Relationship Between Parent Image and Degree of Family Satisfaction Among University Students

Abstract

　　The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the images of parents as perceived by university students and the level of family satisfaction, based on developmental tasks. Subjects included 217 university students. I asked them to express the images that they have for their parents using the family image test (FIT) and rate the level of family satisfaction they felt using the family satisfaction scale. Next, I analyzed the relationship between these two factors. The main results obtained are described below.

　　Several students reported having a stronger connection with their mothers compared with their fathers. However, those who had strong connections with their fathers were more satisfied with their family, which suggests the importance of connection with fathers. Moreover, several students perceived greater closeness between the father and mother than the parent and child, had a boundary the two generation. Those who had an image of strong connection and closeness between their parents reported a high level of family satisfaction. This indicates that the relationship between parents triggers positive emotions, which indirectly results in a high level of family satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to consider relationships between parents as well as the relationships with themselves. This will help lay the foundation of the family as a unit. The integration of all these factors is important in the field of clinical psychology.

　　We believe that establishing a clear boundary between the two generations, especially during adolescence. At the same time, there should ideally exist a good relationship between the parents themselves. These characteristics were observed in the family images that showed a high level of family satisfaction in this study. In addition, this study indicates that the emotions associated with family images can be guessed using the family image test (FIT).