How to Construct a Kinship Diagram
Kinship Diagrams are used to organize familial lineages. A Kinship Diagram is a scientific family tree that uses both symbols and letters to designate position and relation. Kinship Diagrams can focus on the relatives of one person, or they can show the relationships of an entire family. Once you learn the basic symbols and organizational methods, creating and reading your own Kinship Diagram is easy. Before you begin, collect as much information about your family as possible.
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Instructions
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Draw each female family member as a circle. Draw each male member as a triangle. If the gender is unknown, represent that person as a square.
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Determine the central person, or Ego, of the diagram. Each relationship will stem from the Ego. Draw the Ego, circle or triangle, in the center of your paper.
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Begin with the parents of the Ego. Draw the parents directly above the Ego. Parent-child relationships are represented with a vertical line. If the parents are married, connect their symbols with a "=" sign. If they are divorced, draw a slash through the "=" sign. If the parents are not married, used a "~" sign.
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Draw the siblings of the Ego. The siblings will have a vertical line from the parents and a horizontal line from the Ego. If the sibling is biological, use a solid line. If the sibling is adopted, use a dotted line for the parents and the other siblings.
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Continue to expand your Kinship Diagram to include grandparents, uncles and other relatives. If a person is deceased, put an "X" through the triangle or circle.
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Add referent symbols if your Kinship Diagram is too extensive or confusing. Referent symbols relate to the Ego and should include "M" for mother, "F" for father, "C" for cousin and so on.
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