A psychological comparison of people's perceptions of their own families and their presumptions of the "typical" Turkish family

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate people̕s perceptions of thepsychological functioning of their own families and their presumptions of that ofthe "typical" Turkish family. The probable difference between individuals̕ own perceptions of their own family and their view regarding the "typical" family theydefined according to themselves and believed to best reflect the majority of familiesin the Turkish society was also examined. The sample of the study consisted of 112 families made up of 112 mothers, 108 fathers, 107 elder children, and 46 younger children. Participants of the studywere selected in order to represent a diverse group as much as possible in terms ofage, gender, education level, place of residence, and socio-economic status. Family members̕ perceptions of their own family's psychologicalfunctioning and structure were assessed by AYDA "Aile Yapısını Değerlendirme Aracı" / Family Structure Assessment Device (Gülerce, 1992) Actual Family Form,whereas their presumptions regarding the "typical" family were measured by the Typical Family Form of the same instrument. Findings indicated that families in the current study perceived both theirown families̕ and the "typical" Turkish family̕s psychological functioningviiiconcerning communication, unity, management, competency, and emotional context indices as healthy when compared with the norms (Gülerce, 1996).Results of the study also revealed that family members perceived their ownfamilies̕ overall psychological functioning significantly healthier [t(111)=7.24; p<.001] when compared to the "typical" Turkish family. Furthermore, the study revealed significant differences between families̕ AYDA-Self and AYDA-Typicalscores in terms of communication, unity, management, competency, and emotionalcontext. This study was important in terms of providing with information regarding how individuals perceived and presumed the present-day Turkish family. Moreimportantly, the probability of projections of family members̕ own thoughts concerning their families onto the "typical" Turkish family in their minds are worth discussing.