A Model of Family Functioning Based on Cohesion, Flexibility and Communication across Family Life Cycle in Married Women

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between family dynamics (cohesion, flexibility and communication) and family functioning in family life cycles. The sample was selected by stratified random sampling from 500 Iranian married women. To collect data FACES IV family function scale (McMaster, 1983) was used. Using structural equation modeling, the findings of this study provided an acceptable representation of the relationships between the variables. The findings also revealed that family flexibility had a greater impact on changes in family functioning than family cohesion. Also the results of bootstrap showed directly effect of family communication on family functioning was not significant but indirect effect was significant. Other findings showed the contribution of enmeshment on family cohesion and the contribution of rigid on family flexibility was very low.  However, comparison of models showed that different levels of cohesion and flexibility were different in stages of family life cycle. These findings can be helpful for family professionals to better understand family functioning.