A Study of the Relationship between Family Flexibility, Religiosity and Mental Health among Runaway and Normal Adolescents

The present study aims to examine the relationship between family flexibility, religiosity and mental health among runaway and normal adolescents. To this end, 60 runaway and 60 normal adolescent boys and girls were randomly selected and assigned into experimental and control groups after being matched in terms of such characteristics as economic conditions, age and marital status. Next, the three family flexibility, religiosity and mental health inventories were administered to the experimental group. The obtained data were analyzed using inferential statistics and multiple regression methods. The results reveal that there is a significant relationship between family flexibility, religiosity and mental health among adolescents. As such, adolescents with flexible families had better mental health and a significant difference was observed between the runaway and normal adolescents in terms of family flexibility, religiosity and mental health.