As editors of an April 2021 special section of the Journal of Family Psychology, Douglas M. Teti, professor of human development and family studies, psychology, and pediatrics at Penn State; and Gregory M. Fosco, associate professor of human development and family studies and associate director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, advocate a position in which the study of family contexts becomes a field of study in its own right.

The section, “New conceptualizations and directions in the study of family context,” includes these articles demonstrating that that family contexts are dynamic, change across varying time scales, and that the manner in which they change impacts and alters trajectories of individual and family development.

Teti and Fosco conclude that “approaching context and fit from a systems perspective will advance developmental and family science in exciting new directions.”

• Access the special section, “New conceptualizations and directions in the study of family context.”