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Exploring the Relationship Between Assets and Family Stress Among Low‐Income Families
Author(s) -
Rothwell David W.,
Han ChangKeun
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00611.x
Subject(s) - recession , assets under management , affect (linguistics) , welfare , family income , great recession , business , social welfare , demographic economics , public economics , economics , psychology , labour economics , economic growth , fixed asset , microeconomics , production (economics) , political science , market economy , communication , keynesian economics , law
The “hard times” resulting from the 2008 Great Recession represent an opportunity to re‐examine the theoretical framework for how families use economic resources to manage stress. M. Sherraden's (1991) theory of assets and H. I. McCubbin and J. Patterson's (1983) family adjustment and adaptation response model informed this study of how assets relate to family demands among 839 low‐income families. Structural equation modeling found that assets were directly related to a reduced sense of family demands and that assets were indirectly related to demands via economically stressful events. Findings suggest that social welfare policies that promote assets among low‐income families may positively influence family relations. Future family research would benefit from measuring assets as economic resources and testing how assets affect family functioning.