Families and family psychology at the millennium - Intersecting crossroads

This introduction to the International Perspectives section presents a glob al overview of various issues and trends that families and family psycholog ists confront at the beginning of the 21st century. These are presented in broad strokes so that a kaleidoscopic intermingling of pieces emerges. Some predictions are included about new and expanding directions the field of f amily psychology is likely to take in coming decades. The need for addition al research to field test criteria sets for emerging relational diagnosis a nd to evaluate which are the most efficacious therapeutic interventions is highlighted (F. W. Kaslow, 1987, 1995b). This section also includes 3 other articles on various aspects of family psychology by leading psychologists from 3 diverse countries and continents-the Virgin Islands (R. Dudley-Grant , 2001), Israel (E. Halpern, 2001), and Japan (K. Kameguchi, 2001). Each is representative of the larger region in which each author teaches and pract ices. These articles are intended to present a collage of some of the probl ems families are experiencing, future trends, and a call to action for psyc hologists to intervene to prevent and ameliorate family distress. Each auth or describes the history and current status of family psychology in his or her country and relates key dilemmas to what is happening on the world scen e.