Family Stability and Emotional Development of the Youth

Adolescence is one of the critical stages in human development. Many types of mental disorders can be explored at this stage. In most cases persons with personality and mental disorders are from unstable families. Children and adolescents are likely to be the prime victims of family dysfunctions. The goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between family stability and emotional development (phobia, anger and depression) in adolescent who are between 14-18 years of age, in the city of Mashhad. Our sample included 120 high school adolescents (girls and boys) randomly selected. At the first stage we had their parents answer Marital Instability Index. Then, based on the acquired scores we divided the students into two groups (stable and unstable families, n=60). Afterwards a questionnaire was devised by the researcher to examine emotions of adolescents based on DSM_IV_TR and SCID_I. The data were analyzed by tetrachoric model. The results show that there is a significant relationship between family stabilityand emotional disorders. In particular, the most intense relationships were found as existing between family instability and social phobia, anger, diffused anxiety, phobia attack, and depression. There was no relationship between family instability and specific phobia, mental-practical obsession, and post traumatic stress disorder.