Delinquents' and Non-Delinquents' Perception of Family Functioning in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The purpose in the study was to investigate the dynamics of family functioning between delinquent and nondelinquent participants. A total of 181 participants (77 delinquents; 104 nondelinquents) answered the Family Functioning Questionnaire (FFQ). Results of the study indicated that there were no significant differences between delinquents and nondelinquents; but there were significant differences between males and females across FFQ subscales in favor of males; also there were significant differences between delinquents and nondelinquents on the emotional fulfillment and behavioral control subscales in favor of delinquents.

Family Functioning, Cultural Orientation, and Psychological Well-Being Among University Students in Lebanon

“…In the present study, men appraised their family functioning as more unhealthy than did women, yielding a finding that is consistent with those of Alnajjar (1996Alnajjar ( , 1998, in which female adolescents appraised their family structure as more dysfunctional than did male adolescents but perceived the inner working of the family as more functional. Although sex was related to family functioning, religion and the culture-related dimension of horizontal collectivism were the two best predictors of family functioning.…”

“…I based this hypothesis on the assumption that Lebanese women may value an interdependent and egalitarian self and may consider the status of the nucleation and democratization of the Lebanese family as less than optimal (Faour, 1998;Kikoski, 2001;Muhyi, 1959). The hypothesis of a sex difference is also based on previous empirical data in which women have reported more dysfunction in family structure than have their male counterparts (Alnajjar, 1996(Alnajjar, , 1998. With regard to religion, I expected Muslims to perceive the family as functionally healthy, as did their Christian counterparts.…”

The Relationship Between Mental Health, Cultural Identity and Cultural Values in Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) Australian Adolescents

“…We might speculate that individualism and mental health are related because individualism facilitates the development of an internal LOC, which in turn is associated with good mental health (Sastry & Ross, 1998;Sayed, Collins, & Takahashi, 1998). Similarly, collectivism and mental health may be related because collectivism facilitates familial cohesion, which in turn is associated with good mental health (Alnajjar, 1996;Amato, 1991;Garrison et al, 1997;Patterson, 2002;Rousseau, Drapeau, & Corin, 1997;Sayed et al, 1998). Therefore, it is argued that strongly endorsing either type of cultural values will be differentially related to mental health.…”

Child maltreatment: the Lebanese children's experiences

“…Children completed the 20-item Family Functioning in Adolescence Questionnaire (Roelofse & Middleton 1985) using a 3-point scale (1 = not true at all; 3 = always true) which yields three subscales: family structure (My parents care about and accept me the way I am; alpha = 0.82), family communication (My family encourages its members to work together in dealing with family problems; alpha = 0.83) and family affect (There is a quiet atmosphere at home; alpha = 0.85), and a total family functioning score (alpha = 0.86). This measure was used with Australian adolescents from high to low SES families (alpha = 0.90), and with adolescents in the United Arab Emirates with high reliability (alpha = 0.93) and validity (Alnajjar 1996).…”