Detecting Triads in a Swedish Juvenile Care Project

In a study of a project concerning Swedish juvenile care professionals, youngsters and parents were studied by ethnographic field observations as well as interviewed. During the course of the investigation various and shifting triads forming conflicts as well as alliances were observed. In this paper the triads described in interviews will be compared to field observations of triads formed during various meetings connected to the juvenile care project. I will analyze similarities and differences in retold triads during interviews and interactional “in situ” formed triads according to (1) different alliance formations, (2) different roles in changing constellations, (3) the temporal development of the alliances in the triad and (4) the alliance’s including and excluding function in the triads.