The evolution of the family concerns health educators because family environment has been consistently linked to development of various addictions and negative behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, workaholism, excessive exercise, sexual promiscuity, vandalism, youth crime, and violence and abuse. It is recognized that a family's overall functioning pattern can negatively or positively affect a child's emotional, social, or physical health. In "The Circumplex Model," a model that seeks to explain family functioning patterns, family health has two dimensions, located at either end of a continuum. The first dimension, adaptability, measures how well a family deals with internal change; the second dimension, cohesion, measures the family's ability to function together as a unit. The two extremes of adaptability are rigidity and chaos; the two extremes of cohesion are enmeshment and disengagement. Research has shown that family environment may be a very accurate predictor of at-risk behavior. Family-related factors which affect drug use (or nonuse) and eating patterns in offspring include: family health and parenting style, parental support, independence, and parental control. A list of ways to encourage children not to use drugs or alcohol focuses on communication, development of independent thinking, self esteem, and strengthening family interaction. (IAH)