Inter-Relationships of Adolescents in Nuclear and Joint Family Settings

This study investigated interrelationships among adolescents residing in nuclear and joint family settings belonging to middle socio-economic background. The sample (n = 180) of adolescents was selected randomly from a particular urban locality based school in Delhi. Half of the participants were residing in nuclear families while others were staying in joint or extended families. Self-report measures were used to explore the different dimensions of interrelationships among adolescents. The results highlighted that the participants from nuclear families had greater cohesion, expressiveness and independence than the participants from joint families. The participants from nuclear families also showed higher scores on achievement orientation, intellectual-cultural orientation and activer-ecreational orientation from the participants from joint families but the scores were not statistically significant. However, it was found that the participants from joint families had greater conflict and control in their relationships with family members and showed greater moral-religious emphasis than the participants from nuclear families. The findings were discussed in the light of recent researches in the field.