THE ADOLESCENTS ASSESSMENT OF FAMILY FUNCTIONING

The aim of this study was to find out in what way adolescents assess t heir families and family functioning. An 34-item scale in self-report format was administered to 154 high school students and 34 patients in diagnostic procedure before entering psychotherapy in order to explor e basic elements of family functioning (structure, affect, communicati on, behaviour control, ethic values transmission, intimacy and idealiz ation, and elements of family dysfunction). The results showed that ad olescents in general assessed their families as growth and individuati on supportive. The adolescents in the clinical sample presented more d issatisfaction with their families and elements of family dysfunctions were more emphasized.