Evidential boundaries of intergenerational relational-script claims: formation, maintenance, and therapeutic change
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Research on intergenerational scripts often treats different kinds of evidence as if they were interchangeable. Repeated family behavior may show a relationship pattern, but it does not by itself show what a child understood or whether a general rule formed. A stable rule does not show whether the person created confirming outcomes, noticed those outcomes selectively, or both. Adult improvement also does not show that the relational input available to a child has changed. We therefore propose a three-interface evidence framework. The formation interface separates relationship input, event meaning, and rules that generalize across events. The maintenance interface separates rule-led action and its external consequences from how the person registers those consequences. The change interface separates protection before a rule stabilizes, adult rule revision, and stable change in input available to the next generation. The framework specifies source separation, temporal order, competing explanations, and when a proposed layer should be simplified or removed. This conceptual synthesis reports no original sample, treatment-effect estimate, validated mechanism, or fixed typology.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Author: Bo Feng
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7225314743