November 18, 2022

In commemoration of the quarterly Family Day, workplaces allow employees to leave work early to spend time with their families. On this evening, families usually take the time to disconnect from work and reconnect with one another. However, not every family experiences the luxury of taking time off work. In particular, low-income families may be more predisposed to feelings of desolation or hopelessness because of their economic hardships.

In ‘Hope in Low-Income Families – A Study of Family Hardiness in Singapore’ (Family Relations, 2022), Mr Daniel Wen (NUS Psychology), Associate Professor Esther C.L. Goh (NUS Social Work), and Associate Professor Chin-ying Hsu (NUS Dentistry) explore how family hardiness mediates the relationship between economic hardship and hope of mothers and children from low-income families. They define hopefulness as a mindset that involves conceptualising the paths to reach one’s goals and also having the motivation to attain those goals. Hope in this sense is important because it can influence the psychological outcomes that families experience in times of economic hardship.

The authors examined how the practical and psychological resources as well as the perceptions of the individuals facing stress influenced mothers’ and children’s hopefulness. In particular, they identified family hardiness as an important concept of family resources because of Singapore’s collectivistic Asian culture. Family hardiness broadly includes commitment (the family’s sense of joint cooperation in response to stress), challenge (the family’s confidence in the ability to adapt and grow through stressful situations), and control (the family’s control over life events).

In order to investigate how these three components of family hardiness mediate the relationship between economic hardship and hopefulness, the researchers surveyed 512 mother-child pairs from low-income families who were receiving or had previously received government financial aid, and whose child was also between 7 and 12 years old.

The authors found that higher economic hardship was associated with lower family hardiness and subsequently lower hope observed in mothers and children. Specifically, for mothers, family challenge was the component of family hardiness that had the most significant influence on feelings of hopefulness. This could be due to the presence of multiple social and psychological stressors besides economic hardships that could make it difficult for mothers to have confidence in their ability to handle their economic situation. As such, the researchers recommended targeted interventions that improved the ability of the family unit to reorganise, view changes optimistically, and adapt to changes. Meanwhile, children who may have a simpler understanding of the world and others’ behaviour tend to experience family hardiness more holistically, with all three components being similarly influential. These differing processes through which economic hardship affects hope for mothers and children could be due to their different development stages.

In conclusion, family hardiness is a significant factor in shaping how economic hardships affect hope in low-income families. As such, the researchers encourage practitioners to work on helping families make meaning of adversity, develop healthy patterns of family organisations, and work collaboratively to solve problems, thereby building up their family hardiness.

Read the article here.

Photo: ‘Family dolls’ by Tan Family from SRN’s SG Photobank