GIFTED ADOLESCENTS AND THE “BALANCED FAMILY” CONCEPT

Abstract

Do factors in the family environment facilitate or impede adaptive copingresponses in family members? Some theorists have warned that in some cases,relationships with parents may become a source of stress and conflict for adolescents.While the regulation of relational space within the family has long been a core issue offamily process theory, in perhaps no other theoretical model does it hold such a centralposition as in the Circumplex Model of family functioning. The Family Adaptabilityand Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES) III, used in this study, is an instrumentbased on the Circumplex Model. FACES III was developed by Olson, Portner andLavee, to provide a measure of family cohesion and adaptability. The purpose of thepresent study was to explore the relationship between family cohesion within the giftedsector of the adolescent population. The results show that an adolescent originatingfrom a highly cohesive family may be able to draw upon a supportive family unit as aneffective coping response.