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This article has described an attempt made, in the context of a wider study, to devise a toot for assessing parent-child relationship patterns in a manner that will provide clear blueprints for remedial action. The related concepts of crisis situation and acute situational disorder were applied to the delinquency situation, and an effort was made to specify some of the coping mechanisms parents of court delinquents must use in order to help prevent the acute disorder brought on by the court experience from becoming chronic. It was postulated that, by focusing on how the parents responded to the delinquent act, it should be possible to make a family diagnosis that could lead directly to a constructive, and frequently short-term, treatment plan for the family. The tool-building process was set up as a collaborative effort between researcher and practitioners to exploit to the full the clinical knowledge of the social work team in devising the measurement instrument, not merely in using it. The instrument that was devised is designed to tap the parents' assessment of the court crisis and their actions to prevent recurrences. Its function is to assess, within selected areas, the degree to which parental coping mechanisms are adaptive or maladaptive for purposes of delinquency control. Adaptive and maladaptive coping mechanisms were conceptually and operationally defined. In this presentation, the data-gathering, rating, and assessment processes have been described in some detail, the formula for deriving assessments of family coping pat- terns has been presented, and the ratability of the instrument and its use by personnel not clinically trained have been discussed. The methodological procedures utilized to refine and standardize the instrument have been reviewed, and evidence concerning its reliability and validity presented. In conclusion, it has been asserted that parental coping mechanisms in this crisis situation appear, in general, to reflect stable and persisting aspects of family structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]