This paper points out the correlation between family functionality and academic achievement of adolescents. The aim of the survey was to determine the relation between family functionality and adolescents' achievement at school. We started from the assumption that there is a statistically significant correlation between family flexibility and cohesion and the adolescents' achievement at school. The study used the Circumplex model of family functioning, and the FACES IV scale to determine the functionality of the family (Olson, et al, 2006). The study included 200 adolescents all attending different high schools in Nis. The results have shown a statistically significant negative correlation between family cohesion and students' achievement and compared the patterns of entanglement (r = - 0.260, p <0.05). Too much focus on unity has a negative impact on the academic achievement of adolescents because they are in the period when they need autonomy, which is not supported adequately in the tangled family relationships, which furthermore affects their success. Results have also shown that there is a negative correlation between the dimensions of flexibility and the success of students in relation to the patterns of rigidity (r = -0.203, p <0.05). Parents rigidity, excessive control and restrictions within the family functioning affects the adolescents' achievement at school, because these parents' attitude towards the adolescents is not in accordance with the developmental tendencies of this period and the need for adolescent autonomy and independence, and they can become rebellious and start rejecting demands from both the school and the parents. The results indicate that family functioning is a significant predictor of adolescents' achievement, and that dysfunctional patterns of family functioning negatively affect the academic achievement of adolescents.
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