Abstract: Background: Family is a group of people related by blood, emotions, marriage, adoptions. Family is where our roots take hold and from there, we grow. Family play an important role in shaping an individual’s personality, values and behaviour. In India, the joint family system has been in existence since ancient times. However, with the passage of time, the joint family system has disintegrated, giving rise to the nuclear family system. The nuclear family is a biological phenomenon of private human society. It not an adaptive form in an evolutionary series of human development nor a functional aspect of industrial aspect. Rather it a practically human time in social space. Nuclear family is the unit of husband - wife and parents - children. Whereas joint family is nothing but an extension of nuclear family in which the spouse was not separated after their marriage due various reasons.
Objective: To make a comparative study of the various aspects of psychological factors e.g., happiness, cheerful, etc among the members of nuclear and joint family and to promote a positive mental health among the members.
Conclusion: We concluded that studying the psychological well-being of the nuclear and joint families helps finding differences in social support, communication, and their stress levels and enhancers. It can provide a vision into the effects of family structure and their roles playing on mental health, which may inform interference and support systems for individuals in different family setups. In joint families, the people can provide emotional support, develops communication around everyone, and shared responsibilities, which leads to a strong social network. Nuclear families, provides more privacy, allowing for better /quality individual decision-making and reduced conflicts among the family members.
Keywords: Joint family, nuclear family, responsibilities, psychological wellbeing, mental health, emotional support, privacy.
Title: A Comparative Study on psychological well-being among nuclear and joint families in urban population, Chennai
Author: Karna Palanisamy S, Jagadeeshwari D
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
Vol. 14, Issue 1, April 2026 - September 2026
Page No: 164-172
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 03-June-2026
