Is Family Cohesion a Risk or Protective Factor During Adolescent Development?
Family cohesion is important to family functioning and levels of cohesion have been implicated in both positive and negative outcomes. The curvilinear hypothesis suggests that high levels of cohesion lead to enmeshment and low levels indicate poor family support. Both result in poor individuation and foreclosed psychosocial maturity (Barbarin, 1984; Barber, Olsen & Shagle, 1994; Olson, Russell & Sprenkle, 1983). However, some research has not supported the curvilinear hypothesis (Anderson, 1986; Anderson & Gavazzi, 1990; Farrell & Barnes, 1993). However cohesion may not be static and levels may shift across the family life cycle. This study investigated the shape of the family cohesion growth curve, a test of the curvilinear vs linear hypothesis; and examined the relationship of cohesion to adolescent deviance using cohort sequential design (N = 4677 adolescents). Results showed a good fit of the data to the model and the different age groups converged. Fit indices were X2 =626 (df,7)
