Strong Families Around the World (original) (raw)
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Preliminary research on family strengths
2002
Everyone is in favor of strong families. Researchers, politicians, and social commentators frequently use the terms "strong families" and "family strengthening" to refer to positive aspects of family life and the interactions of families that lead to successful outcomes for their children. But how do we know a strong family when we see it? Despite widespread use, however, the terms "strong families" and "family strengthening" are seldom defined and almost never measured. People across the political spectrum and from a variety of scholarly disciplines use these terms to refer to multiple constructs that mean different things to different people. Efforts to promote strong families have become a central part of the Casey Foundation work. This work is premised on the idea that children do better when their families do better. To help develop a more systematic and rigorous examination of the concept of "a strong family," the Casey Foundation commissioned this paper from a group of scholars at Child Trends. It is important to note that this work on family strengths draws on research and writing from a wide array of perspectives in hopes of developing a definition of the term that is widely accepted. Authors draw on previous scholarly research and theoretical writings to identify key dimensions within family processes and family relationships that are associated with positive child outcomes. They also examine how selected components of family strengths can be measured in two national data sources. We hope this preliminary work will serve as is a first step in developing an operational definition of strong families. It will serve as an important point of departure for the Casey Foundation as we follow up the work presented here with an expanded look at what scholars mean when they use the term "strong families, what dimensions of the concept can be assessed through current measures, and where are new measures needed? Until we acquire a common understanding of what constitutes a strong family, it is doubtful that a meaningful dialogue can occur in policy and service settings. Building the capacity to describe and measure the multiple dimensions of strong families will provide a foundation for developing regular reporting that tells us how the country is doing on this crucial aspect of social well-being. William P. O'Hare KIDS COUNT Coordinator Table 5: Percentage of adolescents ages 12-14 with various outcomes, by measures of positive family processes, 1997
Characteristics of a Healthy Family and Family Strengths: A Cross-Cultural Study
This study explored how American and Taiwanese students viewed the ideal model of a healthy family in the 1980s and showed that contemporary families are changing and coping, not breaking up and dying. The subjects were 649 students from six universities in Indiana and Taiwan. The questionnaire was composed of 127 items that focused on five issues: (1) attitudes toward different family lifestyles; (2) opinions of family problems and family life in America and Taiwan; (3) family strength measurement; (4) characteristics of a healthy family; and (5) appraisal of childhood, parental marriage, religiosity, and other general demographic information. Although there were significant differences in their views on the characteristics of a healthy family, 16 characteristics were identified by over 85 percent of the college students studied as being related to a healthy family. Twenty-one social demographic variables were found to have significant correlations with either the family life evalu...
Investigating the interrelationships among various measures of family strengths
2008
The study of family strengths, as opposed to family dysfunction, has increased over the past few decades. Six interrelated components of family strength were identified that may affect the degree of marital satisfaction of husbands and wives. The six components-worth, commitment to relationship stability, commitment to relationship growth, communication, positive interaction, and time spent together-are characteristics within a family that may have substantial connections. Identical surveys were administered to couples in three major metropolitan areas. The data for the study were a sub-sample of data collected as a mail survey as part of a larger survey of membership retention within a mainline Protestant denomination. The main mail survey contained 10 pages. For about one-third of the sample, an additional two-page survey was given concerning premarital counseling and marital satisfaction. Another third of the sample was given an additional 2-page survey on family strengths and marital satisfaction. In addition to 20 family strengths items, those surveyed were asked to respond to the three questions of the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. Data from these couples were used to test a hypothesized model of the interrelationships between the various measures of family strength using a detailed path analysis model with marital satisfaction as the dependent variable. The variables worth, commitment, communication, positive interaction, and time together functioned as intervening variables in the model with age, gender, various measures of religiosity, income, education, and age of children functioning as independent variables. The data were then analyzed by ordinary least squares regression techniques to test the model using marital satisfaction as the dependent variable. The results of testing the model indicated that strength in certain characteristics predicted strength in other characteristics at statistically significant levels (p < .05). Intrinsic religiosity predicted worth. Worth predicted commitment to stability and commitment to growth. The two areas of commitment predicted communication. Communication predicted positive interaction. Positive interaction predicted time together, and strengths in most of the characteristics predicted marital satisfaction. It is important for researchers, educators, therapists, and other professionals who work with families to gain an understanding and awareness of the current breakdown of marriage and family in our Western society. A greater understanding of family strengths and how they work together is crucial to providing families and family professionals with information useful for supporting family systems.
2020
Objective: Evaluate the relationships between five family strengths dimensions (commitment, communication, cohesion, coping & competence) and personal and family well-being. Background: Noted family strengths experts contend that families who describe themselves as strong share a number of broad qualities or traits. Family strengths are viewed as internal resources that are hypothesized to be related to enhanced personal and family well-being. Method: Meta-analysis was used to determine the effect sizes between different family strengths dimensions and both parent and family well-being. The meta-analysis included 14 studies (N = 3,491 participants) conducted in 10 countries. The focus of analysis was the sizes of effects between each family strengths dimension and both parent and family well-being and whether the strengths of relations between family strengths and well-being differed for each family strength dimension. Results: Publication bias analysis indicated no differences in t...
Journal of Behavior, Health & Social Issues
Findings from a meta-analysis of studies investigating the relationships between family strengths and personal and family well-being and functioning are reported. The research synthesis included 33 studies conducted in six countries of 8259 study participants. The Family Strengths Scale developed by David Olson and his colleagues was used to measure family strengths. The studies included five personal functioning measures (depression, loneliness, stress, well-being, & belief appraisals) and five family functioning measures (communication, cohesion, flexibility, marital satisfaction, & stress). The correlations between family strengths and personal and family functioning were used as the effect sizes for the relationships between measures. Results showed that family strengths were related to each of the personal and family functioning measures, there were no differences in the sizes of effect between either the five personal functioning or the five family functioning measures, and th...
Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Family Today
Revista de Psicoterapia, 2021
This article on health families is specific regarding the key aspects about how to develop and to maintain a healthy family in today’s world. These key aspects are theoretically reframed in different words and applied to the growth of a consistent family in current times. Other topics are new entries to complete the picture of a strong and vigorous family. To better understand this complex objective, this article first reviews the concepts and theories about family and love, and then review the different theoretical reviews to better understand the contemporary family. These great definitions and foundations will allow making practical applications in the areas of growth, development and maintenance of a healthy family today.