Little is known about the process by which healthy families resolve everyday problems. Families with an adolescent diabetic must handle the usual adolescent problems as well as disease management problems, and must meet both the needs of the adolescent and those of the rest of the family. Phasing rationally is a term used to describe the orderly pattern which people go through as they progress from identifying a problem to eventually implementing an action and evaluating the outcome. This study analyzes the pattern of problem solving interaction (phasing rationally) for three adequately functioning families with well-controlled diabetic adolescents. The mother, father, and diabetic adolescent child in three intact families were subjects. Families discussed one salient and one nonsalient problem solving vignette as a family problem solving situation. The vignettes dealt with completing household tasks and with friends. Problem solving phases were identified by observation and interaction analysis of family problem solving in a laboratory setting. In addition, demographic data and several measures of family functioning, family strengths, and perceived family problem solving roles and patterns were also collected. The results indicated that family members engaged more frequently in orientation and identification early in the family coping process, with more frequent alternative generation, evaluation, and decision being associated with later phases of the process. The noteworthy pattern of behavior across the entire problem solving process was found to be information seeking and sharing. (Five pages of references and data tables are included.) (ABL)