My Survey

Hi everyone! This post is going over the results of a survey I sent out.

I decided to conduct a small anonymous survey (30 responses) just to see what environments people grew up in, if it affected their ideals on what they want in a family, as well as how they would define what a dysfunctional family is to them.

The first question of the survey was whether or not they grew up in a dysfunction household and the results were:

I thought that this was surprising. It’s so easy to feel alone in this world, it was crazy to see how many people have also grown up in a dysfunctional home. It’s nice to know that there are people out there who can relate to your experiences.

The second question was if growing up in a dysfunctional family affected their ideals when it came to having a family. This question had 100% of the responders answer yes. This was a short answer question and a few responses that dove more into detail were:

• Yes, it has taught me to find a partner that will be a role model to my kids.

• It definitely helped me realize how I want to raise my children. I learned what not to say to children I also will have very different priorities

• Absolutely, it taught me what I don’t want my family dynamic to be like.

• Yes, I am not sure if I want to have a family when I grow up because I’m scared to be like my parents.

• Yes. I don’t want kids and I don’t believe men can really experience true love

• It’s affected everything from how I process emotion, how closed off I am, how I don’t want to be like my parents

• I think it makes me wary when it comes to ideas of having kids when I’m not ready and not in a stable and happy relationship.

Reading through these responses, it makes me sad to think how much growing up in these environments affects the way we see relationships. I, myself, am scared of having a family of my own because I don’t want it to end up like my family. Although I’m scared, I’m glad that I’m a positive because it makes me want to put in the time and effort to find someone I truly love, and to work hard on having a healthy relationship with my future family.

The final question was how you would define a dysfunctional family. I gathered these responses and put them into a collage. It was interesting reading about everyone's definition for what a dysfunctional family is.