This study examined the differences in family closeness and power structure between first semester college freshmen and upperclassmen. Fifty-two freshmen and fifty-four upperclassmen completed the Family Systems Test (Gehring & Feldman, 1988) to indicate the closeness and power structure in their immediate families. Aspen-Welch t-tests were used to compare the differences in the perceived closeness and power between the participants and their siblings as well as between the participants and their parents. The results indicate no significant differences between freshmen and upperclassmen in their perceived emotional closeness with parents and siblings or between their perceived power differences between themselves and their parents and siblings. These results contradict previous research findings that indicate that emotional closeness correlates negatively with physical distance and that parent-child relationships become more egalitarian after the child moves out of the household. Contains 40 references. (Author/SR)