Community and Family Factors Related to the Use of a Family Service Agency.

Client family users of a Family Service agency are compared with random samples of families from the two communities using the Agency. Findings strongly support the hypothesis that the community value structure influences the use of the agency; the value structure of one community depresses the rate of use at the several socioeconomic levels, while the value structure of the other community raises the rate of use. Findings also indicate a general pattern of social isolation for clients, suggesting support for the anomia theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]