Family Relationship and Life Orientation Among Young Adults

Abstract

This study investigated the association between family relationship variables (cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict) and life orientation (optimism) in 170 Indian young adults (85 males, 85 females) aged 18-25.  The Brief Family Relationship Scale and the Revised Life Orientation Test were used for data collection. Results revealed that 75.9% of individuals reported strong family cohesiveness, 61.2% high expressiveness, and 63.5% moderate conflict.  More than half (57.1%) showed low optimism, with only 1.2% reporting high optimism.  Pearson’s correlation revealed that stronger family cohesiveness (r = -0.35) and expressiveness (r = -0.25) were substantially related with higher optimism, whereas increased conflict (r = 0.30) was associated with lower optimism.  T-tests found no significant gender differences in cohesiveness, expressiveness, or optimism. However, males reported considerably higher levels of family conflict than females (p < 0.05). These findings emphasize the relevance of supportive family situations in generating optimism among young people, as well as the utility of employing t-tests and Pearson correlation to analyze such interactions in psychological research.