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In family sessions with seven families, the authors observed that the child-patients played four specific pathological roles having certain common characteristics. Rigidity and resistance to change were striking, with the child actively
participating in the maintenance of the role. These roles clearly functioned to ward off potential family disequilibrium and in each case the role served to limit rather than facilitate intrapsychic development in the child. In addition, a vivid interplay was observed between the parental defenses and character structure and the defenses incorporated into the child's role definition. Thus projection characterized parents of a child in the scapegoat role; manipulation of guilt feelings characterized the mother of a child in the pet role; and denial and avoidance characterized both parents and the child in the peacemaker's role. Only in the baby role were the defenses less clearly defined. This paper is of particular interest to the practicing analyst as it calls attention to factors often understressed: the evolution and maintenance of defensive patterns and character structure.