Level of Family Functioning in Kuala Krai District

In line with the ambition of the Ministry of Education Malaysia (2012), Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025) had been launched in order to produce students who have the ability to think constructively and able to face the hardships, while developing their leadership skills and capability. However, family functionings play an important role in fostering productive and balanced teenagers in various ways. Because of that, this study aims to examine the level of family functioning among teenagers who have behavioural problems. The quantitative approach was applied in this study using the Statistical Package for Social Science for Windows (SPSS) version-21, while the cross-sectional surveys were used in the data collection process. The instruments used were Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales III. Descriptive analysis was used to observe the frequency and percentage of respondents. Based on the purposive sampling, 36 teenagers were identified as having behavioural problems from four schools in Kuala Krai where they had been selected randomly as the samples for this study. In general, the findings of the study show that the level of the family functioning of the respondents is moderate and can be improved. Hence, the results of this study are expected to be used as a guideline by parents, communities, counselors, schools, organizations involved, and the ministries in the process of helping the teenagers who are involved in behavioural problems. This study can also be used as a guideline by future researchers in conducting research which is related to family functionings to a further extent and involves a larger population.


Introduction
In producing a new generation who are productive, Ministry of Education Malaysia (2012) was determined to produce a knowledgeable, well educated, high moral value, and has strong resilience students through Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020)(2021)(2022)(2023)(2024)(2025). This objective is also in line with the efforts of the Ministry of Youth and Sports which is also seen as very serious in producing youths who are knowledgeable, have goodwill, and have a good personality. The majority of modern educators have acknowledged that the teenagers' education is not just concentrated in educational institutions which only involve memorization of certain facts, figures, skills, and experiences, but it is also developed through their knowledge and experience as well as the relationship between family members whether it is good or otherwise (Yaakob et al., 2017;Zainah et al., 2013). This indirectly highlights the importance of family functioning factors in the process of developing teenagerss who are healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually (Manoli, 2019;Yusoff et al., 2019).

Problem Statement
Nowadays, the values of humanity and moral principles that are increasingly eroded among teenagers are very disturbing for all parties until the Ministry of Youth and Sports organizes various initiatives in helping to develop teenagers who can become productive youth. Therefore, it is not surprising when various parties, whether parents, schools, institutions of higher education, and the ministry are seen to face great challenges in the process of forming a productive generation (Yaakob et al., 2017). In fact, these moral values and principles require practice from an early age through positive surroundings that were created in the family, which in turn can help teenagers in improving their ability to build positive relationships outside the home. However, the situation of a family's situation is still not getting enough attention and thoroughly discussed by the community in producing a family that is able to function positively (Hajar, 2017;Yusoff et al., 2019;Liakopoulou, 2013).
Teenagers in today's era of globalization are often exposed to social challenges that cause them to become languid and unproductive. The mass media always exhibit social problems involving teenagers such as loitering, skipping classes, stealing, drug abuse, premarital intimacy, and murder (Azizi et al., 2008;Zainah et al., 2013). For example, teenagers aged from 16 to 19 were found to be the highest group who had suicidal ideas until researchers, psychiatrists and also cognitive therapists confirmed that WHO's statistics and the growth in suicidal cases have shown that it is a serious public health problem and one of the main factors for this problem is caused by a mental health problem (Farhana, 2010;Harris & Barraclough, 1997;Maniam, 2010). Seriously, it is understandable that students typically behave in such a way when they are under pressure, and what they need is a good interaction within their family (Samsiah, Shah, & Noraini, 2015). Usually, problematic students come from family backgrounds which are not functioning properly where their family situation is poor, and their negative behaviour is influenced by their own family (Houston & Barton, 2005). Good interaction among family members will be able to provide emotional support to the students and then will prevent them from doing unethical behaviour (Samsiah, Shah, & Noraini, 2015).
Although the communities start to aware about the surrounding created within a family play as an important role in developing understanding among the family members. Nevertheless, there are still a large number of the parent who does not show a good example to their child. There might be possibilities that the children will get guidance, lesson and religion knowledge whether from home or school, however, it is found that 10% of teenagers involved with unethical conduct such as violating school regulation, lying, skipping classes, smoking and watching lewd videos. These problems are seen to be caused by the negative behaviour of parents who are not able to be a good example for their children until negative surroundings created in their house, and at the end, it affected the teenagers' behaviour when they are not at home (Syah, Najah, & Hamdi, 2017).
Issues related to the low levels of family functioning have been emphasized Yaakob et al. (2017) and Yusoff et al. (2019) when lack of attention from the family members caused the teenagers to feel empty until they prefer to go outside to entertain themselves, while some of them also experienced a cognitive distortion. This is the result of the family institutions failed to understand and execute their responsibilities as good family members in developing good surrounding at home. Hence, further study about the level of family functioning is necessary for creating awareness in the communities, especially the parents, relating to the roles of family functioning in building teenagers who are productive and capable in various aspects.

Research Objective
This study is generally to examine the level of family functioning in Kuala Krai District

Research Model
The main theoretical framework in the context of this study was based on the formation of the Three dimensional (3-D) Circumplex Model (Olson, Russell, & Sprenkle, 1979). This model has been used to study about family functioning because it was considered in line and appropriate to the dimensions and variable which emphasized in this study. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales III (FACES III) instrument was developed by Olson, Portner, and Lavee (2003) resulted from the development of the Three Dimensional Circumplex Model (Olson, 1991) which was designed to adapt measurements to see the linear functioning of the family, as can be discovered in this study. For example, the higher level of cohesion or adaptability, the better the family functioning.

Research Methodology
This research used a quantitative approach based on a cross-sectional survey. Descriptive analysis was used to observe the frequency and percentage of respondents. Samples who are involved in this research are 36 teenagers from boys and girls in Kuala Krai District. The sample is selected from 40 families by using sampling approached based on Krejcie & Morgan (1970) schedule.

Sampling
Purposive sampling executed through a program organized by collaboration between the Kuala Krai District Religious Office (KKDRO) and Family, Social and Community Service Centre which targeted students who have problematic behaviour from government schools in Kuala Krai, Kelantan. 4 schools were selected and each of the school needs to send 10 students with problematic behaviour to be chosen randomly as respondents in this study where the students are teenagers between 14 to 17years old.

Instrument
There are two parts in the questionnaire set which are (A) is respondents' demographic information, and (B) related to the family functioning factor which is The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales III (FACES III) instrument. The instrument was developed by Olson, Portner, and Lavee (2003) as a result from the development of the Three Dimensional Circumplex Model (Olson, 1991). It has 20 items which are able to measure the overall family functioning factor.  Based on the findings from the descriptive analysis in Table 2, it can be seen that in general, the value of the mean score obtained for the respondents' family functioning variable was found to be at a moderate level with the value (mean = 3.29). This is based on the interpretation of the mean score introduced by Pallant (2014).

Conclusion
This study was conducted among the teenagers who were identified as facing behavioural problems in Kuala Krai discussing about the importance of family functioning factors as an effort to form productive young generations in the current challenging era of globalization. In general, the results of the study showed that the level of family functioning among the teenagers who were involved with behavioural problems, which are the respondents of this study, is at a moderate level. Therefore, the results of this study are expected to be used as a guidance by the parents, communities, counselors, schools, Kuala Krai District Religious Office (KKDRO) and Family, Social and Community Service Centre in the process of helping the teenagers nowadays who are involved with the behavioural problems. This study can also be used as a guideline by future researchers in conducting research which is related to family functionings to a further extent and involves a larger population.