Abstract

Family relation plays an important role, as this is the first and the longest bond. In addition, we all know puberty is a very special stage to all teens especially those in Taiwan where they face pressures from taking national exams and also adapting to body and psychological changes during this period. As such, this thesis will be focusing on how family relationship plays a role in the adolescent’s happiness. The discussion will be divided into 4 sections based on Minuchin’s family systems theory, namely marital relationship, parent relationship, Parent-Child relationship and sibling relationship. Sample data were extracted and compiled from 3th and 4th wave student surveys, and 3th wave parenting surveys of Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS). The conclusions are: (1) Family relationship influences the level of happiness of adolescences; (2) Family relationship is more important to adolescence without siblings; (3) Adolescences show more happiness if the acceptance is from parent of the same sex as the child; (4) Conflicts with the mother negatively impact the happiness level while the same with the father has no affect; (5) Parental monitoring is not correlated with parent-child conflicts, neither does it affect happiness.