An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model on Family Resilience and Subjective Wellbeing

Abstract

In times of crisis the family often react together as a unit of response, as though a combat unit. The concept of family resilience has been identified as a coping resource for the family unit even if the crisis affected only one individual of the family. Family resilience works in concert with individual psychological resilience to protect the individual from excess negative impact and to improve positive outcomes such as subjective wellbeing. However, the impact of family resilience on the adaptive outcome is far more complex than individual resilience. The present study aims to identify the internal dynamics between the individual actor and her familial partner, using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. A total of 38 family dyads, each pair consisted of a hospital nurse and one of her family members participated in the present study. Among them are 49 females and 27 males, with mean age of 40.62 years old. The nurses were recruited from two major public hospitals that admitted patients and patients suspected of being infected with an infectious disease during a pandemic out-break. The family members were 2 parents, 24 spouse, 6 siblings, and 6 children of the nurses. Main effects of actor's resilience and partner's resilience, as well as interaction effect between actor's and partner's resilience, on actor's subjective wellbeing, were found. This suggests interdependence effects of individual's resilience and the other party's wellbeing. Results indicated that the 1) the multifaceted-multi-processed family resilience affects the individual outcomes in different ways: Family resilience of familial process and function showed only actor effect on individual subjective wellbeing, family resilience of shared beliefs and emotional regulation however showed actor and partner effects and with the partner showed higher effect. 2) The hypothesis on interdependence effects was supported for the family resilience dimensions of meaning-making and emotional regulation.

Resilience and Risk Factors Predict Family Stress Among Married Palestinians in Israel During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Families are indeed a significant source of support in Arab culture, and family members are often cited as partners in coping with daily problems and environmental stressors and as providers of mental health care (Khamis, 1998;Azaiza, 2013;Haque et al, 2015;Haj-Yahia, 2019). Similar patterns have been shown in traditionally collectivistic, family oriented Asian cultures, in which family support and solidarity are vital to the coping processes of individuals facing major life threats and adversity (e.g., China, India, Malaysia: Bentelspacher et al, 1994;Singapore: Chang and Sivam, 2004;Chang et al, 2015;Neo et al, 2016). Specifically, Palestinian society in Israel has undergone a continual process of modernization.…”

“…The two types of resilience, as hypothesized, negatively predicted marital, parental, and financial stress, beyond the effects of sociodemographic characteristics and risk factors. Family resilience has previously been shown to improve coping with various crises, including a major epidemic (Chang et al, 2015;Neo et al, 2016) and political violence (Khamis, 1998;Sousa et al, 2013), as well as to decrease the risk of poor prenatal and postnatal mental health (Qutteina et al, 2018) and dwelling on the terrible nature of events (Don and Mickelson, 2012).…”

“…It is also possible that COVID-19 is perceived as a "shared challenge" (Simon et al, 2005) because it threatens the entire family. Under such conditions, individuals might be more likely to derive combined strength from solidarity with family members (Neo et al, 2016), especially with respect to marital and parental functioning. This explanation needs further empirical support.…”

“…Chang and Sivam (2004) attributed family differences in dealing with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic to family support. Another SARS study showed that in family dyads comprising a hospital nurse and a family member, the nurse's subjective wellbeing was associated with her own perceived family resilience and with that of her partner (Neo et al, 2016). Chang et al (2015) also investigated the role of family resilience among nurses dealing with external stressors while working with infected patients during a major epidemic in Singapore.…”

The Construct of Change in Close Relationships

“…In intimate relationships, it is likely for a partner's beliefs to influence the other partner's psychological outcomes, especially in Chinese culture that promotes high interdependence in close relationships. For instance, a partner's belief about family resilience affects the subjective wellbeing of the other partner within the dyad (Neo, Chang, & Fung, 2016). Hence, future research on the within or intra-dyad dynamic would be important to the under-standing of how relationship cognitions affect behaviors.…”