Diverging from familial fluctuations perpetuates ‘‘nuclear families’’ conceptually in contemporary theoretical, research, and clinical practices. Furthermore, presuming all couples are ‘‘reciprocal relationships’’ only between men and women entails couples are heterosexual or married relationships. However, not all couples are ‘‘reciprocal relationships’’ between men and women. Therefore ‘‘marriage’’ misnames all nonheterosexual and all unmarried couples. In this positional article, the authors emphasize reasonableness, transparency, and linguistic accuracy to include all systemic clients in emergent theories, research, and clinical practices. Preeminent publications (n = 1,763) demonstrated ‘‘couples’’ preponderance over ‘‘marriage’’ between 2000 and 2008. Moreover, the authors suggest linguistic accuracy may advance couples’ ontology and epistemology to develop familial therapies in 21st-century America. The authors also discuss ethical and clinical implications.
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