Research on family interaction patterns suggests that delinquent behaviors of children and adolescents may be related to, if not a direct function of, disordered interpersonal interaction within the family unit. Family interaction can be seen as a sequence of interlocking events occurring over time and consisting of the three basic characteristics of sequentiality, flexibility, and constraint. Although researchers have been reasonably successful in identifying certain recurrent behavior patterns in family interaction, overall progress has been constrained by limitations of the methods typically employed. Three methods of discrete sequential analysis appear to hold promise for the study of family interaction processes and delinquency. Each is a technique used for analyzing sequences of behavior in order to search for sequential patterns or redundancies among behaviors. Markov chain analysis, lag sequential analysis, and information theory are all procedures which would allow researchers to identify recurrent patterns and test the hypothesized relationships between family interactions and delinquent behavior, while retaining the sequential ordering of the family's responses and recognizing the reciprocal nature of their interaction. (NRB)