Family characteristics and psychological distress among adolescents
Family type had no significant correlation with psychological distress. The finding of this study supports the findings of Taiwo (2011). The implication of the result however suggests that whether the adolescent is from a monogamous or a polygamous family setting, this may not sufficiently have an impressing association with the adolescents’ present psychological state.
This study only revealed that adolescents from large family size had the highest level of psychological distress though the relationship was not significant. Previous reports have shown that adolescents in larger families have significant higher risks of psychological distress (Fagg et al., 2006; Fatoye, 1998; Taiwo, 2011). Difference in findings may mean that deeper factors than just the size of the family are implicated. Greater social deprivation, sibling conflicts, and parental stress are more likely, but not invariably, to be experienced in a larger family than smaller ones. These were not investigated in this study and they are worth consideration in future research.