The Impact of Ideal and Real Discrepancies of Family Functionality Perception over the Quality of Life in a Minority Population

Abstract

The perceived discrepancies of adolescents regarding family functionality (the real vs. the ideal) and how it predicts their mental and physical quality of life are tested. A cross-sectional study using questionnaires was conducted. Roma adolescents (N = 139) with ages ranging from 12 to 17 years participated. Out of all, 38% are boys and 61,5% are girls. Results show that mental quality of life is predicted by family cohesion and family adjustment and suggest a nonlinear relation for physical quality of life. The discrepancy between the real and ideal levels of family cohesion determines adolescent’s mental quality of life. The direction of the discrepancy shows that mental quality of life is higher when the real family cohesion level is higher than the ideal one. The results suggest that both mental and physical quality of life of adolescents are predicted by family cohesion and family adjustment.   People tend to thrive while having an image about themselves and they form this image by considering an ideal or a necessary way of being. Comparing the ideal to the real and present image of themselves people might experience maladjustment and could determine their mental health. The results of the study show that family cohesion and family adjustment perception of children determine their quality of life. Moreover, discrepancies between the ideal and real level are also an important determining factor for quality of life.