This study uses genographs to represent family structures in serial monogamy. A genograph is a type of network in which points represent relationships and directed lines represent change of partners. Genographs are an alternative to drawings of family trees, or genograms, used in cases of serial monogamy. When several people divorce and remarry genograms tend to focus on the perceptions of only one person. In clinical genograms that person is labeled the "identified patient." The relevant serial relationships from the point of view of others, including the children, tend to be excluded, because genograms were developed primarily for the representation of intergenerational relationships. I have developed the genographs to represent and to study some of the more complex constellations of family relationships in a serially monogamous culture. This paper will 1) illustrate how to construct genographs, 2) show how to use them as an assessment tool in systemic family therapy, and 3) provide a foundation for much-needed theoretical framework for the study of such nebulous concepts as "blended family," "single-parent family," "step-family," "bi-nuclear family," and "multi-nuclear family."

keywords = genograms, genographs, serial monogamy, family theapy