Rethinking Family Bonds: A Global Look at What Keeps Us Together

In the Middle East, family is not just important, it is everything. From shared meals to lifelong loyalty, closeness is often seen as the foundation of wellbeing. But what if the psychological models we have relied on to understand families do not tell the full story?

During the past few years, I joined a global team of researchers from seven countries—including Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, and Switzerland—to test one of the most widely used frameworks in family psychology: the Family Circumplex Model. This model, developed in the West, argues that healthy families balance two things: closeness (cohesion) and flexibility (adaptability). But when we put it to the test across cultures, something surprising emerged: it did not fit! Instead, our team developed the Expanded Circumplex Model, which better captures family life globally.

For example, what the old model lumped together as “disengagement” split into two very

different realities: families who simply do not rely on each other much, and families who

actively avoid spending time together. That distinction matters, especially in regions like the

Middle East, where close ties can be both a source of strength and tension.

Why does this matter?

Because behaviors seen as “overinvolvement” in the West may, in Arab families, reflect love,

duty, and protection. Likewise, rules that look “rigid” through a Western lens may provide

comfort and stability. Our study reminds us that healthy families do not all look the same, and psychology must adapt to cultural contexts.

You can read the full study here: Understanding Family Dynamics in a Cross-Cultural Sample

My Practice Insight: The Middle East is one of the world’s fastest-growing regions, yet

research often overlooks its family systems. By integrating cultural perspectives into family

models, we can build therapies and support that fit, strengthen intergenerational ties, and help young adults navigate the tension between tradition and modernity. Loyalty and structure may nurture wellbeing here just as much as independence and flexibility do in the West. Psychology needs models that reflect these cultural truths.

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