Family connectedness and neuroticism among teenagers

Pages: 955-959
J. Indumathy (Madras School of Social Work, Chennai, Tamil Nadu)

Family Connectedness is defined as a particular characteristic of the family bond also referred as family or parental closeness, support, warmth, or responsiveness. Neuroticism is a tendency to experience negative feelings, marked by mental distress, emotional suffering, and an inability to cope effectively with the normal demands of life. Teenagers are the individuals belonging to the age group between 13 to 19years. The present study is conducted explore the relationship between neuroticism and family connectedness of the teenagers. The exploratory research design which is widely utilized to gain additional insight and explore the research questions is used in the present study. The exploration is used to find if the neuroticism of an individual has any association with the connection they have with their family. The data was collected among 127 students from 5 different schools in Chennai. Using simple random sampling technique students from 17 19 years of age by lottery method were randomly selected for participation. Eysenck’s personality Inventory, Short Form (1985) and Family Connectedness Scale adapted from the FACES-II are the tools used for the study. The data is statistically analysed utilizing the SPSS 20 version software using parametric tests such as Independent Sample t-test, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Linear Regression. The results of the study indicate a significant negative relationship between family connectedness and neuroticism. There were no significant gender differences in the variables among the sample. Regression analysis showed that family connectedness was as strong predictor for neuroticism in a person. Further significant, limitations and recommendations are discussed in the paper.