This article focuses on one of the important criteria in assessing one's family, namely, general family image (GFI), which directly connects to social comparison. General family image includes various representations about patterns, standards of family life, and couple relations. GFI also characterizes individual predispositions, as well as social cognition, and it plays essential epistemic and esteem maintenance functions in family life. This article examines GFI at both the theoretical and empirical levels, outlining the ways in which the concept can be utilized in the context of family studies. Specific assumptions regarding the main characteristics and functions of GFI, its relation to world view, and quality of family life were empirically tested through the analysis of data on 210 married couples, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel. Intercultural transition, connected to immigration, provides a natural experimental setting to study the stability and consistency of GFI.
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