[The EMBU project--a multinational study of the importance of parental child rearing behavior for the development of psychopathologic phenomena].

The influence of childhood experience on psychological development is discussed from various scientific viewpoints. Against this background, the origin of the cross-cultural, multinational EMBU Project on the relationship between upbringing in the family and psychopathology is described. It becomes obvious that a systematic, cross-cultural, and theory-orientated approach can bring significant material for the development of psychiatric theory.