.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Family Issues
9 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Mobile Phone Messaging to Improve Reproductive Health for Women Living With HIV in Kenya (Mobile WACh Empower)University of Washington
- ARTLifeLine: Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) Family Health and Development Trajectory Cohort (ARTLL)Peking University Third Hospital
Research already completed
- Living in a Precarious Situation With an Autistic Child: What Are the Issues at Stake for Support in CareCentre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint Etienne
- A Prospective Observational Study of Family-based Interventions for Children With Neuropsychiatric and/or Psychiatric DisordersSocial Insurance Institution, Finland
- Umuryango Ukomera Uri Hamwe - Families Are Strong TogetherUniversity of Konstanz
- Improving Communication About Serious IllnessUniversity of Washington
- Identifying the Needs of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans and Their Families: TBI and Co-Occurring Behavioral Health IssuesVA Eastern Colorado Health Care System
- ICU Family Communication StudyUniversity of Washington
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- "Perfect" Parent MythAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
Related Issues
- Adoption and Foster CareAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Family ArgumentsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Home Alone ChildrenAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Importance of Family RoutinesAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Improving Family CommunicationsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Infidelity: Mending Your Marriage after an AffairMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- International AdoptionCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Military FamiliesAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- StepsiblingsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
- Taking Care of Your GrandchildrenNemours Foundation
- Thinking about AdoptionAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
Statistics and Research
- FastStats: Marriage and DivorceNational Center for Health Statistics
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: FamilyNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Family, Interpersonal Relations. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Family Issues, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.