Findings in family burden research suggest that, in families with a me
ntally ill relative, patterns of family interaction develop in respons
e to the onset of major mental illness and result from the burden expe
rienced by family members in coping with illness. The present study fo
cused on instrument development and validation of the Perceived Family
Burden Scale (PFBS), a measure of those patient behaviors associated
with schizophrenia and the impact of these behaviors on relatives. The
PFBS was found to be a valid and reliable instrument which demonstrat
ed greater predictive power for early symptomatic relapse in schizophr
enia than another measure of family interaction, expressed emotion.