Download Interrelationships of Adolescents in Nuclear and Joint Families

Interrelationships of Adolescents
in Nuclear and Joint
Family Settings
Presented by:
Charu Sharma
Department of Psychology,
University of Delhi
INTRODUCTION
Conceptualising Family
− Most basic social institution
− Universal for human society
− A social construct, not biological one
− Fulfils human needs
− Performs indispensable functions
− Individuals united by the ties of marriage,
blood, adoption or consensual unions
− Major source of nurturance, emotional
bonding and socialization
Types of Family Settings in India
● Traditional Joint or Extended Families
− Members from different generations
− Joint Residence
● Nuclear Families
− Consist of a man, his wife and their children
− No or lesser place for other relatives
Changes in Contemporary Families
 Twentieth century brought enormous
changes
 Adaptive changes in the technological
and economic superstructure of the
present society
 Peculiar combination of traditional and
modern values
 Changes in configuration of role, power,
status and relationships in the family
 In rural areas, the size of joint family
has been substantially reduced
 People prefer migrating to cities either to
pursue higher education or to secure
more lucrative jobs
 Many of the urban households are really
offshoots of rural extended or joint
families
 A joint family in the native village is the
fountainhead of nuclear families in towns
Structural modernization of society
With further industrial development
Rural to urban migration
Development of nuclear families and
Rise of divorce rates on the line of industrial
West
 Emergence of financially independent,
career-oriented men and women
 Indian joint family is changing rather than
breaking down
 Institutionalization of new roles and group
structures





● Children & Adolescents in Families
− Sharing of roles rather than a
hierarchical structuring of roles
− Prefer Liberal rather than conservative
attitudes
− Role diffusion
− Egalitarian outlook rather than a
traditional outlook
METHOD
Sample
● Adolescents belonging to the range of 13-
15 years
● A total of 180 participants
● Particular urban locality based school in
Delhi
● Half of the participants were residing in
nuclear families
● Others were staying in joint or extended
families
Procedure
● Tools
− Family Environment Scale (FES) by Moos
& Moos (1986)
● Analysis
− Statistical Analysis with SPSS software
− Using t-test comparison of means
RESULTS
Graphical Representation
RESULTS
 Participants from Nuclear Families
− greater scores on cohesion,
expressiveness and independence
− higher scores on achievement
orientation, intellectual cultural
orientation and active recreational
orientation but scores are not statistically
significant
 Participants from Joint Families
− greater scores on conflict and control
− higher scores on moral religious
emphasis but not statistically significant
DISCUSSION
 Joint families support members in




raising the children
But that same support may sometimes
creates conflict
There may be too many authority
figures in a joint family set up
Lead to chaos and conflict for adults as
well as children
Joint families also mean hierarchies and
power equations and these hierarchies
are very strong
 Nuclear families burden parents with
more responsibilities
 Provide members with the freedom and
independence to chart their lives
without much interference from others
 Personality, physical and mental health
of the children related to their parents
 Individualism is worshipped almost to
the extent of obsession
 Children in nuclear families have to rely on
peers or indifferent care takers in case both
their parents are employed
 However, in joint families, children are looked
after by people they love and trust
 The child would be exposed to the love and
affection of all the members of the family,
 But conversely, if there are several children in
the joint family, there is a tendency for
members to make comparisons and to club all
the children together rather than provide
individual attention
 Differences in discipline styles, norms of work,




leisure, personal attitudes etc. are common in
any family system
But in joint families diversity may not always be
encouraged
There is more space for individuality and
individual self-expression in a nuclear family setup
In a joint family conflicting styles may contradict
each other, leading to a maladjusted child or
adolescent
However, it cannot be concluded with much
confidence which family set up is better over the
other for promoting healthy interrelationships in
adolescents
REFERENCES
 Gore M.S. (1968). Urbanization and family




change. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Gupta, G.R. (1976). Family and social change in
modern India. New Delhi: Vikas.
Kapadia. K. M. (1966). Marriage and family in
India. Bombay: Oxford University Press.
Khatri, A.A. (1975). The adaptive extended family
in India today. Journal of Marriage and the Family
37 (3): 633-642.
Moos, H. and Moos, S. (1986). Family
Environment Scale Manual (2nd edition).
California: Consulting Press Inc.
 Singh, J. P. (2004). The contemporary Indian family. In





Bert N. Adams and Jan Trost (Eds.). Handbook of World
Families. California: Sage Publications Inc.
Singh, J. P. (1984). The changing household size in
India. Journal of Asian and African Studies (The Hague).
Vol. 19 (1-2): 86-95.
Singh, J. G. and Thapar, G. (1984). Impact of parental
values on children. Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Vol. 11: 105-109.
Sinha, J.B.P (1990). The salient Indian Values and their
social ecological roots. Indian Journal of Social Sciences.
Vol3: 477-488.
Triandis, H. C. (1994). Culture and social behavior.
New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Uberoi, Patricia. (1993). Family, kinship and marriage in
India. Oxford University Press. Delhi.
THANK YOU...
THANK YOU...