STUDIES of middle class families with a schizophrenic member have described some specific types of communication difficulties.1,2 It is the purpose of this study to evaluate communication processes in lower class urban families, which differ markedly from the middle class in social structure and cultural norms. A companion paper has reviewed other work on the subject of communication in the families of schizophrenic patients and has described the modifications which were found necessary in approaching and evaluating the families included in this study. The present contribution will list and describe the procedures employed, give the results obtained, and discuss their significance. As described previously, subjects in this study were 15 to 35 years old, were class V or low class IV on the Hollingshead Two Factor Index of Social Position,3 and were required to have at least one parent or parental